Once again, displeasure arose.

After dinner, he sent the students back to school, then went home.

Although demolition was imminent, Happiness Lane was more crowded than ever. There were people buying scrap metal, old appliances, furniture—buyers for practically everything. Even the thieves had begun to multiply.

This slum district had never been attractive, and now it looked more dilapidated than ever. Every couple of days, someone was moving out.

Most people threw away a great deal when they moved, which meant bargains for children and scrap collectors.

When Zhang Pa got home and looked around at the things filling the rooms, there seemed to be exactly as much as before. Apparently, Yun Zheng and the other idiots had failed to sell anything.

He closed the door and went to sleep.

Sleeping at home in the middle of the afternoon, while perfectly healthy and free of disaster, was an absolute luxury.

He indulged in that luxury until Old Pi and the others returned.

After all this time recovering, the wounds of the four boys had gradually healed. They could eat and drink without difficulty. Old Pi, for instance, was practically as good as new.

Five of them knocked and entered.

“Brother, you skipped school.”

Zhang Pa opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling for a while. “You didn’t manage to sell anything?”

“We sold one piece of clothing. Fifteen yuan,” Yun Zheng replied.

For secondhand clothes, finding someone willing to buy them at all was already no small feat.

“If it won’t sell, forget it,” Zhang Pa said. “Have you been studying lately?”

“Of course,” Old Pi answered at once. “We study every day. It’s exhausting.”

Zhang Pa could not be bothered to determine whether he was telling the truth. He spoke lazily. “There’s money in the pocket of my trousers. Take fifty.”

Old Pi went over and rummaged through the pocket, pulling out a small folded stack of banknotes. He grinned. “Brother, you’re pretty loaded.”

Zhang Pa tilted his head for a glance. It was the two thousand yuan in rent that Fatty had returned to him.

“Take fifty,” he repeated.

“Don’t worry. We might take anyone else’s money, but we’d never take yours.” Old Pi pulled out a fifty-yuan note. “We’re going to buy food.”

Once the five monkeys had left the room, Fatty called and invited him out for a drink.

Zhang Pa rejected him without a second thought. “Not going.”

“Damn, what’s the point of that? I’m at Big Tiger’s. Get over here.”

Zhang Pa considered it for a moment. “I’ll bring a few people.” He hung up, then shouted toward the outside, “Old Pi, forget the food. We’re going for barbecue.”

Old Pi let out a delighted howl, and the other boys were thrilled as well.

Zhang Pa still did not move from his bed. He thought to himself: To be this happy over a meal—those really are the best years of youth.

After dawdling a little longer, he rose lazily and took the five monkeys to Big Tiger’s barbecue restaurant.

Fatty, Turtle, and Sissy were seated at one table, which was already piled high with food. Zhang Pa sat down and asked, “That’s unusual. Where is everyone else?” As he spoke, he took a skewer of roasted meat from the grill and began eating.

Old Pi and the other four greeted Fatty and his companions with broad smiles, then sat down and started eating too.

Fatty looked at the five monkeys, then at Zhang Pa. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I’ve already gone crazy.” Zhang Pa poured himself a drink and downed it alone.

Fatty said, “We’re doing pretty well now. We’ve kept your place for you. Come work with us.”

Zhang Pa smiled. “Wang Kun is afraid to see me?”

“It’s not that he’s afraid. He’s worried you won’t come back,” Sissy said. “Let’s talk seriously. You’re a grown man—you can’t keep bottling everything up. You don’t visit prostitutes, so are you planning to work your left and right hands every day? Come work with us. Putting everything else aside, it’ll at least be easier for you to find women.”

Zhang Pa smiled. “Is that how Wang Kun persuaded you?”

“How can you be so stubborn?” Sissy demanded. “Don’t you know how to be flexible? Don’t you know how to face reality? Whatever you decide is the truth, and everything anyone else says is nonsense. Whatever anyone else does is wrong?”

Zhang Pa glanced at him. “A person lives by a single breath of dignity. This is how I’ll live my whole life. If you want to lecture me, thank you. If you want to curse me…” He paused. “Forget it.”

He looked at the iron skewer in his hand, then at Old Pi and the other four, and finally at Fatty. He rose. “Thanks. I’m full.”

Turtle suddenly stood up. “What are you doing? Sit down.”

Zhang Pa thought for a moment, then bent over and poured himself another drink. Once the cup was full, he raised it toward the three men.

“Let’s finish this. Just like four years ago. Until we meet again.”

“Damn it! We asked you here for a drink, and you’re making a clean break with us?” Fatty exploded. “What the hell is wrong with you? Who acts like this?”

Zhang Pa looked at the three of them, tipped back his head, and drained the cup. Then he headed for the door, calling to the five monkeys as he went, “Once you’re full, let’s go.”

“We’re not full. We just sat down…” Old Pi began, but Yun Zheng gave him a sharp tug, and he fell silent.

Yun Zheng stood up. “Brother Fatty, Brother Sissy, Brother Turtle—Brother Zhang isn’t feeling well. We’ll be going. We’ll treat you to barbecue another day.”

He followed Zhang Pa outside.

Fatty shouted, “You little bastard, stop right there!”

Turtle hurried after them. “What are you doing?”

“I’m full. I’m going home to sleep. Thanks for the meal.” Zhang Pa strode out the door.

Big Tiger happened to be entering with a tray of meat. He saw Zhang Pa leave, then the five monkeys following him, and finally Turtle and Fatty standing there dumbly while Sissy sat drinking in silence. He walked over and asked, “What happened?”

“Damn it,” Sissy cursed, then added, “I didn’t even say anything. He just started making a scene.”

“I’ll go after him,” Turtle said.

“Forget it,” Fatty replied. “If you could change his mind, he wouldn’t be Zhang Pa.”

Big Tiger asked again, “What exactly happened?”

“Nothing happened,” Fatty answered.

“Damn, you guys are truly good for nothing but ruining things. What did Dazhuang tell you? He asked you to help persuade him. And now look at this—you nearly started a fight before even saying a word.” With that, Big Tiger turned and left.

Fatty thought it over, then cursed Sissy. “Are you out of your mind? Too many people means too many mouths. I didn’t even dare call them over because I was afraid someone would say the wrong thing and anger Zhang Pa. And now you’re lecturing him?”

Turtle sighed. “We were just hoping the four of us could have a good drink together. How did it turn into this?”

Sissy gave a cold laugh. “Fine. It’s all my fault.”

The three of them continued drinking.

Meanwhile, Zhang Pa led the five monkeys down the street. After walking ten or so meters, he stopped and took out two hundred yuan.

“Don’t go back to Big Tiger’s. Buy some meat and make up for dinner.”

Old Pi did not take the money. He asked quietly, “Brother, what’s wrong?”

Zhang Pa smiled. “If you five are willing to study properly, then nothing is wrong with me.”

Old Pi looked depressed. “What does one thing have to do with the other? Why do you drag studying into everything? It’s so damn boring.”

“Yeah,” Zhang Pa said. “Boring… Go have a drink.” He stuffed the money into Old Pi’s pocket and went home alone.

Old Pi caught up with him. “You’re not coming?”

“I have no appetite. And don’t say I didn’t warn you—drink if you want, but don’t cause trouble.” Zhang Pa continued walking home.

The five monkeys hesitated, then followed him together.

Hearing their footsteps, Zhang Pa turned around. “Are you all sick? I have a date. Go back and get your bikes. Now get lost.”

“You really have a date?” Yun Zheng asked.

“Wait here for a few minutes.” Zhang Pa hurried home, brought out his bicycle, and told the five monkeys he was leaving. Then he really did leave.

Once he was out of Happiness Lane, he had no idea where to go. As he pondered, he thought of that enormous dog—the extraordinarily huge, fat dog. The ice on his face suddenly melted, and he decided to go see it.

He pedaled to the Teachers’ College. This time he had not brought any books to sell, and along the way he regretted wasting the opportunity. He should have brought a whole box of books.

When he arrived, he circled twice outside the college gates but did not see the dog. He followed the route the dog had taken the last time, but still found nothing.

He looked around the residential compound as well, with no success. In the end, he pedaled home.

On the way, he felt there had to be something wrong with him. What was he doing?

The round trip took more than an hour. When he reached the building, he saw that the largest room was lit and its door stood open. He wondered: Have those monkeys really come back so quickly?

At the sound of the door opening, Yun Zheng appeared in the doorway of the room. Seeing Zhang Pa, he hurried out.

“We’ve been waiting for you.”

“Waiting for me?” Curious, Zhang Pa entered.

A short table in the middle of the room was covered with skewers of every kind, along with spicy hotpot, cold rice noodles, and two bottles of strong liquor.

Old Pi took credit for it. “This whole spread cost only a little over eighty yuan.”

“If you’d bought steamed buns, you couldn’t have spent more than ten,” Zhang Pa said.

Madman urged him, “Sit down already. We’re starving.”

“If you can all be this sensible for the rest of your lives, then whether you attend school or not won’t matter.”

“How have we not been sensible?” Old Pi protested.

Zhang Pa smiled. “Fine, let’s drink. But don’t drink too much.”

It turned out to be a pleasant evening, with wine, meat, and five well-behaved monkeys.

The next day at school, Zhang Pa saw Wang Jiang and the others sitting obediently in their seats and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He called Wang Jiang outside and asked him about the case from the previous day.

Wang Jiang said he knew nothing.

Just then, a commotion rose from the far end of the corridor. Zhang Pa sent Wang Jiang back to the classroom and went over to see what was happening.

It was a television crew. A host and a cameraman were speaking in the broad corridor on the first floor of the teaching building, with several teachers gathered around them.

Zhang Pa pushed forward and asked, “What happened?” He wondered whether the legal affairs program had come to make trouble.

One of the teachers recognized him. “Wang Lian from Class Six, Grade Nine, has become famous. You didn’t hear?”

Zhang Pa shook his head.

The teacher began explaining, using Wang Lian’s story as proof that even the worst schools could conceal dazzling pearls.

Wang Lian was that pearl. A ninth-grade student, he was extraordinarily skilled with computers. Before Zhang Pa had even begun working, Wang Lian had discovered a payment loophole on a major online shopping website. Put simply, it allowed people to purchase expensive products at absurdly low prices.

Wang Lian had reported the loophole out of goodwill, then forgotten all about it.

Two weeks earlier, someone else discovered the same flaw—or perhaps merely learned of it through a leak. Who could say?

That person was quite crafty. He posted messages in numerous computer forums, explaining the loophole and how to profit from it. Then countless people rushed in to take advantage of the bargain.

Within a single hour, helpful netizens from every corner of the country descended on the website, ostensibly to point out the flaw, while conveniently collecting rewards—enormous rewards. The company suffered direct losses of more than ten million yuan.

The website cared about its reputation and swallowed the loss, treating it as advertising. It shipped the orders as usual.

At the same time, it investigated the cause of the accident, and the investigation led them to Wang Lian.

At a time like that, everyone knew the website had suffered a tremendous loss. The company was unwilling to accept it quietly and decided to use the incident as a marketing opportunity: yes, they had suffered a loss, but they upheld their integrity. They would not casually tear up contracts unilaterally over a little money.

From the company’s perspective, it would rather lose money than let the public know that Wang Lian had once submitted a warning about the loophole and that the company had failed to take it seriously. But an accident of such magnitude inevitably involved many people. The employee who had received Wang Lian’s email bore direct responsibility, as did several others. In the end, nine people were dismissed.

And then, somehow, word got out that Wang Lian had once sent the company an email warning them that the loophole existed…