Chapter 13: The Cold Gaze, The Fierce Glare

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“Mom, Dad, there’s one more thing. Yesterday, a training course for civil service interviews...” Li Xiuyuan told them how the interview training center had sought him out and how he had earned fifty thousand yuan.

“Good heavens, Xiuyuan, you’re more capable than your father now!” Li Jianguo said excitedly. “A bowl of noodles sells for five yuan, so I’d have to sell ten thousand bowls just to make fifty thousand. And you made that much from selling a single set of notes.”

“Of course. Our son is a university student—how could we possibly compare with him? What do they call it? Knowledge is power... No, knowledge is money.” Zhang Qiuhe gazed at her son, Li Xiuyuan, with undisguised pride.

At last, the gloom that had descended on the family when Lin Jingya had come to break up with him a month earlier had been completely swept away.

“Mom, Dad, I was thinking of putting this fifty thousand yuan into the stock market, because...” Li Xiuyuan cleared his throat, intending to explain why he wanted to buy stocks and why he was so optimistic about the market.

Unexpectedly, his father, Li Jianguo, interrupted him as soon as he began.

“You can do whatever you want with the money. You’re an adult now, and you’ve passed the civil service examination. You’ll soon be working at the county government office. Who would ever have imagined that a set of notes could sell for fifty thousand yuan?

“Your mother and I only know how to run a small restaurant. We can’t understand what you’re doing anymore, so we won’t interfere. You can make your own choices.”

Li Jianguo’s words were plain, yet they contained a profound truth. Li Xiuyuan had not expected his father to see things so clearly.

The reason many people had strained relationships with their parents was that so many parents, despite having far less insight and perspective, still loved to meddle and give orders. At the slightest opportunity, they would boast, “I’ve eaten more salt than you’ve eaten rice,” as proof of their superior experience.

In truth, if eating more salt were enough to guarantee success, even a salted fish could turn itself around.

Experience always grew outdated. Besides, some experiences had not necessarily been correct even in their own time.

Just as Li Xiuyuan was reflecting on this, Li Jianguo said with a smile, “Now that you’ve passed the civil service exam, you’ll have a secure job for life. You’ll never go hungry.”

Li Xiuyuan could not help laughing helplessly. He had not expected that to be the basis of his father’s reasoning. Still, it was not a bad thing, so long as his father did not interfere.

“Our son can earn money now, and he has a proper job too. We absolutely have to celebrate!” Li Jianguo declared excitedly.

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Zhang Qiuhe gave her husband a teasing look. “What? You’re closing the noodle shop? Aren’t you afraid of losing business?”

Li Jianguo waved his hand dismissively. “Oh, what does a little lost business matter? I’m closing the shop today. Our son has passed the civil service exam—shouldn’t we celebrate? At noon, you and I will have a couple of drinks. In the afternoon, I’ll call your sister and have her bring your brother-in-law and the two children over. We’ll all celebrate properly as a family...”

Li Xiuyuan was not an only child. He had an older sister, four years his senior, who had been married for many years and already had two children. The elder child was in kindergarten, while the younger one was still being breastfed.

She had married into a family in a nearby township on the outskirts of Huangyuan County. Their circumstances were fairly comfortable, but with two children to care for, she could not easily get away and seldom returned to her parents’ home.

“Dad, this is what I think. We shouldn’t make too much of the fact that I passed the civil service exam. After all, I haven’t even started work yet. The restaurant should open as usual. Tomorrow I’ll go to the Personnel Bureau to collect my reporting notice and find out when I’m expected to report. Before I officially begin work, we can choose a day to have my sister come back and celebrate on a small scale.

“Besides, my sister has two children. Asking them to come over right now might not be very convenient. What do you think?”

Li Xiuyuan had spent more than a decade working at the grassroots level in his previous life. Of all the looks he had encountered, there were two he had seen most often: contempt and envy. When you were doing badly, people looked down on you; when you were doing well, they resented you.

That was why he intended to keep the celebration low-key.

Although news that he had passed the civil service exam could not be concealed forever, sooner or later everyone would find out. But the longer it took, the less impact it would have.

If the news caused a huge commotion all at once, then although the public announcement period had already ended, someone might still take issue with it. Li Xiuyuan was not afraid, but neither did he wish to invite trouble for no reason.

“Mm, you’re right, son. You’ve thought it through carefully. We’ll do as you say.” Li Jianguo was the sort of man who could listen to reason, and he nodded at once.

Zhang Qiuhe also felt that her son’s words made sense. “You’ve grown up now, son. You’re much steadier than before. I’ll feel at ease sending you off to work.”

Even so, the couple remained extremely excited. They spent a long while celebrating at home before finally heading to the noodle shop, and by then it was already past eleven.

Neither of them was in any hurry. Their son had passed the civil service exam and secured a dependable government position. The family’s circumstances had instantly changed. At the very least, they would no longer have to worry about him in the future.

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Li Xiuyuan was excited as well. Even after his parents left, his emotions remained unsettled for a long time.

In the end, he picked up a stack of newspapers and began reading. Gradually, his mood calmed.

A little after seven in the morning on May 9, Li Xiuyuan was still asleep when his parents’ knocking woke him.

“Get up and get ready. Have breakfast, then go to the Personnel Bureau to collect your reporting notice.” Zhang Qiuhe kept urging him as he watched Li Xiuyuan emerge from his room, rubbing his eyes with sleep still clouding his face.

Li Xiuyuan glanced at the time and said helplessly, “Mom, it’s still early. They haven’t even started work yet, so there’s no need to rush. Besides, lots of people will be going to collect their reporting notices this morning. It would be better to go in the afternoon, when there won’t be as many people...”

He had indeed planned to go in the afternoon. The transfer of personnel records had begun as soon as the final results were announced. In other words, although he had not yet reported for duty, he was already part of the county government office. Whether he collected the reporting notice in the morning or the afternoon made no difference whatsoever.

“What do you mean, go in the afternoon? Go early and bring it back early. Then we can put our minds at ease. What if you don’t go and someone else takes your notice?” Zhang Qiuhe urged.

Li Xiuyuan had no choice.

He nodded, washed up, and, under his parents’ watchful supervision, ate breakfast before preparing to leave.

“Once you’ve collected the reporting notice, come back and tell us. If you don’t want to come to the restaurant, just give us a call,” his mother, Zhang Qiuhe, reminded him before he went out.

“Alright, I know, Mom,” Li Xiuyuan replied. Then he sauntered out.

The Huangyuan County Personnel Bureau stood on a street not far from the county government compound. At that time, there was also a separate office known as the Labor Bureau. Two years later, the Personnel Bureau and Labor Bureau would merge and be collectively renamed the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, commonly known as the Human Resources Bureau.