Chapter 2 May's Fresh Flowers (Part 4)

  When Peng Xuewen and Fang Guoqiang were loudly arguing, Zhang Songling was listening in a daze. He didn't interrupt, nor did he have the courage or ability to do so. The conversation between the two almost overturned his previous understanding of the entire world, making him unable to believe his own ears.

  Under the double impact of strong liquor and rage, everything before his eyes became extremely blurred and unreal. He felt as if he had a terrible dream on the train home, knowing that everything in the dream was fake, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't wake himself up!

  Until Fang Guoqiang said that sentence, "At worst, we'll head to Yan'an!" It was as if a thunderbolt had struck his soul, making him open his eyes instantly, with cold sweat dripping down his forehead.

  He didn't want to go to Yan'an at all! No matter what lofty goal it was for! Going to Beiping to fight, once he shed blood on the battlefield, his father and brothers would be sad for him, but they would eventually understand his choice! They would point to his tombstone and educate his nephews and nieces to take pride in this uncle. But going to Yan'an would only bring disaster to the whole family! You have to know that in Shandong, you can support the central government, support Hebei, or even support Japan, it's all okay, whether openly or secretly supporting, the police might find out and cause some trouble, but they wouldn't take your life. But once you get involved with ***, it would be a matter of destroying the family, and after death, his body couldn't even enter the ancestral tomb!

  When Zhang Songling was in middle school, he witnessed a young couple and their child under the age of four being taken away by police from the dormitory behind the church school due to some entanglement. Even the blonde-haired, blue-eyed priest ran to the provincial police station to plead for leniency, but it had no effect. Just a few days later, the case was tried and the two teachers were sentenced to death. The child was sent to an orphanage. At the execution, the county magistrate ordered everyone in the city to attend as a warning. The female teacher wept with her head bowed, heartbroken for her child. The male teacher, however, seemed to have been frightened out of his wits and sang a foreign song with his neck stretched high. The melody was tragic, but unfortunately, no one could understand it. Until the sound of gunfire rang out, both bodies were stained red.

  Three days later, the body of the child who was supposed to be sent to the orphanage in the provincial city appeared in a stinky ditch on the outskirts. The belly was swollen and surrounded by green flies. A group of homeless beggars also surrounded the body, laughing and throwing stones.

  Zhang Songling was out of town with his classmates catching wild birds when they came across a group of beggars. At the moment when the green flies flew up in the sunlight, he immediately wet his pants. From then on, for several months, almost every night, he woke up from nightmares. He vaguely felt that he was the orphan who died in the foul water and had already rotted beyond recognition, and still had stones thrown at him.

  "What's wrong, are you okay?!" A white handkerchief appeared in front of him, dispelling the dreamlike memories. It was Peng Weiwei, only she had the same fragrance as the handkerchief on her body. Zhang Songling snatched the handkerchief and rubbed it on his face a few times before handing it back, responding with a wry smile, "No, no... I've never drunk so much wine before!"

  "Then drink a little less. You're young, don't compare drinking capacity with them!" Peng Weiwei slightly furrowed her brow and didn't take back her handkerchief.

  "I'll wash it later and return it to you!" Zhang Songling sensitively understood what Peng Weiwei disliked, and awkwardly put the handkerchief back into his own pocket.

  "Here you go, I have a lot more!" Peng Weiwei smiled, revealing two very cute dimples on her face.

  Zhang Songling was dazzled by the smile, and with a few degrees of drunkenness, he plucked up the courage to ask: "Is your family also from Guanxian County? Are you fellow townspeople with Zhou Ju and Shi Tou Dage?"

  "Not at all! My hometown is Yangzhou, and I have an aunt who married Uncle Zhou's brother. So when I was a kid, I often went to Guancheng. Brother Zhou later came to Yangzhou to attend middle school and lived with us. However, before he graduated from middle school, his father moved the company to Qingdao...". Finally, someone is willing to chat with me about something other than national prosperity and decline, Peng Weiwei's little nose twitched, her big eyes sparkling.

  "Ah——" Zhang Songling drew out his voice and nodded, trying his best not to think about the memories of Yan'an. Whether it was Guancheng or Yangzhou, they were all very distant places for him. Only Qingdao still had some impression in his memory. That small town used to be a German concession, with a style that was vastly different from other places in Shandong Province. In the sea, there were large steamships drifting and emitting thick smoke, and in the shops, you could still buy something called beer, which looked and smelled similar to horse urine.

  As they chattered on, the two little ones forgot about the people around them and whispered to each other in hushed tones. Peng Xuewen, sitting across from them at the table, soon noticed this fact and couldn't help but interrupt Fang Guoqiang's argument, clearing his throat a few times before laughing and calling out: "Weiwei, Weiwei, Weiwei-----"

  "What's up?" Peng Weiwei was interrupted while chatting with someone and unhappily raised her head, giving her own brother a big white eye.

  "It's nothing, I just wanted to ask if you've eaten well. If you're full, go upstairs and wash up early. You're still young and growing!"

  "Alright, bother..." Peng Weiwei reluctantly stood up and responded in a dragging tone. After walking a few steps, she turned back to Zhang Songling with a smile and waved at him, "After you finish dinner, remember to come to my room to get the previous years' Tsinghua University entrance exam questions. I've already found the best answers, and I'll copy them for you!"

  "Thanks, I'll go knock on the door in a bit!" Zhang Songling replied with a silly smile under Peng Xuewen's almost murderous gaze.

  This kid really doesn't know what politeness is. Peng Xuewen was so angry that he wanted to vomit blood, but it was his own initiative to ask his sister for the previous year's exam questions. At this moment, he couldn't take back what he had said in front of everyone. While thinking about how to make the silly kid understand that swan meat is not easy to eat, the door of a nearby private room was pushed open from inside, and a middle-aged man wearing a light gray long shirt, looking elegant, holding a cup of wine, walked towards their table.

  "Excuse me, gentlemen. My surname is Qin, and I'm a shareholder of this restaurant. I happened to overhear a few sentences of your conversation just now, may I ask for your advice?" The middle-aged man's voice was very soft, somewhat like the male host on the radio.

  The young students present suddenly turned bright red with embarrassment. They all thought that the joke they had just made about the hotel owner treating the inn as a villa had been overheard, and they couldn't wait to make a swift and shameful exit.

  It was still Peng Xuewen's good psychological quality, even if he felt embarrassed, he could still stand up and smile to return the courtesy to Mr. Qin, "Mr. Qin, your words are too serious. We just said some drunken nonsense, please forgive our arrogance!"

  "Make yourselves at home, make yourselves at home!" The middle-aged man with the surname Qin pulled out the chair that Peng Weiwei had just sat in and plopped himself down. Then he beckoned to the waiter and ordered him to bring over a set of utensils for himself, also asking the kitchen to add two signature dishes. Next, he chuckled and added: "This is a small place, we really can't come up with anything impressive. You all just eat a bit, and consider it giving me some face!"

  "Oh no, oh no! Mr. Qin is too polite!" In essence, these middle school students were all inexperienced and immature, far from learning how to interact with others, let alone refusing an invitation from a kind elder.

  "Don't call me Mr. Qin, we're from a small place and aren't used to such formal titles. My elders have given me the name De Gang, so you can call me Brother De Gang or Old Qin, either is fine! And you, brother, can you introduce yourself to everyone? Your accent sounds like you're from Beiping?" The middle-aged man had a wealth of social experience and took control of the conversation with just a few words.

  "My name is Peng Xuewen, I'm from Yangzhou. I studied in Beiping for a few years. Everyone at this table are my junior schoolmates!" Peng Xuewen raised an eyebrow and responded calmly, "This table, the little girl who just left is my sister, the others are classmates from Shandong University. We were planning to travel to Beiping for summer vacation, but couldn't find a suitable place to stay in town, so we ended up staying at your hotel like you!"

  "Oh, is that so?!" Although he knew Peng Xuewen was just putting on a show for him, the middle-aged man didn't expose him. He took the tableware from the waiter and arranged it himself. Then he smiled and continued to ask: "Are you satisfied with the living conditions of this small shop?! Of course, it can't be compared to those big hotels opened by foreigners in Beiping or Qingdao. But within a radius of 200 miles, Qin can guarantee that you won't find a second one like this!"

  "It's really not bad, whether it's the living conditions or the taste of the food!" Peng Xuewen couldn't wait to get rid of Qin Dechang immediately, smiled and started to speak with a hidden meaning, "However, this price, haha, Mr. Qin don't be angry, we are all poor students, to be honest, if there were other options today, I really wouldn't dare stay here!"

  "Is it very expensive? Won't be, right?" Qin Deguang was shocked and asked back with an innocent face.

  "Isn't it cheap?!" In front of outsiders, Fang Guoqiang would still actively help Peng Xuwen, no matter how many contradictions they had, "It's only 1.5 yuan a day, not even enough for the tip for this meal!"

  "What nonsense!" Qin Deguang's face immediately turned bright red, he slapped the table and loudly shouted at the waiter, "Who allowed them to raise prices? Isn't this taking advantage of the country's difficulties?! Others have gone all the way to Beiping to join the army, for the sake of this country, they don't even care about their own lives, how dare you people make such immoral profits?!"

  "Qin, Mr. Qin! You're right!" The waiter's face turned as white as his shirt and he bowed while defending himself, "It was Manager Sun from the front desk who raised the price, it has nothing to do with me! Manager Sun said that it's rare for someone to deliver themselves to our doorstep..."

  "Bang!" Before the waiter could finish speaking, Qin Deguang grabbed a wine cup and smashed it to the ground, shattering it into pieces. "Go, go get Sun for me. No need, no need to call him over. Tell him to pack up his things and leave immediately. Our Peaceful Restaurant doesn't keep people who make a fortune from our country's misfortune!"

  "Manager Qin, Manager Qin, please calm down. Anyway, we won't be staying for too long, no need to fire a manager over this!" Peng Xuewen exclaimed in his heart, while still speaking politely on the surface.

  "No, this kind of person will definitely not be allowed to stay. Even if it weren't for you all, I, Qin, must drive him away!" Qin De-guang shook his head, his face solemn. "Otherwise, once this matter gets out, how will we explain ourselves to the outside world? How will our peaceful restaurant and our old Qin family be viewed?! You, go quickly and pass on my message, let Manager Sun come to the accounts office to collect two months' salary, then have him resign of his own accord. Out of consideration for his past contributions to the restaurant, I'll give him a bit of face."

  "Ah! I've taken note!" The waiter, wearing snow-white gloves, bowed and backed out of the room. Before he reached the door, Qin Deguang furrowed his brow again and instructed in a low voice, "Have Zhu, the deputy manager of the guest house department, come here to see me immediately. Also, bring today's account book and return the shop money for these scholars in front of me! From now on, no matter how long they stay, put it all on my personal private account, not a single copper coin can be collected again!"

  Doing so is a bit too sincere. Peng Xuewen and Zhou Ju heard it, hurriedly waved their hands repeatedly, "No need to, no need to, really no need to. This little money doesn't count for much to us. Since we've already moved in, there's no need to return the money!"

  "No way!" Qin Debin's face turned stern, and he emphasized very seriously, "Although Qin Mou is a businessman with no vision, I know how to write the two words 'integrity'. You guys are risking your lives for the country, I may not be able to help you, but at least I won't take advantage of you. If I think about it in the future, how can I face my own children and grandchildren? This kindness, you must accept. If you don't accept, it's like looking down on me Qin Mou, looking down on all the people of Hulujing Village!"

  "With this..." Qin Debang's stern and dignified appearance left Peng Xuewen and Zhou Ju bewildered, unable to tell whether he was just being polite or genuinely wanted to contribute his bit for the country. Just as they were hesitating, new dishes arrived from the kitchen: a plate of Four Happiness Meatballs, Chicken Shreds with Bamboo Shoots, Braised Carp in Wine Sauce, and Steamed Lake Prawns - all ordinary Northern Chinese cuisine, but each dish exuded an enticing aroma.

  "Come on, everyone eat some, tonight's dinner is all on my account!" Qin Debang grabbed his chopsticks and picked up a dish to put in front of Zhang Songling, who was closest to him. "You young brother should also eat more, you're still growing and need the nutrition. If it weren't for family business weighing me down, I would have long since taken off this long shirt and joined you all on the battlefield!"

  "Thank you, thank you Qin, Boss Qin!" Zhang Songling gratefully gave him a glance, picked up his chopsticks and slowly savored the dishes. This Qin Deguang, gave him a very familiar feeling. From this person's body, he seemed to have found his own brother, righteous, heroic, and extremely clever. He made you feel comfortable and sold goods to him at a discounted price. Then, again comfortably, let the local market prices of various goods be turned upside down by him.

  With a hint of confusion, he turned his gaze back to Zhou Ju, Peng Xuewen and Fang Guoqiang. But saw the three had already raised their wine cups and clinked them together with Qin Deguang.

  "Ding!" Several white porcelain cups collided, and the air was filled with a strong aroma of wine.