Chapter 21: Steamed Fish Head with Chili Sauce

Lao Jia stood on a street in Jiangcheng, gazing at a city that felt both familiar and strange. The news of Comrade Chuan Jianguo's victory yesterday, November 7th, had struck like a bombshell, sending ripples across the globe. Yet here, life continued with its usual rhythmic pace. A flicker of unusual excitement stirred in Lao Jia's heart; he was about to meet his old classmate, Brother Hao, whom he had not seen in years.

"Brother Hao is back from the United States, and a few of us close classmates are getting together," Lao Jia repeated Sister Mei's instructions to himself, his pace quickening involuntarily.

Brother Hao, whose real name was Feng Hao, had been the class monitor of their EMBA program at Yu Garden. A native of Wenzhou, he was slightly older than the rest, so his classmates affectionately called him Brother Hao. In his early years, Feng Hao led the Wenzhou Chamber of Commerce in real estate development in Jiangcheng, turning it into a thriving enterprise. After successfully developing several large-scale residential projects, he voluntarily retired from the field to venture into high-end manufacturing and private equity funds. Later, when he moved to the United States to help his son look after his grandchild, he liquidated all his shares in the Jiangcheng real estate company and emigrated with his entire family. Brother Hao would return to China from time to time to reminisce, invest in the domestic primary equity market, and trade global stocks. As he put it, living in the United States was just for life, but his work and career had to remain in China, or he would grow old and sluggish from idleness. Trading stocks, he claimed, kept him connected to the international community and warded off dementia.

Lao Jia navigated his way to a seemingly ordinary restaurant, once a regular haunt for their EMBA class, where every gathering demanded an order of chopped chili fish head. As Lao Jia hurried through the door, a familiar spicy aroma greeted him, and he took a deep breath, as if he could still smell the spirited ambition of a group of entrepreneurs from over a decade ago.

"Lao Jia, you're late as always! You owe us a drink!" Sister Mei’s commanding voice interrupted his reverie. She remained the same boisterous, indomitable woman she had always been; she hadn't changed a bit.

"Sister Mei, you're still the same. The 'Phoenix' of our days, your presence is as formidable as ever," Lao Jia replied with a smile.

Sister Mei pulled out a pack of Huanghelou cigarettes and offered them around to the classmates present, but everyone declined, claiming they didn't smoke. She had to light one for herself, exhaling a sharp, heavy plume of smoke. In the lingering haze, her eyes seemed to hold stories beyond telling.

"You're all fifty-year-old men now—not smoking, not drinking—what are you keeping your bodies in such good shape for? Are you planning to remarry and find a young one? I’m just afraid you old bones wouldn't handle the strain; the young girls today are quite something," she teased.

Sister Mei, whose real name was Lai Dongmei, was a quintessential Jiangcheng "big sister"—warm, generous, and sharp-tongued. She was the matriarch of Lao Jia’s EMBA class. In her younger years, she had started an internet café with her husband, and as the business grew, she pivoted to a gaming company that eventually listed on NASDAQ. Later, for reasons unknown, she split from her husband, bought out his shares, and became the sole controlling shareholder of the public company. Since the divorce, she had remained single. She was the only female boss of a listed company in their class, and rumors often placed her among the top female billionaires in Jiangcheng.

Lao Jia knew that while Sister Mei’s words were sharp, they masked a deep concern for her old classmates. Among them, Xiao Yongbing still managed his medical equipment business, Li Zhiheng’s animation company was listed on the New Third Board, and Sister Mei’s gaming company had become a leader among Chinese concept stocks on NASDAQ.

"Sister Mei, you really smoke like a chimney," Li Zhiheng joked.

Sister Mei blew a graceful smoke ring. "I'm a man at heart. I like hanging out with you stinky men; I don't like being with those gossiping women who chirp all day long."

Lao Jia looked at her and couldn't help but think of the "Air Conditioner Goddess," Ms. Dong. Were all women who built successful enterprises this formidable?

"You have so many beautiful young women at your company, yet you never bring any back. Every time it's just you, an old lady, hanging out with us old men—it's so lacking in flavor. Next time, bring a few of the beauties from your office so us old fellas can feast our eyes," Li Zhiheng continued to tease.

Sister Mei glared at him fiercely. "As if your company is short of young girls. With you lot in the animation business, I bet 90% of your staff are women. You've looked until your eyes are blurry, and now you want to poach from me? Dream on! Go on, you're all old enough to know better, stop being such flirts." Jiangcheng women were indeed something else; they never lost their edge when trading barbs with men.

Xiao Yongbing took the opportunity to chime in, "Oh, look at you two. You’re both doing quite well, still having the leisure to flirt and banter. Life is clearly treating you well, unlike me, struggling to get by with nothing going right."

His words betrayed a hint of helplessness. He had once been an agent for medical devices and pharmaceuticals, but after the national healthcare reform and centralized drug procurement, wholesalers and distributors in the medical supply chain had collapsed one after another. Xiao Yongbing then switched to private education, which he grew to a significant scale with three schools in Jiangcheng, only for the entire sector to be shut down overnight, leaving him millions in debt. He still hadn't recovered. During the pandemic, he returned to his old trade, supplying hospitals with masks and hand sanitizer, and now he was spending his time chasing hospitals for payments.

Brother Hao was amused by the group and said, "My dear brothers and sisters, thank you all for coming to support me every time! Returning to China, I can feel the vibrant energy of life. China is truly the best. The atmosphere of classmates getting together and bickering is so heartwarming. Taking care of my grandchild in the States... that is truly dull."

"Brother Hao, you've lived in the States for a long time. Now that the election is over, how do Americans view Chuan Jianguo?" Lao Jia asked.

Brother Hao spoke slowly and deliberately, "Well, 'Old Te' still has quite a following in the States; he’s a populist. The lower and middle classes there really support him. They feel that his chaotic approach is at least more promising than the business-as-usual attitude of the 'Donkey Party.' To put it bluntly, the American underclass wants change; they want to break the reality of solidified class structures."

"So it's just choosing the lesser of two evils—two rotten apples, and since one likes to stir things up, they just vote for him," Sister Mei interjected. "He’s just an old rogue."

"It’s not just that he's a rogue; it’s that he's abnormal," Li Zhiheng added. "But Mei, if you stayed in the States, you might have a chance to enter Chuan Jianguo's cabinet and advise him. Just think, he’s a man in his seventies with such ambition to be president, unlike us, only fifty or sixty, and we're already lying flat. Sigh!" Li Zhiheng let out a long, heavy sigh.

Lao Jia listened to their conversation, a complex emotion rising in his chest. He knew that everyone had their own hardships. But at a class reunion, it was better to talk about happy things.

"Come, come, the fish head is here! Eat it while it's hot. I won't stand on ceremony—I'm taking half the head," Lao Jia said, gesturing to everyone. They didn't hesitate, diving in with gusto.

This hole-in-the-wall restaurant was their designated spot whenever Brother Hao returned. It was close to his home, near the residential project he had developed in Qingshan, and had been there for over thirty years. After completing the development, Brother Hao had kept the top-floor duplex for himself, renovating it into a private clubhouse. Thus, every time he returned to China, the group would gather at his clubhouse and then head downstairs for a meal.

Lao Jia savored the delicious fish head, as if he had rediscovered that feeling of youthful vigor. Over these years, his classmates had all been entrepreneurs, experiencing both success and failure. After weathering the storms of thirty years, everyone had struggled immensely. Yet, in this small restaurant, they could still speak their minds freely and without inhibition—which, in itself, was a happiness that reflected a deep understanding of life.