Chapter 5: Burning Diamonds Instead of Gasoline

  That night, Liyang and her mother returned home in a despondent mood. Due to her own mistake, she had lost her mother's job, and Liyang felt deeply guilty. After saying many comforting words, her mother still sobbed quietly, finding it hard to let go.

  Li Yang's mother, Wang Fang, is a woman with a hard life. Ten years ago, after Li Yang's father was paralyzed in a car accident, she lost her job at the cotton mill. To support the family, she worked as a nanny, sold goods on the street, and even carried heavy loads for a construction team. She has endured all kinds of hardships. Only since finding this job that allows her to earn money by singing did their home life improve slightly.

  Tonight she lost this job that she thought was okay, and this woman who has been tempered by a hard life, with a face full of vicissitudes, is desperate in her heart.

  The house they rented was on the seventh floor, which was the top floor. It was sweltering in summer and freezing in winter. It was a two-bedroom, one-living-room shanty.

  This old-fashioned suite was built in the late 1980s, with mottled walls and many places where the wallpaper has cracked open to reveal the yellowish-gray putty inside. Although it's simple and shabby, for only 600 yuan a month in rent, it's considered a good value in this southeastern city suburb.

  "Tomorrow is the 30th, we need to pay the rent. If we can't afford it, the landlord will kick us out. We can still manage, we can go to the train station and make do for a few days, but what about your father who's bedridden?" Wang Fang said weakly from beside the bed, complaining softly to Lei Yang.

  Li Yang's father, Li Tianjun, was leaning against Wang Fang and had fallen asleep.

  On the small table beside the bed, a stack of neatly arranged money was piled up. Wang Fang had counted it many times before, and every note had been carefully flattened by her. The dozen or so yuan in Li Yang's pocket were also included, but there were only 283 yuan, still a long way from paying the rent.

  Li Yang gritted his teeth and said in a low voice, "No way! I'll go there tomorrow. If that fat captain doesn't give me the money, I'll beat him until he's picking up his teeth from all over the ground!"

  Wang Fang's eyes welled up with tears, and she said in a soft voice: "Whatever you do, don't mess with that platoon leader Wang Yong. He's notorious for being slippery as a knife and tough as nails. Even if you beat him to the point of hospitalization, don't expect to get a single penny out of him. If all else fails, I'll go ask your grandmother about those debts she owes."

  "No! I don't want you to go ask that old witch!" As soon as Wang Fang mentioned her own grandmother, Li Yang's face turned furious.

  "What else can we do if we don't ask her for an account?"

  "Mom, I really can't do it. I won't attend this school anymore. I'll go to the streets and work as a laborer, it's very profitable. The little soldier downstairs cleaned the chimney for a steel factory and earned 1,500 yuan in three days. Since he can do that job, I can too." Li Yang said gritting his teeth.

  Wang Fang's pale face turned even paler, and she hastily said: "No way, your current task is to go to school. No matter how bitter or difficult it gets, I won't let you go out to work."

  Li Yang's face was also gloomy, he didn't tell his mom that Xiao Jun had earned 1,500 yuan in three days, but when he came back, his whole body was severely burned by chemicals, and the saliva he spat out for a week was all black!

  At that time, after his father had a car accident, the owner of the car compensated their family with 180,000 yuan. More than 70,000 to 80,000 yuan was spent on medical treatment for Li Tianjun, leaving more than 100,000 yuan. His mother was preparing to use this 100,000 yuan to take Li Tianjun to the capital for medical treatment when his aunt, Li Yang's mother, found out and came over to borrow the money, saying she would return it in three days.

  As a result, this loan lasted for ten whole years!

  Li Yang's aunt used this money to build a two-story small building for her uncle, and the whole family lived a decent life, but they just didn't know how to pay back the debt.

  In these ten years, Wang Fang has come to their doorstep countless times to ask for the money back, but each time she was sent away by his mother with various excuses, without mentioning returning the money.

  For the last time, when the family was really unable to open the pot, Wang Fang had no choice but to kneel down for her mother. The old lady threw out a sentence: "If you want to ask your old mother for money, first take out the hard-earned money that I spent raising you with one hand wiping away your shit and the other hand wiping away your pee! A total of 1 million, pay up!"

  Facing her unreasonable mother, the gentle and weak Wang Fang had no choice but to cry and return home. Halfway there, she even stood dazed on a bridge, wanting to jump into the water and end her life. This was when Li Yang was only ten years old!

  Luckily, she was pulled back by a passerby. Wang Fang thought of the young Lei Yang and did not take her own life after all.

  When Li Yang's family was most difficult, Wang Fang even secretly sold blood to maintain the life of three people and Li Tianjun's medical expenses. Originally, there was a compensation of 100,000 yuan from his father, and although they were still poor, they would not be as desperate as they are now, so whenever he mentions this evil grandmother, Li Yang is furious.

  After discussing together for a while, they felt that there was no other way to think of it. Li Yang found that his father, Li Tianjun, had closed his eyes and flowed out a few clear tears, knowing that his father was pretending to sleep.

  He was afraid of saying anything more that would make his father even sadder, so he bid Wang Fang a good night and went back to his own little hut to sleep.

  "Leyang, if you want to avenge yourself, I can make him disappear from the face of the earth." As soon as he returned to his bedroom, Leyang's mind was filled with the voice of Feidie Xing.

  "Aren't you very capable? Can you help me get back mom's salary? I don't want that team leader to die."

  "That fatso has already crawled into his house, my Purple Star Ray can't penetrate obstacles like steel houses and many others. Even if he's on the street, I can only toss him to a small island, you can threaten him for money."

  "I'm dizzy! You're a flying saucer, aren't you all-powerful? No way, that's kidnapping, I absolutely won't do it."

  "Hehe, I seem to be flying a bit faster, with more powerful weapons. As long as the conditions are right, I can instantly transport cargo, but nothing else is really possible."

  After Li Yang had a detailed exchange with his flying saucer brother, he sadly discovered that the previous flying saucer took him through more than a dozen countries, not some kind of mysterious skill, but in one ten-thousandth of a second, flew to Li Yang's head, sucked him in, and then flew to another location, and spat him out again. It was just because the action was too fast that Li Yang had a feeling of crossing through time and space.

  He was teleported to places that avoided crowds without exception, as if the flying saucer had a deep-seated fear of Earthlings.

  According to the Star Brain's understanding, the Gileseans have a deep-seated wariness of Earthlings, who possess some ultimate weapons that can harm them, especially the Earthlings' thought wisdom, physical form, and many unsolved mysteries that are completely different from theirs.

  It seems that the vigilance of these aliens was correct, and Lai Yang's brain easily awakened the flying saucer, resulting in the death of tens of thousands of aliens, which can be considered as their tuition for exploring Earth civilization.

  "UFO little brother, can't you give me some kind of superpower like penetrating walls, X-ray vision, invincibility, or boundless strength? If not, at least get me some genetic enhancement liquid to make my body a bit better and live for another thousand years?" Lei Yang lamented after understanding the UFO's full functions.

  "Haha, brother, you're thinking too much. I don't know what this gene-enhancing liquid is. Those special abilities don't exist in your solar system or mine, but they do exist in the distant Qingyun star system and many other parallel worlds. However, it's very dangerous there, and I've never been. If you can provide enough stardust, I'll take you on a trip, but how much you can learn depends on your luck."

  "What you're referring to as Star Crystal is diamond, right? How many diamonds do I need to burn in order to send me on a trip?"

  "In your Earthling terms, a fifty-ton diamond would be just about right."

  "My dear mother, you might as well kill me! I won't be able to pay the 600 yuan rent tomorrow. You want me to give you 50 tons of diamonds? Don't even mention diamonds, even if you wanted me to burn 50 tons of coal, I don't have it! Just go wash up and sleep early."

  Li Yang lay down on the bed, covered himself with a quilt and went to sleep. He closed his eyes but couldn't fall asleep no matter what. Before he knew this flying saucer brother, no matter how much pressure he had every day, as soon as he touched the bed, he would fall fast asleep.

  But now he's like a guardian of a golden mountain, yet still has to go out and beg for food. He racks his brains thinking of ways to make money using the unparalleled functions of the flying saucer, but can't seem to find a suitable method.

  He dare not touch those things such as smuggling, selling guns and drugs. Even if he could get them, he wouldn't know who to sell them to, and might end up being taken away by the police.

  He thought about transporting large quantities of goods to make a profit, but he had no source of goods, no funds, no sales channel, and most importantly, no experience in the industry. After thinking for half a day, he gave up and fell into a deep sleep after a night of wild thoughts.

  The next morning, he woke up at 6:30 and hastily ate the breakfast his mother had prepared in the living room. He loudly greeted his father who was still in bed, rubbed his sleepy eyes, and pushed his bicycle to head to school.

  Before he left the house, he found that his mother was no longer there. His father told him that she had gone out early to look for a job. As soon as he thought of his mother going through the difficulties of job hunting, Li Yang's eyes became moist.

  "Yangzi, you dare to come again? The class monitor will definitely tear you apart today! Can you tell me why our beautiful class monitor gave you 100 yuan last night?" Just as they walked out of the classroom, a short and fat boy with thick glasses whispered to Li Yang.

  Xiao Pangzi's name is Gao Lei, and he's the class gossip. The little guy looks sturdy and silly, but what's inside him is a different story - it seems like he has an Eight Trigrams Furnace in his belly that's always churning out the latest school gossip.

  "Get out of here! Dare to snoop around again and I'll beat you up!" Yang Ming clenched his fist at him.

  Xiao Pangzi Gao Lei hurriedly ran to one side, and Li Yang, who was in a bad mood, ignored him and quickly entered the classroom. He raised his eyes just in time to see Wang Yuxin looking at him, and their gazes met, as if a spark had exploded in the air!

  Li Yang's face was taken aback, and he hastily put on a smile, quickly walking to his seat, pulling out the chair and sitting down. He noticed that his school uniform jacket was neatly placed in the drawer, with a newspaper underneath, and couldn't help but feel a warmth in his heart.

  He quickly put down his backpack, took out his clothes and put them on, then stuffed the backpack into the drawer, turned to face Wang Yuxin on his right side and bowed: "Class leader, I don't know if you have any instructions for me?"

  Wang Yuxin said with a straight face, "Li Yang, I'm keeping an eye on you today. This is your task: apart from finishing your homework, you also need to memorize these 200 words. Any questions?"

  Li Yang rubbed his panda eyes, and Wang Yuxin didn't have a huge outburst as he had imagined, which made him feel very surprised.

  "No problem, I'll definitely give it a try." Li Yang gave her a brilliant smile.

  Now Li Yang's face has several purple marks, the left corner of his mouth is swollen, his hair on his head is disheveled, and there is a big bump on his forehead. The handsome and elegant appearance he had before was completely destroyed by these injuries.

  "Li Yang, didn't you go street dancing last night? How did you end up like this?" Wang Yuxin's eyes showed a hint of surprise.

  "Oh, nothing much, didn't even get to finish the dance and got a beating instead. Mom lost her job too, yesterday was really an unlucky day." Li Yang said in a low voice, his eyes dimming significantly, the forced smile on his face earlier also gone.

  Wang Yuxin furrowed her delicate eyebrows, slightly shaking her head and said: "You're quite pitiful too, I understand why you've been falling behind in your studies. If you have any difficulties, you can tell me about them, I can help you."

  She finished speaking, took out the pink purse, and pulled out a stack of Mao's notes. Li Yang glanced at it and saw the money, his heart suddenly skipped a beat.

  After hesitating for a moment, he pushed Wang Yuxin's jade hand away, his eyes coldly saying: "As a man, how can I use a woman's money?"

  Wang Yuxin reluctantly put the money away, her eyes slightly red as if she was angry. Li Yang looked at her gently and said softly, "Yuxin, don't be angry, I appreciate your kindness. I will work hard to study in the future."

  Li Yang was such a stubborn guy, it's hard for him to accept Wang Yuxin's kindness. He casually picked up the notebook filled with dense English vocabulary and tried to calm himself down to memorize words. It wasn't time for class yet, but today's task was heavy, so he had to seize the time.

  This notebook belongs to Wang Yuxin. Seeing the familiar beautiful handwriting on it, Li Yang feels a warmth in his heart.

  He stared at these words, and suddenly found something strange. These obscure English words, how did he seem to remember them as soon as he glanced at them? Li Yang's heart was excited, staring with his eyes wide open, he finished reading the 200 words, then closed his eyes, recited them silently in his mind, and finally found that he had firmly remembered these words!

  " Flying saucer brother, what's going on? Why did I remember these words after just one glance?" Yang Ming hastily communicated with the Star Brain using his consciousness.

  "Hmph, when you were looking at things, I was forced to follow and look with you. I'm the super invincible Star Brain in the universe, remember? These things are just a small matter for me. As for why I remembered them but you didn't, I don't know. Yesterday night you kept complaining that all I knew how to do was burn diamonds and couldn't help with anything else. Now you know how awesome I am, right?"

  The flying saucer communicated with Li Yang in a tone that mimicked his, and even the old idioms he used to love, were automatically learned by it to a tee.