The evening breeze in winter is always biting cold, Meng Xinyao locked her hands into her sleeves and held them to her mouth to breathe.

After a general glance, the snacks on both sides of the road were the time for the evening self-study at the university, and the already small street was crowded with students who came to buy food.

Mo Chen asked Meng Xinyao beside him, "What do you want to eat?" I went to the queue. ”

"Uh......" Meng Xinyao stood on tiptoe, looked behind the snack carts lined up in a row, and said hesitantly, "Go and see what's in the shed!" It's too cold out there. ”

"If you want to eat something from here, tell me, I'll buy it back, and it's okay if we take it to the shed to eat." Mo Chen said.

Meng Xinyao said embarrassedly, "No, okay! How can anyone bring their own food? ”

Mo Chen smiled, "It's okay, let's order something else in the shed and eat it together." On their side, they don't talk so much. ”

Subsequently, Mo Chen sent Meng Xinyao to a small shed with spicy shabu-shabu, which was called a "shed" because it was indeed a "house" improvised with wooden squares and thick plastic sheets.

The only way to heat the shed was to build a red brick stove in an open field in the middle of the ground.

With the stove as the center, it is barely enough to stuff six small folding tables and plastic stools all over the floor.

The owner of the shed, on the left side of the door, temporarily built a "stove", the so-called "stove" and the pot, basically the same thing.

A rectangular "big iron box" more than one meter long and more than half a meter wide,

I ordered some random things, asked for two cups of milk tea, and went to the street alone, picked up a few snack carts, and bought a lot of chicken cutlets and other things.

"So much! Can we eat! Looking at the folding table in front of her, full of snacks, Meng Xinyao was a little surprised.

Mo Chen pretended to pat his stomach exaggeratedly, "Don't worry, I'll take care of it." ”

At this moment, Meng Xinyao's face showed a slight smile.

Mo Chen deliberately brought Meng Xinyao out of the house, in order to let her avoid thinking about those troubles, so in front of the food, Mo Chen deliberately chatted with her about something to divert her attention.

Just in front of the university, Mo Chen brought the topic to his student days, regardless of whether it was true or not, in short, all kinds of nostalgia for the past.

Time always likes to sneak away without people knowing, Mo Chen and Meng Xinyao chatted, and there were fewer and fewer students in the shed, and in the end, only another table of passing guests was left with them.

At this time, an eighteen or nineteen-year-old man tore open the door of the shed and rushed in.

Mo Chen was sitting with his back to the door, and when he heard someone coming in, he subconsciously looked back.

When the man entered the shed, he did not go inside, but stood on the edge of the stove at the door, and shouted to the owner behind the stove in a loud voice, "Get the money for this month!"

The owner of the shed was a woman in her fifties, and it stands to reason that if this boy knew some politeness, he should always call him "auntie" or "auntie".

Although he didn't figure out what the situation was, Mo Chen still couldn't help but feel a little disgusted with this kid, and the shack owner, who was busy replenishing ingredients to the pot, looked up and saw the man, hurriedly wiped his hands on the apron in front of him, and took out 200 yuan from his apron pocket with a smile on his face and handed it over.

The man took the money, glanced carefully at the light, confirmed that it was real money, and then stuffed it into his pocket, opened the door and left.

The owner of the shed hurriedly shouted, "Eat some shabu skewers and then go to the quilt?" There are cooked ones. ”

The man waved his hand and stepped out of the shed, "Let's wait a while, there are still a few confiscations!" As he spoke, the man closed the door.

At the same time, the guests at the other table walked up to the owner of the shed to settle the accounts, and after the guests at this table left, only Mo Chen and Meng Xinyao were left in the shed.

The proprietress of the shed asked Mo Chen enthusiastically if the shabu-shabu skewers that came up earlier would be a little cold, and whether he needed to add some hot soup.

Mo Chen thanked him, declined the kindness of the proprietress, and chatted with the boss casually.

Mo Chen asked, "What is that handsome guy doing?" ”

The proprietress cleaned up the table of the guests who had just left, and casually replied, "He, he collects protection money." ”

Meng Xinyao, who was drinking water, squirted out with a "poof~", and said in surprise, "What age is this, and there are still protection fees??" ”

The proprietress smiled disapprerovingly, "Hey! What does it have to do with the era, little girl, you are too young, how can you know this. ”

The proprietress of the shed told Mo Chen that their street, because they guarded this university, even if they sold these snacks, it was very profitable, and this street had a relatively good background, and this snack street only appeared at night, so it was not controlled or cleaned up for the time being.

Later, out of nowhere, a group of people, a person who looked like a ghost, seemed to help the idle people in society, and suddenly began to collect protection money from various stalls.

At the beginning, many stall owners could not accept this illegal behavior, but after experiencing some "extraordinary means", the stalls that stayed had to bear it silently.

"But let's do it! It's not a bad thing. The proprietress said, "Since these people collected protection money here, the sanitation of this street has been much better, because because of their 'management', every household has been forcibly divided into the cleaning area of each household, and there will be no more garbage all over the street." After a pause, the proprietress continued, "Also, every stall is fixed, and there will be no more quarrels and fights to grab a good position." ”

Meng Xinyao pouted at Mo Chen in surprise, "It's the first time I've heard that I can still feel good when I am charged protection money." ”

Mo Chen smiled lightly, "It's no wonder, although they violated laws and regulations, they played the role of the market management department perfectly." ”

"What this little brother said is reasonable." The proprietress gave Mo Chen two bunches of vegetables for free, Mo Chen thanked him, and the proprietress continued to say on the topic just now, "Anyway, after their gang of people came, they cleaned up this place very formally!" ”

Meng Xinyao disagreed and ate the snacks in front of her, and Mo Chen chatted with her, "After you get on the right track, has there been no trouble for you again?" ”

"Uh-huh!" The proprietress nodded affirmatively, judging from her expression, it was indeed from the bottom of her heart, "We only pay the market management fee at that time, and the nature of the entanglement is also very good." ”

As he spoke, the door of the shed was opened again with a bang, and the man who had just collected the protection money came in in a hurry, and this time he was followed by a young man who was dressed and had the same demeanor as him.

The proprietress greeted her, brought it over with a plate of good shabu-shabu skewers, turned back to the bottom of the stove, and took out two bottles of beer and sent them over.