Chapter 37: A Strange Change

After hastily finishing his meal, Li Xian went straight to the mailroom of the apartment complex. Thanks to a bribe of two packs of Ashima cigarettes, he had become quite familiar with Old Liu, the mailroom attendant. As soon as Li Xian arrived, Old Liu, who had been dozing off, pushed the phone on the table toward him and went back to sleep.

Even though Liang Yonghe's family didn't have a phone, this didn't stop Li Xian from getting in touch with him. Each forestry station had a phone in the office and broadcast room. All he needed to do was call and ask someone to fetch the person. For instance, at the Bajiu Forestry Station, where Li Jie worked, there was a large six-meter-tall pole outside the broadcast room with a big loudspeaker attached to it. If someone called for someone, the broadcaster would shout through the loudspeaker: "XXX, you have a phone call, please come to the broadcast room."

Everyone in the forestry station could hear it. This is what they meant when they said, "communication relies on shouting."

Sure enough, after Li Xian called the Qiyi Forestry Station and asked for Liang Yonghe, he soon heard the loud voice of the broadcaster. After about half an hour, Li Xian called again. The person who answered wasn't Liang Yonghe but his father.

Li Xian was greeted warmly by Liang's father, who seemed surprised when asked, "Where is Yonghe?" Liang's father replied, "Yonghe has already returned to school. Didn't you know? His assignment has been rearranged!"

Li Xian was stunned by this news. He hadn't been on campus these past few days, so he had no idea. After exchanging a few more pleasantries with Liang's father, Li Xian hung up the phone.

Liang Yonghe's assignment had been changed? Li Xian was surprised. After the incident where Liang Yonghe nearly jumped off a building, the school had reportedly planned to expel both Li Xian and Liang Yonghe. The reasons given were that one had caused a serious disturbance, and the other had spread false rumors, damaging the reputation of the school leaders.

But now, not only was there no punishment, but the work assignments had also been changed. What was going on?

Thinking it over and seeing that it was still early, Li Xian decided to head to the school. Before he even reached the dormitory building, he heard someone excitedly calling his name from a distance.

"Xianzi! Where have you been these past few days?"

It was none other than Liang Yonghe.

"Hey, you little rascal!" Li Xian walked up and gave the grinning Liang Yonghe a hearty pat on the shoulder. "You came back without even saying hello? If I hadn't called your forestry station, I wouldn't have known you were back!"

Liang Yonghe laughed, "I called your forestry station both yesterday and the day before, but the line was always busy!"

Hearing this, Li Xian slapped his forehead. The dormitory phone was only available to students after 6 p.m., and during that time, he had been using the forestry station's phone to contact Wang Qinghe.

Liang Yonghe, who had been out of sight for a few days, looked noticeably tanned, likely from helping out on the farm at home. Li Xian observed him for a moment before asking, "By the way, your dad said your internship has been rearranged. Where are you going?"

"You don't know?" Liang Yonghe looked puzzled. "I thought you were the one who made it happen!"

"What are you talking about?" Li Xian was confused.

Seeing Li Xian's bewildered expression, Liang Yonghe was equally perplexed. "You really don't know?"

Li Xian stomped his foot in frustration. "What's going on? How am I supposed to know anything?"

"Wu Guohua has been dismissed! They say that Director Hong Ensheng of the Forestry Bureau called him out by name at a bureau meeting, criticizing the allocation of graduates from the Forestry Technical School. As a result, the Education Bureau disciplined Wu Guohua, and all the internship assignments he was responsible for have been voided and reassigned. The notice was sent out the day before yesterday…"

Huh? Li Xian was genuinely shocked.

That old guy was dismissed? The graduate assignments were redone?

This was big news. Liang Yonghe had already received the notice, so how come he hadn't heard anything?

"Where have you been reassigned?" Li Xian quickly asked.

Talking about this, Liang Yonghe couldn't contain his excitement, "The Rural Credit Cooperative!"

Hearing this, Li Xian was genuinely happy for him.

The Rural Credit Cooperative was a great unit. Although it was a local savings institution, it handled policy funding from the province to the Forestry Bureau, salary disbursement for employees, and in a few years, agricultural subsidies and small business loans. It was a stable, well-funded institution!

Giving Liang Yonghe a hearty pat on the shoulder, Li Xian suddenly remembered something and pointed to himself, "What about me?"

The smile on Liang Yonghe's face faded as he scratched the back of his head. "The first thing I did when I got back to school was check the reassignment list. But strangely enough, everyone was listed except for you. So, I wanted to call you and tell you to come over quickly to see if there was a mistake."

"…"

Li Xian was speechless. It seemed that no matter whether Wu Guohua was in power or not, his path to a government career was doomed from the start!

Before, he had been assigned to clean latrines—disgusting but at least a job. Now, they had removed him from the reassignment list entirely.

Damn.

How could he be so unloved?

"Alright, let's not stand around here. I actually came to find you for something. Let's go talk in the dorm." Li Xian, after a moment of silence, grabbed Liang Yonghe and started toward the dorm.

But Liang Yonghe didn't move, and his expression was a bit odd.

"What's up?" Li Xian asked, puzzled.

"Uh… the group that was reassigned? They all think it was us who reported it to the higher-ups, causing the current situation. A lot of people… including Biaozi and Wensheng… the dorm environment might not be very friendly right now."

Seeing Liang Yonghe's hesitation, Li Xian roughly understood.

Previously, everyone had gone to great lengths to bribe Wu Guohua for favorable job placements. Now that the assignments had been redone, not only had their money been wasted, but some of their new placements were probably much worse.

If stealing someone's money is like killing their parents, what about stealing their career?

People believed that a good job could determine their entire life.

As the prime suspects for ruining everyone's career plans, he and Liang Yonghe were undoubtedly the objects of intense hatred.

Li Xian knew this.

But he couldn't figure out whether Wu Guohua's downfall and the reassignment of the Forestry Technical School graduates had anything to do with him.

Before this, many people in the dorm had already started showing hostility toward him. Now, in this situation, they probably hated him even more.

He sighed and decided to ignore it.

With a wave of his hand, he said, "Alright, let's not go back to the dorm. No matter what, you've gotten into the Rural Credit Cooperative, and that's worth celebrating. Let's go out and have a meal to celebrate!"

"My treat!" Liang Yonghe grinned and led the way.

…

Seeing Li Xian's motorcycle and learning that he had started a renovation business without saying a word, Liang Yonghe was quite surprised.

There was only one restaurant outside the school. Since the school had a cafeteria, students rarely came here; the customers were mostly teachers and visitors from outside.

Li Xian and Liang Yonghe boldly ordered a private room and four stir-fried dishes.

To prevent Liang Yonghe from insisting on paying, Li Xian quickly grabbed the bill himself.

Seeing Li Xian's generous spending, which was quite different from what he remembered, Liang Yonghe couldn't stop asking questions, clearly very interested in what Li Xian had been up to recently.

Li Xian, mixing truth with fiction, told the story of his tile business as if it were an exciting novel, leaving Liang Yonghe astonished.

Li Xian had originally planned to ask Liang Yonghe for help with his business, but after learning that his friend had landed his dream job at the Rural Credit Cooperative, he wasn't sure if he should bring it up.

After some thought, he realized that while Liang Yonghe had secured a stable job, his own business was just starting and far from stable, so he ultimately decided not to say anything. He just continued talking about his tile and renovation business.

The restaurant's soundproofing wasn't great, and in the next room, Wu Guohua, who had just been disciplined and stripped of his position as vice principal, was sitting with two schoolteachers, drinking but not really paying attention to them. Instead, he was intently eavesdropping on Li Xian and Liang Yonghe's conversation, completely ignoring the teachers' repeated toasts.