Reborn to Strive

Shi Zhen tamped down his complicated mood, sizing Guan Baiyu up at close range. Fifteen year old Guan Baiyu was shorter than him by a head. His height was approximately 1.6 meters. He was extremely thin, and his hair was dry and yellow. Both were clear signs of malnutrition. 

    This child was still very small.

    After Shi Zhen’s rebirth, he desperately wanted to see Guan Baiyu. After seeing him, his heart had calmed down, and he began to consider how to get in contact with him.

    In his previous life, Guan Baiyu treated him extraordinarily well, helped him sort out his company, washed his clothes, cooked his meals, and took care of his daily life.

    Shi Zhen’s childhood home was impoverished and had many family members. He had never felt a sense of warmth in the home, but with Guan Baiyu, he at long last had felt it.

    Guan Baiyu was a tender and kindhearted person.

    This type of good person — Shi Zhen had already harmed someone else in his last life, always going to cause trouble for him. Furthermore, he liked the grown up version of Guan Baiyu, but at this present moment — the person before him was still a child.

    His own mental age was old, so how could he lay hands on someone so young?

    This lifetime, he hoped Guan Baiyu wouldn’t waste his time [on dating Shi Zhen], but would study hard, test into a good high school, then get married and have kids, and live happily ever after.

    Guan Baiyu stared at Shi Zhen suspiciously. Shi Zhen said, “Your mother was my mom’s younger sister. Before she died she told me about you, so I came to find you.”

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    In the previous life, while Guan Baiyu was alive, he never visited his biological grandfather’s family.  After Guan Baiyu died, Shi Zhen accidentally had contact with those people. Guan Baiyu’s grandfather was an ordinary official in Anshan Town for five or so years, but later rose up the ranks. By the time he retired, he’d become a deputy mayor for Changxi District and his daughter from his second wife had also shown promise of rising up the ranks.

    Shi Zhen was undertaking a large project, and had to wait in Changxi District. Inevitably, he would come into contact with the other party, and chatted with him several times. But the family never said a word about Guan Baiyu’s father, and Shi Zhen never looked into who Guan Baiyu’s mother was. Such being the case, he was able to make up a false identity to allow him to openly treat Guan Baiyu well.

    Guan Baiyu stared at Shi Zhen for a long while.

    Shi Zhen smiled, “Can I come in and sit a moment?”

    Guan Baiyu stepped aside, and Shi Zhen walked in.

    Guan Jianguo’s house had a cement floor, while Guan Baiyu’s was made of earth, which made the house somewhat damp. There was hardly anything inside, and the few things there were, were old. For example, the table was clearly from an earlier era, and the tabletop was full of pits. Sitting on the table was a small paper box that seemed to hold keepsakes.

    Guan Baiyu kept an ever vigilant eye on Shi Zhen, but Shi Zhen felt he wasn’t cautious enough — this kid actually let him into the house . . .

    An electrical cord hung down from the ceiling of Guan Baiyu’s house. At the end of the cord dangled a bare light bulb, emitting a dim and yellow glow.

    Standing beneath the bulb, Guan Baiyu’s face was enveloped in a halo of light. “You’re really my cousin?”

    Guan Baiyu stared down Shi Zhen, his eyes glowing in the dim room.

    Shi Zhen took out ¥30 and handed it to Guan Baiyu, “Although you’re my younger cousin, I don’t have money right now, and can’t help much. This money is for you to buy something delicious.”

    Guan Baiyu didn’t take the money. Shi Zhen put the cash on the table, sat down beside it, and began to chat with Guan Baiyu about Guan Baiyu’s mom.

    “My mom and your mom both married far from their hometown] My mom got married in the mountains, and your mom married your dad. The two sisters both lived bitter lives . . .” Shi Zhen mixed some truth into the lies. Naturally, it was his mother’s experience that was the truth. He spoke about his mother’s untimely death, saying that after Guan Baiyu’s father passed away, Guan Baiyu’s mother actually couldn’t afford to raise him, so she gave him to someone. Two years ago, she fell sick and died. He also said that Guan Baiyu’s mom always kept thinking of her son, but that the home she’d married into was too far away, so she couldn’t come and see him.

    Guan Baiyu stood perfectly still, looking at Shi Zhen with a bemused expression.

    Shi Zhen knew he needed time to digest the information, and got up to take his leave, “It’s getting late, and you should get some rest. I’ll come find you tomorrow evening.”

    Shi Zhen left the ¥30 behind and departed.

    Today, he and Shi Xinghuo had made ¥15 between the two of them. Even so, his entire assets were less than ¥20. He truly was . . . very poor.

    Shi Zhen had said to Guan Baiyu that it was getting late, but in actuality it was still quite early.

    Shi Xinghuo was not someone who ran all over the place. He had no problem staying alone in the house, so Shi Zhen took a small jog to cool himself down.

    After digging clay all day, he was completely exhausted and his entire body felt like it was falling apart, but he was brimming with enthusiasm.

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    The town was already empty of people, with just a few shops still open. Shi Zhen ran along the main street, and when he caught sight of a person, he thickened his face to go up and inquire if they knew of anyone in need of workers. It was awkward to go around asking strangers for leads, but he figured that right now he really didn’t have any other options.

    The majority of people, faced with his smiling countenance as he inquired, were willing to answer his questions. It was just a pity that for the most part, they didn’t know of anyone looking for workers. Of the few people who did know of places, the jobs were all unskilled labor.

    Recently, Anshan Town was conducting road repair, and needed laborers. In fact, a large number of farm laborers would later go into the towns for work, mostly ending up on construction sites.

    Unskilled labor jobs were temporary and strenuous; nobody could argue with the fact that the life of a factory worker was much more stable. Whenever there was a vacancy, the friends and relatives of the factory workers quickly vied for a chance to get the job.

    Shi Zhen carefully memorized the details of the information he’d been given.

    He didn’t really want to work on a construction site, but he did need to make money before he could expand his options, and he couldn’t be too picky about things at the moment.

    When Shi Zhen returned, he estimated it was past nine pm.

    In the village, many people had already gone to sleep, but a few people were still awake. On the road back, he could hear the noise from tvs as he passed by some of the houses.

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    The next day, bright and early, Shi Zhen and Shi Xinghuo ate breakfast at Guan Jianguo’s house. Shi Zhen handed over one yuan to Guan Jianguo’s mother.

    The elderly woman suddenly beamed, sliced a salted duck egg, and put one half each on top of the bowls of porridge she handed to Shi Zhen and Shi Xinghuo.

    The salted duck egg was homemade. At first, the taste would be bland, but the longer it soaked in the brine, the saltier it got . . . this egg was very salty, but it was suitable for those who did physical labor and sweated a lot.

    Shi Zhen finished eating, and went with Shi Xinghuo to find the person they dug clay for yesterday.

    Having learned that today’s clay digging was at the same location, Shi Zhen thought he didn’t need to accompany Shi Xinghuo, as his cousin could work alongside that person just fine.

    Shi Xinghuo wasn’t fluent in the local dialect, but after a whole day of digging yesterday, he was unlikely to make mistakes in the work today.

    That person with the tractor had originally only wanted one person to help him, and additionally, Shi Xinghuo was older than Shi Zhen, so he was even more anxious to work to the fullest extent of his ability. However, Shi Xinghuo was only one person, so the tractor driver would only have to pay ¥10 a day.

    Shi Zhen had no complaints. After Shi Xinghuo and the tractor driver left to dig clay, he headed to town once more.

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    Anshan Township had many rivers, and in the past few years, all kinds of domestic sewage had ended up in the river, as well as various pollutants discharged from the factories. Some river courses were no longer clear, and sludge had built up.

    The government had made plans to dig all the muck out of Anshan Township’s waterways, and once that was done, they would pave the banks, and plant trees.

    Recently, the township had recruited local laborers. Shi Zhen directly went to find them, asking if they needed more people.

    “We already have enough people,” a person who was in the middle of dredging up muck replied.

    Shi Zhen heard, but didn’t leave. He smiled and spoke with him, asking him how much he was paid for a day’s work.

    This was no secret, and the person didn’t hold out on him — dredging a river was extremely tiring, they still had half a month left of this job, so a day of work paid ¥15 and included meals.

    Compared to earning ¥200 a month for working at a factory, this was considered a high income, but in the end, it was only temporary. After half a month, they would be out of a job.

    Shi Zhen really wanted this job. After all, it included meals, and he didn’t have any other way of finding a job. Earning his first few yuan here on the way to his fortune was good.

    He asked the laborer who the person in charge was, then walked over to find him.

    The foreman was a middle aged man about 40 years in age, and was not idly standing around. He was helping to shovel the sludge removed from the river onto a tractor.

    Shi Zhen waited until he had a free moment, and walked over, “ Uncle, are you still recruiting people?”

    “Not recruiting.” That person replied.

    “Uncle, I’m fine with working for just ¥10 a day,” Shi Zhen didn’t waste time beating around the bush, “I’ll give you ¥5 of my daily wage.”

    This person was in charge of the laborers, and there was no requirement to pay him. He was temporarily taken aback, and let Shi Zhen remain. The foreman’s excuse to the rest of the workers was that time was tight, and they might not finish the job on schedule, so they needed to recruit another laborer. More than half of the workers agreed.

    Shi Zhen sighed. Though he had no alternative to working on a construction site at the moment, this kind of crooked and tricky place was really too much. The workers on the lowest rung were often oppressed and exploited.

    In the next decade or so, there would be even more laborers entering the cities for work. Because the laws were imperfect, many migrant workers would be at a disadvantage. However, in the future, things would slowly improve.

    Construction sites were undoubtedly the best kind of work when the government was paying the workers, as he was unlikely to be shorted his wages, and the daily starting and ending time were usually fixed.

    It was just that it was a bit strenuous. In a few years, when workers dug sludge, they would be dressed in waterproof chest waders with attached boots. But today, the conditions weren’t so great. Shi Zhen and the others were only given a pair of rubber boots.

    The water level of the river had already dropped quite a bit, and where the water was shallow, it wasn’t bad. Where it was deep, and one foot dropped through the debris, if one wasn’t careful, water would pour into one’s boots. But even if one’s feet were continually soaked with water, work still went on.

    At noon, Shi Zhen climbed up onto the bank, shed his boots full of water, and hastened to the side of the river on foot to the place where lunch was being served. The portion of rice was adequate, and even though there was only one side dish, at least the dish was you doufu shao rou [fried tofu and braised meat]. Though there weren’t many chunks of meat, there was plenty of oil.

    Shi Zhen was unable to call this kind of job satisfying.

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Xiaqui Junior High, first class of the third year

    Xiaqui Junior High provided meals, but students didn’t have to eat at school. 

    To eat at school, each student had to provide ten jin [5kg or around 11 pounds] of rice every month in addition to ¥15. 

    School meals were really mediocre. Every week, there was only one meat dish, and other than that it was all vegetables with just maybe a tiny bit of shredded meat.

    Guan Baiyu never handed in grains nor did he have any money. Every day for lunch, he brought an enamel cup filled with rice to school. 

    When the bell for noon break sounded, he took out his cup. That cup had seen many years of use, and had become so beaten up that no enamel remained on the outside, and the metal had turned dark. The meal inside was simple — cooked rice with steamed garlic greens — and had already turned cold.

    He ate it slowly, spoonful by spoonful.

    At that moment, Yan Jiangtao returned from buying lunch, and took his lunchbox out of his school bag. Yan Jiangtao ate the school meals, but his parents also gave him meat or scrambled eggs they’d prepared for him to take and eat with the freshly cooked rice at school. 

    Today, however, when he opened his schoolbag, he discovered a dead inchworm inside.

    Locals called this insect an ‘inch-foot’ worm, and the trees here were covered in them. Sometimes, during P.E., these worms would drop out of the trees on the perimeter of the schoolyard, and onto people’s heads. 

    None of the children were frightened by this insect. But, once the worms died, they were sticky, and made the students feel like vomiting. Yan Jiangtao immediately started cursing.

    Guan Baiyu had a premonition he would be implicated. So, holding his cup, he stood up and moved to the side, looking down to avoid making eye contact with Yan Jiangtao.