“Of course I will!” You Jianyuan sneered dismissively. “Just don’t get jealous then. Be a good consultant now, and next time I grab provincial awards, I’ll save you a seat.”
Once his nephew finished, You Changgui scolded, “Jianyuan, look at your attitude—can’t talk to Master Chen like that! He’s a Mine District elder—even old Mine Chief respects him.”
Turning, You Changgui smiled kindly at Chen Xingyao. “Master Chen, but Jianyuan’s right on one thing—Red Mountain’s his project, watched by experienced miners. Let’s not interfere. We’ve got other work lined up for you…”
Chen Xingyao saw right through the uncle-nephew good cop, bad cop play. He snorted coldly. “Do as you please! Explain to Mine Chief yourselves then!”
He snatched the report off the desk and left. But after a few steps, he stopped, slowly turned back to the You uncle-nephew. “One more thing—at New Year’s, you stole Cheng Lang’s team’s credit. Add their names to the report now.”
Seeing You Jianyuan about to retort, Chen Xingyao fumed. “Or I’ll stake this old face and write the District Committee leaders myself!”
With Chen Xingyao’s fame and seniority, even the district head would make time. You Jianyuan gnashed his teeth—this guy’s return was nothing but trouble!
“Never mind, if he wants to cry injustice, let him. You’ve already stolen all the limelight anyway. What’s the big deal about the district adding a few names now? No one cares anymore.” You Changgui did not dwell on such a minor issue.
“Second Uncle, we shouldn’t have let him come back early! Or we should have kept him in the remote wilderness forever. Isn’t he just getting in the way now?” You Jianyuan could not understand why You Changgui had transferred Chen Xingyao back a month early.
Chen Xingyao held a high position, respected by all, and he was Cheng Lang’s master! A few years earlier, when You Jianyuan had first arrived at the mine district, he had wanted to apprentice under Chen Xingyao for the prestige, to make things easier in the future. But the man had said he took no disciples. In fifty years, Cheng Lang had been the only exception.
You Jianyuan had asked around everywhere, but no one knew why Chen Xingyao, who never took disciples, had accepted Cheng Lang.
You Changgui sighed and looked at his rash nephew. “I told you to think things through before acting. Last time, you got schemed by that couple, Cheng Lang and his wife. The district committee leader you invited ended up adding luster to their faces, and you still haven’t learned your lesson?”
You Jianyuan instantly fell silent.
“Of course there’s a reason to transfer him back. Tong Huafeng’s health worsens by the day, and he has no energy to manage the mine district anymore. It’s time for him to step down. We need these veteran figures to take charge for this. Once you marry his daughter, the mine district will be completely under our control.”
You Jianyuan’s eyes lit up, and he nodded repeatedly!
……
Cheng Lang heard the next day that his master and the You uncles had argued in the office, and along the way, his master had even threatened them to rightfully credit him and a pair of workmates for discovering the rare ore at the beginning of the year.
At the dinner table, Fan Zhenghua fumed. “Your master is still the best; his words carry weight. But it was yours to begin with. Now they’ve barely returned half of it, and You Jianyuan got to enjoy all the spotlight before. It’s infuriating.”
Cheng Lang nodded. “I left long ago anyway. It’s good if the other workmates get their names added and claim a bonus.”
Feng Man ate her food, her heart aching for him. “You left the Liberation Mine District, so they won’t give you the bonus? Why not!”
After years as a wage slave, she hated delayed wages and bonuses the most. How could a bonus just vanish upon resignation?
Cheng Lang was not anxious, but Feng Man was anxious for him.
Dong Xiaojuan joined in anxiously. “No way, let’s go to the mine district and demand it! How can they withhold the bonus?”
Cheng Lang saw Feng Man looking like a little money-grubber, her cheeks puffed in anger, and his cousin-in-law raring to help. He quickly reassured them. “I’ll handle it. It’ll definitely come back.”
Feng Man and Dong Xiaojuan exchanged a glance and finally relaxed. “That’s good!”
Cheng Yulan only cautioned her nephew. “Be careful with those people. They’re not ordinary.”
“Little Aunt, I know.” Cheng Lang agreed, then remembered something else. “Oh, right, Little Aunt. My master said he wants to come over tomorrow evening for dinner…”
“If he wants to eat, let him eat. Why ask me?” Cheng Yulan took another sip of the milky white fish soup and replied quickly to her nephew.
Feng Man found the aunt-and-nephew exchange oddly strange but did not dwell on it. She turned to Xiaoshan, who sighed while eating, and suddenly remembered that the exam results would come out that afternoon.
“Xiaoshan, take care!” Feng Man patted the sturdy, cute child’s head and offered her sincerest blessing. “Hope you get good scores.”
Little Yellow barked twice beside them, sticking out its tongue to lick its little master’s hand, as if encouraging him.
Fan You Shan felt like he was heading into battle. “I’m off! If something’s wrong tonight, remember to save me!”
An hour and a half later, Fan You Shan returned home from school to collect his results.
Only Feng Man and Cheng Yulan were in the house; Dong Xiaojuan and Yuan Qiumei had gone to the stall to sell food. As soon as Xiaoshan poked his head in, Feng Man asked, “How’d it go? Can you face your parents?”
Xiaoshan nodded. “Pretty good, pretty good. I’m heading to my room first, Cousin-in-law. You go ahead with your stuff!”
With that, he bolted to his room and shut the door tight.
“This kid’s in quite a hurry.” Feng Man naturally did not interfere in her cousin-in-law’s family education matters and could only express silent concern.
Back in his room, Fan You Shan locked the door, drew the curtains, placed a long, narrow report card on the table, and pulled out a red pen from his pencil case. He carefully altered the scores.
The 79 under math gradually became 99, and the 78 under Chinese transformed completely into 98. The other scores did not matter; Fan You Shan ignored them. Saving his own butt was most important!
That evening, Dong Xiaojuan returned after selling the food. She reconciled accounts with Feng Man and had not yet remembered to ask about her son’s results when he proactively handed over the report card.
“Mom, here’s my exam score sheet.”
“Oh, not bad?” Dong Xiaojuan took it and glanced—wow, her son had scored 99 and 98!
Nearly bursting with excitement, Dong Xiaojuan could barely speak and hurriedly called her husband. “Hua-zi, come quick! Your son’s made you proud!”
In no time, the whole family knew Fan You Shan had scored near-perfect marks.
Cheng Yulan looked pleased. “Good, better than your dad and your cousin.”
Fan Zhenghua was so happy he drank two extra liang of liquor at dinner, but Cheng Lang earnestly explained to Feng Man, “He’s not better than me. I did pretty well on exams in elementary school too.”
Feng Man could not help laughing. Who compared themselves to an elementary kid!
Having smoothly muddled through, Fan You Shan let out a long breath. He could romp around freely again, playing slingshots and tossing sandbags with the alley kids, never idle for a moment.
Until the next afternoon, when he spotted a familiar face at the alley entrance and called out, “Grandpa Chen!”
Chen Xingyao had brought some courtesy gifts for his formal visit that day and was enthusiastically led inside by Fan You Shan.
After all, Grandpa Chen was the greatest in the old mine district; even his own dad admired him, and his cousin was his apprentice. Fan You Shan knew how to read the room and acted accordingly.
Feng Man and Dong Xiaojuan took charge in the kitchen, preparing a feast.
Hearing that Chen Xingyao liked fish, they simply steamed a yellow croaker—light and refreshing, suitable for the elderly—along with white radish beef, potato braised pork, taro chicken, leek eggs…
At the dinner table, Fan Zhenghua and Cheng Lang chatted animatedly with Chen Xingyao, mostly about the past year’s events. Feng Man and Dong Xiaojuan chimed in occasionally when something piqued their curiosity.
Xiaoshan buried his head in his food, only drawn into the conversation when Grandpa Chen asked about him.
“Xiaoshan is in elementary school now, right?”
At the mention, Dong Xiaojuan perked up. “Yes, first grade. Just finished finals—98 in Chinese, 99 in math. Pretty good.”
Chen Xingyao nodded. “Studying well, huh? I see Xiaoshan’s clever; those are great scores!”
Praising her son in front of a guest, Dong Xiaojuan beamed. Fan You Shan puffed out his chest proudly, but only for three seconds. Remembering his tampering, he quickly felt guilty. “Mom, don’t tell everyone you meet! That’s not right. Don’t pressure me; I still need to improve.”
“Oh my, Xiaoshan knows humility now!” Dong Xiaojuan was even happier. “See? Our Xiaoshan isn’t satisfied with these scores. Next time, double hundreds!”
Fan You Shan: “…”
Fine, he would just eat.
After all, he could not turn 78 and 79 into 100s!
The table buzzed with cheer, but Feng Man noticed one person who had barely spoken. Little Aunt ate quietly, not even glancing toward Cheng Lang’s master. And while Master Chen had chatted with everyone at the table—even asking about Xiaoshan’s situation—he had not exchanged a word with Little Aunt.
While Cheng Lang washed dishes in the kitchen, Feng Man saw Master Chen in the yard, led by Xiaoshan to meet the Big Yellow Dog. She quietly asked, “Your master and my little aunt don’t have some grudge, do they?”
They had not spoken at dinner, and recalling how Cheng Lang had specifically told Little Aunt yesterday about Master Chen’s visit, it all felt off.
Cheng Lang glanced toward the yard following Feng Man’s gaze and caught his master sneaking a look at Little Aunt. He sighed. “Master liked Little Aunt when he was young.”
“What?!” Feng Man exclaimed, then lowered her voice, composing herself. “Your master and my little aunt&％￥#@@+！！!”
Her words tangled; the shock was indescribable.
Cheng Lang nodded. “Master never took disciples. He accepted me back then just to please Little Aunt.”
“It’s actually because of that!” Feng Man found the gossip among acquaintances more thrilling than TV dramas. But Cheng Lang’s next words shocked her again.
“But later, when he learned Little Aunt was already married with a kid, Master didn’t think it was an issue.” Cheng Lang did not know how such an odd person existed. “He even thought if push came to shove, he could be the outside one, Little Uncle the inside one, and Little Aunt could have three wives and four concubines. Everyone minds their own business. Little Aunt thought he was crazy and mostly ignored him.”
Feng Man: QAQ
This massive gossip was right in front of her. She digested it for a while, then peeked into the yard for clues. Suddenly, it hit her, and she turned accusatory.
“You! Such a big deal, and you didn’t tell me beforehand.” Feng Man quickly reflected—had she ever mentioned one in front of the other? That would be awkward. “Comrade Cheng Lang, confess and leniency awaits. Anything else you’re hiding? Spill it!”
Cheng Lang’s heart tightened: “…”