Chapter Eighty-Four: Running Away from Home

The Spring Festival Gala was far more entertaining than it would be more than a decade later, and even after watching it again, Jiang Xiwen still found it delightfully engaging. On the wooden coffee table sat two fruit boxes and a plate of snacks, along with melon seeds, peanuts, and candy, an abundance of treats. The whole family ate and watched together, warm and happy.

At midnight, just as Ni Ping had finished speaking of the bell that welcomed the new year, the family telephone burst into life at the very same moment as the one hundred thousand-firecracker salute Jiang Xiwen had set off to greet the year.

The call came from an uncle in his hometown. His family lived in the countryside, and in those days there was still no telephone back home. Every New Year’s Eve, when the bells rang, he would hurry to the village shop and use the only public phone there to offer New Year greetings to his sister Wang Yanan’s family.

While the firecrackers crackled outside, Jiang Xiwen ran back into the living room and spoke auspicious words with his uncle. Childhood memories were always so precious. Just after he finished speaking with his uncle, the phone rang again—his mother’s colleagues and friends, his father’s colleagues and friends, one after another.

Answering calls, making calls in return, Jiang Hong and Wang Yanan were busy to the point of exhilaration.

To Jiang Xiwen, it felt especially intimate. In later years, people would only send copied New Year greetings through their mobile phones, and somehow that felt cold.

After the new year festivities and the exchange of blessings, the family chatted for a while and was just about to rest when the phone rang again. His father smiled and said, “So many calls this year. It must be a good omen.” With that, he picked up the receiver.

“Happy New Year. This is Jiang Hong. Who’s speaking?”

“Oh? Secretary Zhou, hello, hello. Happy New Year, and my best wishes to you. Not at all, not at all. I’m truly flattered that you’d call me personally...”

From his father’s responses, Jiang Xiwen knew who it was: Zhou Xianrong, the municipal party secretary of Yangjiang City. Judging from his father’s tone, it didn’t seem to be bad news. Could it be that the little schemes Jiang Xiwen had helped devise for his father were already showing results?

“Deputy Mayor Zhang, yes, I know him, I know him, though not very well...”

Jiang Xiwen smiled faintly. He had guessed right. It must have been Deputy Director Chen who spread the word about his sitting in Old Master Zhang’s car, prompting Zhou Xianrong to sound his father out.

Still, his father’s answer would not affect anything. In politics, the more one denied it, the more suspicious the other side would become. It was hardly possible to go around telling everyone, I’m very close with Deputy Mayor Zhang.

Besides, Zhang Yong was only the deputy mayor in charge of education. The person who could truly wield influence was his father, Zhang Song, who had once served as the first provincial party secretary. Only he could have prompted Zhou Xianrong to call personally and offer New Year’s greetings.

Jiang Xiwen’s thoughts and Zhou Xianrong’s on the other end of the line were nearly identical, but even so, he could not foresee everything. The intricacies of official circles were not something a reborn man like him could fully grasp.

Zhou Xianrong was soon to be transferred to the provincial level, and the current provincial party secretary had once been one of Zhang Song’s subordinates, a man Zhang Song had promoted personally. In those days, he had even been sent by Zhang Song to the poorest township to work on poverty relief, and only now had he finally reaped the rewards of those years. More than half a month ago, Zhou Xianrong had also heard of the connection between Jiang Hong and the Zhang family. He had not paid much attention to it, but when he recently paid visits to veteran cadres and went to call on Zhang Song, he happened to find the old man reading Yangjiang Communications. Although this magazine was edited by the municipal policy research office, the cadres of the city committee rarely ever looked through it. At most, they would give it a cursory glance.

Seeing the old secretary reading Yangjiang Communications so intently, Zhou Xianrong’s heart gave a jolt. Could the rumors be true? Was Jiang Hong really a family friend of the Zhangs, going back generations?

Carefully, Zhou Xianrong tested the waters. “Secretary Zhang, are you reading Jiang Hong’s article? He’s quite capable and well worth cultivating.”

When Zhang Song heard Zhou Xianrong mention the magazine, he took an interest at once. “Mm, Comrade Jiang Hong writes very well. Especially that recent piece on governing a poverty-stricken county—it was excellently done. His theory is solid, and he offers many methods. The only question is how well they would work in practice. If our Yangjiang had more cadres whose practical ability matched their theory, then Yangjiang would only keep getting better.”

Those words, spoken in passing by Zhang Song, fell into Zhou Xianrong’s ears like a profound hint. Jiang Hong, Jiang Hong—what a man of hidden depths. If he could be moved up to serve as county magistrate of Yangning County, that would be like taking hold of Zhang Song’s trump card.

That was close. Thank goodness he had gone to visit Zhang Song earlier, or he might have botched a major matter. The originally designated formal candidate, Ma Guoming, did have some connections in the province, but no amount of connections could compare with the current provincial party secretary, Zhao Changfeng, a former subordinate of Zhang Song.

Listening to Jiang Hong’s denial over the phone that he was close with Deputy Mayor Zhang Yong, Zhou Xianrong would, in the past, have believed it without doubt. Jiang Hong’s upright nature was indeed rare throughout the entire municipal apparatus.

But now he was certain of Jiang Hong’s ties to the Zhang family, and this only made Zhou Xianrong, who had spent many years in official circles, admire Jiang Hong’s restraint all the more.

All of this was beyond Jiang Xiwen’s foresight. If Zhou Xianrong had not gone to visit Zhang Song, and if Zhang Song had not happened to be reading Yangjiang Communications at that moment, Zhou Xianrong would never have arranged for Jiang Hong to become the principal candidate. Yet everything had coincided so neatly.

Of course, opportunity always favors the prepared. Jiang Hong’s own ability, along with Jiang Xiwen’s later deft maneuvering, had made this coincidence possible.

Jiang Hong set down the phone and shook his head with a smile. How strange—Secretary Zhou had actually called to offer New Year greetings in person.

“Old Jiang, they say this year is lucky. Maybe your fortune is turning, and you’ll be county magistrate of Yangning County after all.” Wang Yanan peeled an orange and held it to Jiang Hong’s lips.

He ate it in one bite and laughed heartily. “If only. Thank you, my dear wife, for such auspicious words. If I go to Yangning, I’ll make sure that within three years at the latest, it sheds the label of a poverty-stricken county.”

Jiang Hong was full of confidence.

A man nearing forty, and still so ambitious. Jiang Xiwen was very happy to see it.

Wang Yanan laughed. “Let’s guess who the next call will be.”

“You’re all grown up, and still playing child’s games.” Jiang Hong said that, but he could not hide the smile on his face.

Ring-ring-ring...

As soon as he finished speaking, the phone rang again. Jiang Hong picked it up, managed only a half-hearted “Hello,” and then a hasty voice came through the receiver. “This is Zhang Yong. Is this Old Jiang?”

“Oh?” Jiang Hong was somewhat startled. What was happening today? First the municipal party secretary, and now the deputy mayor.

Although Zhang Yong was not his direct superior, he still held much more power than Jiang Hong. When he had last met Zhang Yong’s wife, Qin Shu, the two sides had had a small dispute, but it was hardly enough to alarm the deputy mayor into calling in such a tone. Besides, that matter had already passed many days ago.

After a few stunned seconds, Jiang Hong replied, “I’m Jiang Hong, Deputy Mayor Zhang...” But before he could finish, Zhang Yong cut him off. “Old Jiang, my daughter Zhang Ya is missing. I wanted to ask Xiwen whether he’s seen her.”

“What?” Jiang Hong froze again, then quickly said, “Deputy Mayor Zhang, don’t be too anxious. I’ll ask Xiwen right away.” Holding the phone, Jiang Hong hurriedly explained the situation.

Jiang Xiwen found it strange after hearing this. With Liu Dashan and the others all already in custody, where could Zhang Ya have gone? As he thought this, he took the phone from his father and asked, “Uncle Zhang, I haven’t seen Zhang Ya either. How could she have gone missing?”

“She had a big fight with her mother in the afternoon, and at night she left a note saying she would never come back to this house again!” Zhang Yong, usually so calm, now sounded somewhat unhinged. “She doesn’t have many friends at school, so I thought maybe she went to find you...”

“Zhang Yong, listen to me. If Xiaoya can’t be found, I...” Before Jiang Xiwen could answer, Old Master Zhang’s furious roar came surging through the line. “Back when the Japanese devils came, I killed countless of them. A few kidnappers are nothing to fear. Zhang Yong, just what are you hiding from me...”

With that, the call was cut off. Jiang Xiwen quickly dialed back, but all he got was a busy signal. Why hadn’t Zhang Yong told Old Master Zhang about the kidnapping yet? Ah, yes—Liu Dashan’s case would only go to trial after the third day of the lunar new year, and the matter was probably still under a degree of secrecy because it involved so many people.

“Xiwen, what is it?” Jiang Hong stared at his son, holding the receiver in a daze, and hurriedly asked, “What did they say?”

“I think it should be nothing serious. Zhang Ya had a quarrel with her mother and ran away from home.” Thinking of Zhang Ya’s menopausal mother, Jiang Xiwen replied, “Qin Shu’s way of raising her daughter is really problematic.”

When he said this, Jiang Xiwen forgot his own age and identity; his tone and manner were no different from an adult’s.

Ever since his son had begun preparing for the computer competition, he seemed to have changed into a different person. Hearing him speak like that now, Jiang Hong found it only faintly odd. More importantly, his attention was entirely fixed on Zhang Ya’s disappearance, so he did not dwell on it.

Jiang Xiwen set down the receiver and continued, “Dad, the Zhang family is in the middle of a big argument right now. The best we can do is wait for their call. Their phone isn’t going through either.”

Learning that Zhang Ya had run away on her own eased Jiang Xiwen’s mind considerably, and he began to think about where she might have gone.

In truth, he rather hoped this runaway episode might help establish a healthier mother-daughter relationship between Qin Shu and Zhang Ya. Qin Shu had once disciplined her too harshly and with too many restraints. On the surface, Zhang Ya had become a well-behaved girl who obeyed her mother, but the innate pride that Qin Shu had helped shape in her did not disappear; it would be directed not only toward others, but toward her own mother as well. Jiang Xiwen understood this very well. Even if nothing happened now, problems would easily arise in the future.

So perhaps such a fierce and extreme incident was not necessarily a bad thing after all.