County Town Chapter 7: Brilliant Sunshine

  Wei Ge, also known as He Wei from Class 2. It's said that he has connections with people in society, so he became a well-known figure within the county middle school, one of the two most formidable students. Another one is Hu Yun, a classmate of Yi Tian Xing, whose father is the director of the railway station police station. People on the street usually give him some face, plus he's quite lively, so he also managed to mix in.

  He Weihai was different, he was the son of a county-owned tractor factory, and had no special connections, but he was good at fighting. In his first year of high school, he was cornered by someone on the riverbank, and he took on five people alone, resulting in three broken ribs for himself, while also knocking out three opponents. This one fight made him famous. It's said that occasionally he would listen to rock music, when others asked him why he listened to Black Panther, he said: "Rock is good, it won't hurt anyone, and it's enjoyable."

  That year and month there was no blue little pill called Viagra, the two words "Wei Ge" spoken in the county would not make a large group of people laugh, but could scare off a large group of people.

  Yi Tian Xing furrowed his brow, thinking that no matter what, he had nothing to do with the people on the road. What was Wei Ge looking for him for?

  With a mind full of doubts, Yi Tianxing followed the two guys to the fourth floor of the teaching building. The fourth floor only had half a corridor and was relatively dimly lit. It was usually the sacred place for senior high school boys to smoke and chat, but today's class break was strange. The usually lively and extraordinary fourth-floor corridor was very quiet, with only one person squatting inside, holding a cigarette between his middle fingers, with a red glow flashing on the cigarette.

  "Sit down," the man said.

  The two men who came up from the Easy Heaven Bar pushed him and shouted: "Wei Ge told you to sit down."

  Yitian smiled and patted his butt, then sat down in front of He Wei.

  He Weizhang was tall and sturdy, but his waist was not thick, and he looked particularly wide with his shoulders. At first glance, he was a good fighter. Seeing Yi Tianxing as calm as in the classroom, he couldn't help but be surprised by his calmness. He stared at him for half a day, then suddenly said: "Indeed, you have enough guts, no wonder you dare to provoke people on the outside."

  Yi Tianxing finally knew what was going on after hearing this. It turned out that it was the aftermath of teaching that little rascal a lesson that night, and he couldn't help but smile wryly, saying: "That matter can't be blamed on me."

  "Huh? What's going on?" He Wei asked, biting his cigarette.

  Yi Tian Xing bitterly smiled and said: "Wei Ge, are you planning on teaching me a lesson on behalf of outsiders?"

  "Damn it!" He Wei suddenly burst into rage, "What do you take me for, kid? Don't think I'm some good-for-nothing like Hu Yun in your class. I've never messed with my own classmates no matter how much I've mixed around!"

  Yi Tian Xing then realized he had misunderstood and smiled as he apologized.

  Wei Hao stood up, patted or stroked his head like a leader showing concern for a child, and said: "I have friends who passed on the message that Xue Saner's subordinate in the west of the city was beaten by a young man who rummages through trash. Later, it was found out that the guy is from our school. I thought, no matter how bad our school is, only you are reduced to rummaging through trash. So I called you up to have a word with you and let you be careful for the next few days."

  Yitianxing, although very unaccustomed to having a pair of big hands on his head, was even more unaccustomed to the hoodlums in this school suddenly being gentle and kind like a guidance counselor. However, he still felt a few points of gratitude in his heart, and smiled as he said: "That night I went out to dig for food, and just happened to run into a few people stealing aluminum ingots from the state-owned second factory. Of course, I didn't dare intervene, but one person wanted to come hit me, so it started."

  "Huh?" He Wei let out another "huh", seeming to have gained interest, and said: "I heard that the guy you lost to is quite skilled, how did you manage to beat him?"

  Yi Tianxing was in a difficult situation, what could he say? After thinking for half a day, he slowly said: "I've been suffering since I was young, it's just that my strength is a bit greater."

  He Wei's mouth curled up into a smile as he hastily invited, "Come on, come on, I love competing with people in arm wrestling, let's have a match."

  Yi Tianxing did not expect that a word would lead to such a result, and he wanted to push it away, but he saw that He Tongxue had already rolled up his sleeves to his elbows, leaning on the ground with great interest, ready to pounce.

  He could only sigh inwardly and walk forward.

  With great difficulty, he controlled his strength to only use one-tenth of it, slowly allowing He Wei to win in a fiercely intense arm-wrestling match. Yi Tian Xing let out a long sigh, stood up, and smiled somewhat awkwardly.

  He Wei laughed and pulled away the little brother who had been shouting and cheering beside him, patting his shoulder and saying: "The kid's strength is indeed great, only a little bit less than mine."

  Yitian Xing's face always wore a harmless smile.

  "Alright, from now on you'll follow me." He Wei suddenly became serious, and the seventeen-year-old young man struck a pose like a Hong Kong triad boss, making Yi Tianxing feel awkward.

  "Follow me and we'll go tell Xue San'er about it, then everything will be fine."

  Yi Tianxing saw him take the initiative to put things on himself, and finally believed that this guy was indeed a different kind of rascal. He was slightly moved, but politely declined, only to unknowingly waste even more words.

  He Wei cursed a few times and said, "I know you guys look down on us mixed breeds. We're all classmates, yet you still discriminate against different professions? Bullshit, get out! If you get beaten to death in the future, don't blame me."

  Yi Tianxing cried and laughed at the same time, hastily saying: "I'm just a waste collector, this kind of discrimination shouldn't be directed at me discriminating against you."

  The two of them looked at each other and burst out laughing. As they were about to part ways, He Wei tugged on his blue denim shirt and frowned, saying: "It's all faded white from washing, change into a new one, don't let people think you're picking up trash and are poor, I know those few old men who pick up scraps have homes that are overflowing with wealth."

  Yitianxing smiled and replied: "Those old guys pick up dead pigs every day to make lard, and what they sell is all stinky oil."

  Back in the classroom downstairs, his classmates saw that he was unscathed and uninjured, and they all gathered around to express their concern or surprise. Only Hu Yun sat coldly in front, and Yi Tianxing caught a glimpse of him with a hint of disdain at the corner of his mouth, and couldn't help but feel some confusion and incomprehension.

  Zou Leran was blocked outside, anxious, grabbed the collars of several classmates, and forced her way through to get in front of him, asking with concern: "Are you okay?"

  "It's okay." Yi Tianxing said with a smile as he looked into her clear eyes.

  ……………………………

  In Yitian's memories after his passing, the sunshine in 1994 was radiant to the extreme.

  Actually, there is no special reason, it's just that every time on Saturday when riding a bike back home with Zou Lelie, the blooming jasmine by the river will always infuse the sunlight shining on them with a faint fragrance.

  Yitian Xing glanced at Zou Lerer's classmate's straight nose bridge and the clear bangs in front of her forehead, somewhat dazed, and it took a long time to remember that thing.

  "What I said at your house that day, I thought about it and decided not to do it after all." He was referring to Zou Leilei asking him to get high scores.

  Zou Lerong frowned and glanced at him, saying irritably: "Whatever."

  Yi Tian Xing was born a lovely child who feared women. Seeing her show signs of having a temper, he hastily said: "Really well done, afraid to scare off a group of people, how can I explain it to others?"

  Zou Leran smiled and said: "One's own skills, are they afraid of what others say?"

  This extremely simple sentence made Yitian Xing somewhat stunned. He pedaled the footboard under his feet, thinking about things, and after a long time, he came up with a sentence.

  "What if what happened is kind of scary?"

  "One scare for one." Zou Ler thought he was joking and smiled back with pursed lips.

  Yi Tianxing sighed and said: "To be honest, what if I were a monster?"

  Zou Leran smiled again, revealing her white teeth, and sweetly said: "You were originally a monster genius anyway."

  Yi Tian Xing smiled silently and turned his head to look at the river water by the side of the road, which was sparkling under the sunset.