◎ Cheer Up! ◎

After returning from Erlian Haote, Gu Qiao settled all the outstanding payments and kept only 10,000 yuan for herself, giving the rest to Peng Zhou.

“The dividend I owe you still falls a little short — I had to keep 10,000 yuan in reserve for emergencies. Once that 600,000 yuan is ruled in my favor, I’ll pay you the rest.”

“Wait until that 600,000 can be withdrawn, then give it to me! We’re partners in this business — why should all the risk fall on you? I’m not going to let you do that to yourself. If you give me all the money, what are you going to do business with? Let’s make a few more trips to Erlian Haote — the money will come back.”

“I won’t be going back to Erlian Haote. The leather jacket business — I’m not planning to continue it for now.”

“Not continuing? Then what are you going to do?” He did not think Gu Qiao should be drawing any lessons from this loss. It was pure bad luck. Gu Qiao had done nothing wrong — she had even received a genuine check. Unlucky things were unavoidable. How could anyone go through life without encountering a few? You just keep moving forward.

“I need to prepare properly for the lawsuit and get the bank to pay out the money. Old Zhai and his group are targeting me — if I keep pushing through right now, who knows what kind of obstacles they’ll throw in my path next. Keep your distance from me for a while too.” As she said it, Gu Qiao smiled. “If you want to keep going, use your own name and continue. I signed a one-year contract with the model — I’ll lend you the advertisement for free. As for suppliers, you’ve worked alongside me long enough to have a good idea of where things stand.”

There was one more thing she could not quite bring herself to say out loud: Gu Qiao had become unable to tolerate the smell of leather jackets made from pigskin. One or two pieces was still fine, but too many gathered together and she was almost retching. Her nose had never been particularly good at enduring the collective smell of large quantities of pigskin and tanning oil. Before, when orders had been finding their way to her door one after another, she had not only accepted having the smell clinging to her clothes and hair with no way to avoid it — she had even felt she had come to love the smell of pigskin jackets, finding it just as agreeable as the fresh open air outside. But now, for reasons she could not explain, the smell had become unbearable.

“Leave the case to your lawyer — us being laypeople, all the preparation in the world won’t help. You can study commercial law and check provisions all you want, but you’re not the one arguing in court.”

“But I need to understand it.” How else was she supposed to choose a suitable lawyer? “I’m not going to fall into the same trap twice.”

Gu Qiao had originally planned to keep the business going — nearly all her experience of earning money revolved around leather jackets. But her sense of smell was nowhere near as strong as the will she believed herself to have. As for Lou Deyu — he had only been doing the leather jacket business to help her; what he actually wanted was to run his canned goods factory. Now that the risks of the leather jacket business were greater than before, Gu Qiao did not want Lou Deyu tangled up in it any further. The dividend she had already given him was more than enough to buy new equipment for his canned goods production. Lou Deyu wanted to stay and keep her company — he was worried about Gu Qiao living alone in the small flat. Gu Qiao insisted that Lou Deyu go home. In the end, she said she would move in with the Chen family and stay with Chen Qing, which finally put Lou Deyu’s mind at ease for the time being. With an old friend keeping watch over her, it was much safer than living alone.

After graduating, Chen Hui had not gone to study abroad in America. He had only been able to secure a half scholarship, and tuition plus living expenses would have been far too heavy a burden for his family. He had chosen to take a job at a foreign company instead. According to Chen Qing, his salary was quite good — 400 US dollars a month plus 1,000 yuan RMB, with taxi fares reimbursed. This income left her father Old Chen simultaneously pleased and pained: his son was earning in a month what he himself earned in a year, and here he was — a lifetime of diligent service, and his wages still could not match a young man just entering the working world.

With a salary like that, Chen Hui naturally had no interest in living in a courtyard residence where even the toilet was outside. The moment he received his first paycheck, he moved out. Chen Qing proactively invited Gu Qiao to come stay with them: “I know you’d probably rather not sleep in my brother’s room, so I’ll move into his room and you can have mine. I know you’ve gotten used to living in hotel suites — maybe you’ll turn out like my brother now, too good for our courtyard.”

“I wouldn’t think that.”

“Good to know. I know you’re not that kind of person.” Chen Qing, though she was always poking fun at her brother behind his back, still defended her own family when it came down to it. She walked back her words a little: “My brother’s actually not bad as a person — he’s never stopped buying things for the family with his paycheck; the color television was bought by him. His conflict with our family isn’t entirely his fault either. If things at home had been a bit better financially, he might have been able to study abroad. Do you remember that Zhou Zhining I mentioned before? She went to study abroad in America — went to somewhere in Southern California, probably the place those California beef noodles come from. She’s so far away — my brother doesn’t stand a chance anymore, does he? Working at a foreign company sounds so impressive from the outside, and the salary’s so high, but deep down he’s not so happy about it either.”

Chen Qing noticed something off in Gu Qiao’s expression. Remembering that Gu Qiao and her older cousin were also across national borders from each other, she quickly backtracked: “It’s not the same situation as yours — my brother and Zhou Zhining spent so much time together in China and nothing ever came of it. Even if my brother could have gone abroad, the two of them definitely would never have worked out. Oh right — does your older cousin know about what’s been happening with you lately?”

“We broke up.”

“…”

“He is a very good person.” But in what ways he was good, Gu Qiao did not say. She had simply sensed Chen Qing’s unspoken disapproval, and had reflexively moved to defend him.

Chen Qing stuck out her tongue and thought to herself: If he broke up with you when all this was happening to you, how good a person can he really be? Little Gu might be able to make money, but when it comes to reading men, her eyes still aren’t sharp enough.

Chen Qing comforted Gu Qiao: “Don’t be sad — you dated him when he was at his best. Give it two more years, and he’ll probably have gone to seed. No great loss giving him to someone else.” Chen Qing remembered that Gu Qiao’s older cousin without a blood relation had been quite handsome.

Chen Qing found that somehow, this comfort did not seem to have any comforting effect whatsoever.

Chen Da-ma had already been rendered speechless by her son’s monthly salary. Now, hearing from Chen Qing that Gu Qiao’s 600,000-yuan bank check had been frozen, it sounded like something straight out of a fairy tale — if you could have 600,000 frozen, you must have had 600,000 to begin with. How much ability must a young girl have to earn 600,000 yuan? And how unlucky to have that 600,000 frozen?

Thinking about 600,000 yuan being gone — though it had absolutely nothing to do with herself — Chen Da-ma could not help but feel the pain of it. She grieved for the money, and even more for Gu Qiao, who had lost it. Hearing that her daughter wanted to invite Gu Qiao to come stay with them, Chen Da-ma immediately said to have Qiao-er come over quickly. “I’ll make her something good to eat every day. Tell her your brother has moved out, your da’ye has taken the car to accompany a leader out of town, so it’ll just be the three of us women — she should come over, it’ll feel just like her own home.”

Chen Da-ma found that there was no grief of great disaster on Gu Qiao’s face. On the contrary, she came in smiling and calling her Chen Da-ma, which made Chen Da-ma wonder whether Chen Qing had been exaggerating about the check. But Chen Da-ma confirmed that Gu Qiao had indeed come into money at some point — or had been wealthy before — because Gu Qiao was already using a mobile phone.

Chen Qing felt that Gu Qiao had changed. Before, she had been like a woman possessed, single-mindedly making money without a care for anything else. Now she was like a woman possessed, single-mindedly reading without a care for anything else. Back when Gu Qiao had taken her to dinner at that expensive Western restaurant, she had not had a moment’s peace to eat — either on the phone or returning calls, and after hanging up she would turn to Chen Qing and apologize. Chen Qing had not felt that Gu Qiao owed her an apology at all — apart from older men who had ulterior motives and weren’t even good-looking, no one had ever taken her somewhere this expensive, and Gu Qiao was far more pleasant to look at than any such older man, and wanted nothing from her. She had only felt that the one Gu Qiao owed anything to was her own stomach. Working so hard to earn all that money and still feeding herself nothing but takeout box meals every day — then getting swindled out of a huge sum on top of it.

Chen Qing felt it was unjust on Gu Qiao’s behalf, and had half expected her to fall apart completely after all of this. But even while staying at her family’s home, spending all day holed up in the small room going through legal provisions and case examples without stepping outside, Gu Qiao dressed as though she were about to go out and meet a client — not the slightest bit more casual than Chen Qing, who had to actually go to work every day.

Gu Qiao began confining herself to the small room, studying everything related to the check and the case — reading legal provisions, reading precedents. When she tired of that, she read the books and picture books that Luo Peiyin had bought and sent to her. Through those books she came to know pop art, graffiti, and minimalism, and met Duchamp, Warhol, and Basquiat. In fashion magazines over a year old, she discovered clothes worth several thousand US dollars. All of this had been sent to her when he thought she was interested in fashion. She had been too busy selling clothes at the time to page through them carefully. The last batch he sent her had all been computer-related. Through those books she learned how computers had gradually shrunk from enormous machines down to their current size, learned about email — if one could send email, you could save considerably on international phone calls — and learned about various computer viruses.

Falling in love with someone does not require knowing them particularly well — one quality, sufficiently compelling, is enough. But two people who love each other likely always hope to be understood by the other. When they were together, she had always thought there was time to come to know him better — there was still so much time ahead…

Later, Gu Qiao found even these books were not enough. Aside from studying law provisions and going to the law firm, she spent every waking hour at the library. She held an intense curiosity about everything in the world, and books were the lowest-cost way to access it all — especially at the library, where even the cost of buying books was saved. Going to America required money for plane tickets, food, and lodging, but learning about Death Valley at the library was completely free…

Though Gu Qiao had not formally enrolled in school, her life came to resemble that of a female student — a more austere version of a female student’s life — consisting of reading and newspapers, eating, and sleeping.

Even her way of dressing had shifted to that of a female student. Her jewelry disappeared from her entirely — there was simply no need to jingle with accessories when going to the library. She swallowed plain instant noodles stripped of their packaging, yet savored every word on the pages of books and newspapers with slow deliberation. New pathways to income began to spread across the pages before her, and Gu Qiao started reading every newspaper covering the domestic computer industry — from the very first issue of each publication all the way through to the most recent. She suppressed her impulse to speak, writing all her questions and thoughts down on paper instead.

Only once did the words inside her chase each other urgently all the way to the edge of the long-distance telephone counter.

Having left the international hotel, she now had to go to the telephone exchange office to make an international call — first fill out a request form with the recipient’s country, city, and phone number, then stand in line waiting for the operator to dial on her behalf before she could hear the other person’s voice. She had already stopped at filling in the country column, and the uniformed woman at the counter asked Gu Qiao whether she was still placing the call.

Gu Qiao’s pen came to a halt over the character for “America,” pressing down hard enough to leave a large blot on the form, piercing clean through the paper. She suddenly stopped.

The uniformed woman at the counter asked: “Are you still making the call?”

“No.”

“Think it through next time — now you’ve wasted a whole form.”

Gu Qiao had barely stood up before someone slipped into her seat.

—

Gu Qiao wandered through Zhongguancun again and again, taking in not just the computers but even the best-selling floppy disks on the market — one thin disk going for over a hundred yuan, more than what she made off a single pigskin jacket. In the past she would have thought: what gives? An antivirus card selling for nearly 300 yuan — it was just a circuit board with a few added components, what justified that price? Now she thought: such a profitable business — could she be the one to do it?

The court date had been delayed; aside from studying the lawsuit with her lawyer, Gu Qiao enrolled in a computer training course. Her fellow students included many employees from state-owned and foreign enterprises who had come to learn because their workplaces had upgraded to computer-based office systems.

Xiao Jia had not expected to see Gu Qiao in the computer training class. After graduating, he had been assigned to a research institute, and was only at the training class on his day off to help out a friend. Gu Qiao had cut her hair short — the last time he had seen her she still had long hair, with vivid colors that practically leapt into your eyes, though both then and now she radiated the same vitality. They had not seen each other in a long time; they had kept in contact mainly by phone. He had always assumed Gu Qiao was selling leather jackets, too busy to do anything else.

What Xiao Jia now knew of Gu Qiao was that she had made money from leather jackets, gotten together with Luo Peiyin, and then broken up with Luo Peiyin. The breakup was something Gu Qiao had not originally intended to mention, but before her trip to America, she had asked Xiao Jia to let her bring back some software for him. At the time she had thought it would be a simple errand, and had even told him to add more to the list — one item was the same as ten items. When America fell through, she could only tell Xiao Jia the truth. She told the truth about not being able to go and about the breakup with Luo Peiyin. As for the business situation, she said not a word. She was afraid Xiao Jia might tell Luo Peiyin what she was really dealing with. Xiao Jia had grown into a true adult, and did not ask the reason for the breakup.

Running into each other at the training class, Gu Qiao took the initiative and invited Xiao Jia to dinner. She had expected that with his character, her old friend would not be able to stop himself from bringing up his “older brother Luo.” She both wanted to hear something and was afraid to hear anything. Much of what she knew about Luo Peiyin had come through Xiao Jia’s mouth, not from Luo Peiyin himself. But Xiao Jia was more tight-lipped than she had anticipated — throughout the entire meal, not a single word about Luo Peiyin.

Gu Qiao did not tell Xiao Jia about the check. She only said she had become very interested in computers lately.

Xiao Jia’s understanding of “interested” was entirely different from Gu Qiao’s. He assumed that saying you were interested meant you had at minimum already bought a computer: “You don’t have a computer yet?”

“I don’t know enough about computers to know how to pick the right one.”

“I happen to have nothing on today — let me come with you to buy one.”

Gu Qiao immediately saw that her old friend had not changed all that much after all. She and Xiao Jia arranged to meet the next afternoon to go buy a computer.

“I’m a beginner — I don’t need anything too good. A second-hand one will do.”

“Beginners especially should not buy second-hand — if something goes wrong, you won’t know who to go to for repairs. After two repairs, you’ll have spent all the money anyway.”

Gu Qiao decided to be direct: “My budget is only 4,000 yuan.”

Xiao Jia could not tell from Gu Qiao’s appearance that she was having financial difficulties — her smile and her clothes gave nothing away.

He tried to talk her into raising her budget: “Little Gu, with that budget you can only buy junk.”

“That’s my only budget.”

Xiao Jia said, exasperated: “Then let me assemble one for you. But with your budget, the components won’t be anything special either.”

Gu Qiao hurried to thank him, stopping herself from saying what she had wanted to say — that once she won the lawsuit she would make it up to him properly — she swallowed those words back down.

Xiao Jia assembled a complete machine for Gu Qiao and threw in some floppy disks he did not need along with an antivirus card he had made himself.

“You can make your own antivirus cards?”

“Plenty of people can.” Xiao Jia thought Gu Qiao was being a bit dramatic about it. Aside from himself, for one — making an antivirus card that could work on your own computer was something Luo Peiyin could do whenever he felt like it. His own first exposure to antivirus software had been because of Luo Peiyin. Although antivirus cards were hardware, that would hold no difficulty for him either. Soldering a circuit board was something even a middle school student could manage; for someone who studied physics, it was almost trivially easy. But he said nothing of this — he did not think Gu Qiao wanted to hear it.

“Shops sell antivirus cards for nearly 300 yuan. Have you not thought about mass-producing them?”

“Personal use and mass production are two entirely different things. This antivirus card works on your computer, but it might malfunction on another machine. If you end up damaging someone else’s computer, that’s nothing but trouble. Selling antivirus cards is not just about selling them and being done — you also have to be responsible for installation and maintenance. And if new viruses emerge, you’ll need to update the card.”

That year, two well-known brands had already claimed much of the antivirus card market. Xiao Jia had acquaintances who wanted to ride the antivirus card wave and make some quick money, but after all their effort producing the goods, they could only sell a few dozen sets in the shops. And the cut they received from the retailer was nowhere close to the 300-yuan shelf price — if the retailer gave you 100 yuan per unit, that was considered decent. Compared to the cost of production, that was hardly a windfall. No matter how cheaply you sold to a shop, the retailer would always sell them for nearly 300. With the same price tag, why would anyone choose a brand with no name recognition?

Making something and being able to sell it were two very different things.

“There are only so many viruses out there right now, so hardware still has a market. But in the future, antivirus cards will probably be made obsolete by software.”

Xiao Jia had not mentioned Luo Peiyin. He was past the age of casually bringing up “Little Brother Luo” at every opportunity. But he believed Luo Peiyin was right — once viruses multiplied, this hardware-based antivirus approach would be completely unable to keep pace with the rate at which new viruses emerged. Developing antivirus software had far more of a future than hardware.

“Software will be pirated in no time,” said Gu Qiao, who understood the mentality of ordinary buyers very well. “Software at 300 yuan — even people who can afford computers will find it too expensive. Hardware is different.”

She continued: “If it’s going to be made obsolete in the future, that’s all the more reason to move fast.” Gu Qiao looked at Xiao Jia and said: “Don’t you genuinely want to see something you’ve researched and developed being used by tens of thousands of people?”

That question did stir something in Xiao Jia, but he immediately said: “I don’t want to go into commerce. I wouldn’t be any good at it.”

“You don’t have to do it — I will. You just provide the technology. Everything else — money, procurement, sales — I’ll figure it out. It absolutely will not interfere with your work at the research institute.” Gu Qiao did not press Xiao Jia for an answer. “Don’t rush to decide — think it over a bit more. Once you’ve made up your mind, we can make a few sample cards first. If they work on other machines too, then we can think about the next step.”

—

Gu Qiao moved the computer into the Chen family’s home. Chen Qing immediately asked whether she could play games on it. Gu Qiao bought her two game floppy disks the very next day.

Chen Qing could not help asking: “The trial is coming up soon — how are you not even the least bit nervous? Never mind you — I’m nervous on your behalf.”

Gu Qiao pulled up the game: “Play a couple of rounds. You’ll stop being nervous.”

“I have to hand it to you. In all my life, I’ve admired exactly one person — and that’s you.”

Gu Qiao was so nervous she could barely sleep, even though the lawyer had said there should basically be no problem. Sometimes she would doze off and dream that the 600,000 yuan could not be unfrozen, and she would cry out in her sleep, jolting awake and quickly clamping a hand over her own mouth so as not to wake anyone. She had bought quite a few games — but had not played a single one of them herself.

During her time living with the Chen family, Gu Qiao had only seen Chen Hui once.

Chen Hui was in a suit and overcoat, looking very different from the last time she had seen him. He had apparently heard about the check from Chen Qing, and asked Gu Qiao: “Do you need help?” He did not ask the question lightly — if she said yes, he would feel truly obligated to help. He felt a certain kinship with Gu Qiao. Zhou Zhining had once, in front of him, been unable to hold back from saying that she could not understand what her “Little Brother Luo” saw in Gu Qiao. He had not agreed with her — in fact, he had ended the conversation early. In some respects, he felt he and Gu Qiao were more the same kind of person.

Gu Qiao smiled and said “Thank you” — with no intention of actually asking for his help.

The court date had originally been set for autumn, but was pushed back to early winter. Lou Deyu made a special trip in, even though Gu Qiao had said it was not necessary.

In the courtroom, Gu Qiao did not allow herself to lose concentration for even a moment — even though the lawyer she had hired more than matched her expectations.

The case was adjourned for verdict to be delivered on a later date. Gu Qiao and Lou Deyu had barely stepped out of the courthouse when they were surrounded by the people who had been making their lives difficult. Old Zhai was among them.

Lou Deyu had already braced himself for a fight.

Gu Qiao had had enough of this endless harassment: “If I have ever cheated anyone out of a single cent, may I die without a good death — may I never earn another cent in my life, and even if I do, may it all slip through my fingers. Who dares to swear the same — that if you are wronging me, you will die without a good death?” Gu Qiao turned her gaze to Boss Zhai. “Boss Zhai, do you dare to say it? If you are wronging me, every cent you ever earn in this life will go straight back out.”

No one would believe someone on the basis of a crude oath alone, but Gu Qiao’s voice carried such force that it briefly turned the clamor of others into silence.

Lou Deyu’s face flushed scarlet: “Are you people even human? Tormenting a girl in her twenties day after day! Let me tell you why Gu Qiao received a genuine check! Because she would rather offend people — rather lose business — than skip going to the bank to verify the check was real. She did not do this because she was clever. She did it because she was terrified of being cheated! Four years ago, I was swindled. It left the whole family buried in debt, and because I was a coward — weak and irresponsible — I hid outside and did not dare go home, leaving my wife and child to suffer for me! You say that a girl as young as Gu Qiao who could earn this much money must have done something underhanded — I’ll tell you straight: she earned this money young because her father — me — was worthless, the family was in debt, she had no choice but to drop out of school and go earn it herself.”

“Dad!” Even if he was cursing himself, why do it in front of all these outsiders?

Lou Deyu’s desire to speak was stronger than it had ever been that day, and no one could stop him from going on — he was nearly shouting himself hoarse: “Everything she has built to this point, she built through hard work, intelligence, and sheer endurance. Before you people started coming around every day to cause trouble, was her business doing worse than any of yours? You came to find fault with her not because you truly believed she was a swindler — but because you were jealous of a young girl earning more than you and being smarter than you. But I am telling you: she is not only smarter than you — she has endured hardships that you would not dare face! A girl, riding in the back of cargo trucks all the way to Erlian Haote, not daring to close her eyes to sleep even once. Every time I see her like that, I want to slap myself across the face. If I had not been swindled back then, would my daughter have to endure this kind of hardship now? I have been swindled myself — I know exactly how you are feeling right now. Sometimes you see a car coming and you want to throw yourself in front of it — you hate yourself for being so stupid, you want to skin the swindler alive!”

Lou Deyu spoke as though he could actually see the swindler who had cheated him: “But you have to find the right person to blame! For the sake of feeling a little better, tormenting an innocent girl day after day — how can your consciences be at peace with that? I am not fit to call myself her father, but now, anyone who dares make trouble for my daughter — I will fight them with everything I have. You all have children too — think about how you would feel if your own children were being wronged like this. Would you let it go quietly? Anyone who dares lay a finger on my daughter — I will give my life to stop them!”

Lou Deyu unleashed in one torrent everything he had been holding in for years. He had always believed that every misfortune Gu Qiao had faced after the age of eighteen was because of him, and he felt it was his duty to stand in front of her now.

Peng Zhou heard the full story of how Gu Qiao had gotten into business for the first time. Gu Qiao was normally such a lively, laughing person — you really could not tell.

Gu Qiao looked at Lou Deyu. She had thought the matter of the old debt had gradually faded from his memory along with the family’s improving circumstances.

The fury inside her had been burned clean by Lou Deyu’s outpouring. One of them had to stay calm. She raised the newspaper in her hand: “I have placed a notice in the newspaper, asking for information on the person who swindled everyone. It may not amount to much, but it is better than taking it out on innocent people. If I had wanted to swindle anyone, I could have done it the very first time I went to Erlian Haote. At the time I had nothing to my name — nothing but a broken-down yellow Dafa left here. If I had wanted to swindle people, I could have run off with the goods payment then and there. I am not saying this to claim I am some wonderful person. I am saying it to show you all that I had no reason to swindle anyone.”

Gu Qiao kept her smile: “I know people say — if you are not a swindler, and you have been put through so much, how can you still smile? The harder the moment, the more you have to smile. I too have lived through days just like yours. But I got through them. I believe all of you are good people who would never wrong an innocent person. Difficulties are temporary. The future will still be good.”

As Gu Qiao said these words aloud, her hands were still trembling. She had already prepared herself for a fight. She did not believe people who had been harassing them for this long would stop simply because of a few words.

Because the crowd had been gathered for too long, a police officer came to maintain order. Boss Zhai walked over to Gu Qiao, his face twitching as though he wanted to say something, but nothing came out. Without saying a word, he turned his back to her — his back looking slightly hunched — and said to the people who had come with him: “All right, enough. Let’s go. Picking on a young girl — that’s nothing to be proud of.”

—

Before the verdict was officially handed down, Gu Qiao made a trip to Shenzhen. She had already covered every inch of Zhongguancun; now she needed to see Huaqiangbei for herself. The Beijing-Kowloon Railway was not yet open, so getting to Shenzhen meant taking a train to Guangzhou first.

Gu Qiao clutched her border zone permit and took a bus from Guangzhou all the way to Shenzhen. Shenzhen was far warmer than the north, and the moment she stepped off the bus she was sweating from the inside out.

Xiao Jia called Gu Qiao just as she had cleared the border checkpoint and been permitted to enter Shenzhen. Her mobile phone was bundled up in layer after layer of wrapping, muffling the sound completely. She saw the message on her pager and found a public telephone booth to call Xiao Jia back. Mobile phone calls were too expensive, and roaming charges even more so.

Xiao Jia, persuaded by Gu Qiao’s persistent efforts one after another, had finally been convinced: “I can try making some sample cards first.”

Gu Qiao immediately took their partnership as a given, skipping past that and going straight to the next question: “What parts do you need?”

Gu Qiao walked through Seg Market with a small notebook, looking at components and the cost of outsourced manufacturing, the prices from Zhongguancun noted down in the book. She walked and silently compared prices in her head.

As she had promised, Gu Qiao handled procurement, designed the packaging, and found a contract manufacturer — though given her limited funds, they produced only a small batch of sample cards.

—

The verdict came down before the Spring Festival. Gu Qiao withdrew her 600,000 yuan from the bank, along with the interest accumulated during the delay.

Gu Qiao did not go home for the 1993 Spring Festival. Instead, she fulfilled a long-held wish and brought the whole family to the city. She had specifically booked rooms at a hotel. Of course the family protested that she should not be spending the money.

“Once I buy a house next year, we won’t have to spend this!”

The whole family went to visit the Palace Museum together. Gu Qiao thought of the time she and Luo Peiyin had come to watch the morning glow. After the morning glow faded, the two of them had walked out and wandered along, as though without any particular destination.

At every tourist spot there were people who made their living taking photos for visitors, and one middle-aged man had darted toward them offering to take a picture together.

Though she had found the price a bit outrageous, she had immediately said yes. She told the man he had better take a good shot — though in the end, the one picture she had of the two of them together was not taken well at all. Luo Peiyin had lived in this city for over twenty years, yet he had willingly posed with her for a tourist photo.

Gu Qiao raised the camera and took photographs of her family. She peered through the viewfinder, smiling as she called out to them: “Everyone — cheer up!”

Her family all smiled, very happy.