Child of Destiny

"Brother, just one pair is enough, really, just one pair is fine."

Inside the Qingshui County military service center, Li Juan tightly gripped Li Ye's arm, stopping him from reaching for his wallet.

Originally, she had told Li Ye that she would only buy a pair of shearling cotton shoes for her younger sister, Li Ying, to alleviate the pain of cold feet.

But after Li Ye arrived, he told the sales clerk, "Give me two pairs of shearling cotton shoes, one size 35 and one size 32."

Although touched, the timid Li Juan couldn't accept it. If she took the shoes home, wouldn't their mother scold her to death?

'Are you so old and still don't understand? Your brother's money is all spent on cotton shoes for you, are you going to live on drinking the northwest wind? No more smoking? No more meat?'

However, just as the siblings started to bicker, the sales clerk at the service center said, "We don't have size 32, nor size 35. The smallest is size 36. Do you want them?"

"."

Now the brother and sister had nothing to bicker about. Li Juan's size 35 feet would fit size 36 shoes somewhat acceptably, but Li Ying was still in primary school! Size 36 shoes would definitely be unwearable for her.

"Alright then! Sis, give me one pair of size 36 first. Also, can you reserve a pair of size 32 for me? If not, size 33 is fine too."

Li Ye took out money while asking the female sales clerk.

"Reserve? You youngsters have such strange ideas."

Perhaps because he was handsome and spoke sweetly, the aloof sales clerk didn't find it bothersome and explained to Li Ye, "We don't sell small-sized shoes here. If you want to buy them, you should go to the department store! But I estimate it'll be hard to find."

Li Ye thought it made sense. Children of this era were actually quite miserable. They basically all wore cloth cotton shoes made by their mothers, and their clothes were also hand-me-downs from their older sisters or mothers.

Without market demand, there was naturally no business. Qingshui County wasn't a big city, and the awareness of serving the nation's blossoming flowers wasn't strong. Fancy children's leather shoes like those would only be found in big cities.

"Here, try them on."

"Brother, don't bother! I have shoes to wear."

"What nonsense are you talking about."

The sales clerk took out a pair of size 36 shoes, and Li Ye asked Li Juan to try them on.

Li Juan hesitated for a long time before taking her feet out of her wet cotton shoes. Her soaked socks actually had three holes, revealing three little toes.

Li Ye quickly bought two more pairs of socks and had Li Juan change into both the shoes and socks.

"How is it? Do you need two more pairs of insoles?"

"No need, Brother. They're perfect, really warm."

The little girl didn't resist anymore. Although from a modern perspective, shearling cotton shoes were very unfashionable and low-end, wearing them on her feet at this moment made the little girl quite pleased.

"Okay, let's go!"

Li Ye put Li Juan's cotton shoes into the shoe box and turned to leave the military service center. However, Li Juan didn't follow immediately. Instead, she called out softly from behind, "Brother, Brother, wait... I need to change shoes."

Li Ye looked back and understood. The little girl was reluctant to wear her new shoes in the snowy ground and wanted to change back into her soaked old cotton shoes before walking.

Li Ye said unhappily, "I bought these shoes precisely for walking in the snow. Why else would I buy them?"

Seeing Li Ye's stern face, Li Juan instinctively flinched and followed him cautiously with her head down.

When she and their mother first married into the family, this brother always had a stern face, his gaze like that of a dog whose food bowl had been snatched, which was very frightening.

Li Ye walked a few steps and found the little girl getting further and further away from him.

It turned out that to avoid getting her new shoes wet, she was carefully avoiding the deep snow with every step, weaving and winding like she was performing a maze dance.

Li Ye couldn't help but chuckle, remembering himself when he first owned a car in his previous life.

That new car was more precious to him than his wife. If it got a scratch from fingernails, he would go to the dealership for original paintwork.

Later on, as long as it could still run, he wouldn't bother fixing it, truly a case of being fond of the new and tired of the old.

"Hurry up, we still need to go to the food store to buy White Rabbit candy!"

"Brother, why buy candy? We just ate malt candy a few days ago, let's not buy it!"

The little girl, who was walking in a circle, immediately resisted upon hearing this. However, the natural reflex of her mouth watering made her extremely embarrassed and blush deeply.

Sweets were too tempting for children of this era. It wasn't just a legend that a lollipop could lure a child away.

"You're happy wearing new shoes, but what about Xiao Ying? Don't worry about poverty, worry about inequality. If she gets upset and cries, won't you need candy to shut her up?"

Li Juan was 14 this year, and the even younger Li Ying was only 11. Li Ye could imagine how resentful that little girl would be when Li Juan came home wearing new shoes. If there wasn't some sweet treat, wouldn't there be conflict between the sisters at home?

"I don't think it's necessary... Sluurp, Sister will just cry for a bit, Sluurp, it's fine..."

Although very embarrassed, Li Juan still quickened her pace and caught up to her brother.

White Rabbit candy! The White Rabbit candy, the queen of candies!

When their mother first joined the family, she had eaten it once, and the taste was something she would remember for a lifetime.

As for what Li Ye said about her coming home with new shoes and causing her sister, who didn't receive equal treatment, to cry and pout, she didn't care at all!

In this era, the bloodline suppression of an older sister was that overbearing. If you want to wear nice shoes and clothes, wait until your older sister is done with them!

Don't like it? If you don't like it, I'll beat you. Even if you complain to Mother, you'll have no grounds, because you're the younger sister, not the younger brother!

Li Ye spent three yuan to buy two jin of White Rabbit candy, packed them into two bags, and handed them to Li Juan. Li Juan quickly unbuttoned the front of her padded jacket and tucked them inside, holding them tightly as if hugging her son.

"When we get back, one bag is for you two to eat, and the other bag is for Grandma to distribute. Understand?"

"Mmm, mmm. Mm-hmm."

Li Juan had candy in her mouth, reluctant to chew it up and swallow. She nodded her little head repeatedly, indicating she'd keep her promise. Her brother had already grabbed her a handful to eat on the way, and no matter how it was divided, she felt she'd come out ahead.

Li Ye walked with Li Juan for a bit, only turning back towards County Second High School after watching her small figure disappear around the corner.

As he walked, he pondered how to make money both safely and quickly.

Since he had arrived in this world, he wouldn't talk about grand ambitions for now. At the very least, he wanted to ensure the people around him could live a life where they didn't have to worry about affording a roast chicken every day.

In this era, there were opportunities everywhere for pigs to fly. Even a chicken feather could soar with the wind.

But there were also countless pigs that fell to their deaths and chickens that drowned.

For example, selling clothes and general merchandise by heading south to Guangdong Province might offer a chance to "eat the crab," but it also carried risks like having your wallet picked on the train, being scammed out of your goods in Guangdong, or even being robbed or having your merchandise confiscated. All sorts of accidents were possible.

Moreover, Li Ye's current age and status placed significant limitations on him.

He was a high school student, nineteen years old. Teachers took attendance every day. Could he abandon his studies to start a private business?

His father would break his legs, and his grandparents wouldn't even step in to stop him.

Even if he took a step back and his family agreed to him not going to college, they would expect him to join a state-run unit for work. Would they let him go out and speculate?

Even if the Li family was incredibly open-minded and willing to let Li Ye do whatever he pleased, it still wouldn't work!

Being born in this era, to ignore the golden highway of the college entrance examination—a "class leap"—and instead take a detour into business was something only a complete idiot would do.

The rise of private enterprises was still many years away. The social status of individual business owners now was lower than that of a gatekeeper with a stable position in a state-run unit.

So, if you wanted to do business now, you basically had to follow the path of a small vendor—a large vendor—a big businessman. It was the path of inspirational heroes who fought their way up from the very bottom.

Then, in a place like Great China, after decades of dominating the business world and accumulating immense wealth, you would inevitably hit an upper-class barrier.

You'd bring a pig's head to the temple gate, only to open it and find that the person who required you to grovel and kowtow just to get a glance was actually a big boss who graduated from university in the 1980s.

Tell me, aren't you impressed? Aren't you pissed off?

University students from the late 1970s and early 1980s saw their promotions skyrocket.

Especially those from the top four universities like Tsinghua, Peking, Renmin, and Science and Technology—many of them soared directly into the central government.

If Li Ye got into Tsinghua or Peking this year, in just four years, he would already have one foot in the "temple gate," leaping several social strata from the bottom of the pyramid.

For someone from an ordinary background, such an opportunity was truly precious, truly precious. It was basically a case of "once this village is gone, there won't be this inn."

Even if Li Ye couldn't stand being controlled later and chose to go into business instead of government, the vast network of classmates would be a powerful, exponentially growing support. He would naturally be several levels above those insignificant merchants.

This was because he was either in the same circle as various bosses or could get someone to introduce him easily.

What was the name of that university student Chen Jianghe met on the train? What was his status compared to Chen Jianghe when they graduated?

Were you better than Chen Jianghe?

Therefore, if he wanted to make money now, he could only try to balance both without affecting his studies, but there were too many restrictions in every aspect.

[What should I do?]

[Money must be made. A man cannot bow for a penny. I want both the fish and the bear's paw.]

Li Ye walked back to County Second High School with his head down. Because he was lost in thought, he didn't notice a person squatting at the entrance of the Second High School.

But that person saw him.

"Little brother, little brother... Heh heh, have you eaten? Have some candy, have some candy..."

Li Ye looked at the person in front of him, whose nose was running from the cold but whose face was full of smiles, and couldn't help but wonder.

"Could it be that I really am the protagonist, the Child of Destiny? That someone just happens to bring a pillow when I'm dozing off?"