After Li Ye and Hao Jian had arranged several matters, Li Ye stopped concerning himself with the sesame candy business and told Hao Jian not to come looking for him at school unless something major happened.
Hao Jian was very obedient. He did not come by for several days, only having Jin Peng return the 26 Phoenix bicycle on the fifth day.
Jin Peng said, "That Hao Jian has some skill. His business is doing pretty well. Over these past few days, he's sold more than sixteen hundred jin of sesame candy, and there'll probably be even more in a few days.
"Yesterday, we got hold of a flatbed cart. We won't need this Phoenix for now, right? It's inconvenient for you to be without a bicycle, Xiao Ye, and this bike is a little too eye-catching."
Li Ye nodded. "That works too. Be careful. Safety first, making money second."
"I know that," Jin Peng said. After thinking for a moment, he added meaningfully, "Don't worry! I'm keeping an eye on things!"
Li Ye could hear what Jin Peng meant. This guy had probably cast himself as the "military overseer," keeping Hao Jian under a watchful eye so he would not pull any tricks.
Li Ye said, "As long as you know what you're doing. Anyway, you and Qiangzi both have a share of the money. We'll split the cash at the end of the month."
Jin Peng chuckled and left.
In just a few days, he had earned more than thirty yuan—about the same as a master bricklayer at a construction company made in a month. How could he not be happy?
Time flew by, and more than ten days passed in the blink of an eye. By the end of the month, Li Ye's novel, "Undercover," had reached the submission stage.
"Li Ye, are we only submitting to two publishing houses? Shouldn't we send it to a few more? I copy manuscripts quickly. I can make another copy by tomorrow."
Little Mute, Wen Leyu, helped Li Ye stuff the manuscript into envelopes while trying unsuccessfully to persuade him.
Li Ye smiled and said confidently, "Two are enough. Trust me. I guarantee you'll get a share of the manuscript payment."
Wen Leyu shot Li Ye a sidelong glance, sounding slightly reproachful. "Can you stop talking about money, money, money all the time? I don't want any share from you."
When Li Ye had asked Wen Leyu to "proofread" the manuscript, he had mentioned paying her a "service fee." Wen Leyu had not paid it much mind at first, thinking he was joking, but now that Li Ye brought it up again, she felt it was inappropriate.
They were already so familiar with each other. Why bring money into it?
Li Ye did not argue with Wen Leyu any further. He arranged the two thick envelopes, then personally went to the post office to pay the "overweight postage" and mailed them to two publishing houses in the provincial capital and Island City respectively.
He was deeply grateful for the relaxed submission requirements of publishing houses in the 1980s. If anyone dared to play the game of submitting the same manuscript to multiple places in later years, they could wait to be blacklisted by every editor.
You two-timing scoundrels can forget about entering my gate.
As for both publishing houses accepting Li Ye's manuscript at once and causing some uncontrollable trouble, that was impossible as well.
Because the novel was fairly long, Li Ye had only sent out the first quarter. At the end, he humbly noted, "If you are interested in publication, please mail back a contact telephone number, and this author will submit the complete manuscript."
Once he got a phone number, it would be time to negotiate terms.
After leaving the post office, Li Ye did not return to school right away.
Today was the day he had agreed with Hao Jian to split the money. He needed to rush to Chenzhuang Township, thirty li away.
Originally, Hao Jian had planned to bring the money into the county seat for the split, but Li Ye had never visited the sesame candy processing site, so he decided to go take a look.
Riding the 26 Phoenix bicycle, Li Ye slowly passed through the streets beneath the winter sunset. He saw cinema employees beside the road painting a huge poster for "Lushan Love" on the display board outside.
"Lushan Love" was a classic film that had moved Li Ye's parents' generation in his previous life. The romance between a rich, beautiful young woman returning from overseas and the local male lead, who pledged their lives to one another, fulfilled every longing in the tender young hearts of that generation.
No one knew how many innocent young boys had had their hearts stolen in their dreams by Zhang Yu, the actress playing the female lead.
In later years, some influential online commentator had said that eighty percent of "Lushan Love's" enormous success came from the female lead's identity as a wealthy young lady returning from overseas.
If Zhou Yun had been replaced with a country girl, then no matter how deeply she and the male lead loved each other, no matter how tortuous and moving their romantic journey, it could never have achieved the original film's sensational impact.
Yet as Li Ye looked at Zhang Yu's big round face on the poster, he simply could not immerse himself in the feeling of a "beauty of the era."
Instead, the tall, thin, quiet Wen Leyu had appeared in his dreams once or twice.
Li Ye laughed and teased himself. "Sigh, my advanced aesthetic sense makes me so extraordinary."
Chenzhuang Township was thirty li from Qingshui County. After meeting up with Jin Peng, Li Ye arrived there after an hour, once night had fallen.
After arriving, Li Ye discovered that Hao Jian's home stood alone on a dirt slope, at least two li away from the village.
Jin Peng explained to Li Ye, "Hao Jian is from elsewhere. Since he married a pretty girl from this village, the locals pushed him out.
"So when he built his house, they forced him to settle far from the village. It has actually made things more convenient for our sesame candy processing."
Li Ye looked around. "Convenience comes with drawbacks. It's too deserted here. How is the security?"
Jin Peng said, "Nothing has happened so far. Hao Jian's wife's younger brother came over a few days ago to help boil the syrup. Qiangzi has been living here all along too, and they keep several dogs. If you're still worried, I can just move in as well."
Li Ye considered it and said, "Let's see first. If it doesn't work out in a few days, you can come over. I'll give you another allowance for your trouble."
Jin Peng smiled without refusing. He was a smart man. He knew what he should do and how much he should take.
Li Ye and Jin Peng entered the courtyard and saw Hao Jian, Wang Jianqiang, and a skinny young man in his twenties loading goods onto a cart.
Food at the time was not subject to much concern for hygiene. The dried sesame candy was simply packed into washed fertilizer sacks, then stacked bag by bag onto the flatbed cart.
Li Ye counted them. There seemed to be eight or nine hundred jin in total.
When Hao Jian saw Li Ye and Jin Peng enter, he said to the skinny young man, "Erzhu, take the dogs out for a walk. Cui'er's mother, go buy two packs of cigarettes from the supply store."
The skinny young man untied the ropes of two local dogs and took them outside to run wild, while a rather pretty woman led a little girl out the door.
As the little girl walked away, she kept turning back to look at Li Ye. She was skinny and small, timid enough to make one's heart ache.
Li Ye asked Hao Jian, "How is your daughter's illness?"
Hao Jian said, "Not bad. It hasn't acted up again these past few days. Once I save up a little more money, I'll take her to a big hospital in a big city."
Hao Jian led Li Ye into the house, while Jin Peng and Wang Jianqiang consciously stood guard at the courtyard gate, making it seem as if spies were holding a secret meeting.
Hao Jian lifted the cover of a cavity in the earthen kang inside the room. As he pulled out a bundle, he said, "I think we can't split the money only once a month anymore. There's too much cash. These past few days, I haven't even been able to sleep soundly lying on the kang."
"Too much money?" Li Ye laughed. "When you first cheated me out of money, did you ever think there would come a day when you'd complain about having too much?"
Hao Jian shook his head and laughed awkwardly. Back when he sold candy outside No. 1 High School, he truly had intended to treat Li Ye as a sucker. Who could have imagined that after only a few days, they would end up tangled together as a gang?
Puff—puff—
Hao Jian patted the dust off the bundle, peeled back layer after layer of wrapping, and revealed stacks upon stacks of banknotes inside.
"I divided up the money in advance as you instructed. Your share is 1,396 yuan and 52 fen. I bought five pairs of shoes according to your list, which cost 87 yuan and 3 fen.
"I rounded yours down to 1,320. My share is 950. Jin Peng—"
Although Li Ye had seen sums in the hundreds of thousands in his previous life, his heart still grew hot at the sight of that pile of money belonging to him.
There were not many ten-yuan or five-yuan notes among the thousand-plus yuan. Most were two-yuan and one-yuan bills, fluttering into a great heap.
That was only because Hao Jian had tried his best to give Li Ye the larger notes. The other shares were all filled with small-denomination bills.
Li Ye put the money into his shoulder bag, called Jin Peng inside, and gave him nearly two hundred yuan as an "escort fee."
Jin Peng had expected it and accepted it calmly. But when it came time to give Wang Jianqiang his share, the guileless fellow actually did not dare take it.
"Brother, it's too much, too much. I don't want it. As long as I can eat my fill, that's enough. These days, I've been able to eat my fill."
Thinking of Wang Jianqiang's family situation, Li Ye put the money away and said to him, "I can hold this money for you first, but you need to remember the amount yourself. This time, you should receive 89 yuan. I'll give you 9 yuan now and keep 80 yuan here for you. Remember that, understand?"
"Mhm, mhm, I remember, Brother."
Wang Jianqiang happily accepted the nine yuan, grinning so broadly that his mouth nearly reached his ears.
After all the money had been distributed, Li Ye and Hao Jian agreed that they would split the money every half month from now on. If the amount became too large, they would split it every ten days instead.
But just as Li Ye was preparing to leave, Hao Jian handed him a package and said, "These are the shoes you asked me to buy in the provincial capital. There's something else too.
"A few days ago, village cadres asked me what I'd been busy with lately. I covered it up, but they might ask again. See if you can pull some strings and get us some paperwork."
Li Ye's gaze sharpened. "What connections? What paperwork?"
Hao Jian looked a little guilty, but he still said, "That day, I heard Jin Peng say that your grandfather works in the grain system. The grain system used to run food-processing rural cooperative households—"
Li Ye gave Hao Jian a cold look, then pushed his bicycle away with Jin Peng.
On the road, Li Ye asked Jin Peng, "Did you let Hao Jian learn about my grandfather's identity?"
Jin Peng smiled. "Do you think I accidentally let it slip?"
Li Ye asked in confusion, "Could it be that you deliberately told the old man?"
Jin Peng said, "Xiao Ye, we've been constantly buying rice, glutinous rice, and other ingredients these past few days. Did you think the old man hadn't caught wind of it? He used to be an investigator."
"..."
Li Ye froze for a moment, then understood.
So while he had thought himself flawless in calculation, strategizing behind the curtain, his family had already been covering for him from behind.
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