That day Yang Zhao was racking his brains on a piece of pottery in the studio when the phone call came.
It was Yang Zhao's younger brother Yang Jintian who called, and he brought a piece of news in a steady tone—he had entered the police station again.
Yes, again.
Yang Jintian entered the police station so frequently that Yang Zhao hardly even blinked his eyelids when he heard the news. She said to her brother on the other end of the phone, "Which one?"
Yang Jintian said, "Lingkong police station." After hearing this, Yang Zhao put down the pottery bowl in his hand, squinted his eyes and said to the phone, "Lingkong? Why did you go south of the city?"
Yang Jintian said in a bad tone, "Come to a friend's party."
Yang Zhao said, "Then, did you start a commotion at the restaurant?"
"No!" Yang Jintian became visibly irritable when something was brought up, and he said in a bad tone: "A friend drank too much, and when he was taking a taxi, he quarreled with the taxi, and then he started fighting."
Yang Zhao said, "Did someone beat you? Is it serious?"
Yang Jintian shouted angrily: "We were beaten! Come here!" He dropped the phone immediately after shouting.
Yang Zhao put down his phone and went to the sink to wash his hands clean. She put on her coat, opened her bag to see how much money was left, then tidied up and went out.
It was already past eight o'clock in the evening, and it was already dark outside. When Yang Zhao walked out of the studio, a cold wind blew in her face, making her tighten her clothes.
In the north in September, it has begun to be cold.
Yang Zhao went to the garage to pick up the car, and lit a cigarette when he got in the car. The flame of the lighter fluttered a bit due to the wind of closing the car door, Yang Zhao raised his hand to protect it.
Taking a puff of cigarette, Yang Zhao spit it out slowly, the smell of cigarettes filled the car.
Yang Zhao likes to smoke, especially Yunnan cigarettes, and Dacheng Yuxi is her favorite. There were cigarettes everywhere in Yang Zhao's house, in the car, and in the studio.
She kept smoking the cigarette until it was half gone before starting the car.
Yang Zhao drove the car quickly and smoothly on the Second Ring Road. She opened the car window a crack and let the smoke drift out along the crack.
The streets were brightly lit.
Yang Zhao finished smoking a cigarette quickly, and she stubbed out the cigarette end before thinking about her younger brother Yang Jintian.
In fact, this is a poor child.
An accident three years ago caused him to lose his parents. Yang Zhao's parents took Yang Jintian back to their home to raise him. Yang Zhao also returned to this city that year.
She was away for a long time, so long that she couldn't even feel pain about the tragedy of her aunt's family. She was sad, but not to the point of pain. As for this younger brother, Yang Zhao is seven years older than him, and she is not close to him.
The Yang family's way of getting along was respectful and distant. Yang Zhao didn't have a deep impression of Yang Jintian when she was a child. It was the funeral of her aunt's family that really imprinted this boy in her heart.
At the funeral, the fifteen-year-old boy cried like the world had collapsed. The feelings of the Yang family were restrained, and Yang Zhao never knew that a man could be so desperate.
That is, from that day on, Yang Zhao decided to stay. She did not live with her parents, but rented an apartment outside. She even rented two floors, the lower one was used for living, and the upper one was used for work.
Yang Zhao took care of his younger brother as much as possible, but it seems to have little effect now.
Because of the accident, Yang Jintian took a year off from school. He is in the third year of high school this year, which is the critical time, but he doesn't care about his studies at all. Yang Jintian went to the best high school in the city, which he got into by himself. However, something happened not long after the senior high school entrance examination, and he never studied seriously after that.
Neither Yang Zhao's parents nor Yang Zhao tried their best to persuade Yang Jintian to study hard. This is a customary habit of the Yang family—
If you don't want to, no one can control you.
But this does not mean that they are indifferent to him. In fact, Yang Jintian is almost the person Yang Zhao cares about the most in his life.
She gives him a lot of living expenses every month, and she buys him a lot of books in the hope that he can come out of his sorrow one day, and she is always by his side when he needs it.
Just like now.
The Lingkong Police Station was not easy to find. With the help of the navigation, Yang Zhao went around many times, and finally stopped in front of a simple small house at the intersection.
The intersection was very dark, with only one street light. In front of the police station were two broken-down motorcycles on duty and a taxi.
Yang Zhao got out of the car and walked to the police station. When passing by the taxi, she glanced at the license plate number.
J4763
It was a taxi that can be seen everywhere, Yang Zhao only took one look at it and left.
When I entered the police station, there was no guard at the door. The scope of jurisdiction of this police station is not large, and there are few people coming and going on weekdays. Yang Zhao didn't meet the first person until he went to the innermost part.
It was a middle-aged man who was a bit fat, and his forehead was severely bald. When he saw Yang Zhao, he came over frowning.
"Who are you looking for?"
Yang Zhao said to him, "I'm here to find my younger brother. He just called and said he was with you."
The man said twice, "That guy is fighting, right? Come with me."
Yang Zhao followed him to the second floor, and the man said as he walked, "Young people are so impulsive now, and they can even fight with taxi drivers. As a parent, you should take care of it."
Yang Zhao didn't say a word, the corridor was surprisingly quiet. The man turned his head and looked at Yang Zhao. Yang Zhao was expressionless. The man felt that his words were shameless and wanted to speak again. At that moment, Yang Zhao just raised his eyes and looked at him, which made the man feel as if he was stealing for a moment. Seeing her, the man immediately turned his head and continued to lead the way without speaking again. He had a bad complexion, this woman made him feel very uncomfortable.
He led Yang Zhao to the second floor. There were lights on in several rooms. The man led her to a room on the side, opened the door and said to the inside, "Old Wang, here to fetch someone."
Yang Zhao entered the room and observed it. The room seemed to be a small office. There was a desk with messy things on it. Next to the desk were two men in police uniforms. Next to the desk were two benches. Three men and a woman were sitting on the benches. Yang Jintian.
Of the four young men, only Yang Jintian seemed to be sane, and the rest were all drunk and fell asleep. The window was open in the room, but there was still a strong smell of alcohol.
The policeman called Lao Wang came over. "Whose parent are you?"
Yang Zhao didn't answer, she walked over and raised Yang Jintian's chin, there was no scar on Yang Jintian's face.
Yang Jintian frowned and shook off Yang Zhao's hand. Yang Zhao asked him, "Didn't you say you were beaten and hurt?"
Lao Wang came over and smoothed things over.
"Why was he beaten? My arm was pulled a few times, but it's all right."
After Yang Zhao heard this, he reached out and rolled up Yang Jintian's sleeves. Yang Jintian's wrist had a circle of red marks, which were a little red and swollen. Yang Jintian withdrew his hand and said impatiently, "I'm fine!"
Yang Zhao turned his head and looked at Old Wang.
"Where is the beater?"
The other policeman looked at Yang Zhao with dislike. In fact, Yang Zhao didn't do anything, but it was because she didn't do anything that made people feel that she didn't take people seriously at all.
The policeman put the stack of materials in his hand on the table. Although the sound was not loud, it was enough to attract the attention of everyone in the room.
He looked younger than the previous two policemen, less than thirty. He looked at Yang Zhao, and pointed at Yang Jintian.
"Get into trouble after drinking! Make trouble with an old lady in her eighties! Who are you to control them like this?!"
"Hey, Xiao Song, don't make noise." Old Wang patted the hand he was pointing at. "It's not a big deal, just go back and educate yourself."
Yang Zhao stood in the middle of the room, and she looked at the policeman named Xiao Song.
"Where is the beater?"
Old Wang's hand also stopped, he turned his head to look at Yang Zhao, Xiao Song cursed in a low voice, Old Wang pushed him down, and said to Yang Zhao: "The thing is like this, these children drink water at night. Too much, I took a taxi to go home. As a result, when the car stopped, an old lady wanted to take it too. The driver thought the old lady was pitiful, so he wanted to pull the old lady. It turned out that these children may have drunk too much My mind is a little muddy, so I have to let it go." When Lao Wang said this, he clapped his hands, "Isn't that the case, and this caused some disputes."
After Yang Zhao finished listening, he looked at Old Wang and said, "Whoever gets the taxi first."
Lao Wang said: "What?"
Yang Zhao said: "Whoever beckons first will stop this car first."
"Well," Old Wang said with a smile on his face, "Isn't it right to give up your seat to the old lady? No matter what you do, you can't compete with someone over 80."
"Ah." Yang Zhao nodded, "That is to say, my younger brother took the taxi first. Comrade policemen, everything comes first and then comes first. They should take the taxi first."
Lao Wang was also a little unhappy when he heard this.
"What are you talking about? You can't stop arguing about this, right? Why are you competing for a seat with an old lady in her 80s? Isn't that a scumbag!"
Yang Jintian sat on the side with his head down, and immediately stood up when he heard this.
"Who the hell are you calling scum!? Who are you calling scum?!"
Xiao Song caught him standing up, he slapped the table hard, and pointed at Yang Jintian with staring eyes. "Sit down for me! Do you hear me when you sit down!? Do you want to be detained!?"
"Fuck!" Yang Jintian became more courageous after he was drunk, he flicked his sleeves and was about to rush forward. Yang Zhao stopped him, "Sit down." Yang Jintian wanted to break free, "Let go! I'm fucking afraid of them!? Let go! Let go!"
"Snapped!"
Yang Zhao slapped him across the face, and everyone fell silent.
Yang Jintian turned his face sideways, his face was extremely stiff, and red marks slowly appeared on his face.
Yang Zhao kept talking softly.
"Sit down, and my sister will handle the rest for you."
Yang Jintian didn't know what he was thinking of, his eyes were red, he sat down with his head buried, Yang Zhao didn't know if he was crying.
Yang Zhao turned his head, instead of looking at the two policemen, he looked at another corner of the room. It's a bit dim there, and if you don't look carefully, you can hardly see a person standing in the corner.
Yang Zhao looked at the man and said, "The driver who beat him up is you, right?"