Chapter 9

Chapter 10

The traditional Spring Festival was the happiest time for children. They had money in their pockets, no school to attend, and endless treats waiting when they came home exhausted from running wild outside. During the day on New Year's Eve, I left Zhang Xiaotong at home and went out alone. The streets were covered in firecracker scraps, patches of pink fluttering in the wind. I traveled alone from the urban area to a county-level city and arrived at a restaurant in a very out-of-the-way location. It had a large frontage and lavish decor. During the New Year holiday, hardly any restaurants on the streets were open. This one was a very special exception.

The restaurant's owner was Zhou Guangcheng, a little brat about the same age as I was now. His father was the director of the Urban Construction Bureau in Dongcheng District, Beiguan City. That year, his father had gone abroad on an inspection tour and left him 100,000 yuan at home. He had opened this restaurant with a few of his disreputable friends. Naturally, it was a restaurant that only lost money. These were all bits of his past I had picked up from him after getting to know him later on.

I walked into the restaurant and plopped down. "Boss, I'd like to order."

Zhou Guangcheng appeared with a cigarette in his mouth and a menu in his hand. He didn't yet have the worldliness he would have in 1999. Like me, he looked young and was still green. I ordered a few dishes and a bottle of beer, then sat waiting for the food, chatting with him on and off.

"You're the owner?"

"What, don't I look like it?"

"Not really, but heroes can be young. I'd believe you even if you said this building was yours."

"You know quality when you see it."

"Why aren't you taking the holiday off?"

"Nobody's home. No point going back, so I might as well keep doing business." Zhou Guangcheng spat his cigarette butt onto the floor and ground it underfoot several times. "It's New Year's. Getting a few fucking friends together is just as good a way to celebrate, isn't it?"

"You're right. Sometimes friends treat you better than relatives." I shared the feeling and sighed. "Fucking relatives are all bastards scheming against you."

I had reasons for saying that. First, now that Zhang Xiaotong had money, some of her poor relatives were starting to get ideas. Second, I knew Zhou Guangcheng. Although his father had some power, his relatives were a considerable burden on him, so Zhou Guangcheng had never had much affection for relatives, even as a child.

My words struck a chord with Zhou Guangcheng. "Well said. Relatives are a bunch of fucking bastards!" With that, he pulled up a stool beside me instead of standing at a distance as he had before.

I smiled at him. "Zhou Xingwen. What should I call you, brother?"

"Zhou Guangcheng."

"Oh, we even share a surname."

Of course I knew his name was Zhou Guangcheng. I also knew that the big fellow dozing nearby was Wang Huzhi, a young master whose family background was even more impressive than Zhou Guangcheng's. None of them had gathered here to make money. They just thought it was fun.

Since they liked having fun, I talked to them about fun things. Though two elementary school kids pretending to be seasoned veterans was already ridiculous enough.

"That's a nice car outside. A red Lincoln. Not many people around here can afford one. Yours?"

Zhou Guangcheng shook his head. "Not mine. It belongs to a buddy."

I smiled. "You seem to like motorcycles. I saw several parked outside."

"I like them a lot. I want to set up a motorcycle enthusiasts' association someday, buy that bike that costs over 700,000, and take it around the ring road a few times."

I knew I had found the right approach and began telling him how to smuggle motorcycles, along with all sorts of details about sailors' smuggling operations. In fact, these were all things I had heard from him many years later. I was merely giving them back in full now. Zhou Guangcheng listened with keen interest and, before we knew it, started drinking with me. Wang Huzhi woke up at some point and joined us. We drank until after two in the afternoon. I checked the time and had to say goodbye.

In the end, Zhou Guangcheng didn't charge me for the meal, and I didn't stand on ceremony. I took down his contact details and hurried away. I had only meant to make his acquaintance anyway. How to use him would have to wait until after his father's promotion. At this stage, I had no use for him.

It was almost four by the time I got back to the urban area, and I took a taxi home. Zhang Xiaotong was arguing with Zhou Xinglu. Her eyes lit up when she saw me return, and she grabbed me and pulled me away. "Come on, I've got something fun to show you."

I was bewildered as she dragged me along. "What is it?"

Zhang Xiaotong glanced back at Zhou Xinglu, who was following with a somewhat unwilling look, and whispered, "He's pestering me to death. Hurry up and think of something."

I glanced at Zhou Xinglu, who was more solidly built than either Zhang Xiaotong or me, and scratched my head. "Nothing comes to mind right now. The adults are all getting dinner ready. Let's just hide out at the shop."

With Zhou Xinglu following us, we went outside to hail a taxi. Zhang Xiaotong asked him quite comfortably, "Can you do accounts? I'm going to the cake shop to check the books. Come play with me after I get back."

Zhou Xinglu looked thoroughly annoyed, but there was nothing he could do. The two of us caught a taxi and quickly fled the scene, leaving Zhou Xinglu gritting his teeth by himself. I was a little puzzled. In my memory, he hadn't been this difficult to shake off. Had changing one point caused the whole picture to change along with it? Did that mean plenty of things in the future would still be beyond my control?

The cake shop wasn't far from home, and we soon arrived. As we got out, we saw people carrying things inside. Judging by the packaging, they were cake boxes and decorations. Zhang Xiaotong and I went in and saw my eldest uncle's wife signing something with someone. One look at her flustered expression told me she was settling a kickback with him. I had expected all this. After giving Zhang Xiaotong a light pat on the back, I walked over with her to look at my aunt's sweat-covered face.

It was winter, after all.

Zhang Xiaotong and I greeted my aunt with broad smiles, then greeted the supplier who was settling accounts with her. The supplier didn't know that Zhang Xiaotong had actually financed the shop and was still arguing with my aunt. "One yuan won't do. Eight mao at most."

Zhang Xiaotong smiled at my aunt. "Don't mind me. Carry on."

My aunt all but dropped to her knees. She practically pleaded with Zhang Xiaotong, "Xiaotong, I won't dare do it again..."

"It's fine. Anyone else we hired would do the same. Better to let our own family benefit." Zhang Xiaotong led me around the shop as though nothing had happened. "I just brought Xingwen here for fun. Let's close up in a bit and go home for the reunion dinner tonight."

Now my aunt was the one at a loss for words. She looked at Zhang Xiaotong, then at the supplier, whose face had turned awkward at their conversation. Gritting her teeth and stamping her foot, she said, "Take another 1.2 yuan off per jin. I won't take a single cent in kickbacks. Take it or leave it."

The supplier realized Zhang Xiaotong was the real boss and clearly couldn't quite wrap his head around it. He worked away at his calculator for a long time before concluding that he could still make a profit. After shipping and costs, however, his margin was very small.

Zhang Xiaotong delivered her verdict at just the right moment. "If you can lower the price a little, I guarantee we'll double our order volume starting next month."

No one dared take promises like that in business as a certainty, but since he wouldn't be making a loss, he readily agreed.

Once the goods had been sorted out, Zhang Xiaotong said to my aunt, "Auntie, how about this? It's the end of the year, so take two months' salary. There isn't much money in the shop right now. We'll talk again when business improves next year."

Thanking her profusely, my aunt brought the account book over for Zhang Xiaotong to inspect and told the employees on duty that day to tidy up and go home. Zhang Xiaotong had thoroughly picked up my generosity and gave each of them a red envelope containing 200 yuan. This wasn't customary in northern cities, and they went home pleasantly surprised and grateful.

We took a taxi home with my aunt. When Zhou Xinglu saw his mother returning with us, his expectant look turned into a shudder. I whispered to Zhang Xiaotong, "The cake shop has to be sold before June 1993. Let my aunt run it for a year, then replace her. She's too greedy for petty gains. It'll be hard for her to grow it or run it well."

"All right." Zhang Xiaotong glanced sidelong at Zhou Xinglu. "Should I tell Auntie on him?"

"No need. Just indulge his faults. In a couple of years, that arrogance of his will definitely trip him up. Since you don't like him, why help cure what's wrong with him?"

"You're vicious..." Zhang Xiaotong pinched me. "Don't you dare use these schemes on me in the future."

"Yes, yes. All I'd dare use on you is a cheeky grin..."

After the Spring Festival, school would soon start again. As I had expected, the cake shop's business boomed, so much so that Zhang Xiaotong had to double the staff to cope. In 1992, profit margins for Western-style pastries in China exceeded 200 percent or even 300 percent. In just one month, the cake shop's sales had nearly reached Zhang Xiaotong's entire original investment. I gave her a task: open another branch before school started. This time, I wouldn't write her business plan or help her choose a location and find people. It would all be up to him. I intended to put my youngest aunt's husband in charge of this branch. Although he wasn't very worldly, all I needed was a human cash register. I had no use for him in any other capacity.

The branch didn't need to be as large as the main shop. Once Zhang Xiaotong got personally involved, she proved quite capable, and within a few days she had done everything that could be done. At home, my uncle spent his days being berated by my youngest aunt as a useless man who "only knew how to bury his nose in books." He was deeply dissatisfied with his circumstances and hit it off with Zhang Xiaotong immediately. The day before summer vacation ended, he took over as manager of the Snow Fate branch.

Rubbing my chin and tapping at a calculator, I told Zhang Xiaotong, "Here's the plan. Run them for a full year. Within that year, at least twenty cake shops copying yours will appear. Ignore them and do your own thing. My preliminary estimate puts the two shops' profits at around 3.5 million, and that's conservative. By the beginning of next year, selling both shops for five million shouldn't be a problem."

Zhang Xiaotong's mouth was hanging open. "Is-is it really that much...?"

I smiled faintly. "Look at next month's sales."

The result of that remark was that throughout March 1992, I often saw Zhang Xiaotong looking distracted, fiddling with sheets of white paper and figures every day. I teased her, "Money grubber!" Zhang Xiaotong retorted with perfect conviction, "Who is it that racks his brains every day trying to make money? And you call me a money grubber? Hmph!"

That "hmph" was so sweet and charming that I had to concede defeat.

At the end-of-month reckoning, the two shops' combined sales came to nearly 400,000. Having anticipated this, I had told Zhang Xiaotong to instruct my aunt and uncle to keep the income and expenses confidential. Even so, I could still see my eldest uncle's and youngest aunt's bloodshot eyes at the dinner table.

I drew a curve for Zhang Xiaotong. "This is the projected change in income and expenses over a year. Low at first, high in the middle, then low again toward the end. It depends on publicity, competition, and various other factors over the year. I estimate peak monthly sales could reach nearly 700,000 or even 800,000, while the lowest should still stay above the 400,000 baseline. After deducting costs and expenses and accounting for the profit shares for my aunt and uncle after the shops are transferred next year, you might take home five million in a year, plus another five million from selling the shops."

Zhang Xiaotong was truly dumbfounded. When I used to write novels and spin all kinds of stories for her, she hadn't had much of a concrete sense of it. Now that I had placed heaps of money before her, she was beginning to feel a little out of her depth.

"Hey!" I waved a hand in front of her eyes. "Stunned?"

"A-a little..." Zhang Xiaotong dazedly grabbed my shoulder. "Xingwen, lend me your shoulder for a moment."

I sat beside her, and Zhang Xiaotong rested her head on my shoulder. "Xingwen, how are you so amazing?"

A jolt ran through me. I couldn't tell her that.

"Because I'm not alone. I have my cousin, someone like me."

"You're awful. Could you stop calling me your cousin?"

"Then what should I call you? Xiaotong, in front of our friends and relatives?" I smiled wryly. "We're already close enough. The adults only leave us alone because we're children."

Zhang Xiaotong wasn't a girl who failed to understand things. On reflection, it was true. She had been inseparable from me since I was very little. There was no way the adults hadn't noticed.

"Then... could you call me Xiaotong when no one else is around?"

I nodded. Seeing a stray lock of hair by her ear, I reached out and brushed it aside. Although I knew perfectly well that this sort of gesture was especially likely to win a girl's affection, I couldn't help doing it. After all, she was the only person in this world I could truly confide in.