TSIBAMS Chapter 123
by VolareHolding the address and ticket given by Shuai Xiaoyun, Qi Guang remained in a daze on the bus for quite some time.
Wasn’t her behavior no different from selling off her younger brother?
And he was actually that silly brother who, despite his initial resistance, was completely set up due to a momentary wavering!
He angrily tore open the red envelope that Shuai Xiaoyun had given him, calling it a “college entrance examination reward.” He rubbed the pink bills inside, trying to feel the tragic sense of being “sold off and still counting money for the seller.” Finally, he cracked a smile as he rubbed the tenth bill.
Considering that his sister had spent a considerable amount on this red envelope, he would forgive her for selling him off this time.
After counting the money, Qi Guang stuffed them all into the innermost layer of his schoolbag. He then rummaged around in his bag several times to find his phone. When he finally pulled out his long-lost smartphone, he was dumbfounded again.
“Damn… no way!”
How did Shuai Xiaoyun find the smartphone that had been gathering dust in the drawer for over a month?
Didn’t the old-fashioned phone on the coffee table deserve to be acknowledged?
Qi Guang rubbed his phone, hoping that Shuai Xiaoyun had thoughtfully put his SIM card back in. He pulled out the SIM card remover and poked at the card slot.
However, it was empty. He sighed helplessly.
Shuai Xiaoyun, you really are something…
After making his nineteenth phone call to Qi Guang without any answer, Ye Xing finally couldn’t resist dialing Bai Shu’s number.
“Is Qi Guang at your place? I can’t reach him.”
Bai Shu calmly replied, “He’s not here. Let me ask Brother Xu.”
Listening to the languid jazz music on the other end of the phone, Ye Xing waited anxiously.
After a while, Brother Xu answered the phone: “I just called him, and he didn’t answer either. It’s okay, he probably fell asleep after the exam and didn’t bother with his phone.”
Ye Xing found it strange. Given Qi Guang’s style, even if he was about to fall asleep, he would definitely send him a message before passing out.
He didn’t believe that Qi Guang was asleep but was also embarrassed to ask Brother Xu and others to take time out of their busy schedules just for him. With that thought, he quickly packed a few things and rushed to the train station.
For some reason, it seemed that every time it involved Qi Guang, he would be particularly impulsive. Distance and time were not important anymore. As long as he was determined to see him, he could just wash his face and leave.
It wasn’t until he arrived at the Chen Town bus station that he realized how long it had been since he had last been there.
He subconsciously took out his phone to check the time, only to find that the battery was dead. This fateful feeling reminded him of when he first came to Chen Town last year. He had made a fool of himself in front of Qi Guang when he couldn’t pay the bus fare because he couldn’t use his phone to pay.
However, this time, he no longer felt the panic he had felt back then.
Although he had never considered this place his home, let alone have any sentimental feelings for it like a hometown, when he stepped onto this land, he inexplicably felt a sense of belonging.
It was already late at night, but the hawking of small vendors outside the station was still continuous. This was the peak time for late-night snacks.
He hadn’t eaten anything along the way and was indeed a bit hungry. But since he had more important things to do, he hopped onto a rickshaw and urged the driver to leave.
After giving the destination, the driver smoothly turned the rickshaw 180 degrees and slowly slid away from the bustling crowd.
“Little brother, not taking a taxi this time?” The driver suddenly spoke while pedaling the rickshaw.
Ye Xing was startled, realizing that the other person was starting a conversation with him, and felt even more confused.
He stared at the back of the driver’s head. His hair, which looked like it hadn’t been washed for a month, was so greasy that it had its own ideas, hanging down on one side and rebelliously sticking up on the other. Someone with such a flamboyant style was certainly not within his circle of acquaintances.
Thinking this, the man turned his head slightly to check for pedestrians. In that fleeting moment, Ye Xing caught sight of the half-smoked cigarette in his mouth and suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
The cigarette-picking guy!
That cool night a year ago, this person had stopped in front of him and spent ten seconds considering before squatting down nonchalantly to pick up the cigarette butt at his feet. He had even calmly asked him for a light…
This face that always seemed to be unclean and the way he held his cigarette were the first impressions that Ye Xing had of the people here when he first arrived in this town. Even after meeting many normal people here, this strange impression was hard to erase.
Even after returning to Fang Rong’s side, occasionally when he had a dream about his memories of Chen Town, even if it was just simply thinking about Qi Guang, he would have the exact same nightmare with this man’s figure popping up.
Fate had brought them together again, and they had recognized each other once more…
Ye Xing suddenly forgot how humans should form words, and his tongue began to stumble: “You, you, you… what a coincidence… now… you’re driving a… rickshaw?”
“I’ve always been driving!” The cigarette-picking man spoke with a slur while still holding the cigarette in his mouth, “When I saw you last year, my rickshaw was next to me getting its tire fixed.”
Ye Xing felt a little apologetic for thinking that the man was a homeless person back then. He awkwardly continued the conversation: “It’s been so long… you still remember me…”
“Don’t you remember me too?” the other person actually sounded a bit smug.
Ye Xing gave a couple of dry laughs.
“When I saw you that day, you were dragging a huge suitcase, looking so innocent and lost. It reminded me of a lyric, eh? How does it go?” The cigarette-picking man pondered for a moment and suddenly started singing, “Just one more glance at you in the crowd…”
“Wait!” Ye Xing quickly stopped him.
Thankfully, he actually stopped, not continuing his incoherent singing. He slowly pedaled the rickshaw and said, “That’s the general idea. You’re eye-catching in the crowd! You look like you came from the city.”
Ye Xing didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
As they passed the long street of bars by the river, Ye Xing couldn’t help but look over. It still looked as lively as before, as if all the trendy young people in town had to spend their nights on this street. Of course, the more sophisticated ones usually gathered at 1984.
Surprisingly, the Liao Le Bar was closed.
Ye Xing craned his neck to take a closer look. The rickshaw driver seemed to have eyes at the back of his head, as he answered his question: “The people from that bar got into trouble.”
“Are you talking about Li Zhendong?” Ye Xing frowned, a bit surprised but not completely unexpected. “Do you know them?”
“Dong-ge is a notorious thug on this street. I run around this street every day, how can I not know?”
Ye Xing sincerely admired Li Zhendong’s reputation, that even someone who wasn’t remotely connected to him would still respectfully address him as “Dong-ge” when mentioning him.
“Why were they arrested?” Ye Xing asked.
“Something about illegal campus loans?” He rubbed his head, seemingly trying to recall more professional terms. After failing, he sighed, “Ah! I don’t know the specifics. I’m just a rough person and don’t know much about the law. They were arrested this afternoon. And I also heard a big scoop!”
“What big scoop?”
“It’s said that the owner of 1984 sent them to the police!”
“What?” This time, Ye Xing was genuinely surprised, or rather, shocked.
The cigarette-picking man was very satisfied with his reaction and continued, “It’s the bar in the commercial plaza. I’ve heard about the rivalry between these two bars for a long time. I didn’t expect that…”
The rickshaw slowly left the lively area, but the shock in Ye Xing’s mind hadn’t subsided.
Brother Xu was truly someone who did great things without saying a word. This afternoon, he was still leisurely talking to him on the phone at the bar. As a result, by the time he got here, he had sent Li Zhendong and his group to the police?
So, was Qi Guang’s disappearance for so long because he was busy with this big event and had no time for romance?
Ye Xing shook his head. When did his imagination become as wild as Zhou Tian’s…
It was too chaotic, especially with the cigarette-picking man’s constant muttering by his ear: “… Nowadays, these people who open businesses are in fierce competition. Others at most would sabotage their competitors, but these people sent their competitors to the police. One word, ruthless! It’s said that the owner of 1984 is not a kind person either. When he was a thug before, his power was much greater than Li Zhendong’s group… These bosses are truly untouchable. I’d rather just run my rickshaw every day. I wouldn’t dare to make money like them…”
He didn’t know how long he had been muttering. Anyway, Ye Xing didn’t listen to a word. He suddenly caught sight of the 1984 sign.
He quickly patted the cigarette-picking man’s back: “Sir, please stop here.”
The latter pulled the brakes and turned to look at the entrance of 1984, immediately becoming somewhat incoherent: “Little brother, you…”
“The owner of this bar is my friend,” Ye Xing counted out some cash and gave it to him, smiling, “He’s not a thug anymore.”
The liveliness at 1984 today was somewhat different. The atmosphere was unusually harmonious, with colorful balloons crammed on the ceiling. If no one proposed tonight with this elaborate setup, then…
Wait.
Why were these people so familiar?
The people singing on the stage, the people cheering below, each one looked as carefree as if they had just been released from prison. And these people should have been buried in their studies a few days ago in classroom 39 of the Chen Town High School senior year, fighting like trapped beasts under the old school rules and in their baggy uniforms.
Fortunately, everyone was shining and releasing their inner selves under the lights, and no one noticed him, the uninvited guest.
He glanced around but didn’t see Qi Guang. So he walked along the wall to the corner of the bar.
“Ye Xing?” As soon as he reached the bar, someone pulled him over. Ye Xing turned around and saw Bai Shu looking at him in disbelief.
Ye Xing asked, “Li Zhendong was arrested?”
Bai Shu was clearly a bit confused by his opening question. After all, students who had just finished their college entrance exams should normally be in the state of the people behind him, or at least acquaintances who had been apart for half a year would at least exchange a few polite words.
But if it was Ye Xing, then all unexpected things were normal.
He smiled and poured a glass of water, handing it to him: “Yeah, this afternoon. Brother Xu personally sent him in.”
“It’s actually true.” Ye Xing drank the glass of water as if it was alcohol. He couldn’t describe how he was feeling right now. He should be relieved, but there was also the regret that he had missed so many things. “You guys kept it pretty well hidden from me about such an exciting thing?”
“We didn’t plan to let you little kids get involved! Brother Xu had been investigating him for several months, waiting to wipe them out all at once.”
“Brother Xu is amazing…”
Ye Xing gave a thumbs up.
“It wasn’t just him. You know that senior, Wang Lulu? She helped a lot, or rather, she was the one mainly busy with it. If she hadn’t been so actively collecting the evidence of that group of kids’ crimes, we really wouldn’t have had the time to keep an eye on them every day,” Bai Shu said, casually glancing behind him before looking back, “Didn’t Qi Guang come with you?”
This stumped Ye Xing.
Because he had the preconception that Qi Guang and Brother Xu were together doing important things, even though his purpose in rushing here was to find Qi Guang, he was not as anxious as before once he got to the bar.
Especially since there was a gathering of old classmates here.
But now, Bai Shu was implying that—Qi Guang hadn’t shown up at all?
He suddenly stopped caring about Li Zhendong and started panicking: “Qi Guang isn’t with you guys? Where’s Brother Xu?”
“Brother Xu is celebrating with his buddies in the warehouse! They’ve probably thrown up a few rounds by now.” Bai Shu stared blankly at him, “I thought Qi Guang was with you when I saw you. But this guy hasn’t shown up at all.”
“Damn it! I’m going to his house now!”