Chapter 610 - 4: Homecoming
"Ha."
Seeing the words on the resignation letter, Vice General Manager Wang couldn’t help but let out a couple of cold laughs.
"Fine, I want to see where you think you can go, hurry up and pack your things, prepare to get lost."
Chen Zhou, having lived through life once already, wasn’t angered by the sarcasm in Vice General Manager Wang’s words, and simply reminded him.
"Vice General Manager Wang, if you want me gone, you’d better call HR quickly to handle the procedures, don’t just talk."
...
After completely falling out with Vice General Manager Wang, Chen Zhou’s resignation process was unusually quick, by 3 PM the HR department had already calculated his salary.
Meanwhile, he packed his personal belongings, called a taxi, loaded all his clothes, luggage, and a thick stack of paintings he had brought back into the car, and left the cement factory.
...
"Where to, little brother?"
The local taxi drivers were very talkative. As soon as Chen Zhou sat in the passenger seat, the driver started a conversation.
Upon hearing this, Chen Zhou was taken aback. It took him a moment to recall his home address before responding to the driver.
"Building No. 1, Green Tree Home District."
"Okay, Green Tree Home, 14 bucks."
The driver mentioned the price.
Chen Zhou hadn’t taken a taxi in a long time and had forgotten what the fare to get home should be, so he just nodded and then said nothing, turning his head to look out the window.
Seeing that this passenger was not inclined to talk, the driver sensibly closed his mouth and focused on driving.
...
The taxi raced down the highway, where avenue trees swayed their green leaves on both sides.
Cars bustled back and forth on the road, the sound of engines, the intense smell of car perfume mingling with the noise of people honking and others ignoring the traffic lights to cross on the zebra crossings, all formed a noisy cacophony.
Looking at this bustling, hurried scene, Chen Zhou did not feel much joy in returning to his old haunt.
It had been so long since he’d seen such busy traffic, heard these sounds, or smelled these scents; everything here felt unfamiliar, even intimidating.
Supposedly homesick, yet during his time on the island, he always felt lonely, isolated.
Now, after 28 years away, the town didn’t feel as familiar as he remembered.
His parents, those closest to him by blood and flesh, had receded to the deep recesses of his mind, and thinking about meeting them soon, Chen Zhou couldn’t even figure out what he should say.
He lowered his head, turned on his phone, and scrolled through the album; looking at the photos that should’ve been taken a few days or months ago, he felt as if they were from another lifetime.
His thoughts didn’t last long, as the taxi left the distant suburb and entered the old town area.
The communities here were built in the late nineties or early two-thousands, mostly workers’ housing.
The construction technology wasn’t advanced at that time, the old residential buildings had no elevators, with six floors at most, and two households sharing a staircase, those living on the top floor had quite a physical task climbing up.
Chen Zhou’s family had bought one of those old worker’s houses, costing more than 200,000 yuan in total, and it was considered the most valuable real estate their family owned.
...
This small town, named Balin Banner, was first built in the late eighties, when the urban planning didn’t account for the development of automobiles to a point where each family would have one or even two.
As times progressed, the roads, which had been sufficiently wide, became crowded with more and more vehicles.
There weren’t any parking lots set up next to the roads or within the old district communities. If you wanted to shop on the bustling pedestrian street or at a supermarket, driving was a very unwise choice because you simply couldn’t find a parking spot.
Of course, accompanied by the planning of the new district, wider roads and parking lots were built one by one, but the housing prices in the new town were too high, and the newly constructed commercial street supported by the government didn’t attract merchants.
Especially in recent years, the rise of online shopping heavily impacted the early major clothing stores.
Once customers learned to shop online, many clothing stores couldn’t afford the costs of rent and utilities, and closed down one after another.
During the pandemic, the physical retail industry, which was already struggling, faced further blows, leaving Balin Banner looking somewhat desolate, both in the new and old districts.
However, once the pandemic was over, the town’s food and beverage industry began to flourish.
The people of Balin may be reluctant to spend money on clothes or luxury goods, but they certainly don’t skimp on treating their stomachs right when it comes to eating.
Sichuan restaurants, hotpot places, spicy hot pot restaurants from the south, as well as Shandong cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, and even teahouses, all opened one after another. As long as they suited the local palate, with clean spaces and good service, they’d have a steady stream of customers, even if they were a bit pricey, and business was thriving.
At night, the pedestrian street area was particularly busy with people.
Rows of snack stalls lined from one end of the street to the other, selling fruits, vegetables, second-hand toys, antiques, pets, and even rat and athlete’s foot medicines; there were people shouting through loudspeakers, and people sitting on small stools fanning themselves, waiting for customers to visit...
Though it’s just an inland town, it has its own kind of bustling scene.
Green Tree Home District was initially workers’ housing for the Bureau of Industry and Commerce. Later, as the employees’ wages gradually increased, many of them saved up and moved out, renting or selling their vacant apartments.
Despite these being old buildings, the location was still quite decent.
From the community, it was only two streets away from Nanxin Street, where the town’s morning market was located. Chen Zhou remembered that his mother would get up early every morning to buy groceries there on her electric scooter.
Produce at the morning market was fresh and cheap, and there was also pork and beef and mutton for sale, but you had to go there early.