[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-rising-in-1979":3,"chapter-rising-in-1979-rising-in-1979-chapter-68":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Rising in 1979",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2260776,4412,"Chapter 68: Overseas Connections (Please Follow!)","rising-in-1979-chapter-68",68,"\u003Cp>Qi Delong is a curious kid; because of him, his father Qi Kexiu went from being a Beijing resident to a rural villager.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a sent-down youth, Qi Kexiu had a chance to return to the city, but Fan Chunhua, pregnant with three months’ child, conspired with her cousin Wei Jiefang and others to kidnap him off the train and forced him to choose: either marry her or be charged with hooliganism.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Qi Kexiu chose pragmatism, married her, had a son, and lost his household registration.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Later, to regain his Beijing household registration, Qi Delong toiled for years like a beast of burden in Beijing, eventually becoming a Beijing resident again by marrying a woman ten years his senior.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, ten years older counts as an old woman; eight or nine years older is just a good older sister.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Life under someone else’s roof was hard, so Wei Ming later gave Qi Delong a job as a set assistant in his film company—he was dependable, far more reliable than Qi Kexiu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Donkey carts are slow, motorcycles fast; even with three people on board and an uneven road, mechanical efficiency remains terrifying.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So Wei Ming rode a while, then stopped to wait for Old Wei; once they reached the main road, the donkey cart barely kept pace with the slowed motorcycle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old Wei said to his son, “Won’t it look bad showing up at Yang Lao’s place empty-handed? Shouldn’t we buy some eggs at the market?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Ming said, “There were originally two bottles of Maotai; yesterday I left one for the old man.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hiss!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Jiefang felt a twinge of pain but forced a smile: “It’s only right—you’ve troubled Teacher Yang and Old Yang a lot these four years of high school. One bottle of wine is nothing.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Speaking of Teacher Yang Shuting, Wei Hong got curious—she was the head of the high school’s English teaching group, a top graduate from Beijing Foreign Studies University; though already forty, she was elegant and beautiful, standing alone among the female teachers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Many middle-aged single men in the county government are chasing after Teacher Yang, but she’s not interested in any of them.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Ming smiled: “They’ve got no chance—she’s divorced, but her feelings haven’t ended.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And every winter and summer vacation, Teacher Yang takes Liu Rulong back to Guangzhou; Liu’s father has already obtained official Hong Kong status and can easily travel in and out of Guangdong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Jiefang asked curiously: “How’s Liu Rulong’s father doing in Hong Kong?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No one knows exactly what he does, but judging by Hong Kong’s income levels, he’s probably doing well—Liu wears branded clothes, uses premium goods, and often visits overseas Chinese stores.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Jiefang sighed: “Times really are different—once we feared having overseas connections; now we beg for them.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, Wei Ming suddenly asked: “Dad, if one day an overseas connection shows up—would you take it?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Hong blinked: “Huh? Do we even have overseas connections?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Jiefang declared firmly: “No way, absolutely not—if your great-uncle or your aunt writes me a letter, I won’t even look—I’ll burn it straight away!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Great-uncle? Aunt? Who are they?” Wei Hong was more confused.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Jiefang: “Your grandfather’s older brother and older sister—I’ve never met them, don’t even know if they’re alive or dead.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In front of Qi Delong, Wei Jiefang didn’t want to say much—those two people they’d never met had once brought their family immense suffering; Wei Hong was too young to remember, but Wei Ming remembered clearly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Ming quickly warned: “Dad, if you ever get a letter from overseas, don’t burn it right away—let me see it first.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old Wei waved his hand: “Alright, alright—you’re the family’s pillar now; I’ll definitely consult you on big matters.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Ming smiled—that’s right.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since the livestock market closed early, they went first to the market to buy a pig; the Chengguanzhen market was right beside the county town, not far from Yang Songqiao’s house.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since New Year was still over four months away, buying a piglet too small meant it wouldn’t grow big enough by then, so the expert Old Wei bought a healthy, robust half-grown pig, three months old, and also asked the seller for a pig cage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then he took the three boys for tofu pudding and fried dough sticks; the runaway Qi Delong tagged along for a good meal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The runaway business was already forgotten—he’d probably just wander the city with them a bit and return.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d definitely get beaten when he got back, so he might as well eat well now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ll buy a chick too,” Old Wei said, eyeing the old man selling chickens. “The one that died laid eggs the most—need to replace it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Ming said: “Why not buy a few more? The policy’s relaxed now.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Actually, raising chickens back then had one big problem: feed—people barely had enough to eat themselves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But for their family, it wasn’t a problem—they lived on the village edge, so they let the chickens roam the fields to catch insects and graze, and they never starved; they always came home at night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Alright, then buy three!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Hong nudged Qi Delong: “Little Dragon, three chickens, one pig—how many legs total?” Qi Delong counted on his fingers and came up with nine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Jiefang laughed: “Your father beating you isn’t unfair.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Not right?” Qi Delong ran over to the donkey cart to check the piglet, then squatted by the chicken seller for a while—he realized he might have been wrong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s ten legs,” he said, then asked, “Red Sister, if you add a donkey, how many legs total?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Fourteen legs.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Qi Delong beamed: “Wrong—it’s fifteen legs! Go count them yourself.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Hong actually went to count, then came back and beat Qi Delong soundly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the simple-minded little dragon had no idea what he’d done wrong—why does everyone keep hitting me? It’s clearly fifteen legs!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thirteen-year-old Wei Hong was starting to understand things; nine-year-old Qi Delong didn’t understand anything.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After leaving the market, Wei Jiefang told Wei Ming to return the cart himself—they’d wait here, since he was carrying chickens, a pig, and a donkey, it wasn’t convenient to visit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Brother, I’ll go with you,” Wei Hong said, swinging onto the motorcycle’s back seat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Aren’t you the one who’s terrified of going to the teacher’s house?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Hong: “I want to ask you something.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What’s the story with our great-uncle and aunt?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Ming: “It’s nothing secret—it’s all past, but let’s start with our great-grandfather.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Great-grandfather meant great-great-grandfather.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“When he was young, our great-grandfather traveled to Cangzhou to study martial arts and mastered exceptional skills; but with the country crumbling, he heard a military academy had opened in Baoding, so he abandoned his wife and young children to enroll—first class, no less.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ah! The Baoding Military Academy from history books?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Correct. After graduation, he taught hand-to-hand combat there for several years, but eventually became a professional soldier and died in the First Northern Expedition.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Hong knew some history: “So which side was Grandpa on?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The First Northern Expedition was the National Revolutionary Army’s campaign against three Beiyang warlord factions: Wu Peifu of the Zhili clique, Zhang Zuolin of the Fengtian clique, and Sun Chuanfang of the Zhili clique.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Ming said: “He was with the National Revolutionary Army.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Hong sighed in relief—according to history textbooks, the National Revolutionary Army was the righteous side; Grandpa was righteous!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Ming added: “Before the Northern Expedition, Grandpa sent his eldest son—our great-uncle—to Huangpu Military Academy; he was in the sixth class.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That one was even more famous—Wei Hong suddenly felt like a country girl suddenly tied to modern history.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And deeply tied: “Do you know who else was in Huangpu’s sixth class?” Wei Ming asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Hong shook her head—she didn’t know.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So Wei Ming told her—she listened, stunned, recognizing many big names from history books.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So Grandpa was on our side, Great-Uncle was on the other side, and Aunt was overseas?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You summed it up perfectly.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh no!” Wei Hong’s face flushed red. “Our family’s background is way too complicated!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She’d always thought her family was pure peasant stock, thoroughly red.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Ming: “Who says otherwise?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As they spoke, they arrived at Old Yang Songqiao’s house—a quiet, secluded courtyard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meanwhile, Zhao Chun, the team leader of Gouzitun, convened an emergency meeting to discuss Wei Jiefang’s issue…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1398,"2026-06-19T16:30:57.111Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","56b8ed4d65e0c0451a14e9c1c523efd82aaaa3795046dcaef846666dc621d077","rising-in-1979-chapter-69","rising-in-1979-chapter-67",509,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Frising-in-1979-cover.jpg"]