Feng Jun had not returned home for nearly two years. Since the Spring Festival the year before last, he had never come back to this county town.
But this time, he returned in far greater style than the year before last, bringing two cars: a Satpa and a Magotan.
Traveling with him were his classmates Li Xiaobin and Mou Miao. Liu Xiaoxuan had also come along with Mou Miao.
Feng Jun's hometown lay at the border between two provinces. It was a small county called Chaori, under the jurisdiction of Yunyuan City. With a population of over two hundred thousand, its economy was relatively underdeveloped and centered mainly on agriculture and forestry.
Feng Jun's family lived in the county town. His grandfather's generation had already held urban household registration. His grandmother had given birth to five children, three of whom survived. Feng Jun's father, Feng Wenhui, was the eldest, with a younger brother and a younger sister.
Their home was located in the old district of Chengguan Town. The streets were not particularly wide, but the old department store, textile factory, and printing plant had all been there. Forty years ago, it had been the undisputed center of Chaori.
But now, the area seemed rather run-down. There were countless illegally built structures, overhead pipes and wires tangled into a dense web, and sewage flowed across the ground. The drainage system built fifty years ago could no longer meet the needs of the steadily developing city.
Feng Jun's home was in a courtyard beside the road. It had originally consisted of three single-story rooms, but after the street-facing side was demolished and rebuilt into a small two-story building, one of their rooms was torn down as well. The county government compensated them with a second-floor storefront.
In a small county town,