Volume One: The County Committee Compound

Chapter 0001: Young Cadre Training Class

William Bolton is a proud and ambitious person—at least, that’s how he sees himself. In the eyes of others, “great ambition but little talent” might be a more fitting description.

He graduated from a third-rate teachers’ college. Back then, he was full of swagger, boldly giving up a job as a teacher at a top high school to “venture into business” like others. With just 300 yuan in his pocket, he came alone to Zhongnan City.

He told those around him at the time that it was all for the sake of “dreams.”

Zhongnan City was one of the first cities in the Republic to open up. The waters here run deep. In his first few years in Zhongnan, with no connections or background, William Bolton got up earlier than the chickens, went to bed later than the dogs, ate worse than the pigs, and worked harder than the donkeys. Yet he still ended up battered and bruised, returning home empty-handed every year.

It wasn’t until one day, when he finally realized that “dreams” were nothing but a pile of crap, that his career began to show some promise. He finally climbed to the position of investment director at a conglomerate, which basically made him a “king among wage earners.”

But it was as if fate was playing a joke on him. Before he could even warm the seat as investment director, he fell ill. Years of toil had drained his life force prematurely, and he was diagnosed with a terminal illness—uremia.

In this world, people’s hearts are like wolves, and human relationships are as fickle as dogs. When he needed help the most, the company abandoned him, leaving him unable to scrape together enough money for a kidney transplant even as he lay dying.

What? Where’s the hospital’s sense of public morality? Forget it. Some big shot once said, “Counting on hospitals to have public morality is less reliable than hoping a male dog will give birth.” Of course, a male dog is still a male dog. After much negotiation, it still didn’t give birth, but our William Bolton couldn’t wait any longer.

He had only two thoughts before he died: “First, if I’d known my kidneys would fail, damn it, why did I bother pretending to be so pure? I should have hit every nightclub in Zhongnan and every hair salon in China. Regret! Second, if there’s a next life, should I be a teacher or a doctor? If I’m a teacher, I’d be a gardener, right? Surrounded by flowers, there’s always fragrance. If I’m a doctor, what’s that called? An… angel! Collecting protection fees in the name of God—wouldn’t that be even more awesome?”

But before he could figure out the answer to his second question, he was already gone. He felt his soul plunging into endless darkness…

……

“Could it be that virgins aren’t allowed to cross the Naihe Bridge?” This was the first thought that flashed through William Bolton’s mind when he woke up again.

He moved his body a little and found that all his parts were intact. First he was shocked! Then delighted! And finally burst out laughing.

“Qingyun, you’re finally awake. You scared me to death.” Suddenly, William Bolton heard someone calling him. He turned his head and saw a middle-aged woman, dressed simply but with an air of intelligence, looking at him kindly. She appeared to be about fifty years old.

William Bolton was stunned. Suddenly, he felt a flood of new information in his mind. The woman before him seemed very familiar. Yes, she was… my mother. Huh? What’s going on? He looked utterly confused.

Seeing him in a daze, the elderly woman didn’t say anything more. She just poured him a glass of boiled water, took out a few pills, and urged him to take them.

After a long while, William Bolton finally felt that he had indeed changed. His illness was gone, but he was different—he had become a young man in his early twenties.

“Uh, um… Mom, what day is it today?” William Bolton asked weakly.

“Today is already December 1st. You! You’ve had a high fever for three days and have been unconscious the whole time. You didn’t even make it to the young cadre training class on time…”

“Oh… no, I mean, what year is it today?”

“Huh?” The middle-aged woman was suddenly startled, looking at William Bolton in surprise. William Bolton immediately realized he had misspoken, quickly shut up, and changed the subject. Then he claimed he hadn’t fully recovered and needed to rest, and began to ponder under the covers.

After two days, William Bolton finally sorted out his thoughts. Now, he felt both joy and worry. The joy was that he had been reborn, and his name was still William Bolton. The worry was that his current identity was neither a teacher nor a doctor, but just a low-level civil servant in a remote rural area.

The era William Bolton was now in was the late 20th century, right after the grand military parade of the Republic. He himself was among the first batch of college-graduate civil servants. After passing the civil service exam, he was assigned by the county to work as an ordinary cadre in Liziping Township, and two years had already passed in a flash.

Liziping Township was the most remote mountain township in Yongping County, more than a hundred kilometers from the county seat. William Bolton’s parents were both elementary school teachers in Chengguan Town, the county seat, with no connections or background. So, faced with William Bolton’s current situation, they were powerless to help.