After Guan Baiyu told Shi Zhen the good news that he had won the third prize in the city, he did not go home, but stood next to Shi Zhen and helped him collect the money.

Seeing this, Shi Zhen said, "Xiao Yu, go back to sleep first."

Guan Baiyu disagreed: "Brother, I'm so happy right now, I won't be able to sleep even if I go home."

"Children need to sleep longer at night."

“I’m not a child anymore! Brother, you’re not that much older than me!” Guan Baiyu said.

Shi Zhen said, "I'm already eighteen years old, an adult, while you're only fifteen."

Guan Baiyu stopped talking, but he just wouldn't leave.

Shi Zhen couldn't do anything with him, so he didn't chase him away anymore. He just asked him how his studies were going lately—the high school entrance exam was in two months!

Guan Baiyu smiled and said, "Brother, I think it's better for me to learn by myself at Xinhua Bookstore than to learn at school."

"Is there anything you don't understand?" Shi Zhen asked.

"I can understand math by looking at it more often, and I can also look at the answer key for Chinese. The answer key is even better than what our school teachers teach," Guan Baiyu said.

Shi Zhen was not surprised.

Nowadays, there are very few supplementary teaching materials available, and they are not something that just anyone can produce, so their quality is naturally quite good. On the other hand, many teachers in rural schools are only junior or senior high school graduates.

Guan Baiyu can learn Chinese and math on his own, and he also does well in chemistry and physics. His weak point is English.

Shi Zhen inquired about the prices of English after-school classes in town.

It was run privately by a teacher who taught English at a junior high school in town. It cost 30 yuan a month for two classes a week, each lasting two hours.

Shi Zhenneng could accept the price, but it was a large-class teaching program. Guan Baiyu was about to take the high school entrance exam, and suddenly inserting him into the program for two months might not be effective.

Moreover, after listening to Guan Baiyu read English and memorize vocabulary these days, I roughly know where Guan Baiyu's English is lacking.

Guan Baiyu learned "mute English," meaning he couldn't speak or read it, and could only memorize it by rote. In addition, he didn't even have an English dictionary... He had a vague understanding of the meanings of many words.

Previously, Shi Zhen flipped through his book and saw that the word "dog" was written with "dog" and "dog" written under it. This was considered that he had learned it. However, there were many words that he could not read, and he did not recognize words whose meanings were not written in the textbook.

That definitely won't work.

When Shi Zhen was in junior high school, he didn't learn English at all because his school didn't have an English teacher.

Later, one of his partners, who was quite old, started learning English to do export business, and he learned a little bit from him.

But he hadn't learned much; he only knew how to greet people simply, so naturally he couldn't teach Guan Baiyu right now.

However, judging from the English learning methods his partner found back then... the best way to learn English well is to listen and read a lot.

Guan Baiyu is very independent. If you buy him a radio, an English-Chinese dictionary, and some English tapes, he should be able to learn on his own.

But he went to Xinhua Bookstore before and didn't see any tapes... He'll ask again next time.

Even if books and tapes like New Concept English, which later became highly popular for learning English, didn't exist at that time, there were still textbooks and accompanying English tapes.

While thinking about Guan Baiyu's studies, Shi Zhen quickly made fried skewers.

There are several stalls near the movie theater, one of which sells various skewered fried foods, but it doesn't have a wide variety of items, mainly fried chicken wings and chicken legs, so Shi Zhen's business is quite good.

They sold their wares until after 9 p.m., when there were hardly any people on the road. Shi Zhen packed up his stall, loaded everything onto his tricycle, and went home with Guan Baiyu.

"Xiaoyu, there's a seat over there, please sit down," Shi Zhen said when he saw Guan Baiyu getting off the tricycle.

Guan Baiyu shook his head: "Brother, I'll just follow your vehicle." It takes effort to pedal a tricycle, and Shi Zhen is already tired after a long day. He didn't want Shi Zhen to carry an extra eighty pounds of meat.

Hmm, he probably weighs over 90 pounds now!

Shi Zhen was indeed a bit tired, and considering that he might not be able to ride fast, he didn't force Guan Baiyu to get on the bike: "Okay, then let's go back slowly."

On the way back, Shi Zhen missed his electric tricycle.

In his previous life, when he first started working independently, leading a few fellow villagers to build self-built houses for rural people, he also bought a tricycle like this.

After riding for two years, he saw someone installing batteries on their tricycle, so he followed suit and got one installed. It saved him a lot of effort, and he no longer had to pedal so hard.

Of course, there are safety hazards associated with adding a battery yourself... but it is convenient for those at the grassroots level.

It was completely dark outside, and there were no streetlights on the road after leaving the town.

Guan Baiyu ran behind the car, panting heavily. Shi Zhen said, "Xiaoyu, when we have money in the future, I'll buy a minivan. That way, we can fit all our stuff in it! You won't have to run anymore."

Guan Baiyu said, "Yeah, brother... Phew, you can definitely do it!"

“It will definitely work.” Shi Zhen smiled, but his expression quickly froze—raindrops hit his face.

As Shi Zhen and Guan Baiyu hurried home in the cold wind, they realized almost simultaneously that it was raining!

Without a word, the two of them ran and rode, rushing home at top speed.

The rain came suddenly and was quite heavy. Shi Zhen got soaked when he got home, but luckily he covered the things in the car with a plastic sheet so they didn't get wet.

It's still hot today, around 20 degrees Celsius, so I shouldn't catch a cold from the rain.

It was almost 10 o'clock when he got home. After tidying up a bit and doing a quick wash, Shi Zhen finally managed to go to bed at 10:30.

Shi Xinghuo was already fast asleep and did not wake up when he heard the noise.

It rained that night, and the rain didn't stop the next day, only lessened a bit.

Shi Zhen and Shi Xinghuo brought umbrellas when they left the village, but they didn't have raincoats. Guan Baiyu also only had an umbrella but no raincoat.

Wearing a raincoat is more convenient when riding a tricycle, so you need to buy at least one raincoat and three pairs of rubber rain boots, so that each person can have one pair.

Shi Zhen looked at his savings and wrote down what he wanted to buy.

He and Shi Xinghuo came out to work. Guan Baiyu only had his grandmother before. None of the three of them had any savings. They needed to buy things one by one. There were many places to spend money, so they had to be very careful with their money.

Especially these days, rain boots and raincoats are quite expensive compared to average income.

Despite the rain, Shi Zhen still rode his bicycle to town early in the morning and set up his rice ball stall and pig's head meat stall.

He had thought about how to deal with rainy days long ago. He bought a bag of cement from a nearby cement factory, mixed it with gravel, and poured several hollow cement blocks. When he got to town, he inserted the bamboo poles he had cut into the cement blocks to support them, tied bamboo poles horizontally on top, and finally covered them with plastic sheeting. This created a simple shed that would protect the stalls inside from the wind and rain.

On rainy days, people from the countryside generally don't come to town to buy things, but people who work and live in town still need to buy groceries and breakfast.

People riding bicycles and wearing raincoats rushed out of their homes, too lazy to stop, take off their raincoats, and go to the steamed bun and wonton shop. Many simply stopped right next to Shi Zhen's stall and ordered a rice ball to take away.

Shi Zhen's rice ball business was actually a little better than usual.

The pork head meat from Qianqiqi is also selling well.

The couple who followed suit and sold cold-cut pig's head were laid-off workers from the town. They had no experience, and now that it was raining, they couldn't set up a shed, so they didn't set up their stall.

With fewer competitors, even with fewer people due to the rain, the money still made selling things quickly.

Before nine o'clock, Shi Zhen had sold out of the rice he cooked that morning, so he simply packed up and went home.

When Shi Zhen returned home, Guan Baiyu also happened to be returning with an umbrella—he had helped Shi Zhen that morning and then went to school.

Guan Baiyu's umbrella was a large black umbrella, patched up and quite old. When he saw Shi Zhen, he opened the umbrella higher and grinned, revealing two tiger teeth: "Brother, the guaranteed admission is confirmed. As long as I don't do too badly on the high school entrance exam, I can go to the No. 1 High School in the city!"

"My Xiaoyu is amazing." Shi Zhen felt proud from the bottom of his heart.

Guan Baiyu was smiling, but for some reason her eyes felt a little sore.

His brother is so nice!

He wasn't actually that great, but his brother always...

I think he's great!

Guan Baiyu closed his umbrella and came over to help Shi Zhen pack his things. After they were packed, Shi Zhen grabbed him and said, "Xiaoyu, you went to bed late last night. Go catch up on your sleep. I'll go catch up on my sleep too."

"Hmm." Guan Baiyu responded, somewhat wanting to go sleep next to Shi Zhen at Guan Jianguo's house—he had always wanted to sleep next to Shi Zhen, just like Shi Xinghuo.

But before Guan Baiyu could voice his thoughts, Shi Zhenyou said, "After you wake up and have breakfast, I'll go to Xinhua Bookstore with you."

"Brother, are you coming with me?" Guan Baiyu was a little happy, forgetting about sleeping together.

Shi Zhen nodded: "I asked around, and they said it's going to rain for the next few days. If it rains, not many people will go to town at night, so I won't be setting up my stall later."

Even on rainy days, people still need to buy breakfast and groceries.

But fried skewers at night are considered snacks, and no one would brave the rain to buy them.

He can rest for a few days, tidy up the house, and also take care of Guan Baiyu's English learning.

And Yan Jiangtao… Shi Zhen’s eyes narrowed slightly.

He hadn't let Guan Baiyu go to school these days to avoid Yan Jiangtao, but that didn't mean he hadn't held a grudge.

Shi Zhen went back to sleep for two hours, and when he returned to Guan Baiyu's house, it was almost midnight.

Guan Baiyu was already awake. Seeing him, she asked, "Brother, are you hungry? I'll go make you a bowl of noodles."

“Okay.” Shi Zhen did not refuse.

Guan Baiyu lit the straw with a match and stuffed it into the stove. He then poured hot water into the pot with a kettle, quickly added a handful of noodles, and once the noodles were cooked, he scooped them out, added chopped green onions, soy sauce, and lard, and mixed them together. That made a simple and delicious lard-mixed noodle dish.

On the table were a plate of cucumber salad and a plate of stir-fried cabbage that Guan Baiyu had made that morning.

Shi Zhen was worried that Guan Baiyu, who was still growing, wouldn't get enough nutrition, so he always made sure to cook a balanced diet of meat and vegetables. After spending a lot of time with him, Guan Baiyu, who used to be able to eat a bowl of pickled vegetables for several days, got used to having some vegetables cooked for every meal.

After dinner, Shi Zhen rode his tricycle, taking Guan Baiyu to town to read.

Guan Baiyu moved a stool to sit in the back of the tricycle, held up an umbrella, and watched the mulberry trees by the roadside keep receding. For some reason, he felt like laughing.

Since it was a weekday, there was no one at Xinhua Bookstore. Shi Zhen asked Guan Baiyu to look at the books, while he went to the bookstore staff to ask if they had any English cassette tapes for sale.

The staff member glanced at Shi Zhen lazily and said no.

In a few years, English textbooks were distributed to students along with cassette tapes, and later with CDs, but now there's nothing at all.

"Where can I buy it? My child wants to learn English," Shi Zhen asked.

The staff member yawned, but still replied, "Go check in the city, maybe they have some. The teachers' textbooks include cassette tapes. If you had come here at the beginning of the semester, you might have been able to buy some... but they're all sold out now."

Upon hearing this, Shi Zhen expressed his gratitude: "Thank you."

The staff member ignored him and leaned against the counter, looking drowsy.

After getting the information he wanted, Shi Zhen told Guan Baiyu to wait until Qian Qi came to find him, and then left the bookstore.

When he arrived at Qian Qilai's place, Qian Qilai was resting his chin on his hand, watching the rain scene, looking very bored.

Since they got the tricycle, they could bring more things to town. When they had money, they had a long bench to sit on. When he saw Shi Zhen, he immediately gave up half of the bench and invited Shi Zhen to sit down, and chatted with Shi Zhen excitedly.

The saying "children from poor families mature early" has some truth to it. After Qian Qiqi started setting up a stall with Shi Zhen, he matured in a very short time and became like an adult.

He starts work at six o'clock every morning now, without missing a single day or taking a break, but he has never complained.

Shi Zhen knew that it wasn't just Qian Qilai who wanted to learn martial arts from him... Qian Qilai was taking his stall business very seriously, treating it as a job.

He now gives me ten yuan a day, plus meals...

Qian Qilai's parents don't have stable jobs; at most, they occasionally do odd jobs. Qian Qilai is already the highest earner in their family.

After Shi Zhen sat down, he asked Qian Qi: "Yan Jiang..."

Have you found out anything about Tao?

"I found out!" Qian Qi quickly recounted the information related to the Yan family.

Yan Jiangtao has been beaten by his father several times recently. He was beaten last night because he did poorly on his league exam.

As for what happened at school... Yan Jiangtao used to bully Guan Baiyu, but he never actually hurt Guan Baiyu.

"What does Yan Jiangtao's father usually do?" Shi Zhen asked again.

Shi Zhen had specifically instructed Qian Qi to find out more about this matter. Qian Qi said, "Yan Jiangtao's father usually stays at home watching the machines. Every few days, he delivers a batch of cloth to the printing and dyeing factory over at the bridge. Every time he finishes delivering the cloth to the bridge, he goes to town to eat a bowl of mutton noodles and drink a bottle of wine."

Qian Qilai lived not far from Yan Jiangtao's house, and he also had a friend who lived behind Yan Jiangtao's house. He had found out all about Yan Jiangtao's whereabouts: "By the way, Master, Yan Jiangtao's father will be delivering cloth tomorrow morning."

"Thank you," Shi Zhen said, taking out five yuan to pay the bill, "for your trouble."

He refused to accept the money, saying, "Master, there's no need. I didn't even spend any effort!"

"I can't let you work for nothing," Shi Zhen insisted on giving him the money.

Qian Qi still refused to accept the money: "Master, this was actually something my friend found out. He's in town today too. If you want to thank me, why don't you give him a cold pig's nose salad later? He likes to eat that."

"Okay." Shi Zhen had no objection; a serving of cold pig's head meat wouldn't cost five yuan.

Qian Qilai's friend came to town to sell the snails and small crucian carp he had caught. After he finished selling them, he came over to greet Qian Qilai, and that's when Shi Zhen saw him.

This man looked older than his age, only seventeen but looking like he was twenty-seven. Shi Zhen gave him a cold dish of pig's snout, and he was very happy. He even told Shi Zhen, "Yan Jiangtao's father usually sets off to deliver goods around seven in the morning, and after he finishes delivering, he goes to eat mutton noodles around nine. He often talks in the village about what kind of wine he drinks with his mutton noodles, and how much mutton he asks to add. It's never wrong."

Upon hearing this, Shi Zhen gave him two more braised eggs.

It rained again the next day. That's how the weather is in J City; once it starts raining, it tends to rain on and off for a long time.

Shi Zhen sold out of rice balls around 8 a.m. He quickly packed up his stall, but instead of going home as usual, he headed to the mutton noodle shop in town.

There are three noodle shops in Anshan Town. One of them sells mutton noodles, while the other two sell noodles such as shredded pork noodles, pork liver noodles, and fish slice noodles.

Of all the noodles, mutton noodles are the highest grade.

A bowl of shredded pork noodles costs 1.5 yuan, while a bowl of mutton noodles costs 5 yuan!

The man who sold mutton noodles also sold mutton, because he was the only one in the whole town who sold cooked mutton, and his business was very good.

Shi Zhen remembers that around 2000, when he was a contractor here, Guan Baiyu told him that this mutton noodle shop, which was larger at the time, had a net profit of 1,000 yuan a day and could earn 20,000 to 30,000 yuan a month.

In the early 21st century, this was definitely a high income. At that time, he was a contractor and had tens of thousands of yuan that he couldn't collect. He was very worried. He thought about how people who sold noodles could pay and receive their goods every day. He was so envious that he wanted to change careers.

Unfortunately, the noodle shop owner spent his money recklessly after he got rich and also gambled... In the end, he never became a big boss.

People's incomes are low now, and their purchasing power won't be as high as it will be in five or six years. Noodle shops certainly won't earn a thousand a day, but they'll still earn more than him.

They have proper shops, while he only set up a stall; naturally, he can't compete with them.

Although it was already past nine in the morning, there were still many people sitting in the mutton noodle shop.

Some of them had just come in to eat noodles, while others had actually been sitting there for a long time. They had finished eating their noodles long ago, but they just wouldn't leave and kept chatting with people.

A van suddenly stopped in front of the noodle shop, and a dark-skinned, overweight middle-aged man got out of the van and went into the noodle shop.

"It's Boss Yan!"

"Boss Yan is here!"

Among the people sitting in the noodle shop, some recognized him and immediately greeted him.

It was Yan Jiangtao's father who arrived. He entered the noodle shop and said to the owner, "Boss, give me ten yuan's worth of mutton, ten yuan's worth of tripe, and a bottle of strong liquor."

"Alright!" said the boss.

He responded with a smile and quickly brought out a bowl of mutton and a bowl of tripe.

The mutton was cooked until fragrant and sprinkled with garlic leaves, making it look incredibly appetizing.

Yan Jiangtao's father took a bowl, poured himself a bowl of wine, and started eating and drinking.

Most people who come here only eat a bowl of mutton noodles that costs five yuan.

Here, the mutton noodles and mutton can be served separately. They ask the owner to serve the mutton first, then go to the side and scoop out a bowl of free bulk white wine. After eating the mutton with the wine, the noodles will be served.

Yan Jiangtao's father was the same, except he ordered a lot more mutton and didn't want the free bulk liquor that was served at the store; instead, he bought a bottle of strong liquor separately.

This meal costs over twenty yuan, which many people can't earn in a day, so it's quite extravagant.

The people in the noodle shop looked at Yan Jiangtao's father with envy, constantly complimenting him. The owner even came out to give him cigarettes, the best kind of cigarettes.

All of this put Yan's father in a great mood. He enjoyed the flattery from those around him while occasionally revealing something that made everyone around him even more envious.

For example, he has over 100,000 yuan in outstanding payments, or he bought his wife a gold bracelet but she complained it was too heavy and wouldn't wear it, or he complained about his minivan and said he wanted to buy a car for everyday driving...

He runs a small workshop at home, which is actually very, very hard work. He rarely has any free time. And why does he work so hard? Isn't it just so that others will envy him?

Every time Yan's father came to town to eat beef noodles, he felt completely refreshed.

Yan's father drank and ate at the same time, and ate for more than an hour.

Shi Zhen changed into a tattered set of clothes, put on a straw hat and a raincoat, and wandered around the area a few times, looking somewhat worried.

He was afraid he wouldn't find a chance to beat someone up.

No matter what, Yan Jiangtao is still a minor. He had previously called Guan Baiyu dirty, so Guan Baitao sent someone to smear him, which was a tit-for-tat response. But it was inappropriate for Guan Baitao to hit Yan Jiangtao; that was clearly bullying the weak.

So he decided to beat up Yan Jiangtao's father instead.

It is the father's fault if he does not teach his son.

Moreover, if Yan Jiangtao's father hadn't given gifts to the teacher and insisted that Yan Jiangtao and Guan Baiyu be deskmates, Guan Baiyu wouldn't have been bullied by Yan Jiangtao.

But... Yan Jiangtao's father came to eat noodles in a minivan. If he finishes his noodles, gets in the minivan, and leaves... Shi Zhen might not be able to catch him and beat him.

Shi Zhen was hesitating when he saw Yan's father come out of the mutton noodle shop, walk into the alley next door in the drizzling rain, unzip his pants and pour water on the wall.

The town in 1994 was not as prosperous as it would become later. There was only one main street in the town, and the rest were all narrow alleys.

This mutton noodle shop, because it does a unique business, is not located in the town center but rather on the outskirts of town, surrounded by residential houses with no other shops.

There weren't many people around.

As Yan's father was relieving himself, a sack was suddenly dumped over his head.

"Who?" Yan's father had just asked, pulling up his pants, when he was pushed to the ground. Immediately afterward, someone kicked him in the thighs and buttocks.

Yan's father let out a pig-like scream, but the man didn't stop. He just said in a hoarse, sinister voice, "Let your son look down on me, let your son look down on me!"

It was raining, and the ground was wet. Yan's father had just used the toilet nearby.

He lay on the ground, his head covered by a sack so he couldn't see anything, but he could feel that his clothes were wet and knew he must be covered in mud.

That's disgusting!

Who hit him? Who did his son offend?

Why does this brat always cause him trouble?!

Yan's father was furious and kept begging for mercy.

Shi Zhen kicked the parts of Yan's father's body that were not easily injured.

He didn't want to actually hurt anyone.

After kicking him a few times, Shi Zhen decided to leave.

But just as he was about to leave, he saw someone coming from the noodle shop... Shi Zhen covered his face with his straw hat while trying to escape, but the person glanced at him and walked in the opposite direction of the noodle shop as if nothing had happened.

This means...they're not planning to go back and call for help?

Shi Zhen was speechless.

Shi Zhen left quickly. After Shi Zhen left, Yan's father came out of the sack. As soon as he came out, he found himself covered in mud and water. As for his injuries... the man had been kicking him in the fleshy parts of his back, at most leaving him with bruises.

He wasn't seriously injured, but being pinned down in the mud and beaten was incredibly humiliating!

Yan's father was furious and immediately wanted to call the police.

But he didn't see who the person was, he wasn't injured or lost any money, so calling the police might not be helpful.

Just as Mr. Yan was still angry, a group of people came over from the noodle shop: "Boss Yan, we think we heard you calling for help... What's wrong?"

Yan's father hadn't even zipped up his pants properly and felt utterly humiliated.

When he gets home, he'll go beat up that debt-collecting son of his!