Chapter 1: Dropping Out — The First Turning Point in Life

  Drop out, juvenile detention center, detention house, prison, shooting range - the life trajectory of a black way character who is full of evil. At the age of 16, Ye Haodong followed his head and walked on this road with a stubborn heart. Destiny seemed to have left him only multiple-choice questions, but if it weren't for that earth-shattering kneel, Ye Haodong might never have had the chance to choose.

  In the early 1990s, in front of a restaurant in Steel City, Liaoning Province, Wang Lin was seeing off the last group of guests who had come to attend her husband's funeral with her three half-grown sons. After the mechanical courtesy on the face of this middle-aged woman faded away, what could not be hidden was sadness and confusion.

  Her husband Ye Wen-chang fell ill and was bedridden for two years, during which the family had exhausted all possible means to raise funds. In the end, however, they were unable to save the pillar of the household. Ye Wen-chang eventually passed away, leaving behind three sons and a large debt for Wang Lin.

  In the face of life's heavy pressure, this middle-aged woman who had been pampered by her husband for twenty years in marriage chose to be strong. The most realistic difficulty she faced was that she did not have the ability to support all three sons continuing their studies.

  If it weren't for these three kids' excellent grades, Wang Lin wouldn't be having such a hard time making a decision right now.

  A gaze full of maternal love swept across the faces of her three sons, and thinking of her husband's evaluation of the three sons before his death, Wang Lin made a decision in her heart.

  Ye Wenchang often evaluated his three sons during his lifetime. The eldest son, Ye Haoyun, was only moderately talented, but he made up for it with hard work and would likely achieve something in the future, although the height he could reach would inevitably be limited by his natural ability. The second son, Ye Haoran, had exceptional talent, but was slightly frivolous, and may not necessarily surpass his older brother in the future.

  Ye Wenchang's grandfather was a jinshi in the late Qing dynasty. Ye Wenchang, who grew up under his grandfather's influence since childhood, had read many books and developed some feudal habits. Apart from often talking about Confucian classics, history, and miscellaneous knowledge, he also liked to make predictions about people and things. He was quite accurate at judging people and had a unique perspective. His evaluation of his two sons proved to be largely correct after many years. However, he couldn't understand Ye Haodong, the elder son, even with his rich experience. Nevertheless, as his biological father, Ye Wenchang still knew Ye Haodong best.

  Ye Wenchang once summarized three strange things about Ye Haodong when he was alive and talked about this youngest son.

  Here is the translation:

  The first peculiarity, Ye Haodong was born with a smile on his face. According to Old Man Ye Boda, who was still alive at that time, this little thing was born with a heroic spirit, as if he had seen all the hardships in the world; The second peculiarity, Ye Haodong was born with a strong and unyielding personality. From a young age, he was always getting into trouble, causing chaos wherever he went. Fights and scuffles were a common occurrence for him. Despite his strict upbringing by Ye Wenchang, who punished him severely, Ye Haodong never shed a single tear; The third peculiarity, Ye Haodong's intelligence far surpassed that of his two older brothers. He had an exceptional memory and learning ability, with outstanding academic achievements. He also read extensively, devouring all the books in Ye Wenchang's collection before the age of 13. When Ye Wenchang tested him on the content of these books, Ye Haodong was able to answer fluently and accurately, showing a level of understanding that surpassed many adults. Summing up these three points, Ye Wenchang once made a vague comment about Ye Haodong during a casual conversation with Wang Lin: "This old son of mine is unteachable, neither I nor the school can teach him, not even his ancestors could teach him if they were alive. Only the vast and complex world can be his teacher. This child will grow up to be someone who can stir up trouble, no matter what he does!"

  As for her husband, Wang Lin had an almost obsessive superstition.

  At the age of 20, eldest son Ye Haoyun is in his second year at a university in Lian City. His father had placed too much hope on him before he passed away, so no matter how difficult it was, she wanted her eldest son to finish university! Eighteen-year-old second son Ye Haoran is currently in high school third grade. To get rid of the family's debt as soon as possible, Wang Lin planned to let him switch to a technical school because if he switched to a technical school, after two more years, he would be working and could quickly alleviate her burden. The factory where she and her husband worked was one of the largest steel mills in the country. To cultivate suitable technical talents for the factory, they had been running a technical school for many years. For Ye Haoran, who was a child of an employee at the factory, as long as his grades were excellent, attending that school would be free. Ye Haoran's score on the recent comprehensive test was 685 points, and it seemed that attending a technical school would be a waste of his talent. However, in Wang Lin's heart, the most pitied son was undoubtedly the youngest and best-performing third son, Ye Haodong. She had already decided to let him drop out of school. This was an extremely difficult decision, but it had to be done!

  Just like that, a week after Ye Wenchang's death, the youngest of the three sons, who was considered to be the most resilient and was only 16 years old, Ye Haodong encountered the first major turning point in his life - dropping out of school.

  As for his mother letting him drop out of school, Ye Haodong didn't think it was a big deal. They were poor and his mother was also forced by poverty. Moreover, he always thought that if his father's illness was caused by anger, then he, Ye Haodong, should take more than half the responsibility. In the few years before his father was diagnosed with cancer, he had not been trouble-free at home. Subconsciously, Ye Haodong felt guilty. Even when he thought that dropping out of school would be a welcome move for this family, he was confident that he would win four votes in an internal democratic evaluation.

  Here is the translation:

  These few days, Ye Haodong often comforted himself: The power of role models is enormous. Countless illiterate and semi-illiterate giants throughout history are his role models. Liu Bang was a roughneck from humble beginnings, Zhu Yuanzhang was a beggar's son, and the Qing dynasty's ancestor who drank blood and ate raw meat was also an ethnic minority leader who relied on a half-fabricated book about the Three Kingdoms to conquer the world. As for himself, he at least graduated from junior high school, which puts him above the line of illiteracy. (He didn't think about how many people like that there were in Chinese history.) Compared to those illustrious and renowned illiterate and semi-illiterate individuals, some more modern examples are George who never attended university, Carnegie who also never attended university, and Napoleon who didn't attend university either. Yet these men managed countless top students from famous universities. Another industry colleague of Ye Haodong's, Lei Feng, was also one of his role models for self-consolation. Uncle Lei Feng, who hadn't studied much, had a saying that deeply resonated with Ye Haodong: Revolution doesn't distinguish between the noble and the humble; when doing something, you must love it! Sixteen-year-old Ye Haodong didn't have such high awareness, so he interpreted this as: Making money doesn't depend on one's profession; when doing something, you must maximize the potential benefits that come with it.

  Ye Wenchang left, but life has to go on. After the seventh day of mourning, Wang Lin returned to work at the factory, Ye Haoyun left home and continued her studies in Lian City, and Ye Haoran was arranged by Wang Lin to attend a technical school. As the saying goes, "Poor people's children grow up early", Ye Haodong, who only read until high school, finally entered society ahead of time and started his first job as a bathhouse worker.

  Ye Haodong's first workplace was called Tengyu Bathhouse. In the north, bathhouses are a special place where people not only go to clean their bodies but also to relax and have fun. This is a gathering place for grassroots culture. Every day, people from all walks of life gather here with a common purpose, familiar or unfamiliar faces meet openly, and enthusiasts soak in hot tubs like cooked crabs, then carefully served by the bathhouse attendants to remove dirt and grime from their bodies. After that, they use towels to cover their backs, and the attendants use their hands to pat their entire body with a crisp sound, which is music to the customers' ears. After enjoying all this, they rinse off, put on the dry clothes provided by the bathhouse, wear a fragrant cotton robe, come to the lively rest area, order a pot of clear tea, or find a familiar opponent to play chess, or gather around the table with others to watch and comment on other people's games, or quietly lie on the long sofa for customers to rest and watch the exciting Hong Kong movies played by the VCR in the hall. There are also several enthusiasts who hum a few tunes that are not quite right next to them.

  The small bathhouse reflected all sorts of human nature, and just this made Ye Haodong feel that everything was fresh and interesting everywhere.

  Of course, not everything is satisfactory either.

  Three hundred and sixty lines, every line produces a champion. Originally, in Ye Haodong's view, this line of work shouldn't have much technical content, with his intelligence, he could mix up a champion in no more than a few days. But until he got into it and pondered, he realized that there were many subtleties to it.

  Here is the translation:

  Doing this job, newcomers all have to pass several hurdles. The first hurdle is the "face" hurdle, which mainly targets those former state-owned enterprise employees who were laid off and forced into this industry due to pressure from their living situation. They still hold onto the pride of being a state employee and can't put it down. For Ye Haodong, this hurdle was not a problem - he never thought that making a living by his own efforts was anything to be ashamed of.

  Next is the "rotten hand" hurdle. A masseur's hands are almost always in water, plus they have to come into contact with too much soap and other chemical agents, and on top of that, they have to use force. The consequences can be imagined - without more than a month of work experience, it's hard to pass this test; Ye Haodong really struggled to get through this hurdle.

  However, even in the most difficult times, when his fingers were peeling layer by layer and it hurt to pick up anything, he never complained once. But this still wasn't the hardest part - the hardest was the third hurdle, the "technique" hurdle! One sentence: if you don't have skills, you won't get repeat customers! Every task they do every day has a number plate on it, and after work, they take the plate to find the boss to collect their pay. Without the plate, there's no money to be had, no income - who would be willing to suffer in vain?

  (Note: I've tried to preserve the original text's tone and style as much as possible)

  A professional masseur not only needs strength, but also needs to master the light and heavy techniques according to different people's situations. The endurance of a young man with delicate skin and a worker uncle with thick skin is far apart, and the focus of the technique really depends on the person. Ye Haodong's first customer was an uncle who had worked in front of a steel furnace for over 20 years, his old skin was as tough as gold armor, Ye Haodong used all his strength to scrub him, and this uncle barely showed a weak expression of acceptance. This made Ye Haodong think that being a masseur required using full force. So when Ye Haodong used the same strength on his second customer, a young man with delicate skin, the latter let out a scream like a pig being slaughtered, almost shattering the glass in the room. The guy's voice was quite impressive, if he had put more effort into it, all the glass would have shattered! After that, Ye Haodong received severe punishment, sweeping and mopping the floor for a month after work. Fortunately, he was very optimistic, no matter how hard or tired he was, he still smiled happily, at home and outside, without showing any signs of sadness to his mother. After this incident, he learned the basic skills of being a masseur, mastering the strength according to different people's situations. And the same joke never happened again.

  Technically, it's not just that. According to Ye Haodong's observation, to do this job well and become a top-notch master, the massage masters must also truly understand some massage techniques. Ye Haodong worked for a week, carefully observing and learning from other masters' moves, and even bought a book on massage techniques, combining theory with practice for a while. With his intelligence and perseverance, he managed to discover some unique things that others didn't know within a month, and the effects were remarkable when applied. Thanks to this special skill that others didn't have, Ye Haodong quickly became the most popular massage master in Tengyu Bathhouse in just over a month.

  Where there are people, there is a river. The person who said this is really a high-ranking official. Teng Yu Bathhouse has only a dozen or so employees, including those who sweep the floor and burn boilers. The eight masseurs on the front line are all related to someone in some way. Some were introduced by the janitor, others are relatives of the boiler burner, and there are also rural relatives of the boss. The eight people were divided into three groups, and when they had nothing to do, they would argue with each other. Ye Haodong, who came with ideals, did not join any group. In his opinion, those few people were purely idle, and their energy was better spent honing their skills and making money in the industry. Therefore, although most masseurs were jealous of Ye Haodong's rapid progress and competed for the most customers, even ostracizing him, Ye Haodong didn't care at all.

  Time flies, and another three months have passed, approaching the Spring Festival. Ye Haodong has been working in Tengyu for four months. The wild grass-like Ye Haodong has adapted to everything here early on. Recently, he's been feeling a bit bored, always thinking about coming up with something to prove that even if we're just a masseur, we have our own uniqueness compared to others, and we want to be the top in this field.