Going into the sea

  As Lin Zhenhua walked out of the Hu Yang's house, he headed towards his own home. Just as he reached the entrance, he suddenly saw someone crouching in the dark corner beside him. If it weren't for the cigarette butt in the person's hand flickering on and off, Lin Zhenhua wouldn't have been able to see him at all.

  "Who's there?" Lin Zhenhua jumped in fright and asked subconsciously.

  "Kobayashi, it's me." The man stood up and replied.

  "It's Old Bear." Lin Zhenhua recognized him, this man was indeed Xiong Lijun. He had not appeared again since leaving the small room of the moving team in the morning, and he didn't know why he was now squatting at his own door.

  "Kobayashi, I've been waiting for you." said Xiong Lijun.

  "Why don't you go inside and wait?"

  "Your sister is doing her homework, I'm afraid of disturbing her," said Xiong Lijun. However, Lin Zhenhua also understood his meaning. After all, Xiaofang was a big girl, and it wasn't quite proper for Xiong Lijun to stay in the house with her alone when Lin Zhenhua was not at home. So he simply squatted outside the door to smoke.

  "Never mind, since it's like that, let's not go inside either, let's take a walk outside." Lin Zhenhua said.

  He put away his bicycle, went into the house to fetch a pack of cigarettes, and then came out to walk with Xiong Lijun towards the factory gate. The topic they wanted to discuss was somewhat sensitive, and if they talked about it in the factory, they might be overheard by passing workers, which would be troublesome.

  Han Hua Machinery Factory is located in the eastern suburbs of Fenghua County, surrounded by farmland and several local enterprises, including a fertilizer plant, phosphate fertilizer plant, pesticide plant and coking plant, all of which are pollution-intensive industries. This area can be considered as the heavy chemical industrial zone of Fenghua County.

  Two people walked out of the factory area, walking slowly along the ridge. Lin Zhenhua handed the cigarette in his hand to Xiong Lijun, who took it and touched it with his hand, couldn't help but sigh: "Another pack of Wonton Road, Little Lin, it seems you really got rich."

  "What do you think?" Lin Zhenhua asked.

  Xiong Lidong said: "I've thought it through, I'm resigning."

  "Have you really thought it through?"

  Xiong Liming nodded, pulled out a pack of Marlboro cigarettes, lit one up with his lighter and said: "To tell you the truth, what really made me determined was that pack of Marlboros you gave me this afternoon."

  "What's going on?" Lin Zhenhua asked in confusion.

  "I went to the Changjiang Dam after I finished my shift, sat on the dam and smoked a cigarette by myself, thinking about what you said. I thought about it until noon but couldn't come up with anything. Sometimes I felt that making money outside was very attractive, sometimes I couldn't bear to give up that iron rice bowl. As I reached for another smoke, I found out that my cigarettes were all gone. At the time, I felt really sad, after so many years of thinking about a pack of Marlboro, it's gone before I could even savor the taste, and who knows when I'll be able to smoke again."

  Lin Zhenhua said: "Old bear, look at what you're saying. If you want to smoke, just tell me."

  Xiong Limin said: "I know you're a good brother, Xiao Lin, but I'm also a seven-foot-tall man who stands up straight. Day and night, I stretch out my hand to beg for cigarettes from others. Do you think I don't feel embarrassed? But I've come to realize that even if it's just to be able to afford a pack of Marlboros, I have to fight for it."

  Lin Zhenhua smiled and said, "Old Bear, if one day you become rich and start a big company, then at the entrance of the company, we must cast a large bronze Marlboro cigarette box to commemorate it."

  "Kobayashi, do you think there will be such a day?" Xiong Lijun asked.

  "As long as you work hard, you should be able to make it." Lin Zhenhua said. According to his memory, the first batch of people who went into business in China only needed to be slightly smarter and harder working, and they basically all got rich. Because at that time, there were very few people who dared to go into business, and as long as you flipped something, it would sell well, and making money was faster than robbing a bank. By the mid-to-late 1980s, when more and more people started going into business, the opportunities to make money became fewer and fewer.

  "Alright, I'll let it all out." Xiong Lijun said, "Xiao Lin, tomorrow I will go find the factory director to apply for resignation. Then, this over 100 jin (weight) of mine will be handed over to you, whatever you want to do with it is up to you."

  Lin Zhenhua said, "Alright, tomorrow you go and take care of your resignation first. Then I'll bring you to meet Lan Wufeng. From then on, the two of you will be working together. As for the specifics, we can discuss them slowly. To be honest, I don't have much experience in business either, so we'll both need to feel our way through it."

  "It's no big deal if I fall a few times." Xiong Lijun said with extreme nonchalance.

  The next day, Xiong Lijun went to find the factory director. As soon as he mentioned that he wanted to resign, Director Chen Weiguo became furious and almost dragged him by the collar and threw him down from the second floor.

  "Little bear, have you gone crazy! You're a perfectly good state-owned enterprise employee, why did you quit? What do you plan to do now?"

  "Director Chen, I feel that being a worker will definitely have no future for me. I want to try other paths."

  "What other way? What way is it? If you can tell me, I'll let you go."

  I want to be self-employed.

  "Self-employed?" Chen Weiguo's face was full of disdain. "The country encourages young people who are waiting for employment to find their own way out, that's right. But you're not a young person waiting for employment, why do you want to mix with those young people? Don't you see, the ones on the street doing individual business, how many of them are decent people? Either they're idle and lazy all day, or they've just been released from prison."

  Xiong Lijun said stubbornly: "Director Chen, I really have thought it through. A person only has one lifetime, and I want to do something that I want to do."

  Chen Weiguo sighed and said, "Little bear, I'm as old as your father. I don't want to see you go astray. Now that you're a porter, the prospects aren't great, but you're still young and can learn skills. Look at Xiao Lin, he's so young and already replaced by a technical worker, becoming the deputy head of the technical department. You get along with him pretty well, find some time to ask him to teach you some skills, strive to become a technical worker as soon as possible, then your income will be higher and you'll have status."

  Xiong Lijun said: "Director Chen, thank you for your encouragement, but I've already made up my mind. I think I'm not the material for learning technology, it's better to go out and make a name for myself in society, maybe I can create a different life. Staying at Hanhua Factory, even if I become a technician, what's the point? Guo Haipeng, his salary is higher than mine, his skills are better than mine, but last month's physical examination showed that he got hepatitis, and his second half of life is ruined. Why? It's because he wanted to save money for marriage, so he only drank one bowl of soup with his meals every day. I don't want to live such a life. Director Chen, please fulfill the wish of this disobedient young man."

  When Chen Weiguo heard this, he fell silent. He also knew the current living conditions of young people, and as a factory director, he had no ability to change this situation. The country was in a period of adjustment, state-owned enterprises bore most of the reform costs, and were generally in a state of policy losses. Although state-owned enterprise employees could still receive their salaries on time every month, other sources of income were scarce. However, the current social atmosphere was gradually becoming more extravagant, and being unable to get married was a very common phenomenon among young people. In the face of this situation, what reason did he have to persuade Xiong Lijun to stay?

  "Have you really thought it through?"

  "I've thought it over."

  "Do your parents know?"

  "I will make it clear to them."

  "Alright." Chen Weiguo took over Xiong Lijun's resignation report, carefully read it again, and then picked up a pen to sign his name on it.

  "Little bear, take this and go to the personnel department to handle the formalities," said Chen Weiguo. "Also, as an individual business owner, the risks are great. If something happens and you think the factory can help, just let them know. Although you're no longer a member of the factory, Hanhua Factory is still your home."

  "Thank you, Director Chen." Xiong Lijun took the resignation report, stepped back, and bowed respectfully to Chen Weiguo. This was the first time he felt that this director was so respectable. In the past, under the shelter of the factory, he had never thought that the factory was important. Now, just about to leave, he suddenly felt a little lonely.

  Once you take this step, there's no turning back. Do you want to take it?

  Xiong Liming hesitated for only a second before resolutely stepping out. In order not to become like Guo Haipeng, that "Soup Commander", and in order not to ask others for cigarettes with a thick face again, Xiong Liming finally took this step.