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When Guan Anlin came over, the lottery shop owner made an excuse to walk away. He was a serious businessman, and although he got along well with Chen Yuncheng, he was not at all willing to provoke these gangsters in society.
Chen Yuncheng stood there and waited for him.
Guan Anlin watched the sublease advertisement posted on the rolling shutter door for a while and said, “You are not going to continue it?”
Chen Yuncheng nodded.
Guan Anlin said again, “Do you think you deserve it?”
Chen Yuncheng didn’t get angry at his words but smiled and asked him, “Would you like a cigarette?”
Guan Anlin did not answer.
Chen Yuncheng opened the door halfway and got into the dimly lit kiosk, only to come out after a while. He took a box of cigarettes that had their outer box soaked in water and handed them all directly to Guan Anlin as he said, “The inside is still good, but it’s not easy to sell anymore, so take it and smoke it.”
Guan Anlin didn’t extend his hand. He just looked down and said, “You think Zhang Wenyong is me? You’re making small moves behind his back. He definitely won’t let you off easily.”
Chen Yuncheng said to Guan Anlin, “Of course Zhang Wenyong is not you. You are my brother, Zhang Wenyong never was.”
“I’m your brother?” Guan Anlin looked like he had heard something sarcastic.
Chen Yuncheng said, “Do you remember what you went in for?”
Guan Anlin roared, “Why? Weren’t you the one who betrayed me with the police?”
The two of them were standing by the roadside, and when passersby heard Guan Anlin’s roar, they all involuntarily looked over at them, and even the lottery shop owner next door looked out curiously.
Chen Yuncheng raised his hand and pressed it on Guan Anlin’s shoulder, “Don’t get too worked up.”
Guan Anlin broke away from his hand, “What right do you have to ask me now?”
Chen Yuncheng lowered his voice, “It’s not that I want to betray you. It’s that Zhang Wenyong and the others want to kill you. Do you still remember Zhang Wenyong introduced that Boss Yu to you?”
Guan Anlin did not say anything.
Chen Yuncheng noticed that someone had been looking at them curiously, so he got close to Guan Anlin and said, “Do you really think that Boss Yu really want to make a fortune with you? Have you not come to your senses by now?”
At that time, they met Boss Yu when Zhang Wenyong took a group of young people out for a night out. That day, Guan Anlin helped Zhang Wenyong hold back a lot of drinks, and Boss Yu praised him for his loyalty, chatted with him for a while and left his contact information.
Afterwards, Chen Yuncheng found out that Boss Yu often came into contact with Guan Anlin. At that time, the two of them were still living together in the garage dormitory. They used to spend most of their time together every day. Since Guan Anlin met Boss Yu, he often went out alone.
Chen Yuncheng noticed that Guan Anlin was in a very excited state. One day Guan Anlin came back very late, and Chen Yuncheng had fallen asleep when he was woken up by Guan Anlin. Guan Anlin had drunk a lot of wine, sat by his bedside and squeezed his shoulders as he told him that he was going to be rich. “When I get rich, I will never forget you, you will always be my best brother for life!” What Guan Anlin said at that time was still on Chen Yuncheng’s mind until now.
Guan Anlin, like Chen Yuncheng, had not studied seriously enough before he went out to work. They were both very young at that time and always had some unrealistic and vain ideals, living the life of the lowest class of society, but they were so proud and arrogant to have anyone look down on them and thought they would one day become a man of the world.
Chen Yuncheng knew that Guan Anlin wanted to make money. They had been pissed off by a lot of customers in the garage, and Guan Anlin wanted to drive a luxury car one day and trample those people under his feet. However, they couldn’t think of how to make money. Now that he was older, Chen Yuncheng sometimes looked back and found that they had a narrow vision and poor imagination. They were not able to endure hardships much, and they simply did not have the ability to make a lot of money when they were young.
But that Boss Yu gave Guan Anlin hope. Chen Yuncheng didn’t know what he had told Guan Anlin, but he was so full of ambition that he wanted to do something big and didn’t even want to work at the garage.
Then Chen Yuncheng intermittently heard that Boss Yu had rented a house for Guan Anlin outside and gave Guan Anlin money to eat, drink and have fun. He somewhat had a very bad feeling at that time. Until one time, he heard Zhang Wenyong accidentally reveal that Boss Yu was looking for someone to buy ephedrine1.
Chen Yuncheng didn’t know what ephedrine was used for. He went online to look it up and suddenly realized what Boss Yu and Guan Anlin were planning together.
He looked for Guan Anlin several times and asked Guan Anlin to go back with him. Guan Anlin said it was none of his business and told him to mind his own business. He was frightened all day long and finally couldn’t help finding the police to report about that Boss Yu and the den he had rented to Guan Anlin. In order not to involve Guan Anlin, he even found an excuse to ask him out that day, but later, he realized that he was too naive. In the end, only Guan Anlin was imprisoned because of this incident. The reason why Boss Yu spent money to seek Guan Anlin was just to find someone to take all the responsibility if something went wrong one day.
Chen Yuncheng’s whole life was in a downward spiral. He stayed away from Zhang Wenyong’s group and opened a small kiosk with his own savings. When Guan Anlin was in prison, he tried to visit him twice, but Guan Anlin refused to see him and Chen Yuncheng gave up afterwards.
After Guan Anlin was released from prison, Chen Yuncheng always wanted to find a chance to sit down and chat with him, but these days he was always running around for Zhou Yan’s affairs, and he didn’t have time to take care of Guan Anlin.
Now, Chen Yuncheng could only say to Guan Anlin, “Those people are just using you. Can’t you see clearly?”
Guan Anlin said, “Who is not using who? They want to use me to make money. Wouldn’t I use them to make money? Must I not be playing them?”
“We just can’t play them because we don’t have the money,” Chen Yuncheng said.
Guan Anlin said, “No, at first, I did it because I was stupid, and you did it because you were stupid.”
Chen Yuncheng looked at him for a while and nodded, “I am stupid, but you must not do anything stupid again. It doesn’t matter if you recognize me as a brother or not. I just hope you can stay away from Zhang Wenyong.” After Chen Yuncheng said that, he pulled open the jacket pocket of Guan Anlin’s jacket and threw in the packet of cigarettes whose box had been deformed earlier.
When he let go, Chen Yuncheng added again, “I don’t have any money, but whenever you really need it, I’ll give you a thousand if I have a thousand. Must you go and do those things, even if you really get rich, don’t come to me again. I don’t want any of that dirty money.”
When he finished speaking, a car horn sounded from the roadside.
Chen Yuncheng turned his head and saw that Ning Junyan’s car was parked on the side of the road, the passenger’s window was down, and Ning Junyan was looking at him from inside.
The moment he saw Ning Junyan, Chen Yuncheng was a little flustered. He hurriedly said to Guan Anlin, “I’ll go first.” Then he walked towards Ning Junyan, took two steps, and hurried back to close the rolling door and lock it before he walked over again and got into the passenger seat.
Ning Junyan didn’t say anything and directly started the car, and just as the car was about to start, a hand pressed hard on the open passenger window.
Guan Anlin stood by the car door and said to Chen Yuncheng, “Come down first. I still have something to say to you.”
Chen Yuncheng glanced at Ning Junyan subconsciously.
Ning Junyan looked over towards Guan Anlin.
Guan Anlin recognized him and immediately showed a defiant look.
The author has something to say:
There may be some details about what happened in the past that is not very clear, but if I don’t forget I will make them clear in the future.