Chapter 4
Under the withered old elm tree at the entrance of Qigong Street No. 2 Primary School, Li Muxue stood in the early winter wind, clutching her schoolbag strap tightly, waiting for her mother to pick her up from school. When she saw Xu Chen running towards her in a thick cotton coat, she instinctively took a half-step back. A month had passed, and her mother's emotionless voice still echoed in her ears—"Xiaoxue, stay away from that Xu boy from now on!"
"Xiaoxue, wanna walk together?" Xu Chen's shoes were still covered in snow, and he was clutching the blue paper boat she had given him before, its edges worn and frayed. He remembered that half a year ago, in the sweltering summer, they would always race their paper boats across an artificial canal next to the school, the water reflecting the sunlight like shattered gold. Now, that little canal was covered with a layer of hard ice.
"I want to go to Grandma's house." Li Muxue stared at the ground, her voice very soft. Last night, when her mother was braiding her hair, she kept muttering, "The Xu family owes us so much! They're such despicable people who betray their principles for personal gain! After Xu Zhenguo reported your father, he became the workshop foreman. He's a monster who eats people alive!"
The newly grown white hairs at my mother's temples were particularly noticeable.
Xu Chen's smile froze on his face: "Why are you always avoiding me now? We used to walk home together after school. I protected you, and nothing ever happened. Is it because of your father's situation?"
Li Muxue suddenly stomped her foot, her eyes red like ripe cherries: "It's all because of your father's report! My father went to jail! Your father even stole my father's job! Your mother is still talking badly about my mother behind her back!" She had already memorized these words by heart, but her mother kept telling her them.
Xu Chen shoved the paper boat into her hand, his fingertips brushing against the cold skin of her wrist. "My dad said he regrets it! He really didn't think he'd steal your dad's job. He just acted on impulse..." Xu Chen's nose stung with tears as she recalled how her father had sighed over a group photo of their former work group last night after he got drunk.
"You once said that we would be best friends forever..."
“That was before!” Li Muxue raised her hand and threw the paper boat onto the snow, its blue hull splattered with mud. “It’s not like that now! What good will your father’s regret do? Will my father let it out?!” With that, she turned and ran, while Xu Chen squatted behind her, watching the faded paper boat being blown into the ditch by the wind. In the distance came Li Muxue’s suppressed sobs, colliding with his own choked whimpers, shattering into the dappled light and shadow of the setting sun. Neither of them noticed that a sparrow on a treetop was carrying half a piece of blue paper in its beak, flying towards the orange-tinged sky of the setting sun.
In truth, Xu Chen was telling the truth. Xu Zhenguo genuinely regretted his actions, because everyone in the workshop spoke ill of him behind his back, saying he had absolutely no humanity! Back when he first entered the factory as an apprentice, he had apprenticed under Li Junsheng's father, who had imparted all his production techniques to him. He and Li Junsheng were as close as brothers, even sharing a single pancake—a friendship spanning over a decade. Now, Li's father had suffered a stroke and had been in the hospital for three days and three nights, exhausting the only six thousand yuan in Li Junsheng's two savings accounts, but still couldn't save his father. Then, he remembered the subsidy he had just received, locked in the safe in the workshop office, the combination known only to him…
He had planned to save his elderly father first, and then he would do anything, even sell everything he owned, to repay the money in full. But the reality turned out differently than he expected.
"Secretary Jiang is waiting for you in his office, go quickly." It was Luo Mei, the factory's Party Committee secretary, speaking sweetly to Xu Zhenguo with a smile. She then added, "As long as the evidence is conclusive, Li Junsheng will definitely be removed from his post. You've done a good job reporting him; I'll recommend you to Secretary Jiang, and you might be the next workshop director! Brother Xu..."
Luo Mei's gaze towards Xu Zhenguo held a different kind of allure, sending a chill down Xu Zhenguo's spine: "No, no, Luo, you've misunderstood. I don't want to be the director at all. I just felt that the whereabouts of that subsidy was unknown, causing your sister-in-law a lot of worry and distress. I just wanted to see if Director Li had taken it..."
(To be continued)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
