Chapter 22: Situation

"Master, it is now 6:30 AM. You should get up and listen to the news..."

Di Ye was woken by Xiao Honghua's nagging alarm, reached his right hand out from under the quilt, and turned on the radio he had specifically placed on the nightstand the night before to listen to the classic Central People's Broadcasting Station program, "News and Newspaper Summary."

"According to the latest news from Xinhua News Agency, at 5:46 AM local time on the 17th, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake occurred in the Kansai region of Dongying..."

After listening to this news, Di Ye turned off the radio and said to Xiao Honghua in the Light Screen, "Retrieve the relevant memories of the Hanshin Earthquake and make them into a document for me to see."

"No problem, it will be ready immediately."

Di Ye had stayed inside the Electronic Watch for 28 years and had also studied for 28 years. After inheriting these memories, Di Ye, through a series of wild analyses and blind guesses, believed this was a super quantum computer from outer space.

Xiao Honghua's performance seemed to confirm this judgment; although her intelligence was very low at the beginning, her learning speed was fast. Di Ye had been training her whenever he had free time in the last few days. Now, not only had her capabilities expanded significantly, allowing her to do some simple document work, but her speech had also become more human-like and was no longer so rigid.

"Nikkei Index... Barings Bank... post-disaster reconstruction... bankruptcy of small and medium-sized enterprises..."

Di Ye stared at the document on the Light Screen, his mind wandering for a while before he waved his hand to dismiss Xiao Honghua, wrapped himself tightly in the quilt, and went back to sleep.

Around 7 o'clock, Zhang Xiuzhi returned from her shift. Just as she opened the door, she heard Di Yongchang say, "Xiuzhi, where did you hide the safe key? Find it and give it to me."

"What do you need the key for?"

"Tomorrow, Xiao Ye is going to Guangdong Province with Fan to purchase goods. I'm taking him to the Bank today to open an account, get a passbook, and deposit some money."

"It is time for Xiao Ye to have his own passbook."

Zhang Xiuzhi walked into the master bedroom, fished a thick sock out from the depths of the wardrobe, took a key out of the sock, handed it to Di Yongchang, and asked, "How much money do you plan to deposit for Xiao Ye?"

"He needs 100,000 for the goods on this trip to Guangdong Province. I plan to give him an extra 20,000 so he can buy some things he likes."

"20,000 probably isn't enough. Consumption in Guangdong Province is high and there are many good things. You should give him 50,000. If he wants to spend it, he can spend it; if he doesn't want to, he can leave it in the account."

The safe at home was about 1 meter high, square, and very heavy; two or three people couldn't even push it. It was usually placed in the master bedroom and used as a nightstand. Di Yongchang squatted on the floor, turning the combination dial while teasing, "You old woman, Xiao Ye just bought you a Golden ring, and you're already giving him your coffin money?"

Zhang Xiuzhi stretched out her left hand, examined the Golden ring, and said happily, "The first time Xiao Ye earned money, he only bought gifts for the family and didn't buy anything for himself. He isn't the type to spend money recklessly, so I'm very at ease with him."

"That's true. Xiao Ye went to university for 4 years and basically didn't spend much of the family's money. Even his tuition was paid with scholarships."

Di Yongchang opened the safe, took out two passbooks, checked the balance, and found there was nearly 280,000 yuan. He then said, "If this business deal goes through, we can probably earn that much again. Let's just give Xiao Ye 180,000; the remaining 100,000 is enough for us to spend."

"You old man, you were complaining about me just now, and now you're even more generous than me!"

"We only have one son, Xiao Ye. The money was meant for him anyway; giving it early or late is the same. Besides, Xiao Ye knows a lot and has a sharp mind. If he discovers a new way to make money on this trip to Guangdong Province, he can put it to good use."

"This money is what you earned through hard work. Give as much as you want; I don't object."

Di Yongchang put away the passbooks, squatted down to look at the safe, took out the Golden ring Di Ye had given him, handed it to Zhang Xiuzhi, and said with a smile, "I'm a big man; wearing a Golden ring isn't appropriate. You take it to a jewelry store to resize it and wear one on your right hand too."

Zhang Xiuzhi held up the Golden ring to examine it for a moment, then bent down and put it back into the safe, saying, "Xiao Ye said these are couple rings, one for each of us, a matching set. If you don't wear it, just leave it at home. Golden doesn't spoil anyway. Besides, wearing Golden rings on both hands doesn't look good; it looks like a nouveau riche."

"Fine."

Di Ye only had 50,000 yuan in startup capital on hand. Di Yongchang's willingness to give him 180,000 was an unexpected joy, so he naturally wouldn't object. For the sake of convenience when going abroad in the future, he chose to open an account at the Bank of China this time and got a MasterCard Great Wall Card.

By the time everything was settled, it was already past 9 o'clock. Di Ye hailed a taxi, took Di Yongchang to the Chenghuang Temple, and then turned back to find Huang Ya at the Yuncheng Radio Factory No. 3.

Radio Factory No. 3 had already been failing since the late 80s, and by 1995, it had been out of production for several years. The employees had either gone into business or gone to the south to work. Only some elderly, weak, women, and children remained living in the factory area. Although there were still quite a few people, it appeared very dilapidated.

Huang Ya lived in a Tongzi Building built in the 60s. Her mother had set up a makeshift shack next to the building, running a small restaurant selling breakfast and fast food. When Di Ye walked over, he saw Huang Ya squatting in front of a faucet at the entrance of the Tongzi Building, washing dishes.

As the saying goes, it's not cold when it snows, but cold when the snow melts. It had snowed for two days in a row, and although the sun was out today, the sunlight had no heat. The temperature was as low as minus three or four degrees, and the tap water was bone-chillingly cold, freezing Huang Ya's hands red. Yet, she seemed not to notice, mechanically picking up a bowl from the bucket, stirring it quickly with a loofah, putting it into the plastic basin next to her, and then picking up another bowl, repeating the cycle.

"Why aren't you wearing waterproof gloves?"

Huang Ya turned her head, saw Di Ye, and a smile appeared on her face. She said, "We don't have gloves at home, and besides, it's useless to wear them; they'd just freeze stiff anyway."

Seeing that her hands were frozen stiff while her face was smiling brightly, Di Ye felt a great deal of heartache. He walked over to help, but Huang Ya raised her arm to block him, saying, "Don't add to the mess. These bowls are very slippery; be careful not to break them. I'll be done washing in a moment."

There were still seven or eight bowls in the bucket, but Di Ye didn't have a loofah and had no way to start, so he had to give up the idea of helping and asked, "Where are your two younger brothers?"

"They went to play with their classmates."

"How old are they this year?"

"Huang Zongshan is 19, Huang Zonghai is 16. One is in his third year of high school, and the other is in his first year."

Hearing this, Di Ye frowned and asked, "How are their grades?"

Huang Ya didn't answer, only pursed her lips and shook her head.

Neither helping at home nor loving to study—it seemed they were two spoiled troublemakers. Di Ye couldn't help but let out a breath and asked again, "Where is your mother?"

"She caught a cold these past few days and isn't feeling well, so she's resting at home."

Di Ye gave a cold snort and teased, "I don't think your mother has a cold; I think she sees that you're on vacation! You've been doing everything in the restaurant by yourself these past few days, right?"

Di Ye had once said that Huang Ya's family was in difficult circumstances and asked Di Ye to help take care of her. However, after Di Ye inherited his memories, he discovered that it wasn't that Huang Ya's family was in difficulty, but that only she was in difficulty.

Huang was very good to Huang Ya, scrimping and saving to support her in her university studies. But Huang's Mother was a person who extremely favored sons over daughters; she pampered her sons in every way and exploited her daughter in every way. Therefore, ever since Huang passed away 3 years ago, Huang Ya's life had become very difficult. She had to go home to work every weekend during the semester, and it went without saying during vacations; she was treated completely like an indentured laborer.

After Huang Ya finished washing all the bowls and chopsticks, she put them under the faucet to rinse them again and asked, "What did you come to find me for?"

Di Ye reached his hand out to the faucet, felt the bone-chilling water temperature, and said, "I've found a job for you. You'll start working today."

Huang Ya was a bit surprised, looked up, and asked, "What job?"

Seeing the deep hope in Huang Ya's clear eyes, Di Ye suddenly understood why she liked watching Zhou Xingchi's movies: because only by immersing herself in the laughter of the movies could she temporarily escape the heavy pressure of her family.

"Take me to see your mother first. I'll tell you the specifics of the job later."

Huang Ya rinsed the bowls and chopsticks clean, sent them back to the small restaurant in the makeshift shack, and then led Di Ye to a room on the 2nd floor of the Tongzi Building. She lifted the door curtain made of an old quilt and said to the inside, "Mom, Di Ye is here."

The Tongzi Building of Radio Factory No. 3 was a bit more spacious than the one at Yun University, about 20 square meters. Inside, there was a double bed and a large wardrobe, and there was a small table in front of the windowsill with a black-and-white television set on it.

When Di Ye entered, Huang's Mother was wrapped in a quilt, sitting on the bed eating melon seeds while watching a TV series, showing no signs of having a cold or feeling unwell.

"Di Ye, are you here to find the girl?"

Huang Ya's name came from the homophone of "little girl," which a teacher had helped pick out when she was in elementary school. Di Ye didn't want to bicker with such a mother and got straight to the point: "Auntie, I've found a job for Huang Ya. During this winter break..."

"No way. Huang Ya has to help me run the restaurant; she doesn't have time to go out and work."

Di Ye turned his head to look at Huang Ya, saw her biting her lip with empty eyes, and felt very uncomfortable. So he offered a condition that Huang's Mother couldn't refuse: "Working for one month during the winter break, the salary is 2,000 yuan, including room and board, plus bonuses and commissions."

Huang's Mother was indeed unable to refuse. She sat up straight all at once, her face full of greed, and asked, "Is it really 2,000 a month?"

Di Ye didn't waste words with her. He took out his wallet, counted out 10 hundred-yuan bills he had just withdrawn that morning, placed them on the quilt, and said, "This 1,000 is the advance salary; the remaining 1,000 will be given when the winter break ends."

Ignoring her image, Huang's Mother leaned out from under the quilt, grabbed the money, and counted it one by one. Seeing this, Di Ye said, "Auntie, this job is very urgent. I need to take Huang Ya to work right now."

"Fine, you take her."

Seeing her busy counting money and agreeing without even asking what the job was, Di Ye sighed to himself, turned, and said to Huang Ya, "Pack a few changes of clothes, I'll wait for you outside."

Huang Ya quickly walked out carrying an old, military-green schoolbag, followed Di Ye out of the Tongzi Building without a word, and only after walking past the rusted gate of Radio Factory No. 3 did she reveal a Zhou Xingchi-style exaggerated smile and ask, "Di Ye, you aren't going to sell me, are you?"

"A scrawny little girl like you, how much could you even sell for?"