Chapter 1

Lao Qin, San Shui is a good kid; he just messed up during the college entrance exam, so don't dwell on it too much.

Sigh!

Old Qin, our Qingshan Machinery Factory currently has ten slots for workers' children. This San Shui kid has been smart and capable since childhood, quick to learn anything; if he wants to work at the factory, we'll give him one of those slots!

Section Chief Niu, how can I feel good about this? Many workers' children in the factory are waiting for this slot…

It's fine; I've watched San Shui grow up. How could I let him go to waste just because he didn't get into college? Old Qin, rest assured, the factory will always be your strong backing! Old Qin, let me tell you privately: from now on, there will be no more slots for workers' children. This is the last chance—you'd better seize it!

The noise was a bit loud; Qin Miao slowly opened his eyes to see a slightly yellowed ceiling and a slowly rotating green three-blade ceiling fan. The scene was very familiar… Isn't this his home in Building No. 3 of the family quarters of the long-bankrupt Qingshan Factory?

Dreaming, I must be dreaming!

Qin Miao reached out and felt under the mattress, finding the hard plastic-covered notebook he had hidden there. Opening it, he saw the pages were water-stained, and a slip of paper fell out.

Examinee: Qin Miao.

The grading work for the 1980 college entrance exam cultural subjects has successfully concluded. Below is your exam score notification; we hope you continue to study hard, follow the path of being both red and expert, and contribute your own share to achieving the Four Modernizations.

Application number: 02485, category: Science, exam site: Qingshan Machinery Factory Workers' Children Middle School, test room: 50, remarks: none.

Below is the table of subjects and scores: Politics 63, Chinese 64, Mathematics 60, Physics 76, Chemistry 47, History and Geography blank, total 310, plus a foreign-language written test of 16.

Admissions Office, July 25, 1980.

This is the score slip he obtained years ago from the academic affairs office of the factory workers' children middle school; only those who passed the junior-college cutoff got one. How many years has it been? Why does it appear in his dream now? After all this time, can he still not forget it?

No, this isn't right!

This feeling, this clarity… it doesn't feel like a dream!

Qin Miao sat up abruptly, looking around at the wooden window, its paint peeling.

Below the window is a desk, painted yellow, with a large sheet of glass on top; on the glass sit a row of books and a desk lamp…

To the left of the desk is a tall-and-short cabinet; the tall cabinet's door has a glass inset, while on the short cabinet lie stacked winter quilts, with several newspapers placed on top to keep off dust.

To the right of the desk is his bed; above the headboard hangs a New Year print, a huge aluminum pot heated by a solar-powered lid, and beside it a plump woman is making dumplings…

Qin Miao pinched his arm hard; it hurt, really hurt—not a dream!

He had returned to July 25, 1980—a day he would never forget!

That day, after retrieving his score slip from his alma mater, Qin Miao felt as if the sky had collapsed. His father, upon hearing what people at the factory said, immediately ran back to see him, but Qin Miao bolted his door, refusing to let his father in. He lay on the bed, eating and drinking nothing, letting his father plead at the door, while others from the factory also came to persuade him… yet he only silently shed tears.

His mother suffered severe hemorrhaging in giving birth to him; after that, his father never remarried, raising Qin Miao with his own hands through thick and thin.

From the time he could remember, Qin Miao shut himself away at home, reading and studying, unmoved by outside turmoil; each time his father came home and saw him studying, he would break into a bright smile.

Everyone in the factory knew Qin Miao loved studying from a young age; the era of worker-peasant-soldier recommendations to college posed no problem, and after the resumption of the college entrance exam, there would still be no problem!

But… Qin Miao actually flunked the exam!

In 1980, the cutoff score for science undergraduates in the capital was 349; this score could only get him into a junior college. Helplessly, when filling out his applications, Qin Miao had already listed Ha Gong Da, a prestigious university—this score meant only rejection!

Thinking of this, Qin Miao curled his lip in a cold smile; his actual college entrance exam score was 483, over a hundred points above the undergraduate line—more than enough for Ha Gong Da. But… his score slip had been forged, and his admission notice had been snatched by Niu Qiang, the son of the factory's Personnel Section Chief, Niu Guishan.

Niu Qiang, posing as Qin Miao, got into Ha Gong Da!

After the anguish, Qin Miao accepted fate's arrangement and entered the factory as a worker—but alas, a grain of sand of the era, when it lands on an individual's shoulder, becomes a mountain!

The old factory director retired, and Niu Guishan became the factory director, leading Qingshan Machinery Factory, a third-tier enterprise in the capital's suburbs, to vigorously undertake reforms and take the military-to-civilian conversion path!

Loans, projects, failed… then more loans, new projects, failed again!

Qingshan Machinery Factory's expenditures exceeded its income; it went under! Qin Miao's father was found to have a serious illness, lost his unit's medical reimbursement, couldn't afford treatment, and ultimately…

Thinking of this, Qin Miao clenched his fists. Stay on as a worker? No—he simply didn't want to keep taking the college entrance exam, otherwise the next year he wouldn't be able to register for the exam and would give himself away!

Moreover, with only those ten slots, some workers who couldn't get their own children into the factory, having heard who-knows-what, thought Qin Miao had taken their children's places. In the factory, they gave him all kinds of sarcasm and ridicule, played tricks and tripped him up… those years were hard for Qin Miao.

The factory went under, his father passed away, and Qin Miao left here to struggle in the capital. Occasionally, one day he saw Niu Qiang driving a Santana; they chatted by the roadside, and Qin Miao learned that Niu Qiang's father had started a factory and become a successful person.

Not long after, Qin Miao was fired from his unit, so he could only set up a breakfast stall outside the Capital Aviation Institute. Then… a professor from the institute took notice of him, exceptionally admitted him as a graduate student, and he participated in a key national project at the time.

Afterward, Qin Miao devoted himself to scientific research, working hard; only thus could he forget the past. Not until retirement, when he collected his pension, did he discover a problem with the system information, and then… he figured out what had happened back then!

Many later events now make sense: Niu Guishan, fearing Qin Miao would discover Niu Qiang's imposture, continually suppressed him, doing everything possible to ruin him and his son!

Now, having been reborn, he certainly won't let Niu Guishan off the hook—nor his son!

Go to the superior education authorities to check his true scores? Now they only accept school inquiries; individuals have no such power. Even if he tried to blow the whistle, at most he'd uncover the school's problems, and Niu Guishan would still retain control of the factory, and would target his father everywhere due to the failed conspiracy!

He must let the impersonation succeed first, then expose it; moreover, during this period he needs to find someone to back him up, so he can utterly destroy the Niu family and send them to hell!

If he remembers correctly, in these few days a major leak will occur concerning a key national defense project; if he could get involved… Qin Miao walked over to the desk, opened the drawer, and took out a toy his father had handmade for him. With it, Qin Miao's confidence grew considerably…

A cold sensation spread from his hand, and a bold plan slowly took shape in Qin Miao's mind…

Outside, the sound continued.

"Section Chief Niu, I'll have a good talk with San Shui. Going to work at the factory is also an iron rice bowl; as for that college… since we lack the affinity, let's just not go."

Creak! Qin Miao pushed open the door and looked at the narrow sitting room, small enough to fit only two single sofas and a coffee table; that's where they usually entertained guests and had meals.

At that moment, a middle-aged cadre in four-pocket attire sat on the sofa, his triangular eyes darting about, obviously considering how to hoodwink Qin Miao—what if Qin Miao, who studies so well, decided to retake the exam?

On the other side sat Qin Jianhua in blue work clothes, his eyes full of concern.

Seeing a few silver hairs appear on his father's head, Qin Miao felt a tug at his heart; his father hoped he would become a dragon among men, naturally wishing he could go to college! Now his father's mood is also poor, and he still has to persuade himself! His father's illness stems from suppressed frustration, beginning right around this time!

"San Shui, you…"

"Uncle Niu, thank you!"

Niu Guishan first stared, then broke into a grin: "San Shui, have you made up your mind?"

"Well, even if I went to college I might still end up back at the factory as a worker; I might as well start working there now. In four years I could rely on my own effort to become a section chief—no worse than if I'd gone to college."

"Good, good, good! Rest assured, Uncle Niu will definitely support you!"

"But… I don't want to start at the factory right now. Our factory is out in a mountain valley; I've hardly ever left. The world is vast, and I want to see it… Uncle Niu, could you please write me a letter of introduction and help me exchange some nationwide grain coupons?"

"What?" Qin Jianhua blinked: "San Shui, the outside world isn't safe! A few years ago they sent youths to the countryside; these days most young people have returned to the city, idle, forming gangs, brawling and fighting…"

"Old Qin, San Shui ought to go see the outside world! It's also good to go out and clear his mind. Don't worry, Uncle Niu will get that letter of introduction ready for you right away. The capital has many fun places—Temple of Heaven, Forbidden City, Great Wall—go explore them. Uncle Niu will advance you two months' wages from the factory first."

Niu Guishan left, and Qin Jianhua warmly saw him off to the downstairs; standing by the window, Qin Miao watched Niu Jianhua's retreating back, his face icy.

"San Shui, you alright? Aunt's place made fried sauce noodles, want a bowl?"

The door wasn't closed; Aunt Liu walked in, her face full of kindness.

"Or come to my place; my family is stewing spare ribs today, San Shui, you've been worn out lately, need to nourish your body." Aunt Zhao also came in; they're all neighbors, usually they care about Qin Miao a lot. Today, hearing his grades were poor, they'd already come to check several times, but Qin Miao never came out.

Now they dare not mention a word about the college entrance exam; they can only show care this way. This child, San Shui, has lacked a mother since young, how pitiful!

Looking at each kind face, Qin Miao felt: these are the most simple and honest group of people in the factory; after the factory went bankrupt, they also suffered the most, picking vegetable leaves, digging through trash cans……

No, just taking down Niu Guishan isn't enough; we also need to lead Qingshan Factory onto the broad road of military-to-civilian transition, so everyone can live a good life!

"Aunt Liu, Aunt Zhao, thank you for your concern; I've figured it out, all roads lead to Rome……"

After seeing off those enthusiastic neighbors, Qin Miao saw his father coming up with an aluminum alloy lunch box, the aroma wafting out—this must be pork stewed with vermicelli from the cafeteria, right?

"San Shui, eat while it's hot; when you're out and about, you must be careful……"

"Mm, Dad, let's eat together."

Before, when Father spoke, Qin Miao always thought he was nagging; after Father passed away, he longed to hear his nagging again……

Unbeknownst to him, his eye sockets became moist.

"Dad, I will surely make something of myself in the future; rest easy, don't let this small failure get you down, health is most important……"

Qin Jianhua also froze, his son…… seemed to have changed? No longer the bookish simpleton he used to be?