Chapter 89: Something Was Wrong

In the spring of 1982, at a little after eight in the morning, in Stone Ox Village at the foot of Stone Bull Mountain, on the drying ground.

“Little Aunt, wait for me.” The small child trotted after her with quick, tiny steps, laughing as she chased Grape, running toward the cattle shed.

Liu Xing watched the two little troublemakers with a headache, yet the smile on his face never faded.

After all, having been reborn, seeing his younger sister and niece play together so happily filled him with a sense of contentment nothing could hide.

Over the past half month, Grape had even put on some weight; her little face had filled out, soft and pleasant to pinch.

As for the little one, her face had long since grown round, chubby and adorable. She had never looked this plump before, not even in her past life before the rebirth—not even when she grew up, married, and was in her confinement period.

Just as the little one nearly stumbled on the drying ground, Liu Xing quickly came back to his senses, chased after her, and took her hand.

Beside the cattle shed, Liu Xing had just led out the black calf when Zhou Qiuxiang’s voice came from the gate: “Xing boy, come back here quickly. Someone has come to buy shoes.”

“Oh, coming.” Liu Xing handed the rope to Grape, told her to look after the little one, and strode toward the gate.

Before he even got close, he saw four or five women chatting with his mother. When the conversation grew lively, they would even laugh out loud.

These four or five women were all from Stone Nitre Village. Although Liu Xing could not name most of them, he recognized them all.

But the moment he thought of them being here to buy shoes, his head began to ache.

It was not that they had not paid enough. It was that in the past few days, villagers from the neighboring villages had been coming to him every day to buy shoes.

The shoes he had finally managed to save up were vanishing in an instant.

At this rate, when the day his shoe shop opened arrived, he might have nothing left to sell.

Still, there was no helping it. He could not exactly refuse to sell shoes to the villagers who had come from far and wide because of his name.

Thinking that, Liu Xing cast aside the thought and quickened his pace toward the gate.

“My, my! Xing boy, you’ve grown taller quite a bit lately, haven’t you?” said a pockmarked woman with a smile as she saw him approaching.

The others were all smiling too.

“Hello, aunts!” Liu Xing greeted them before leading them into the main room.

Inside, Liu Dongju, Liu Qiuyuan, Zhao Xiaomo, and Kang Hu were all diligently making shoes.

Seeing more customers come to buy shoes, they all could not help but smile.

“Aunts, just tell my mother what kind of shoes you want and your sizes. She’ll help you choose,” Liu Xing said without further ado. “As for the prices, I think you all know them already: adult sandals are five yuan a pair, children’s are four; adult slippers are three, children’s are two.”

“Oh, we already know that,” said a short woman with a light smile, and she immediately went with Zhou Qiuxiang to pick sandals from the ground.

Liu Xing watched from the side while Liu Dongju helped collect the money.

They had thought that on such an early morning, not many people would come to buy shoes.

But to the surprise of the siblings, the first group of villagers had not even left when a second and then a third group arrived. In less than half an hour, the main room was packed with people. A rough count showed there were nearly thirty of them.

Yet they were very orderly about buying shoes, automatically lining up.

They were so disciplined because of their experience shopping at the supply and marketing cooperative.

If you did not queue there, you would be thrown out on the spot.

Now, buying shoes from Liu Xing did not require any shoe coupons, and the prices were very reasonable.

So they had to cherish this hard-won chance.

But in the end, some of them still began to grumble.

The reason was the nearly one hundred pairs of shoes laid out on the floor of the main room.

Before long, more than half of them had been sold.

Those standing in the back, seeing that the styles they liked were gone, naturally felt displeased.

Liu Xing saw this and hurriedly explained, “Everyone, no need to rush! If the shoes I made sell out, and you still need them, you can register for custom orders later. In other words, after waiting just a day or two, you’ll still have shoes to wear.”

“Do custom orders cost extra?” asked a village woman, unable to hold back.

If it cost more, she was not willing.

The others in line felt the same.

“Normally, yes, there should be an extra charge,” Liu Xing said with a smile. “But you’re all villagers from Camphorwood Township; we see each other every day, looking up and down. So I won’t add anything. If any of your relatives want to buy shoes later, you can pass this along to them too. In short, fair prices, no cheating the young or the old.”

“Now that’s more like it!”

“Xing boy, you’re really decent!”

“Exactly! Aunt here wanted a pair of heeled sandals, but they’re out of stock. Register me for a custom pair—no, two pairs! I can pay now.”

Seeing the shoes on the floor grow fewer and fewer, several women in line stepped out at once and surrounded Liu Xing.

He had no choice but to take them outside, fetch paper and pen, and sit on the drying ground to register the custom orders.

To his surprise, even more villagers were hurrying up the village road toward his home, streaming in ceaselessly like fish crossing a river.

Among those figures, Liu Xing even spotted Ding Lan, dressed in plain clothes, and the graceful figure of Niu Lianfang.

“Oh no.” Liu Xing clutched his head, knowing trouble had arrived.

The genuine leather Ding Lan had given him still had not been turned into shoes.

Several days had already passed; it seemed Ding Lan and Niu Lianfang had come to demand an explanation.

Otherwise, since it was not Sunday, how could the two of them possibly be on the village road in Stone Nitre Village?

That realization gave Liu Xing a headache, but in order to keep matters from getting worse, he had no choice but to call Zhao Xiaomo over to help register the custom orders, while he himself went to greet Ding Lan and Niu Lianfang on the road.

Both Ding Lan and Niu Lianfang were dressed very stylishly and fashionably today, at least by the standards of Stone Nitre Village.

Along the way, many villagers cast envious glances at them.

Yet no one dared strike up a conversation; they merely watched from afar.

When Liu Xing reached them, he saw that Ding Lan and Niu Lianfang had come to Stone Nitre Village on foot, and he greeted them with a wry smile. “What wind blew the two of you here to my little place today?”

“You still have the nerve to ask? Where are the shoes you were supposed to make for me?” Ding Lan got straight to the point as soon as they met.

“They’re not made yet. I’m still designing them,” Liu Xing said halfheartedly.

There was no helping it. If he told the truth, Ding Lan would definitely blow up.

What he had not expected was that Ding Lan actually believed him—and even smiled. “If they’re still in the design stage, then I’m not in a hurry. I came today just to see you.”

“Right, right. We happened to pass by Stone Nitre Village in Director Wu’s jeep, so we thought we’d come by and have a look at your place,” Niu Lianfang added.

This Director Wu was certainly the same Wu Station Chief Liu Xing knew.

“Have you two had breakfast yet? If not, why not come sit at my place for a while?” Liu Xing suggested.

“Sure,” Ding Lan said without refusing.

Niu Lianfang did not say no either, only asking, “Is your family hosting a banquet today? Why are there so many villagers at your house? It’s lively to the point of being almost outrageous.”

“Don’t mention it. They’re all here to buy shoes,” Liu Xing told the truth.

“My heavens, so many people are all buying shoes?” Ding Lan said in surprise.

Niu Lianfang also found it hard to believe. Wanting to expose Liu Xing’s “lie,” she linked her arm through Ding Lan’s and headed toward his house.

Liu Xing had no choice but to follow behind them.

Soon, the three of them arrived on the drying ground.

When Niu Lianfang saw the shoe sizes Zhao Xiaomo had been registering, along with the deposits the villagers had paid, she was left utterly speechless.

“How many pairs for custom orders did you register just now?” Liu Xing asked casually.

“Twenty-seven pairs,” Zhao Xiaomo answered happily, handing him the money at the same time. “This is the deposit. Count it.”

“No need. Keep it safe for now and give it all to my mother later.” Seeing Ding Lan and Niu Lianfang heading into the main room, Liu Xing reminded her once before following after them.

Inside the main room, the shoes on the floor had already sold out.

On the wooden table by the window sat a thick stack of crumpled notes and small bills, with many one-yuan notes mixed in.

Zhou Qiuxiang and Liu Dongju were counting them, their faces bright with happy smiles.

Seeing this, Ding Lan’s eyes widened in astonishment.

Even Niu Lianfang could hardly believe what she was seeing.

Liu Xing’s little shoe shop, before it had even officially opened, was already doing business this well.

If it opened for real, what would that be like?

“Mom, how did our shoes sell so fast?” Liu Xing noticed that there were still several crisp ten-yuan notes on the wooden table and could not help asking cautiously.

In those days, in the countryside of the nineteen-eighties, such large bills were rarely seen.

Even when they appeared, they were usually only five-yuan notes.

Of course, things were different in the cities.

“Yes, they sold very quickly. A middle-aged man who looked unfamiliar yet somehow familiar bought all thirty-odd pairs from the floor, and he didn’t even bargain,” Zhou Qiuxiang answered without lifting her head.

“An unfamiliar yet somehow familiar middle-aged man?” Liu Xing froze. Villagers who came to buy shoes were almost all from the surrounding villages, which meant they ought not to be strangers. At most, they might be familiar faces whose names he did not know, but at least he would know roughly where they lived. And yet his mother had actually used the words “unfamiliar middle-aged man.” Something about that sounded off.