128. Depend on each other for life

Thousands of kilometers away, Chicago, USA.

At 11:20 p.m., from north to south in Washington, D.C., to Sekoll Street, the former is still full of people and bright lights, while the latter is dimly lit and sparsely populated. To the south, there is an area that many people have heard of, and it is even darker at the moment, except for those who mix food on the street, ordinary people have long locked their doors and windows, waiting for the sky to light up.

A taxi drove down South Central Avenue onto West Fifth Street, and the dim lights showed that the driver was Asian, and the anti-robbery screen surrounded him in the cab. In the back seat, a strong man who looked a little drunk was half-lying on the seat, swearing and muttering, and there was a coolly dressed lady beside the strong man, looking at the man next to him with disgust, and the smell of vomit in the carriage was disgusting.

The taxi pulled up at the corner of West Fifth Street and Roosevelt Street, and the driver rolled up the window and pressed the meter, which showed $24. The door of the back seat was violently pushed open by the drunk, and the drunk staggered out of the car and scolded angrily.

"How the do you drive?"

The driver lowered the window glass by a slit, squinted his eyes, and apologized with a smile on his face.

The coolly dressed lady also stepped out of the taxi and held the strong man with one hand, but was pushed hard by the strong man. The lady staggered back and almost sat down on the floor, the wig on her head falling off, revealing a short hair. The driver's eyes flashed, and the back of his right hand, which was holding the steering wheel, was bulging, but he relaxed again, but the smile was still there, but he no longer spoke.

"You get out of the car, you bastard, I'm going to fight you one-on-one and beat your brains ......."

"I'm sorry, it's your fare." The lady next to the drunk man quickly picked up her wig from the ground, took out a $50 sheet from her bag with one hand and handed it to the driver, "Don't look for it, your car wash fee." ”

The driver sighed, took the 50 yuan handed over from the crack in the window, and just wanted to start leaving, but the drunk man raised his leg and kicked the rear tire hard, and raised his hand to slap the lady. The driver gritted his teeth, pulled on the handbrake, and put one hand on the door lock and wanted to push the door, when he saw two men coming out of the shade of a dark tree on the side of the road, one of them walked towards the lady, opened her arms, and the woman cried and hugged the man. Another man walked up to the drunken man and threw him to the ground with a punch.

Seeing this, the driver started the car, made a U-turn in front of him, and quickly drove away, refusing to be waved to stop by two passengers at the intersection.

Something like this seems to happen every day. In this city, the night driver of the taxi will encounter all kinds of strange things - robbery, homosexuality, adultery, ...... who have been caught running away, some well-dressed, some in tattered clothes. As for the drunks, they see more than a dozen on average every day, and there are not a few who evade orders, like tonight, they have been thrown in the face with money three times.

Smelling the disgusting smell of the car, the driver's face welled up with tiredness. At this time, it is also very troublesome to find a place to wash the car, so simply don't run tonight, just take a rest for yourself, and then find a car wash to wash the car before dawn. He thought of doing so, so he simply put on the sign that read "Youke" and turned right along Austin towards Sikla Street.

Let's go home.

Half an hour later, the taxi pulled into a long alley, the road was full of cars parked on both sides, the street lights were shining, the road was clean, a group of half-old children were walking down the street in loose T-shirts and shorts, under a few tall trees, there were still children running on the basketball court, and young people gathered on the side of the road, pointing at the vehicles and pedestrians passing on the road.

The taxi drove past the basketball court, turned left into an alley, found a parking space and stopped. The driver turned off the engine and sat in the car for half a minute before pushing the door and locking the car. He stood there and looked left and right, then took out a small package from the rear trunk and put it on his shoulder, walked towards the fireproof staircase of the six-story building on the right, and walked until he reached the third floor, and just wanted to reach out and push the door, but the door was opened from the inside.

The driver was startled, his right leg was half sideways, his left arm was raised, and he saw a swarthy face and unkempt hair behind the door, which was one of the apartment administrators downstairs, she opened her mouth and shouted, "Gao Bing, why do you have to walk this staircase every time?" Don't you know that this staircase is a fire escape? You don't take the road that is specially designed for you to walk, but you have to sneak around like a thief, I tell you, from today this door is locked from the inside, I ......"

"Theresa, Theresa, I'm sorry, I'm just afraid I'll be too late......." The taxi driver, known as Gao Bing, smiled all over his face and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

“…… There's a siren here, and if you come in from here, the police will come, you know? ”

The tall and sturdy Theresa completely ignored Gao Bing's response, finished her words by herself, and then leaned her hands on her hips and one foot against the door, her huge body blocked the door like a door god, and looked at the thin taxi driver in front of her with a defiant face.

"I know Theresa, I won't." Gao Bing stretched out his hand and pointed behind Theresa, meaning that you let me in now. But Theresa looked unforgiving, still glaring at Gao Bing majestically.

"You mean, let me go down and enter through the front door?" Gao Bing smiled and took down the package on his shoulder with his backhand, and took out a paper bag from it, "By the way, I forgot something, I was originally going to give it to you again tomorrow morning, look, the best bourbon, your favorite old Weller ......" ”

Theresa's stiff face was expressionless, but her right hand crossed on her waist quickly raised, took the paper bag in Gao Bing's hand and opened it to look at it, before she hummed and moved her strong body, leaving a gap of one foot square, and raised her chin at Gao Bing. Gao Bing smiled bitterly and squeezed past her. Behind him, Theresa slammed the fire door shut, and literally locked it.

"Forget it today, you won't be allowed to go from here in the future."

Gao Bing quickened his pace as if he was fleeing, replied loudly, and strode to the end of the corridor, took out the key and unlocked the door.

In the small two-bedroom apartment, the facilities are very simple, a three-person sofa is placed in the corner, a TV is hung on the wall opposite, and the refrigerator is full of notes, which are reminders to the children. There is an empty fruit bowl and an open box of 500ML milk on the coffee table, the kitchen on the left hand side is turned off, only the light in the corner of the living room is still on, under the light, the little boy with eyebrow bangs is writing on the small table with one hand, and the other hand is on his mother's hand, gently rubbing with cotton wool, and the air is filled with the smell of alcohol and medicine.

Hearing the knock on the door, the little boy quickly raised his head, put down the pen in his hand, and retracted his other hand from his mother's hand, and exclaimed excitedly, "Uncle, why did you come back so early today?" ”

"Yes, I'm back if I don't want to run a sports car." Gao Bing put the package on the low cabinet at the door, changed his shoes, and walked to the sofa to sit down.

The child's mother is Gao Bing's sister Gao Hui, who accompanied her husband and child to the United States 7 years ago. But in the first two years after Gao Bing came, her husband was taken away by a demon woman, leaving behind her 12-year-old child and his wife, who had never worked, to suffer in a foreign country. Gao Bing only knew the situation after he came over, and according to his temper, he naturally wanted to find the dignified brother-in-law, and secretly made a little stumbling, so that the kid almost died. But after her sister Gao Hui found out, she resolutely disagreed with Gao Bing to continue, after all, the man was still the father of her own child.

Although Gao Hui doesn't know what her younger brother has experienced, she knows one thing clearly, if someone hurts her mother and son, this younger brother who has been raised by herself since childhood must kill people, and the younger brother's character of revenge is famous when he was a child, especially after only the sister and brother are left to depend on each other.

Sister Chong nodded as a greeting, Gao Bing walked into the bathroom, splashed cold water on his face, and when he came out, Gao Huihui had already filled his teacup with hot water, and the little boy Gao Junyu's left arm was wrapped in gauze, and he buried himself in homework.

"Sister, you go and rest, I'll accompany Junyu to do his homework."

Gao Hui, who was too tired after a busy day, nodded, she was nearly 170 cm tall, ten centimeters shorter than her younger brother, and had neat short hair. When she turned around and walked into the bedroom, Gao Hui didn't forget to take out her brother's clean pajamas and throw them on the sofa, signaling Gao Bing not to forget to change his pajamas before going to bed. Gao Bing grinned and walked over to the small chair next to Gao Junyu and sat down.

"They're beating you again?" Gao Bing heard the sound of the bedroom door closing, so he asked his nephew softly.

Gao Junyu nodded, looked away from the homework book, turned his head to look at his uncle, under the light, the little boy's handsome cheeks and forehead were bruised.

"Wounds on the arm?"

"Hmm." The child still nodded, and suddenly grinned, "Uncle, I only took a sip of milk, did you drink the rest?" My mom insisted that I drink half of it. ”

"Okay." Gao Bing replied with a smile, but asked again, "Junyu, did you fight back?" ”

"They're all older than me, and the four of them are all seniors, so I'm sure I won't be able to beat them." Gao Junyu shook his head, "My mother won't let me fight." ”

Gao Bing looked at his watch, it was already twelve thirty o'clock in the evening. He gritted his teeth, thinking about his nephew being beaten up once a week on average, and his heart was really angry. He turned his head sideways to look at his sister's quiet bedroom and whispered to his nephew.

"Junyu, tomorrow weekend, are you making up classes in the afternoon? Why don't you take your uncle out to play? ”

"Now?" Gao Junyu pouted, and lowered his voice, his good-looking facial features under the short bangs were wrinkled, as if he was a little unwilling, but his shining eyes betrayed him.

"yes, let's leave a note for your mom, and then take you out for a play and come back, even if your mom wakes up and sees that the two of us are not there, at most she will call me and scold me, how about it?"

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Of course I'm sure." Gao Bing nodded vigorously, picked up a pen from his nephew's desk, quickly wrote a few words on a blank piece of paper, turned around and put them on the coffee table, and then raised his eyebrows at his nephew, "How is it?" Do you want to play with your uncle? ”

After speaking, Gao Bing picked up his nephew's coat from the sofa and looked at the little boy with encouraging eyes.

After hesitating for 3 seconds, Gao Junyu took his coat, took the lead in sneaking to the door to put on his shoes, hooked his fingers at his uncle, and shouted softly like a thief, "Hurry up." ”

The two of them quickly got dressed, locked the door, and rushed to the first floor in twos and threes. Theresa, who was sitting behind the lobby bar and smoking, looked at the big and small ones swaggering through the hallway, pouted, and didn't bother to ask them where they went.

"Uncle, where are we going?" Walking a hundred meters on the deserted street outside the apartment, Gao Junyu was blown by the wind, and his excited heart cooled down, and he was a little reluctant.

Gao Bing put one hand on his nephew's shoulder, and looked down at some thin children - they are all 12 years old, less than 160 cm tall, and it is strange that they are not bullied, I really don't know where the milk goes.

"Junyu, why don't you use the fighting movements I usually teach you?"

"I don't think it's useful, do I?" Gao Junyu shook his hair and replied very seriously, "After all, I am small and weak, and if I can't hit others, I'm afraid I will summon heavier retaliation." ”

"So you know, where they usually hang out on weekends?"

"I don't know, but I've heard them talk a lot about a 'Green Tiger' bar, and I think they should go there often." Gao Junyu looked up at his uncle in confusion as he walked, and suddenly figured it out, "Uncle, aren't you going to look for them now?" ”

"Let's go, let's take a look." Gao Bing knew that the bar was less than 500 meters away in a straight line, but the outside of the bar was pitch black, and the street lights had already been beaten by those children.

"You can't beat them, there's a guy named Lenny, who's about the same height as you, bigger than you. Uncle, don't be ashamed. ”

Gao Bing grinned and didn't speak, but with one hand on his nephew's back, he half-pushed Gao Junyu and trotted towards the bar, and a few minutes later, the uncle and nephew appeared in the parking lot at the door of the bar. Probably on the weekend, the parking lot was full, and in the dim light, a group of men and women were making a loud noise on the steps outside the bar, and it was dark except for the lights around the bar.

"They're right there." Gao Junyu suddenly bent over, took his body out of the grip of his uncle's palm, and stretched out his finger to point at the group of laughing young people. Gao Junyu was secretly happy in his heart, and was worried about how to bring the child into the bar, but it turned out that you were all outside, so it would be easy to do.

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