Chapter Forty-Nine: The Grand Consummation

Li’s father and mother had spent two days in the countryside, only returning home at five in the afternoon on the third day, weary from their journey. The reason for their hurried return was simple: tonight, after six o’clock, the hotline for checking college entrance exam scores would officially open. They couldn’t wait to find out how many points their son had achieved.

Under the watchful eyes of his parents, Li Mu used the home landline, switched on the speaker, and dialed the provincial education committee’s exam score hotline. After the automated prompt, Li Mu entered his exam registration number, and soon, the mechanical voice began to announce the scores.

“Registration number…, name: Li Mu. Scores for each subject are as follows…”

Li’s father and mother held their breath, waiting.

“Chinese: 112 points.”

His parents frowned slightly; the Chinese score was a bit low, but they knew Li Mu’s strengths lay in the sciences.

“Mathematics: 136 points.”

“Not bad, not bad,” his parents nodded repeatedly. His mother calculated quickly on a scrap of paper, saying, “That’s 248 points so far.”

“Science comprehensive: 238 points.”

“That’s decent too!” His parents grew tense. “486 points—now it all depends on English!”

For the first three subjects, Li Mu wasn’t nervous at all. He couldn’t recall his exact scores, but the total added up to 486 points, just as he remembered.

Now, the only thing he was anxious about was English. He had estimated about 140 points—surely it wouldn’t be less than that?

Just then, the voice from the phone announced, “English: 150 points.”

“What?” Li’s father shot to his feet, trembling with excitement, not even noticing the cigarette butt that dropped to the floor. “How much in English? One hundred and fifty? Full marks?”

“Yes!” His mother burst into tears. “It’s a perfect score! Our son’s total is 636!”

The words had barely left her lips when she began to sob, overwhelmed by a joy she had never imagined. Her most hopeful wish had only been for Li Mu to get into a top-tier university; but this, this was an unprecedented happiness and satisfaction.

Li’s father exclaimed, clutching his chest, needing a moment to steady his breath. “Good boy, how did you do it? A perfect score in English!”

Li Mu was equally elated. With a total of 636, Renmin University was now a sure thing!

“I told you I’d do exceptionally well in English, but you didn’t believe me!”

“No one expected you to get full marks!” Li Mu himself hadn’t expected it. When estimating his score, he had thought he’d gotten everything except the essay, but he hadn’t imagined his essay would be awarded full marks.

“‘One world, one dream’—turns out that really was a popular theme!” Li’s father immediately pulled out his mobile phone and called Li Mu’s uncle.

“Daoshun, Li Mu’s exam results are out… 636 points. Yes, you heard me right, 636! Hurry and tell Mom and Dad so they can share in the joy…”

Li Mu’s grandparents didn’t have a phone, but fortunately his uncle lived in the same village, not far away.

Li’s father notified all the relatives, then a few true friends. After a barrage of calls, he was in high spirits, his face flushed as he slapped his thigh. “All right, tonight we’re eating out!”

His mother laughed. “Let’s go to Haizhou Hotel! Oh, Li Mu, be sure to invite Xiao Wan. If it hadn’t been for that little bump she gave you, who knows if you’d have scored full marks in English! You need to thank her for knocking some sense into you!”

“Mom, what kind of strange logic is that…” Li Mu smiled helplessly, but still called Chen Wan immediately.

To his surprise, Chen Wan was already on the train to Shanghai, soon to arrive.

Li Mu couldn’t help but complain, “Wan, leaving without saying goodbye? Not very thoughtful.”

Chen Wan laughed, “Nothing’s harder than parting ways. I’d rather slip away quietly by myself. What do you want, brat?”

“I wanted to treat you to dinner. My exam results are out.”

“How many did you get?”

“636.”

“That high! And English?”

“Full marks.”

“Wow!” Chen Wan cheered. “Now I can finally lay down my guilt!”

Li Mu said, “I wanted to thank you for that mysterious bump, but you’re already gone.”

“When I get back, I’ll treat you!”

“All right, take care of yourself in Shanghai.”

“Don’t worry, brat—same to you.”

After hanging up, Li Mu felt a faint disappointment at Chen Wan’s departure, but he tried not to let himself get caught in the melancholy of farewell. The scores were out, and that was cause for celebration. This was a perfect score, bringing immense comfort to his parents and satisfaction to himself, and the full marks in English dispelled Chen Wan’s lingering guilt.

Putting away his phone, Li Mu smiled at his parents. “Wan’s gone to Shanghai, so it’s just the three of us for dinner.”

“Fine,” his parents agreed.

Li’s father then said to Li’s mother, “Li Mu scored over six hundred. That’s a huge event. I’ll take a day off soon, and we’ll bring Li Mu back to the countryside to visit my parents.”

“Sure.” His mother nodded, hesitating for a moment before suggesting, “Maybe we should find time to invite the whole family out for a celebration.”

A flicker of complexity crossed Li’s father’s face, but he nodded repeatedly. “We should, but it’s a bit late today—let’s do it tomorrow.”

Li’s mother, pleased by his quick agreement, gave him a knowing smile, wrapped her arm around his, and gently reassured him, “Don’t overthink it. Our family is different now. Li Mu did so well in the exams and he’s so good at making money. If my big brother and little sister knew how successful Li Mu is now, they wouldn’t say those things to you anymore.”

Li’s father smiled and nodded at her, but Li Mu noticed there was a hint of awkwardness and reluctance in that smile.

Li Mu knew, from his previous life, that his father always avoided his mother’s family, especially her eldest brother and younger sister, steering clear whenever possible.

It wasn’t that his father was cold-hearted. Li Mu knew that his mother’s older brother and younger sister had held a grudge against his father since before his parents even married. At every family gathering, his father became the target of their sarcasm and ridicule, to the point where even Li Mu couldn’t stand it, let alone his father, the one directly involved. In his previous life, Li Mu’s relationship with his uncle and aunt was lukewarm, mostly because he often defended his father, which frequently put him at odds with them.

Li Mu’s father, Li Daoping, was from a rural background; the whole family still lived in a township on the outskirts of Haizhou, with only him working in the city. As he often said, his family had been poor farmers for five or six generations.

But Li Mu’s mother, Xiao Yunfang, came from a working-class family. Her parents were among the earliest state enterprise workers, so she and her siblings grew up with urban household registration and ate commercial grain, enjoying much better conditions than Li’s father. This was one reason his uncle and aunt looked down on his father.

Currently, both his uncle and aunt worked at the tax bureau, earning at least forty or fifty thousand a year with salary and benefits. His aunt, after being laid off from the textile mill a few years ago, had suffered for a while, but then started a small children’s clothing store on the old street, which quickly took off and brought in about thirty thousand a year. Both families enjoyed a comfortable standard of living, and so they disdained Li Mu’s father—a coal miner with a fixed monthly wage of just over a thousand.

Actually, his uncle and aunt’s dislike for Li Mu’s father wasn’t just about humble origins or low income. The real issue was a longstanding knot in their hearts.

As Li Mu’s father had once explained, years ago, his uncle had intended to introduce Xiao Yunfang to the son of the deputy director of the tax bureau. The young man was quite taken with her, and even promised that, after marrying, he would get her transferred from the coal mine to the tax bureau, and, when Li Mu’s aunt finished high school, arrange for her to work there too.

Back then, the tax bureau hadn’t yet undergone the tax reform; it was a powerful department, considered extremely desirable. Even the plainest girls and laziest boys, once they got in, would have matchmaking proposals lining up at their door. But Xiao Yunfang adamantly refused and insisted on marrying Li Daoping.

Though her parents were open-minded and didn’t object, her brother and sister saw Li Daoping as the culprit who led Xiao Yunfang away and condemned her to a hard life.

Moreover, both believed that if Xiao Yunfang had married the tax bureau deputy director’s son, their own careers would have greatly improved. With that connection, her brother could have at least become a cadre, and her sister would have avoided layoff when the textile mill closed, sparing her the hardship she endured. Though her business was now doing well, the resentment remained.

In Li Mu’s memory, this situation worsened after his parents were both laid off. His father had never been able to hold his head high in the Xiao family; after the layoffs, things became even worse. Remarks about his lack of success, inability to earn money, and making his wife and child suffer were common accusations hurled by his uncle and aunt.

With the mindset of someone in his thirties, Li Mu understood well: in this age where poverty is scorned and shamelessness is ignored, their sarcasm boiled down to money and status. If his father could earn money, standing tall on financial grounds, they’d have nothing to say.

With this realization, Li Mu suddenly conceived a plan.

If all went smoothly, the final approval from Metersbonwe would arrive in a few days. Once approved, it would be time to set up the store, giving his parents a thriving business for the future.

Once the company gave the go-ahead, the store would need immediate renovation, and they’d have to send someone for training. No matter who they hired as manager, his parents—future owners—would have to attend at least one session.

But he hadn’t yet revealed the plan to his parents. So Li Mu was pondering how to persuade them to quit their jobs and focus on the specialty store.

This family banquet seemed like the perfect opportunity. Li Mu decided it was time to stage a performance for his father—both to change the perception of his uncle and aunt, and to push his father into action.