The Accident (Part One)

Yi Ge has had a haircut; he looks much more spirited now..."

Early the following morning, Fang Yi accompanied Fatty and San Pao to the town, where he found a barbershop and spent two yuan to have his long hair cut short. Now, Fang Yi appeared indistinguishable from the townspeople; if he remained silent, no one would suspect that he had been a Taoist priest for over a decade.

"I still think my previous hairstyle looked better..." Fang Yi glanced at his reflection in the mirror, feeling somewhat awkward. After changing his hairstyle, he found it difficult to recognize himself.

"Enough with the vanity; if you keep admiring yourself in the mirror, we'll miss our bus..." Fatty urged, pulling Fang Yi along. There was a long-distance bus to Jinling scheduled to depart at ten o'clock, and time was running short. If they missed it, they would have to wait until the afternoon.

...

"Fatty, didn't you say these two old turtles could sell for two thousand yuan? Why don't we lower the price a bit and buy a few bus tickets instead?"

Standing at the bus station in the small town, Fang Yi and Peng Sanjun looked helplessly at the bus that had just departed for the city. Missing this bus meant they would have to wait five hours for the next one, and boarding that bus depended on their ability to gather enough fare.

"Not a chance; you won't get a good price in town. Those two old turtles will fetch at most two hundred yuan..." Fatty immediately dismissed the idea of selling the turtles in town. The reservoir was only a few kilometers away, and wild turtles were hardly a rarity here.

"I think you're more afraid of losing money than of risking your life..." Peng Sanjun chuckled bitterly. "I thought I was poor, but your pockets are cleaner than your face; you're worse off than I am..."

After finishing the fish the previous day, San Pao, fearing that the incident would come to light, hurried to the town early this morning, intending to take a bus to Jinling.

However, just before boarding, they discovered that the total amount of money among the three of them was only enough to buy a single ticket. Under the disdainful gazes of the other passengers, they could only disembark in frustration.

"My... my money was spent on this thing, wasn't it?"

Fatty blushed at San Pao's words and lifted his shirt to reveal a bulky pager, saying, "Isn't it embarrassing to be without this in the city? With this, it will be easier for us to find jobs once we get there..."

In truth, Fatty had saved a bit of money from his previous job, but before returning to the village, he impulsively spent all of it on this pager to show off. Although by the year 2000, mobile phones were gradually becoming common, in the countryside, pagers were still seen as a status symbol.

During the days Fatty spent at home, his pager had been prominently displayed on his father's waist. In the heat of June and July, Wei Dahu chose to go shirtless every day to flaunt the pager.

"This thing is only useful for showing off in the village; the wealthy in the city have long since switched to mobile phones..." San Pao remarked dismissively about Fatty's bulky pager. Most of his relatives lived in the city, and several had already purchased mobile phones.

"You don't even have one of these..." Fatty interpreted San Pao's comment as jealousy.

"Honestly, this isn't my fault..."

Fatty turned his gaze to Fang Yi and said, "Didn't Fang Yi mention he had over a hundred yuan? I counted his money, and it was just enough for us to get into the city, but... but I didn't know he couldn't spend that money..."

"I had already used some of that money; how was I to know it was unusable?"

Hearing Fatty's words, Fang Yi felt a bit frustrated. His master had indeed left him over a hundred yuan, all in new bills; however, when he presented the money on the bus, the conductor refused to accept it, claiming it was currency issued fifty years ago and no longer valid.

"Fatty, don't you have acquaintances in town? Why not borrow a few hundred yuan?" San Pao suggested. His parents were educated youth sent to the countryside, and although he had lived in Wei Family Village for over twenty years, he was not as familiar with the area as Wei Jinhua.

"I won't borrow; even if I have to walk to Jinling, I won't borrow. I... I can't afford to lose face..."

Fatty had returned home in new clothes, proudly displaying the pager, presenting himself as a successful individual. If he were to ask acquaintances for money, it would undermine the image he had cultivated.

"Walk there? That's what you're suggesting..." Peng Sanjun eyed Fatty's ample figure with a smirk. "Fatty, I can manage to walk, but can you? If you collapse halfway, no one will carry you!"

"Hey, are you underestimating me? After all, I participated in competitions while in the army..."

Fatty gritted his teeth and looked at Fang Yi. "Fang Yi, it's roughly fifty miles from here to Jinling. Once we reach the town near Jinling, there will be a bus. The fare is only a yuan per ticket, so we have enough money. How about... we just walk there?"

"I have no problem with that; fifty miles is manageable; we'll arrive by afternoon..." Fang Yi replied nonchalantly. He often traversed twenty to thirty miles in the mountains, so walking on this flat asphalt road posed no challenge for him.

"Then let's go; we'll walk along the main road..." Fatty declared, leading the way onto the highway, singing loudly to project his ease.

"That foolish Fatty, too proud to admit his struggles..." San Pao muttered behind him, calling out to Fang Yi before following along.

For the first two hours, Fatty indeed walked with relative ease. However, by the third hour, after covering approximately thirty miles, he had removed his shirt and draped it over his shoulder, sweat pouring down his forehead like a stream.

San Pao, though slightly stronger than Fatty, had also soaked his shirt with sweat. Among the three, only Fang Yi remained unfazed; despite carrying the heaviest load, he merely felt warm and had not broken a sweat.

"I can't go on; I'm exhausted...

Upon reaching a fork in the road, Fatty spotted a milestone by the roadside and, without hesitation, plopped himself down, unwilling to rise again. The labored breaths escaping his throat sounded akin to the wheezing of a bellows, clearly indicating that this stretch of road had utterly depleted his strength.

"We must keep moving, even if we can barely walk!" San Pao kicked Fatty lightly.

"I can't go on; let me rest for a moment. I'll try to flag down a car later..." Fatty weakly waved his hand, saying, "I truly can't continue, San Pao. Up ahead is the national highway; we might be able to catch a passing truck to take us into the city..."

"I suspect you've had this plan in mind for quite some time, haven't you?" Hearing Fatty's words, San Pao also sighed in relief, plopping down beside him and taking a swig from his military water bottle.

"Hey, do we need to pay for the ride? Do we have enough money?" Fang Yi stood calmly beside the two, having realized the significance of money the day after descending the mountain, thanks to Fatty and San Pao.

"Hitching a ride doesn't require payment; a simple pack of cigarettes for the driver will suffice..." After resting for a while, Fatty's breathing became more even. He stood up, patting his chest and added, "Rest assured, we caught a ride here last time with Uncle Er and his crew."

"Hey, Fatty, are you sure you can manage this?" 

Half an hour passed, and Fang Yi looked at the sweating Fatty standing by the roadside, feeling somewhat exasperated. This fellow had confidently claimed he could flag down a vehicle, yet after attempting to stop over a dozen cars, not a single one had pulled over.

Fatty wiped the sweat from his brow with the sleeve of his shirt and grumbled, "Damn it, this is just bizarre; why isn't there a single empty truck today?"

"What kind of truck did you manage to stop last time?" Fang Yi inquired.

"It was an empty truck returning from delivering piglets. The smell wasn't pleasant, but the driver was a decent fellow," Fatty replied casually.

"Seriously? You wanted to stop a truck like that?" Fang Yi had little reaction to Fatty's words, but San Pao was incensed. He jumped up and grabbed Fatty, exclaiming, "Forget it; we'll walk into the city. If you want to ride, you go alone..."

"Don't be like that; who knows, we might catch a car that's actually decent..." Aware of his own shortcomings, Fatty forced a smile to persuade San Pao to release him, then defiantly declared, "I refuse to believe I can't flag down a vehicle. Hell, I'll stand in the middle of the road; do they dare run me over?"

"Look, a car is coming; watch me..." Just as he spoke, Fatty spotted a van heading toward Jinling and dashed into the middle of the road, arms outstretched. However, his stance resembled more of a highway robbery than an attempt to hail a ride.

...

"In this line of work, one must act decisively and with precision; by the time that fellow arrives, the opportunity may well have slipped away..."

Man Jun was in high spirits today. Last night, while drinking, he had received a tip from a fellow dealer about a family in Yuquan Town possessing a fan painted by Tang Bohu. Without delay, he had driven there overnight, persistently negotiating until dawn, ultimately purchasing the fan for twenty thousand yuan.

As the saying goes, "In chaotic times, gold thrives; in prosperous times, antiques flourish." In recent years, as the lives of ordinary people improved, the antique market had become increasingly vibrant. Man Jun estimated that the fan he bought for twenty thousand yuan could fetch at least four to five times that amount in the market, yielding a profit of seventy to eighty thousand yuan upon resale.

With this thought, Man Jun felt a surge of excitement, stroking his shiny, bald head, and began to hum a tune, "Today is a good day; all my wishes come true. Tomorrow will also be bright; we'll welcome the God of Wealth at our door..."

While humming his improvised song, Man Jun's gaze drifted to the passenger seat, where the wooden box containing Tang Bohu's "Plum Blossom Viewing" fan sat. To him, that box resembled a stack of cash; once he laid eyes on it, he felt an irresistible pull.

"Whoa, wh... why is there someone there?" Just as Man Jun lifted his gaze from the wooden box, he was startled to find a person standing directly in front of his car.