Chapter 72: Journey to Shen City

The rhythmic clattering of the train echoed through the quiet carriage. Moonlight from outside the window spilled across Gu Qiuyan’s stunned face. Her mouth hung open in disbelief—in this era, still deeply rooted in traditional values, who would have thought Liu Qingwen would so plainly and sincerely invite a girl to get a room with him?

After a long moment, a sharp slap broke the silence and drew Chai Jin and the others’ attention.

"Scoundrel! I never thought you were that kind of person!" Gu Qiuyan shouted, then stood up, wiping her tears as she ran out.

Liu Qingwen called after her, "Qiuyan, don’t be upset! You know how my heart trembled with love at first sight for you!"

"If you don’t want to talk about Li Qingzhao anymore, we could discuss Li Bai or Du Fu—I'm just as good with them!" But seeing she ignored him, he quickly jumped up to give chase.

Chai Jin frowned and barked, "Monkey, get back here!"

"You old boar, falling in love at first sight everywhere you go," he muttered. Liu Qingwen sighed, dejected and disheveled, and gave up. He slumped down on the bed. Fang Yi, recalling how Liu had just been boasting about his poetry, couldn’t help but smile. "Didn’t expect it from you—have you been studying up?"

"You always regret not reading enough when you need it most. I shouldn’t have dumped manure on Old Jiang’s lesson plan back then," Liu Qingwen replied ruefully.

Even back in first grade, this guy shirked his studies, a bit older than the others but always coming up with excuses to skip school—stomachache one day, headache the next, never wanting to go. His mother didn’t care much, so in desperation, Liu Qingwen once relieved himself outside the classroom, then used a stick to smear it all over the Chinese teacher’s lesson book.

Still not satisfied, another time he saw Old Jiang squatting in the latrine. Quietly, he ran out, bought a firecracker, lit it, and tossed it right into the pit beneath Old Jiang, resulting in a glorious explosion of filth.

The tragedy was that his mother dragged him by the ear and beat him all around the classroom.

The comedy was that, from then on, no teacher dared to take him on, and he finally devoted himself wholeheartedly to perfecting his skills with ground cages.

Later, as he grew a bit older, one night while setting a ground cage in Widow Wang’s vegetable patch in Dao Hua Village, he happened to see Widow Wang bathing alone under the cover of darkness.

From then on, his focus shifted to exploring the infinite mysteries of Widow Wang’s body—a summary of the first half of his life.

Chai Jin, watching his incessant chatter, knew this guy would never change his ways with women.

"It’s late. Get some sleep," he said.

"There are all kinds of people on this train—don’t go stirring up any trouble."

Liu Qingwen grinned sheepishly before sprawled out on the bed in his usual shameless manner.

His thoughts drifted wistfully to Xiong Dan. That woman had been too uninhibited, leaving an indelible mark on his life—though, to be honest, it was only her body he couldn’t forget. Gradually, sleep claimed him.

The journey from Zhonghai to Shenzhen stretched across the entire southeastern region of China, and in those days, trains traveled slowly. Chai Jin and his companions spent two full days and nights on the train, finally arriving at Shenzhen Railway Station at eight in the morning on June 14th.

Stepping off, they were greeted by a wave of heat and the sight of countless people carrying luggage, coming here to find work. After so long away, that familiar feeling surged through Chai Jin’s heart.

As they left the station, he gazed from the train at the dilapidated city of Shenzhen in 1992, that sense of holding a handful of aces in his grasp returning once more.

Who could have known this city would one day become a world-famous electronics capital? Who could have guessed that the squalor they saw along the way would, in a few decades, be replaced by towering skyscrapers? And none could have imagined that, in time, property prices here would soar to a hundred thousand per square meter.

In this era, Shenzhen was a deeply underestimated city.

Their accommodation was in Huanggang Village, just across from Hong Kong—a place agreed upon with Cai Weiqiang. Upon arrival, the three immediately set about looking for an office and a place to stay. They finally found an office on the top floor of a building called Wangang Tower—about two hundred square meters, not very tall, but with a view of the bustling city across the river.

After signing the lease with the agent, Liu Qingwen stood by the window, gazing at the buildings opposite. "Jin, do you think things in Hong Kong are really run by the British, just like people say?"

Fang Yi, who had lived in Shenzhen for several years, was the most familiar with the city. "Their system is different from ours, but people over there love coming here." He pointed to a large swath of ramshackle houses below. "See those? A lot of girls in those rundown places are kept by men from Hong Kong."

"That whole area is jokingly called Second-Wife Village by the locals."

When it came to women, Liu Qingwen was immediately interested. "Is it expensive to keep a girl?"

Fang Yi shook his head. "How much could it possibly cost? These girls think every man from Hong Kong is a big boss, but most are just delivery drivers."

At this time, cross-border logistics between Shenzhen and Hong Kong hadn’t fully opened up; only a handful of import-export companies had permits to run those routes.

As a result, drivers from Hong Kong earned very high salaries—some as much as ten or twenty thousand a month. Meanwhile, an ordinary mainlander earned just two or three hundred, so it was no wonder the young women working in Shenzhen were easily attracted to them.

It was a phenomenon of the times: Hong Kong truck drivers keeping girls in Shenzhen. But as the years passed and the gap between the two cities narrowed, these men with families on both sides gradually faded away.

Chai Jin paid little attention to their conversation, pacing the office as he plotted their next steps. Afterward, he called them together and gave instructions on what they were to do next.

When Liu Qingwen heard that Chai Jin planned to leave for a while, he hesitated. "Jin, where are you going? You don’t know anyone here."

Chai Jin replied, "Where I go is none of your business. Just do your part."

"Monkey, I don’t care how strong your desires are, but for now, you’d better stay away from any questionable women. Don’t forget, Fang Yi still has a lot of unresolved problems—don’t drag others down with you."

Liu Qingwen protested, "How about I go with you? Whatever you do, I’ll do."

"No. Help Fang Yi—I have personal matters to attend to."

"Remember, don’t cause any trouble!"

Realizing Chai Jin truly didn’t want to bring him along, Liu Qingwen could only sigh and agree.

Chai Jin then pulled five thousand yuan from his pocket and handed it to them, instructing them to find a place to live. Bidding them farewell, he caught a bus outside the building and set off for the electronics factory he remembered.

Halfway there, the bulky mobile phone in his bag rang, drawing the attention of everyone on the bus. The noisy bus fell silent as all eyes turned to Chai Jin. Embarrassed, he fished out the phone, gave the passengers a sheepish smile, and answered.

"Chai Jin, have you arrived in Shenzhen?" came Wang Xiaoli’s voice from the other end.