Chapter 30

The next morning, Su Ping got up very early. Today was the day for new students to register at school, and she had to go to the experimental school with her son. She didn't wake Jia Hongjian up, wanting him to sleep a bit longer, and instead started tidying up the house on her own.

While tidying up, she habitually turned on the TV, listening to the newly launched "Oriental Horizon" while sweeping the floor. "Oriental Horizon" is a news program that started broadcasting in May this year, and it's quite remarkable that it airs every morning at 7:15. Before this program, Chinese people never had the habit of watching TV in the morning, but since "Oriental Horizon" began airing in the morning, inspired by American news programs, many viewers have developed the habit of watching TV for a while in the morning.

"Next is the 'Time and Space Connection' segment. Yesterday, a surprising scene occurred in Shanghai. It is reported that a consumer in Shanghai spent 1,000 yuan to buy 13 Japanese Sony calculators at the local Ziyun Mall. However, when he brought the calculators to the Shanghai Sony Service Center for inspection, it turned out that all of them were counterfeit products. When the consumer sought compensation from Ziyun Mall according to the Consumer Rights Protection Law that took effect at the beginning of this year, a shocking scene unfolded..."

"Who is so naive? Spending 1,000 yuan to buy calculators?" Jia Gang, woken up by the TV, rubbed his eyes and commented sarcastically. "Who knows? But Ziyun Mall, a state-owned mall, selling fake goods?" Su Ping also became curious and stopped to watch the TV.

At this moment, the TV screen showed a blurry covert recording, apparently taken by reporters who were secretly interviewing at the entrance of Ziyun Mall. In the center of the screen was a man who looked a bit like Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Ka-fai. He was facing the camera with a fierce expression and said, "... No matter what the Sony Service Center detects, I say they are real, and they are real! Even if the headquarters of Sony in Japan comes to inspect, it won't make a difference!"

"Idiot! This guy is done for! A state-owned large mall selling fake goods and being so arrogant? Does he really think he's a local king? This is asking for death!" Jia Gang sneered. "Really, I'll never shop at Ziyun Mall again. Their attitude is just too bad!" Su Ping also chimed in.

When the two of them saw the man who looked like Tony Leung Ka-fai shout, "Are you speaking for the party or for the people?" Su Ping and Jia Gang looked at the TV screen with disgust. They could already tell that this man's career and political life were over.

"Besides the above, there is another very surprising element in this incident. It is reported that the consumer involved is a 15-year-old junior high school graduate, and this young boy claimed that he deliberately bought the calculators after guessing that the Sony calculators at Ziyun Mall were counterfeit..."

"Is he crazy? Who would know it's fake and still buy it on purpose?" Jia Gang, unaware that the culprit was his beloved son, still commented as an outsider.

"Exactly, I wonder how this kid's parents raised him. Our Hongjian, no matter how mischievous and trouble-making, is still a good boy compared to this kid..." Su Ping, unaware of the truth, also joined in the criticism.

"Good morning, Mom, Dad, yawn, what's going on?" At this moment, Jia Hongjian, stretching, walked into his parents' room. "What are you talking about?"

As soon as Su Ping saw her son, she smiled and said, "We were talking about the news on TV. It says that a kid in Shanghai bought 1,000 yuan worth of fake goods from Ziyun Mall, knowing they were fake... 1,000 yuan... I wonder how his parents raised him!"

"Um..." Jia Hongjian scratched the back of his head, pursed his lips, and said a bit awkwardly, "His parents actually did a decent job, strict father and kind mother..."

"Tsk, as if you know them." Jia Gang pointed at his son and laughed sarcastically.

At this moment, Su Ping also laughed. She looked at her son with a knowing expression and commented, "His parents, I think, must have some issues, and the kid might have issues too..."

Well... Should Jia Hongjian tell the truth or not? Logically, it would be better to tell the truth so that his parents wouldn't curse themselves, but if he did, it would disrupt his plan. If his parents questioned him about why he did it, and it wasn't yet time for the company to be acquired, Jia Hongjian couldn't reveal that he did it to prove his plan was absolutely effective.

"Mom, Dad, actually... that kid is... me..." When Jia Hongjian said this, the smiles on Jia Gang and Su Ping's faces froze. They hadn't yet processed what they had just heard when they heard the TV say, "It is reported that the 15-year-old consumer who knowingly bought fake goods is named Jia Hongjian, but he refused to provide personal information. He claimed that his actions were to purify the market..."

"Oh... oh... oh... oh..." Jia Gang couldn't speak, he choked and pointed at the TV, then choked and pointed at his son. Seeing his son nod, he gasped for breath, while Su Ping sat down on the bed, dizzy and disoriented.

Two hours later, when Su Ping, her son, and Jia Jingxing were on the train to Meilong Station, she still couldn't believe that her son was the teenager reported on TV. "Why did you do this? Don't we usually give you pocket money? Tell me the truth, did you get into trouble outside? Was someone extorting money from you? Otherwise, why would you want to make money this way?"

"Mom, no, this is the 48th time you've asked. I really didn't. I've been with Freshwater these past two days, and you even called her, didn't you?" Jia Hongjian explained helplessly, knowing that his choice would lead to this result, but this was also what he wanted—to show his parents that he, Jia Hongjian, was no longer a child but a person with a strong sense of self and the ability to act like an adult.

"Why did you want to make money this way?" Su Ping still couldn't understand, and she began to feel that her son was becoming less and less like her son. The old Jia Hongjian was just mischievous and trouble-making, but he would never have a head full of ideas she couldn't understand, nor would he secretly come up with a plan and rush to implement it. All of this made her feel terrified!

Jia Hongjian looked at his mother and then at his cousin, who was looking up at him with obvious admiration. He said, "To be honest, it's like this. I gave Dad a plan, and their plan was shelved, right? I came up with a supplementary plan that could basically achieve the goal, but the risk might be high. I knew Dad would treat me like a child and wouldn't agree to implement this plan, so I had to prove that I'm not a child and that if I want to do something, I can definitely do it. Of course, the plan isn't fully considered yet, and I need more time to review and refine it..."

Hearing this, Su Ping didn't ask what the plan was, as Jia Hongjian had expected. She looked at her son with a complex expression, one that was hard to describe, a bit like seeing a long-lost relative who had changed a lot. "Hey... you are indeed the son of the Jia family, huh, hehe, indeed the son of Jia Gang..." Su Ping unexpectedly smiled. "You look just like your father when he was young, with that stubbornness and drive, even the secretive nature is the same..."

"Dad? What about Dad?" Jia Hongjian asked, a bit confused. He rarely asked about his parents' past, or sometimes they wouldn't tell him.

"Your father... your father was a legendary figure back then." Su Ping suddenly smiled, a blush appearing on her face as she recalled the stubborn young man who had once attracted her. "It was 1974, your father was 19, and I was 18. We were both in Hu County, Shaanxi, for the 'up to the mountains and down to the countryside' movement. At that time, your father, for some reason, teamed up with another informed youth named Yang Xiguang to write an underground manuscript called 'Where Will China Go?' In the book, he cited classics to criticize the cultural turmoil and the Gang of Four, saying they were a disaster to the country and people, and were like foxes borrowing the tiger's might. As you can guess, he and Yang Xiguang were arrested. Yang Xiguang, being from a rightist family, was sentenced to life in prison. Your father, being from a red family—your grandfather was a tailor who owned a clothing store before liberation, and your grandmother was a child bride for a wedding before liberation, but they both became workers after liberation—was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Throughout the whole process, your father never told the family a word, and he even asked me to help him mimic his handwriting to write letters home, pretending he was doing well..."

This was the first time Jia Hongjian heard about his father's past. He never knew his father had been in prison! And 1974, what kind of era was that? To write a book criticizing the Gang of Four in that era, what kind of courage was that?

"What happened later?"

"Later, in prison, you and Yang Xiguang were treated as political prisoners and were locked up with university professors who were labeled as rightists and counter-revolutionaries. Your father learned university courses from those professors, like English, calculus, and circuits..."

******

The protagonist's father's experience is not fabricated. It is based on real events, of course, the real person's name is not Jia Gang. Also, please click, vote, and collect.

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