Chapter 91

“…Hu Shandiao said, Li Daniu is nothing! Whoever steps on my territory better not think about leaving! Fuck, right now, Hu Shandiao really has many people. The few of us were surrounded by so many of them, really XX…”

At the dinner table, Guo-zi ate as he talked unceasingly about the things on the streets right now.

The person he was following now had the nickname of Li Daniu. After the reformation in 1995, the current Jianghai gangdom already had a different structure.

“…Later, I saw that it wasn’t good. If we still didn’t make friends, could we come back? So I said, Hu Ge, do you recognize me? I am Guoz-i! Hu Shandiao looked at me for a long time and said, Guo Zi? You followed Fang Yu?”

When Yang Lei and Fang Yu were on good terms, the brothers under their leadership were together all the time. Outside, they couldn’t be distinguished, and there was no need to do so.

“…What happened later? Fuck, Hu Shandiao was really great! He pulled back his people! He said today, he would do it for the sake of Fang Yu! It would not be repeated! …”

Guo-zi didn’t expect that Hu Shandiao would really let them go. Hu Shandiao was already a local overlord.

“Which Hu Shandiao?”

Fang Yu didn’t remember this man.

“It’s Hu Lai-zi! He thought that the nickname was disgraceful and changed it himself!”

Hu Lai-zi was also a gangster of Jianghai for many years. He had fought with Fang Yu before, and it could be considered a friendship that came through fights. Even if they were at an age of denying old friendships, if Fang Yu were mentioned on the streets, everyone would respect him for being a man. In those years, Fang Yu had too many brothers and had deep connections in Jianghai. Even today, his friendships were still effective.

“Fang Yu, do you know what Jianghai is like now?? …So many people remember you and hope that you’ll come back. Even outsiders say that if you didn’t leave back then, would these suckers have a place to speak?! …”

“…Yu Ge, Lei Ge, these past few years that you’ve been gone, Jianghai has really fucking changed… The world right now is different from how it was back then! …They don’t know anything! They only know money! Fuck…”

Guo-zi was dejected. He didn’t understand why, even though he was still following a big brother, the big brothers right now were so different from the big brothers a few years ago. Every month, he had to pay money to the top and he had to provide for the top. If one were unhappy, then he would be beaten and scolded.

He was at the intersection of two centuries, and it was clearly already no longer the same era. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand, but that the world changed too fast.

“Yu Ge, they all say that you’re rich in the south. What do you do?” Guo-zi asked curiously.

Fang Yu paused.

“I do processing.”

“That’s good! It brings money!”

Guo-zi was very envious.

“With Yu Ge’s skills, he can be rich everywhere. Alas, one of my brothers got out of prison last year and wanted to find a serious job, but it’s too fucking difficult… People rolled their eyes at him everywhere. That feeling… If you go to prison once, then you’re a convict for life. Shit…”

Fang Yu didn’t speak.

Guo-zi realized that this topic was inappropriate and diverged.

“Yu Ge, why don’t you have any accent at all?! I have a relative who sold clothes in Guangzhou for half a year, and he talks like a bird. Now that he is back, he will always say, ‘Touch the hen!’ Yu Ge, you should also say a few sentences of Cantonese for us! …”

Fang Yu was silent for a moment.

“I don’t know how to say it,” Fang Yu said. “I couldn’t learn it.”

“Oh…”

Guo-zi met his big brother from the past and drank wine. He was very happy, and he couldn’t stop talking. He talked about all sorts of things, and started talking about a very popular TV series in 2001. At that time, everyone had seen it, or they had definitely heard of it. It played repeatedly on all TV stations. Even Yang Lei, who was relatively isolated in the army and didn’t have much entertainment, knew about it.

“What film? Who acted in it?” Fang Yu asked offhandedly.

When Fang Yu asked this, Guo-zi and the others were surprised. They all looked at him.

“…Yu Ge, you haven’t watched it? That’s not possible… Do you not watch television?”

“…”

Fang Yu’s chopsticks stopped for a moment, and he glanced at Guo-zi.

“I’m busy. I have no time to watch it.”

When Guo-zi and the others left, Guo-zi was a little moved. He had been suffering these last few years. Seeing someone who had protected him in the past and drinking some wine, his mood was inevitably a little out of control. Yang Lei saw him downstairs, and Fang Yu also went downstairs.

When he got to the street, Guo-zi was still holding onto Yang Lei and chattering endlessly. Suddenly, two motorcycles roared by and almost scraped Guo-zi.

“X your mother! Don’t you have eyes?!”

Guo-zi scolded angrily.

A girl ran over, chasing as she cried: “My bag! …Someone stole my bag…!”

At the end of the year, thieves went on a rampage committing crimes, and even came out to rob the streets on New Year’s Eve. At that time, there were many such motorcycle robbers who specifically targeted old people and women.

Yang Lei was born with a sense of justice. After he became a soldier, it became even more of a habit. After he saw this, without saying another word, he chased after him.

Fang Yu had already jumped onto a motorcycle. With a sudden brake, he caught up to Yang Lei.

“Get on!”

Yang Lei hesitated for a moment and jumped onto the bike.

Fang Yu stepped on the accelerator and rushed out.

The speed was too fast, and Yang Lei fell back from the inertia. He subconsciously reached out and hugged Fang Yu’s waist…

On the deserted street late at night, amidst the scattered sound of firecrackers, the two rode the motorcycle and sped in silence.

No one spoke. In front of Yang Lei was Fang Yu’s broad and solid back, familiar and close to him.

Yang Lei could smell Fang Yu’s scent. That was a scent that he had been familiar with many years ago. He once leaned against his back and hugged this body countless times.

Fang Yu held onto the engine. Yang Lei’s temperature came from behind his back.

In the cold wind, the two of them said nothing. Their chests rose and fell silently…

The two motorcycles carried four people who stole the bag. They didn’t think that someone would chase them. As they drove, they looked back. Fang Yu’s speed was too high. He caught up in a small alley. When the bikes were side by side, Fang Yu suddenly kicked over a motorcycle, and the people on the bike fell to the ground.

The other motorcycle also stopped.

“Fuck! Looking to…”

Before he could say the word “die,” he was knocked to the ground by a fist from Yang Lei, who had jumped off the bike.

Fang Yu threw aside the motorcycle, suddenly grabbed the wrist of an oncoming person, twisted, and threw him. The other person let out a scream and fell to the ground.

The other two people rushed to him. Fang Yu knocked one away with an elbow, pulled over the other person, stepped on the inside of his knee, and forced the other person to kneel on the ground. He pulled over the bag in his hands, lifted his arm, and threw it at Yang Lei.

Yang Lei caught it in his hands. That person was still struggling to grab it. Fang Yu expressionlessly swung at him, and he fell to the ground…

There were accomplices gathered in the place where this thief had fled to. Hearing the noise, several people ran out of the dark alley. Someone grabbed a steel pipe and rushed at Fang Yu. Yang Lei kicked him, and he fell a few meters away. Yang Lei grabbed another person’s steel pipe and was about to smash it, but Fang Yu pulled him.

“I’ll do it.”

Yang Lei was an officer, and his identity was a sensitive matter. If he lost control while acting boldly for a righteous cause, someone could use this against him.

Yang Lei hesitated for a moment. Fang Yu had already taken the steel pipe in his hand…

When 110 arrived, there were people lying all over the ground who couldn’t get up.

“…”

110 was shocked.

After returning the bag to the girl, the two returned to the eight-floor building. As soon as they went up the stairs, there were sudden, rapid sounds of firecrackers all around them, like a rain of gunshots, ringing through the whole city.

It was midnight.

The sound of firecrackers one after the other, the fireworks frequently lighting up the sky, brought happiness and hope as it enveloped the entire Jianghai.

At that moment, thousands of families were immersed in happiness.

The two of them sat on the terrace on the second floor. It was an old place where they had sat, chatted, and drank in the past.

Yang Lei took out a cigarette that had not been smoked, and he took out a lighter he was carrying. Fang Yu lit it and brought it before Yang Lei.

Yang Lei, with a cigarette in his mouth, drew near to Fang Yu’s hand and lit it with the flame.

Fang Yu stared at Yang Lei’s face as he lit the cigarette. The rising smoke obscured Yang Lei’s expression that had become mature and resolute from the passing years.

Yang Lei raised his eyes. Fang Yu looked away…