The Scorching Sun - 76
Ye Yuncheng's prosthetic leg was finished in March.
It was the beginning of spring. After two rounds of rain, the weather finally began to warm.
The air turned damp and sticky, but the withered lawns along the roadside were slowly greening again, coming back to life.
A lot of people showed up the day the prosthesis arrived.
Wei Xi, Shen Musi, and the others all came, even bringing a cake with them. Liu Qiaohong had made the trip from the village as well, camera in hand, ready to document the occasion.
For the sake of making the promotional footage easier to shoot, they chose the living room of the rented apartment as the setting. Almost everything had been cleared out, leaving only a few pieces of furniture so the space would stay open and unobstructed.
The staff unboxed the package, taught Ye Yuncheng how to use it, and helped him put it on and take it off for the first time.
Yan Lie stood to the side, reading through the instructions and safety precautions. Shen Musi looked like he'd never seen anything in his life, staring at the metal exterior and repeatedly exclaiming, "That's so cool."
Unable to resist showing off a little, the staff member said, "Our previous public-welfare project used 3D printing to make a whole batch of special designs. They were based on anime and made specifically for children. Now those were cool."
Shen Musi immediately started squealing all over again.
The young man looked around at the room packed with people and smiled at Ye Yuncheng. "You've got a lot of friends in your family."
Ye Yuncheng was too nervous to catch what he'd said. Knowing it was a compliment, he gave a vague response. "Yeah. All the kids in our family are wonderful."
Wei Xi called out loudly, "Shouldn't you be saying Uncle has all the friends? Uncle's way too handsome!"
Ye Yuncheng gave a bashful smile.
The young man stepped back a couple of paces and let Ye Yuncheng try standing on his own.
He still wasn't used to letting go of his crutches. After all, he'd relied on them for so many years. The young man reassured him and guided him through walking independently, just as they had during his training.
Ye Yuncheng's gait was a little strange. One foot came down heavily, while the other remained stiff and straight, though it wasn't particularly noticeable beneath his loose trousers.
He successfully made two circuits around the apartment, then picked up two cloth bags from beside the kitchen doorway. "I'm going to buy some groceries."
Liu Qiaohong smiled and nodded, holding the camera steadily with both hands. He gestured for Ye Yuncheng to walk ahead while keeping about half a meter behind him, accompanying him out the door.
Fang Zhuo and Yan Lie followed close behind as well. The whole group trailed after Ye Yuncheng into the market, their numbers making quite a spectacle and drawing curious glances from passersby.
The vegetable vendor had seen enough of the world to take it all in stride. She was fairly familiar with Ye Yuncheng, and when she saw him filming like some internet celebrity that day, she restrained herself from striking up a conversation. She simply calmly packed a few radishes for him, added a handful of scallions for free, and watched them leave.
Ye Yuncheng bought several pounds of pork and several pounds of fruit, then stopped by the supermarket next door to buy drinks for everyone.
Throughout the entire trip, he looked completely relaxed, as though nothing was troubling him.
By the time they'd wandered around outside and returned home, Ye Yuncheng was drenched in sweat. It was impossible to tell whether it was from nervousness or excitement.
Standing at the doorway, his hands trembled slightly. Instinctively, he started to lean toward the wall, only to realize almost at once that he no longer needed his crutches. He didn't have to deliberately keep one hand free anymore. He straightened his back, pulled the key from his pocket, unlocked the door, and took a step inside.
It was a complicated feeling.
After becoming accustomed to living with a missing part of his body, he was experiencing wholeness again for the first time in years. And all the little details he'd accumulated in his daily life, each one bearing the traces of his misfortune, had now become signs of a brand-new life.
"Wow!" Ye Yuncheng said excitedly to the camera. "This is wonderful!"
He carried the bags into the kitchen and set them beside the sink, then reached up to untie his scarf. When he turned around, his eyes shimmering with tears, he opened his arms toward them.
Fang Zhuo threw her arms around him, and the other young people piled on immediately after.
"I've been waiting so long for this, Uncle!"
"Ahhh! Congratulations, Uncle!"
Ye Yuncheng wrapped his arms around their backs and patted them, laughing as he nodded. He didn't know what else to say, so he could only repeat himself over and over. "Good, good. So good."
The room erupted into cheerful chaos. Happiness was written across every face, its infectious warmth impossible to miss.
Holding the camera in one hand, Liu Qiaohong joined in too, throwing his weight into the hug until Ye Yuncheng nearly toppled backward and had to brace himself against the raised counter behind him.
After a while, everyone finally pulled apart, shouting that they wanted to eat the cake and celebrate.
Ye Yuncheng's face was alight with joy. Indulgently, he said, "Yes! And we're having dumplings too! Everyone eat your fill before you go back to school! I'll bring you more tomorrow!"
Shen Musi waved his arms excitedly. "Uncle, then I'll take you around A University! A University is huge! The lawns are big enough to roll around on."
Wei Xi said, "The lawn's probably bald because you've rolled all the grass off it."
Shen Musi protested indignantly, "Go away! The grass was already dead in winter!"
"I've never been to a university before," Ye Yuncheng said.
"Honestly, there's nothing that different about it. There are just more people." Wei Xi gestured around the room. "Look. Aren't we all students at A University?"
Liu Qiaohong laughed and chimed in, "Exactly. The ones here aren't little flowers and blades of grass anymore. We're the big trees who can hold up the roof."
Wei Xi and Fang Zhuo stayed in the kitchen washing fruit while the young staff member took Ye Yuncheng back to the living room. He carefully asked how the prosthesis felt and whether he was experiencing any pain. He then removed it again to check his skin for redness or swelling. After confirming that everything was normal, he left his contact information and departed.
Once Liu Qiaohong finished recording, he switched off the camera and stayed for a meal with them before hurrying back to the village that afternoon to oversee the work there.
Fang Zhuo and the others had classes that afternoon too. They'd been buzzing with excitement for most of the day and still wanted to drag Ye Yuncheng out to see the sights and take in the wonderful world around him. Unfortunately, their phones began ringing with one alarm after another, and they had no choice but to rush back to A University.
When Ye Yuncheng updated his social media feed, Fang Zhuo happened to be sitting through her elective, Physics and Human Civilization.
She came across the photo he'd posted. He was standing amid the greenery of his residential complex, aiming his camera upward at a branch that had just begun sprouting fresh leaves.
Behind it stretched an immense expanse of blue sky, while that tender green shimmered with the exuberance of new life.
Ye Yuncheng: [Image] Let's keep moving toward spring!
It was both hopelessly cheesy and wonderfully earnest. Fang Zhuo couldn't help liking it.
Not long afterward, Ye Yuncheng replied: Study hard.
Fang Zhuo: "..." Baiting people into breaking the rules.
Liu Qiaohong finished editing the video that very night.
He sent one copy to the person in charge at the prosthetics company to use as a promotional case study. Another went to Ye Yuncheng and Fang Zhuo for them to keep as a memento. Finally, he uploaded it to his official account as well.
The next day at noon, after watching the edited video, Fang Zhuo had a serious discussion with Liu Qiaohong about how he could possibly make everyone look so terrible on camera. Didn't filters and beauty effects exist for a reason? It wasn't as though there were no handsome men or beautiful women at A University.
Liu Qiaohong considered that a biased opinion. He thought everyone in the video looked spirited and full of positive energy, brimming with the passion and vitality of young people today.
That afternoon, the two of them received a formal complaint from Wei Xi. She said she looked so ugly she wanted to put a mosaic over her own face.
Nobody paid much attention to the matter.
The following night, Fang Zhuo was in her dorm working on a group assignment when her counselor found her through the QQ group. He sent her a screenshot, then immediately called her.
"Fang Zhuo, is that you in the video?"
"That's me."
Her counselor sounded astonished. "Are you related to everyone in that video?"
Fang Zhuo laughed. "Of course not. They're my high school classmates. We're pretty close, and we all got into A University, so we've stayed in touch."
"Oh. So Uncle is your actual maternal uncle, right?" the counselor asked. "He looks quite a bit like you."
Fang Zhuo had already explained her family circumstances to her counselor when she applied for the work-study program. His repeated questions left her rather baffled.
"You're famous!" her counselor suddenly exclaimed. "Do you know that video is trending? It's already passed six hundred thousand likes! I wouldn't be surprised if it breaks a million!"
Fang Zhuo stared blankly. "Huh?"
"Yes, your uncle's famous now. Everyone thinks the video is heartwarming and inspirational. Go online and see for yourself if you don't believe me. I even had a friend who's a reporter contact me just now to ask whether I knew you and whether you were actually a student at A University. Teachers in the office have been asking me about you too."
Fang Zhuo couldn't quite feel the reality of it. It sounded like he was joking. She knew, on some level, that it was true, yet she still had no idea what it meant.
Her counselor urged her to go take a look and then hung up.
Fang Zhuo opened Ye Yuncheng's account.
He and Liu Qiaohong had both posted the video. The one on Ye Yuncheng's account had only a little over three hundred thousand likes so far, but that was already an astronomical leap compared with the hundred-odd likes his posts normally received. He'd practically shot into the stratosphere overnight.
She opened the comments and discovered that the internet wasn't nearly as righteous and solemn as her counselor had made it sound. In fact, quite a few people were downright ridiculous.
"Are they married? I'm talking about everyone in the video, including the young □□."
"That guy in the white down jacket doesn't look poor at all! No way he's from a disadvantaged family. And he's so handsome from this angle! I've gone back to watch it several times."
"Calm down, sisters! Don't be so direct! Cry first and follow the proper procedure. At least pretend to be respectable!"
"I'll just quietly point out one thing, Uncle. You know you could make a living off your face, right?"
"They're all students at A University? I'm a little confused about how everyone is related. Is Uncle responsible for an entire brood of A University nieces and nephews? Uncle, you should open a tutoring center."
Fang Zhuo took a deep breath and called Ye Yuncheng.
He had only just gotten the news himself and had already been subjected to a bizarre barrage of messages. Hearing Fang Zhuo's voice, he laughed helplessly. "Yeah. Your Uncle Liu says we've gone viral. I don't really know what good that does. Their accounts have gained over a hundred thousand followers, and my personal account has gained a ton too... Hang on. Your Uncle Liu's at my place right now. He's telling me to record a video and give the internet a response..."
"What response?"
"Some people think we're faking it, using poverty alleviation as a gimmick to grab attention. Your Uncle Liu says we should ride the momentum while it's here. Maybe we can use this opportunity to promote the poverty-alleviation project in Li Village." Ye Yuncheng paused. "There's a bunch of people over there discussing it... Your Uncle Liu's calling me. I'll hang up for now and call you later."
Before Fang Zhuo could say anything, the call cut off. Her counselor's reminders were still on the screen.
Counselor: Tell your uncle to be careful. Don't let some influencer management company scam him. He shouldn't rush into signing anything. Help him screen the offers first.
Counselor: There are a lot of people out there trying to exploit traffic. If you need help with anything, come to us.
Fang Zhuo herself was completely clueless and had no way of screening anything for Ye Yuncheng. Besides, while Ye Yuncheng had never attended university, that didn't mean he was inexperienced. He was perfectly capable of making his own judgments.
Since Liu Qiaohong was there helping him coordinate everything, Fang Zhuo sent two messages checking in and left them to it.
She thanked her counselor, then sat there feeling strangely hollow. Only after a while did she remember that she could tell Yan Lie.
Little Sun: Uncle's video went viral?
They Call Me Lie: I just saw it. My roommates are making a whole fuss about it.
They Call Me Lie: [Image] See? They're saying we're like one big family.
Fang Zhuo thought to herself that far more people were actually saying there was no way Yan Lie could possibly be part of their family.
They Call Me Lie: Haha, just treat it as something fun. This kind of attention will blow over in a few days.
Little Sun: Mm!
They Call Me Lie: If anyone bothers you, find security or tell me. You don't have to deal with them.
Little Sun: Okay!
They Call Me Lie: Why the exclamation mark?
Little Sun: Huh? I'm actually pretty calm right now. I don't know how else to describe how I feel, so I used an exclamation mark to spice it up.
They Call Me Lie: [Adorably Cute] Then keep calmly studying, or I can buy you some late-night snacks?
The little spark of irritation Fang Zhuo had been carrying was completely snuffed out by Yan Lie. After thinking it over, she decided it really wasn't a big deal. What did a momentary burst of enthusiasm from strangers on the internet have to do with her?
Little Sun: No need. I'll keep working on the PPT.
Fang Zhuo calmly searched for information online and finished her group assignment.
Before long, several of her roommates returned from the library. The moment they saw her, they let out a collective gasp, clearly having seen the short video too.
Yu Qingjiang knew Fang Zhuo wasn't particularly well-off and had always seen her working part-time to support herself, but she'd never imagined that Fang Zhuo's family had actually been registered as a poor household. And Ye Yuncheng had been struggling so badly that he was only now getting his first prosthesis.
Perhaps society had been improving for too long. She could hardly believe that a classmate whose life was so difficult was living in the same dorm room as her.
Fang Zhuo carefully explained that she hadn't met Ye Yuncheng until her senior year of high school. A major reason for Ye Yuncheng's financial hardship was that he'd been secretly saving money to support her education, on top of his own physical difficulties.
But after hearing Fang Zhuo's story, Yu Qingjiang was even more impressed. With an expression of profound admiration, she said, "That's incredible, girl. You're seriously incredible!"
The other two roommates chimed in. "Your uncle's such a good person."
"And you still managed to get into A University under those circumstances? Girl, there's nothing you can't do!"
Fang Zhuo thought they were exaggerating and didn't quite know how to respond. She rubbed the back of her neck. "It's really nothing. I think I'm doing fine."
She paused after saying it, suddenly realizing that she could finally speak about the past with complete calmness and say that it was nothing anymore.
Because her life was good now, the poverty and hardship she'd once endured didn't matter anymore.
From high above, looking down at the road behind her, all those rises and falls had blurred into a single indistinct line. What she looked forward to in the future far outweighed any resentment she still carried toward the past.
Somewhere along the way, without her even realizing when it had happened, the road ahead had become clear.
Fang Zhuo lifted the corners of her mouth and smiled again. "We have money now. Things will only get better."
"Of course they will," Yu Qingjiang said. "You're Fang Zhuo, after all!"
Yu Qingjiang genuinely admired her, especially the way Fang Zhuo had said so calmly and matter-of-factly, "Things will get better."
If it had been her, growing up in a world like that, she doubted she could have faced it without fear the way Fang Zhuo had.
Yu Qingjiang was overwhelmed with emotion and couldn't settle down. She sat with the other roommates, scrolling through the comments online.
A few minutes later, she was furious again. Slapping the desk, she said, "I also saw tons of people in the comments saying you guys are fake! They're saying you're some internet celebrity from a diploma mill, not a student at A University. They're even claiming those people are your classmates and that you spent money like water while you were in school. What the hell! How shameless can these people be? Do they not think about the consequences at all before lying? Do they just love making a spectacle of everything? I'm going to fight them!"
"Thanks," Fang Zhuo said, "but I really hope you don't let this interfere with your studies."
The three of them looked at her with complicated expressions usually reserved for saints, but in the end, they couldn't resist the basic human urge to argue with strangers online. They spent more than an hour battling keyboard warriors before finally climbing into bed, thoroughly satisfied.
By ten the next morning, Ye Yuncheng's clarification video had been edited.
The online uproar had barely affected Fang Zhuo's daily life. She went to class as usual. Some teachers and students at A University knew who she was, while others didn't.
Even those who did recognize her only offered a tactful word of concern when they saw her. "Are you doing okay lately?"
"Pretty good."
And that was that.
During the break between large lectures, while she was changing classrooms, Fang Zhuo opened Ye Yuncheng's video and played it before the professor arrived.
She sat shoulder to shoulder with her roommate, listening as that familiar, slightly distorted voice came through the background.
"I was born in a very remote rural village near A City. A lot of people may never have heard of the place, but the oranges from our village are especially delicious."
That product placement is painfully obvious, Fang Zhuo thought.
"My family was a poor one that favored sons over daughters. My parents loved me very much. When I was in elementary school, I became disabled in a car accident. When I was in middle school, my older sister couldn't bear the burden anymore and left. My parents died when I was in my third year of middle school, and by the time I was in high school, my sister passed away from illness as well. I couldn't adapt to school life, so I dropped out during my second year of high school and didn't continue my education..."
As he spoke in a low voice, there was something remarkably gentle about him. No sharp edges at all, as though he could hold and contain every harsh thing in the world. Even now, he was recounting a life full of twists and turns, a life that could easily be described as unfortunate.
He briefly introduced his hometown and family, then explained who the people in the video were, answering the doubts raised by netizens. At the end, he thanked Liu Qiaohong and the other poverty-alleviation workers for their help, along with the companies and volunteers who had provided support free of charge.
The camera was positioned at a distance, capturing his entire body while leaving his features difficult to make out.
But Fang Zhuo could still see the positivity in his face. She could see hope. She could see his refusal to give in.
Ye Yuncheng had always been someone who inspired her.
With an arm around her shoulder, her roommate was so moved by Ye Yuncheng's few simple words that she couldn't shake the feeling. Their empathy left a faint ache spreading through their chests, and they took out their phones, fixing that figure in the white shirt on their screens and staring at him for a long while.
"Oh my God, your uncle is so handsome... I don't mean his face. I mean his personality... Though, obviously, he really is handsome too."
Fang Zhuo smiled and nodded along.
Not long afterward, Liu Qiaohong uploaded another video, this one featuring interviews with people from Ye Yuncheng's home village.
In the video, a middle-aged man wearing a straw hat and leaning on a hoe stood at the edge of a field and called out loudly, "Little Ye used to be my son's substitute teacher in elementary school. He was paid very little because the school didn't have enough money. Even the proper teachers' salaries were sometimes delayed, let alone those of substitute teachers. But he still walked more than an hour every day just to teach the students. He'd make that whole trip with his crutch under the blazing summer sun, getting so badly burned that his skin peeled... He taught math and Chinese. His Mandarin was pretty standard too. The other teachers had accents, but he didn't really."
"It was unfortunate that he didn't have any formal qualifications, but I think he's very well-read. Their family has good genes when it comes to studying. Everyone in that family is good at school! His older sister did well too, and his niece is at A University! A University, you hear? She's incredibly capable!"
"Later, the village elementary school was merged with another one, so there were enough teachers and Little Ye was let go. His health wasn't good, and he couldn't do farm work. How was he supposed to go out and make money? People who don't know what they're talking about shouldn't go around saying things. Little Ye's a good person."
The scene changed to an elderly woman sitting in a small courtyard, basking in the sun. She didn't speak proper Mandarin, so subtitles appeared alongside her words.
"Xiao Yun is a very good boy. He even used to help me write letters. Back then we didn't have mobile phones. Long-distance calls cost fifty cents a minute. Who could afford that? Nobody called. Xiao Yun was the one who wrote my letters for me."
"I'd bring him eggs, but he wouldn't eat them. He... he's had such a hard life. But things are better now. He's gone to the city."
"Xiao Mu isn't right in the head. I heard the two of them are making money together now, is that right? I don't know how things are going."
The interviews were mostly people's impressions of Ye Yuncheng, and nearly all of them were positive. They also introduced the little food stall he'd set up in A City.
Fang Zhuo opened the comments.
The video had only just been posted and hadn't attracted much attention yet, so the comment section was relatively peaceful. Most people were praising and supporting him.
"I went through Uncle's old videos. Their rice balls and braised food are seriously generous, filling, clean, and cheap. What a hidden gem!"
"I can't even find the stall anymore. I used to walk past it every day and buy one. Today both the stall and Uncle are gone. Internet people, please stop!"
"Haha! If Uncle keeps running his stall, this wave of traffic should let him make some serious money, right? I want Uncle to make money!"
Fang Zhuo hadn't finished reading when the professor walked into the classroom, and she quickly closed the video.
Over the next two days, the online attention gradually died down. Liu Qiaohong and the others kept control of the situation and shifted the focus and discussion away from Fang Zhuo and the others, so it didn't cause them too much trouble.
There were new trending videos every day on short-video platforms. They were only one tiny splash in the middle of a storm. Without another controversial topic to keep the attention alive, the ripples simply faded away.
Ye Yuncheng sent Fang Zhuo a few updates.
He said he'd originally planned to set up his stall that morning, but nearly got mobbed by tourists, which frightened Xiao Mu badly. Fortunately, they'd moved to another location and managed to sell everything. They'd wait a couple more days, until the crowds thinned out, before going back to their usual spot.
He also said that after discussing things with Liu Qiaohong, they'd decided not to accept advertising offers or sign with any influencer management company for the time being.
He preferred a stable, down-to-earth life, and his little stall couldn't handle too much traffic anyway. If they could take advantage of the attention to direct some of it toward the village, that would be the best outcome.
He was considering hiring another person, though, because business had genuinely picked up quite a bit.
Seeing that Ye Yuncheng's life was still proceeding as usual, Fang Zhuo felt reassured.
Her roommates, on the other hand, thought it was a little unfortunate that they'd failed to turn the wave of attention into more followers. To them, it meant they'd missed a golden opportunity to make a fortune.
The looks on their faces suggested they were practically ready to drag Fang Zhuo out onto the street and beg strangers to make her rich.
Less than two days later, Liu Qiaohong contacted her again. His first words were, "Good news!"
By now, whenever Fang Zhuo heard Liu Qiaohong say "good news," she couldn't help standing up out of respect. And Uncle Liu certainly didn't disappoint her.
"A new shopping mall needs to attract customers, and they're willing to give your uncle a shop. It's fairly small, about twenty square meters including the front and back areas, but the location is excellent, right by the entrance. There's no rent for the first two years. After that, they can charge rent based on sales." Liu Qiaohong spoke at lightning speed. "I had a lawyer friend look over the contract, and it's actually quite reasonable. They've given us a certain amount of freedom. The rent after two years isn't high either, it could be a good long-term arrangement. And the mall itself is in a good location. They've invested a lot into it, so there's guaranteed foot traffic. He can move in!"
Fang Zhuo was overjoyed.
It meant Ye Yuncheng would have air conditioning in the summer, and he'd be working in a safer environment. Their dream of renting a proper storefront had come true ahead of schedule, they'd even skipped straight to the fast track.
She entered the address into the map app and searched. The mall wasn't far from Ye Yuncheng's apartment, and every condition seemed almost too good to pass up.
She couldn't help blurting out, "Uncle Liu, you guys are incredible!"
Liu Qiaohong laughed smugly. "Of course Uncle Liu was going to make sure we found the right path for your uncle. I was going to find the best option for you guys. Didn't I come through?"
"Thank you, Uncle Liu!"
"No need to thank me. Your uncle helped our account gain more than a hundred thousand followers too." Liu Qiaohong cleared his throat at that point and grew serious. "Your uncle and I took a good look at the short-video account and went through all the comments. We realized people genuinely like your uncle's personality. So we've decided to keep building the account, focusing on two things: documenting his everyday life and sharing educational stories. His reputation online is excellent right now. He isn't arrogant, he isn't impatient, and he isn't chasing quick profits. People really like him. If the account actually takes off, he could eventually accept reliable sponsorships and turn it into a stable source of income."
"Then you guys can decide," Fang Zhuo said.
"All right. We've still got a lot of paperwork to deal with, so I won't keep you. I just wanted to let you know so you wouldn't worry."
The silence returned to Fang Zhuo's ears, yet she still felt as though she were floating, her feet barely touching the ground.
She needed someone to make things feel real again, so she opened Yan Lie's profile and sent him a message.
Little Sun: Uncle Liu negotiated a shop for Uncle. He can set up his stall inside a shopping mall now.
They Call Me Lie: [Wide-Eyed] If he can move into a shopping mall, I don't think you can call that a stall anymore.
They Call Me Lie: Uncle Liu is amazing! No wonder he's our alumnus! [Starry-Eyed]
Little Sun: So now all the money I've been saving suddenly has nowhere to go.
They Call Me Lie: You can find a new goal and keep saving.
They Call Me Lie: Like getting a new home or something.
They Call Me Lie: I've heard getting married costs a fortune. Sigh. What a society we live in.
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