Chapter 82

In the private room of the regiment canteen, there were several bottles of beer and several dishes of pickled vegetables. Yang Lei took the bottle and poured some wine, clinking glasses with the people next to him.

“I really didn’t expect that us two brothers would meet here. I heard that you were with the Zhou Qiao brigade! The one that works with flood relief! Why did you come here?”

“Just transferred here a few months ago.”

Yang Lei took off his military cap and put it aside.

“How many years has it been since we last met? …Three years?”

Er Hei looked at Yang Lei with emotion. His eyes fell on his green military uniform.

“Look at you. If you were walking down the streets, I really wouldn’t dare to recognize you!”

“Why wouldn’t you dare to recognize me?”

“The stars emblazoned on your shoulder dazzle my eyes. I even called you leader, the leader of the People’s Liberation Army. After you become a high-ranking official, take care of your old brothers too!”

Er Hei was dressed like a boss. He was still the same as before. He couldn’t change his glib tongue.

“Enough, don’t tease me.”

Yang Lei seldom met acquaintances from the past, and he hadn’t spoken in such a tone in a long time. He took the wine bottle and touched it to Er Hei’s.

“It’s not easy to see you again. Don’t leave today. Talk with me,” Yang Lei said.

“Not easy… Who are you blaming? Who have you contacted in these past years? Who among us brothers who got along well in the past has news about you right now?”

Yang Lei didn’t speak.

Er Hei also drank a mouthful of wine. He took his wallet out from his pocket and pulled out a picture inside it, smiling as he handed it to Yang Lei.

“My son. He’s three years old.”

In the picture, Xiao Qin was hugging a robust and cute boy, her face full of happiness.

“Mischievous! He’s even noisier than his father when he was a child!”

Er Hei smiled contentedly.

“I set up a company on Qinghe Road. I buy and sell leather goods, and business is not bad. When we were choosing the location, Xiao Qin said that being near Nanhu Road was good. I said that we should choose this place. It’s a little closer to the Grand Century Restaurant of the past.”

Speaking of the Grand Century Restaurant, both of them were silent for a moment.

“After that place was demolished, it became a city garden. Everywhere is being demolished. It’s said that they’re doing some green space projects. …Have you been there?”

“I have,” Yang Lei said.

Er Hei smiled helplessly.

“It’s changed! It’s been so many years. Everything has changed.”

Er Hei drank a mouthful of wine. His gaze was focused on the table. Thinking of the past, he also became melancholy.

“People are gone too. I can’t find many of the brothers of the past. Lao Liang went to Sichuan, Hua Mao brought people with him back to Jiangbei, and I don’t know whether or not he’s still in the gangdom. Jiu Ge’s estates of the past were all subcontracted to brothers. It’s not bad. No one has ruined Jiu Ge’s reputation. I’ve taken over Bright Billiards Room, and Xiao Wu is managing it. I was thinking, Yu Ge has feelings for that place, and I have to keep it. When Yu Ge comes back some day, I’ll give it to him.”

Er Hei stopped, spacing out for a moment.

“Say, where is Yu Ge right now?” Er Hei asked Yang Lei.

Yang Lei was expressionless. Hearing Er Hei ask this, he sneered faintly.

“You all don’t even know where he is. How can I know?” Yang Lei said.

Er Hei was a little regretful that he asked Yang Lei this. He remembered how Yang Lei searched for Fang Yu three years ago. He didn’t know why Yang Lei had to search for Fang Yu like that years ago, and he didn’t know why Fang Yu didn’t tell them where he went after he left. That year, everyone knew that Yang Lei searched for Fang Yu, because it really created too much of a fuss. At that time, in order to find him, Yang Lei deserted the unit that he had already been assigned to and didn’t report for a long time. He was nearly expelled by the troops for being a deserter. For this reason, he was even punished. Later, after Yang Lei came back from the south, he suddenly stopped searching and returned to the army. Furthermore, he strongly requested not to go to the original army unit. Rather, he wanted to go to the front lines of the military region to specifically provide flood relief, the Zhou Qiao brigade that bore the most dangerous and most difficult missions. Everyone said that Yang Lei was out of his mind!

It was said that Yang Lei found Fang Yu in the south, and the two of them met. It was also said that Yang Lei didn’t find him. He was just tired and stopped searching. No one knew whether or not they met, because after Yang Lei returned, he never mentioned it again. But ever since Yang Lei returned to Jianghai, he never searched for Fang Yu again.

“In those years, Lao Liang was a wanted criminal and could only run away. Hua Mao kept guarding Yu Ge’s territory, and he nearly lost his life. When Yu Ge was in prison, there was still Hua Mao taking care of the things outside. He didn’t make him worry at all. I didn’t think too highly of him before, but he has real love and loyalty for Yu Ge. There’s nothing to criticize.”

When Er Hei recalled the past, his gaze blurred.

“When Yu Ge got out of prison, many brothers came back. There were also other people who came to join, wanting to work with him. During his four years in prison, he gathered many people. People like Ma Dong all obeyed him. After they came out, they wanted to work for Yu Ge and follow him. Your boss Yang Ziyi took Yu Ge and advised him for one night. Liu Luoguo, Zhang Datian, and those bosses all came together. But Yu Ge just said one sentence, he wasn’t doing it anymore. No matter who spoke until their lips cracked, he wasn’t staying. He was going to leave.”

Er Hei remembered that time. At that time, many people didn’t understand why Fang Yu was so determined to leave Jianghai. On the streets, going to prison was like a kind of capital. It was like the professional certificate of the gangdom, with value and weight. Under the circumstances of that time, as long as Fang Yu said a sentence, he could completely make a comeback, but Fang Yu disappeared from Jianghai.

“Some people said that Yu Ge lost his courage from sitting in prison, that he didn’t have the courage he used to have. I know that’s not it.”

Er Hei looked at his wine glass.

“Before, Yu Ge did everything for Jiu Ge. In this lifetime, the only boss Yu Ge will acknowledge is Jiu Ge. Right now, Jiu Ge isn’t here, and he should have his own life.”

“He once said that he wants a family. Yu Ge should live a life of happiness with his wife and children.”

Yang Lei didn’t speak. He listened to Er Hei speak.

“You know that Ying-zi and Yu Ge were together. She used to pursue Yu Ge very closely. During Yu Ge’s four years in prison, she was always going once in a while. She always thought about everything and took care of everything. Yu Ge used to be uninterested in her and rejected her so many times. But the way that Ying-zi treated Yu Ge those four years, as it is said, ‘misfortune tests the sincerity of friends.’ Even a stoneman’s heart would be warmed. She was a young woman. It’s so difficult opening a hair salon alone. The time that Yu Ge’s sentence was extended, she sold the shop without even blinking and used all of the money to seek help from her connections. That was money that she earned with difficulty from working many years from dawn to dusk! Us brothers were impressed that a woman could do this much for Yu Ge. Just because of this, she is qualified to be Yu Ge’s woman.”

Er Hei recalled that Ying-zi went to visit the prison again and again for four years. Even the prison guards were touched by her persistence. Before, there were many women who chased after Fang Yu, but only when something happened, would their sincerity be revealed.

“Say, if there was a woman who would treat you like this, not even abandoning you when you were in prison, what else would you want? Yu Ge is not a stoneman, but a man. He can’t help but be moved. After Yu Ge came out, this was also a logical matter. The day that Yu Ge came out, you didn’t see, but the two of them really found sincerity in the midst of misfortune.”

Er Hei recalled the scene, when Fang Yu came out of prison, of Ying-zi emotionally buried in Fang Yu’s chest as she sobbed.

“Did they get married?”

Yang Lei knocked out a cigarette and asked.

“They didn’t register it. Once Yu Ge got out of prison, he left Jinghai not long after, and didn’t tell anyone where he was going. Ying-zi also disappeared. They probably left together. …Well, whether or not they marry, it’s like that. When Yu Ge comes back someday, us brothers will give them a grand marriage. It will be just as splendid!”

Yang Lei smoked silently. The smoke dispersed and surrounded his face, calm and blurry.

“Why isn’t he in Jianghai?”

After a long time, Yang Lei asked. Er Hei glanced at Yang Lei.

“If he’s not in the gangdom, he can do other things. There are many things that he can do in Jianghai. He doesn’t need to leave.”

Er Hei didn’t speak. He drank a mouthful of wine and just smiled.

Yang Lei smoked for a while. He turned his head and looked at Er Hei.

“Lei-zi, I don’t know what problems you had with Yu Ge in those years. It’s also hard for me to say the things of the past.”

Er Hei seemed about to speak, but he said nothing and smiled helplessly.

“Yu Ge had his reasons for wanting to leave. We don’t know why, and you don’t need to ask. It’s been three years. Including the four years that you were in school, it’s been seven years. In seven years, many things have changed. In these seven years, Jianghai has changed so much that I nearly don’t recognize it, let alone the people. You say, isn’t that right?”

Er Hei smiled ambiguously and drank a mouthful of wine. He didn’t say anything else.