Chapter 42: Resuming Old Business

  This family reunion dinner wasn't very enjoyable, due to the house issue, my aunt's face was gloomy all along, Liu Hannan's mood wasn't high either, after finishing dinner he curled up on the sofa playing with his phone and gaming.

  Grandfather and Eldest Uncle went into the bedroom, don't know what they were talking about. Liu Handong perked up his ears to listen, but Auntie immediately picked up the remote control and turned on the TV, turning up the volume of "The Legend of Zhen Huan" very loud, with the sound of "Young Master this, Young Master that" being extremely noisy.

  After a while, the elder brother came out with a thick envelope in his hand, probably the money left by Grandpa to see a doctor. The elder sister-in-law saw that her goal was achieved and coughed dryly: "It's late, Dad should rest."

  Liu Hannan jumped up from the sofa, went out to start the car, and Liu Handong and Grandpa sent Da Bo's family away together. After returning, Grandpa said: "I am a bowl of water holding flat, giving you 20,000 yuan, also giving your younger brother 20,000 yuan, to help him buy a car, but the house cannot be sold, this house is left for you to get married."

  Liu Handong said: "Grandpa, can't get married without a house? I don't believe in this evil. Besides, where will you go to live? With your physique, you'll be fine for another 50 years."

  Grandpa smiled and said: "My body is also getting weaker with each passing year, I'm well aware of it myself."

  Liu Handong went to the kitchen to wash dishes, when suddenly there was a knock at the door. It turned out that Liu Hannan had returned. He said that there were too many cars in the neighborhood at night and he couldn't get out, so he asked his brother for help.

  Liu Handong wiped his hands and came to the road in the residential area. He saw that his brother's Yue Xiang was stuck in the traffic flow, unable to move forward or backward, and could only back out. It was a dark night, with cars parked on both sides of the road. With Liu Hannan's driving skills, it was indeed very difficult. Liu Handong didn't say a word and got into the car. Without looking back, he relied on the rearview mirror to reverse all the way out. His uncle praised him, saying: "Little Dong, your driving skills are not bad!"

  "When I was a soldier, I once drove at night on a mountain road and skidded for thirty miles. If the steering wheel was turned incorrectly, it would fall into the ditch." Liu Handong said.

  "How deep is the ditch?" Liu Hannan asked.

  "It's just a few hundred meters away." Liu Handong said casually, and the family of four in the car looked at each other in dismay.

  As they spoke, Yue Xiang had already fallen asleep at the entrance of the residential area. Liu Handong got out of the car and bid farewell to Da Bo's family before returning to Grandpa's house to continue washing dishes.

  That night, he stayed in the Riverside Community, chatting with the elderly at home. At 11 o'clock that night, he received a strange call from an unknown number and suspected it was a toll-free phone call, so he hung up directly.

  The next day, Liu Handong went to the bank and withdrew 20,000 yuan. He then came to the second-hand car market and spent 8,000 yuan on an old Volkswagen Santana 1.6. He parked it in the empty lot of Binhe Community and then went to Computer City to buy a domestic brand laptop computer. Using his mobile phone as a wireless hotspot, he went online and bought a bunch of things.

  Online shopping items arrived one after another, and during this time Liu Handong went to the auto parts city to purchase some more. After all the materials were ready, he started to overhaul the Fukang car. He replaced the air filter, timing belt, spark plugs, brake pads, and changed all the oil and water in the car. He also used carbon tetrachloride and a three-in-one cleaning agent to give the car a thorough cleaning, washing the intake system, combustion system, and exhaust system. After clearing out years of accumulated carbon deposits, starting the engine sounded much smoother.

  The car's procedures have expired, no annual inspection, no compulsory insurance to buy, but Liu Handong has never cared about this, and the appearance of the car is clean and tidy, traffic police and road administration generally do not check, as for traffic accidents, he has the confidence not to hit others.

  After settling the matter with Fu Kang, Liu Handong first went to the Civil Affairs Bureau to ask when his demobilization allowance would be issued. The staff replied that since he was discharged ahead of schedule, he had to wait until winter this year when the batch of people who were also discharged returned and then they would calculate it together, so just wait slowly.

  Liu Handong reluctantly returned home and bid farewell to his mother. His mother asked him to bring his girlfriend along next time he comes back.

  "Mom prepared a gift for Xiao Ma."

  "Go, I'll try to bring it next time." Liu Handong drove down the stairs and got into his car. His mother saw him off at the door. When he reached the street corner, he suddenly saw his stepfather standing there smoking. Liu Handong turned his face away, trying to pretend he didn't see him, but unexpectedly, his stepfather stopped the car.

  "Anything wrong?" Liu Handong lowered the car window with a expressionless face.

  "Finding a job isn't easy, take this for now." Her stepfather tossed a cowhide envelope into the car window and turned to leave.

  Liu Handong opened the envelope and took a look, inside was a stack of banknotes, roughly over two thousand yuan. It seemed that his meticulous stepfather had already known he wasn't working at the Transportation Vocational College. He turned back to take a glance, his stepfather was walking unsteadily, opening his mouth as if wanting to say something, but in the end didn't say anything.

  Fu Kang drove towards the provincial city. To save on road expenses, Liu Handong took the national highway instead of the expressway. After several hours, he arrived at Tiehua Street in the southeastern suburbs of Jinjiang.

  Liu Handong is preparing to return to his old job as a black taxi driver. He has already chosen the location for his business, which is at the entrance of the Traffic and Transportation Vocational College in University Town. This area is located in the suburbs, where students gather, and regular taxis are rarely seen, making it easy to do black taxi business. Usually, the road in front of the school gate is filled with domestic cars such as Chery and BYD, which are mostly used for black taxi services.

  At noon, Fu Kang stopped on the road opposite the school gate, Liu Handong turned off the fire and got out of the car with the key, leaning against the car to beckon passing students: "Want to go? Thirty yuan to downtown."

  It was deserted in the downtown area at noon, Liu Handong sat back in the car and took out his phone to send a message to Ma Ling. Suddenly, the phone rang again with that strange 01 prefix number. After some thought, he still pressed the answer button, ready to scold the scammer.

  There was no one speaking in the receiver, only breathing sounds.

  "Who? Speak." Liu Handong said.

  Still no sound.

  "I'm dead if I don't speak." Liu Handong felt a bit suspicious, and a thought flashed through his mind. He asked in a low voice, "Is it Xiaofan?"

  "Brother...... I...... I" The voice finally came through, it seems that Xiaofan's language disorder has not fully recovered yet.

  "I thought it was a scam, but it's actually an international call from the US. I didn't realize that, haha! Xiaofan, are you doing well? When are you coming back?" Liu Handong asked with a smile, when suddenly someone knocked heavily on the car roof twice. A person stood outside the window, with a sturdy build and a bright red face, looking very unhappy.

  Liu Handong rolled down the car window, with his mobile phone wedged between his shoulder and ear, asking the man, "What's up?"

  "Come down!" the man shouted sternly.

  "Nothing more to say, brother has something to do." Liu Handong hung up the phone and got out of the car calmly. He saw several people surrounding him, all dressed in a rustic manner, holding tools in their hands, seemingly black taxi drivers from nearby.

  Red Face Gangster asked him: "You're new here? Do you understand the rules? This is my territory, got it?"

  Liu Handong picked up his son and said condescendingly: "Your territory? Who approved it? Do you have a land certificate?"

  A red-faced man, like a hungry tiger pouncing on food, tightly hugged Liu Handong's waist and loudly shouted: "Brothers, come on!"

  The others rushed up and started punching and kicking, using the most primitive but also the most effective way of fighting. Liu Handong was brave and fierce, but he was held in a tight bear hug by Red Face's iron-like hands, unable to exert his strength. In an instant, he took several blows to the head and back. In desperation, he struck Red Face's head with all his might, once, twice, until finally, Red Face loosened his grip. Immediately afterwards, Liu Handong kneed him in the stomach, and Red Face let go of his hands, clutching his belly and squatting on the ground.

  Liu Handong suddenly turned around, blood flowing down his head, extremely ferocious. The black car drivers were also often fighting in groups, stunned for a moment before continuing to charge forward. Liu Handong kicked over two of them, snatched a stick and killed wildly in all directions, beating the group of rural black car drivers until they fled with their tails between their legs.

  Unconsciously, the roadsides were already packed with students. The Traffic Vocational and Technical College is a three-year junior college that accepts students from all over the province, mostly those who failed to get into high school through the entrance exam. As long as you pay, you can get in. Most of them are problem teenagers who love to skip class, smoke, drink, chase girls, and fight. Now they're performing a real-life street brawl, and people are delighted to watch, not only watching but also cheering them on.

  The black car drivers fled in disarray, with red faces and hunched backs trying to get up, but Liu Handong walked over and kicked them down, throwing away the wooden stick and leaving.

  A warm round of applause erupted on the street.

  Liu Handong got back in the car, picked up his mobile phone and dialed the number from earlier, but a voice prompt said that international long-distance service was not available, so he had to give up for the time being.

  Chased away the gang of black cars that had been lurking at the entrance of the Transportation Academy, Liu Handong did not leave, but simply treated his wounds and continued to sit in the car waiting for business. The group helped the red-faced man up and took him to rest on the opposite side of the road, cursing and glaring over with malice, but they didn't have the guts to come over and take action again.

  The street has returned to calmness. Students are in groups of three or five, doing their own things. Two girls ran over and knocked on the car window: "Are you going to Dihao Internet Cafe?"

  Di Hao Internet Cafe is an internet cafe on Tiehua Street with over a hundred computers, where students often go for all-nighters. It's not far away, and if you take a regular taxi, it would just be over the starting price, around 10-12 yuan.

  "Ten bucks." Liu Handong said.

  The two girls thought it was expensive and changed to another BYD car, got on and left.

  The black car drivers were puzzled, why this new guy didn't do any business, they looked at Liu Handong with a stupid gaze until several school thugs walked in front of Liu Handong's car.

  These young men were tall and proud, walking in front of the rich house, just about to pull the door open, when they suddenly saw Liu Handong. They exchanged a glance with each other and politely asked: "Excuse me, sir, do you know Huo Lei?"

  Liu Handong said: "I know him, he's my little brother."

  The young men suddenly realized: "No mistake, it's Dong Ge, who saw him in the underground passage that day."

  Huolei was from the Transportation Vocational Technical College back then, now he's unemployed and still hangs around the school area. These students all call him "Lao Da". It was this group of people who arrived that night and scared off Nanqiang and his gang.

  Liu Handong took out a pack of Hongmei cigarettes, and each person was given one. The young men were delighted, first taking out lighters to help the big boss light his before lighting their own. They chatted with Liu Handong, laughing and smiling, which shocked the black car drivers led by Red Face, thinking "this guy is really something".

  The phone rang again, but it wasn't a US long-distance call starting with 01. Instead, it was an unfamiliar local mobile number. I answered, and a male voice came from the receiver: "Liu Handong, right? Be careful, someone is offering money to have one of your legs chopped off."