Chapter 162: Have a Huazi

As Chen Huajiang and the others drew closer, the people at the village entrance naturally noticed them.

The young man in a suit spoke up in a high-pitched, piercing, and melodious tone.

Chen Huajiang glanced at him, finding him vaguely familiar yet somewhat strange.

"Well, well, what's this? Too scared to recognize me now?"

"Didn't you have a great time beating me up a few years ago? Now that you see I've made it big, you're feeling inferior, aren't you!"

The other man said smugly, shaking his head and deliberately patting his suit jacket with his hand.

Yet his appearance required Chen Huajiang to exercise immense restraint not to burst out laughing. His aesthetic sense was truly—wearing a dragon robe still wouldn't make him look like a crown prince.

Why? The entire suit was two sizes too large, with the hem dragging down to his thighs and knees. The sleeves were also exceptionally long, rolled up several times and covered in wrinkles.

Coupled with his bird's nest-like messy hair and his triumphant, winking expression, there was nothing about him that screamed "success."

At least Chen Huajiang did not think this outfit was a symbol of having made it big, but he still nodded and smiled, saying, "Chen Jianjun, you've really amounted to something, haven't you?"

Right, this person was none other than Chen Jianjun, and Chen Huajiang finally recognized him.

However, as soon as these words were spoken, Chen Jianjun froze instead, staring at Chen Huajiang with a bewildered expression.

They were enemies, enemies alright!

Wasn't this deliberate, smug display meant to crush the other person and reclaim the glory he had lost back when he used to lose fights to him?

What he had expected was a look of dejection or even anger from Chen Huajiang, not such praise for having made it big.

For a moment, he couldn't even react and could only foolishly stare at Chen Huajiang.

"You said it, Brother Jianjun is currently the most successful person in our village besides his eldest brother Jianye. Look at this, Zhonghua!"

"Huajiang, as a brother, I have to say, you entered the city two years earlier than Jianjun, so how come you haven't even managed to get yourself a suit?"

"Look at Brother Jianjun, the moment he comes back, he hands out Zhonghuas to all of us, and he's dressed in a sharp suit. One look and you can tell he's made a fortune."

The surrounding young men flattered Chen Jianjun, heaping exaggerated praise upon him.

Especially a cross-eyed fellow who boldly blurted out the phrase "sharp suit." Hearing this, Chen Huajiang took another look at Chen Jianjun's suit, utterly unable to fathom how this wrinkled mess could possibly be associated with the word sharp.

"Hmph, all of you dial it down a bit, lest you hurt Huajiang's self-esteem."

"He was one of the very first high school students in our village, and even went to the city to become a respectable factory worker."

"But looking at him now, he hasn't amounted to much either. Here, have a Zhonghua. You probably haven't even smoked one before."

Chen Jianjun said arrogantly, assuming that Chen Huajiang's previous smile was out of inferiority, an attempt to curry favor and suck up to him.

This brought him immense psychological satisfaction. In the past, he couldn't match the other person in academics or in fights, and whenever his father gave him a brutal beating, the "child of other parents" he heard about was always this exact person.

This had bottled up a fire inside Chen Jianjun's heart, and he always wanted to lock horns with Chen Huajiang to settle the score. Who would have thought that instead of waiting thirty years to see the tide turn, he had settled the score right here and now.

He handed a cigarette of the Zhonghua brand to Chen Huajiang with an extremely smug smile on his face.

"Zhonghua, a fine smoke, thanks a lot. But just to correct you, it was a technical secondary school, not high school; there is still a difference between the two."

"Besides, I've already been fired from the Red Flag Factory, so I'm no longer the respectable factory worker you speak of."

Chen Huajiang accepted the cigarette, smiled, nodded, and took the opportunity to correct the other's mistake.

"Fired?"

Chen Jianjun was stunned for a moment, momentarily not knowing how to respond.

"No way, Huajiang, you were fired by the factory?"

"How could that happen?"

"This is a big deal. My dad was even planning to have me look for you to see if we could get some coal slag."

Hearing that Chen Huajiang had been fired by his factory, the surrounding peers looked somewhat surprised.

Being a factory worker in this era was a popular profession in everyone's eyes, belonging to the upper crust of society.

An iron rice bowl, urban household registration, children able to attend school in the city, no need to pay public grain quotas, and all kinds of holiday benefits.

The reason Chen Huajiang was doing well among his peers and held some prestige wasn't because he was a good student or a strong fighter, but because he was assigned to work as a laborer at the Red Flag Factory after graduating from technical school.

Now, hearing that he had been fired, everyone was somewhat shocked, and two fellows even stepped forward to pat him on the shoulder as a gesture of comfort.

"Fired is fired, what a damn big deal. Follow me from now on, and let's not even talk about much—earning thirty or fifty a month will be as easy as play."

"Chen Long, Chen Huhu, Chen Zongguang, and Chen Zongqiang, the four of them are planning to follow me into the city to make money after the New Year. One more of you isn't much, and one less isn't missed. Think about it."

Chen Jianjun then walked over and patted Chen Huajiang on the shoulder as he spoke.

Chen Huajiang chuckled, not expecting the other man to have this side to him.

He also knew that the hostility and hatred between them in their past lives had been entirely about saving face. Once face was established, the relations within the same village and clan would stabilize once again.

Of course, his departure in his previous life was also for the sake of face, feeling that he had lost an immense amount of dignity in the village.

"Aren't you afraid I'll steal your thunder?"

Chen Huajiang lit his cigarette and said with a smile.

"You? Steal my thunder? Hahaha—"

"That cracks me up. You, a fired worker, want to steal my thunder? Do you have this suit of mine? Do you have this Zhonghua of mine?"

"Steal my thunder, ha, hahaha, that's hilarious! I see you have a cigarette pack in your pocket too, take it out and hand one around to everyone."

Chen Jianjun burst into loud laughter, looking extremely pleased with himself. He felt that Chen Huajiang was indulging in wild fantasies.

If the other person hadn't been fired and was still a worker at the Red Flag Factory, he might have been able to put up a fight and contend with him.

But now? There was simply no way he could compare to him.

Then, pointing at Chen Huajiang's pocket, he decided to deal another blow to his ego.

"Right, hand one out. Don't look at how Jianjun gave each of us a Zhonghua; in reality, he only gave us one, and if you ask for more, he won't give them."

"Back in elementary school, we all went to the city factory to climb over walls and scavenge furnace slag together. Huajiang, you wouldn't refuse to hand out a cigarette to us, would you?"

"Let me see what kind of cigarettes Huajiang has in his pocket. Either Ashima, Red Plum, or Peony, I can bet my life on those three!"

Prompted by Chen Jianjun's words, the others also chimed in and began pestering Chen Huajiang for cigarettes.

Chen Huajiang smiled and, seeing this, had no choice but to take the cigarettes out of his pocket, preparing to distribute one to each of them.

The moment the cigarettes were pulled out, the crowd was dumbfounded, and their bantering words came to an abrupt halt.

The cigarette dangling from Chen Jianjun's lips dropped with a snap onto the ground, and he stared blankly at the cigarettes in Chen Huajiang's hand.

Zhonghua—and it was the soft-pack version at that!

"Help yourselves, unless you need me to put them right into your hands."

Chen Huajiang flipped the pack around and said with a smile.

Only then did the crowd snap back to their senses.

"Huajiang, how on earth did you get your hands on soft-pack Zhonghuas?"

"Weren't you fired? Could it be that you were fired for corruption and law-breaking?"

"Could it be graft and embezzlement?"

As they each pulled out a cigarette, the crowd looked at Chen Huajiang with strange expressions, making all sorts of guesses.