Morning run

After night fell, Jiang Nian took a shower, returned to his room, switched on the air conditioner, and lay down on his bed.

He opened the panel and grinned before doing anything else.

Although Jiang Nian's grades were average, he was one of the starters on the school basketball team. To show off by playing a full game, he had quietly kept up a five-kilometer run every day for an entire semester.

Five kilometers in one go was as easy as drinking water.

His plan was to get up early tomorrow, run five kilometers first, then three, and finally finish the last two. After all, he understood that his energy would be highest at the start and dwindle with each successive effort.

After checking the mission, he pulled out his phone and looked at his bank balance.

Money gave a man confidence. The Jiang family wasn't particularly well-off, and his grandfather had been in poor health a few years ago. They had borrowed quite a bit of money over that period and had only just paid off their debts this year.

As a result, Jiang Nian didn't get much spending money either-three or four hundred a month at most.

Yet in just one afternoon, his account had gained a thousand yuan. Once he finished tomorrow's ten kilometers, another two thousand would land in his pocket, bringing the total to three thousand.

Earning money was pointless if he never spent it, so he opened a certain shopping site ending in "dong."

He was in his final year of high school. Even with a gaming company as his cover and a legitimate source for the money, his parents would still see earning money through games at the expense of his studies as getting his priorities backward.

He might face round after round of family interrogations, but Jiang Nian was thick-skinned and didn't give a damn. He had already told them, so he might as well seize the chance to do some shopping.

For ordinary people, the most straightforward ways to save money came in two combinations: buy fewer clothes and shoes, and cut back on water and electricity. As for appliances, phones, and electronics, don't replace them unless they break.

The Jiang family was no exception. Old Jiang and his mom hadn't replaced their phones, clothes, or shoes in two or three years. They rarely turned on the TV or air conditioner at home, and even used the water from rinsing rice to flush the toilet.

Frugality was a virtue, but this kind of frugality was clearly just about saving money. Quality of life didn't enter into it. They were simply tightening their belts to get by.

Clothes were hard to pick out, and he couldn't afford phones or appliances, so shoes were his only option.

Shoes were a necessity: a pair costing a few dozen yuan would do, but there was a reason some cost a few hundred. People walked every day, and a good pair of shoes mattered.

Jiang Nian first bought Old Jiang a pair of leather shoes for over five hundred yuan, then bought his mom a pair of soft-soled sneakers for over three hundred. While he was at it, he bought himself two pairs of shoes costing around two hundred each.

That round of shopping burned straight through thirteen hundred yuan.

He checked his balance. A hundred yuan.

All right, time for bed.

Meanwhile, the Jiang couple couldn't sleep.

Their bedroom was pitch-black as they talked in bed. Things they couldn't easily say in front of their child during the day could be discussed at night with the lights off.

"Ah, blink and suddenly our boy's all grown up." Jiang Weizheng lay with his hands behind his head, staring at the dark ceiling.

"He can even earn money now, and he cooked for us too."

"Isn't it good that Jiang Nian's finally showing some sense? What are you sighing about?" Li Hongmei rolled her eyes at her husband in the darkness. "Before, he'd run wild if we let him off the hook for three days."

"I've been wishing he'd grow up a little so I'd have less to worry about. Now I'm just worried that money isn't coming from somewhere legitimate. If he goes down the wrong path this young, he'll be done for."

"Surely it's not that bad. I know our boy. He knows where to draw the line." Jiang Weizheng lowered his hands and frowned. "I looked up that gaming company. It's pretty big."

"I figure earning a little money every month should be fine, as long as we don't let him get too hooked."

The couple chatted quietly for a while longer without reaching any conclusion. Then drowsiness set in, and remembering they had work tomorrow, they went straight to sleep.

The next day.

It was September, and dawn began breaking over the small southern county town at five.

Jiang Nian got up bright and early and changed into his running shoes. Out of habit, he glanced at Xu Qianqian's home across the hall. The door was shut tight. Uncle Xu was away on business, leaving her home alone.

Fine, I'll be generous and bring her some breakfast.

The early morning was a little chilly. The moment he went downstairs in his short-sleeved quick-dry shirt, the breeze raised goose bumps on his arms. Before him lay a fairly quiet street lined with old, privately built houses.

"Fuck."

On the running track at Nancheng Middle School, a lone figure cast an endlessly long shadow in the morning light.

Jiang Nian was drenched in sweat, with large patches soaking through the front and back of his shirt. Running wasn't strenuous for him, and the morning wasn't particularly hot, but anyone would sweat after running for long enough.

After he finished five kilometers, Jiang Nian's phone buzzed. He raised it to check. The reward had arrived.

"Hey! It's here."

A thousand yuan had come in. He took a bottle of water from his backpack, unscrewed the cap, and gulped down a few mouthfuls. He rested beneath the shade of a plane tree in the southwest corner, preparing for another three-kilometer push.

Before long, he had finished both the three kilometers and the final two.

XX Bank: Transfers received, 700 RMB, 300 RMB.

By now, Jiang Nian was a little breathless too. He looked as though he had just climbed out of the water, the strands of hair over his forehead separated by sweat, but his eyes were exceptionally clear.

By a conservative estimate, he could run another five kilometers after a rest. Aside from possibly struggling to get out of bed the next day, there would be practically no lingering effects.

For a certain reason, Jiang Nian had no objection whatsoever to training his legs.

He had no particularly lofty ambitions. As a strong high school boy who had been single since birth, he shared the same aspiration Mr. Ji Xianlin had held in his youth: all he wanted in this life was more...

The autumn air was crisp and breezy. The sun had just risen, bathing the streets in warm, clear light. Morning rays passed through gaps in the leaves and branches, the Tyndall effect tracing the shape of the light.

Wheeling his bicycle along, Jiang Nian bought four portions of breakfast before eight.

Prices in the county town were fairly low. Buns filled with shredded radish or leafy greens cost one yuan each, a cup of soy milk was one yuan, and fried dough sticks and meat buns were one and a half yuan apiece.

"Thirty in total. Here you go."

Ding! "Paid."

"Okay."

Breakfast cost thirty yuan altogether and filled a large bag. Jiang Nian alone could eat four meat buns, two fried dough sticks, soy milk, and another two or three vegetable buns.

The two thousand he had just earned, plus the 161 left from yesterday, minus thirty for breakfast, left him with 2,131 yuan.

Quite a few other people were carrying big bags of breakfast like Jiang Nian, but they were all elderly. They went to bed early and rose early, buying breakfast for their children and grandchildren who had work or school.

The bicycle's wheels rolled across the dry road, the boy's spirited figure framed by the golden morning light.

With a squeal, he braked sharply and jumped off the bicycle.

He carried the big bag of breakfast home and happened to catch his mom, Li Hongmei, just getting up. Her hair was disheveled, her eyes heavy with early-morning fatigue. She seemed to be planning to make breakfast.

Although prices in Zhen'nan County were already very low, making breakfast at home was still better value.

Four yuan's worth of rice noodles, chopped bird's-eye chilies and green peppers, garlic and scallions, mixed with some

chili oil, peanuts, cilantro, pickled long beans, and a blended sauce made a filling meal.

The living room curtains were drawn, leaving the room dim.

Wearing her mom-style pajamas that looked like curtains and a pair of slippers, Li Hongmei stared at her son as he came through the door reeking of sweat, then at the large bag of breakfast in his hand.

"You went out to buy breakfast?"

"Yeah, I picked it up after my morning run." Jiang Nian nodded and set the big bag on the table. "Mom, you don't have to work so hard. From now on, breakfast is on me."

(End of chapter)