The proprietress led Wen Liang and Chang Cheng into the store and said apologetically, "There are no private rooms. How about you two squeeze in the lobby?"
When you are out and about, there are no such things to be particular about. Wen Liang and Chang Cheng found a table to sit down and ordered a few dishes. There were seven or eight long-distance truck drivers sitting at a table next to them, chatting animatedly:
"Have you heard that Zhang Erhu was arrested by the city..."
"It wasn't a ball. Hundreds of armed police officers broke down the door. There were dozens of people in the building. Not one of them escaped. They were all handcuffed and taken away!"
"Was he imprisoned in Nanshan? Will he be sentenced to death?"
"Death penalty? Not really?"
"If you ask me, considering Zhang Erhu's character, it would be a good thing for him to die 10,000 times."
"You are stupid. Who is Zhang Erhu? He has so much money that he can make all the people in Shahe clean up his mess. He has people protecting him. In my opinion, he will stay in prison for half a month at most, and then he will be fine and go home with honor!"
"Haha, Lao Li, how do you know so much?"
"Get lost! Lao Gao, are you willing to leave?"
"Why not? It's only one hundred yuan per wipe!"
…
The more they talked, the more dirty they became, going straight to the dirty ways, with no reservations, especially when they were talking. There were four young people sitting at another table next to them, two men and two women. One of the girls had a pretty face, fair skin, tall figure, and fashionable clothes. She didn't look like a local at first glance. She frowned slightly when she heard what the drivers said.
The boy sitting next to her immediately turned his head and said unhappily, "We're eating now, can you be a little more clean?"
There are hardly any softies among those who travel a lot these days, especially in their own area. Immediately, several people slammed their hands on the table and stood up, saying, "We are happy to do this, what's the problem?"
The boy was obviously frightened, but he didn't want to lose face in front of his female companion. He hesitated and said, "There are women here, can't you be polite?"
"Politeness? Hahaha, did you hear that, guys? People think we are impolite..." One of the burly bald men picked up an empty beer bottle from the table, walked towards the boy and said, "How about you teach me what politeness is?"
"You, what are you doing?"
The other man and woman also panicked, but the pretty girl remained calm and said, "Don't mess around, or we'll call the police!"
This immediately caused a burst of laughter, and he said, "Little sister, his second brother-in-law is from the Public Security Bureau. It's useless for you to call the police."
"You know shit. Calling the police is useless, but controlling someone else's behavior is useful!"
Drivers are just like this, and usually they don't go too far. As men, you can understand that when you're away from home for ten days or half a month, and have traveled thousands of miles, there will always be times when you can't stand the loneliness. But today, I don't know if this group of people drank too much or relied on their connections as local bosses, but their words and actions clearly crossed the line.
The bald man smiled proudly and said, "That's right, you want to call the police? I'm going to call the police too! You, you, you four don't look like good guys, is that right?"
“Is this true?”
"I think it's at least fifty?"
"Fifty?"
The girl was so angry that she was shaking all over and her face turned pale, but she couldn't do anything about them. She stood up and said, "Let's go!"
The bald man stood in front of her, stretched out his hand to block her way, and said with a playful smile: "Want to leave..."
Bang!
The girl slapped the bald man in the face, and the bald man was caught off guard and had no time to dodge. The drivers behind him burst into laughter and said, "Third brother, does it feel good to have your face touched by a girl's little hand?"
"I must go back and learn this from the third son's wife. Your third son failed to tease others, but was teased by others instead."
"Hahaha, this is fucking making me laugh to death!"
The bald man was so embarrassed by his colleagues' ridicule. He was just taking advantage of her verbally, but he didn't really mean to do anything. In anger, he wanted to grab the girl's collar. The proprietress came over after receiving the news. She grabbed the bald man's arm and advised him, "Hey, Third Brother, you are so magnanimous. Why are you getting angry with a little girl? Give me some face. Come on, sit down and cool down. This meal is on me today. I'll come over to have a drink with you after I'm done."
The bald man was slapped in the face, but he was not willing to let it go. A square-headed, big-eared man in the driver's seat, who obviously had a lot of weight in his words, spoke up: "Third brother, stop making trouble. The city and the county are all in chaos recently. Don't cause trouble for your brother-in-law!"
The bald man hesitated, but was unwilling to give in. The proprietress pushed him away and turned to the girl, saying angrily, "Hurry up and leave. You are just causing trouble for no reason!"
After all, the young men were not deeply involved in the incident and did not see the good intentions of the proprietress. Another boy who had been silent could not help but said, "We are eating in your restaurant, you have the right to guarantee our safety. He cursed and hit us first, but you did nothing and yelled at us. I think you are all in the same group, running a black shop!"
Not to mention the proprietress, even the bald man was stunned for a moment after hearing this. He stopped and looked at the young man as if he was looking at a rare animal.
Chang Cheng shook his head and whispered, "You are young and ignorant!"
Wen Liang smiled and said, "You are young, actually quite cute!"
The bald man raised his hand to touch the boss lady's chin and said with a lecherous look: "Sister You, it seems that she doesn't appreciate your kindness. I say you should stop interfering in this matter..."
The proprietress gave the bald man a coquettish look, dodged his hand and said, "Okay, okay, today is my bad luck. I don't want your meal money anymore. Get out of here!"
The pretty girl was about to walk out with a cold face. The boy who spoke first hurriedly grabbed her sleeve and said to the proprietress with a smile: "Boss, didn't you say you would introduce a car going the same way to take us to Dongming City? How about this, we will pay for the meal, and you can give us a little more. It's so late and there are no cars. You can't let us walk all the way, right?"
Seeing that the kids still didn't know how to behave, the lady boss pointed at the bald guy and the others angrily and said, "I'm talking about their car. Do you want to take it?"
The boy was dumbfounded, and knew that asking the lady boss for help was useless. Another boy said angrily, "Let's go. At worst, we can go to another store to ask. I don't believe there is no car to take us!"
After the four of them walked out of the restaurant together, the bald man spitted and said to the proprietress: "Sister You, I gave you face just now, you have to compensate me later!" After that, he rubbed his face, walked to the main road outside the door, pointed at the four people and shouted: "Watch out, no one is allowed to give these people a ride. If I find out, don't blame me, the third brother, for being disloyal!"
Almost all the drivers on the long-distance Dongming route knew each other, and they also knew that Bald Third had connections in the Public Security Bureau. He was still a ruffian, so there was no need to offend him for a few young people they didn't know. So the four young people asked for a ride along the way, but either it was not on their way or no one was willing to take them.
After a while, the bald man came back and cursed: "How dare they hit me? I'll make them walk all the way to the city!"
"Okay, stop trying to take advantage of me. I would be willing to die if that beautiful girl touched my face!"
"Hey, you know what, your little hands are really slippery!"
"Come on, have a drink. I still think it's not easy for Zhang Erhu to get in this time."
As they drank, they talked about Zhang Erhu. The dishes ordered by Wen Liang were served one after another. When they were almost finished, the proprietress came over to pour tea and said, "You two look unfamiliar. Is this your first time here?"
"The boss lady has a good eye. We came to Shahe to do some small business. This is our first time here."
“Buy coal or buy mines?”
Before Dongming City discovered molybdenum mines in Shahe County, its main economic pillar was the coal mining industry in other counties, so the proprietress asked this question.
"Look at the molybdenum mines. The coal business is not doing well now!"
The proprietress shook her head and said, "You came at the wrong time. If you want to buy a mine, you may have to wait for a while."
"What are you saying? I see so many trucks outside, and most of them are carrying ore."
The proprietress glanced at the bald man and his friends, leaned over and lowered her voice, saying, "Shahe has been in chaos these past few days. Zhang Erhu, one of the most prominent bosses in the mining area, was arrested by the city government. I heard that the next step is to rectify the situation. Even if you want to buy, I'm afraid no one will dare to sell!"
"It's okay, we're just here to take a look. We'll have to go back and let the boss decide whether to buy it or not."
"That's good, that's good!" The proprietress laughed. Her dark skin couldn't hide the charm of her eyebrows and eyes. There was a hint of shyness, but also a bit of the charm of a young lady. She said, "Brother, since this is your first time here, I'll give you a 20% discount. Next time you pass by here, be sure to come in and sit down. Even if you don't want to eat, just rest your feet and drink some hot tea!"
"Of course!"
After the proprietress left, the bald man stood up drunk and followed the proprietress to the kitchen. After a while, he heard the faint sound of the proprietress struggling from inside.
"Ha, the third brother is having fun again."
"Don't be like last time when Sister You almost cut me with a knife and I peed my pants out of fear."
The door to the kitchen opened a crack, and the proprietress rushed out halfway, but was pulled back in by the bald man. Wen Liang's eyes turned cold, and Chang Cheng couldn't stand it anymore. He immediately understood what he meant, kicked the chair in front of him away, and strode in.
In less than a minute, the bald man staggered out from the kitchen and fell flat on his face. His face was bruised, blood was flowing from the corners of his mouth, and there were several footprints on his body. He was beaten really badly.
The others were cursing and were about to rush forward, but Chang Cheng sneered and punched the thick wooden table, making a big hole in it. The whole place fell silent.
Wen Liang took out a hundred yuan, put it on the table, ignored the stunned crowd, and walked out!
(Rabindranath Tagore - When you commanded me to sing, my heart seemed to burst with pride, I looked up at your face, tears welled up in my eyes.
In my socket.
All the bitterness and contradictions in my life melted into a sweet harmony—
My praise is like a joyful bird, fluttering its wings across the ocean.
I know you like my singing. I know it is only because I am a singer that I can come to you. (To be continued)