[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-that-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981":3,"chapter-that-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981-that-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981-chapter-221":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","That Year, the Flowers Bloomed in 1981",{"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},2294639,4489,"Chapter 221: Golden Tabby, with a Northeastern Relative","that-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981-chapter-221",221,"\u003Cp>At noon, the dining hall of Beijing University.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Leyu ate her spicy stir-fried potato sticks like a little cat; whenever she spotted a dish she liked on Li Ye’s tray, she’d lightly poke at it with her chopsticks, and sure enough, he’d let her have some.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Leyu wasn’t a picky eater, nor did she ever violate the virtue of “not wasting a single grain of rice”—she never complained about mediocre meals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But to expect her to eat anything like a pig, especially after tasting Li Ye’s cooking, was simply too much.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back at the Second Grain Store, Li Ye had always been the one standing with his hands behind his back reciting recipes, while Jiang Xiaoyan did all the chopping and stir-frying; Wen Leyu had assumed Li Ye was just like her father—a man with a fussy palate and lazy hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wasn’t until that day at Wen Leyu’s home that she discovered Li Ye could cook—and cook exceptionally well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After that, Wen Leyu began using “learning to cook” as an excuse to make the Zaojunmiao kitchen smoke daily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tuesdays and Thursdays were out—their schedules were packed all day—but Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays gave them enough afternoon time to cook.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now Wen Leyu was no longer the shy girl from last summer; since she was so close to Li Ye, she’d say, “You cook first, I’m going to take a shower!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By the time she came out, she’d just lend a hand and the meal would be done, satisfying, delicious, and utterly delightful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So at the campus cafeteria, Wen Leyu’s appetite had shrunk a bit—anything left on her plate was always pushed over to Li Ye.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Xiao Yu, I can’t cook for you this afternoon—I have to go pick up a friend at the train station.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huh? Is someone from Dongshan coming?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Alright then!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye looked up and saw Wen Leyu’s big eyes filled with wounded longing, like a cat eagerly waiting for fish but handed cheap cat food instead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye explained: “It’s a friend from Yangcheng. Not showing up to meet him wouldn’t be right.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“From Yangcheng?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Leyu blinked, her long eyelashes fluttering twice, then slumped her shoulders and asked softly: “What kind of friend?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A business associate. When Hao Jian and Peng Ge went to Yangcheng, they had no connections and couldn’t break through.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye spoke without hesitation about Guo Donglun; Wen Leyu had never asked about Yangcheng before, but since she had, there was no point hiding anything.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pengcheng Seventh Factory had grown too fast—no one believed it was Li Ye’s doing. Guo Donglun had begun feeling “used” because he thought, “Something strange must be going on.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Wen Leyu wasn’t stupid—wouldn’t she suspect something fishy about Yangcheng?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet honestly, Li Ye’s rapid progress truly couldn’t have happened without Guo Donglun.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In 1982, no production materials were simply “for sale”—they were all planned allocations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only after the dual-price system emerged in 1984 could you buy raw materials openly on the market.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Jin Peng and others went to Yangcheng, ordinary people needed cloth coupons just to buy a few feet of fabric—how could Pengcheng Seventh Factory possibly get the massive quantities it needed daily?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cloth, machinery, even buttons and thread—no individual or private entity could buy them in bulk; everything required official allocation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now Hao Jian had dozens of stable clothing factories and could barely secure some cloth and materials, but back when they first started two years ago, they had zero options.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back then, if you wanted to bypass the plan and make big money through large-scale resale, you’d almost certainly turn to smuggling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That path? Li Ye wouldn’t take it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Dao has its cycles—Heaven never spares anyone. Heaven gave you a chance to be reborn, not to become a smuggler.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Originally, Li Ye had told Hao Jian to find a small temple to burn incense and sort out transportation—no one expected they’d bump into a real deity who even handled the affiliation paperwork. Now that Li Ye’s side was showing signs of going independent, it was no wonder Guo Donglun felt “used.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And if he felt used, let him feel used—he was even planning to turn around and betray him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pengcheng Seventh Factory behaves law-abidingly, while his own actions are shady—wouldn’t that make it easier for you to draw a clear line?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye explained clearly, and Wen Leyu listened carefully; their heads close together, whispering quietly, drew amused laughter from nearby students eating lunch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The handsome economics student who’d appeared on TV had been successfully won over by an English department girl, and the news of him being “worn around her waist” had circulated for days at Beijing University—this had, ironically, made the two of them even more relaxed with each other.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as no one in the red armbands came to enforce decorum, Wen Leyu didn’t care.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After hearing Li Ye’s account, Wen Leyu said: “So you’ve never met him in person—he’s just coming to get to know you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye smiled. “That’s what he says, but I think he’s here to confront me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why?” Wen Leyu raised an eyebrow, coldly: “Because you’ve grown strong? Did you sell yourselves to him? How arrogant. I’m coming with you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What are you going to do?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye looked at her, amused—until he saw she was serious. “Alright, alright—if it really comes to it, I’ll call my brother to hold the scene. I promise you won’t get the short end.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why call my brother?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Leyu opened her mouth in surprise and displeasure. “I can hold the scene myself!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye: “...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Too hasty. Truly too hasty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since the Second Grain Store, Wen Leyu had developed a quiet dependence on Li Ye; as their bond deepened, she clung to him like a little cat—playing with yarn, yawning, snuggling to nap beside him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There’s a breed of cat called “Golden Tabby.” Unscrupulous pet sellers often mistakenly hand buyers a big orange cat instead, confusing the two.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye had confused things a bit more—this Golden Tabby cat had a relative from the Northeast; when she was young, she was adorable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But beneath her soft paws lay sharp claws, and atop her head, when grown, a great “King” would appear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I just want to go see,” Wen Leyu said, smiling sweetly as she noticed Li Ye’s stunned silence. “What if he’s a good person? I won’t say a word.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harmless. Utterly harmless. Everyone who saw her would love her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Oh, what virtue have I, Li Ye, to meet such a uniquely thoughtful girl?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Long-distance trains in 1983 always arrived late, as a matter of course.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When everyone on the platform had grown impatient, the train from the southwest finally crept into Beijing Station.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After leaving Yangcheng, Guo Donglun hadn’t come straight to Beijing—he’d gone to the southwest first.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though he’d snapped at Hao Jian, claiming he’d been to the southwest and knew the region well,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>he’d only been there as a soldier, familiar with the battlefield but not with the civilians.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since he was already out of Yangcheng, he decided to visit his young comrades in Malipo, and take a little detour along the way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But after touring the region, he felt he’d fallen into Hao Jian’s trap.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Between the poor mountains and harsh waters, there were indeed some cunning locals—but mostly, there was just poverty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Forget a hundred yuan a month—you could hire a willing thug for twenty yuan a month.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Note: a thug, not a girl. Not even traffickers bothered to kidnap girls from here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were plenty of people outside the mountains waiting to be tricked—why waste time walking two days into a village to persuade them?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even con artists have to calculate costs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Pengcheng Seventh Factory’s “Ergou” had been running around here for half a year, diving into the poorest ravines, traveling village to village with county officials to recruit workers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three workers per village at a time, because Hao Jian had told him: “Let some people get rich first.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These three were the village’s only hope for prosperity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So the girl who’d been made to stand in the workshop saying she feared being scolded by her mother was lying.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The truth was, half the village would scold her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without county officials accompanying him, Ergou couldn’t take even one person out of the mountains.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A hundred yuan a month! When would the next con artist come? Maybe in the Year of the Monkey?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And for over a year, Pengcheng Seventh Factory had never successfully persuaded a single worker to quit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For over half a month, Guo Donglun had followed Ergou through exhausting labor, going through two walking sticks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After half a month, Guo Donglun watched Ergou put a new batch of workers on the train, handing the county official a hundred yuan as “travel allowance” to escort these villagers to Pengcheng.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He smiled at his maid Xiao Liang: “Is he trying to exploit my kindness?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiao Liang fell silent for several seconds, then softly replied: “Maybe not exploiting. Maybe he’s just trying to outdo you in kindness?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the first International Chinese-Language Debate Competition in 1993, the final debate topic was “Human Nature Is Inherently Good vs. Human Nature Is Inherently Evil”—both sides delivered brilliant arguments.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Within human nature, darkness and “evil” always exist—but so too does light and “good,” never fully erased.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hmph~”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Guo Donglun chuckled softly, then boarded the train, leaving the southwest behind and heading north.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the world outside the window grew increasingly prosperous, his resentment of being “used” faded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So as the train neared Beijing Station, he decided to be magnanimous—give the other side a better face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Behind the curtain of the soft-sleeper car, Guo Donglun saw Jin Peng.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He found this rugged, bald-headed man more to his taste than Hao Jian.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the next moment, Guo Donglun frowned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because beside Jin Peng stood a young man and a young woman.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Guo Donglun couldn’t help asking Xiao Liang: “Which one’s the main person?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiao Liang rolled her eyes and stayed silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aren’t you proud and stubborn? Didn’t you refuse to ask for details and just send a telegram to Pengcheng Seventh Factory’s Beijing office?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now you’re confused, aren’t you?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Guo Donglun snorted and studied the people on the platform closely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jin Peng’s position clearly placed him in support of the two young people, who stood shoulder to shoulder, indistinguishable in rank or status—as if... a couple?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Even couples have a primary and secondary.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Guo Donglun narrowed his focus, staring at Li Ye—when Xiao Liang suddenly said, puzzled: “Huh? That boy... isn’t he familiar?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Guo Donglun pulled back the curtain slightly and realized—Li Ye was familiar. Extremely familiar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wasn’t that the kid from the end of the promotional film?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Guo Donglun kept staring at Wen Leyu, switching back and forth endlessly, unable to confirm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye stood tall and handsome, his gentle gaze sweeping casually across them, calm yet steady—completely at odds with his apparent age, even more lifelike than his promotional video.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Leyu appeared frail and listless, her eyes lazy and distant, truly indifferent—but every now and then, a cold glance made Guo Donglun unable to ignore her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Could it be… impossible? If they had this kind of connection, why come to me?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Guo Donglun truly scratched his head, feeling he might have been out of touch for too long, losing even basic ability to read people’s expressions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What’s the point of talking anymore?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1910,"2026-06-20T05:05:01.382Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","cf0b9fdd35610904bfec423caf4737c6301b3c977af2bccdf65ecd39f79c55b0","that-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981-chapter-222","that-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981-chapter-220",884,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthat-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981-cover.jpg"]