As the New Year approached, the family bought more holiday goods than in previous years. With their son back home, things had to be livelier. During this time, Zhu Siqi didn't go out much and instead helped his mother clean the house.
"Xiao San, here's some money. Go buy yourself a new set of clothes," Zhu's mother said when she noticed that her son's clothes looked like they had been worn for a long time. With the New Year coming, everyone was supposed to wear new clothes—this was a rural custom, though it usually didn't apply to adults.
"Mom, I have money. I haven't even spent any since I came back," Zhu Siqi replied. "Besides, I like wearing old clothes. They're more comfortable."
"You have money? Did your master give it to you?"
"Mom, did you forget? I can set up a stall and sell medicine myself. I earned it on my own. I went to Zhengzhou last time, and I still have more than seven hundred left."
"Oh right, Mom, have you taken the health pills I gave you? I made them myself—they work really well."
"I haven't taken them yet. I was planning to give them to your grandparents," his mother said.
"In that case, you should take them too," Zhu Siqi said seriously. "Your health hasn't been very good these past few years. I made the pills myself—once you finish them, I can just make more."
"Alright, alright," Zhu's mother said with a smile. Seeing her son care about her made her very happy.
"With the New Year coming," Zhu's mother added, "you should also give some of your health pills to your eldest and second uncles. They're getting old too."
"I know," Zhu Siqi nodded. "Tomorrow I'll go to the pharmacy and see if there are suitable medicinal herbs. If possible, I'll make another batch."
The next day, Zhu Siqi went to Chaoyang to take a look around.
Chaoyang wasn't very big—about the same size as Santang Market in Sichuan where he used to live. Because there was a medium-sized coal mine nearby, several thousand workers lived here, and over time a small street had formed.
There were quite a few pharmacies on the street—three or four of them. He went into each one, asking to see the medicinal ingredients he needed for making pills. After checking them, he realized the quality wasn't good. They were probably grown in specialized herbal farms and couldn't compare to the natural herbs from the mountains. Even if he made pills with them, the effectiveness would be greatly reduced—it wasn't worth it.
Since the New Year was near, many people were buying holiday supplies. They carried loads on shoulder poles and in their hands, purchasing large quantities of goods to take home. It seemed that people in his hometown were gradually becoming more prosperous.
Just then, he felt someone pat his shoulder. Sensing no danger, he turned around and saw that it was his childhood friends Zhu Daibiao and Tai Ge.
"We heard you were back," Tai Ge said. "We went to your house to look for you, but your mom said you came to Chaoyang. We had nothing to do anyway, so we came out to wander around."
"My mom said you were still in school, so I didn't go looking for you," Zhu Siqi said. "Are you on vacation already?"
"Today's the official start of the holiday," Tai Ge replied. "We came out to relax a bit." Tai Ge was in his third year of junior high, while Zhu Daibiao was only in his first.
"Let's go find some arcade games," Zhu Daibiao suggested. They had little interest in shopping and only wanted to play.
"Arcade games?" Zhu Siqi asked.
"You'll see when we get there. Let's go."
The three of them entered a shop with the words "Game Arcade" posted outside. Inside, the space wasn't large. Along both walls were rows of arcade machines, and the room was packed with people—mostly students. It was very noisy: the sounds of fighting and gunfire from the machines mixed with the shouts of onlookers. The air was stuffy, and Zhu Siqi felt a bit uncomfortable. But as soon as Zhu Daibiao and Tai Ge walked in, they became excited, their eyes glued to the screens.
Tai Ge was the first to snap out of it and nudged Zhu Daibiao. "Let's buy some tokens first?"
"Sure, my treat today," Zhu Daibiao said. In recent years, his family had opened a small factory, and his allowance had increased.
They bought ten tokens for each person. Zhu Siqi looked at one—it was about the same size as a one-yuan coin, but it seemed to be made of lead.
There were no empty machines at first. After waiting a while, someone finally left, and Zhu Daibiao quickly grabbed the spot, shouting, "Hurry, there's a machine here!"
This machine was a shooting game with airplanes. It could be played solo or by two players. Each token gave three lives. Since Zhu Siqi had never played before, the other two started playing while he watched. After observing for a bit, he understood it—it was quite simple. A joystick controlled the plane's movement, one button fired bullets, and another launched bombs. Bombs were used only when there were too many enemy planes to dodge, and each token gave only three bombs.
Their skills were terrible. Before long, Zhu Daibiao had used up all ten of his tokens. Then it was Zhu Siqi's turn. At first, he was a bit clumsy and lost two lives, but soon he got used to it. He advanced through level after level and cleared the game in one go. The two beside him stared in shock.
Zhu Siqi didn't say much and stood up. "Let's go home."
Zhu Daibiao took the remaining nine tokens to the owner to get a refund. Taking the chance, Zhu Siqi asked the boss, "Boss, what's inside these game machines?"
"A computer board," the boss replied. "The games are made by computers." He didn't seem to understand much himself.
"Oh," Zhu Siqi said, not asking further. He had seen books about computers in bookstores before and knew that computers—also called calculators—were an emerging technology.
When he got home, he told his mother that the herbs in the pharmacies weren't good enough and couldn't be used. He decided to wait until he encountered better materials in the future. In any case, the pills they currently had would last for another half year even if they were given away, and by then his parents' health should have improved significantly.
The New Year arrived. On the first day of the lunar year, Zhu Kun took his son to visit every household in the village to pay New Year's greetings. This was a village tradition—each household had to visit all the others. Wherever they went, people congratulated Zhu Kun when they saw Zhu Siqi, and Zhu Kun was extremely happy, smiling nonstop the entire morning. The village wasn't big, so by noon they had finished and returned home.
In the afternoon, Zhu Kun's former students came to pay their respects as well. This had become a yearly routine. Although Zhu Kun taught middle school, he treated his students very well. Many of them, after getting into college or starting work, would still come to greet their teacher when they returned home for the New Year. It also became an opportunity for classmates to reunite.
There were quite a few students this year—more than twenty. Seeing that the teacher's son had returned, they were happy for him. Zhu Kun also told them about his son's situation—that Zhu Siqi didn't plan to take the college entrance exam and didn't want to continue regular schooling after the New Year—and asked if they had any suggestions.
One student, Deng Haitao, spoke up. "Teacher Zhu, I have a cousin who did well on the college entrance exam last year but later went to a private school in Jiangxi. That school organizes students to take the national self-study exams to earn diplomas, and they also enroll students in the spring. Siqi could go there."
Zhu Kun looked at Zhu Siqi, asking for his opinion.
"I think it's fine," Zhu Siqi said. "I'll go to that school."
"Alright," Deng Haitao nodded. "Come with me this afternoon to my cousin's place. He should have the enrollment brochure—you can choose a major."
That afternoon, Zhu Siqi went with Deng Haitao to his cousin's home. After looking through the brochure, Zhu Siqi chose computer science. Deng Haitao's cousin immediately called the teacher in charge of admissions. The school, of course, had no objections—having more students was always welcome. They asked for Zhu Siqi's home address and prepared to mail the admission notice. Zhu Siqi also agreed with Deng Haihua to go to Nanchang together after the Lantern Festival.
When Zhu Kun heard that his son had settled everything, he felt a bit downhearted, but he didn't say much. Zhu Siqi could tell that his father still couldn't fully accept the fact that he wasn't attending a regular university. He didn't say anything either, but in his heart he resolved to earn a postgraduate degree from a prestigious university in the future and hand the diploma to his father for safekeeping.
After the Lantern Festival came the day Zhu Siqi left for Nanchang. That day, his parents and second sister all went to the train station to see him off. There were especially many passengers traveling by train that day. Although Zhu Siqi and Deng Haihua managed to get on, they could only sit in the aisle. As the train started moving, they saw their parents still running alongside the train, trying to get one more look at their son. As the train gradually sped up and they finally disappeared from sight, Zhu Siqi's eyes filled with tears.