Chapter 22: The Ambush

Not far from the restaurant stood the Telegraph Building. After Lou Yanru finished her phone call home, she took Liu Weidong’s arm, and the two walked toward the guesthouse.

"Wife, are you having trouble keeping up with your studies? If there’s anything you don’t understand, I can help you look at it."

Lou Yanru curled her lip. "Weidong, I can’t even keep up with the high school curriculum as it is, and you want to tutor me? There are seven subjects in high school, don’t joke around."

Liu Weidong didn’t say anything. He wasn’t bragging; he hadn’t forgotten that in his previous life, he held a Master’s degree in Business Administration.

Back at the guesthouse, Lou Yanru pulled out a stack of review questions covering various subjects. After looking them over for a moment, Liu Weidong smiled. "Yanru, what a coincidence—I know how to solve all of these. Tell me what you don’t understand, and I’ll explain it to you. You can judge for yourself whether I’m right or wrong, can’t you?"

He started with mathematics. Liu Weidong went through the questions one by one, not even opening the textbook, which left Lou Yanru startled. "Is this really you? How is this possible? I’ve known you for four years, so why do you feel like a stranger?"

"What are you babbling about? Can’t I study in secret? Stop staring at me and look at the paper..."

After math, he moved on to Chinese, again without needing to reference the book. This time, Lou Yanru was completely convinced.

"Yanru, I think you shouldn’t go home for a while. I happen to be helping the oil mill with their machinery this month; that should be enough time for me to help you catch up on the lessons you’ve missed. But you’d better make things clear with that idiot. If he keeps pestering you, don’t blame me for being impolite."

Lou Yanru glared at him. "Do I need you to tell me that? I don’t want you getting into a fight with him; it would make things awkward between my mother and his."

They studied until the clock by the river struck twelve. Liu Weidong finally put the books away and brought in a basin of hot water for his wife to wash her feet. He didn't dare mention the affair he had witnessed; he didn't want to add any psychological burden to her.

The longing from two days of separation, combined with the lingering image of Li Hong’s naked body, made the bed in the guesthouse creak for over an hour. With his eyes closed, Liu Weidong’s mind flickered between Lou Yanru’s flushed face and Li Hong’s fair skin and wanton gaze.

When everything finally settled into silence, he looked at his exhausted, sleeping wife, and a strange sense of guilt washed over him. "Ferociously struggle against every flash of selfish thought"—it really was a profound truth. Merely glimpsing Li Hong’s body had triggered such impure thoughts and base desires; he needed to root these feelings out at their very source. Of course, he could only criticize himself internally; he dared not voice such a fleeting thought.

The next day, Liu Weidong didn't take his wife to school; instead, he headed to the Third Department Store alone.

Although he had beaten Chen Hao the previous day, the man’s look of utter contempt still stung like a thorn in his side. Liu Weidong looked down at his own attire—a red undershirt, blue trousers, and yellow rubber-soled shoes—and shook his head helplessly. Judging people by their clothes? If he dressed like this, it was just the mark of a hero; did they not know about the legendary Liu Haizhu from decades later? Still, he had to reclaim his dignity. He could look like a hick, but he wouldn't let his wife be looked down upon.

He had to buy her a bicycle, preferably the new colored 26-inch Flying Pigeon model. After some persistent wheedling with Manager Wang, Liu Weidong walked out of the Fourth Department Store pushing a brand-new 26-inch slant-bar Flying Pigeon. It was a display model from the Third Department Store’s showroom, and no one else in Binjiang had one yet. The gleaming plated rims and spokes sparkled in the sun, drawing every head as he walked down the street. In those days, the heavy, straight-bar 28-inch bikes were common, but this slant-bar women’s bike was a rarity.

Liu Weidong stopped by a hardware store to buy a chain lock and some colored plastic strips. He sat at the entrance of the guesthouse, wrapping the bike frame and weaving the leftovers into small goldfish keychains, drawing a crowd of local women. "This young man is so clever! Look at those goldfish, he even added eyes!"

Liu Weidong watched the bike with a smile, imagining Lou Yanru’s joyful reaction when she saw it. She still needed a watch, but he didn't dare spend too much more of his money. After all, how much grain would the entire village need to survive if they were all reduced to eating watery porridge? Besides, he had to focus on the machinery plant for the month and tutor his wife, leaving him no time for anything else.

After admiring the bike for a while, he rode over to the First Machinery Plant. With the plans from the Municipal Economic Commission and the Machinery Bureau, the plant was making fast progress. The molds were mostly cast, but the hardness of the forged parts was still not up to standard. Liu Weidong offered some pointers on material additives and forging techniques, leaving the plant’s top-tier technicians awestruck.

"Weidong, at this rate, we can test the separator by the end of the month. Our pace of innovation is breaking national records."

Liu Weidong smiled. "If the test run is successful, don't forget to thank the municipal leaders. Also, the grain I bought last time won't last long for the villagers. Could you ask Director Zhao to help me coordinate some more?"

Song Yi readily agreed and dragged Liu Weidong to the factory canteen for a meal. State-owned enterprises were truly something; even if the canteen served coarse grains, they prepared them in a dozen different ways. Liu Weidong couldn't stop praising the golden, toasted cornmeal cakes.

Suddenly remembering something, Liu Weidong turned to Master Liu nearby. "I noticed a lot of packing crates in the courtyard. Are they processed in-house or purchased?"

Master Liu laughed. "We have a packaging workshop; we buy the raw timber and process it ourselves."

"Master Liu, I see you use a lot of hardwood and poplar for those crates. Could our production team sell some firewood to the plant? We just suffered from a flood and are having trouble finding enough to eat."

Master Liu thought for a moment. "The new forging technique you proposed solved a bottleneck that has plagued us for years. Just for that contribution alone, the director will surely agree."

Less than half an hour later, the raw timber procurement list for the packaging workshop was in Liu Weidong’s hands. He rode back to the guesthouse immediately and reported the situation to Wang Jianguo over the phone. Wang Jianguo laughed so hard he choked. "The firewood you’re asking for doesn't even need to be high-quality lumber. Every family in the village can scrape together dozens of cubic meters just by turning over their woodpiles. I’ll mobilize the members to gather it right away—it looks like we’ll be able to eat our fill for a while longer."

There was nothing to do in the afternoon, so Liu Weidong spent his time polishing and oiling the bike until it shone. As soon as it turned dark, he went to wait outside the First Middle School, eager to see his wife’s reaction to the new bike.

By eight o’clock, the streets were empty. Liu Weidong locked the bike and stood across from the school, staring at the classroom building in a daze. Suddenly, he heard the sound of bicycle brakes behind him, coming to a stop almost against his back.

Liu Weidong pivoted and landed a kick instantly. With a loud crash, a young man in a blue jacket was sent sprawling, bike and all, while an arm-thick club flew into the distance. Liu Weidong moved in a flash to the side of a large tree, his back pressed against it, and pulled a pig-slaughtering knife from his waist.

Three other youths holding weapons stood there, stunned by his speed, forgetting even to help their fallen companion.

"Did Chen Hao send you to ambush me? Get lost now. I don’t want to see blood tonight. Go back and tell Chen Hao he’d better not provoke me; even I’m afraid when I get ruthless."

After speaking, Liu Weidong used the knife to scrape some grime off his face. The three youths scrambled to drop their clubs, hauled up their comrade, and rode off, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

"Heh, Chen Hao, you really don't know how to spell 'death,' do you? If it weren't for the fact that your mother and my mother-in-law work in the same office, you’d already be leaking holes. And look at the losers you hired? Trying to jump me in the dark? That’s a game I finished playing years ago."