Returning to '97, creating a new life

The cotton shoes on my feet and the cotton gloves on my hands could no longer keep me warm. A chill seeped in, and my feet and hands began to feel a burning, itchy discomfort.

Xu Kai looked up to check the road, then kept his head down, gripped the handlebars of the tricycle with both hands, and pushed it forward.

The principle for building residential buildings in factory areas is practicality.

Rows of single-story houses, neat and orderly, all facing the same direction; your back window faces the next alleyway. There are a dozen or so houses in one alley, each with a small, orderly courtyard.

The width of the large iron gate is just enough to push a normal tricycle through, which was a practical design consideration when it was built.

When she got home, it was already dawn. Sun Xiuyun was awakened by the commotion outside. She saw her son, dressed in bulky clothes, pushing in a cart full of apples. First, she asked if her son was cold, then she frowned at the cart full of apples. In her worldview, small vendors were not advisable.

In the 1980s, doing business was not as good as being a worker; being employed by the state was the only way to succeed. Those who went into business were considered unorthodox and unconventional. Even if someone made money selling clothes, it was just something to talk about in casual conversation. Although their lives improved and they became richer, it did not change the established perception of most people. Being a worker was the most worthy of pride.

In the 1990s, the trend of doing business began to take off, but it was all about doing respectable business. The minimum standard was to have a stall in a shopping mall. Those small vendors who braved the wind and rain, no matter how much they earned or how much more than an ordinary worker, were not considered by most people to be doing a proper job. Selling vegetables in a state-run supply and marketing cooperative and selling vegetables at home were not the same thing; the former were workers, and the latter were small vendors.

Xu Kai's street vending is not something to be praised by his relatives. Even at the dinner table, several uncles criticized his mother, saying that in their opinion, the child should have a proper job, otherwise what will happen to him in the future?

Being a small vendor is clearly better than being a street hustler, so his uncles couldn't say Xu Kai was wrong. They tacitly approved, didn't mention it, didn't support him, and neither praised nor criticized him.

Seeing her son braving the wind and snow, his eyelashes covered in white frost, Sun Xiuyun felt sorry for him and quickly took the broom she used to sweep the kang (a heated brick bed) to brush the snow off him.

"There are still some left, I have to go there again." Xu Kai carried the boxes one by one into his small room.

The storage room is cold, while the main house and kitchen have stoves that burn heat, making it suitable for short-term storage without affecting the quality of the food. This is Xu Kai's small room.

He lifted the bedding from the small bed in the morning, rolled it up, and piled it in the corner. Now the bed frame and the floor have been cleared out, and boxes of apples are piled up.

"Son, what are you doing? Gathering so many apples, are you sure you can sell them all? Aren't you going to school? This is ridiculous!"

Faced with his mother's nagging, Xu Kai didn't offer a detailed explanation: "I'll only sell tomorrow and the day after. Mom, come back and talk to me if you need anything!"

After saying that, he ran off again, riding his slippery tricycle, and finally made it to the fruit wholesale market with great difficulty. By then it was already dawn, and there was no longer any opportunity or environment for him to choose. He could only choose one of the wholesalers whose average quality of goods was relatively high and buy another truckload of nearly a thousand kilograms.

As this time approaches, wholesale prices also rise. Business people are shrewd; every year on Christmas Eve, when apples are given as gifts, the shops, supply and marketing cooperatives, and vendors know to sell them at a higher price, so how can wholesalers not raise their prices?

If you vendors earn more, we'll earn more too, since the extra portion will be paid for by the customers anyway.

The first batch was selected, and the second batch was bought in bulk. The quality was top-notch, which exhausted all of Xu Kai's funds, averaging more than two yuan per kilogram.

The morning sun did not dispel the cold; on the contrary, because of the snow last night, the morning was dry and cold. Even with more breakfast stalls and commuters on the streets, the roads did not improve; in fact, they became worse. Xu Kai was frozen to the bone, and the itchy feeling, accompanied by a slight warmth, was very uncomfortable. He could only stop and jump up to increase the release of his body heat and prevent the feeling of being burned by the cold from becoming a reality.

He had personally witnessed an older brother from a neighbor's family on his maternal grandmother's side rushing to the hospital in the dead of winter to visit an elderly relative who was hospitalized with a sudden illness. He didn't wear gloves and rode his bicycle to the hospital with bare hands. In less than 30 minutes, he suffered severe frostbite and had all ten fingers amputated.

He took his hands out of his gloves and rubbed them together vigorously, then stretched out his palms, clenched them into fists, and repeated this process.

Without using his breath to warm his palms, external heat could potentially have negative effects, though Xu Kai wasn't entirely sure. His excellent physical condition allowed him to quickly adjust and feel much more comfortable, so he pushed the cart home in one go.

Every penny earned in a small business comes from four parts of the era's dividends, three parts of forward-thinking judgment, two parts of hard work, and one part of thick skin.

Nothing is easy.

The complete overthrow of the "iron rice bowl" system was an inevitable consequence of the times, not a tragedy. The ambition and creativity of a group of people who had lived the same way for ten, twenty, or thirty years were worn down by their stagnant and uneventful lives.

Faced with his mother's confusion, Xu Kai gave a brief explanation, saying that he had already bought all kinds of wrapping paper.

Sun Xiuyun didn't understand what Christmas Eve was, and she didn't understand the custom of giving apples as a symbol of peace. She didn't believe or understand that Xu Kai's big, red Fuji apples, wrapped in colorful paper, could sell for four or five yuan each.

No matter how much she didn't understand, her son had bought all the apples, and he had even used his own money, so Sun Xiuyun couldn't say anything more.

"You silly child, always causing trouble. Let me make this clear: no skipping classes, no neglecting your studies..."

Faced with his mother's nagging, Xu Kai didn't argue back, letting her vent her anger. Many young people's arguments are unnecessary. When you feel that your parents' outdated ideas are useless, you don't need to make them understand. Just listening to their nagging is enough to satisfy them.

As Sun Xiuyun rode her bicycle to work, still muttering to herself, Xu Kai put a big apple in his mother's pocket and waved with a smile.

Looking at the boxes of apples piled up in his hut, he placed the remaining boxes in a corner of the main room away from the hearth. He then checked the stove and added less coal than usual. Although it only needed to sit for two days, excessively high or low temperatures would significantly increase the "changes" in the apples. Whether it was over-ripening due to heat or frost damage from freezing, it would seriously affect his profits.

They mainly do business with acquaintances.

There were vendors near the school, but his stall earned more than others. His student status played a significant role, and his later status as a campus star further enhanced his student status.

If the apples aren't of good quality, Xu Kai would rather not sell them or sell them at a loss than make money by dishonest means. The four halls make money off the children, but there's a basis for mutual consent and providing emotional support at an equal cost. Selling inferior apples to the students is worse than the owner of the gambling machines in the arcade.

Finally, standing in the kitchen, looking through the two doors at the apples in the rooms, Xu Kai took a deep breath and muttered, "Looks like I'll be working late tonight. This is a huge project."

Wrap it up and tie it with ribbon; it's not difficult. The quantity determines the amount of work involved.

Xu Kai did consider asking for help, but there were no suitable people. He still had that old mindset: even if his family members asked, they probably wouldn't come, and he would probably just get a few complaints.

Uncle Heitu was right. No matter how big your butt is, that's how big your underwear will be. I can sell this 1,000-plus pounds.

Despite rushing around, he was late for morning self-study. Recently, Teacher Lü has stopped making a big deal out of it. Given his status as a special admission student, there's no need to have too high expectations of him.

The reason for making you stand as punishment is to maintain the psychological balance of the other students in the classroom. You were specially admitted, so don't be too arrogant. I'm punishing you for the good of more people, to prevent them from becoming psychologically unbalanced, and to let them vent their anger.

Xu Kai understood, so he never argued and faithfully carried out the homeroom teacher's punishment.

"Old Lu, really, you've already been specially admitted, why bother? If it were me, I'd take leave and not come to school. That's a high school, how many students from our school can get in each year?"

Xu Kai, who had been punished by standing for the first period, returned to his seat. Wang Lei turned around from the seat in front of him and spoke up for him.

Xu Kai smiled but didn't explain. He couldn't let Wang Lei, who was at this age, understand what "balance" meant. If it weren't for their good relationship, and if Xu Kai had become a privileged student in the class, Wang Lei would also have been one of those who felt unbalanced.

Xu Kai listened to the second English class for more than ten minutes. This course was indeed too difficult for him. Rote memorization of vocabulary could only guarantee him a few more points on the test. The teacher's pronunciation was not standard enough, and the classroom was a chaotic mix of Chinese and English. It was destined that it would be very difficult to get both listening and speaking skills in such a third-rate middle school.

Are you OK?

I am fine, and you?

I'm fine too, thank you.

Uh.

Xu Kai lowered his head. Students in the back rows wouldn't be called on by the teacher, especially in the third year of junior high. The teachers would focus on the students in the first two or three rows who were preparing for the entrance exams.

As long as you don't disturb others or disrupt classroom discipline, as the third year of junior high school progresses, teachers begin to focus their attention and no longer cater to all students. Those in the back of the class who can't even get into a vocational school can sleep or read extracurricular books without any problem.

Xu Kai was writing diligently in his large notebook for Chinese language lessons.

[Tomorrow morning, at the gate of my own school, arrive at 6:40.]

[Tomorrow at noon, go to the entrance of Tieyi Middle School. Have that kid Dong Bin help promote it.]

After school in the afternoon, near my own school gate, and after taking leave from evening self-study, I will deliver some of the packaged apples (symbols of peace and good fortune) to the grocery stores near several schools, depending on the situation during the day.

At 6:40, I arrived back at my school gate before evening self-study ended.

[At 7:50, I arrived at the school gate before evening self-study ended at Tieyi Middle School.]

[I'll try to get to the gate of the high school before 9:00 AM.]

[The day after tomorrow morning, at a high school.]

[The day after tomorrow at noon, Tieyi Middle School and our own school will each have half the time.]

[Any leftovers will be sold at a discounted price that evening.]

With time running out and the task urgent, Xu Kai decided to abandon the fifth option. Compared to the profits from small daily necessities and the "Peace Apple," he didn't want to encounter any trouble and waste the golden opportunity of only two and a half days of sales.