Chapter Ten: Narrow Road Encounter

  After a speech to Congress, former US President Kennedy was somewhat emotional and said to his driver: "Hey! Kid, I feel great today. You're doing a good job, one day you'll be as great as me!" By the end of 1993, the whole world remembered the name of this driver - Bill Clinton.

  "Yè zi, hurry up and come downstairs, the road will be congested soon..." Cui Lei shouted loudly at the bottom of my building. I replied while rushing downstairs. Today is Yang Can's return from the army to visit his family, and Cui Lei and I agreed to go pick him up.

  As soon as I came out of the corridor, I saw Cui Lei standing in front of a brand new Santana, winking at me and saying "How's this? Just bought it for 250,000 yuan. The license plate was just installed yesterday."

  He glanced at him and said, "What's there to be proud of? In '92 when the flood came and the residents' committee asked for donations, where were you then? You weren't so generous back then!" He smiled awkwardly, "Alright, alright... Back then we were all poor! If there's another donation drive in the future, I'll be the first to sign up. Besides, today it's all for picking up my son."

  As I walked on the road, looking at the busy streets of people rushing to buy New Year's goods, Cui Lei asked: "Ye Zi, do you still remember the year we sold cassette tapes?" I nodded, "What's up? Do you want to go back to selling cassette tapes again?"

  "Whatever, nowadays everyone's watching DVDs, who still buys that stuff. But there are still people selling it at the Big White Horse. Just can't make much money from it."

  I smiled wryly and said: "That thing wasn't profitable in the first place. If it weren't for Lian Ge, I wouldn't have done it."

  "It wasn't until I ran to Hong Kong twice that I realized, emotionally, it was a loss. At first, I wanted to keep selling that thing, if you really kept selling, your sister would have lost so much." Cui Lei also laughed and said: "Actually, Liang Ge later also knew, always wanting to find an opportunity to thank you."

  I shook my head and said "What's there to thank? He's always saying I'm his little brother!"

  "Actually, I want to thank you too. If it wasn't for you asking your dad to help me get a permit, I reckon I'd still be selling tapes on the street." Cui Lei said with a half-smile, "Brother, I'll remember this for life!"

  I shrank my neck and said: "Lei Zi, I know I'm handsome, but... I really don't like men."

  "Get out of here!" Lei Zi cursed with a laugh, slapping his palm towards my head. Before it hit me, I saw someone riding a bicycle appearing diagonally in front of the car. I shouted "watch out", and Cui Lei slammed on the brakes. But it was still a bit late, the car's hood knocked over the bicycle.

  I and Cui Lei hastily got out of the car, one after another, to help the person up. The person who was hit was wearing a military coat, with a big mask on, wrapped tightly all over, only a pair of big eyes exposed outside, puffed up and said to us: "How do you drive? Not driving on the main road, but crashing into people?" From the voice, it seemed like a girl.

  I was stunned for a moment. It seemed like she suddenly appeared in front of us? "Are you trying to swindle us?" Cui Lei shouted loudly, "Stop yelling, I know you're fine! A girl from a good family doing this, no one at home is taking care of her!"

  "You're talking nonsense! It's obviously you who intentionally bumped into me. You should compensate me for my bicycle!" The girl took off her mask and shouted loudly at Cui Lei.

  At this time, people around us also gathered and pointed at us. Cui Lei saw the situation and said: "I won't accompany you today, you can ask around in the four cities, there's no one who dares to collide with me yet."

  The girl listened, with tears in her big eyes, and pointed at us with a wronged expression, saying "You rascals!". I looked at her face and secretly admired, "If she wasn't so thin, and her eyes weren't so big, and her face was a bit rounder, she would look even better..."

  Cui Lei noticed that I hadn't spoken for half a day, and poked me, "Ye Zi, what are you thinking about!" "Uh", I quickly came back to my senses and said: "We still have to pick up Pangzi, give her some money and let her hurry up". Cui Lei thought for a moment, not wanting to waste time with her either. He took out 200 yuan and handed it to her, saying: "Here, this is the taxi fare for accompanying you, we have urgent business today, next time we meet, I'll catch you and take you to the police station." I quickly dispersed the people around us and got in the car with Cui Lei.

  Through the rearview mirror, I saw a girl quickly get on the car and run away. I exchanged a smile with Cui Lei. "Damn, Master Lei has picked up a chick today." Cui Lei complained. "Come on, 200 yuan is not enough for you to sing in a song hall for one night," I comforted him. "Just consider it as poverty alleviation."

  Chui Lei shook his head and said, "No way, I thought your eyes were off earlier. You've got a crush on her, haven't you? Why didn't you say so earlier? We could have tricked her into the car and taken care of it outside the Second Ring Road. When did you become so polite?"

  "Get out!" I cursed with a smile "That little girl was right about one thing, you're just a scoundrel."

  "I'm a hooligan, who am I afraid of?!"

  When we arrived at the railway station, Yang Can and his parents were already waiting at the exit. I and Cui Lei rushed over to give him a big hug each. Cui Lei didn't care that Yang Can's parents were standing beside them, he put his arm around Yang Can and said: "Fatty, you've been away for two years but you still haven't lost weight, are you raising pigs in the army?" His words made Yang Can's face turn red as he stuttered: "N-no, I'm in the cooking squad..." "Then the cooking squad must be having a secret feast!" I also teased him, "You little rascal, you definitely didn't eat less!"

  Yang Can might have been educated in the army and was squeezed by me and Cui Lei, not knowing what to say. His parents occasionally helped him out of trouble.

  On the way home, I asked Yang Can, "Fatty, there's only one more year before you're discharged from the army. Have you thought about what to do when you get back?" "Fatty, how about coming back and trading steel with me? I guarantee you'll make a fortune in a year!" Cui Lei interrupted, "Nowadays, everywhere is laying off workers, there's no good life!"

  Yang Cang's parents showed envy in their eyes, and echoed Cui Lei's words that doing business was good. Yang Cang didn't respond, turned his head and asked me "Ye Zi, you'll be taking the college entrance exam next year, right? Have you thought about which school to take it at?"

  It seems he has thought it over and come back to do something. This kid doesn't look like much, but his ideas are not small. I had no choice but to take over the conversation and say: "No, let's talk about it when the results come out. I'm always messing around outside, being able to get into Gongda is already pretty good."

  "It's great to be a university student! When the time comes, you'll be a university student and after graduation, you can get assigned to a good unit!" Yang Can's father said: "Xiao Shanzhu, look at your classmates, one is a university student, the other is an individual entrepreneur. Both are better than you." I and Cui Lei didn't interrupt again, listening to Yang Can's parents scolding him.

  Send Yang Can and his parents home, tell him to have dinner at Xiao Kou Fu at 7 o'clock in the evening. Cui Lei and I will leave first to find Liang Ge and others.

  At night, in the big hall of Xiao Kou Fu, our group gathered together to reminisce. Liangzi and Baocheng have been very successful in the past two years, their business has been booming, and they even opened a clothing store in Moscow. After everyone had a "reunion drink", Baocheng was the first to raise his glass and said to Yang Can, "Brother, it's our first meeting, come and have one with me."

  Liangzi watched them drinking and turned to me, saying: "I'm telling you, Yezi, Xiao Pang hasn't come back for two years, so just invite him to Xiaokoufu to eat guancang. If you don't have money, just tell your brother." I clinked glasses with him and said: "You don't understand this, the newly opened Hyatt is pretty good, but do they have guancang?"

  Bao Cheng took over my words and said: "Ye Zi, don't bother with him. He thinks the tips here are not enough, now he loves to throw money at female waitresses in restaurants. When we were eating in Beijing, he saw a little girl and casually gave her 100 US dollars!

  "We all laughed and teased: 'Alright, Lao Liang, you must have been moved by the young girl's beauty...'"

  Liangzi's face turned red, just wanting to explain, when Cui Lei suddenly shouted "I'm going to die!" Seeing us looking at him, he nodded towards me. We looked in the direction and saw that the little girl who bumped into us during the day was with a group of kids shouting and laughing.

  Liàngzi asked Cuī Léi what was wrong, and I told him the whole story. Liàngzi burst out laughing "Cuī Léi, you also have times when people take advantage of you?". Cuī Léi ignored him and got up to walk away. Bǎo Chéng followed after him with a smile.

  He walked up to the front, and with a slap on a young boy's head, Cui Lei said, "Get out of here!" The little brat was about to curse back. He turned his head and saw two fierce-looking big men, and immediately became timid. A little girl saw that it was Leizi, stood up and wanted to run away, but was caught by Leizi's hair and dragged to our table. Another young boy was about to make a fuss, but was slapped by Baocheng and became obedient. Then he followed the others and ran away with his tail between his legs.

  The restaurant owner wanted to come over and ask what was wrong, but Liangzi waved his hand to indicate that everything was fine. We were quite familiar with him, so he just treated it as usual.

  Cui Leisong let go of Xiaoyi's hair and asked her, "Speak up, what's going on?" Xiaoyi was so scared that she trembled all over, not daring to lift her head as she sobbed. Cui Leisong glanced at me and, suppressing a smile, asked again, "What's your name? Where do you live?"

  The little girl continued to cry loudly without saying a word. So Liangzi pretended to speak in a fierce tone, "Stop crying, or I'll send you to the police station."

  This sentence worked, and the little girl immediately fell silent. "What's your name? Where do you live?" Cui Lei asked again. "My name is Xiao Xiao, I live in the south city of Songshu..."

  Bao Cheng looked at us and couldn't help but ask, "Your family is in South City, what are you doing running to West City so late at night?"

  Xiao Xiao raised her head, blinked her big eyes and said to me: "Made some money at noon, came out to play with friends in the evening."

  This girl named Xiao Xiao is not simple, this is the feeling she gives me now. Although we were scaring her, she wasn't afraid at all. Moreover, she also knows that I'm a kind person from what happened in the morning and wants to get sympathy from me.

  I deliberately didn't look at her, letting Cui Lei and Liangzi take turns asking questions. After a while, they got the truth out of her. It turned out that she was indeed called Xiao Xiao. She lived in Songshu Li, was a third-year high school student at Fourth Middle School, and both her parents were teachers at Gongda University, who usually kept a strict eye on her. These past few days, her parents had gone to Beijing for a conference, so no one was keeping an eye on her. In the morning, she had been trying to swindle people by bumping into them to get some pocket money, and in the evening, she had even bought a birthday gift for that little kid. As a result, on the first day of doing this, she bumped into Cui Lei and me, and was caught red-handed at night.

  Finally finished asking, Yang Can said: "Forget it, Leizi, let her go, she's also doing this for the first time." "Thank you, big brother" Xiao Xiao added fuel to the fire and said "I'll never dare again, I guarantee it to Chairman Mao."

  "Don't bother Chairman Mao, just let us educate you. You go eat first, and later we'll announce our decision on how to deal with you." I smiled and said "This is your last meal at Xiaofu's place"

  She didn't know what we were doing, with her head buried deep, mumbling and picking at the rice. Because of this interlude, we became more enthusiastic, Yang Can drank a bit too much, and his words gradually increased, pouring out his grievances to us, telling us how he was bullied by the old soldiers in the army, washing their clothes, washing their socks, and how the old soldiers cheated new recruits out of money. Later, after becoming an old soldier himself, he also bullied new recruits...

  We ate until midnight, if we didn't know the boss, I reckon we would have been "invited" out already. We paid the bill and I woke up Xiao Xiao who was lying on the table. We walked out together. As I walked ahead with Cui Lei, I said: "Why did you let her stay behind? Are you really planning to send her to the police station?"

  Cui Lei put his arm around my shoulder and asked, "Yezhi, how many years have we known each other?" I pushed his hand away and said, "Subtract 12 from your age and count on your fingers."

  He stuffed the car key into my hand and said: "So, you little brat, stop pretending to be...". After finishing speaking, he grinned strangely and got into the car.

  Liangzi walked up to me and asked, "Can you open it? You don't have the key yet! Why not take my car?" I said it's okay, just send Yang Can back. He instructed me for another two sentences before leaving. Only Xiao Xiao and I were left.

  I beckoned her to get in the car, and I got in first and started the engine. "Are you planning on staying here today?" I looked at her for half a day without getting in the car, and I rolled down the window and shouted at her: "Hurry up, I'm anxious to go home and sleep!"

  "My bike is still at my classmate's house." She stammered and said, "Where are you taking me? I've already admitted my mistake to all of you." "Hurry up and get on the car, I'll pick up your bike tomorrow and send you home!" I impatiently said, "Be careful or I might change my mind and throw you off halfway." She nodded and got on quietly, carefully sizing me up.

  I drove while lecturing her, "In the future, spend less time with those little rascals, not one of them is a good thing. Look at you, staying out all night, does anyone come back to take care of you?... In the future when you have no money, ask your parents for it, don't always think about crooked ways..." I didn't even know why I was talking so much, probably because I had too much wine.

  When she got off at the bottom of her building, she said to me: "Yezige, thank you!" I hurriedly interrupted her and said: "Hold on sister, I haven't hit you yet".

  She winked at me and said, "Yezi, you're a good person!" I helplessly said, "No kidding, otherwise I wouldn't have to send you home in the middle of the night." She stuck her tongue out at me, turned around and ran towards the stairs...