Lu Tao learned that Guan Lei offended Li Jifeng and actually wanted to make money to get him out of prison. He took out the mobile phone packaging box from his military coat and put it on Guan Lei's lap: "I accepted the mobile phone you gave me, but this money I can’t have it, take it back.”
"Brother Tao, this money is a piece of my heart, you must accept it!"
Guan Lei stretched out his hand to struggle: "If it wasn't for my brother, you wouldn't have gone to jail. What does this fifty thousand yuan mean compared to your three years of youth?"
"I saved your brother because we are brothers and I never thought of asking for anything in return! If I had accepted this apologetic money, then the three years in jail would not have been worth it!"
Lu Tao patted Guan Lei's leg: "Listen to my advice, your brother is gone, you should live a good life, find a serious job, stop messing around!"
"If you find a job, will you be able to live a normal life? In this society, which class does not have bad people? If you come out to hang out, you can at least suffer less and make more money."
Guan Lei looked at Binbin's back through the plastic sheet and said, "Before me, Binbin had a serious job, giving people bathes in public baths! One time I went to take a bath, and he gave people milk baths. At that time, I pushed the person off the bathing bed with all my strength. The person drank a lot of wine and beat him until his face was covered with blood. If I hadn't seen it and helped him, he would have been sent to the hospital!"
When Lu Tao heard Guan Lei's answer, he did not continue to persuade him.
During the years he was in prison, he had come into contact with a lot of people of all kinds, including some heinous people and many pitiful people.
As Guan Lei said, everyone has the life they want and their own way of life.
Just because Lu Tao doesn't want to join society doesn't mean others think so too.
The falling snowflakes never stopped.
It wasn't until around three o'clock in the afternoon that Lu Tao drove into the Soviet area.
Looking at the familiar street scene on the side of the road, he was filled with emotion.
After the millennium, until Lu Tao was released from prison, the Soviet area was at its most chaotic.
As the Beijing Olympics approaches, the national economy takes off, and various profit-making industries begin to emerge.
Mining, real estate, labor agency, freight, logistics and other industries are gradually rising, and the gangster group has ushered in spring.
During this period, people in the Central Fifth District greeted their friends in the Soviet area. The most common words they used were "Is your side liberated?" "You didn't bring grenades into the city, did you?" "Where did you tie the horse?" "
Although similar jokes are just jokes, they also prove that the terrain of the Soviet area is indeed remote.
Remote, but important!
As the Nantianmen of Shencheng, the Soviet Area is the traffic chokepoint.
In this era of inconvenient transportation, when the gangsters in the city get into trouble, they will choose to escape here as soon as possible.
If the matter is resolved, you can take a taxi back to the city.
If things get serious, you can just step back and run away.
The Soviet area during this period was known as the Whampoa Military Academy of Shencheng's gangster world. In this place where dragons and snakes were mixed, no matter they were war criminals or thieves, desperadoes or drug addicts, all kinds of players could be met.
Lu Tao grew up in this smoky environment from the time he could remember until he was imprisoned.
His family is relatively well-off. His father, Lu Zhongliang, is a junior leader of the District Commission for Discipline Inspection, and his mother, Chen Yan, is a Chinese teacher at No. 30 Middle School.
It stands to reason that children raised in this kind of family can successfully enter college and live a slightly better life than normal people.
Lu Tao is an exception.
He didn't like studying since he was a child. After entering junior high school, he hung out with those gangsters outside school all day long, and naturally became a hooligan.
In this regard, Lu Zhongliang didn't know how many belts were broken on him.
Unfortunately, it still failed to pull him back from the wrong path.
After Lu Tao was sentenced to prison, Chen Yan suffered a heart attack due to grief and anger. After a whole day of rescue, she barely managed to save her life.
For this reason, Lu Zhongliang severed ties with Lu Tao in anger.
It was precisely because of his mother's serious illness that Lu Tao made up his mind to change his mind.
At the age of twenty-three, the reason why he was able to endure the hard work and ride the tricycle with a low face was just to show off his appearance outside, get his parents' forgiveness when he got home, and let his family see his repentance.
Reminiscing about the past, Lu Tao finally parked his tricycle in front of the Phoenix Chess and Cards Club on Xueliao Street.
Guan Lei's chess and card club was converted from two first-floor private houses facing the street.
One and a half rooms are separated by plywood and serve as a place for playing mahjong, while the remaining half room is where Guan Lei lives.
Due to heavy snow, the chess and card club is not open today.
After parking the car, Binbin braved the wind and snow to buy anti-inflammatory medicine for Guan Lei, while Lu Tao helped Guan Lei into the house alone.
After Guan Lei entered the door, he limped towards the tea table: "Brother Tao, sit down first and I'll boil some water for you!"
"Stop being busy and take a rest!"
Lu Tao held Guan Lei's shoulders: "I will leave when Binbin comes back from buying medicine."
"Brother Tao, since you are here, please stay!"
When Guan Lei heard that Lu Tao was leaving, he said with a serious face: "Although I can't make much money here, it's still much better than your three-wheeler. At least you don't have to be tired, and you don't have to be exposed to wind and rain! You don't want to mess around Society, then let’s just run a regular chess and card room, isn’t that enough?”
"The chess and card room industry is a smoky industry. How can you do this kind of business without causing friction? Take my advice, if you really want to do a serious business, don't do this!"
Lu Tao remained unmoved: "Your brother and I were classmates in elementary school. We have been together since we can remember. If we hadn't gone out to fool around in society, we wouldn't be in this situation today! I work hard to eat now. Making money based on my ability makes me feel at ease.”
Guan Lei understood Lu Tao's character, and knew that since the other party said something so cruel, he could no longer persuade him, so he had to take out the mobile phone packaging box: "Brother Tao, it's okay if you don't want to take over the chess and card room, but for this money, you can You must accept it, otherwise I will pester you all day long!"
"It's not easy for you to earn this money, keep it for yourself!"
After Lu Tao said this, he saw that Guan Lei was impatient, so he had to take a step back: "Well, you give me five hundred, and I'll borrow it from you!"
Guan Lei stared, as if he had been wronged a lot, picked up the bundle of cash and stuffed it into Lu Tao's hand: "Brother Tao, if you say "borrow" to me, isn't that killing someone? What's mine is yours. , you can spend this money however you want!”
"I have never experienced hardship before, and I have never cared about money. It was not until I rode a tricycle these days that I realized how difficult it is to make money. It is not easy for you to make money either. Don't squander it everywhere."
Lu Tao held down Guan Lei's wrist and finally took only five hundred yuan. Seeing Binbin come in, he reached out and touched Guan Lei's head: "Okay, it's getting late, I have to go back. Otherwise, when it gets dark and the road becomes even more difficult, you should take good care of your injuries, and when I get through this period, I will come over and buy you a drink!"
Lu Tao bid farewell to Guan Lei, pedaled his tricycle, and merged into the wind and snow again.
Unlike the five districts in the city, the Soviet District is very slow to clear snow in areas outside the main roads. Most streets are still closed to traffic, and many sections can only be pushed or detoured.
Lu Tao had been pushing the car for half an hour, and his hands and feet were numb from the cold. Instead, there were beads of sweat on his face and steam was rising.
Glancing out of the corner of his eye, he saw that there was an eighteen-yuan self-service dumpling shop on the roadside still open, and his stomach growled a few times in response.
After careful calculation, since he was released from prison, he has been overwhelmed by life every day and has not even had a good meal.
Before he was imprisoned, Lu Tao went out for fun, spending three to five thousand a night without blinking an eye.
But now, the buffet for eighteen yuan per person made him reluctant to part with it.
Finally, Lu Tao decided to have a meal of dumplings and drink some dumpling soup to warm up his body, which could be regarded as a birthday celebration for himself.
The door was closed due to heavy snow. When he entered the store, there was not a single customer in the dumpling restaurant. Seeing the lady boss busy, he smiled and said hello: "Auntie, is it still open when the snow is so heavy?"
"There is no way. The child at home is not up to par and is fooling around outside all day long! I have to save money to find a wife for him! I only have my son and me at home. He is not at home. I have nothing to do. I might as well open the business. Woolen cloth!"
The proprietress pointed to the freezer next to her: "The dumplings are all in the freezer. I can cook them by myself on the induction cooker on the table. But there are no cold dishes today. I'm afraid there aren't many customers and all the dumplings will be in vain!"
"It's okay, I'll just eat some dumplings!"
Lu Tao walked to the refrigerator, took out a plate of dumplings filled with pickled cabbage, and sat at the table to tinker with the induction cooker.
Ten minutes later, the door of the restaurant was pushed open again, and a young man in his early twenties walked into the store shaking his head.
When the proprietress saw her son returning, she scolded him: "You haven't been home for two days, where have you been wandering off?"
"Oh, don't worry about my affairs!"
The young man waved his hand impatiently, glanced at Lu Tao inside the house, and walked quickly to the backyard: "I didn't sleep all night yesterday, so I went to bed first. If I'm hungry, I'll go out to eat by myself. Don't disturb me!"
When the proprietress saw her son's back, she gritted her teeth and cursed: "You bastard, follow your dead father! Sooner or later you will go to jail like him, and you will be looked down upon for the rest of your life!"
Lu Tao, who was picking garlic, heard the boss lady's words and unconsciously paused his movements for about two seconds before lowering his head and continuing to eat.
While Lu Tao was devouring his food, he did not notice that the young man who had just walked in was one of the group that attacked Guan Lei in the morning and started a fight with them.
At this moment, the young man had walked into the backyard and opened the door curtain a crack. Seeing that Lu Tao didn't notice anything unusual, he quickly took out his mobile phone and dialed Sun Qiang's number: "Brother Qiang, I am Chuangzi. Guess what I saw?" Who is it?"
Sun Qiang, who led the team to attack Guan Lei in the morning, was smashed by Lu Tao with a car lock. At this time, he had just extracted the root of the tooth at the dentist's office. When he heard Chuangzi's question, he cursed vaguely: "I, he Mom is not a fortune teller, I guess your mom is a stinker! If you fart, hurry up and get out of here!"
Chuangzi winced when he was scolded and said angrily: "Brother Qiang, I met the idiot who was riding the tricycle this morning! He was eating alone at my dumpling restaurant!"
"What did you say? That dog basket came to the Soviet Area?"
When Sun Qiang heard that his enemy was here, he immediately became energetic: "Are you sure you saw it correctly?"
"This grandson smashed two bags on my head this morning. He hasn't gone down yet. Even if he turns to ashes, I can't forget him!"
Chuangzi assured him, "I'm absolutely right, he hasn't changed his clothes or hat, and even that broken-down tricycle is locked at the door!"
"Fuck you! I was worried that I couldn't find him! He dared to come to my door by himself!"
Sun Qiang's eyes flashed fiercely for a moment: "Keep an eye on him, I'll take someone over right away! If he dares to smash one of my teeth, I must break off five of his fingers!"
