Chapter 461 Yu Li's Ending

There was no sender's name on the envelope, but the postmark read "Tongxian County." As He Yuzhu opened the seal and pulled out the letter, a yellowed piece of paper fell to the ground. He bent down to pick it up—it was a two-inch black and white photograph. In the photo, a five- or six-year-old boy wearing a new cotton-padded jacket stood at the gate of a dilapidated courtyard, grinning.

The boy was He Nianhua. The cotton-padded jacket was the one Yu Li made. He Yuzhu had never seen this photo before. He turned the photo over, and on the back was written, "Nianhua is five years old. This is a new cotton-padded jacket made by Aunt Yu Li." The handwriting was neater than on the letter, so it must have been written several years ago.

He looked at the photo for a while, then put it aside and unfolded the letter.

"Director He, this is Yu Li. I don't know if you still remember me. Dongxu and I moved to Tongxian three years ago. He works in a small factory in the street. His leg is better, but he still walks with a limp, which doesn't stop him from working. I stay at home pasting cardboard boxes and earn a little over twenty yuan a month. We live a tight life, but we don't owe anyone anything, so we feel at peace."

He Yuzhu's thumb paused on the words "I don't owe anyone anything".

"That year you sent someone to give me money as a gift, but Dongxu said he wouldn't accept it, and I didn't listen to him. He used that money to treat his leg, and with a little left over, I bought Nianhua a cotton-padded coat, but I never had a chance to give it to him. Dongxu doesn't know about this, so please don't tell him."

He remembered that cotton-padded jacket. It was dark blue, with a front opening and Chinese knot buttons, and the stitching was fine and dense. It had always been kept in the closet; he couldn't bear to wear it. Later, Nianhua grew taller and couldn't wear it anymore.

"I've made many mistakes in my life, the biggest one being that I was blinded by greed and lied to people. The right thing I did was turn back. Director He, thank you."

The best course of action is to turn back. He Yuzhu folded the letter and put it back in the envelope. There was no return address on the envelope—Yu Li didn't intend for him to reply, nor did she expect him to even remember her.

He stood up, took the envelope, and walked to the cabinet. Inside the cabinet was the cotton-padded jacket, wrapped in a blue cloth bundle and tied with hemp rope. He tucked the envelope into the fold of the bundle, tied the rope, and closed the cabinet door.

Footsteps echoed down the corridor. Lin Jianguo stood at the door, holding a folder with a red "Completed" label on the cover.

"Dean He, the archives have been scanned. All documents, thirty-one metal cabinets, forty-seven thousand three hundred pages, have been uploaded to Galaxy-Six."

He Yuzhu glanced at him. "How many copies did you make?"

"Three copies. One hard drive, one film, and one in your office safe." Lin Jianguo opened the folder, pointing to the numbers on it. "As you said, two-thirds of the original paper documents will be destroyed, and one-third will be stored in the underground warehouse. The destruction list is here."

He Yuzhu took the folder, glanced at it, and handed it back to him.

"Let's go check out the archives."

The door to the archives room was wide open. All thirty-one metal cabinets had been moved out, leaving only dust and broken plastic ropes on the floor. The walls bore the marks of the cabinets, dark lines like tree rings. He Yuzhu walked in, his fingers tracing the bare wall. His fingertips brushed against the dust, leaving a whitish residue.

"Where were these cabinets moved to?"

"It's been recycled. Qian Zhiyuan said that the waste recycling furnace of the carbon nanotube production line can melt down the old iron cabinets and refine them into steel billets to sell to Shougang." Lin Jianguo stood at the door, a folder under his arm. "Dean He, standing here, I remember the first time I went into the archives with you. You pointed to an iron cabinet and said that the contents of this cabinet were enough for us to eat for twenty years."

"And now?"

"We don't need to live off our past achievements anymore." Lin Jianguo paused for a moment. "We have our own capital now."

He Yuzhu turned around and walked out of the archives. The lights in the corridor were on; the fluorescent tubes were quite old, with slightly blackened ends, and flickered.

Old Zhao, the gatekeeper, was reading a newspaper in the duty room. When he saw He Yuzhu come in, he put down the newspaper and took out a blue cloth bundle from next to the cabinet.

"Dean He, someone brought it over yesterday afternoon. It was a middle-aged woman who said she was from Tongxian. She dropped it off and left. I asked her what her surname was, and she said she didn't need to leave her name."

He Yuzhu took the bundle. It was heavier than the one in the closet—no, the one in the closet was several years old. He untied the hemp rope and opened the blue cloth. Inside was a dark blue cotton-padded jacket, with a front opening and Chinese knot buttons. A piece of white cloth was sewn onto the collar, on which the words "Nianhua" were written in ballpoint pen. The stitches were denser than the one from several years ago, and there was an extra lining sewn onto the collar.

He touched the stitches. His fingers paused for a moment.

"Did she say anything else?" He Yuzhu asked.

Old Zhao thought for a moment. "She said something like, 'Tell Director He that the child has grown up, so make it a size larger.' Then she left. She rode a 28-inch bicycle with several bundles in the basket."

He Yuzhu folded his cotton-padded coat neatly, rewrapped it in blue cloth, and tied it with hemp rope. He carried the bundle back to his office, opened the cabinet door, took out the old bundle, and put the new one inside. The two bundles, one large and one small, were placed side by side on the middle shelf of the cabinet, and were similar in color.

The phone on my desk rang.

"Director He, this is Lao Sun. Have you read Yu Li's letter?"

"I've seen it."

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone. Old Sun was probably waiting for him to say something else, but he didn't.

"Is there anything else she needs help with?" Old Sun asked.

He Yuzhu held the receiver, looking at the two bundles in the cabinet. "No need. Don't disturb them."

"clear."

Old Sun hung up the phone. He Yuzhu put the receiver back and sat for a while. The wind picked up outside the window, and the sand from the Gobi Desert rustled against the glass.

He stood up and walked to the window. At the launch site, the outline of the Kunlun was becoming increasingly blurred in the twilight. Workers were still working overtime; arcs of welding flashed beneath the hull like fireflies.

Lin Jianguo walked over from the other end of the corridor, holding the folder in his hand. He stood at the door but didn't come in.

"Dean He, let me confirm one last time—the digitization of the archives is complete, and all documents have been uploaded and archived. You haven't signed the list of destroyed paper originals yet."

He Yuzhu turned around, took the folder, flipped to the last page, picked up the pen on the table, and signed his name. The pen nib paused on the paper, and the ink smudged, leaving a small black dot.

"Alright. Go ahead."

Lin Jianguo took the folder, turned and left. The sound of footsteps in the corridor faded into the distance, disappearing at the top of the stairs.

He Yuzhu sat back down in his chair, opened the drawer, took the letter out of his bundle, and stuffed it into the back of the drawer, under several old documents. When he closed the drawer, the metal panel jammed; he had to nudge it with his knee before it finally closed.