Chapter 00008: The Path of Life (Part 1)
# The Path of Life (Part 1)
Chapter 8
Novel: 1979 Golden Age
Chapter 8: The Path of Life (Part 1)
In this vast world, nothing is bigger than a hat.
Chen Qi flung hats one after another, and with each throw, his opponent's health bar dropped rapidly, leaving them in a critical state in the blink of an eye...
He grabbed the collar of the man, his voice cold and menacing, "Which unit do you belong to? You insulted the working class today. If you don't explain yourself, don't even think about leaving!"
"Let go of me!"
"Let go of me!"
The leader of the group seemed to recall something, his face turning pale as he struggled to break free.
"I still prefer your arrogant and unruly demeanor. Why don't you bring that back?" Chen Qi chuckled.
"Brother, big brother, my ancestor! I was wrong, I was wrong! I shouldn't have messed with you. My mouth is foul, I'll slap myself, just let me go..."
To say these guys were evil would be an exaggeration.
They were just frivolous and lacked manners.
Seeing the situation spiraling out of control, they panicked, scared, and just wanted to escape as quickly as possible.
"What are you all gathered here for?"
"Make way!"
At that moment, a police officer in a white uniform pushed through the crowd.
Seeing the scene, his heart tightened—another fight?
It wasn't surprising they thought that way.
With 400,000 unemployed youths in the city, how many incidents happened every day? The higher-ups had repeatedly warned them to handle such matters with caution.
"Officer, here's what happened..."
Chen Qi, on the other hand, let go and stepped forward to explain.
The officer listened expressionlessly and then said, "No matter what your conflict is, talk it out properly. No pushing or shoving. This is the front gate, there are many foreign guests here. Be mindful of the impact."
"We definitely won't cause you any trouble, but he insulted us. We want the neighborhood committee and their unit to handle this. We won't settle it privately, and we certainly won't fight."
"..."
The officer looked at him for a moment, then glanced at the twelve educated youths behind him.
That wasn't just twelve people—it was an enormous group! The officer turned to the guy and asked, "Which unit do you belong to?"
"Speak up! Which unit are you from?"
The man mumbled something incoherent.
"Where?"
"Plastic Factory Number Two!"
"Alright, I got it. Thank you, officer!"
Chen Qi stepped back.
Then he spat, "What are you showing off for, you plastic factory worker? You're not even from the steel mill. With millions of readers across the heavens, and that flirt Qin Huairu..."
As the group fled like their lives depended on it, and the officer left, Chen Qi was immediately treated like a hero.
His friends, who had gone through anger, confusion, surprise, and excitement in such a short time, felt like life was a rollercoaster—it was just too thrilling!
"Chen Qi, you're amazing!"
"Wow, how are you so good with words? I didn't even know what to say."
"I'm impressed, you're truly a hidden master!"
Even the girl who had handed him the pickled vegetables earlier changed her attitude, excitedly saying, "From now on, you don't have to work. We'll handle it. You can just sit there all day if you want, no problem."
"Why would I sit all day? Do I have hemorrhoids or something?"
Chen Qi waved his hand and walked over to the cash box.
"Keep selling. It's been half a day already. Let me calculate how much we've earned."
No one complained about him not working this time.
They all continued selling big bowls of tea, clear-eyed yet foolish, as if the incident was over and no one would ever discriminate against them again.
"A bunch of rookies!"
He shook his head, holding the cash box as he started counting.
It was a hassle—mostly one and two-cent coins.
He couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness: "I'm supposed to be the boss, and here I am counting pennies?"
After a while, he finished counting: half a day's revenue was 20 yuan, 6 mao, and 8 fen!
That meant they had sold over a thousand bowls of tea.
Wow, it really was the early days of reform and opening up.
Back then, you could become a millionaire by selling even the most trivial things.
He only told Huang Zhanying about the earnings, not wanting the others to get too excited and spill the beans.
Then, on his first day of work, he asked for half a day off: "I suddenly don't feel well. I need to take half a day off. Sorry, everyone!"
"Go ahead, take a good rest!"
"It's fine, we've got this!"
"Hey, you're the brains here. Leave this to us!"
Their attitudes had done a complete 180, and they didn't mind at all.
"Alright, I'm off then!"
Chen Qi left without hesitation, but after walking a distance, he turned back and couldn't help but smile.
"Such a bunch of naive rookies!"
...
Around 1 PM.
Chen Qi returned home.
His parents were at work as usual.
He first checked his script.
Most of it was already written, with just the final touches left.
The entire piece was about 50,000 words.
Selling tea had taken up half his day, and he didn't want to waste any more time.
He immediately got back to work.
The pen scratched against the paper as a simple love story emerged.
Simple, yes, but don't forget—this was an era where talking about love was considered shameful.
This script would shock a lot of people.
When he finally looked up, satisfied, he let out a breath and quickly reviewed the script.
He then placed the manuscript into a kraft paper envelope and wrote on it:
"To the 'Film Creation' Magazine of the Beijing Film Studio!"
Due to constant interruptions, it had taken him ten days to finish the script.
Chen Qi felt a small thrill—he was finally going to stay at the Beijing Film Studio's guesthouse.
It wasn't bad, even though they were in the same city.
Staying for free was a tradition.
"Chen, is Chen Qi home?"
"Is Chen Qi home?"
In the dry spring wind, the voice of Aunt Wang, panting heavily, suddenly rang out.
The old lady had run all the way, her high blood pressure almost bursting.
She had clearly received some news.
As soon as she entered, she saw her grandson flipping over a kraft paper envelope and immediately cried out, "What are you holding? What is that?"
"This?"
"My little ancestor!"
Aunt Wang nearly fainted and quickly said, "You're really writing it? Don't you dare mess this up!"
"What's wrong with writing this? You should be familiar with it, right?"
"It's because I'm familiar with it that I'm scared! I'm too old to handle your antics. I rushed over as soon as I heard..."
Aunt Wang spoke earnestly, treating him more like her own grandson than anyone else.
"I heard what happened. Really, what's the big deal? They just made a few sarcastic remarks, and you wouldn't let it go. Is this something you can just write about?"
"I don't like hearing that. It wasn't just sarcastic remarks—they were pointing fingers at us 400,000 unemployed youths! Ask yourself, haven't we thirteen been obedient? No fights, no inappropriate relationships. You told us to sell big bowls of tea, and we agreed. We respect you as an elder, but why should others insult us? We were insulted—we're the victims. You're not siding with us, but with them? I'm wronged!"
Chen Qi rubbed his eyes, his nose tingling as if he were about to cry.
"I know it's hard for you..."
"You don't know!"
Chen Qi cut her off.
"Even if we let this go, as you suggest, can you guarantee it won't happen again? Do you really not understand the discrimination we face selling big bowls of tea? If this happens again, should we just keep enduring, over and over, until one day it all explodes?"
Explode?
The old lady shuddered.
"So what do you want to do? How do you plan to handle this?"
"First, those jerks must be punished! Second, they need to publicly apologize!"
"Publicly apologize?"
"In front of everyone at the tea stall, they must formally apologize to us!"
"You're slapping their unit in the face. They'll never agree to that."
"I don't care. If they don't agree, I'll post it everywhere!"
"Wait, wait, calm down. Let me talk to their unit first. Can you wait for my reply?"
"Fine, but only because it's you asking!"
Chen Qi reluctantly agreed, and Aunt Wang, her high blood pressure flaring, left.
Truth be told, he didn't want to write that script either—it was too easy to cause trouble.
But he wasn't sure if that lousy plastic factory could be intimidated, so he had to prepare for both outcomes.
Chen Qi wasn't like Huang Zhanying and the other rookies.
Today's incident was far from over.
As long as they kept selling big bowls of tea, discrimination would follow.
To truly change people's perceptions was too difficult.
So, he opted for a simpler method: make the tea stall famous!
Once it was famous, especially if some leaders came to inspect it, it would be like having an extra layer of protection.
"Words are like knives—they can kill, but they can also elevate!"
"And I want to make a name for myself. Fame should come early!"
Chen Qi sat down, grabbed another sheet of paper, and after a moment of thought, wrote a title: "The Path of Life—Why Does It Keep Getting Narrower?"
After writing, he looked up and continued.
Truly, inspiration flowed like a spring, ideas gushing forth like a bursting dam...
(End of Chapter)