Northern. A small town with no name.

Midsummer. I knew that I was also sunburned and weak, and my cry was intermittent.

At night. People who have been tired from a long day relax in the evening breeze and prepare for tomorrow.

By the way, there will also be people who order a few skewers of barbecue.

"Boss, ten skewers of crispy bones, chicken gizzards, and potatoes. Four cans of beer, fast!"

"Great!"

Du Lengqiu showed a simple and honest smile, very affinity. He has a standard public face, no different from you and me. That's what it is, there are always a few good-looking people in the world.

Even if it is an ordinary person, Du Lengqiu has also fantasized about an extraordinary life. But the beating of society made him quickly recognize the reality and had to run for life.

Making a barbecue in the hot summer season is not a pleasant errand. But Du Lengqiu let the sweat flow sideways, soaked his clothes, and the skewers in his hands flew over, but he was not in a hurry or impatient.

The galvanized iron sheet makes the mobile oven sparkling with a wire brush, which can illuminate the figure. Du Lengqiu stood behind the stove, wearing a cheap T-shirt with a pure white background and only one line of black letters. Although the T-shirt is a cheap miscellaneous brand, it is cleanly washed and not stained with any oil.

Just look at the oven and clothes, any customer will feel that the boss is serious, clean and hygienic, and reassuring. It is with this seriousness that Du Lengqiu can gain a firm foothold in the highly competitive barbecue industry with a small mobile stall.

It's just that the population of this small northern city is not large, and the income is average.

People come and go, time flies, and soon, it's past the early hours of the morning.

By this time, the wind had cooled slightly, and there were few pedestrians on the street. Du Lengqiu's business is naturally unpatronized, but he can't leave yet. Because, some other special guests have just come to work.

In the distance, a group of people, seven or eight, occupied the entire street side by side, and walked wildly.

It's slow.

It is understandable that charging fees, after all, is also manual labor.

"Brother Scar, this month's filial piety. ”

When people approached, Du Lengqiu handed over the envelope that had been prepared with both hands. Immediately, each of them handed over a can of beer, "Give a few big brothers to cool off, this ghost weather is going to kill a person." ”

Brother Scar's fat face trembled, and the centipede-like scar wriggled, as if alive in the shadows, a little eerie. He opened the can, poured a sip of beer, patted Du Lengqiu's shoulder, and said with a smile, "You kid can be a man, and you are a college student, you can do a big career in the future." ”

Du Lengqiu smiled.

When these plague gods went away, Du Lengqiu cleaned up a little and pushed the four-wheeled cart away. After walking two kilometers along the main road, the four-wheeler turned into a cramped alley.

Someone vomited at the entrance, and the smell of wine mixed together, and I wanted to vomit when I smelled it.

This is the old town.

In this era of rapid development, the dirty and messy old town has long been unpopular with young people, but it is better than the cheap rent, and there is still a market.

Just like the building in front of Du Lengqiu, it is no more than 5 stories high, the decoration on the outside is peeling, mottled, and ugly, and you can see that this building is at least 30 years old.

The corridors in this kind of building are gloomy and cramped, there is no light on sunny days, and the tide returns on cloudy days, but the monthly rent of 400 makes all the shortcomings disappear.

To the right of the staircase, green garbage cans are piled up too full. It's a long way away, and it stinks. The flies are flying and buzzing, which is even more disturbing.

On the walls, small advertisements for the treatment of unspeakable diseases are plastered, and red stamps to unclog the pipes are scattered and scattered, and everything looks chaotic and chaotic, just like the night in this city.

But Du Lengqiu has already adapted to all this, and it took half a year.

Parking the four-wheeled car downstairs and locking it, Du Lengqiu stepped on the stairs to the fourth floor, and when he opened the door, he habitually glanced at the left corner of the corridor. At a glance, he saw the familiar, silent short figure, and he sighed softly.

"Lingcui, your dad hasn't returned yet?"

"Nope. ”

Du Lengqiu didn't say much, pushed the door and entered the house.

Unlike the messy and dilapidated environment around the building, the rental house was very clean by Du Lengqiu. The dining room and living room are distinct. There is no sofa and TV in the living room, only a desk is placed against the wall, the desktop is spotless, and the four treasures of the study such as pen, ink, paper, and inkstone are placed in the upper right corner, which is relatively rare.

On the wall directly opposite the desk, there was an empty frame, and only one banner hung one foot wide and four feet long, which read: "The three armies can win the commandery, but the horseman cannot win the ambition." These thirteen words, full of muscles and bones, have the taste of two parts of the body. Although the banner was not framed and only ordinary rice paper was used, it immediately raised the level of the rental house.

In short, although Du Lengqiu is mediocre and inconspicuous, he has one or two points of internal show. It's just that in this world now, the inner show is inconspicuous, and Yan Gao is the king.

The side of the living room is the kitchen, and after a while of tinkering in the kitchen, Du Lengqiu quickly brought out two bowls of mustard and shredded pork noodles. White poached eggs, verdant mustard, red bean paste, and green green onions float on the noodle bowl, making people very appetizing.

The door was wide open and ventilated.

Turn off the lights and save power.

Zhang Lingcui was ten years old, fourth grade, with a ponytail, white and thin cheeks, and appeared a little malnourished. Wearing a light pink dress, it has been a little frayed and off-line. The dress covered the bruises on her body, but the arms were still faintly visible, and the new marks pressed against the old ones, overlapping each other.

She took the slightly hot blue-veined porcelain bowl, rubbed the slightly damaged bottom tray with her hand, raised her head, and looked at Du Lengqiu, her eyes pure as a newborn puppy.

Du Lengqiu smiled, tapped the edge of the bowl with chopsticks, and tinkled, "What, is it my turn again?" Well, let me think about it, hey, there is." ”

"One day, noodles and buns had a big fight. The buns were too meaty, and they were flattened by the noodles and fled. When he fled, he shouted, don't go, noodles, I'll go to find a friend to return you.

The next day, Baozi made an appointment with steamed buns, bread, and dumplings to find a noodle theory. On the way, I came across Laotan sauerkraut beef instant noodles, and the buns were beaten badly. After the fight, Instant Noodles asked why he beat him with an aggrieved face. Baozi replied, don't think that if you burn your head, I won't know you. ”

The joke was very cheesy and old-fashioned, but Zhang Lingcui smiled very face-savingly, and there was a smile in his eyes, and then he quickly lowered his head.

Two inconspicuous creatures squatted in the hallway, borrowing the dim light of an old-fashioned light bulb, leaning against the wall, eating steaming noodles, and the sound of sizzling sounded.

Du Lengqiu is already alone in this world.

Zhang Lingcui has both parents, but unfortunately it is better not to have them.

Zhang Lingcui's parents also live on the fourth floor and are in their thirties. Both of them have no serious jobs, and they are the same bad gamblers, playing in the dark, and they don't know that they have a daughter at home. It's just that the two of them are still short-tempered, and once the gambling luck is not good, catching Zhang Lingcui is a violent beating.

Du Lengqiu is a cold-hearted guy, but perhaps it is the humble sympathy for the humble, on a winter night, looking at Zhang Lingcui, who was shivering from hunger, he made an unprecedented amount of kindness, and made an extra bowl of fried noodles.

The two lent each other a trace of warmth, and lived tenaciously in this bloody and cold, malevolent world, like a weed.

........................

Seongnam, Deep Blue Bar.

This is one of the most famous bars in the south of the city, with three floors up and down, it was originally an unfinished building, and then Scarface paid a lot of money to take it down, and it was slightly transformed to become what it is today.

Although it was late at night, there were still dozens of coolly dressed young men and women in the hall on the first floor, squirming to the beat of crazy music.

Unlike the hustle and bustle of the first floor, the second floor is divided into seven or eight boxes. Because the sound insulation effect is excellent, the interior is very quiet, and some amateur masseurs specialize in gray business.

The third floor is divided into two wooden sections, one dedicated to sports, with two old billiard tables, a dilapidated sandbag in the air, and a new wooden stake by the window.

At this time, two people, one tall and one short, were carrying clubs and smoking cheap cigarettes. The cigarette butts were sometimes bright, sometimes gray, and although there were cigarettes to refresh them, the two of them were still a little sleepy, and from time to time they had to glance at the office on the other side, which was where Scarface worked.

The wooden door cut off the sight of the two, but if you open this thin door, you will see a very eye-catching burgundy boss table. There was only one crystal ashtray on the table, except for a bamboo carved and gold-painted pen holder, and nothing else. The ashtray was full of cigarette butts, an iridium fountain pen was placed diagonally in the pen holder, and the cap was covered with dust.

Behind the desk, Scarface, dressed in Hawaiian floral clothes and trousers, tucked his fat body deep into a soft black leather armchair, his legs cocked, flip-flops high on the table, Marlboro cigarettes bright and dim, smoke curling and exuding a soft nicotine smell.

In addition, there is one person on each side of the gate. On the left, a very irregular person sat at the table, thin and withered, with a pair of black bean-like eyes sharp like an awl, looking mad. He's Scar's little hair.,Mixed up from when he peed and mud in open crotch pants.,Nicknamed Monkey,

The monkey swallowed the cloud and spit out the fog for a while, casually popped the cigarette butt out of the window, grinned, and showed a mouth full of yellow teeth, "Brother Scar, you are always too careful. A street student who sells barbecue, according to my temperament, let him blood on the spot. ”

Scarface spat out a smoke ring and shook his head slightly, "Monkey, you should read as much as I do, such as Qiong Yao, Xi Murong and the like." As he spoke, he pointed to the huge bookshelf behind him that was three meters high and five meters long, densely packed with books, Jin Guwen Huangliang was the standard, and there were also a large number of romance novels. Of course, these are still not on the shelves, and pirated web novels fill most of the gaps.

"It's a good book, you can understand it when you read it. This world is too dangerous, and there are always some perverted boys who like to experience life everywhere. We're just a small community, and we can't stand the wind and waves. The big man in the South China Sea wants to kill a poor student, no matter how you look at it, it's a bit boring, and it can't be said to be a fight between sons and brothers. We can't afford to lose our lives for a little money. I don't feel at ease if I don't check it out clearly. ”

After saying that, Scarface turned his head to look at the other person, "Eagle, is there any news from the folding fan?"

The eagle sat squarely across from the monkey. He is a rare decent person in Brother Scar's group, white and clean, with a gentle face, and he also wears a gold wire glasses, and speaks softly, as if he has a good tutor, "Not yet, Brother Scar." However, it has been seven or eight days since the folding fan was gone, and there should be news soon. ”

The monkey sneered, "I don't believe this kid has any background." If there really is, he wouldn't be going to sell barbecue. Brother Scar, let's just watch and do nothing?"

Brother Scar wasn't annoyed, he just smiled, "Monkey, this business is a thread for you, and Brother won't make it difficult for you." I'll find some trouble for that kid tomorrow, so that you can have an explanation. ”

The monkey's black bean-like eyes narrowed, "Leave this matter to me, Brother Scar." ”

Scarface shook his head, "No, you're too tigery. Playing yin, you still have to be an eagle out of the horse. ”

The eagle stood up and tidied up the light blue casual suit, Sven smiled, and said, "Brother Scar, look at what you said." How can this be played with yin? Setbacks make people grow, and I just help him grow up and adapt to this cruel society in advance. ”

The monkey glanced at the eagle and looked down on this guy who abducted and trafficked women and children, and spat on the ground without saying a word.

Brother Scar sat up and extinguished the butt of his cigarette, "That's it, find some trouble, don't see blood." Everything will wait for the folding fan to bring the exact news. ”