Chapter Five: Knocking Down and Trampling with Three Thousand Feet

  The three unlucky ones saw Xue Xiangzhao walking towards them and immediately felt bitter in their hearts: Brother, you've already tormented us enough, why don't you go torment those who haven't experienced your "dictatorial" iron fist yet? Why do you keep picking on the wounded? Fortunately, their inner thoughts couldn't be heard by others, or else the remaining Flying Car gang members would have torn them apart.

  Xue Xiang walked up to the three of them and patted the fatty's oily face with his hand: "Riding a car so fast, what are you doing? Can't you see there are old people and children in front of you? You even pulled on someone's scarf, and even the most shameless person wouldn't do that. Do you know how to recite the Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention? What is the seventh point?" When Xue Xiang spoke, he was always gentle and courteous, but you never knew when he would suddenly get angry and launch a fierce attack. The contrast between these two images was striking, leaving Fei Che and the others in awe, and afterwards they couldn't help but sigh: "Only when one reaches San Ge's level can one be considered to have reached the pinnacle of being a rascal."

  "Third brother, my car's brakes are broken and I couldn't stop the car for a while. You said that song, I will sing it, the seventh line, the seventh line is, oh, it's not allowed to flirt with women." The fat man was slapped on the face by Xue Xiang, but he didn't dare move, trying to lower his voice and make himself sound harmless. He made up a reason for his car's brakes failing, and couldn't help but feel proud of his cleverness. Anyway, since you kicked my car into scrap, the brakes must have been broken from the kick.

  Xue Xiang's revolutionary song was a popular hit on the streets at that time, and Pangzi actually knew how to sing it. However, when Xue Xiang suddenly asked him about the seventh line, he really got stuck. He hummed the lyrics quietly in his heart before remembering them.

  "Now that you know, why are there still so many people on the street talking nonsense? You said you can sing, come on, sing a song for everyone to hear."

  "Alright, Third Brother, if you want to listen, I'll move my family's record player to your house later, and the vinyl records are absolutely genuine originals..."

  "Just sing if you're going to sing, don't give me nonsense."

  The fatty saw Xue's expression was somewhat unpleasant, and for a while he didn't dare to show off his poverty. But letting him sing this in front of so many people, it really made him speechless, and he was momentarily stunned.

  "It seems you don't like singing revolutionary songs, this is not good. The great leader taught us that excellent revolutionary songs are the precious wealth of the whole party and army, and the broad revolutionary youth must inherit and carry forward. Alright, I'll leave a mark on you to help you remember." Xue's tone was calm and his face serene as he spoke, then slowly grasped Pongzi's left middle finger with his hand, exerting force upwards with a cracking sound, Pongzi's middle finger and the back of his hand formed an eerie arc, broken. When Pongzi's hand was grasped, he knew things were going to be bad, he tried to pull back with force, but his fingers were like they were clamped by iron pliers, unable to move a single bit.

  "Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!"

  A shrill cry made people's cheeks ache, the fat boy's face turned pale, and beads of sweat as big as beans kept rolling down from his forehead. Hao Yunlai often bullied others, which was a common thing for hooligans to do. Xue Xiang didn't think there was anything wrong with it, but this group of bastards bullied the elderly and harmed the young, Xue Xiang hated them from the bottom of his heart. Every family has old people, every household has young children, especially in Xue Xiang's current family, where his uncle had been sent down to the countryside, his younger siblings were all very young, and the fat boy's behavior was like touching a dragon's reverse scales, which would inevitably provoke anger.

  Xue Xiang grabbed the fat guy who had just played with a dagger, and coldly said: "Where did that pretty knife of yours go? Bring it here for me to take a look."

  The dagger man saw Xue's method of dealing with the fat boy and was already scared, his hands and feet were soft. At this time, seeing Xue find himself, he immediately became numb, fortunately, Xue held him up, otherwise, he would have fallen to the ground. The dagger that had been flung away by Xue was picked up by him and put into his bag. Seeing Xue ask questions, although he was extremely afraid in his heart, he did not dare not take it out. The dagger man took out the dagger from his bag and handed it over to Xue with a trembling hand.

  Xue Xiang didn't take it, and coldly said: "Just now you were going to be my grandfather, and also wanted to let me bleed a bit, got it? I won't make things difficult for you, just use this chopstick to leave yourself a mark, so that in the future you won't recklessly lose your life".

  When Xue spoke, the dagger man was no longer as trembling as before. The unknown is the source of fear. The dagger man gritted his teeth, grasped the dagger and was about to slash it towards his left hand.

  "Halt!" A crisp voice of restraint came over

  Xue Xiang turned his head and saw Liu Ying'er walking from beside Old Madam, standing in front of him.

  "How can you be so cruel, they are despicable, but have already been punished, why do you still want to maim their bodies?" Liu Ying'er pointed at Xue Xiang with her right hand, her fingertips trembling slightly, showing some agitation. As a nurse at the Central Hospital of Beijing, she had always been unable to bear those who maimed others, even if Xue Xiang was punishing bad people, she still couldn't stand it.

  Xue Xiang unknowingly gained another villain card.

  "Hmph" Xue Xiang didn't have the mood to appreciate her slender fingers, and with a cold laugh, he shouted: "Get out of my way!"

  "Don't let!"

  "Say it again, get out of the way."

  "I won't give in, you have the guts to hit me?"

  "You!"

  The scene was a bit awkward for a moment, Xue had no choice but to give up, he couldn't just hit the woman, that wasn't his style. He couldn't reason with this silly girl, and he couldn't fight her either. So he ignored her and turned to walk towards the group of people led by Shui She.

  The dagger-wielding man saw Xue Xiang leave and knew he had narrowly escaped, suddenly tears streaming down his face. In his heart, the image of Liu Ying'er was instantly equated with a certain famous nun from Buddhism.

  The dagger-wielding man's face was streaming with tears, while the fat man clenched his right fist and gazed up at the sky, his eyes filled with deep sorrow and introspection, as if a wandering poet searching for inspiration. Gradually, his eyes moistened, and a single tear dropped from his cheek, landing on the ground with a faint splat.

  "Why did you come out to rescue me when he was making a move on me, but now you're coming out to play the good guy? Why do you want to discriminate, why do you want to be biased, why?! Why!! Why!!!!....." Fatso's mind was filled with ten thousand whys, endless resentment soaring into the sky.

  "What's wrong with you, still stunned? You've even forgotten that you have to pay for the damages?" Xue Xiang patted the water snake on the head.

  "Yes, yes, yes, we'll compensate, hurry up and pay the money, what are you standing there for, do as San Ge said." Shui She saw that things seemed to be taking a turn for the better, suddenly became overjoyed, and shouted at several flying party members to take out their money.

  The water snake pulled out a wallet from the bottom of his underwear, about the length of a palm and three inches wide, with a yellow and white striped pattern. Upon closer inspection, it was actually made of tiger skin, which wasn't protected by any laws at that time. The water snake was thinking about how much money to take when Xue Xiang suddenly snatched the wallet away from him, opened it, and found a considerable amount of cash inside: three 100-yuan bills, several 5-yuan and 1-yuan bills, but very few coins or notes of smaller denominations. In the wallet's inner pocket was also a photograph, which Xue Xiang didn't bother to examine closely before pulling it out and handing it back to the water snake, saying: "This wallet is quite nice, I like it, I'll keep it as a collectible. You won't miss it, will you?"

  "Let it go, let it go, as long as Third Brother likes it. This high-end stuff is only suitable for someone with your temperament, Third Brother. If I had it, it would be a waste, like a pearl in the dust." Water Snake's face turned sour for a moment, but his mouth was still speaking smoothly, and he spoke a string of flattering words that sounded particularly smooth.

  "Alright, you little scamp has a good eye for value. Go collect their compensation fees and bring them over." Xue Xiang said with a smile.

  The water snake took orders and turned to collect money. He himself was stripped of his clothes by Xue Xiang, and couldn't bear to see others better off than himself, so he didn't let those three unlucky ones go either. In a short while, a large pile of various wallets was presented in front of Xue Xiang. The wallets were all high-end goods, it seemed that this group of motorcycle thieves had stolen from many people. Xue Xiang wasn't polite either, gathering all the banknotes together, a thick stack, about 140 yuan, excluding small change and fractional tickets, and stuffed them into his tiger-skin wallet with his own money. The rest of the wallets were thrown back to them.

  Xue Xiang stuffed the money and the ticket into Shui She's hand, saying: "This little bit of money is not enough to compensate for the loss of eggs and my mental damage fee. Forget it, I'll take a loss and won't make things difficult for you. Keep this money for your lunch today. Oh, don't forget to get Fatso's finger plastered, Old Zhang at San Cha Kou has good bone-setting skills."

  The water snake cried and laughed, so much money could buy a car of eggs, but on the face, it made a grateful and tearful appearance.

  At that time, eggs were only 3 or 4 cents each, and the wages of ordinary workers were only 20-30 yuan. In some rural areas, a strong laborer's work points for one day were worth more than 50 cents, so over 100 yuan was indeed a huge sum of money.

  When Xue saw them waving goodbye, they didn't have the energy to engage in some psychological activities like a water snake. They picked up their bicycles and took off, creating a cloud of dust. The bald fat man was particularly fierce, not caring about the "Big Phoenix" that had been kicked by Xue, he sped off with his legs pedaling in a circular motion, his buttocks seeming to have rocket boosters installed, amazingly allowing him to leave the other flying party members struggling to keep up.

  Xue Xiang finished dealing with the gang of bike thieves, walked up to the old lady and handed her three 100-yuan bills: "Ma'am, is your leg okay? This is compensation from them for the eggs and nutrition fees. Please take it."

  The old woman was wearing a gray and black cotton-padded jacket, her hair was half white, and her purple-blue hemp pants were stained with egg liquid and dust. The eggs she had saved for a month were broken more than half, the old woman was heartbroken, these eggs were prepared to be sold at the collection station after buying vegetables to buy a school bag for her granddaughter. At this time, I saw that the young man who had just taught several bad children a lesson gave himself money, his tone was gentle, and his expression was kind, completely unlike his previous fierce move, the old woman was at a loss for a moment, her thin hands kept pushing away the banknotes handed over by Xue, saying: "I don't need so much, I don't need so much, only eighteen eggs were broken, you can give me seven yuan and two cents, my body is fine, it's just that my clothes are dirty, I'll wash them when I get home, no need for compensation, thank you, child, thanks to you earlier."

  The old lady repeatedly declined, insisting that she didn't want so many. Having no choice, Xue Xiang took out a few one-yuan bills, and the old lady finally accepted them. However, she then wrapped up the remaining dozen or so intact eggs in the flower-patterned cloth of the vegetable basket and forcibly stuffed them into Xue Xiang's hands. At this point, the people who had been waiting in line in front of Liu Ying'er had all finished buying their vegetables and were watching the commotion with interest. Now that it was over, they dispersed, and the sales window suddenly emptied out. Xue Xiang picked up his fallen bicycle and stood it upright, then picked up the vegetable basket. Ignoring Liu Ying'er, he scooped up the little girl and was about to help the old lady when Liu Ying'er beat him to it. The few of them walked towards the window. The little girl's face was still red from crying, her round face like a rosy apple. Taking advantage of the distraction, Xue Xiang surreptitiously stuffed the three big knots he had made earlier into the pocket of the little girl's cotton-padded jacket.

  PS: "Pāi pó zǐ" refers to chasing girls, flirting. This term originated from the large courtyard where cadres' children gathered in the western suburbs and was considered advanced culture compared to the "dài quān zi" of the city's young people, quickly becoming a common language among the youth of the 49 cities. The earliest appearance of this term was in the Shanxi-Shaanxi-Ningxia Border Region, where many female students who had fled to Yan'an were intercepted and stayed there, and the Red Army veterans took the initiative to get acquainted with them in various ways, resulting in this term with a Sichuan dialect flavor.