Chapter 2: When we met, the past was reset 05
He was wearing a hoodie so his eyes couldn't be seen, and his mouth was opening and closing as he chewed gum.
"Xue Ye, stop meddling in other people's business. I must teach her a lesson today." The man in the jacket was arrogant, and the two young men who were blocking the back road also surrounded him.
"What's the big deal about hitting a woman!" The boy in the sweatshirt took off his hat, jumped down from the stone bench, and walked a few steps to us. He came in front of me and said seriously, "Ha, beautiful."
"Tell me, Gangzi, how do you want to solve it?" He spit out the chewing gum and asked directly.
"Xue Ye, are you trying to make things difficult for me? This girl has nothing to do with you, why do you care so much? As for the place matter, Dabing and the others started the fight first. It's none of my business, and you keep finding fault all day long." The man in the jacket shouted dissatisfiedly.
"Yeah, what?" He was just as arrogant, "I just like to meddle in other people's business, especially that of beautiful women ."
The man in the jacket was stunned, looking a little embarrassed.
I can't help but find it funny. They go out to rob and fight among themselves. What's going on?
"Forget it, let's not talk about anything else for now." The man in the jacket glanced at me, looked at the boy with contempt, and finally pointed at the lake. "Then let me get the wallet and today's matter will be over. Do you dare?"
"That's it?" he asked.
"That's it." The man in the jacket answered. Afraid that he didn't believe me, he pointed at the two people behind me and said, "Ma Zi, Xiao Ke, you testify."
They nodded.
"Girl, what about you?" he asked me.
I watched him raise his eyebrows, his dark eyes sparkling with stars, and his white teeth showing when he smiled, which was completely different from his attitude towards them.
"How do I know if you are in the same group?" I didn't have a good impression of him. How could a friend of a gangster be a good man who saves the damsel in distress? Besides, according to the result of their transaction, I couldn't even get the wallet.
"Of course we are not in the same group. These people owe me money and I am collecting the debt." He grinned at me.
Only a fool would believe him.
"Let me formally introduce myself. My name is Xue Ye. You can call me Brother Xue, Brother Ye, or Brother Xue Ye." Xue Ye wiped his hands on his clothes and reached out to me.
I ignored him.
"Wait until you find the wallet," I said.
The wallet was floating on the lake far from the shore, and it was impossible to get it without going into the water. In such a cold day, only those who don't care about their lives would jump in. How do I know if they are playing the good cop and the bad cop together to defraud me?
Just as I was thinking about it, three people around me exclaimed. I looked to the side with their eyes, and saw Xue Ye ran to the river in three or two steps and jumped into the water with a graceful posture.
The "splash" sound of the water made me jump with fear. The man in the jacket didn't expect Xue Ye to have the courage to jump down. Several of us quickly surrounded him.
Huge ripples appeared on the water, and Xue Ye, who had disappeared for a while, suddenly popped up, holding the wallet in his hand, and raised his mouth to me with all his strength. He paddled in the water and soon came to the shore.
The man in the jacket was stunned for a moment, a trace of fear flashed across his face. He shouted "lunatic" and pulled Xue Ye up.
"I found it." Xue Ye bent over and panted, then looked up at me, looking very happy. I looked at his wet hair and the puddle of water under his canvas shoes, and was completely stunned.
"Gangzi, you have to keep your word." He patted the man in the jacket on the shoulder and said seriously.
"You idiot, you don't know how to use things to fish, you're trying to kill yourself." The man in the jacket looked at him like a mental patient.
"Ahhh! The police are here!" Xue Ye suddenly became nervous and pointed anxiously behind us. I shuddered in my heart and turned around to look like them.
"Run." Xue Ye grabbed my hand and ran desperately in the opposite direction. Behind me, I immediately heard the curses from the man in the jacket and others.
Xue Ye laughed and pulled me along, until we could no longer hear the scolding.
His hands, soaked in cold water, grabbed me, freezing me to the core. I ran after him in a daze, not knowing how long I had been running before I stopped.
"Okay, okay...it's alright...you bunch of idiots." He gasped, let go of my hand, leaned against a wall and laughed.
I bent over and gasped, not understanding what he wanted.
"I saved you, girl, you...call me Brother Xue...let me hear it..." He looked at me in a naughty way, stuffed the wallet he was holding tightly into my hand, and his breathing slowly calmed down.
"You are not a good person either." I looked at him coldly.
"You little bitch, you're repaying kindness with evil. Damn it." Xue Ye screamed and pinched my shoulders hard, looking like he wanted to eat me.
I thought to myself, the wolf's tail has finally been exposed! So I closed my eyes resignedly, raised my head, and waited for the beating.
"Haha, girl." Xue Ye's tone softened and he rubbed my face like a gangster, but the expected punch did not fall.
"You're crazy." I pushed him away and turned away.
Xue Ye caught up with him and tried to get closer to him: "What's your name?"
“Robbery victims,” I said.
Looking at the unfamiliar street scene and with no taxis around, I had no choice but to look for a bus stop.
He pulled the corner of my clothes and winked at me: "Please treat me to a meal."
"Why?" I won't do it.
"I have no money," he said.
"What does it have to do with me if you don't have money!" I don't have to be afraid of him anymore, I can just yell at him.
After hearing this, he unceremoniously dragged me into a nearby hot pot restaurant.
Xue Ye was like a hungry dog that had just been released from a cage. He ordered a set meal for three people and wolfed it down opposite me. The "smacking" sound made me furious.
I looked at him with disgust at the way he ate and said coldly, "I've never seen anything like you in my next life."
"Girl, don't be so fierce. Brother Xue spent too much energy helping you get your wallet out, and you have to make up for it." He licked the chili sauce on his fingers and shamelessly showed me his sleeves, "Look, you can even wring water out of it."
"Didn't you just get out of police station? What's the matter? You can't even get enough food in there?" I exposed him.
The jacket guy said they just came out of the police station, and they were clearly bad youths who had committed crimes and were reflecting on their crimes by the lake. I didn't mean to humiliate them, but it was really shameless for a few grown men to squat on the street and snatch a girl's wallet.
If Xue Ye hadn't helped me get my wallet back, I would have definitely gone to the police station to file a complaint. Evildoers should be punished, otherwise how can good people survive in this world?
"Oh, well, the food inside wasn't tasty, so I didn't eat. As for being in jail, they were causing trouble in my store, so the police arrested them and gave them a lesson. I saw injustice and tried to help, but was accidentally injured."
He said it shamelessly.
Should I praise?
His statement sounded watertight.
He continued, "I run a billiard room, and the three of them got into a fight with another group of people. I had to intervene when they were causing trouble on my territory! To uphold justice, I joined the fight. I don't know which coward actually called the police, and just when we were having a great time, the police broke in. I don't need to tell you what happened next."
"That's great. If people like you don't suffer a little, they will become lawless. I hope the police can lock you up for a longer time, so that you won't harm society when you are released ."
I had no idea how much water was in his words, so I responded with a smile.
He pointed at me with his chopsticks in dissatisfaction: "You look nice, but you have a bad heart."
"Not as bad as you." I refused to be outdone.
However, he just shook his head pretending to be heartbroken, leaned forward, and continued to cook the fatty beef in the hot pot.
I didn't look at him well, cursing him for catching a bad cold wrapped in those wet clothes.
I waited patiently until he finished eating, and then I took the initiative to pay the bill and leave. But he didn't know how to eat, picking his teeth with a toothpick, shaking his legs and humming songs, deliberately killing time. It was not until the boss urged him to close that he was willing to move his butt from the chair.
After we went out, he came over to me and wanted to give me a hug, but I hit him hard on the head with my bag and took the opportunity to run away.
Xue Ye didn't catch up with me, but I could still hear laughter behind me from a long distance away.
I must have been unlucky this year, otherwise why would I encounter a robbery when I go out? Not only did I not get to see the plum blossoms, I also met a gangster who was just eating and drinking for free.
I suddenly felt that my life was full of surprises and absurdities - meeting Fang Xuyu was an accident, and meeting Xue Ye was absurdity.
The future is filled with bleak fog. I am full of hope but also confused.
"It's snowing! It's snowing——"
Sitting in the taxi on the way back to school, outside the car window, I heard children screaming, chasing and playing, leaving a series of messy footprints on the snow. The joy accumulated over the winter was completely released in the snow.
December is the coldest month.
