Chapter 22: A Turning Point
Wei Qian didn't want to make his family sad because of himself, so although he was still thinking about it, he went to work in the factory every day as if nothing had happened - during the years he followed Le Xiaodong, he had been worried too many times, and over time, he developed a naive and cunning character.
But some people just wouldn't let him rest in peace.
The first to be affected was Wei Zhiyuan. Wei Zhiyuan used to be such a good child, who would act coquettishly but not make trouble, was obedient and knew how to read other people's faces. But now he has turned into a chatterbox, and he would ask Wei Qian once every morning and evening, which made Wei Qian very annoyed.
The second is Old Lady Song. Old Lady Song doesn't need to change. She is a chatterbox who talks a lot. One person can beat 500 ducks. Compared with her, Wei Zhiyuan's chatter is weak. Wei Qian is simply afraid of her. One day when he came home and pushed the door, Old Lady Song just walked out of the kitchen. When she saw him, she paused and opened her mouth. Wei Qian seemed to see a scary bloody mouth. Without saying a word, he turned around and walked out the door...
Of course, it turned out that the old lady just wanted to sneeze.
And there is also Sanpang.
Kim Jong-un was so mean that one day when Kim Jong-un was not at home, he used a brush dipped in red paint and painted a line of big words on the door of Kim Jong-un's house - Study for the rise of China.
That gloomy corridor, those blood-red characters...
The evil old lady next door got up early and went out for a walk at around four in the morning. She was frightened like this before dawn. She stood at the door for three seconds, let out a short scream, picked up her pants, slammed the door and ran back to her room... She almost wet her pants.
In this situation where he was surrounded by enemies from all sides, Wei Qian found the only glimmer of peace in Song Xiaobao.
Song Xiaobao said to him seriously in private: "Brother, if you don't want to go, don't go."
Wei Qian looked up at her in surprise.
Song Xiaobao held a piece of watermelon in his mouth and said sincerely, "Don't you want to go to school?"
Wei Qian hesitated for a moment and nodded reluctantly.
Song Xiaobao shook his head and sighed, then said in a mature manner: "Alas, there is nothing I can do. I understand your difficulties."
Wei Qian was surprised. He thought that she had become so sensible without realizing it. He felt a little touched, so he asked, "What... do you understand?"
Song Xiaobao spat the watermelon seeds accurately into the ashtray, and said sympathetically, "To be honest with you, brother, I don't want to go to school either."
Wei Qian: “…”
That night, Song Xiaobao was ordered to copy the longest text in the Chinese textbook twice.
But it's magical to say, sometimes there really are such coincidences. When a person is obsessed with something, some desperate turning points will really happen - although it may not be a good turn.
On this day, Wei Qian changed out of his work clothes and was about to ride his bicycle away when suddenly a man called him.
The man was wearing expensive clothes, looked decent, and wore a pair of sunglasses. Wei Qian didn't know him, but there was a familiar aura about him.
Wei Qian had a premonition at that moment, and sure enough, the man saw him and strode towards him.
Wei Qian had retired from the business long ago and didn't want to care. He got on the car and wanted to leave, but the man raised his hand and grabbed his handlebars and stepped on the wheel: "This is Brother Wei, right? I want to talk to you."
Wei Qian clenched his hands on the handlebars, veins popping out, and warned in a low voice, "Let go."
The man took off his sunglasses, revealing that his nose was a little crooked and there was a scar on his eyelid, which made one eye look bigger than the other. He looked vicious and cunning. He took out a business card from his pocket and waved it in front of Wei Qian: "Mr. Hu, Brother Wei should remember him, right?"
The first time Wei Qian challenged a group of troublemakers alone and became famous, there was indeed a man who called himself Mr. Hu Si, who gave him a business card with the intention of recruiting him. Mr. Hu Si was a VIP guest of Brother Le. Although Wei Qian refused at that time, he was very impressed by this man because he looked at people strangely, as if in his eyes, people were not human beings but pigs, horses, cows and sheep that could be taken to the market to be sold.
Later, Wei Qian heard from others that the old man named Hu Siye was a bad guy who was involved in prostitution, gambling, drugs, and all kinds of bad things. He owned three or four famous underground boxing rings and was recruiting thugs and athletes everywhere. They especially liked Wei Qian's professional spirit of fighting without regard for his life.
Wei Qian's eyelids jumped at that moment, knowing that this man could not be offended, so he stepped on the ground to stop the car and asked politely, "What's your name, big brother?"
The man in sunglasses was very satisfied to see him on the road. He rubbed his hands and let go of his bicycle: "I don't deserve it. My name is Zhao Laojiu. You can just call me Laojiu."
Wei Qian smiled and said, "Oh, it's Brother Nine. Fourth Master Hu doesn't come here often, so he might not know. Le..."
Zhao Laojiu said: "Le Xiaodong has been dead for half a year, we all knew about it a long time ago."
Wei Qian lowered his eyes and paused: "Yes, so I don't do this job anymore. In fact, Fourth Master Hu and Ninth Brother think highly of me, so I shouldn't refuse. But you see, I have a family to support, so I can't leave. It's true..."
Zhao Laojiu rolled his eyes and nodded, saying, "Ah, I understand. Everyone has difficulties. Is Fourth Master Hu such an unreasonable person? The main thing now is that he has just opened a new 'spot' and the 'venue' is not yet warmed up. He is particularly short of people to warm up the place. He urgently needs to find a few capable people to support it. Although it will delay your work, you can rest assured about the price. Fourth Master Hu will never treat his people unfairly."
In the later period, Wei Qian followed Le Xiaodong to many occasions, and he knew a little about many things - he heard that what Zhao Laojiu meant was that Mr. Hu had set up a new black boxing arena and wanted him to warm up.
The black boxing market in Guangdong and Guangxi has a long history. With huge profits made by risking their lives, some underground boxing rings have real masters who could earn tens of thousands of yuan per match in the mid-1990s, while other insignificant small fry who were there to warm up the crowd could earn several thousand yuan per match.
Wei Qian laughed at himself and said, "Brother Jiu, stop teasing me. Don't you know how strong I am? A true boxing and Sanda master can crush me to death with just one finger. It doesn't matter if I live or die, but it would be embarrassing for Fourth Master Hu and you."
Wei Qian knew that if he agreed, he would definitely be considered Zhao Laojiu's man. Zhao Laojiu would definitely take benefits when he found people to do things for Mr. Hu Si. He would have a share in the gains and losses of the people he found. Wei Qian knew all these things.
"You are wrong, it's not like that," Zhao Laojiu waved his hands, "Real masters are not cabbages, how can they be so easy to find? Mr. Hu has a good eye, he thinks highly of you, you don't have to belittle yourself..."
At this point, Brother Nine suddenly looked around and lowered his voice to Wei Qian, "Let me tell you the truth. In the boxing ring, it's okay if you're just generally good. You can win a few fights and make tens of thousands of dollars. You can just take the money and leave. This money comes easily and nothing will happen to you. It's not good to be really good to a certain extent. If a top boxer can't get off the high-level ring, there will always be someone better. In the end, he will die on the ring."
Wei Qian's eyes twitched.
"I'm not lying to you," Zhao Laojiu looked at his expression and lowered his voice. "Master Hu sent us out, and I've also looked for many people. For someone like you, the entry price is two thousand, and whether there will be bonuses and commissions depends on your personal performance. Those people... the most powerful ones, can't stop at thirty or fifty thousand. That's the price of risking your life. Even if you want to play with them, you can't reach that level. Do you understand?"
Wei Qian remained silent. What Zhao Laojiu said was indeed somewhat credible.
"Hey, brother, I'm just telling you the general situation. I'm not trying to scare you. This time, it's different from the general situation. Our mission is to warm up the new boxing ring, which is equivalent to opening the new boxing ring for customers. Do you understand? It's just a tidbit. The risk is very small. It's not life-threatening." Zhao Laojiu patted his shoulder affectionately and handed him a train ticket: "The ticket is for next Monday. My phone number is written on the back. If you are willing, go there to find me. If you are not willing, forget it. I am also asking you for a small favor. Even if the deal fails, we are still friends, right?"
Wei Qian held the train ticket in his pocket and lay in bed without sleeping all night.
Zhao Laojiu appeared just as he was dozing off when someone brought him a pillow.
Wei Qian once thought about how he would support his family if he went back to school. Zhao Laojiu gave him the answer. The entrance fee was two thousand yuan, not much more. As long as he could hold two or three shows, he would have five or six thousand yuan.
Five or six thousand is nothing, but this amount of money was not a small sum for ordinary families at that time. If there was a woman like Old Lady Song who spent every penny very frugally in the family, Wei Qian believed that with her diligence and thriftiness, she would have no problem using this money to support herself comfortably for a whole year.
But……
Money is hard to earn, shit is hard to eat - everyone knows this truth, there is no free lunch in the world. Wei Qian understood clearly that what Zhao Laojiu said about "opening ceremony and customer service" and "behind the scenes" were all nonsense.
Why did they pick on him? It was such a long distance from the south to the north, there were countless people to fight with.
Wei Qian thought about it and felt that maybe Le Xiaodong was dead, so Mr. Hu came all the way to find him, because he wanted someone like him who had no roots or foundations.
In front of him was a pool of water, crystal clear, with gold visible to the naked eye at the bottom. However, Wei Qian had no idea how deep the water was when he dived in. He also didn't know if he could get out again after jumping in.
Ma Zi also made a lot of money before he died.
Wei Qian turned over. After lying down for a long time, his muscles began to ache. He got up quietly, trying not to wake Wei Zhiyuan up - it was too hot, and the child's forehead was covered in sweat. It was rare for him to sleep so well.
Wei Qian walked downstairs and walked around the old tube building in the shantytown, like a donkey pulling a mill, trying to pull out some Zen ideas.
Wei Qian felt that this was all due to his greed. The burden was already heavy, but he still wanted them all to live a relatively relaxed and good life.
He always thought that his mother sold herself to raise him, so wasn't he better than a chicken? How could he let Xiaobao and Xiaoyuan live the life they lived when they were little?
And all this was not enough, he even hoped to go to school.
In the dim morning light, with the newly fallen dewdrops on his face, Wei Qian was severely torturing his own heart, like a great demon undergoing tribulation and overcoming his inner demons.
He said to himself fiercely, what's the point of going to school? Will I be able to get into college if I go to high school? Will I be able to finish college if I go to college? Will I be able to find a good job after I finish? Even if I find a good job, can it make up for the six or seven years he wasted from high school to college?
Wei Qian listed in his mind all the reasons he could think of why going to school was not worthwhile.
At this time, he saw the owner of the convenience store downstairs yawning and opening the shop.
Wei Qian kicked a small stone away and said to himself: What's the point of going to school? Why don't you want to go to heaven?
He bought a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from the canteen, officially announcing that he had completely failed after quitting smoking for half a year.
Wei Qian squatted on the side of the road and finished smoking the cigarette. Then he made a decision that was completely different from what he had just thought - Isn't it just Guangdong? Go!