I followed Li Feng. Li Feng pushed his bicycle, his back looking forlorn.
When Li Feng was fired, I thought he would be angry, and I even anticipated a violent confrontation. But I didn't expect Li Feng to accept it so readily, and after leaving, he didn't engage in any retaliatory behavior like he did yesterday.
...
Soon, Li Feng noticed I was following him. He stopped and looked at me with a hint of surprise.
"Who are you?"
"Xiao Tang, the delivery boy."
"Is there something you need?"
"I was the one who reported you. I'm sorry."
"Oh!"
He lost his job, his wages were "divided" among others, and the culprit was standing right in front of him. If it were me, I would have found a brick on the road, or anything else, and charged at him furiously.
However, nothing like what I imagined happened. Li Feng simply said "Oh!" in the most understated way possible and turned to leave. I chased after him and grabbed his arm. He asked, surprised, "Is there anything else?"
"Don't you hate me?"
"Why should I hate you?"
"I reported you for slashing the head chef's tires."
"I did do that, you weren't lying."
Li Feng's mood was calm, and he said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world. This, ironically, threw me off balance.
"It's fine, I'll be going now. I still need to find another job. My rent is due next month, and if I don't have a job, even paying rent will be a problem."
"Let's talk."
Li Feng turned to leave. I called out loudly, "I can help you find a job."
Hearing this, Li Feng still stopped.
Li Feng and I went to a hot pot restaurant. They claimed it was hand-sliced meat, but when the meat was served, Li Feng smiled and said, "It's machine-sliced."
After hearing this, I wanted to argue with the restaurant owner, but Li Feng stopped me, saying, "Hand-sliced lamb is just a gimmick. Apart from a few old restaurants with truly high quality, no one hand-slices anymore."
Li Feng seemed like a rather tolerant person. Why then did he slash someone's tires yesterday, and with a smile on his face? Was that not an act of revenge?
To ensure Li Feng could talk to me at ease, I called Da Huang in front of him. Da Huang had many connections in Beijing and could easily help Li Feng find a job as a kitchen assistant in a restaurant.
After Da Huang readily agreed, I even urged him, asking for a response within an hour. Da Huang, displeased, said, "It's such a small matter, are you afraid I can't handle it? Within an hour, I'll have that brother starting his job."
I wasn't that arrogant. I told Li Feng that the job would likely be settled in about an hour. Li Feng nodded calmly. He thought I knew other chefs and said, "Even though it's not mealtime, the dishes are already being prepared, and it's busy. The head chef would also need time to respond."
"Yesterday, why did you slash the chef's tires?" I didn't beat around the bush and asked directly.
"Helping someone out."
"What?"
Yesterday, that chef was too tired and in a bad mood. He had scolded Li Feng several times, and also scolded the new kitchen assistant. That kitchen assistant was young and felt wronged, wanting to quit. Li Feng saw this and discussed it with the new kitchen assistant, offering to "punish" the chef. So, he came up with the plan to slash the tires. The new kitchen assistant agreed and hid nearby. Later, Li Feng used a stolen small knife to puncture the tires.
"You did something bad for someone else, lost your job, and had your wages taken, and you didn't even say anything to that person? Aren't you angry?"
"What's there to say? He's new, and he's also from out of town. My basement rent isn't due for another month. If he lost this job, he wouldn't even have money for living expenses next month."
"He's like that, why would he quit then?"
"Because he's young, can't stand hardship, can't take insults. He'll be fine after a bit of tempering from society."
Li Feng said it very casually, as if he wasn't the one being tempered by society.
Perhaps thinking I didn't understand him, Li Feng started talking about his childhood. You wouldn't think it, but he's quite talkative when he's not speaking much. Li Feng is an orphan, at least as far back as he can remember, he had no parents.
He ate a meal here, a meal there, wore hand-me-down clothes. At ten years old, he moved into the village dormitory. He never went to school. He learned to read because his friends who played with him went to school, and they taught him. Later, he went to school himself, but no one paid his tuition. He stood under the window and eavesdropped. When the teacher discovered him, he didn't chase him away. Instead, he let him in and arranged a desk and chair for him.
Li Feng was a good student. After school, he would help out at people's homes, wherever there was work. Initially, he ate at the table with them. Later, he understood and asked for steamed buns and rice, and ate in his dormitory with the dishes packed into his aluminum lunchbox.
Compared to weekdays, weekends were the busiest. Whenever there was a celebration or a funeral in the village, he would go to help. At first, he helped chop wood and make fires. Later, he started as a kitchen assistant.
Li Feng was dedicated and diligent, and he often received red envelopes, usually ten or twenty yuan. Li Feng never spent the money; he just saved it. In his heart, Li Feng always had a dream: he wanted to go to high school.
Time flew by, and it was finally time for him to go to high school. Li Feng inquired and found out that children from the village could attend high school in the county. Li Feng's grades were also good enough. However, tuition was a problem for Li Feng. The tuition for one year was 750 yuan. He had saved for several years and only had 612 yuan.
Hearing this, I couldn't help but interject and ask, "Didn't you ask those villagers for help? 750 yuan a year for tuition isn't a lot, is it?"
"That's right, 750 a year. If everyone chipped in, they could help me finish high school. But my grades were good, and after high school, I would have to go to college, right? College tuition alone is 4000 yuan a year, plus other miscellaneous fees. I have no family, so I can't get loans. If I were raised by a family, even as an adopted son, they would believe I could repay them in old age. But I was raised by the whole village. Everyone knows. Going to college is great, but I haven't heard of any college students in a hundred miles who can support a whole village."
"That does make sense!"
I actually agreed with Li Feng's reasoning.
"In the end, did you go to high school?"
"No. I worked as a temporary laborer at a nearby farm for two years and earned enough money for high school. It was during those two years that I realized it was almost impossible to earn money to go to college on my own. In the end, I used the money I earned during those two years, lived frugally, and attended vocational school, majoring in culinary arts."
"So you studied to be a chef?"
"Yes."
"Then why didn't you apply for a chef position?"
"Which restaurant would be willing to let an unsophisticated country bumpkin be the head chef?"
"That's true. Li Feng, your life has been quite turbulent. Do you hate those villagers? If they had helped you, you might have been a university student by now, with your own profession."
Li Feng shook his head. "Why should I hate them? If I truly had hate in my heart, I should hate my parents. What reason would I have to hate the villagers who raised me? Especially after leaving the village, I miss their sincerity even more. Sometimes, I would sentimentally think, I'm like them, using kindness to help everyone in need in life."
"Even those who mocked or bullied you."
"Yes!"
...
The reason I fell into Teacher Wang Ren's knowledge trap was because I believed that much of an adult's behavior is related to childhood. I also believed the old Chinese saying, "Man's nature at birth is like uncarved jade." A person's inherent nature is like a piece of pure, flawless jade. Whatever you carve on it, that's what it will become. Li Feng was raised by kind people from a young age and learned gratitude.
A person who grew up with a grateful heart, how could they be labeled a bad person? With the precedent set yesterday, I no longer dared to define Li Feng arbitrarily. I still didn't know Li Feng well enough, which made me uneasy. I decided to get to know him better, so I immediately took out my phone and called Da Huang. "Don't look for that job anymore."
"Are you looking for a beating? I just contacted my friends, are you playing with me?"
Da Huang sounded very unhappy.
"I've changed my mind."
"Uncle Tang, what are you up to now?"
"I want to open a restaurant."
"Got too much money to spend, huh?"
"Find me a location."
"I'm coming to find you..."
Da Huang was about to explode, and I, with "polite" timing, hung up the phone. Then, I told Li Feng about my decision.
"You and I are opening a restaurant?" Li Feng asked, surprised.
"Yes!"
"Although I studied culinary arts, I've never actually cooked."
"Didn't you cook in the village?"
"I did cook in the village."
When Li Feng said this, I called Da Huang again. Da Huang's voice sounded like he was suppressing his anger. "Go on, don't make me curse."
"I've changed my mind."
"I'm finding a restaurant location here!"
Da Huang's high-pitched voice boomed from the phone.
...