Chapter 20: Searching for Him in the Crowd of Thousands

  Xue Xiang had Li Siye find a burlap sack to hold the large jar, as the original cloth bag was no longer big enough. Several people left Li Siye's house and arrived at Beihai Park. Xue Xiang and several others found a bench to sit on and began discussing how to sell the ceramic jars. Nobody asked where the jars came from; these guys were more concerned with how much money they could make and how much meat they could buy.

  Xue Xiang started, saying: "Brothers, this big jar is a good thing, you all know that, such a good thing was sold to the consignment store would be wasted. I think it can only be sold to a private collector who understands ceramics, who do you think knows someone who collects ceramics?"

  "Third Brother, it's now the time to break the old and establish the new. These porcelain vases, who knows how many were smashed during the great calamity? Now, who dares to openly collect these things? I think this matter is difficult." White-faced scholar Zhu Shijun spoke up.

  Zhu Shijun finished speaking, and no one spoke again. It was unclear whether they were deep in thought or simply staring blankly. After a while, Li Hongjun suddenly slapped Liu Yuanzhao's thigh and said, "I remembered someone who likes these ceramics and paintings, and he has the money to pay a high price."

  Liu Yuan Chao was dissatisfied with Li Hong Jun using his own leg as a prop to make a shocking statement, and retorted: "You'd better behave yourself, you're just an uncouth fellow who still knows friends who are good at writing and literature. If you know people who collect antiques, I also know those who study oracle bones."

  Li Hongjun said with a smirk: "You wouldn't believe it, but I'm different from you. While doing revolution, I also don't forget to improve my own cultural cultivation, I'm a progressive young person, unlike you who is completely backward. Let me tell you, the grandfather of this guy I know actually did oracle bone inscriptions."

  Xue Xiang was overjoyed and asked hastily, "Hongjun, don't be coy, tell us what's going on. If you continue to drag this out, I promise my brothers who are waiting for meat won't be so patient." After finishing speaking, he gave a signal with his eyes to Lei Xiaotian and the others. Lei Xiaotian and the others understood, surrounding Li Hongjun in a circle, looking at him with ill intentions, implying that if he continued to drag things out, they would stew him for lunch first.

  Li Hongjun repeatedly clasped his fists and begged for mercy: "This kid is someone I met at the Beihai ice rink, he's just a greenhorn, calling everyone 'big brother', eager to join our gang. Last time he came to me, I thought he was really hopeless, so I didn't agree to it, taking in people like him would pollute our revolutionary group, wouldn't it? The kid had no choice but to say that if I brought him into the gang, he'd take me to the university to pick up chicks. At the time, I gave him a slap and said, do you think you're the president of the university or something? You guys guess what he said next, he said I'm not the president of the university, but my grandfather is, and we live in the university. Brothers, guess who his grandfather is?"

  Xue Xiang slapped him and said: "Hurry up and say, where did you learn this bad habit."

  Li Hongjun smiled and said: "His grandfather is Chen Kai Zhen, the famous president of Ke Da University."

  Li Hongjun finished speaking, and Xue Xiang immediately knew who it was. Everyone knew who it was. This person's reputation is really too great, not to mention later generations, but even in the present day, he is already a top-notch imperial scholar, a regular contributor to the People's Daily, and is also revered as the master of the literary world after Zhou Shuren, a towering figure.

  Xue Xiang didn't want to comment on this person, what's important was to get rid of the Jun porcelain vase. Obviously, Principal Chen was a good buyer. Firstly, he had money. Secondly, he liked collecting things. Lastly, collecting antiques put no pressure on him. Xue Xiang asked Li Hongjun: "Hongjun, can you find that guy you mentioned now?"

  Li Hongjun said, "Don't worry, we'll definitely find him. Chen Fosheng is just like us, after graduating he had nowhere to go. His family arranged for him to join the army or enter a work unit, but he didn't want to do either, so he's been wandering around Beihai all day, actively seeking to join an organization. He must be somewhere near this park right now."

  "What's the delay? Let's go and find someone quickly."

  Li Hongjun led Xue Xiang to stroll in Beihai Park, and asked several naughty kids along the way, saying they hadn't seen him. After a while, someone who knew said that Chen Fosheng was taking pictures of his wife at the Beihai Ice Rink. Xue Xiang and others quickly turned into the Beihai Ice Rink, which is not far from the park, just a few minutes' walk. The several people were tall and had long legs, and soon they saw the ice rink in the distance.

  The North Sea is divided into the West Sea, the Back Sea and the Front Sea. The ice rink of the North Sea is located on the south side of the Front Sea, surrounded by cypress pillars, with reed mats hung around it, and banners reading "Prosperous Sports Action, Progressing Citizens' Quality" hanging above. Xue heard the loud Soviet songs being played from the low-pitched speakers on the ice rink from afar, sung by the Pyatnitsky Choir, the song's voice was deep and thick, straight into the heart.

  In this era, ice skating at the Beihai Ice Rink was a luxurious thing. Because ice skates were high-end products, a pair cost over 30 yuan, which many people couldn't afford. Of course, many naughty kids who couldn't buy them would make their own ice skates, and various types of ice shoes were also a stunning sight on the ice rink. The Beihai Ice Rink sold over 1,000 tickets every morning, with a very cheap price of only five cents, two-thirds of which were bought by naughty kids. When there were the most people, the ice rink was almost packed to capacity, and it was hard to skate at all, but the naughty kids didn't care. Coming to Beihai to ice skate was one reason for entertainment, but more importantly, it was a way to make friends from all walks of life, and this place was their cocktail party. The Beihai Ice Rink was the information and social center of Beijing at that time, becoming the naughty kids' "barometer".

  Xue Xiang and his friends didn't have tickets, but the ticket collector at the ice rink had gotten familiar with them and knew Xue Xiang's influence, so he didn't make things difficult for them. Instead, he lent them several pairs of skates that he had repaired himself. Xue Xiang was deeply grateful and stuffed a package of unopened jade into his bag. At this time, the weather was cold, and the breath they exhaled rose up as white mist. The ice on the rink was extremely thick. As soon as Xue Xiang and his friends entered the rink, they saw a dense crowd of people. Although the 20,000-square-meter rink didn't seem crowded, it wasn't possible to skate freely either. As soon as Xue Xiang entered, someone recognized him from afar and shouted "Third Brother!" while giving a military salute. Xue Xiang returned a US-style military salute. Who knew that this one shout would be like throwing a big stone into a quiet pond? Suddenly, several hundred people started calling out to him in waves, with some even giving military salutes. Xue Xiang's raised hand never came down. This scene shocked the students and young workers on the ice rink - who was this person, so majestic!

  Xue Xianggang slid to the edge of the ice rink, and a group of people came up to greet him, saying that Third Brother hadn't been here for a long time, had he forgotten about his brothers? Xue Xiang responded with a smile, accepted a few cigarettes, and this group of people knew it was time to disperse, as there were still others waiting in line. Sure enough, just after they left, another two groups slid over, but the second group didn't follow suit when they saw someone had beaten them to it. The leader of this group complained, saying that he heard Third Brother asked the Northern City gang to find a few more postage stamps, and earlier that morning, he saw Kang Xiaobao's group boasting about doing things for Third Brother, but that kid didn't even offer him a cigarette before running off; if not for Third Brother's face, he would have taught him a lesson. He also said that Third Brother had matters to attend to without calling on his brothers, which wasn't right. Xue Xiang placated them with a few words, and this group finally dispersed, after which Xue Xiang accepted another handful of cigarettes. Just like that, an hour or so passed, and he had managed to greet everyone he needed to; the result was that the cigarettes filled up his coat pockets, and he couldn't fit any more in. You can't just say you won't accept anymore, saying it's too much would make those offering cigarettes feel like Third Brother wasn't giving them face, so there was no choice but to stuff all his pockets full of cigarettes, roughly two or three hundred sticks. This was also one reason Xue Xiang didn't particularly love coming to the ice rink - it was all just socializing, plus figuring out ways to carry cigarettes; he couldn't very well bring a bag every time he came, could he?

  As the crowd dispersed, Xue Xiang quickly shifted his attention to Kang Tong and the others, who were amused by this and said that they should bring San Ge over more often. With a weekly visit, they would have all the good stuff. Xue Xiang hastily interrupted their teasing, otherwise it would be another half hour of banter. He signaled to Kang Tong to pick up the hemp bag carefully, lest it break again. Kang Tong nodded silently, with an expression that said "don't worry". Xue Xiang sent Li Hongjun ahead to look for someone, while the others followed behind. After searching through the crowd for a while, they still couldn't find anyone - had this kid gone home for lunch? The group circled around the periphery of the ice rink again, and soon heard someone shouting "Jun Ge, help!" Li Hongjun followed the sound and indeed found Chen Fosheng, who beckoned Xue Xiang and the others to follow.

  It turned out that Chen Fosheng had arrived at the ice rink early to pick up girls, but it wasn't until almost noon that he spotted a few targets. Just as he was about to approach them, he was intercepted by several young men wearing dark blue worker uniforms. While he was trying to hit on the beauties, they were actually targeting him - specifically his Soviet-made silver-white ice skates. Chen Fosheng was quickly cornered and soon gave in, handing over his skates to the group. Seeing how obedient he was, they started thinking of making him their "Buddha". Chen Fosheng dared not agree easily, knowing that once he did, he would be stuck with them forever. The leader, a tall guy wearing a dogskin hat, slapped Chen twice on the ears when he saw him hesitating, and Chen finally gave in. Just as he was about to agree, he spotted Li Hongjun, someone he had met several times before, gliding towards them, so he opened his mouth to call for help.

  Xue Xiang and several others slid closer, Chen Fosheng hastily beckoned Li Hongjun, took out a cigarette ready to offer Li Hongjun a few as a courtesy, but was snatched away by the young man in the dog skin hat, who laughed and said: "Damn, Marlboro, American goods! I didn't think you had such good stuff. What else do you have? Hand it over quickly." As he spoke, he reached his hand into Chen Fosheng's pocket to search, completely disregarding Xue Xiang and the others.