Reborn during the early days of China’s reform and opening, the narrator finds himself in the 1980s countryside. In this setting, the past is still a cold reference, yet it is also a fresh start....
Since the other person had something to do, Wan Feng didn't plan to pester him any further. Yong forced people to pay back money and found a partner, but forcing people to fight seemed to be rare.
"Since your family has something going on today, forget it. If today doesn't work, there's always tomorrow. Anyway, you can't run away, and neither can I. So, let's do it again in two days. You can't avoid this fight between us."
"Will I hide? I'll be there for you anytime I can." Liu Shengan replied.
"That's settled. Do you think I'd want to run with a piece of shit like you? I'm running with my nose pinched. There's only one lap left to go. I'm not going to play with you anymore. I'm going to speed up."
After that, Wan Feng's speed suddenly increased and he ran to the front in the blink of an eye.
Ah! Only one lap left, so fast? Why didn't I hear the referee fire the gun?
When Liu Shengan saw Wan Feng rushing over, he also started to speed up in frustration, not wanting the enemy to get ahead of him.
He chased after him madly at the speed of a 100-meter sprint, and caught up with Wan Feng in less than half a lap.
Wan Feng turned to look at Liu Shengan, who was panting behind him, and praised him with a smile: "Wow! You ran well, catching up so quickly. But can you make it to the finish line so breathless? There's still one and a half laps to go."
One and a half laps! Liu Shengan was dumbfounded. Didn't you only have one lap left?! He'd been tricked! He'd sprinted too early.
At this moment, Liu Shengan was so angry that he wanted to take a bite of Wan Feng.
While running, Wan Feng turned his head to look at the furious Liu Shengan and snorted.
"Liu Shengan, with your IQ, what makes you think you can fight me? You're catching your breath in the back, but this time I'm really going to sprint. I'll wait for you at the finish line. Bye!"
Wan Feng didn't care whether Liu Shengan knew what goodbye meant. This time he really sped up. He increased his speed again and was the first to cross the finish line at the same speed in one breath.
Physical education teacher Li Yi, who was holding a stopwatch, looked at the numbers on the stopwatch in surprise.
The long-standing school sports record was broken!
Wan Feng sat at the finish line for more than ten seconds before Liu Shengan crossed the finish line second, panting.
As soon as he passed the finish line, he sat down on the ground and gasped for breath, his eyes looking towards Wan Feng were full of swords and sabers.
Wan Feng didn't care and even applauded Liu Shengan. "You ran well. I was cheering you on the whole time, worried that Tan Chun would catch up with you. You see, Tan Chun wasn't far behind you. If Tan Chun caught up with you, I was afraid you'd lose control and end up taking drugs or hanging yourself. That would be a disaster. Why are you not satisfied with your results? With me here, you're already doing quite well in second place. Do you feel wronged for losing? It's a shame that you won't get revenge in the running this year, so you'll have to keep your grievance to yourself."
Liu Shengan's face turned red and white, but he was still a shrewd guy and finally did not lose his temper and endured it.
Wan Feng was very disappointed. He really wanted to see Liu Shengan unable to suppress his anger and attack him, so that he could see the scene of Liu Shengan being punished by standing.
Tan Chun also demonstrated his strength and reached the finish line third. Not only did he complete the task assigned to him by Wan Feng, he also beat Yu Xiao and took third place.
Yu Xiao was the fourth to reach the finish line. He didn't have the cunningness of Liu Shengan. As soon as he reached the finish line, he rushed to Tan Chun and yelled, "Tan Chun, Wang An, are you feeling uncomfortable?"
Tan Chun said nothing and turned to look at Wan Feng.
A promise made must be kept. Wan Feng looked at Yu Xiao with a cold face: "Yu Xiao, what do you mean by this?"
"He's in my way."
"Look at you, you're such a jerk. You're willing to accept defeat. You can't do it, you can't. You can't outrun others, so you want to find an objective reason? How about we ask the teacher to judge the matter?"
While Yu Xiao was still about to argue, physical education teacher Li Yi came over.
"What are you doing? What are you arguing about?"
Yu Xiao immediately stopped moving.
"You three have been selected to represent Jiangwei School in the commune student sports meet. Starting tomorrow afternoon, you will train for a week and compete on June 1st. Remember that?"
The three people selected for the sports team are naturally Wan Feng, Tan Chun and Liu Shengan.
Wan Feng was not happy about being selected for the sports team. This was all expected.
The sports meet of Jiangwei School ended here, followed by a closing ceremony, at which Li Yi announced the selection results.
Jiangwei students, young and old, selected a dozen people to represent Jiangwei School to participate in various events of the main school sports meeting.
What made Wan Feng speechless was that Jiang Jun was also selected, whose strong point was long jump.
The result of 5.1 meters is enough to make him feel present in the group.
Logically, he should be good at high jumping. These two skills will be of great benefit to his future career. After all, they can be used when running away.
As promised, Wan Feng gave the first place prize of the 1,500-meter race to Tan Chun, along with the promised preferential conditions for renting books.
Wan Feng gave Tan Chun a discount of three books for two cents, valid until the end of this semester.
When Wan Feng returned to his grandmother's house, he unexpectedly saw his uncle who seemed a little depressed. He looked listless and completely devoid of the usual concern and care.
If his uncle was unhappy about something, Wan Feng could guess why with just his knees.
Isn’t it just love!
At this stage, it was his uncle's future father-in-law, who worked at the Yongshi Commune Supply and Marketing Cooperative, who knew about the affair between his eldest daughter Jiang Xue and Zhu Ping, so he naturally took an opposing stance.
At that time, most marriages between men and women in rural areas still followed the rules of parents' orders and matchmakers' words. Secret marriages did exist, but they were relatively rare.
Jiang Xue's father thought that since he was a state employee who ate commercial grain, it was embarrassing for his daughter to have an affair with a farmer.
Until 2000, families in rural areas who ate commercial grain were considered superior.
This was not only because they were state employees with a much higher, more stable income than those in the countryside, but also because their children could potentially take over the business. This was especially true starting around 1985, when many Japanese companies began establishing factories in Bohai City, along with many state-owned factories. Consequently, countless factories sought workers from the countryside. At the time, they weren't looking for migrant workers, but only the children of families consuming commercial grain.
This made those who ate commercial grain in the rural areas at that time feel proud.
Zhu Ping's future father-in-law Jiang Yuan did not approve of his daughter marrying a farmer. It was probably Wan Feng's future aunt who told Zhu Ping about this, which is why Zhu Ping now sees everything in a gray way.
Wan Feng had no intention of helping with this matter. He knew that although Jiu's marriage had some setbacks, it still worked out in the end, which was considered a good thing after all.
After Wan Feng finished his meal, he put down his bowl and was about to run away, but Zhu Ping stopped him from behind and called him to the inner room where they lived.
"What are you doing again? Looking at you like this, could it be that my future aunt ran away with someone else?"
Zhu Ping was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. His nephew was clever but his words were a little off-key and he dared to say anything.