The Road of Life, Ah 1

Heaven and earth were vast, but political labels were greater than all.

Chen Qi flung one damning label after another at them, and their health bars dropped with a whoosh, leaving them on their last slivers in the blink of an eye...

He grabbed the leader by the collar like a soul-snatching, life-taking specter. "What work unit are you from? You insulted the working people today. If you don't tell me, don't even think about leaving!"

"Let go!"

"Let go of me!"

The young man leading them seemed to remember something. His face turned pale, and he kept trying to pry Chen Qi's hands off.

"I liked you better when you were wild and unruly. Could you go back to that?" Chen Qi said with a smile.

"Big brother, brother, my dear ancestor, I was wrong, I was wrong! I shouldn't have provoked you. I've got a filthy mouth, all right? I'll slap myself. Just let me go..."

Calling these people evil would have been a stretch. They were just flippant and ill-mannered. Seeing things head in an unpredictable direction, they panicked and grew afraid, wanting only to escape as quickly as possible.

"What are you all crowding around for?"

"Make way!"

Just then, a police officer in a white uniform pushed through the crowd. Seeing the situation, his heart tightened. Another fight???

It was no wonder they thought that way. With 400,000 unemployed young people in the city, how much trouble did they stir up every day? Their superiors had also warned them over and over to be cautious when handling related matters.

"Comrade officer, here's what happened..."

Instead, Chen Qi let go and stepped forward to explain. The officer listened with a blank expression, then said, "Whatever your disagreement is, talk it over calmly. Don't shove each other around. This is Qianmen. There are a lot of foreign guests here, so mind the impression you make."

"We absolutely won't cause you any trouble, but he insulted us. We want the neighborhood office to speak with their work unit. We certainly won't settle this privately, much less get into a fight."

"..."

The officer looked at him for a moment, then at the twelve educated youths behind him. They weren't just twelve people, but part of an incomparably vast group! The officer turned to the guy. "What work unit are you from?"

"Speak up! What work unit are you from?"

The man mumbled an indistinct reply.

"What place?"

"The No. 2 Plastics Factory!"

"All right, I know now. Thank you, comrade officer!"

Chen Qi stepped back of his own accord.

Then he spat. Who the hell did a plastics factory worker think he was? It wasn't as if he worked at the steel rolling mill, with millions of readers across countless worlds, not to mention that slut Qin Huairu...

After the few men fled for their lives and the officer left too, Chen Qi was immediately treated like a hero. In that short time, his companions had experienced anger, helplessness, surprise, and delight. Life's ups and downs were simply too exciting!

"Chen Qi, you're amazing!"

"Wow, how are you so good with words? I didn't even know what to say back there."

"I see you in a whole new light. You've kept your talents hidden. You're the real master here!"

The young woman who had brought him the lump of pickled vegetables also changed her attitude completely. "You don't have to work anymore," she said excitedly. "We'll do it. If you like squatting, just squat over there. It's fine even if you squat there all day."

"Why would I squat all day? Do I have hemorrhoids?"

Chen Qi waved a hand and walked over to the cash box. "Keep selling. Half the day's gone by, so I'll work out how much we've made."

This time, no one resented him for not working. One by one, they went back to selling big-bowl tea, their eyes as clear and foolish as ever. They seemed to think the matter had passed, and that no one would ever look down on them again.

"A bunch of rookies!"

He shook his head and started counting the money in the box. It was a huge hassle, since it was mostly one- and two-fen coins. Sadness welled up in him again. I'm a boss, at least, and here I am counting pennies?

After a long while, he finished counting: half a day's revenue came to 20 yuan, 6 jiao, and 8 fen!

That meant they had sold more than a thousand bowls of tea.

Good grief. This really was the early period of reform and opening up. These days, you could become a ten-thousand-yuan household selling a lump of shit, or make a million selling melon seeds.

He told only Huang Zhanying, lest the others show their delight and let the news slip. Then, on his very first day at work, he asked for time off. "I suddenly feel unwell, so I'd like to take the rest of the day off. Sorry, sorry!"

"Go on, go on. Get some proper rest!"

"It's fine, we're here!"

"Oh, you're the one who does the thinking. Leave this to us!"

Everyone's attitude did a complete 360, and none of them minded in the least.

"All right, I'm off!"

Chen Qi left as soon as he said he would. After walking a little way, he looked back and couldn't help smiling. "What a bunch of innocent rookies!"

A little after one in the afternoon.

Chen Qi returned home. His parents were at work as usual.

He first checked his screenplay. He had already written most of it, with only the final bit left to wrap up. The whole thing was about fifty thousand characters long. Selling tea had cost him half the day, so he didn't want to dawdle any longer. He got straight into the flow.

The tip of his pen rustled across the manuscript paper, and a very simple love story sprang to life on the page. Simple as it was, this was an era when people were embarrassed to talk about love. Let it out into the world, and it would scare a whole bunch of people to death.

When he finally looked up again, he let out a satisfied breath. He gave it a quick once-over, put the manuscript in a brown paper envelope, and wrote:

"For Film Creation magazine, Beijing Film Studio!"

All sorts of things had kept delaying him, so writing the screenplay had taken ten days from start to finish. Chen Qi felt a little excited. He was finally going to stay at a guesthouse, and the Beijing Film Studio's guesthouse was pretty nice.

Never mind that they were in the same city. You could still get a free stay in the same city. It was tradition.

"Chen, is Chen Qi home?"

"Is Chen Qi home?"

Auntie Wang's breathless voice suddenly came through the dry spring wind.

The old lady had jogged all the way over, and her blood pressure was nearly through the roof. Clearly, she had heard the news. As soon as she entered, she saw the little brat turn a brown paper envelope over and immediately cried out, "What are you holding? What are you holding?"

"This?"

"Oh, my dear little ancestor!"

Auntie Wang nearly fainted. "You really did write it! You mustn't do anything foolish!"

"What's wrong with writing this? You should be very familiar with it, shouldn't you?"

"I'm scared precisely because I'm familiar with it! At my age, I can't take all this upheaval from you youngsters. As soon as I heard, I hurried over to find you..."

Auntie Wang earnestly tried to persuade him, treating him even more like a grandson than her own grandson. "I heard the whole story. Really, what was the big deal? They just made a few smart remarks, and you wouldn't let it go. Is this something you can just write on a whim?"

"I don't like the sound of that. You call that a few smart remarks? They were pointing right at the noses of us 400,000 unemployed youths and cursing us!

"Ask yourself honestly, haven't the thirteen of us been obedient enough? We haven't fought or messed around with the opposite sex. You told us to sell big-bowl tea, and we agreed. We all respect you as an elder, but what gives other people the right to curse at us?

"We were the ones who got cursed at. We're the victims. You're not taking our side, but theirs?

"I feel wronged!"

Chen Qi rubbed his eyes, his nose stinging. It was just like the damn thing was real.

"I know things haven't been easy for you..."

"No, you don't!"

Chen Qi cut her off. "Even if we listen to you and let this matter go without pursuing it, can you guarantee there won't be a second time? Don't you know perfectly well whether people look down on us for selling big-bowl tea? If this happens again, we'll put up with it, and keep putting up with it, and always put up with it. Aren't you afraid things will explode in the end?"

Explode?

Hiss!

The old lady shuddered.

"Then what are you getting at, kid? How do you want to handle it?"

"First, those bastards have to be disciplined! Second, make them apologize publicly!"

"Apologize publicly?"

"At the tea stall, in front of the people, they have to give us a proper apology!"

"But that... that would be slapping their work unit in the face. They definitely won't agree."

"I don't care. If they don't agree, I'll put it up!"

"No, no, no, just wait a little. I'll go talk to their work unit. Will you wait for my answer?"

"All right, since you're the one asking!"

Chen Qi reluctantly agreed, and Auntie Wang left with a head full of high blood pressure.

Actually, he didn't want to write it either. That sort of thing was too likely to stir up trouble. But he wasn't sure whether that lousy plastics factory could be intimidated, so he was preparing for both possibilities.

Chen Qi wasn't a noob like Huang Zhanying and the others. Today's incident was far from over. As long as they kept selling big-bowl tea, they would inevitably face more discrimination. At the root of it, people's attitudes had to change, but that was too difficult.

Better to use a simple method: make the tea stall famous!

Once it was famous, preferably with leaders coming to inspect it, that would be like having another protective talisman.

"Words are like knives. They can kill, and they can also lift people up!"

"And I need to become famous too. The earlier you make a name for yourself, the better!"

Chen Qi sat down, took out a fresh sheet of manuscript paper, and thought for a moment. Then he picked up his pen and wrote a title: "The road of life, ah, why does it grow narrower the farther I walk?"

When he finished writing it, he looked up, then continued.

Ideas truly gushed forth like a spring, inspiration flowed like a burst bladder...

(End of chapter)