Rebirth: Fan Debiao rises from the Liaobei land

The next day, before Fan Debiao left, Commander Ma sat up from his cot on the floor and said, "Debiao, I'm not going back to the fort. I'll find work in the city."

Fan Debiao, tying his shoelaces, asked, "What kind of work are you looking for?"

"What job can't I do?" Ma Dashuai said. "You have hands and feet, and so do I. If you can do it, so can I. I'm no worse than you."

Fan Debiao chuckled: "Alright, go ahead and look. Yufen, I'm leaving."

Once the door closed, only Ma Dashuai and Yu Fen remained in the room. Yu Fen cleared away the dishes, while Ma Dashuai lit a cigarette.

"Yufen, look," Ma Dashuai exhaled a puff of smoke, "Debiao is all high and mighty now, driving a Mercedes and living in a bungalow. If I were in this city, I wouldn't be any worse off than him."

Yu Fen wiped the table: "De Biao is quite capable now, and his boss values ​​him highly."

"What do you mean by 'highly valued'?" Ma Dashuai curled his lip. "He's just a security chief. If I were here, I'd definitely do a better job than him."

Yu Fen glanced at him: "Say less. De Biao has been good to us. If you really have ideas, go out and find a job. I think doing anything in the city is better than going back to the countryside!"

"I'll look for work then." Ma Dashuai stood up. "I'll go out and take a look around today and see if there's any good work."

For the next few days, Ma Dashuai left early and returned late every day. The first day he came back and said, "A freight station is hiring porters, I went to ask, but they thought I was too old."

He came back the next day and said, "The construction site is hiring laborers, thirty yuan a day, but it's too tiring, I won't do it."

On the third day, he came back and said, "I visited several factories, and they all required technical skills, which I don't have."

Yu Fen asked, "So what exactly can you do?"

General Ma scratched his head: "I have hands and feet, what can't I do? I just haven't met the right person yet."

On the morning of the fourth day, Ma Dashuai went out again. Fan Debiao had been extremely busy at Victoria these past few days. The children's area was being renovated, the membership cards were being printed, and things were going smoothly with Gangzi. Wu Derong was quite pleased and called Fan Debiao to his office that day.

"De Biao, you've done a good job these past two weeks," Wu Derong said. "You've topped up your membership cards with over 80,000 yuan. I've checked out the renovations in the bath area; the quality is pretty good, and the prices are fair. Alright, you've got some skills."

Fan Debiao said, "This is just the beginning; it will be even better next month."

"Work hard," Wu Derong said. "I'll give you a big bonus at the end of the year."

As Fan Debiao stepped out of his office, his phone rang. Seeing it was an unknown number, he answered, "Feed?"

"Is this Fan Debiao?" the voice on the other end of the phone said. "We are from the Urban Management Brigade."

Fan Debiao's heart tightened: "It is me, what's wrong?"

"Who is Commander Ma to you?"

"I... am from the same hometown. What happened to him?"

"He's suspected of disturbing the public order by pretending to be blind and playing the erhu (a two-stringed bowed instrument) for money on the pedestrian street. We've detained him. Come and pick him up."

Fan Debiao hung up the phone and cursed, "That General Ma, he's always causing me trouble!"

When I drove to the city management brigade, I saw Ma Dashuai squatting in the corner as soon as I entered. Next to him was a man wearing sunglasses, and a broken erhu was lying on the ground.

"Fan Debiao, right?" A city management officer came over. "These two are pretending to be blind to scam money."

Fan Debiao walked over and said, "General Ma, what are you doing?"

Ma Dashuai looked up, embarrassed: "Debiao, I... I just want to make some money."

"Make money? Pretend to be blind?" Fan Debiao was furious. "Is this all you've been doing these past few days?"

The man next to me took off his sunglasses: "Brother, I'm just an erhu player. He said he can play too, and he insisted on partnering with me, saying that pretending to be blind is a quick way to make money..."

Fan Debiao, too lazy to listen, asked the urban management officer, "How much is the fine?"

"Fifty per person, one hundred in total. Don't do it again next time."

Fan Debiao paid the money and led Ma Dashuai out. The man playing the erhu picked up his instrument and ran off.

After getting in the car, Fan Debiao didn't say anything. Ma Dashuai huddled in the passenger seat and whispered, "Debiao, I've been looking for work for days, but I really can't find anything. The freight station won't take me, the construction site won't take me, the factory won't take me. I'm thinking... I'll earn some money first."

"How much money can you make pretending to be blind?"

"I can earn twenty or thirty a day," Ma Dashuai said. "It's better than doing odd jobs."

Fan Debiao lit a cigarette: "Then keep pretending. What are you going to get the urban management officers to arrest?"

General Ma remained silent.

After finishing his cigarette, Fan Debiao said, "What do we do now? Should we still look for a job?"

After hesitating for a long time, Ma Dashuai said hesitantly, "De Biao, how about... you find me a job in Victoria? Anything is fine, I'm not picky."

Fan Debiao looked at him and asked, "What can you do?"

"I have hands and feet, what can't I do?" Ma Dashuai said, "Security guard, waiter, kitchen helper, anything."

"Security guards?" Fan Debiao chuckled. "Do you even know what we security guards do?"

"Isn't it just guarding the gate?"

"Watching the gate?" Fan Debiao said. "That's security. You have to handle things, and you need to be good at talking. What can you do?"

When asked this question, Ma Dashuai hesitated for a long time before finally saying, "Then I'll work in the kitchen; I know how to cook."

What dishes can you cook?

"Scrambled eggs, stir-fried shredded potatoes, stewed green beans..." Ma Dashuai's voice trailed off.

Fan Debiao sighed: "How about this, you start with the cleaning. If you can do it, great; if not, forget it."

"Cleaning?" Ma Dashuai's face fell. "Sweeping the floor and wiping the tables?"

"What, are you ashamed?" Fan Debiao said. "Yufen works as a cleaner, and she's doing a great job. If you don't want to do it, then go back to pretending to be blind."

"I'll do it, I'll do it," Ma Dashuai quickly said. "Cleaning is fine."

Back at the small house, Yufen was cooking. Seeing the two of them return, she asked, "General, did you find any work today?"

Commander Ma lowered his head and said, "Found it."

"What kind of work?"

"Cleaning," Ma Dashuai whispered, "at Victoria."

Yu Fen looked at Fan Debiao, who said, "He did it willingly. He'll start work tomorrow."

At dinner that evening, Ma Dashuai silently ate his rice. Fan Debiao said, "Dashuai, don't tell anyone you're my brother-in-law when you go."

Why?

"It won't have a good impact," Fan Debiao said. "Just say you're from my hometown and you're looking for work."

"Okay." General Ma nodded.

The next morning, Fan Debiao took Ma Dashuai to Victoria. Upon arriving at the cleaning department, Sister Wang looked at Ma Dashuai and asked, "New here?"

"I'm from the same hometown, my surname is Ma," Fan Debiao said.

Sister Wang handed out work uniforms. Ma Dashuai changed into a blue cloth jacket, feeling extremely uncomfortable.

"You're cleaning the lobby on the first floor today," Sister Wang said. "Mop the floor three times, wipe the tables clean, and clean the windows. You can't leave until you're done."

Ma Dashuai took the mop and left. Fan Debiao returned to the security room, and Da Liu asked, "Brother Biao, who was that guy?"

"He's from my hometown," Fan Debiao said. "Don't give him any special treatment, just treat him the same as usual."

At lunchtime, Fan Debiao saw Ma Dashuai in the canteen. Ma Dashuai was squatting in a corner, eating his rice bowl very quickly.

"How is it?" Fan Debiao walked over.

General Ma looked up and said, "I'm exhausted. Why is that floor so hard to mop? I've mopped it three times and there are still marks."

"It's only been half a day," Fan Debiao said. "It's not shameful to talk if you can't do something."

"Who says I can't do it?" said Ma Dashuai. "I can do it."

In the afternoon, Fan Debiao was in the security room when Gangzi came in and said, "Brother Biao, your fellow villager got into an argument with a customer."

Fan Debiao was taken aback: "What's going on?"

"The customer threw his cigarette butt on the ground, and he asked the customer to pick it up, but the customer refused, and the two started arguing."

Fan Debiao hurried over. In the lobby on the first floor, Ma Dashuai was arguing with a male customer.

"You have to pick up what you threw away!" said Ma Dashuai.

"So what if I don't pick it up?" the customer said. "Why are you arguing with me, you're just a floor sweeper?"

Fan Debiao walked over: "What happened?"

Ma Dashuai said, "He threw a cigarette butt, and I told him to pick it up, but he wouldn't."

The guest saw Fan Debiao and said, "Are you in charge? What's with the attitude of your sweepers?"

Fan Debiao said to Ma Dashuai, "You go and get to work first."

"The cigarette butt he threw away..."

"I'm telling you to get to work!" Fan Debiao raised his voice.

Ma Dashuai left reluctantly. Fan Debiao said to the guests, "I'm sorry, the new guy is inconsiderate. We'll clean up the cigarette butts."

The guest muttered a couple of things and left. Fan Debiao found Ma Dashuai: "What are you doing? Arguing with the guest?"

"He thinks he's right to throw away a cigarette butt?" Ma Dashuai protested.

"He's a guest!" Fan Debiao said. "If a guest throws a cigarette butt, just clean it up. What's all the fuss about?"

"That's not right..."

"It has to be right, even if it's wrong," Fan Debiao said. "If you want to do it, follow the rules. If you don't want to, leave now."

General Ma remained silent.

Fan Debiao said, "Finish cleaning the lobby before you leave work today. If you don't finish, don't come in tomorrow."

After get off work that evening, Fan Debiao and Ma Dashuai went home together. Ma Dashuai didn't say a word the whole way.

After arriving home, Yufen asked, "Darling, how was your first day at work?"

General Ma muttered, "Not so good."

During dinner, Ma Dashuai said, "Debiao, that job... it's so frustrating."

"If you're feeling frustrated, then don't do it," Fan Debiao said. "Go back to pretending to be blind."

Ma Dashuai remained silent. After a while, he said, "I'll do it. It's just cleaning, I can do it."

Fan Debiao glanced at him: "Alright, you give it a try. If you do well, I'll give you a different job later."

After dinner, Commander Ma volunteered to wash the dishes. Yu Fen whispered to Fan Debiao, "Debiao, the Commander is proud, please bear with him."

"If I take his side, who will take my side?" Fan Debiao said. "Let him work for a few days, so he'll know how hard it is to earn money, and that'll be enough."

At night, Fan Debiao lay on his makeshift bed on the floor, thinking about the day's events. Commander Ma had gone to town, the work had been arranged, and Yu Fen's matter had been resolved. Next was making money—he would do everything in his power to make money. He refused to believe that being reborn wouldn't make a difference!