Second-Hand Love Letter

andard that suited his mind.

At that time, Shen Wenqiu didn’t realise that the two of them were holding hands.
It was so natural.

They looked at each other as if there was no one else in their eyes.

At this time, the voice of a classmate suddenly sounded, “Lu Yong, Shen Wenqiu, what are you guys doing?”

The two people came back to their senses as if they had just woken up from a dream, and withdrew their hands as if they were burnt.
Shen Wenqiu stammered, “It’s nothing, I’m just giving him a hand…”

They walked side by side silently.
After a while, Lu Yong just gathered up his courage and glanced at Shen Wenqiu.
Shen Wenqiu lowered his head deeply as if he was looking at an ant, and there was a cloud of light pink and red shrouded his ears and neck.

It looked so cute to Lu Yong.
He didn’t know how many times he felt his heart about to melt.

Still, things didn’t go as planned.

One day after the two teenagers made a verbal pledge, they went to the cafeteria for supper after the evening self-study, and the TV in the cafeteria was showing the evening news program.

The dignified hostess broadcasted solemnly:

“… Recently, China’s electronic products have developed rapidly, and the harm of e-waste cannot be underestimated… At the end of December, the Ministry of Information Industry will promote ‘Administrative measures for pollution prevention and control of electronic information products’, and a relevant discount loan pilot will be set up in Z Province and S Province, standardising the recycling of e-waste…”

Isn’t this where they are?

Lu Yong thought in a daze, and his heart suddenly warmed up.
It felt like a pie had hit him on the head.
He was stunned.

Lu Yong was still looking up at the TV in a daze, and Shen Wenqiu suddenly grabbed his hand.

Lu Yong only felt that the back of his hand was scalded by Shen Wenqiu’s hot palm, and when he came back to his senses, their agreement appeared in his mind.
He couldn’t help but hesitate, but as soon as he lowered his head, he saw Shen Wenqiu’s bright smiling face.

Shen Wenqiu was happy for him from the bottom of his heart, and couldn’t hold back his excitement.
He said to Lu Yong who was slow to respond, “Dayong! That’s great!”

Lu Yong thought for a while, then shook his head and said, “I’m not yet an adult… We promised to start a business together after college.
We can’t catch up with this opportunity.”

Shen Wenqiu insisted, “Don’t worry about me.
You are not yet an adult, but you can ask your father when you go back.”

When Shen Wenqiu said this, he only felt that he was too excited.
He let go of Lu Yong’s hand, scratched his head and said, “But it’s true, we are all still children and starting a company is something too important.
Let’s go back and I’ll help you ask my father.
I still think we can’t miss this good opportunity.”

“You already have several patents.
If you don’t have the money, I’ll help you ask my dad, as well as the uncles I know.
I think some of them will be willing to invest.”

Lu Yong really wanted to do it.
Even without Shen Wenqiu, he would probably still take this path, but Shen Wenqiu was still indispensable, and he couldn’t imagine what his life would be like without meeting Shen Wenqiu.

…

When he was young, he would be the purest and the most energetic, full of courage, thinking that there was nothing in the world that couldn’t be done.

He would not consider bankruptcy or failure and would do whatever he wanted.

He was naive to the point of ridiculousness.

Shen Wenqiu thought that if there was such a thing as heavenly luck in this world, Lu Yong would be the one who was favoured by fate.
But then again, if he was God, he would also prefer a down-to-earth good person like Lu Yong.

Coming to Y town again, the changes here were very big.

The once dilapidated villages and roads were now flat and modernised, and luxury cars and buildings could be seen everywhere on the roadside.
The locals still relied on the e-waste dismantling industry as the pillar of support, which was much larger than the scale from ten years ago.
There were more than 20 villages, more than 300 enterprises, and more than 5,000 operating households in the town with more than 60,000 employees.
Last year’s output value accounted for 90% of the town’s total economic output value.

Now that everyone was rich and the laws and regulations were perfected every year, they finally wanted to manage it.
In this regard, Lu Yong’s company had the relevant technologies, and he himself was not stingy about teaching others.
He was willing to share the technology at a very low price.

However, the locals and local tyrants didn’t welcome Lu Yong’s occupancy at all.
They had already divided this big cake.
After eating for so many years, it was not a problem that Lu Yong snatched their business, but he even came to their old nest.
In their opinion, Lu Yong was standing on the moral high ground to say sarcastic words.

In the past few days, even Shen Wenqiu had a headache.
He said to him, “President Lu, why not slow down the plan to build a factory here? Some cities have more favourable policies and regulations which I think are more suitable to get in touch with.”

“Also, it’s much easier to start preventing pollution before it’s too serious.”

Lu Yong was not disappointed as he had roughly expected this development, “Well, but you can’t just leave it alone.”

They walked outside.

And went to a river.

The river next to the industrial area was so polluted that it had turned black and had an asphalt-like texture.
It was filled with all kinds of rubbish on the surface and gave off a stench.

The dark river reflected the grey sky.

Lu Yong squatted down by the riverbank, “A button battery can pollute 600 tons of water, which is equivalent to a person’s lifetime drinking water.”

Shen Wenqiu said gloomily, “I heard that they don’t drink local water at all.
They all buy water from outside to drink it.
There are too many local people who are sick, and even the results of the children’s examinations basically exceed the heavy metal standards.
After earning money from polluting the land, they would move out after they make a fortune.
But there are still many people who continue to do this one after another.”

There were still weeds growing by the river.

Lu Yong touched the weed.
He wanted to pick it off, but he didn’t.
He stood up, clapped the dust on his hands, and said, “I do not blame them for what they do.
When people are too poor to eat at that moment, how can they care about what will happen in the next few decades or a hundred years?”

“I used to think it was because of a lack of technology, but now it doesn’t seem to be like that.” Lu Yong said, “Not necessarily, but more because there are no regulations.
Just like a small button battery, there is a recycling process, but is there a convenient recycling channel network? Not yet.”

“Also, if there were regulations in the beginning, how would they have developed to this point? The regulations today are not considered perfect.”

Shen Wenqiu vaguely realised something and asked, “What’s your plan?”

Lu Yong stood still.
The deep, black mirror-like river reflected his tall and straight figure.
He calmly comforted him and said, “It doesn’t matter if we can’t negotiate here, you don’t have to be too stressed.”

“En……”

“I plan to sign up for the National Progress Award.
If it is selected, I will have more say in the recycling association.”

Lu Yong looked at him with a face that showed that he was not joking at all, and said, “I plan to participate in the formulation of the proposed rulemaking.”