Chapter 104 Very Good

On Friday noon, Zhang Yun got up and went to Hongshan Lane.

Hongshan Lane is the slum in Jiangchuan City where Chu Jian lives. But he didn't come here to look for Chu Jian today. He rode his bicycle through the muddy alleys and dirt roads with potholes, stopped outside a house that looked like a counterfeit workshop, and knocked on the door. After a while, the door was half opened, and a flat-headed young man with a cigarette in his mouth stretched his neck, stared at Zhang Yunqi and asked, "What are you doing?"

Zhang Yunqi said, "I came here to get the certificate. Yu Lin introduced me."

The young man with a flat head opened the door and let Zhang Yunqi in to talk.

Zhang Yunqi walked into the house and looked around casually. The house was dimly lit, and there were fake materials piled everywhere, as well as many lost ID cards of others. This thing could be used as the real thing by replacing the photo, and it would not be recognized even at the police station.

Zhang Yunqi asked: "I want to get a press card. How long will it take?"

The young man with the flat head sat on the chair and said, "For two days, which unit do you want to be a reporter for?"

"From the sound of your voice, I can pick whatever you want?"

The young man with the flat head smoked a cigarette and said, "If you can think of it, I can make it. Not to mention the CCTV press card, even the United Nations one will do."

Zhang Yunqi said, "Keep a low profile and just read Jiangchuan Evening News."

The young man with the flat head said yes, and then asked, "What's the name on the press card?"

Zhang Yunqi thought for a moment and said, "Use your real name, Zou Jielun."

The flat-headed young man looked at Zhang Yunqi in surprise and asked, "Are you sure you want to use your real name?"

Zhang Yunqi said: "If you don't want to change your name, just use your real name!"

The young man with the flat head nodded and said, "Okay, brother Jie Lun, you were introduced by Boss Yu, so I won't bargain. I'll give you 200 yuan for a deposit of 50 yuan, and you can come back tomorrow to pick it up."

Zhang Yunqi said happily: "Are you doing this to give face to Boss Yu? It's so expensive, I'm afraid you're bullying a child."

The young man with the flat head said: "This thing is high risk, so this is the price."

"How about 30 yuan?" Zhang Yunqi asked.

The flat-headed young man looked disdainful and said, "I can't serve you. Please go back."

Zhang Yunqi added: "Then I'll give you a fair price, 50."

The young man with the flat head said impatiently: "100, if not, forget it."

Zhang Yunqi smiled and said it was a deal. He gave a deposit of 30 yuan, went out and rode his bike back along the same route.

When passing through a small alley,
Seeing this scene, Zhang Yunqi was stunned for a moment, and immediately realized that something was wrong. He turned the car around and rushed back, shouting, "Let go of that little girl! You little bastards, why are you bullying others!"

A few little boys were frightened and threw mud and tried to run away.

Zhang Yunqi had already arrived on his bicycle. He reached out and picked up the biggest boy among them like a chicken. He said with a ferocious expression, "Stop right there, all of you. Tell me why you are bullying me. Believe it or not, I will beat you up!"

The little boy was so scared that he burst into tears and said he would never do it again.

"Now you know you don't dare? Why did you bully her just now? If I catch you bullying her again next time, I will beat your butts to pieces! In front of your parents!" Zhang Yunqi threatened and roared, scaring the group of little boys so much that they huddled in the corner and trembled, wiping their tears and saying sorry.

Only then did Zhang Yunqi tell them to leave.

After getting off the car, he walked to the girl sitting on the ground. She stopped crying at this time. She opened her eyes wide and looked at him with tears in her eyes. However, her big eyes lacked the clarity that only little girls have. Instead, they looked a little dull.

This little girl is Chu Jian’s sister, named Chu Xin. Zhang Yunqi had seen her several times before when he sent Chu Jian home.

He heard from his elder sister Zhang Qiulan that Chu Xin had a high fever when she was a child and had no money to see a doctor, so her brain was damaged and she had some intellectual problems. She was a moron. Last time, her elder sister came here to recruit Chu Jian's mother to help deliver goods, and she learned about this situation. Zhang Yunqi squatted in front of Chu Xin, reached out and picked her up, carefully patted off the mud and debris on her body and hair, and then smiled at her.

The little girl also grinned, revealing a row of white teeth.

Zhang Yunqi asked, "Do you still remember your brother?"

Chu Xin smiled foolishly and looked at him blankly.

Zhang Yunqi said, "How about I take you to buy some delicious food? Mimi shrimp crackers, candied haws, popcorn, marshmallows, chocolate with liquor filling, figs, Jigong Dan..."

Chu Xin's eyes suddenly brightened up and he pecked the little head hard.

Zhang Yunqi stood up, picked her up and put her on the back seat of the bicycle. Then he thought about it and was a little worried that the little girl would not be able to sit steadily and fall off, so he carried her into the basket in front of the bicycle, then got on the bicycle and pedaled to Hongshannong Road, found a convenience store and bought a big bag of snacks.

On the way back, Zhang Yunqi deliberately rode his bike very fast.

Chu Xin, sitting in the basket, was holding a big bag of snacks.

All along the way, we could hear her silvery laughter.

After arriving at Chu Jian's house, Zhang Yunqi stopped his bicycle, picked up Chu Xin, pushed the door open and entered the house. A strong smell of alcohol rushed into his nose. When he looked up, he saw a thin middle-aged man sitting on a wooden bench drinking.

I have never met this man before. If nothing unexpected happens, he should be Chu Xin's father. As for Chu Jian's mother, she should be delivering goods with her eldest sister Zhang Qiulan at this time.

Zhang Yunqi smiled and said, "Hello uncle, I am Chu Jian's classmate. I came here to do something today and happened to see a few little boys bullying Chu Xin, so I brought her back."

The middle-aged man was already drunk, his shriveled face was red. He held the bottle of wine and said "oh oh" twice as a reply to Zhang Yunqi. Zhang Yunqi laughed, squatted down and said to Chu Xin: "Brother has to go back to school. I will come to see you another day."

After saying that, Zhang Yunqi touched Chu Xin’s little head, then got up and left the room.

After pushing his bicycle out and preparing to leave, he caught a glimpse of Chu Xin running out of the house from the corner of his eye. Chu Xin did not follow him, but stood at the door, staring at him with her big eyes. It was hard to describe the something in her dull eyes, as if there was a little bit of reluctance.

Zhang Yunqi smiled and waved his hand, saying, "Hurry up and go inside. Don't come out alone in the future. Your sister will be home after school this afternoon."

Zhang Yunqi didn’t know whether Chu Xin could understand what he said.

Probably not.

I don't know why, but when he looked at this little girl, he suddenly thought of his own daughter, who was about the same age as Chu Xin, six years old, very cute and well-behaved, the apple of his eye. He looked up at the sky, and suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.

******
When I got back to school, it was time for the afternoon physical education class.

After the students of Class 168 gathered, the physical education teacher called out their names and let them move freely. Zhang Yunqi, Wang Xiaokai, Yang Wei, Tian Zhuangzhuang and a group of boys in the class formed a 3V3 to play basketball. After playing for about twenty minutes, Zhang Yunqi beat this group of rookies to the point that they could not take care of themselves. Then he went off the court with Wang Xiaokai to buy water from the canteen.

On the way back from buying water, Wang Xiaokai put his arm around Zhang Yunqi's shoulders and said, "Xiao Zhang, I have something good to tell you."

Zhang Yunqi turned his head and glanced at Wang Xiaokai: "What you can tell me is probably not good."

Wang Xiaokai was not angry at all, and said happily: "You can tell whether it is a good news or not after you finish listening. At 12:30 noon today, the classes participating in the school anniversary art performance were evaluated, and our class's dance team was shortlisted."

Zhang Yunqi took a sip of water and said, "We just participated in the competition at noon, and the results are out in less than an hour?"

Wang Xiaokai said, "The results of the competition haven't come out yet, but I can guarantee that our dance team will definitely pass the competition and participate in the school anniversary performance."

Zhang Yunqi asked: "What's the reason?"

Wang Xiaokai said, "The reason is that this competition is led by the student union. The president of the student union is Lin Zihao. He participated in this review. At that time, Tian Zhuangzhuang and I leaned on the window to watch the excitement. When other classes were performing, Lin Zihao had no expression on his face and didn't say a word. But after the first performance, he applauded and said, good, very good, very good!"

(End of this chapter)