Chapter 31: The Leader, Part Two

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If Chen Qi wanted to wage a business war, he had no shortage of underhanded methods at his disposal.

But he was unwilling to treat people that way. Besides, times were different now; in this era, people could be executed with alarming ease.

In later generations, Beijing would have a famous folk-culture attraction called Lao She Teahouse. Established in the 1980s, it offered two-cent bowls of tea alongside expensive refreshments and live opera performances.

At the time, young people were all chasing pop culture from Hong Kong and Taiwan and had no interest in opera, while the elderly thought the place too expensive and could not bear to come.

Lao She Teahouse operated at a loss for a while. Later, it found its path to success: it packaged itself as a representative of Beijing folk culture, performed for foreign visitors, and won official recognition.

Whenever foreign heads of state visited Beijing, they would make a point of stopping by Lao She Teahouse. Later, as tourism flourished, visitors from other parts of the country and ordinary foreign tourists came as well, lining up to take photographs and drink those two-cent bowls of tea.

In later years, drinking tea from a large bowl would become a popular social-media check-in. But if one traced its origins back to the beginning, it all came from those educated youths who, despite discrimination and ridicule, had bowed their heads and persevered in setting up tea stalls...

Chen Qi had two ideas. First, he wanted to develop the tea stall along the lines of Lao She Teahouse. Second, he wanted to expand the business, beginning with a department store.

In short, the tea stall would become wildly popular once again and crush its rivals completely.

The foreign visitors had produced a remarkable effect. At last, a government leader was coming to inspect the place!

...

Government inspections had to be carefully arranged.

The higher the official’s rank, the longer the preparations. Sometimes word was given several months in advance, sending everyone below into a panic as they scrambled to clean up every filthy, disorderly corner and launched a hundred-day campaign—all for the sake of those twenty minutes.

Things were relatively simple at this time.

Chen Qi had assumed that, at most, a deputy city official would come. When he received the notice, he was startled to learn that the chief official himself was coming. That was a much higher level.

Still, it was perfectly normal. In those days, the gap between ordinary people and high-ranking leaders was not so wide, and it was common enough to meet important officials.

Take Yuan Kuocheng, for example. Because he performed The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he was received one after another by a number of powerful figures. After leaving Zhongnanhai one day, Yuan Kuocheng calmly crossed the street and drank a bowl of soybean milk.

General Wang even wrote him a letter, saying:

“I am your loyal listener, and so is my grandson. I tell the child, ‘Listen when Uncle Yuan speaks,’ and that gives you a fine teacher of Mandarin. Thank you...”

The leaders themselves were also quite informal. They often visited places without giving prior notice. There were many such examples, so there was no need to elaborate.

Early the next morning, with the sky only beginning to brighten, Huang Zhanying was already pounding on the door like a ghost.

“Chen Qi! Chen Qi!”

“Coming, coming!”

He hurriedly put on his shoes. Still wearing the same dacron shirt, he called out a word to his parents and rushed outside.

Chen Jianjun and Yu Xiuli were filled with a deep sense of defeat. They increasingly felt that an impenetrable and sorrowful barrier had risen between themselves and their son.

“Did you get everything ready?”

“It’s ready. Take a look!”

Huang Zhanying was carrying several wooden boards and a wooden frame. Chen Qi fiddled with them for a moment. They were quite sturdy.

“Let’s go!”

The two of them set off on their bicycles, carrying the equipment to the Front Gate Arrow Tower.

The others were already hard at work, sweeping the ground and wiping tables and bowls. Teachers from the opera school had even taken the initiative to bring their students over to help. They were remarkably enthusiastic now, willingly allowing themselves to be put to work for free.

As usual, Chen Qi directed them.

“Put the blackboard up!”

“Hang the opera masks in neat horizontal rows.”

“Spread the handkerchiefs out properly. Don’t let them wrinkle!”

“Where’s the English book?”

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“Here! Here!”

Someone quickly brought over a copy of 900 English Sentences. Chen Qi handed it to a bespectacled companion with an intensely scholarly air.

“Don’t deliberately pretend to be reading, but make sure people know that you are always reading.”

“Teacher Chen, I’m slow-witted. Please speak plainly.”

“Oh, honestly!”

Chen Qi pushed him down onto a seat and tossed the book beside him.

“For example, you sit here, busy wiping bowls, but keep an English book at your side. Wouldn’t that create the image of someone diligent and eager to learn?”

“But I don’t know any English!”

“That’s precisely why you should study it! All right, everyone, come over here. Come, come!”

Chen Qi waved everyone closer.

“I taught myself English too, so I don’t know very much. I’ll teach you a few simple phrases. I came up with some lines that are very easy to remember. Listen carefully!”

“Come means come, go means go!”

“Nod yes, shake your head no!”

“To greet someone, say hello. Hello, hello, ha-ha-hello...”

“Teacher Chen, why do you sound a little like someone from Tangshan? Does America sound that close to Tangshan?”

“Enough nonsense. Learn along with me. If more foreigners come later, you’ll at least be able to deal with them a little. Don’t let people make a laughingstock of us!”

Only after everything had been arranged did Chen Qi wipe at a nonexistent bead of sweat and let out a long breath.

“Is this easy for me? Mental labor is even more exhausting.”

...

By late morning, the students began to sing, and the tea stall opened for business.

As before, the place was packed with people. Nothing special had been arranged inside merely because of the inspection, though there were certainly security personnel among the crowd. For all they knew, some of the people buying tea were plainclothes officers.

At around ten o’clock, the crowd suddenly stirred.

Then people parted from both sides. Several figures walked forward, greeting the masses as they came.

They were dressed plainly, in cotton long-sleeved shirts, gray trousers, and cloth shoes. The man at the front was in his sixties. His features were unremarkable, but at a glance one could tell that he was an old revolutionary.

His surname was Lin.

He was a practical man. Within two years, he had successively taken charge of Shanghai, Tianjin, and Beijing—an achievement without precedent. He often appeared in the role of a firefighter sent to put out crises.

Take Tianjin, for example. After the college entrance examination was restored, so many people applied that many students who had passed the cutoff still could not be admitted.

Once those young people had nothing to do, they became what would now be called unemployed youth. Leader Lin immediately expanded university enrollment and established several branch campuses, absorbing more than eight thousand applicants.

Did you think university expansion was something that happened only in the 1990s? It had already begun.

When he arrived in Beijing, he acted just as decisively, sending nearly twenty thousand young people into universities. He also strongly supported cooperatives and made a major contribution to solving the employment problem.

“Welcome! Welcome!”

“A warm welcome!”

The opera-school students had temporarily become the reception team. Leader Lin beamed, waving a hand as he spoke in a Shandong accent.

“All right, all right. There’s no need for such a grand display! I’ve wanted to come and have a look for a long time, but one thing or another kept delaying me. And recently you’ve even become involved with foreigners—very impressive indeed. If I didn’t come now, I’d never hear the end of it.”

Officials from the district and the neighborhood were there as well, accompanying him and exchanging a few words.

Leader Lin had little interest in listening to them. Instead, he walked around the tea stall by himself, examining the teapots and the large bowls. Then he pointed at the opera masks hanging on the frame.

“What are these for?”

“Recently, we began working with the opera school. There are performances every day, so we hung up some masks as decorations. It gives the place a bit of atmosphere,” Huang Zhanying answered haltingly.

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“Oh? You’re quite resourceful.”

Leader Lin neither approved nor disapproved. After asking a few more questions, he suddenly said, “Which one of you is Comrade Chen Qi?”

“Greetings, Leader!”

Chen Qi stepped forward.

“You’re rather well known. I’ve read your letter. I heard you also wrote a screenplay?”

“Uh... I just scribbled something.”

“Was it accepted?”

“The Beijing Film Studio accepted it.”

“Very good, very good. The Beijing Film Studio is extremely strict. The fact that they accepted it means you wrote well. What we need is precisely this spirit of always loving study and striving to improve.”

Leader Lin nodded, then glanced at 900 English Sentences. Naturally, he could tell that its presence had been arranged, but he did not expose them.

“This place is next to the Front Gate Hotel, which receives foreign guests. In the future, you may see more international visitors here.

“When receiving foreign guests, you must neither fawn nor cower. Don’t be nervous, and don’t act like cowards. If you make the country lose face, I won’t forgive you!”

People of the older generation spoke bluntly, and their language was often earthy. Chen Qi smiled.

“A few of us are teaching ourselves English, but we aren’t very good at it.”

“Oh? Can you say a few words?”

“We only know a few words—hello, good... things like that.”

“Haha! Having the right spirit is what matters... By the way, are you facing any difficulties? Don’t hesitate to tell me!”

Huang Zhanying jolted, remembering someone’s instructions. She hurriedly said, “No, we can overcome any difficulties. Besides, business is getting better and better, and we don’t quite have enough hands. I hope we can take in some new people and help more unemployed youth.”

“Good!”

“Very good!”

When Leader Lin heard this, he finally gave a genuinely delighted smile. The government’s greatest headache at the moment was the army of unemployed young people.

“Look at this! This is the spirit of our new youth in the new era! It must be encouraged and spread far and wide!”

He stayed for about half an hour and even chatted with the young performers about opera with great interest.

There were hardly any older people who disliked opera.

“Oh, my goodness, I was scared half to death!”

Everyone had been tense the entire time, and Huang Zhanying’s calves had cramped badly. Only after the leader left did she seem to collapse, her strength draining away.

“I don’t even know what I was saying. Did I say anything inappropriate?”

“No, no. You did very well!”

Chen Qi encouraged her, then said with a smile, “There’s only one last step. When tomorrow’s newspaper comes out, take the article with the photograph of the leader chatting with us and paste it right here!”

With a snap, he pressed a hand against the little blackboard.

“And then the mission is complete!”

(To be continued...

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