Road to Revival

"Come fishing with me tomorrow, don't make yourself look like Jiao Yulu." It was already late when Tao Tang, who was reading a book, received a call from Sun Dunquan.

"No, I have plans for tomorrow."

"I went to the guesthouse in the evening and happened to see your brother and sister-in-law go in, so I didn't disturb them. Want to know what they say about you next?"

"In no mood."

"Dear Mr. Tao, everyone below is praising you, saying you're like Jiao Yulu. It's true, I'm not lying to you."

"A curse wishing me a premature death?"

"Don't be ungrateful. How many people would praise their leader like that? I'm telling you, Secretary Jiao, you still need to balance work and rest. How can you do your job well if you don't know how to rest? I'm not asking you for anything. Even though Hongxing No. 1 Middle School is still on your territory, and my wife isn't your soldier. Going out with me won't damage the brilliant image you've painstakingly built."

"I'm not going. The factory has implemented a time-out policy, didn't you know? I'm fishing with my friends during work hours? You're trying to get me into trouble again."

"Your ex could take his wife abroad for vacation, so what's a little fishing? You were once a top leader, don't you know that rules are set for subordinates? Once you reach a certain level, there's no such thing as working while resting; rest is still work. By the way, what are your plans for May Day? Back to Yanjing or back to Binjiang?" Sun Dunquan continued with a smirk.

"That's none of your business."

"Seriously, I heard you led a team to East Lake? Did you meet that bastard Tang Yikun?"

"I'm telling you, the older you get, the less reliable you become."

"I'm talking to you about serious business. I want to talk to that bastard..."

"What are you talking about with that bastard? Are you a bastard too?"

"I'm planning to write a book based on Donghu Industrial. Online novels are still relatively popular in this genre."

"Tang Yikun will never agree to your interview. Didn't you try it the other day?"

"I've been researching East Lake lately. To be honest, it's quite remarkable."

"Don't forget, that was created by a bastard."

"Just kidding. He is a bastard, no doubt, but a very outstanding and rare kind of bastard. Listen to me, what interests me most is Tang Yikun's first pot of gold. He established Donghu Mining in 1996, when he was only 26 years old, and bought a large lignite mine in Dongshan with an annual output of 6 tons... That's the key point, you know what I mean."

I don't understand what you mean.

"I mean, where did he get the money? That's an investment of tens of millions."

"Fish have their paths, shrimp have theirs. Why do you care where they get their funds? Loans, loans, there are plenty of ways."

"This is a crucial question. I think that's also the most interesting part. You know, back in 1996, my monthly salary was less than 500 yuan. Do the math, it's really interesting."

"I don't object to you making things up online to scam money, but is it really necessary to take it so seriously? It's not like we're doing historical research."

"No, real events are always more fascinating than fiction. I need your help..."

"Look, here you are! Didn't you say you had no desires for me?"

"This has nothing to do with your reputation. I just want you to put in a good word for me with Old Tang. If you do, he might see me. If I go directly, I definitely won't get to see the true god."

"Hey, Mr. Sun, let me tell you the truth. With Old Tang's current situation, where does he have time to chat with you? Do you think his family business is easy to run? It makes me dizzy just listening to it. Anyway, I can't do his job, so forget it. Go to sleep early and go fishing tomorrow."

"Old Tao, Mr. Tao, Chairman Tao, you can't do this! This is just a legitimate demand from the people."

"You're just a troublemaker. What right do you have to represent the masses?" Tao Tang liked to banter with Sun Dunquan. Back in Shengdong, he always treated chatting with Sun Dunquan as a form of relaxation.

"Why can't I represent the masses? Didn't I resign back then because I understood that Hongxing was under too much pressure? Let me tell you, I'm not making this up. We laid-off workers have suffered a great loss. The factory gave us such a small amount of money and that's it. This is unacceptable. Many people are planning to go to the factory to complain."

"Get the hell out of here. Didn't I advise you against quitting? That was your own choice! The policy is the same; you wrote your own application, and it even has your fingerprint on it."

"That's you in power exploiting information asymmetry to deceive the masses! This case must be overturned, it absolutely must be overturned."

"Go ahead and look it up. Go ahead and look it up in court."

"Look, your true colors have been exposed, haven't they? I told you, this was for those Red Star employees who were fooled by your facade: never trust Tao Tang. He's no different from Song Yue in essence, except he's good at disguising himself."

"Pretending is a skill. Do you have it? I guarantee that if you ever pretended, your neighbor or your wife would send you to a mental hospital."

"You're right about that. Reality is cruel; even the right to pretend has been taken away from ordinary people." Sun Dunquan sounded a little frustrated on the phone.

"Stop pretending to be an ordinary citizen, okay? Can you represent the people? You spend your days making up boring stories to deceive ignorant young men and women. Don't you feel ashamed?"

"How am I shameful? Huh? I do mental labor, which is no different from you deceiving your employees... No, it is different. I think I am much more noble than you."

"Get lost, I'm going to sleep."

"Sleeping alone isn't a pleasant experience, is it?" Sun Dunquan chuckled lewdly on the other end of the phone. "Old Tao, stop wasting your time and hurry up and marry your little sister-in-law."

Tao Tang hung up the phone. But it immediately came back in. He thought it was Sun Dunquan messing around, so he hung up again, but the other party persisted. He picked it up, glanced at it, chuckled, and answered.

"Who are you talking to? The line's always busy?"

"Just chatting with some idle person to pass the time... I thought it was him calling again, but it turned out to be the boss checking up on me. Sorry about that."

"You don't have a girlfriend, do you?" The other person chuckled, showing no annoyance. "Old Tao, you're a genuine diamond bachelor. As far as I know, many girls like that type, even more so than those fresh-out-of-school guys. Hongxing is a big company, there must be plenty of campus beauties. Why don't you go for it?"

"These words are not befitting your status... I'm recording this."

"I'm concerned about our comrades. Seriously though, how's the situation?"

"normal."

"You seem quite confident. What are your plans for May Day? Are you going back to Yanjing?"

"I was just about to ask you that. Feng Shizhao would like to see you, is that alright?"

"Actually, we met once after he saw you off to your new post in Beiyang. I know his purpose in coming, but I've already left the Ministry of Personnel, so I'm afraid I can't be of any help."

"I need to go back to Yanjing. You can give me a heads-up so I can report back."

"Okay, sure. But it's hard to set a specific time. I'll contact you later."

"It would be best to go as soon as possible. I also want to go back to Binjiang to take care of some household chores."

"Try your best. Tao Tang, what can I say about you? You're back, living so close by, and you didn't even come to see me?"

"Long live understanding. This whole mess I've made..."

"It's possible that we'll be dealing with each other frequently."

"Really? Alright then. One round or two?"

"If I were to be second in command, why would I leave Beiyang?"

Congratulations!

"Whether it's a blessing or a curse is still uncertain. Hey, Lao Tao, guess who I saw last month?"

"You have a wide circle of friends and are of a high social standing; how could I have guessed that?"

"Gong Laosan. Surprised?"

"Hey, that's unexpected. Wasn't he in Sweden? Did he go back home?"

"He visited as a foreign friend and asked about you. At that time, you were still sitting on the sidelines in Yenching University and didn't contact you. Mainly because time was too tight, he didn't go to Yenching University, flew from Shanghai to meet you briefly and then went to Xi'an."

"It's been fifteen years since I last saw him. How is he?"

"That's how it is. It's absolutely true that character determines destiny. If he had stayed in China, he wouldn't even be as good as Liu Laowu. By the way, Xie Lao Er got into trouble."

"What's wrong?"

"What else can we do? He's in. I warned him a long time ago, but he wouldn't listen. He was too flamboyant; he was practically asking for trouble. Our graduating class was really unlucky back then; we endured a whole year of military training alone. Of the six of us in the dorm, two went abroad, and the fifth one is a high achiever, living a pretty comfortable life. You, Xie the Second, and I were all born to be busy. Now that the Second one is finished, it's really pointless."

"What exactly happened to the second child?"

"Isn't he in charge of education? Someone died at one of his schools, so he was dismissed. You think dismissal is fine, but who told you to run into this mess? And what did he do? He went to the provincial party committee demanding an explanation. He angered the top leader, so fine, here comes the explanation: a working group was sent down to investigate. They'll find out everything: tens of millions in savings and stocks, four houses, and a whole bunch of other messy things… Tell me, has that guy lost his mind?"

Tao Tang was speechless. He thought of his roommate from back then, who had once won the Best Debater award.

"Old Tao?"

"I'm listening."

"You're so smart, kid... I still remember your heartfelt words to me when you graduated. They were golden words..."

"Tell me what's useful. When are you going to make a move?"

"I don't know. Probably soon. It's getting late, get some rest, take care of yourself, see you in Yanjing."

See you in Yanjing.

Tao Tang glanced at his watch; it was already midnight. He couldn't actually remember what he'd said to his best friend at graduation. More than twenty years had passed, and the once spirited young man had taken completely different paths: some had abandoned the city for the countryside, some had followed the trend and left their families to go abroad, some had become dazzling stars in politics only to end up in prison… It seemed as if fate had its own plan. But he firmly believed that karma was unchangeable; what goes around comes around. Those who blame their failures on fate were scoundrels; fate was actually in their own hands. If they succeeded, they didn't need to thank anyone; if they failed, they had no one to blame but themselves… You reap what you sow; he should look for the reasons within himself.