Chapter 15

After finishing the meal at Old Mr. Luo's house, Jia Hongjian walked to the door of the Luo family, pulled by the reluctant tugging of the little girl. Behind him were Old Mr. Luo and Wang Coulan, who was holding the little girl, with Xiao Zhang following at the back. After opening the door, Jia Hongjian paused, as if deep in thought. Then he slowly turned around and looked at Xiao Zhang with a puzzled expression on Old Mr. Luo and Wang Coulan's faces.

He took a deep breath, slowly walked back to Xiao Zhang, and extended his hand, "Hello, I'm Jia Hongjian. I don't know your full name yet."

Xiao Zhang stared at him for a long time, dumbfounded. Since she left her hometown in the mountains and came to this big city, and since she started working as a nanny for the Luo family, no guest of the Luo family had ever taken the initiative to ask for her full name. Everyone seemed to know her only as "Xiao Zhang," a nanny from the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, with no further curiosity. To her, this seemed perfectly normal. She was just a nanny, not a member of the family, and there was no need for her to be introduced in detail or to get to know the Luo family's guests well.

But looking at the serious and sincere smile on the face of this boy her age, and the respect and equality in his eyes that she couldn't quite understand, and seeing his hand hanging in the air, waiting for something, she suddenly felt a shock. This shock was indescribable, making her eyes sting and wanting to cry out loud.

She quickly wiped her hands, which had touched the leftover food, on her clothes several times, only feeling that they were slightly cleaner and worthy of the boy in front of her. She then held his right hand with both of her hands, took a deep breath, lifted her chin, and introduced herself, a bit stuttering, "I'm, I'm Zhang Fenggu."

Then, his warm and large hand gave a firm squeeze, making her feel his determination and strength. As she was still feeling the first handshake of her life, his hand had already pulled away. Next, she felt dizzy, as if she knew nothing, but seemed to understand something, though she wasn't quite sure. Then, she seemed to hear Old Mr. Luo and Wang Coulan apologizing to her, but she was dazed and didn't pay much attention, just nodding and subconsciously going to the kitchen to wash the dishes.

Seeing the dazed Xiao Zhang, Old Mr. Luo and Wang Coulan also felt a bit uncomfortable. They weren't blaming Jia Hongjian for his handshake, but they were blaming themselves for never formally introducing Xiao Zhang to anyone. They weren't the evil capitalists of a capitalist society; they were born and raised under the red flag, educated in socialism. Even though nannies were a new profession nowadays, they were treated as new family members. But why, when introducing guests, did they only introduce the nannies by their surnames?

Wang Coulan felt that Jia Hongjian was different from everyone she had ever met, not just different from the teenagers she had met, but different from everyone. This feeling made her think that Jia Hongjian seemed to come from another country, another world, another cultural environment. The various subconscious actions he displayed from time to time made him stand out from others...

"Father, what do you think of Jia Hongjian?" After thinking for a long time, Wang Coulan asked her father-in-law. "He... is hard to read. I'm not saying I can't read his character; this child has a good character and is very reliable. But his various ideas make it hard to figure out his background..." Old Mr. Luo squinted and looked at the door, as if he could still see Jia Hongjian's back that had long disappeared.

"Yes, I feel the same. But one thing is certain: Jia Hongjian will not be an ordinary person in the future. Our little Zi has good fortune." Although Wang Coulan wasn't as old as Old Mr. Luo, she had enough social experience to rarely misjudge people. Usually, after spending an hour with someone, she could deduce their growth environment, family background, and educational background, but she couldn't figure out Jia Hongjian.

He didn't have the sunny and optimistic characteristics of those who had returned from abroad, nor did he have the optimistic and outgoing habits of teenagers. He also didn't seem like a child raised in an ordinary family. How could ordinary parents have such deep thoughts to raise such a child?

At this moment, Jia Hongjian didn't know that his subconscious actions had shocked the Luo family. For a person who had been reborn from 2012, many future habits were already deeply ingrained in him. For example, having chased many beautiful women in his past life, he knew that he shouldn't only be nice to beautiful women, as that would make them think he had ulterior motives and be on guard. Only by being nice to everyone, even the street cleaners, could he make the beautiful women feel that he was a truly good person and lower their guard.

This sudden kindness to the little nanny was partly due to this habit. Given that this habit had become second nature, it was impossible for him to realize that his subconscious actions were problematic. Even if he did realize it, he wouldn't change—what was the point? Would anyone guess that he had been reborn? Even if he announced to the world that he had been reborn, everyone would think he was crazy, not that he was telling the truth! So, what was there to fear?

He waited at the bus stop for a while, got on the bus, found a seat, and started analyzing the water-to-oil incident. He took out a piece of paper and drew a large cross on it. This was a habit from his past life, a list-making style more common in the West.

On the upper left and upper right of the paper, he wrote the benefits of supporting and opposing the water-to-oil project, and on the lower left and lower right, he wrote the corresponding drawbacks. Although he could think about these things in his head, he felt that writing them down would help him make a decision.

Supporting the water-to-oil project would bring quick and dirty money. Since he saw through Wang Hongcheng's actions and knew how the events would unfold, he could go to Wang Hongcheng and demand a partnership, or he could immediately write to the newspaper to expose Wang Hongcheng's future money-making scheme!

This way, he could earn a few million RMB, which, although not a large sum in the 21st century, was equivalent to his mother's 20,000 months of salary, given that she earned only 80 RMB a month! 20,000 months is almost 2,000 years!

However, doing this might land him in jail with Wang Hongcheng within a few months, or at least tarnish his reputation, which could be a risk to his future business career...

If he opposed the water-to-oil project, he could write an anonymous letter to the newspaper to expose everything. This way, he wouldn't gain a good reputation or any other benefits, but he wouldn't have to reveal himself...

Jia Hongjian thought about this silently while looking out the window, but he still hadn't made up his mind by the time he got off the bus near his home.

However, as he walked home, a very shrewd-looking person approached him, holding a cigarette and tilting his head, asking in a local dialect, "Friend, want some cheap foreign cigarettes?" Seeing this "speculator" selling cheap foreign cigarettes, Jia Hongjian's first reaction was to laugh.

It was 1993, not 1983. Foreign cigarettes had long been allowed in the market, and this year, the football league's sponsor was Marlboro! Even the TV hadn't banned tobacco ads, and you could often see the Marlboro ad with galloping horses! Why would he buy Marlboro from this speculator when he could get it from a regular tobacco shop?

"No, thanks." Jia Hongjian waved his hand and left. He wasn't surprised that the speculator was selling cigarettes to teenagers—this was a matter of time. At his age, he might already be in a vocational school, which meant he was a government-subsidized official, with a work record and a job! Why couldn't he smoke?

But suddenly, a thought crossed his mind—the speculator was probably selling smuggled or fake cigarettes—fake cigarettes—counterfeit goods—Wenzhou shoes—counterfeit goods all over the country... There seemed to be something he could use.

Yes, the Wenzhou people were famous for making shoes! Starting in the 1980s, Wenzhou family shoe workshops brought cheap shoes, but by the 1990s, they increasingly represented fake shoes! Shoes with straw insoles and other deceptive practices had ruined the reputation of Wenzhou shoes. In this important year of 1993, during the reform and opening up, the market was flooded with all kinds of counterfeit goods. Even in 1992, the Central Television, with the support of the State Economic and Trade Commission and the Publicity Department, launched the most important TV program of the 1990s—China Quality March!

The organizing committee of China Quality March was headed by the deputy director of the State Quality Supervision Bureau, and its members included well-known economists like Li Yining and Wu Jinglian, showing how rampant counterfeit goods were in this era! The fake eggs and gutter oil of the future were just child's play! In this era, fake eggs were still being promoted as a new technology for getting rich in the back of Story Magazine!

Thinking of the widespread counterfeit goods and the anonymous letter opposing the water-to-oil project, Jia Hongjian had a brilliant idea. Yes, a brilliant idea that didn't require him to reveal himself, didn't require him to show his real face, and only needed him to reveal his real name. He could earn a substantial amount of money, gain a good reputation, and even develop it into a business in the future!

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