Chapter 1 Leaving Home (Middle School Edition)

  The neighbors were also shocked, and for a moment, no one thought to go and help Zhang Youcai. They just stared blankly as he was about to fall to the ground.

  Li Tiejiang reacted quickly, being the first to come back to his senses. He immediately grabbed Zhang Youcai's waist with one hand and kicked Zhao Renyi, who had just arrived to report the news, in the head, "What are you yelling about? Third Master is a knowledgeable person, how could he be kidnapped by swindlers?! Little Liu, tell me carefully, what exactly happened?"

  "Right, right, six, six son, you, don't be in a hurry, speak carefully!" After all, Zhang Youcai, who had experienced several storms, was startled by Li Tiejiang's words and quickly adjusted his mood, urging with a trembling voice.

  "I, I went to the station with Big Young Master to pick up Third Young Master!" Zhao Renyi scrambled up from the ground, wiping away tears as he replied, "The car arrived, and then it left again. Didn't, didn't pick anyone up!"

  "It might be the train tomorrow!" Mr. Zhao, the owner of the wooden shop, slammed his fist on his nephew's forehead and rebuked loudly. Turning around, he softened his tone and forced a smile to comfort Zhang Youcai, "Uncle Zhang, don't worry. Maybe the date on the letter was written incorrectly. Nowadays young people are always careless, my fourth brother's son last year..."

  Before he could finish speaking, Zhao Renyi refuted with a tone of grievance, "No, no, it's not written incorrectly! I didn't meet the young master, but instead met Sun, the manager of Hua Tai Yang Hang. The third young master asked him to deliver a letter to Uncle Cai, saying that he wants to go to Beiping and join the army!!"

  It's really the more you fear something, the more it comes. Upon hearing the two words "join the army", Zhang Youcai's eyes turned black again. He grabbed Zhao Renyi with a slap and asked tremulously: "The letter, where is it? Hurry up and show me!"

  "Right, letter, where's the letter! Old Qian, don't believe this kid, he's completely unreliable!" The neighbors also gathered around, chattering away.

  "The letter is in Master's hand!" Little shopkeeper Zhao Renyi responded with a face full of grievance, in an extremely small voice.

  "Where is the young master?!" everyone asked in unison.

  "Big Young Master has hired some men and horses, and they're heading towards Liu City! They say they want to intercept Third Young Master!" Zhao Renyi thought for a moment before responding with a hint of resentment.

  Liu Cheng is one hundred and sixty miles north of Lu Cheng, with a railway line and two major roads connecting to Lu Cheng. This year's train runs intermittently, not necessarily faster than a good horse. Upon hearing the news that his eldest son had gone ahead to intercept, Zhang Youcai's heart slightly calmed down, thinking for a moment before continuing to ask, "What else did Sun Guan say? Who is Sanzi traveling with? Which army in Beiping are they planning to join?"

  "Right, Little Liu, what else did Sun Guanshi say? Quickly tell us everything you know!" The crowd of neighbors pulled at Zhao Renyi, urging him in unison.

  "Son, son is in charge..." Only then did Zhao Renyi have the chance to wipe the sweat from his forehead and catch his breath as he began to recount the detailed process of receiving the person.

  He had gone to the train station with Zhang Shouling, the head of the shop, to pick up Third Master. They waited at the exit for a long time until the trains departed, but there was no sign of Third Master. Just as they were getting anxious, Zhang Shouling spotted a carriage from Hua Tai Yang at the exit. There were several large trunks beside it, which looked like they had just been taken off the train.

  Zhang Shouling had dealings with He Tai in the past, so he hastily approached him to ask if he had seen his younger brother on the train. As it happened, Sun, the manager of He Tai's firm, stuck his head out of the carriage and saw that it was Zhang Dashang who was asking the question, so he smiled and replied: "Isn't this Brother Shouling? You're really asking the right person! I'm just on my way to Han Yuan Commercial Firm to look for you. I met your younger brother on the train and he asked me to deliver a letter to Uncle Youcai..."

  As he spoke, he took out a sealed letter from his breast pocket and handed it to Zhang Shouling. Zhang Shouling was both surprised and delighted, and without even looking at the letter, he hastily asked Sun Guan for news of his brother's whereabouts. Upon hearing this, Sun Guan immediately jumped down from the carriage, pulled Zhang Shouling aside, took a few steps in a quiet direction, looked around cautiously, and replied in a low voice: "Brother Shouling, it's not me who told you. Why didn't you go to the provincial city earlier to bring your brother back? At his age, he is most impulsive. Others just need to stir him up, and he will be hot-headed!"

  "What's wrong with him? What's going on?" At that moment, Zhang Shouling saw sweat on his forehead, grabbed Sun Guan's sleeve and asked eagerly.

  "Alas!" Sun Guanshi looked around nervously again, lowering his voice to almost a whisper, "This train is full of weirdos. From the moment we left the provincial city, there have been young people singing and giving speeches, going from car to car. They're saying that northern China is in danger, that if Hebei falls, Shandong will be Japan's next target. So now supporting Beiping is equivalent to defending Shandong. They're calling on everyone to donate money and effort, to jointly resist the national crisis. Don't you think this is all nonsense? Song Zheyuan of Hebei and Chairman Han of Shandong have never gotten along..."

  "What about Sanzi? What about my third brother? Speak quickly, what does this have to do with my third brother?" Zhang Shouling interrupted impatiently in a low voice.

  "Am I not saying this right now?" Sun Guanting looked around again and lowered his voice even further, "The key is that there are some reasons that we two know, but your third brother doesn't understand! When others sing a song, he follows along. When others shout slogans, he shouts along too. From the provincial city all the way to Lu City, they shouted together until they were about to arrive at the train station. He handed me an envelope with a letter and then bought another ticket, directly following that group of people to Beiping!"

  "Damn it!" Zhang Shouling was so angry that he stomped his feet. Over the years, traveling all over the country, he had seen a lot of things and didn't need to think carefully to understand that his younger brother had made the worst choice. That group of young people shouting slogans were probably hiding either Nationalist Party members or ***, if it was the former, it would be okay. Chairman Han might not get along with Director Chiang, but he wouldn't openly clash with the Nationalist Party. If those young people were hiding ***, and his younger brother got mixed up with them, it would be a disaster that would destroy their family, leaving no chance to turn back in the future!

  He hastily thanked Sun Guanshi, and while sending the young servant Zhao Renyi back home to report the news, he strode towards a mule rental shop near the train station. With his reputation built up over years of doing business, he rented a fine Liaodong horse from the shop and set off in pursuit of the train's next stop, 160 miles away in Liucheng!

  Two sons, one walking and one chasing, tonight's wine party will definitely not be held. After listening to the report of young Zhao Renyi, the villagers picked up the meat package from the ground, wiped off the mud on it, and handed it back to Zhang Youcai. At the same time, they comforted him in unison, "Hey, it's just a small matter! Uncle Zhang, don't listen to Xiaoliu's nonsense. Third Master is a knowledgeable person, even if he was temporarily confused by someone, he will soon understand the situation. I estimate that before reaching Liucheng, he will start to regret it. At that time, just find a small station to get off, and buy a ticket back for tomorrow morning, you can be home before lunch!"

  "Isn't that right? Third Master Zhang is what kind of person, at the age of four he could already follow behind your butt and play with abacus beads, how could he be so easily deceived?! I reckon he just got too excited from singing and couldn't bear to lose face by getting off. After a few days pass, he'll calm down himself!" In order to let Zhang Youcai put his heart at ease, Zhao Zhanggui even brought up Third Master Zhang's childhood experiences of learning abacus with his father.

  At this moment, Zhang Youcai's mind was as messy as a dozen or so pounds of tangled hemp rope. How could he have any stable thoughts?! Hearing what everyone said with ease, he sighed and shook his head: "Alas, I'm afraid it's because of his cleverness! The more clever, the less willing to listen to advice. As long as it's his own understanding, even if it's a dead end. Alas, if only I had known earlier, I should have let his older brother pick him up before the holiday. I thought that in the provincial city, my second child could take good care of him. Who knew that this heartless second child didn't care about his younger brother at all!"

  "Second Master has a lot on his plate, I'm sure he can't take care of it!" Seeing Zhang Youcai shift the blame to his own second son, everyone quickly continued to comfort him. "Besides, didn't Eldest Master go after him?! In this day and age, no one is willing to spend money to clean up the railways. The trains are slower than a donkey! Once Eldest Master catches Third Master at Liucheng Station, how can anyone possibly snatch his brother from under his nose?!"

  "Yes! With your family's young master's physique, ordinary three or four big men are not his match. As long as he steps onto the carriage and lets Old Three follow him home, who would dare say another word?!"

  Zhang Jia's eldest son had been following his father on business trips all over the country since he was a teenager, and had experienced many ups and downs. His body was extremely tough from being tempered through hardships. In a fight, even the bodyguards of ordinary families might not be his match. And Zhang Jia's third son was also the most afraid of this elder brother. Sometimes in front of their father, he dared to talk back and show off, but as soon as his brother glared at him, he would immediately become scared like a mouse seeing a cat, and would want to slip away by sticking close to the wall.

  The audience analyzed that it was reasonable, and Zhang Youcai finally caught his breath. He wanted to say a few words of comfort to the crowd, but he felt empty in his heart and didn't know what to say. The neighbors also understood that he was worried about his youngest son and didn't want to add more trouble for him at this critical moment. So they smiled and comforted him with a few words, advising Old Master Zhang to relax. Third Young Master could calculate accounts at the age of four and read and write at the age of five; his fate must be different from ordinary people. Even if he encountered any trouble, he would turn bad luck into good fortune. Tonight's wine feast will be temporarily remembered by everyone, and when Eldest Young Master and Third Young Master return together, two tables will be combined into one to calm Old Master Zhang's nerves and welcome Third Young Master back.

  Zhang Youcai responded with a series of "ai"s as he stumbled back home. The pork package in his hand was now too heavy to lift, and his arms and legs felt like they weighed several thousand catties. As soon as he entered the house, he saw his wife Xuxian and their two young daughters, and couldn't help but take out his frustrations on his third son San'er, who refused to return home after getting married.

  Zheng Yue'er, the wife of Xuexin, was twenty years younger than him. At this time, she couldn't bear such a disaster and immediately threw away the pot lid and iron spoon, packed her bedding and prepared to return to her mother's home. Zhang Youcai knew he was in the wrong and had no choice but to block the door again to coax her. After restoring peace to the house, his worries about his youngest son also dissipated a lot. He held an old coarse tea pot and sat by the window, lost in thought!