In the final exam that year, Jiang Sheng was still the first.

The winter was particularly cold, and although there was no snow, the temperature was already cold to the point of ice.

After the exam, the school will be closed, and it will not start until the spring of the next year.

The rivers around Sanlitun are frozen, especially the big river in the east, although the river is very deep, but the ice is half a meter thick, many children will run to the river to skate, and sometimes bring the family chisel to the ice to fish.

Xiao Wu is still the head of the children in Sanlitun, and the children from other villages have to listen to his command when they come to play, he divides everyone into two groups, wrestles on the ice, and as long as they slip, they will go down the field, until the last person left standing on the ice will win on behalf of his group.

At first, Jiang Sheng and I would stand on the shore and watch, and everyone knew that our brother and sister had conflicts with Xiao Wu, so no one called us.

Once Zhao Dahai was having a good time, and when he saw me and Jiang Sheng standing on the shore, he waved and shouted: "Jiang Sheng Jiang Rong, come down and play, it's fun!" ”

"The sea, Jiang Sheng and Xiao Wu have a conflict, they don't play, what do you call him for?" A child asked.

"You know the." Zhao Dahai said. "They don't have any contradictions, it's the adults in their family who have contradictions, and what does the adult's business matter to our children?"

"Let's talk to Xiao Wu." The kid asked, scratching his head.

Zhao Dahai slid in front of Xiao Wu and said, "Xiao Wu, let Jiang Sheng and Jiang Rong come and play together." ”

Xiao Wu looked up at us on the shore and whispered, "I didn't stop them, they didn't play with me." ”

Zhao Dahai laughed, beckoned to us and shouted, "Jiang Rong, come down!" ”

I looked at the silent Jiang Sheng and said, "Brother, I want to go down and play." ”

Jiang Sheng snorted and said, "You go play, I'm waiting for you here." ”

"Brother, aren't you going down to play?" I asked Jiang Sheng.

"I'm not going, you take it easy, don't knock your teeth out." Jiang Sheng said.

I happily walked to the ice and carefully walked into the crowd, Xiao Wu said, "Jiang Rong, where is your brother?" ”

I said, "He doesn't come, he sits on the shore and takes shelter from the wind." ”

"Then you take my place to play first, I'm in a group, I'll go find your brother." Xiao Wu said and walked towards the riverbank.

When Xiao Wu arrived on the shore and saw Jiang Sheng's small figure squatting under the riverbank, he jumped down and shouted Jiang Sheng's name.

Jiang Sheng raised his head and snorted.

"Jiang Sheng, you can also play with us." Xiao Wu asked.

Jiang Sheng said: "I don't like to play. ”

Xiao Wu sighed, he didn't know what to say, the atmosphere was a little awkward, so he had to sit down with Jiang Sheng.

On the ice, Zhao Dahai and I had a lot of fun, Zhao Dahai skated too fast when he escaped, and he didn't stop for a while, and hit a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy. This young man is also from Sanlitun, named Li Xing, and he used to hang out with Zhao Zhuang, but since Zhao Zhuang was shot, the group of people who followed Zhao Zhuang have dispersed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." Zhao Dahai hurriedly apologized.

"Fucking don't have long eyes?" Li Xing seemed to be hurt and slapped Zhao Dahai on the head.

Zhao Dahai covered his head and looked at Li Xing with a resentful expression, Li Xing squinted at Zhao Dahai and said, "What, you are still not convinced, the landlord's child is amazing, let your father kill me?" Grass! ”

"I said it wasn't intentional, if you want to die yourself, it's okay if you want to die, what's my business." Zhao Dahai pouted.

"Fuck you, I saw you were upset!" Li Xing said and kicked on Zhao Dahai's chest, knocking Zhao Dahai to the ice.

Because the ice was very slippery, Li Xing himself also fell on his back, he seemed to have fallen painfully, and he was about to hit Zhao Dahai when he got up.

I picked up a piece of ice at my feet and smashed it on Li Xing's head, Li Xing was angry, rushed over and gave me a kick, I fell on the ice and cried, and Zhao Dahai also cried with me.

The others surrounded us when they saw that we were beaten and cried by Li Xing, Xiao Wu and Jiang Sheng heard the movement, they climbed up the river bank, and saw that it was me and Zhao Dahai crying, and Li Xing's mouth was scolding, so the two rushed to Li Xing without saying a word and fought with Li Xing.

After all, Li Xing is fifteen or sixteen years old, and if he really wants to fight, Xiao Wu and Jiang Sheng may not be able to fight together, but Xiao Wu's strength is great, and he is not flexible on the ice, Jiang Sheng's basic skills that have been practiced for several months can fight a lot more than before, and they put Li Xing down and beat him indiscriminately.

"What are you doing in a daze, to kill this shit." Xiao Wu shouted to the children in Sanlitun.

A group of children came up and grabbed Li Xing's hands and feet, Xiao Wu clenched his fists and beat Li Xing's head and face, Li Xing's nose sprayed blood, and another teenager saw this scene and came up to persuade him to fight and pull several children away.

Xiao Wu said: "Whoever dares to come up, don't look for me!" ”

"The little red guy is really lawless!" The boy said.

As soon as he finished speaking, a scream came, and a child's wrist was bleeding, and blood dripped from between his fingers on the ice, making him cry in fright.

And Li Xing was holding a short knife in his hand, and he said fiercely: "Mom, dare to beat Lao Tzu, let you all die!" ”

"Li Xing, you dare to use a knife!" Xiao Wu pointed at Li Xing and shouted.

"I chopped you!" Li Xing chased after Xiao Wu as he spoke, slipped under his feet, and fell on the ice.

"Don't run yet!" Jiang Sheng pulled Xiao Wu and ran to the ice, and Li Xing chased after him with a hideous face, all the way to Sanlitun.

At that time, there were some old people in the village basking in the sun at Tunzikou, and when they saw Li Xing chasing after him, they hurriedly stopped him.

"Whoever dares to stop me, I will stab whoever I die!" Li Xing roared with a knife.

The villagers didn't dare to stop Li Xing when they heard this, Xiao Wu and Jiang Sheng ran to Li Xing's house, Li Xing's mother was at home at the time, and saw Xiao Wu and Jiang running panting and hurriedly asking what was going on.

"Li Xing was chasing us with a knife, and he stabbed Haruko." Xiao Wu said.

Li Xing's mother was frightened when she heard the news, and hurriedly ran out of the door, seeing that Li Xing really ran over with a knife, picked up the broom by the wall and hit Li Xing, and shouted in her mouth: "I just said that you followed Zhao Zhuang and became a scum, and sooner or later you will follow in his footsteps, and what do you say to pull the emperor off the horse, I will make you lawless!" ”

Li Xing's mother chased Li Xing all the way, Li Xing's father heard the movement and came out of the house, Li Xing was immediately frightened, standing in place and not daring to move.

After a while, the child named Chunzi was brought over by his parents, Zhao Fugui and a group of villagers also came to look for accounts, and the old man who was intimidated by Li Xing said: "Xiao Li, you can do this child enough, all the children in your own tunzi are cut, even Zhao Zhuang, who was shot, is not so wild!" ”

Zhao Fugui also listened to Zhao Dahai tell what had just happened, he looked at Li Xing, who was still holding a knife in his hand, and said: "It's nothing for children to fight, but it is fatal to use a knife and a gun, not to mention that there is still our family in the people who beat this little cub, it will take at least three years for me to report to the police station, and I am afraid that you will not be able to get out of bail without three or five hundred yuan." ”

Li Xing's father looked at Li Xing and said, "It's long-lasting." ”

Li Xing was so frightened that he put the knife away, and Li Xing's father went up and took the knife in his hand, kicked Li Xing's legs twice, and made him kneel.

"They hit me first." Li Xing said stubbornly.

"Why did they hit you first, why didn't they come and hit me?" Li Xing's father raised the knife in his hand and said. "You hold a knife all day long and think you are a hero, do you think it is self-defense or do you draw a knife to help when you see injustice?"

Li Xing didn't dare to speak, Li Xing's father said: "I said that in the future, the fate of Zhao Zhuang's beast will be your end, you don't believe it, let you not follow the indiscriminate people, you still think that you can become the boss of the house, you can't eat at home, you still make trouble for Lao Tzu!" ”

The more Li Xing's father talked, the more angry he became, picked up the shovel at the door and slapped it on Li Xing's back, and then slapped Li Xing's leg indiscriminately.

Li Xing was beaten and rolled all over the ground, his legs were all wounded, Li Xing cried heartbreakingly, and was finally dragged back to the yard by his father.

Li Xing's parents apologized to the whole village, and assured that Li Xing would not cause trouble again, Zhao Fugui's eyes were meaningful when he left, everyone knew that Zhao Fugui was rich and could buy the police station, Zhao Zhuang could be killed because of playing hooligans, not to mention that Li Xing was hurting people with a knife.

In the afternoon, Ma Aiguo was a little afraid when he learned that Li Xing was chasing Xiao Wu with a knife in the village, and he also went to the door to look for Li Xing, and saw Li Xing lying on the bed covered in injuries, so he didn't say anything.

Li Xing's father was also angry in his heart, but what he didn't expect was that it was precisely because Li Xing was injured this time and lay at home that he escaped a catastrophe three days later.

Three days later, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, a new gang in the town gathered a group of unemployed gangsters to collect protection money in the town.

Because Uncle Qin's Tangkou business became more and more formalized, he also began to set up enterprises, open restaurants, and open factories. During the anti-Japanese war, Uncle Qin would also donate money to ** as a strategic material, and I don't know how much he donated to the Beiping Police Station, in addition to the normal street leasing and operating expenses, he has not collected protection fees for many years.

Some gangsters borrowed Uncle Qin's name to collect protection money privately, and Uncle Qin didn't care when someone reported it to Uncle Qin at the beginning, after all, his business is turning to formalization, and the gangsters also have to eat together, but who knows that these gangsters are developing more and more, and finally the protection money is received from his Guanghe Restaurant.

At that time, Qin Changcheng, the eldest son of Uncle Qin in Guanghe Restaurant, was talking about business with several well-known figures in Beiping City, and when he heard his subordinates say that someone downstairs was charging protection money, he ordered people to be driven away.

Not only was a group of guests beaten, but Qin Changcheng was also beaten all over his body, and Uncle Qin was furious when he found out about this matter, that is, overnight, the emerging gang disappeared, and all the gangsters inside disappeared without a trace.

Some people say that they saw Uncle Qin's people bury those people, and some people say that they were caught by the people from the police station and taken to prison to work as coolies, and a group of Sanlitun teenagers who followed Zhao Zhuang at the beginning also joined the emerging gang, and there was naturally Li Xing's gang in it.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, protection fees are collected, and all the participants have a lottery to take, often dozens or hundreds, and the most can earn thousands, who will not be able to get along with the money?

Two teenagers disappeared in Sanlitun, and their parents found their father and Zhao Fugui and asked them to help inquire with the people in the police station, but the final result was inconclusive, and it was obvious that the people in the police station were silenced and did not dare to mention the incident.

Li Xing has been a lot more honest since then, and the people in Sanlitun say that Li Xing should not be killed, maybe this is fate.

In the New Year of Sanlitun, a few happy and a few worried, except for Zhao Fugui's family, it seems that every family will worry about their livelihood, at that time, due to the war, a large amount of money was printed, resulting in a rapid rise in prices, the original one dollar a cage of buns became five yuan a cage, and the mother knitted a cloak with an income of nearly 100 yuan a month It is obvious that there is something beyond means.

At that time, there were fewer people who could read and write, and even fewer people who could write well. Sanlitun has the best handwriting, one is Ma Aiguo, and the other is Jiang Sheng.

Ma Aiguo would also write Spring Festival couplets in previous years, and he would symbolically charge a few cents for helping the villagers write them, and he didn't think of selling them with Spring Festival couplets.

And Jiang Sheng began to set up a stall to sell Spring Festival couplets at the entrance of the alley in the town two days before the Chinese New Year, he asked his mother for ten yuan, and then bought a pile of red paper, and rented a table, passers-by saw that he was young and could say happy words, smiled and his eyes were bent like crescent moons, and his writing was neat and beautiful, and he felt strange, so he went to his stall to buy Spring Festival couplets.

Mother was still knitting the cloak at that time, so she thought that Jiang Sheng was playing around and didn't pay attention to it, but who knew that Jiang Sheng actually earned more than 300 yuan when he picked up Jiang Sheng in the evening.

On the way back, my mother said: "I worked hard for half a year and was not as good as a child to earn more in a day, reading and writing is really good, and I can't complain that people say that there is a golden house in the book." ”