Xie Yuejin was taken in, and the investigation was still ongoing. They weren’t just going to look into the restaurant’s internal affairs, but also those profiteers outside who had colluded with him—they all had to be rounded up and interrogated.
But after all, Xie Yuejin was just a kitchen hand who chopped vegetables. If he was caught, then so be it.
With Wan Guodong’s arrest, however, things weren’t so simple.
Wan Guodong was the head of the Xipo Town restaurant. Now that he was gone, naturally someone had to take his place.
But who?
Not even a low-level kitchen hand from the county town wanted to come to the township to be a leader. What a joke—the county was the county, the township was the township, there was still a gap between the two. Besides, their families were already settled in the county. Why would they want to come out to the countryside?
And transferring someone over from another town wasn’t something that could be done overnight either.
After discussions, the higher-ups ultimately gave the position to Xu Shuang.
Anyway, during the inquiry, Xie Yuejin had firmly testified to Xu Shuang’s innocence, so nobody suspected that Xu Shuang had been involved in this matter. Looking at it from another angle—even the waitresses in the restaurant, practically every one of them had been dragged down, yet Xu Shuang came out completely clean. That could be said to show he had withstood the test.
Chen Dong said:
“This time I’m here to deliver your appointment. In the next few days, hurry over to the restaurant and get things in order. You’ll need to recruit waitresses, and also straighten things up in the restaurant. Originally, I thought this year I could help arrange your transfer into the county, but now that you’ve got this leadership post, it’s not bad either. After you work two years and then go to the county, you won’t have to start as just a regular cook—you’ll directly be a master who trains apprentices.”
After all, Xu Shuang hadn’t worked long enough yet. Even his qualification to sit for the Level-2 Chef exam was something Chen Dong had maneuvered for him. By rights, he shouldn’t even have been allowed to test for it.
Even if he had gone to the county this year, he probably would have had to start as a junior cook—working in the kitchen, sure, but without the right to take on apprentices, just an ordinary chef.
But if he worked two years as a leader first, it would be different. At the very least, he’d be on par with the top three master chefs in the current restaurant.
Wang Ying also thought this arrangement was good—mainly because if he had transferred into the county this year, she still hadn’t figured out the money needed to buy herself a work post.
Chen Dong only stayed for a short while before leaving. Xu Shuang changed into his boots to see him off to the town bus stop, and then headed to the restaurant himself to check on things and put up recruitment notices.
Of course, he didn’t have the final say in hiring—someone from above would also come to oversee it.
After a period of busyness, Xu Shuang managed to gather all the waitresses, and the restaurant officially reopened.
On the very first day of reopening, Xu Shuang saw someone he hadn’t seen in a long while—
Li Ying.
Li Ying’s eyes were swollen red as she came looking for Xie Yuejin.
She had been living in torment these past days, not only because of Xie Yuejin wanting a divorce, but also because—
Her second brother had gone to report Xie Yuejin, which her fourth brother found out about. Her fourth sister-in-law made a huge scene, saying the second brother had ruined her husband’s affairs. After more questioning, the matter of the fourth brother asking Xie Yuejin for 300 yuan came out.
That was the end of it—the whole family had practically become enemies.
Second brother and fourth brother came to blows. The eldest brother had already taken his children back to the countryside.
A few days ago, the fourth brother came back and said that Xie Yuejin had committed a crime and had been arrested. He said a lot of people had come to the restaurant and taken Xie Yuejin away. Who knew, maybe he would even face the firing squad.
Li Ying cried terribly. The family was already split up. Their house was going to be sold in the coming days, and her brothers had all packed their things to return to the countryside.
No one was looking after her.
She now wanted to follow her brothers back to the countryside, but her top priority was to divorce Xie Yuejin first. If she didn’t, even if she transferred her household registration back, she would still be branded as having a “bad class background.”
Xu Shuang didn’t know where Xie Yuejin was being held now. With the final verdict not yet out, no one could say what had become of him.
Li Ying had no choice but to leave and go look for Xie Yuejin’s parents and brothers.
Even if the people at the restaurant didn’t know, surely his parents would know something, right?
But when she found the place where Xie Yuejin had rented a house, she discovered that it was already empty.
The old lady who owned the place looked displeased:
“That family’s son got into trouble, but his parents never even stepped outside the door. They just stayed inside eating and drinking. They finished off the food grains that young man had stored up, and only after wiping their mouths clean did they take a whole bunch of his belongings and head back to the countryside.”
Xie Yuejin’s parents knew he had gotten into trouble. After all, right after he was arrested, people came to search the house and confiscated all his money.
But his parents never once said they would visit him, nor did they ask how he was doing. They just kept eating—finished off all the rice and flour he had kept at home, and then took away all of his clothes and shoes. They didn’t even leave a single word behind.
The old landlady was actually relieved—thankfully those people only took their son’s things and didn’t touch her furniture.
But it wasn’t because Xie Yuejin’s parents didn’t want to take them, it was because they thought the things were too heavy.
For example, they left behind one of his stoves—simply because it was too heavy to carry.
Unable to find Xie Yuejin, Li Ying collapsed in tears.
In the end, it was a neighbor who finally gave her a proper suggestion: go to the Revolutionary Committee. If she couldn’t find him, she could get a certificate to officially cut ties, so it wouldn’t affect her.
Li Ying quickly went to get it done, and within just a few days, the Li family disappeared from the town.
As for Xie Yuejin’s outcome, it was announced half a month later: he was sentenced to ten years.
Perhaps it was because the crimes had been discovered early, but the final accounting of the sums wasn’t enough to warrant execution. He was only sentenced to ten years. Wan Guodong, however, received a heavier sentence—because he was both a leader and a Party member, his status was stripped, and he was sentenced to twelve years.
Once the verdict came out, Xie Yuejin was to be sent to a labor reform farm.
Before he left, Xu Shuang went to see him.
When Xie Yuejin saw Xu Shuang, he was dazed.
During this time, he had a dream while inside.
In the dream, everything was hazy fragments of the past.
In the dream, Xu Shuang had also gotten married around the same time, but not to his current wife. Instead, it was to a girl named Wang Lingling. Wang Lingling was just like Li Ying—always sneaking food from the restaurant.
In that dream, at the time, he had been waiting a long time but never managed to catch any dirt on Xu Shuang. At last, he saw an opening through Wang Lingling.
So he secretly reported Xu Shuang.
Because of that, Xu Shuang lost his job and was forced to return home.
It was as if Xie Yuejin had watched someone else’s life. In that life, his own role was just in scattered fragments, while the whole story revolved around Xu Shuang.
He saw that after Xu Shuang left, he and Wan Guodong began to secretly move things out of the restaurant. Since the main cook was gone, business naturally declined, and so the higher-ups never noticed anything.
He and Wan Guodong kept it up for three or four years. In that dream, he did end up marrying Li Ying. But in that version, Li Ying’s family never got into trouble—her brothers all kept their good jobs. So in the dream, the two of them quarreled constantly, but never divorced, just muddled along together.
Just when the dream-version of himself was about to be transferred into the county, he saw his misdeeds being exposed.
Ever since marrying him, Li Ying had eaten well and lived well, and her family had benefited along with her. As a result, the Li family often showed off outside, which aroused others’ jealousy.
Once all these threads came together, he was trapped.
In the end, he learned his fate from Xu Shuang. Xu Shuang calmly explained that because Xie Yuejin had embezzled so much, he “ate peanuts” (a euphemism for being sent to prison). Li Ying didn’t fare well either—her social status was ruined, and even if she remarried, she couldn’t marry into a good family. She could only return to her parental home. The Li family was also caught up in the mess; although they didn’t lose their jobs, their family’s reputation was ruined.
In the dream, even after he “died,” the perspective didn’t stop—it continued along Xu Shuang’s point of view.
Xie Yuejin saw that Xu Shuang’s marriage to Wang Lingling was extremely bad. Later, when they opened a restaurant, Wang Lingling smashed Xu Shuang’s fingers, and then abandoned him and left.
Xie Yuejin had assumed Xu Shuang would be utterly crushed, and even felt a faint sense of shared sympathy.
Both of them had ended up with disastrous wives: Li Ying brought misfortune to him, Wang Lingling brought misfortune to Xu Shuang.
Xie Yuejin expected Xu Shuang to remain in despair indefinitely.
But unexpectedly, the dream-version of Xu Shuang never gave up. He began taking apprentices. Even though his hand was broken, his taste buds remained sharp. He trained several talented and hardworking apprentices, and through their recommendation, he eventually became executive chef at a prestigious restaurant.
After having this dream, Xie Yuejin saw Xu Shuang again in reality, and his feelings were extremely complicated. He even felt that he and Xu Shuang were two sides of the same coin—both in the dream and now.
“You came.”
Xu Shuang handed him a package: “There’s some food in here. Take it with you for the road.”
Xie Yuejin was silent for a moment. “Xu Shuang, do you know… sometimes I’m really jealous of you?”
Xu Shuang nodded: “I have some idea.”
Xie Yuejin smiled. “Anyway, I’m sorry to you, and… thank you.”
What he was jealous of wasn’t just Xu Shuang’s talent or appearance, but that someone always loved him. Even in a past life where he had been betrayed, Xu Shuang never gave up—he had never been defeated.
The two sat across from each other for a while. Xu Shuang said, “Ten years isn’t as long as it seems. I used to envy how smoothly you navigated life. You’re smart. As long as you don’t go astray in the future, things will only get better.”
Xie Yuejin: “I know.”
Perhaps he hadn’t realized it before, but after all that had happened, he finally understood.
His parents had never shown up even after hearing about his troubles. Li Ying didn’t even speak to him, except to come looking for a divorce.
It seemed that only after losing everything did he truly face himself.
There was always a chance to start over.
After the beginning of spring, the Seventh Brigade officially started running the village school.
The number of students enrolled exceeded Tian Youfu’s expectations—over twenty students in total.
Those who had previously been studying at the commune school were mostly transferred back to the village, as long as they hadn’t studied for too long. Students who were already in higher grades couldn’t be accommodated; it was impossible to open a separate higher-grade class for just a few students.
With over twenty students, five large tables fit in one classroom, with four or five children sitting on each bench.
Although there were no electric lights, the glass windows made the room fairly bright.
On her way to find Tian Youfu, Wang Ying ran into Mai Miao and Mai Sui, who were coming home from school for lunch. The two little girls carried simple cloth backpacks, and one was gesturing as they walked.
Seeing Wang Ying, they greeted her. Wang Ying handed each of them a candy: “Have you gotten used to your studies today?”
Mai Miao hesitated for a moment, then nodded. Mai Sui chirped: “Yes! We learn really fast! We understand everything the teacher teaches!”
Their progress was faster than the others because of the solid foundation they had built under Teacher Cheng Shufen. They were the top students in the class.
Wang Ying smiled and asked Mai Miao: “How do you feel, Mai Miao?”
In a small voice, Mai Miao said, “I think… the teacher is teaching too simply.”
Unlike her younger sister, who sometimes got distracted in class with Teacher Cheng, Mai Miao had always been serious. So the lessons were all things she had already learned.
