Chapter 163: Azure Cloud Shoe Store

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On the first day of the new term, the classroom—and indeed the whole campus—still carried the lingering flavor of the holidays. As far as Fang Chang'an was concerned, however, life had already settled into a steady rhythm, with everything moving according to plan.

After returning from summer vacation, he had been too busy to visit Shen Chengyan's house and read the newspapers. So after lunch, he stopped by on the way, returning some papers and borrowing others, while taking the opportunity to look through the news. Some reports were new to him; others he remembered vaguely.

On July 8, the Three Gorges ship locks passed their navigation inspection. On July 28, China established its first scientific research station in the Arctic, Yellow River Station. On August 15, the green-card system officially came into effect. On August 27, Liu Xiang won the men's 110-meter hurdles at the Athens Olympics with a time of 12.91 seconds...

Besides all that, there was one very small incident that Fang Chang'an found rather amusing.

On the second day of school, after the second class in the morning, he went to the bathroom. On his way back, he encountered Hou Xiaoyi, Sun Yanxu, and two or three unfamiliar-looking freshmen. Shan Fei was among them as well.

Fang Chang'an had been chatting with a boy from his class who had also just returned from the bathroom. When Hou Xiaoyi and Sun Yanxu called out from a distance, “Brother Chang'an!” Fang Chang'an finally noticed them and jokingly called back, “Oh? You all use the bathroom yourselves?”

Hou Xiaoyi smiled obsequiously. “Brother Chang'an does it himself, so who would dare not do it himself?”

Fang Chang'an waved to Shan Fei too. “Shan Fei, you came as well? Go on, use the bathroom properly. Don't wet your pants.”

Shan Fei's expression became extraordinarily vivid. He even forgot to respond to Fang Chang'an's teasing. Fang Chang'an paid no attention, simply walking past them without saying anything else.

For Shan Fei, however, it was probably the greatest shock and upheaval his worldview had ever experienced.

Ever since the previous year, he had been “carefully laying the groundwork” to settle accounts with Fang Chang'an. He had deliberately cultivated friendships with the tougher students, and during the summer vacation had treated them to dinner twice before finally getting their cooperation. On the second day of the new term, he had even met Brother Monkey, a legendary figure who had already been formidable back in elementary school.

It was Shan Fei's first time meeting someone of such renown, and he was both awkward and nervous. Since Brother Monkey had not brought up the “real business,” Shan Fei naturally did not dare act recklessly. He sat there obediently, hardly daring to say a word.

When he saw Fang Chang'an, Shan Fei was actually delighted. What he thought was, How perfect! This is wonderful! He had planned to point Fang Chang'an out to his classmates first, then have them mention him to Brother Monkey.

What he never expected was that, before he had even had the chance to say anything, Brother Monkey and Brother Xu had already greeted Fang Chang'an—and called him “Brother Chang'an.”

Shan Fei was not stupid. He could clearly sense the difference in attitude between the two sides during those few brief exchanges. Fang Chang'an was completely casual, while Brother Monkey and Brother Xu, though they could not exactly be called afraid, were plainly trying to curry favor with him.

The shock was so great that Shan Fei even forgot to answer when Fang Chang'an spoke to him. Only after Fang Chang'an had walked past did Brother Monkey ask, “You know Brother Chang'an?”

The question jolted Shan Fei back to reality.

“I—I know him...”

After an intense inner struggle, Shan Fei answered under the gaze of everyone present. Stammering, he said, “He's... my cousin.”

“Then why the hell...”

Hou Xiaoyi and Sun Yanxu were both stunned. They nearly cursed aloud. If this guy was Fang Chang'an's cousin, did he really need their help to cause trouble for anyone? Was he deliberately making fools of them?

Still, this was Brother Chang'an's cousin. He might not look especially close to Fang Chang'an, but a cousin was still a cousin. Hou Xiaoyi hurriedly swallowed the obscenity on the tip of his tongue and forced a smile, adopting an excessively cordial tone.

“You're Brother Chang'an's cousin? Why didn't you say so earlier? From now on, we're all brothers.”

As he spoke, he seemed about to pat Shan Fei on the shoulder, but stopped halfway, as though even that would be too presumptuous.

Shan Fei's mind was completely blank. He gave an awkward smile, and Sun Yanxu added, “Exactly, we're all brothers from now on. Friends too. We'll help one another and study hard.”

Shan Fei almost wondered whether he had misheard. Weren't these student toughs? Shouldn't the line have been, “If anyone dares mess with you, come find me. I'll kill him”? What was this nonsense about helping each other and studying hard?

He asked cautiously, “Is Brother Chang'an... really that powerful at school?”

“Of course he is!”

“He's been number one in the entire school for a whole year. Just tell me, who else can do that?”

“And he doesn't beat second place by one or two points. It's always dozens of points.”

“The ranking at our school changes every time, except for first place in the entire grade. That's untouchable.”

The group immediately began singing Fang Chang'an's praises. In a daze, Shan Fei had the strange feeling that they were Fang Chang'an's cousins and he was the outsider, while they were showing off to him about how incredible their cousin was.

Shan Fei already knew that Fang Chang'an had excellent grades and came first in the entire grade every time. What he really wanted to know was why Brother Monkey and Brother Xu seemed somewhat afraid of Fang Chang'an.

He asked tactfully, “Are you two very close to him?”

“More or less.”

Hou Xiaoyi and Sun Yanxu naturally did not mention that they had once planned to frighten Fang Chang'an, much less that they had nearly tried it a second time. They put on a bold, magnanimous expression.

“We go to the same school. Besides, Brother Chang'an isn't arrogant.”

“Let me put it this way. At our school, whether your grades are good or bad, whether you're in the first year or the third—even third-year students—anyone who sees Brother Chang'an has to call him ‘Brother Chang'an.’”

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“Not just at our school. In our whole town, if you say, ‘I'm Fang Chang'an's cousin,’ then whether it's First High, Second High, Third High, or Haitien, no one will dare mess with you!”

...

Shan Fei began to suspect that they had all taken money from Fang Chang'an and been bribed to scare him.

Over the next few days, however, he quickly became acquainted with—and was forced to accept—the truth. He personally saw a neighbor from near his home, a boy now in his third year of middle school, call out “Brother Chang'an!” from a distance when they happened to meet at the school gate.

Soon afterward, he discovered something else. Every morning, someone delivered steamed buns to the school, all packed in lunch boxes—and that too was connected to Fang Chang'an! It seemed that Fang Chang'an was in charge of all the buns at Second Middle School...

Shan Fei had not witnessed that part himself, but he did see a man known as Brother Cheng come to his classroom to count how many students wanted to order buns. Brother Monkey came with him, and together they assigned Shan Fei the task of distributing the buns in the class.

At first, Shan Fei was extremely unwilling to do it. He felt he was being bullied, yet did not dare resist. Then he learned that he could eat the buns for free, and his attitude immediately became enthusiastic.

When he went home and told his parents, Shan Peng and Fang Yan had originally opposed the idea of his eating breakfast at school. But the moment they heard the buns cost nothing, their attitude changed completely.

Thinking of Fang Chang'an's prestige at school, Shan Fei did not dare conceal his contribution. He honestly told his parents that it was probably thanks to Fang Chang'an that he had stumbled into such a good deal.

While talking about it, he used the title “Brother Chang'an” behind Fang Chang'an's back for the first time in his life. He still did not dare say that Fang Chang'an was the undisputed leader of all the students at Second Middle School—or perhaps even of the entire Huangnan market town.

Then he secretly urged his younger brother, Shan Xiang, “If anyone in town dares cause trouble for you, just tell them Fang Chang'an is your cousin. It will definitely work!”

Fang Chang'an himself paid little attention to Shan Fei. The only thing he ever cared about was whether Shan Fei had used his name to bully people. Fortunately, Liu Cheng kept an eye on the matter for him and found no such misconduct. As for anything else, Fang Chang'an could not be bothered to interfere.

Fang Changming, however, seemed to have heard something from Shan Xiang. One evening, he asked Fang Chang'an, “Big Brother, are you really powerful at your school? I don't mean your grades. I mean, do you know a lot of people?”

Fang Chang'an patted his younger brother's shoulder earnestly. “Knowing a lot of people is useless if they aren't reliable. Hurry up and get into middle school. That way, if I ever have trouble at school, I'll at least have someone who can help me.”

Fang Changming once again confirmed his earlier judgment about his big brother's situation at school. With great confidence, he said, “Don't worry. Once I get to your school, I'll protect you! I've only just transferred, and I've already made friends with several classmates. Shan Xiang and I get along very well too.”

Fang Chang'an nodded. “Just getting along well isn't enough. You have to study hard. What if you can't get into Second Middle School? You can't count entirely on Uncle pulling strings for you, can you? You need to make something of yourself. Besides, if your grades are good, everyone will be more willing to listen to you. At the very least, they'll want to copy your homework, right?”

Fang Changming thought it over and decided his brother was right. He nodded. “All right. Next year I'll definitely get into Second Middle School and help you!”

Fang Chang'an gave him a thumbs-up. “That's my good little brother!”

Meanwhile, the store was finally fully prepared by the middle of September. Rong Cong had invested so much money and spent every day learning how to manage the store and conduct business. Once all the preparations were complete, she could not wait another day. Fang Chang'an persuaded her by every means he could to wait until the seventeenth to open. It was a Friday.

The previous day, Thursday the sixteenth, a promotional card was randomly placed in the lunch box of steamed buns ordered by students at each of the four middle schools in Huangnan market town.

The cards were distributed randomly because printing them was too expensive, and Rong Cong could not bear to print too many.

When the lunch boxes were customized, Shen Chengyan and Fang Chang'an had named their own shop Green Cloud Steamed Buns. The name had been chosen by Cheng Mengfei, inspired by the phrase “rising swiftly to great heights.”

When it came time to name the shoe store, Fang Chang'an borrowed the same name and called it Green Cloud Shoes.

Besides the address of Green Cloud Shoes and the announcement that it would officially open the next day, the little cards also listed its prices and special offers.

“All shoes are sold at fixed prices: nine ninety, nineteen ninety, twenty-nine ninety, or forty-nine ninety. Buy five pairs in total and receive one pair free...”

“There is more! It says that if a quality problem appears, you can exchange them for a new pair free of charge within one month!”

“Really?”

“I think that's pretty good. I don't know how to bargain, so every time I buy something, I get cheated.”

“Me too.”

“Why do all the prices end in ninety-nine?”

“No idea.”

“Could this belong to Teacher Cheng's family too?”

“Probably. The names are the same.”

“What does ‘buy five pairs in total and receive one free’ mean?”

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“It says that when you buy shoes, you'll get a card. Each pair earns one stamp, and once you collect five stamps, you can exchange them for a new pair... Wait, can we buy them together?”

“Probably. They're just stamps. They shouldn't care who made the purchases, right?”

“I think we should go take a look. If Teacher Cheng's husband sells steamed buns this cheaply, the shoes probably won't cheat us either.”

Naturally, some students in Fang Chang'an's class also saw the cards. Wang Ke's lunch box had one. She was one of the few people who knew that the shoe store belonged to Fang Chang'an's family, but she pretended not to know and joined the others in whispering about it, acting as a free promoter.

Fang Chang'an gnawed on a steamed bun. When the moment seemed right, he said, “Let me see, let me see.”

Wang Ke cooperatively handed him a card. Fang Chang'an glanced at it and said, “This shoe store seems to belong to my family...”

“What?”

There was no way to keep the matter secret. Rong Cong had to look after the shop as well as care for three children, and she would certainly be unable to manage everything alone. Once she went home to cook, Fang Chang'an would have to help watch the store.

Besides, it would be a waste not to make use of his reputation as “Brother Chang'an.” Fang Chang'an felt that he had accumulated a fair amount of prestige.

“It's really your family's store?”

“Those prices sound so cheap.”

“Can we combine our purchases?”

“You really don't bargain?”

At least within the class, Fang Chang'an unquestionably enjoyed great prestige. Once they heard that the shoe store belonged to his family, even the students who had paid little attention—or had thrown the card away without even looking at it—began asking questions.

“Of course there'll be no bargaining. My mother doesn't know how to bargain with people. Look at the shops along Commercial Street—they'll shout out eighty and immediately slash it down to thirty. Who knows how much they inflated the price? My mother certainly couldn't bring herself to do that. So it makes more sense not to bargain at all. Everyone pays the same price, and no one has to worry about being cheated.”

“It says you get a stamp, so several people can definitely buy together. Once you collect five stamps, you get one pair free. Naturally, the free pair is the nine-ninety kind. Otherwise, if everyone chose the forty-nine-ninety shoes, the shop would be bankrupt in days.”

“If you have time, you can go take a look. It doesn't matter whether you buy anything. Don't buy something just because you know me and then end up disliking it—that would make me feel terrible, wouldn't it?”

Fang Chang'an explained with a smile. Wang Ke immediately led the others in mocking him. “Who would buy shoes just because of you?”

After a pause, she added, “But they really are cheap. When I come back on Sunday, I'll go have a look and say hello to Auntie while I'm there.”

She, Wang Yuwei, Liu Bei, Zhang Jing, Feng Yanyan, and several others had all visited Fang Chang'an's home before, so she had no fear of being teased for saying that.

Liu Bei said, “Then I'll go too. Call me when you go.”

Zheng Lili said, “Me too!”

“And me, and me! What day are you going? Let's meet at the crossroads!”

There was no guarantee that browsing meant buying anything. Once Wang Ke and the other girls started talking about it, a large group quickly gathered.

Li Dongfeng said, “Then why don't we go too? We can at least take a look.”

Chen Yu said, “I'll go have a look too, but I'll go Friday or Saturday, so I won't be going with you.”

Zhou Yifei said, “Then give me a call. I'll go too... Class monitor, can you give us a discount?”

“A discount my ass. Aren't you afraid my mother will break my legs?”

“Hahaha!”

The classroom erupted in laughter.

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