I rode my mountain bike all the way to the old neighborhood and waited at the alley entrance for Jian Wei. This should have been a quiet night, but the noise from a nearby house undergoing renovation filled the air, along with the sharp smell of fresh paint.
I felt somewhat irritated and checked my watch, wishing Jian Wei would hurry up so I could leave this place that was torturing my ears.
A beam of blinding light tore through the night’s darkness, and Jian Wei’s car finally appeared before me. Before she had even fully stopped her car, I walked towards her.
Jian Wei got off the car carrying her handbag. Under the dim light of the streetlamp, I looked at her tired but beautifully cold face, momentarily losing myself for a second.
She finally stood before me, no longer looking at me with weariness, and smiled as she asked, “Have you been waiting long?”
“Not too long, but it’s a bit noisy here. I’m getting annoyed!”
Jian Wei glanced at the cigarette butt I had crushed underfoot, seemingly eager to leave this place quickly. She cut straight to the point and said, “Then hurry up and give me your seal.”
I nodded, took out the seal from my briefcase, handed it to her, and she carefully placed it into the inner compartment of her handbag. Then she looked up again at the house undergoing renovation across the street.
I said to her, “If there’s nothing else, let’s go our separate ways.”
“Aren’t you going home now?”
I pointed into the alley and said, “There’s a flower shop in there. I need to take care of something.”
Jian Wei half-jokingly, half-seriously said to me, “Are you going to buy flowers for me?”
“You’re logic is clearly off! If I wanted to give you flowers, I wouldn’t have said we should go our separate ways just now…”
Jian Wei looked at me indifferently and then interrupted, “I didn’t expect you to give me flowers… I’ve been sitting in the office all day and was just looking for an opportunity to take a walk. How about I go with you?”
I didn’t refuse Jian Wei’s request. In fact, deep in my heart, I really wanted someone like Jian Wei, who lived in the upper echelons of society, to see what Xiaojun, who lived at the bottom of society, was really like.
If people in this society still have a conscience and remember the ultimate goal of common prosperity set by the nation, they should pay more attention to the vulnerable groups living at the bottom of society. They should not be stingy with the wealth they already possess and should cooperate with the state to establish a superior social security system.
…
In the dim alley, Jian Wei and I walked side by side along the wall marked with the word “Demolition.” However, she seemed somewhat unable to adapt to the environment here, instinctively leaning towards me with unease. I also felt a sense of pressure, and the air was thick with dampness… I could almost smell the scent of danger.
Finally, we reached the end of the alley, and Xiaojun’s flower shop came into my view, but the roller shutter was already down. I originally thought Xiaojun had already left, but then I noticed that the shelves outside the store had not been moved inside, and I faintly heard voices coming from inside the shop.
I stayed calm, signaled Jian Wei not to speak, and approached the roller shutter, listening to the conversation inside…
Before I could make out the content of the conversation, the roller shutter was suddenly opened. In front of me appeared a group of delinquents holding iron pipes. They all had short hair, even some were bald, wearing eye-catching thick necklaces, and the shop inside had already been smashed into a mess, with Xiaojun sitting on the ground, trembling in fear.
A man with a scar on his face asked me, “Are you here to buy something, or are you that mute woman’s friend?”
Xiaojun shook her head at me repeatedly, signaling me not to say anything recklessly. However, I realized there must be lookouts nearby, otherwise the shop door wouldn’t have suddenly opened the moment I appeared.
Looking at the mess inside the store, I asked the scarred man, “Did you smash all the stuff here?”
The scarred man glared at me fiercely and said, “So you are that mute’s friend?”
“Whether I’m a friend or not, I have to get involved when I see such a situation… Why did you smash her shop?”
“Wow, met a hero who’s ready to stand up for justice. Hmph, but you’d better know how much you’re worth… If she doesn’t pay up today, I won’t just smash the place, I’ll burn it down… Tiger, pour the gasoline!”
“Wait a minute, you have to explain clearly. What money does she owe you?”
The scarred man sneered again and said, “That mute’s father left a pile of gambling debts here. Now he’s run off. Who else should I go after if not her? This debt has been dragging on with that mute girl, so I have to give her a taste of what’s coming if I want her to hand over the money…”
Before I could speak, Jian Wei took out her phone from her handbag. But the scarred man stepped forward, grabbed the phone, and smashed it on the ground, shouting at Jian Wei, “Do you know who I am, you bitch… I’m a desperate man! If you dare to call the cops today, I’ll dare to take your life!”
This sudden turn of events made Jian Wei’s face show a trace of fear, but it quickly passed as she coldly said, “Whether you’re a desperate man or not is none of my business, but if you dare to threaten me after bullying a woman who can’t speak, you will definitely regret it…”
The scarred man reached out to grab Jian Wei’s chin, but I slapped his hand away and said, “Don’t lay a hand on a woman. If there’s anything to settle, come after me.”
The scarred man glared at me with a ferocious expression, then sneered again, saying, “Come after you? Sure enough, we’re just trying to make a living, and we don’t want to escalate things if we don’t have to. But if you insist on getting involved, then you pay off the mute girl’s debt… Otherwise, no one is leaving here… You’ve seen it yourself, I’ve already smashed the shop. I’m already out of patience. If the money isn’t paid, I’ll burn this place down… Tiger, what are you hesitating for? Pour the gasoline.”
Another man, upon receiving the order, opened the lid of the gasoline can and began pouring gasoline around…
I tried my best to remain calm, looking around, but all the nearby shops had already closed their doors. The entire alley was completely deserted, making it impossible to seek help. I judged in my heart that these people wouldn’t dare to really set fire, just as he himself had said, they were just trying to make a living, and the consequences of arson were beyond what they could bear. After all, this is a society governed by the rule of law. The heavy pouring of gasoline was just meant to intimidate.
Even though I was furious and impulsive, I wouldn’t be foolish enough to confront this group of people directly, so I said, “How much gambling debt did her father owe you?”
The scarred man replied, “A total of 350,000 including interest. You’d better pay it off for her, otherwise…”
I interrupted, “350,000, right… I’ll pay it off for her. But at this time, the ATMs can’t dispense that much cash. Even going to the bank would require prior arrangements, so I hope you can give me a few more days…”
“You’re trying to play games with me! Who’s going to give me time if I give you time… You’d better give me the cash right now, real cash! Do you understand me?” As the scarred man spoke, he kicked me in the stomach. I couldn’t dodge in time, and a sharp pain immediately shot through my abdomen, making it difficult to breathe. Instinctively, I covered my stomach and squatted down…
At this moment, for reasons unknown, Jian Wei slapped the scarred man with all her might. Unprepared, the scarred man received a heavy slap across his face. Losing his composure instantly, he grabbed an iron rod and swung it toward Jian Wei. Driven by instinct, I desperately stood in front of Jian Wei, and a piercing pain shot through my back. Yet in my heart, I was relieved that the blow hadn’t hit my head. I was even more certain: the scarred man wouldn’t dare to go that far—he couldn’t have survived this line of work for so long if he were truly reckless and unconcerned about the consequences. Otherwise, he would have already been dealt with by the state’s legal system for his past misdeeds!… But things had escalated to this point, and there was no way this would end peacefully!
Taking advantage of the distraction of the man holding the gasoline can, I grabbed it from his hand, poured gasoline over myself, took out a lighter from my pocket, and with a cold smile, said to the scarred man, “You think you’re so tough? You said you’d burn down this shop? If you’re really that tough, go ahead and set me on fire. Otherwise, don’t act like a tough guy in front of me…”
“F***… You’re trying to scare me, huh?!!” The scarred man glared at me with a fierce expression, but his tone was no longer as steady as before.
“The lighter is in your hands now. Who’s scaring whom? Anyone with half a brain can see that… If you’re so tough, go ahead and light it!”
At this moment, Jian Wei did something that I would never forget for the rest of my life. She picked up the gasoline can, which still had some gasoline left, and poured it over herself from head to toe. Then she grabbed my hand and gritted her teeth, saying, “If you dare, burn us both… Zhaoyang, I’ll die with you!”
Under our combined pressure, the scarred man’s hand holding the lighter actually began to tremble. Then he angrily threw the lighter far away and cursed, “Damn it… What bad luck, running into two lunatics!” Then he turned to Xiaojun, who was already pale with fear, and said, “Tonight we’ll let it go like this… But don’t think you can escape this debt. Be smart and get the money ready… And if you dare to call the police, as long as I don’t get the death penalty, I’ll come after your whole family.”
As the scarred man spoke, he signaled his followers to leave, cursing again as he passed by me and Jian Wei, “Two lunatics…”
…
The alley returned to silence once again. I felt a wave of dizziness from the smell of gasoline on both of us, and then I collapsed to the ground, unable to muster any strength, a cold feeling coming from my back… There is no absolutely correct judgment in this world. I dared not imagine what would have happened if the scarred man had really lit the lighter… This was the second time in my life that I felt death was so close, but I didn’t know how close the same fate would have been for Jian Wei at that moment… My soul was violently shaken at that moment!!
It seemed this was the second time we had faced life and death together, the first time was in the moat around the city… Our fates were thus intertwined in the extremes of water and fire!
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