Chapter 88: A New Year, An Absent Old Friend
Chapter 88: A New Year, An Absent Old Friend
The first day of the new year.
Having stayed up late on New Year’s Eve and waking up before dawn to pay New Year’s visits, most people rested at home for a while after breakfast.
Shortly after lunch, Li Zhichao drove his brand new black Jialing 125 motorcycle, bought by his father before the new year, to pick up Su Chunfeng from his house. They went around visiting neighboring villages to pay New Year’s respects — because they were now in high school, there were many more households requiring formal kneeling New Year greetings this year compared to last.
Li Zhichao was sociable and made friends easily, so naturally, he had many friends.
Su Chunfeng wasn’t very keen on visiting the homes of most of these so-called high school friends, as he wasn’t that close to them. But Li Zhichao reminded him with one sentence: “Chunfeng, even though you don’t interact with them much, you’re pretty famous at school. If you don’t go to their homes, they’ll come to yours, believe it or not?”
Su Chunfeng thought about it and realized it was true, so he reluctantly agreed.
Anyway, that’s how the new year went. The act of kneeling wasn’t that significant. It was about social etiquette and reciprocity; you didn’t need to worry about face or pride like “a real man’s knees are worth gold.”
Since they had many households to visit, the two of them made good use of time on the motorcycle. Basically, they would enter a home, kneel to pay New Year respects, exchange a few polite words, and then hurry off… it was highly efficient and very busy. Following Su Chunfeng’s suggestion, after making their rounds, they finally headed to Dongwangzhuang Village.
After visiting a few classmates’ homes for New Year greetings, as they passed by a narrow alley, Su Chunfeng asked Li Zhichao to stop the bike and wait for a moment.
“Whose place?” Li Zhichao asked, puzzled.
Su Chunfeng smiled faintly. “Teacher Wang Qimin. Let’s pay him a New Year visit while we’re here.”
“Oh.” Li Zhichao was a bit confused but without hesitation turned the motorcycle around, saying, “Then let’s both go.”
Su Chunfeng smiled and didn’t object.
When the two entered the alley and reached the gate of Wang Qimin’s house, they both froze. The dilapidated courtyard gate, pasted with bright red spring festival couplets, was tightly locked. Standing in the alley, over the low courtyard wall, they could see three run-down single-story rooms in the yard, which had a few elm trees planted. The locked house door also had couplets pasted on it. However, the yard was covered with snow, and some withered wild grasses poked their heads out from the snow mixed with dead leaves, making the place look messy and desolate.
Clearly, no one had lived in this house for a long time.
“Huh, did the old man move?” Li Zhichao muttered, turning the motorcycle around to leave. His guess wasn’t unreasonable; with the house empty for so long and still having couplets, it suggested a move.
But Su Chunfeng’s mind was filled with thoughts. He knew Wang Qimin couldn’t possibly have moved.
Just then, a neighbor from across the way came out. Su Chunfeng politely went over to ask about Wang Qimin’s whereabouts. The neighbor told him that after Wang Qimin retired last early autumn, he leased his farmland to the neighbors. He didn’t say where he was going; he just left and hadn’t returned since.
The couplets on the door were pasted by the neighbor to help out.
The neighbor also mentioned that before the new year, a young man had come looking for Wang Qimin several times. He came again on New Year’s Eve evening and on the morning of New Year’s Day.
Su Chunfeng knew the young man the neighbor mentioned was probably Qian Ming.
He also guessed that Wang Qimin had likely gone traveling to other places, looking for talented young people to take as disciples. It was just tough on Qian Ming, a genius so eager to become a disciple and cultivate.
Thinking of this, Su Chunfeng felt a sour ache in his heart and some helpless guilt.
After thanking the neighbor, Su Chunfeng and Li Zhichao left the alley and went to Zhao Shangang’s house — Li Zhichao insisted on paying a New Year visit to Zhao Shangang’s home, and Su Chunfeng couldn’t really object.
Zhao Shangang happened to be home. He didn’t expect Li Zhichao and Su Chunfeng to come to his house to pay New Year respects to his mother, so he was particularly surprised and excited. Especially when facing Su Chunfeng, Zhao Shangang was full of apology and seemed almost flattered. This made Li Zhichao, standing beside them, quite puzzled: “Logically, since Su Chunfeng’s father saved Zhao Shangang’s life, why haven’t we seen Zhao Shangang go to Su Chunfeng’s parents’ house to kneel and pay New Year respects these past two years?”
Since they had basically visited all the classmates’ homes they needed to, Li Zhichao and Su Chunfeng weren’t in a hurry to return. At Zhao Shangang’s warm insistence, they stayed a while longer to chat. Of course, it was mainly Li Zhichao who wanted to stay longer to get closer to Zhao Shangang.
Su Chunfeng privately said to Zhao Shangang, “Shangang, there’s something I need to trouble you with.”
“Don’t be so polite! If you have something, just say it!” Zhao Shangang almost thumped his chest — in his view, if Su Chunfeng was willing to let him help, it would make him feel better.
Su Chunfeng said seriously, “Wang Qimin left home last early autumn and hasn’t returned since. I’m a bit worried; after all, he was my teacher. Could you do this for me: ask a few people to keep an eye on Wang Qimin’s house? As soon as he comes back home, let me know immediately.”
“No problem,” Zhao Shangang agreed readily.
This matter was best left to Zhao Shangang. Even though Zhao Shangang wasn’t often home himself, just by telling the local troublemakers under him, everyone would likely pay extra attention and watch for any movement at Wang Qimin’s house. But Su Chunfeng was still a bit uneasy. He excused himself from Zhao Shangang and Li Zhichao, saying he had something to attend to, and let them continue chatting. Then he walked back alone to Wang Qimin’s house gate.
The winter day was cold, and the narrow alley had few people passing through.
Su Chunfeng looked around and, seeing no one, picked up a brick. He forcefully carved an inconspicuous symbol on the old wooden door.
An ordinary person seeing this symbol wouldn’t think anything of it.
But if Wang Qimin returned and saw this symbol, he would immediately understand — an expert in the Esoteric Arts had come to pay his respects.
Having finished this, Su Chunfeng noticed it was getting late. He returned to Zhao Shangang’s house, called Li Zhichao, said goodbye to Zhao Shangang and his family, and left.
Little did he expect…
Su Chunfeng had just stepped into his own home when Zhao Shangang arrived right after him on his motorcycle.
The reason was simple — to pay New Year respects!
When Zhao Shangang came to pay New Year respects to Su Chunfeng’s parents, he really meant it. And that’s not an exaggeration — Zhao Shangang arrived carrying a case of fine liquor worth a thousand yuan, two cartons of Hongtashan cigarettes, and a large bag of chicken, duck, fish, and meat… Not only that, as Su Cheng and Chen Xiulan looked on, puzzled but forced to smile warmly and welcome him, Zhao Shangang seriously asked Su Cheng and Chen Xiulan to sit on either side of the main hall table. Then, he walked to the front of the table, faced Su Cheng and Chen Xiulan, and genuinely knelt down and kowtowed!
“Shangang kowtows to Uncle and Auntie to wish you a Happy New Year!”
Thump!
A solid, audible kowtow!
It gave Su Cheng and Chen Xiulan quite a scare. The couple exchanged a flustered glance and quickly stepped forward to help up this young man who radiated an aura of fierceness: “Well, this is too much, too much!”
“Once a year, it’s only proper,” Zhao Shangang said with a respectful, grinning smile.
Su Chunfeng watched from the side, frowning.
If he had known this would happen, he really shouldn’t have gone with Li Zhichao to Zhao Shangang’s house for New Year greetings. If he hadn’t gone to Zhao Shangang’s home, he figured Zhao Shangang wouldn’t dare come to his house to pay respects without his permission. But today, his visit… well, Zhao Shangang had found an excuse. It was about reciprocity; a return visit was expected, wasn’t it?
Zhao Shangang had been itching to come to Su Chunfeng’s house to pay respects to the elders!
After finishing the kowtow New Year greetings, Zhao Shangang declined the family’s warm insistence to stay. He stubbornly left the gifts he brought, then walked out the door, mounted his Yamaha 400 motorcycle, and, under the astonished yet enthusiastic gaze of Su Cheng and Chen Xiulan, roared the engine and sped off like the wind down the narrow alley.
Watching the unusually large motorcycle and the equally fierce young man disappear at the alley’s end, Su Cheng walked back inside, asking quite perplexedly, “Chunfeng, this, this Zhao Shangang, where’s he from? What does he do?”
“Ahem.” Su Chunfeng cleared his throat and explained, “He’s from Dongwangzhuang Village. He runs a shop at the agricultural wholesale market in the south gate district of the county town.”
“How do you know him?” Chen Xiulan said with some concern, “He seems pretty fierce to me, gives off a bandit-like vibe.”
“Hey, don’t mention it. It was a coincidence,” Su Chunfeng scratched his head. “Last autumn, I was playing with some classmates in the county town when we saw him get into a motorcycle accident; he almost died. I didn’t think much then; I just called some classmates, and we got him to the hospital in time for emergency treatment… Today, when we went to a classmate’s house in Dongwangzhuang Village for New Year greetings, we happened to run into him on the street. He insisted on coming to our house to pay respects. I told him he didn’t need to, but I just got back and here he came.”
“Oh…”
Su Cheng and Chen Xiulan immediately understood. So that was how it was.
“Repaying kindness, he seems like a decent kid.”
“Hmm, he looks only about twenty-three or twenty-four. Running his own shop in the county town at such a young age shows he’s capable and promising.”
“Xiaofeng,” Su Cheng suddenly said, “You did the right thing saving someone, and you did well. But… well, this Zhao Shangang… in the future, it’s best to have less contact…” At this point, Su Cheng felt his way of teaching his child might be wrong, so he weighed his words before continuing, “You’re still in school; it’s not yet time to make friends in society. You should focus on your studies. Besides, we do good deeds not expecting anything in return, right?”
Su Chunfeng nodded hurriedly, “Yes, yes, I know. Dad, Mom, don’t worry.”
He understood in his heart. The aura, the Qi Field, of someone like Zhao Shangang was too powerful, too aggressive and oppressive. Even if he acted as honest, kind, and smiling as possible, the formidable, domineering aura that emanated from his very bones would make ordinary people feel an involuntary fear when they saw him.