Chapter 115: Searching for Him in the Crowded Throng

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The Spring Festival was not yet over, but the mouth of the alley had already turned into a construction site once more. Of the original row of houses, only the tailor shop and the hair salon still stood there in lonely isolation. Their signs, doors, and windows had all been replaced. There were still a few scorch marks on the walls, but they were no longer very noticeable. The houses beside them, which had long since been reduced to ruins, had been demolished by workers sent over from the subdistrict office. To speed up the cleanup, the office had somehow obtained a bulldozer, which shoveled load after load of rubble onto two large Dongfeng trucks.

“Old Jin, it’s all settled, then. I’ve already reported the lease agreement to the district. This time, the district chief has spoken: we must seize the opportunity and make this place into a model, then promote this approach elsewhere. If possible, we should renovate as many of the old houses along the main streets as we can while using as little state manpower as possible. I went ahead and acted first, then reported afterward, and turned your idea into mine. I’m truly ashamed, truly ashamed. You won’t hold it against me, will you? I’m also caught up in the ways of officialdom and can’t always help myself!”

Director Zhou was dressed more smartly than usual that day. He wore a dark blue Sun Yat-sen suit, its collar button fastened right up to his throat, with a black speckled-wool coat draped over it. His three-piece leather shoes shone like mirrors.

“Listen to you! Even if the idea did come from me, I couldn’t possibly get in front of the district chief. If not you, then who? You simply had the foresight to consider the residents of our neighborhood. Put someone else in your position, and I doubt they would have seen this far ahead. What do you think, Brother Zhou? You’ve been working at the subdistrict office for seven or eight years now. Could this be your chance to move up?”

Uncle Jin’s talent for flattery was only slightly inferior to Hong Tao’s. Coming from a man of his age, however, his words carried even greater weight.

“Hey... don’t put it that way. Aren’t all our Party cadres supposed to serve the people? Anyone else in my position would have done the same. We were all raised under the Party’s guidance. I’m only telling you this in confidence, but the district really is about to reshuffle its grassroots officials. I may actually be transferred somewhere else. Ah, I’m reluctant to leave. The people here have given such strong support to our work!”

Director Zhou managed to maintain his official tone for only half a sentence before he could no longer contain himself. In a low voice, he told Uncle Jin that he might be transferred. There was no need to ask whether it would be a promotion—it certainly would be. Every inch of his face radiated delight.

“Then let me congratulate you in advance. Wherever a cadre like you is transferred, it will be a blessing for the people of the district. Besides, even if you rise higher, you still won’t be able to leave East City behind, will you? We’ll still be your people.”

Uncle Jin offered him a cigarette.

“That’s not quite right. What do you mean, he can’t leave East City? Uncle Zhou is perfectly capable of going even further. Moving to the city government would be nothing unusual. We can’t let personal feelings stop Uncle Zhou from continuing to advance!”

Hong Tao evidently felt that the flattery was not loud enough, so he joined in personally and added another line.

“Hahahaha! Old Jin, your family has excellent feng shui. Every one of you is becoming sharper than the last. All right, then, we’ll leave it at that for now. I have a meeting this afternoon. The drawing you gave me is truly useful. This time I’m supposed to introduce our advanced experience to the other subdistricts. Without your drawing, where would I have found any experience to introduce? I’ll just play a child’s game with them—matching pictures to words! Heh heh! Now that the whole thing is laid out before them, who can accuse me of making it all up? I’ll be off!”

Director Zhou planted both hands on his hips and threw back his head in laughter. For a moment, he really did have the bearing of a mayor.

“Ah... Joking aside, my heart still feels empty. Once we sign the contract in a few days, we’ll have to put more than forty thousand yuan into it right away—and that’s only for most of the houses on the southern side. If we demolish these two shops as well and rebuild them as a connected second-story structure, we’ll have to put in another ten thousand or more. I’ve never seen so much money in my life. Tao, are you really sure about this?”

The moment Director Zhou left, Uncle Jin’s face fell. Putting so much money down at once—though it was not all his alone—still made his heart bleed.

“How about this, Uncle Jin? I’ll pay for the entire construction myself. In return, I won’t charge Big Ling any rent for her shop. She can use it free of charge. What do you think?”

Hong Tao’s ears were nearly callused from hearing this. For the past few days, Uncle Jin had discussed the prospects of the investment with him every hour.

“Forget it. Either way, we’re taking the blow. Whether I tuck my head in or stretch my neck out, I’ll still get cut. I’d rather stretch it out. At least then there’s some hope of getting the money back. Keep an eye on things here. I have to go to the station. We’re short-handed, so I need to discuss borrowing a few people from another station with the chief. There isn’t much work for them this time of year anyway.”

At last, Uncle Jin seemed to have made up his mind. He stopped grumbling at Hong Tao. Since investing the money was now unavoidable, he had to make sure the construction was done properly.

“All right, go ahead. I’ll watch things here. And Uncle, don’t be stingy about the labor costs. Pay them well. If we finish a day sooner, we start earning a day sooner. The construction schedule matters more than the wages!”

Hong Tao was still worried about him. He feared Uncle Jin would become too preoccupied with the labor costs and refuse to offer a high enough price. The employees of the housing bureau would not do any real work for you on salary alone. Without a little extra incentive, who would put their heart into it?

“I understand!”

Uncle Jin swung one leg over his bicycle and rode away in a great hurry.

In truth, there was not much for Hong Tao to do there either. Officials from the subdistrict office were supervising the clearing of the ruins, and there was no way a little boy like him could help. At most, he could watch the workers painting fresh varnish over the shop fronts and make sure they did not slack off or skip a coat. In any case, he no longer cared very much whether they painted them or not. In two months at most, the two shops would be torn down and everything moved into the new building.

“Hey, young master! What are you doing standing out in the street in this freezing weather?”

Hong Tao was leaning against a large tree, watching the bulldozer push down one broken wall after another while he pondered how to plan the renovation of the two shops. Suddenly, a voice boomed behind him like thunder.

“...Why, Second Master Na! I’ve missed you terribly. I went looking for you several times, but every time you had already gone out on a job. Where are you headed today?”

Hong Tao turned around and saw an old man in a black padded coat pedaling a tricycle. He had stopped behind him.

“I’m going over toward Heping Lane. What are you doing here? What’s so interesting about watching houses being demolished? How are your cricket jars coming along?”

The old man was Second Master Na, whom Hong Tao had not seen for more than half a year. Despite the bitter cold, he wore nothing but a felt cap, and his cheeks were bright red.

“Oh, my family opened two little shops here. There was a fire nearby a few days ago, so I’m keeping an eye on things and making sure the people at the shops clean everything up properly. By the way, if you’re free, why don’t we go have a drink? I’ve got some good liquor here—Mao-tai. What do you say?”

Hong Tao happened to have nothing else to do, and he still had plenty of questions for the old man about raising crickets.

“Mao-tai? Did you steal it from your parents?”

The old man’s eyes widened at the mention of fine liquor.

“Do I look that shameless? I bought this with foreign-exchange certificates at the Friendship Store. I’ve been saving it especially for you. I’ve also got some hairtail and beef. The restaurants are closed during the holiday, so park your tricycle in front of my shop and come inside for a drink. Come on, I’ll help push it.”

Without waiting to see whether the old man agreed, Hong Tao ran behind the tricycle and began pushing.

“Hey, hey, hey... slow down! Slow down, you little rascal! You’re even more reckless than I was as a boy. And you’ve got beef too? Now that’s good stuff!”

In a flurry, the old man steered the tricycle up onto the sidewalk and parked it in front of the hair salon. He climbed down, picked up a white towel, and gave himself a thorough dusting before following Hong Tao inside.

“This is Second Master Na. He’s my buddy. That’s how we count generations, right, Grandpa?”

Hong Tao led the old man inside. The girls in the room all stared at him in bewilderment. He was dressed like someone who had stepped out of another era.

“I’m buddies with your grandfather, and I’m buddies with you too? Is that how your family handles seniority?”

The old man burst out laughing and found himself a chair.

“Oh, then we can skip the separate distinctions. I’ll call you Grandpa too. But when have you ever heard of a grandson inviting his grandfather to drink? Haven’t we got things backward?”

Hong Tao loved bantering with people who had a sense of humor, testing who could outtalk whom.

“Hey! If you put it that way, then after I drink your liquor, my seniority has to drop a level!”

The old man was no solemn figure himself. He could trade barbs with a child for half a day.

“Not at all. Your seniority hasn’t gone down—mine has gone up. By following you, I’ve risen in rank. Isn’t that wonderful?”

Hong Tao simply refused to call him Grandpa.

“All right, all right. Call me whatever you like. Enough with the nonsense. Bring out the real stuff. Where’s that liquor you promised?”

Second Master Na knew he could not win an argument with Hong Tao, so he gave in. Besides, he had no family left at home. Whatever the boy called him, it made no difference.

“Swallow, go to my grandmother’s house and bring back that half-bottle of Mao-tai. While you’re there, bring some beef, hairtail, and whatever else you can carry. And get us a can of preserves too.”

Hong Tao had already learned how to order people around. When outsiders were present, the girls still understood that they needed to show the young master proper respect.

“Are all these people members of your family? Why are they all about the same age?”

Second Master Na was curious about why there were so many girls in the room.

“Heh heh, they’re all employees at the shops. That one is my aunt, and the short-haired one is my cousin.”

Hong Tao gave the old man a rough introduction.

“Then your whole family has become a collection of petty capitalists! And you still dare to hire workers? Isn’t that capitalism?”

The old man apparently did not even read the newspapers. His way of speaking was still stuck in the tone of several years earlier.

“That’s ancient history. Times have changed. The country now encourages people to run their own businesses. You really don’t read books or newspapers, do you?”

Hong Tao gave him a look of deep contempt, then took out a pack of Marlboros and offered him one.

“I don’t smoke that stuff. And you, a child, are carrying cigarettes? Don’t the adults in your family discipline you?”

Although Second Master Na had eaten with Hong Tao once before, he had never really gotten to know him. Now, the more he looked at the boy, the stranger he seemed.

To be continued...