April Take a deep breath

In the summer of 1990, the air was thick with the smell of dry heat. The unique tranquility of a summer afternoon felt like a large, fleshy hand holding me tightly between its fingers. Hu Xiaoling and I huddled idly in a grassy burlap sack, my eyes closed. I could feel the sunlight relentlessly filtering through the dense sycamore leaves, lazily tapping at my tender eyelids, while the river flowed quietly beside us.

"Li Hao, what do you want to be when you grow up?" Hu Xiaoling suddenly asked me. I think she was probably a little bored. But in that era before "Age of Empires" and F4, imagining the future was always the most exciting topic for teenagers. The future world was like a juicy peach, full of temptation for us who aspired to be conquerors of the future.

In about five seconds, a thought suddenly sprouted like the grass pressed down on us in summer, and then overwhelmed my entire world:

"I want to be a rich person!" I said with absolute certainty, just as I predicted that I would be 1.7 meters tall on my eighteenth birthday.

Hu Xiaoling seemed startled, giggling foolishly a few times before falling silent. But after a while, she finally couldn't hold back any longer: "Being rich? Don't you think that's a shameful thought? Besides, what would you do if you were rich? Eat stir-fried pork with wild ginger every day?"

"Why is it shameful? If I were rich, I could go wherever I wanted. What's a stir-fried pork with wild ginger? I'd only eat Shanghai plums and white cream chocolate. And remember Rita from 'The Tramp'? If I were rich, I'd have a beautiful garden with a swing. My dad would develop photos in his darkroom, and my mom would knit while watching TV in a room with a separate bathroom and balcony. I'd buy that hardcover edition of Andersen's Fairy Tales from Xinhua Bookstore and read it every day on my swing..."

"And what about me?" Hu Xiaoling was clearly so moved by my description that she forgot her shame and jumped out impatiently.

"If you bring me a basin every time I do a deep clean, I might consider letting you come into my garden for half an hour every day."

"One hour, plus preserved plums and chocolate, I'll even bring you a dishcloth." Hu Xiaoling's shrewdness, inherited from her mother, was already on full display at the age of eleven.

"Deal." I knew when to quit while I was ahead. But at the same time, I secretly reminded myself that I must build the garden and swing in a place where Hu Xiaoling couldn't find me.

Part One, Chapter One

The sweltering, long summers of Guangzhou are no challenge for me, but the nearly two weeks of humid, damp weather have almost driven me mad—every inch of my skin feels constantly sticky and dirty. No matter how high you live, without air conditioning, the humidity will find you; even the walls painted with ICI are covered in a layer of cold water droplets. Not to mention the seemingly endless condensation on the furniture and windows. The whole world feels like it's been covered by a huge, damp, cold plastic sheet, leaving you with no choice but to pray for time to pass quickly. During these extraordinary times, my only survival goal is to try my best not to get moldy.

It was noon, so I found a roadside stall and bought a three-yuan boxed lunch. Like a migrant worker, I hunched over a greasy stool, spooning the mushy contents into my mouth. I didn't even know what it tasted like, because my eyes were glued to the stall owner and his wife, along with their helper, busily collecting money and selling meals. I counted the boxes they sold while calculating their daily costs for running such a stall. Roughly, they could net about 150 yuan a day, and around 3000 yuan a month (assuming 22 days). I shook my head inwardly. Doing this my whole life, I'd never get rich, couldn't afford to maintain my garden, and would barely be able to feed myself. I'd have to rely on God to keep me healthy, otherwise, a simple appendectomy would wipe out half my fortune.

"Beep beep beep beep..." My phone suddenly started ringing loudly. While everyone was still looking down at their phones, I had already finished the last few grains of rice in my lunchbox, grabbed my backpack, and started talking into my earphones as I walked back into the steamy street.

"Good girl, did you receive the money from Hengwei today?" The loud voice of our sales department's guy with the yellow hair resounded in my ears without the slightest distortion, and even my heels were vibrating.

"I'm downstairs at Hengwei right now. I've been keeping an eye on things here all morning. They say their heir hasn't arrived yet, so they can't stamp the checks without his signature. Don't worry, Mr. Huang, with me on the case, there's no money I can't get back."

"That's right, that's right. Otherwise, how could you be our top salesperson? Work hard, and if we can collect Hengwei's money this time, I'll submit a report to promote you to sales supervisor." The man with the yellow hair unceremoniously shoved a carrot into my hand. I immediately did the math in my head: as sales supervisor, I'd get a 15% monthly allowance, my phone subsidy would increase to 500 yuan per month, and my commission would rise from 10% to 13%. This meant my actual monthly income would increase by at least 1000 yuan, and by the end of the year, I could save at least 50,000 yuan. That was a really big carrot! I was immediately overjoyed.

"You must keep your word, Mr. Huang."

……