Just as dinner was about to be served, Chen Chuan had barely sat down when his uncle by marriage, Nian Fuli, suddenly spoke up. "Chen Chuan, now that you've graduated from middle school... Our Yangzhi City doesn't have any institutions of higher learning, and with the modest salary I make at the constabulary, I certainly can't afford to send you off to that high-society Central City for school. Have you thought about where you want to go?"
A hush fell over the dining table. His aunt, Yu Wan, looked at Chen Chuan with concern. His younger cousin brother and sister held their bowls, their little heads swiveling back and forth between the two.
Nian Fuli continued, "If you haven't made up your mind and have nowhere to go, I can arrange something for you. Just don't go complaining about hardship or fatigue. If you don't want to do it, speak up early and find your own way out."
Chen Chuan looked at Nian Fuli and offered a faint smile. "Uncle by marriage, are you really in that much of a hurry to drive me out?"
Nian Fuli glared at him. "Just call me Uncle, drop the 'by marriage.'"
He habitually patted his breast pocket. Just as his fingers brushed against his cigarette case, he glanced at his two young children and pulled his hand back. Frowning, he said, "Stop grinning. Give me a straight answer. Your older cousin is making something of himself, so I don't have to worry about him. But your younger brother and sister are still small, and before you know it, they'll be in school. Our household expenses are only going to grow. You're already sixteen. I don't expect any repayment from you; as long as you can support yourself in the future, that's enough. Wouldn't you say that makes sense?"
Chen Chuan nodded. "Uncle, you're right." After a moment of thought, he added, "Uncle, I'm thinking of carving out a path for myself."
"On your own?"
Nian Fuli studied him for a while, then said, "Fine. Doesn't school usually give you a two-month break? Then I'll give you two months. After two months, you stand on your own two feet, and I won't have to meddle in your affairs anymore."
Yu Wan opened her mouth as if to protest, but held back.
"All right," Chen Chuan said. "We'll do as you say, Uncle."
Nian Fuli looked him up and down. "A promise is a promise." He picked up his chopsticks and said, "Eat." Seeing him move his chopsticks, the rest of the family finally began their meal.
Chen Chuan reached for his chopsticks as well. Right then, sensing something, he looked up. Over by the wall stood a youth who looked identical to him, gazing quietly in his direction. Nian Fuli's family kept their heads down, completely oblivious, as if Chen Chuan were the only one who could see him.
Naturally averting his gaze, Chen Chuan ate while turning over his future in his mind. Before he knew it, he had finished the last bite of his meal. Yu Wan, who had been watching him closely, hurriedly said, "Leave it there. I'll wash it. You just focus on your own business."
Chen Chuan looked at his aunt, then at the expressionless Nian Fuli. Setting down his bowl and chopsticks, he said, "All right. Uncle, Aunt, I'll head back to my room now."
Nian Fuli picked up a bite of vegetables, put it in his mouth, and chewed slowly without a word.
Once Chen Chuan had left, Yu Wan murmured, "He's still just a boy."
Nian Fuli retorted crossly, "What 'just a boy'? He's already sixteen! When I was his age, I was already on the battlefield!"
"Fine, fine, we all know how capable you are."
Seeing that he had finished eating too, Yu Wan rose from the table, fetched a bottle of yellow wine, and poured him a cup. "I'm going to check on the boy."
"Go on, go on," Nian Fuli waved a hand impatiently. He took a sip from the cup, instantly feeling much more at ease, though he couldn't help muttering to himself, "That kid... he seems a little different from before..."
"Dad, are you going to kick me out when I'm sixteen too?"
Nian Fuli turned his head to see his younger son, Nian Mo, looking up at him with wide, anxious eyes.
His three-year-old daughter, Nian Lu, chimed in with her baby voice, "He'll definitely kick you out! You eat the most meat!"
"I—I don't eat that much! Dad..." Nian Mo clutched his bowl, looking utterly pitiful.
Nian Fuli burst into laughter and patted the back of Nian Mo's head. "You little rascal, you're my son. How could I cast you aside? This seat beneath your old man is reserved for you. Go on, turn on the radio."
"Okay!"
Nian Mo hopped happily off his stool, scurried over, and switched on the vintage radio. A burst of static hissed from the speaker.
"...According to reports from the railway maintenance bureau, due to the mudslides at Mount Xieshan, repairs originally scheduled for completion in early June have once again been delayed..."
By then, Chen Chuan had returned to his room. It served as both a study and a bedroom, measuring roughly eight or nine square meters. The windowsill and the worn red-lacquered wooden floor were spotless, and the furnishings were arranged in neat order, showing that it was swept and tidied every day.
A few movie posters were pasted on the wall. As he glanced across them, the titles surfaced naturally in his mind: The Lone Blade Hero, Beast of the High Ridge, The Final Conquest...
Walking to the window over the creaking floorboards, he saw a framed photograph resting on a corner of the well-worn desk. Inside was a young couple—the woman youthful and pretty, the man tall and handsome, both dressed in fine, high-quality fabric, smiling warmly at him.
To the right of the desk stood a bookshelf over two meters tall, packed with volumes. A glance revealed that besides a few old textbooks, most were extracurricular reading: The Great Expansion, The Fifteenth Year of Jianzhi, Mysterious Machu, and the like.
He couldn't help muttering to himself, "Too bad there's no Handbook of Dual-Use Skills for Military and Civilian Life, or Militia Training Manual... Not even a One Hundred Thousand Whys."
"Why what? Chan'er, can Auntie come in?" Yu Wan's voice came from outside the door.
"Chan'er" was the pet name given by this body's parents. Nowadays, aside from Yu Wan, only that annoying younger cousin went around calling him that all day.
"Come on in, Auntie," Chen Chuan said. "It's nothing, just thinking through a problem."
"You've already graduated from middle school, yet you're still working so hard, Chan'er." Yu Wan stepped inside. She was not yet forty, with fair skin and quite ordinary features. Chen Chuan, by contrast, had delicate and handsome looks, with fair skin, red lips, and a tall frame; standing together, one could only faintly tell they were related by the line of their brows and the contour of their cheekbones.
Yu Wan said gently, "Chan'er, don't hold a grudge against your uncle for what happened today. He has his own difficulties. Don't be stubborn or try to be brave, either. I'll talk to him again later."
Chen Chuan smiled. "Don't worry, Auntie. I'm not trying to act tough. I really do have a plan."
Yu Wan hesitated, then ventured cautiously, "Chan'er... are you planning to look for that Meng family girl?"
At the mention of that name, the image of a young girl involuntarily surfaced in his memory. He shook his head. "I won't go looking for her."
"It's better that you don't," Yu Wan said softly. "Their family stands so high, and the people around them walk with their noses in the air. You've always been stubborn. When you two were little, you were innocent playmates, but now that you're grown, you wouldn't get along."
"You're right, Auntie," Chen Chuan said. "Childhood things don't count for anything. Nowadays she has butlers and attendants following her everywhere she goes. Why would I go invite trouble?"
Yu Wan was visibly relieved by his words. She brought out a bundle wrapped in a handkerchief, unwrapping it layer by layer before his eyes to reveal a stack of ten-yuan Jianyuan notes.
The surface of each bill bore an azure landscape pattern, featuring a vaulted sky over a square earth on the front, while the back depicted stalks of rice and wheat pressing down upon an imperial nine-tasseled crown. The watermark was a felt hat.
She grabbed Chen Chuan's hand and pressed the money into his palm. "Take it. Spend it when you need to, don't pinch pennies. If it's not enough, your aunt still has more."
Chen Chuan did not immediately close his fingers around it. "Does Uncle by marriage know?"
"This is money I saved for you," Yu Wan replied, giving his arm a gentle swat. "And stop calling him your 'uncle by marriage.' He hates hearing that."
Chen Chuan smiled and accepted the money. "Auntie, consider this a loan. I'll pay it back."
"Oh, we're family, what's all this talk of paying back? Just keep it safe." Once she saw Chen Chuan put the money away properly, Yu Wan was finally satisfied. "All right, I'll let you be. You've already graduated, so don't push yourself too hard. Remember to turn on the lamp when reading so you don't ruin your eyes."
"Understood."
After a few more reminders, Yu Wan stepped out of the room.
Chen Chuan pulled the door shut, reached over, and tugged the cord beside the frame. A small pendant lamp on the ceiling flickered to life, casting a pale yellow glow over the room.
He walked over to the bookshelf, casually pulled out a volume, and sat down on the edge of the bed, flipping through it with keen interest.
After a long while, he heard the grandfather clock outside chime ten times. Since he had serious business to attend to tomorrow, he returned the book to the shelf, quickly washed up, switched off the light, and went to sleep.
In the pitch-black darkness, the youth identical to him stood by the bed, still gazing down at him with that same eerie quiet.
In his dreams, it felt as though he had returned to his previous life. After working for several years, he had gone on a backpacking trip. Passing through a certain city's museum, he had stumbled upon an ancient mirror exhibition. Driven by curiosity, he had entered the hall, and his eyes had immediately locked onto a vaulted mirror suspended from the ceiling. At that very moment, his reflection within the mirror had looked straight back at him.
The instant their gazes met, his vision blurred. His body seemed to revert to that of an infant, growing from babyhood into a child, and from a child into a youth—until one day, the image of a slate-blue car flashed before his eyes. As the rumble of the engine faded into the distance, everything snapped into darkness.
A bright sliver of light filtered through the seam in the curtains, tearing through the night's gloom.
Chen Chuan opened his eyes. He glanced at the alarm clock by the head of the bed: 5:50 AM. Shaking his head to clear it, he got up, got dressed, and stepped out to wash his face and rinse his mouth.
Nian Fuli was on duty at the constabulary and had already left early in the morning. His younger brother and sister were still asleep, while Yu Wan had gone out to buy groceries, having prepared breakfast for him before leaving.
After finishing his meal, Chen Chuan returned to his room and put on his only set of formal student attire. Made of dark gray woolen fabric, the uniform was sharply tailored and made him look crisp and spirited.
He fastened his collar button, donned his student cap, and checked his reflection in the full-length mirror attached to the wardrobe. Satisfied, he took a gray canvas satchel from behind the door, slipped a filled canteen into it, slung it over his shoulder, and headed to the front courtyard. Wheeling his bicycle past the main gate, he stepped outside.
Looking up at the rising sun, he thought to himself, For now, let's just stick to the original plan.
He swung a leg over the frame, flicked the bell with his thumb to ring out a crisp chime, and pressed down on the pedals. Riding out from the neighborhood alleyway, he made just two turns before reaching the main thoroughfare.
Nian Fuli was a patrol captain at the constabulary branch, and this district was home to constables and their families. Consequently, public security here was fairly decent, and the streets were broad, flanked on both sides by plane trees. The late-May sunlight filtering through the deep green leaves lifted one's spirits.
After cycling along the main road for half an hour, he arrived at the central city square. Yangzhi City's tallest buildings were clustered here, most of them constructed during the Great Expansion roughly sixty years ago. Because tensions had been high at the time, they were built with solid, heavy materials, giving their cool tones an imposing weight.
Waiting for a trolleybus to rumble past, he spotted a group of seven or eight rough-looking characters approaching from the opposite side of the road.
One of them seemed keenly sensitive to glances and suddenly turned, glaring with a fierce look. But upon spotting Chen Chuan's student satchel, the man merely muttered a curse, spat on the ground at Chen Chuan's departing back, and turned away.
After crossing the square, Chen Chuan veered left onto the north-facing avenue. About five minutes later, a grand, upturned eave came into view along the eastern side of the street. As he drew closer, he saw the main gate of an academy. It spanned three entryways and was over a hundred paces wide. On the stone plaque above the central gate, five characters were carved in forceful, vigorous standard script: Wuyi College. Elegant motorcars could be seen rolling in and out of the gates from time to time.
He squeezed the brake lever and put a foot to the ground, stopping before a stone stele near the entrance. Inscribed on it was a brief history of the academy: "Wuyi College was founded in the fifteenth year of Jianzhi and officially renamed in the thirty-fifth year of Jianzhi. Its first president was Cheng Yunbai..."
The front gates faced a smooth, open plaza. The morning sun at seven or eight o'clock shone brightly, casting its brilliance across the gates and the flanking buildings, lending them a dignified, solemn grace.
Chen Chuan let his eyes wander as though searching for something. After a moment, he spotted an inconspicuous sign near a side gate that read: Admissions Registration This Way.
He let out a breath and dismounted. Glancing to the side, he saw that familiar figure—looking almost identical to himself—standing beside the gate, watching him. Composing himself, Chen Chuan pushed his bicycle forward and walked through the side gate into the college.