It wasn't until the three Audis had disappeared into the distance that Chen Qiang suddenly shivered, as if his soul had just returned to his body.
He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, muttering to himself in disbelief, "I... I did it."
Goatee nodded heavily. "Yeah, you did it. As long as you settle Tumor, the Liuxiang Town bus station is yours, Boss."
Bus station?
So Tumor and Chen Qiang were fighting over the Liuxiang Town bus station.
Some younger friends might not know this, but back in the 90s, bus stations weren't all run by the government; they could be privately contracted.
Which bus took which route, how much each ticket cost, which driver was assigned to which run, and how much "protection money" each driver had to pay every month...
All of that was decided by whoever ran the station.
And in those days, whether it was a bus or a truck, anyone daring to drive long-haul was a tough character. They might even be packing heat under their coats.
If not a gun, then definitely a knife. Younger friends, go ask your elders who worked in that field back then.
I can't say too much about the inside details.
Times are good now, peace and prosperity reign, and the 90s are long gone. Friends, just knowing the gist of it is enough.
Back then, tourism wasn't really a concept yet, and Liuxiang Town's population wasn't huge. But ever since the Reform and Opening Up, many people from the Southwest were heading out to work in the coastal cities.
Others wanted to go to the county seat to do a little business or buy furniture.
Counting not just Liuxiang Town but the many surrounding villages...
With people coming and going all day, the passenger flow was probably around a thousand or two.
If you go to the county seat, you have to come back. Take a cut of one yuan per person per trip—that's two yuan for a round trip.
Even with just a thousand people a day, that's two thousand yuan.
Way more profitable than Tumor's shitty fish farm.
By this time, society bosses had begun to realize the importance of money.
Only with money in hand would underlings be willing to work for you.
In 1995, an income of two thousand yuan a day—what kind of concept was that?
Back then, a laborer on a construction site only made 180 yuan a month. The national average wage was around 400 to 500 yuan.
Faced with such massive profits, it was no wonder Chen Qiang was tempted enough to go to war with Tumor, even holding a gun to block Xu Muye's path.
Whoever took control of this bus station would become the richest man in Liuxiang Town.
With money comes manpower. With men and money, you become the one and only boss of Liuxiang Town.
Chen Qiang put away his gun, his face regaining its composure. He was no longer the Chen Qiang who couldn't stand straight in front of Xu Muye; he was the Boss again.
After taking a few steps, Chen Qiang turned back and smiled at me.
"Number Two, don't overthink it. Whether this bus station business existed or not, I would have stood up for you."
The words lacked sincerity, but I still put on a face full of joy and said loudly with a smile:
"How could I, Boss? Why would I overthink it? I can't thank you enough. Without you, there would be no me."
Chen Qiang nodded casually and turned to walk toward the car.
He was giving me an out, and I had to take it.
Besides, without him, I really would have been handled by Tumor. He hadn't wronged me. Even if I felt a little unhappy inside, it was only a tiny bit.
Watching Chen Qiang's retreating figure, head held high, I clenched my hand inside my sleeve into a fist.
One day, I would be a boss too. A boss bigger than Chen Qiang, bigger than Xu Muye.
Goatee patted my shoulder. "Alright, things have finally come to a pause. Next up is handling people."
"Don't worry. Once we handle Tumor, everyone can hold their heads high in Liuxiang Town."
His words excited me. If we handled Tumor, Chen Qiang would take over the bus station, and we who followed him would surely benefit.
The journey back was silent. We returned to Liuxiang Town smoothly. Chen Qiang had other business and left with Goatee, so Xu Rang drove me home.
Normally full of energy, he was exceptionally quiet today.
Outside the alley to my house, Xu Rang stopped the car and handed me a cigarette.
"Number Two, after going through so much last night, do you have any thoughts?"
I took the cigarette, lit it, and was silent for a moment before saying, "Xu Rang, you shouldn't have handled Wang Hai last night. That was my business."
Xu Rang said impatiently, "Number Two, if you say that kind of bullshit again, don't tell anyone you know me. Remember this: you are the brother I, Xu Rang, have chosen. Your business is my business."
I looked at Xu Rang's young face and nodded heavily.
"You got it, Xu Rang. That's good enough for me. From now on, you're my brother. We share one life."
Xu Rang smiled with satisfaction. "I asked if you had any thoughts, not about Wang Hai, but about the Boss."
Chen Qiang? What about Chen Qiang?
"Number Two, could you do what the Boss did? Hand a gun to someone else and let them decide whether to shoot you?"
I was stunned. Indeed, to hand a gun to someone else—how much guts did that take?!
I fell silent, because I asked myself honestly: I didn't dare. I didn't have that kind of guts.
Xu Rang slowly exhaled a puff of smoke. "That's why the Boss can be the Boss, and we can only follow him."
I didn't want to think about it. In a moment of heat, I blurted out, "Xu Rang, let's become sworn brothers!"
Xu Rang was clearly caught off guard. He turned his head and saw my bright, burning eyes.
After a few seconds of hesitation, he nodded firmly. "Alright. Let's do it. We'll be sworn brothers."
On the ninth day of the eleventh lunar month in 1995, Xu Rang and I were outside the alley of my house.
There was no beheading a chicken or burning yellow paper. No bowing to Lord Guan. No swearing oaths about not seeking to be born on the same day but dying on the same day.
Just like that, we knelt on the ground and banged our heads three times—thud, thud, thud—announcing it to heaven and earth.
I, Chu Shanhe, and he, Xu Rang, were blood brothers from this day forward.
In the many years that followed, I had many sworn brothers. I burned yellow paper with them, drank blood wine, and knelt before Lord Guan, swearing with deep emotion that we would be like brothers.
But when they moved against me, they showed no mercy. And when I handled them, I didn't leave a shred of sentimentality either.
In this life, I only recognize Xu Rang as my sworn brother.
That year, I was six months shy of eighteen, and he had just turned twenty-one.
...
Regarding the incident where Chen Qiang blocked Xu Muye with a gun, I asked both sides later and got two different stories.
In 2016, shortly after finishing another stint in "college," I ran into Goatee in Huai City, Hunan.
He was already in his fifties by then, long retired from the jianghu, running a stereo shop on a pedestrian street.
While chatting, we brought up that incident. Goatee told me:
Actually, that day, Chen Qiang had two guns on him. Goatee only found out afterward.
The one he handed to Xu Muye was empty after firing those three shots. If Xu Muye had taken the gun and actually tried to pull the trigger...
Chen Qiang would have immediately pulled out the second gun and handled Xu Muye right there. The enforcers in the three HiAce vans behind would have swarmed forward and flattened everyone Xu Muye brought.
Then, Chen Qiang would have taken the three of us and fled to Guangdong or Guangxi.
If Xu Muye's connections in the county seat started moving and the authorities really wanted to hunt him down, Chen Qiang would have crossed the border into Vietnam. We would have laid low in Guangdong or Guangxi for a few years until the storm passed before coming back.
Hearing this, I couldn't help but laugh bitterly, recalling what Xu Muye had told me about the same incident years before.
That was in the spring of 2006. I was already a prominent boss in Qianyang City with quite a few businesses under my belt.
Xu Muye had finished his paperwork and was preparing to retire to Vancouver. Before leaving, he came to have a drink with me.
I asked him if he had ever thought about actually shooting Chen Qiang that day.
Xu Muye looked at me in shock. "Oh, Number Two, why would you think that? I, Xu Muye, am not some homicidal maniac. Do I look like someone who kills people just for kicks?"
Seeing my confusion, Xu Muye took a big gulp of wine and said with a smile:
"Number Two, remember this: we came out to make a living, not to court death. No matter who you're dealing with—even a beggar on the street—don't casually entertain the thought of killing."
"Back then, I was fine porcelain, and Chen Qiang, that country bumpkin, was a broken brick. Why would I clash with him? What good would it do me to kill him that day? Carrying a murder charge—does that make me look tough?"
"It's not worth it, Number Two. You're a boss, true, but no matter how big a boss you are, can you be bigger than the hammer and sickle above your head? The higher you sit, the less you should think about using those methods to solve problems."
"Remember: never lightly harbor murderous intent."
That was the first time Xu Muye spoke such a long string of words to me. Even though I was half-drunk at the time, I still remember it clearly, word for word.
And it was precisely those words that allowed me to escape the jianghu safely in the end.