Chapter 99

()At night, although there wasn't much moonlight and hardly any stars were visible, the military training areas were all lit with lights, illuminating the surroundings of the drill field clearly.

translation

As soon as the instructor's words fell, the group of people who had just been standing at attention slumped like soft mud and sat on the ground.

Slap!

The sound of swatting a mosquito rang out.

Oh my god and the Buddha's grandpa! A student sharing Jiao Wei's dorm looked at the bloodstain on his palm and the mosquito corpse, and shouted, "It's not easy for me to produce this bit of blood! Even this little bit, it won't let go!"

"Do not be disrespectful to the Buddha's elder," another roommate of Jiao Wei said.

"The Buddha is merciful; just treat my earlier fart as nothing."

"... You just farted; don't think I didn't notice because you made such a loud noise."

"Do you want to be a Buddha?" Jiao Wei asked with a smile to another roommate.

"No thanks, being a Buddha is too tiring, having to save all beings; I just want to graduate smoothly, find a job, find a wife, have a kid, and get through this ordinary, long life."

The previous roommate fell silent for a moment, then said: "Such a highbrow topic, I'd rather not join in. Hey, isn't it said that taking vitamin B1 prevents mosquito bites? Why did I still get bitten after taking it?"

It varies from person to person.

Better to go back and spray some perfumed water.

At the evening military training grounds, the scents of various mosquito repellents—perfumed water, cooling oil, mosquito repellent—mingled together, but the mosquitoes breeding at Chu Hua Da Xue always swarm forward fearlessly, one after another.

……

At 9:30 p. m., after the day's military training ended, Jiao Wei didn't return to the dorm with his roommates but headed toward the school gate. Every night he would go to his family's small eatery to have a look, help tidy up some things, and wait until the shop closed before heading back. On his way back to the dorm, he would also bring some late-night snacks for the dorm mates.

Today. When Jiao Wei arrived at his family's small eatery, although there was still some distance, he could also see people sitting inside.

Usually at this time there's hardly anyone left, but what's going on today?

By the time Jiao Wei hurried to the eatery's entrance, the people inside were also heading out.

Among them, the leader, holding a cigarette, with dyed yellow hair, had a somewhat dissolute appearance.

Jiao Wei's heart gave a jolt, and he stopped paying attention to those people. He hurried into the shop, and seeing his parents were unharmed, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"What's going on?" Jiao Wei asked, "Are those people here to cause trouble?"

Jiao Wei had heard people say that some shop owners, upon seeing another shop's business doing well, would hire people to cause trouble, which is why he was rather anxious.

"It's fine, don't worry." Jiao Ba waved his hand.

No matter how Jiao Wei asked, his parents wouldn't say anything; the next day he individually sought out the local hired helper, and only then did he get to the bottom of things.

Yesterday evening, after the rush hour passed, the number of patrons at the eatery gradually dwindled, and then a few unfriendly-looking individuals came in, saying they wanted to collect a "sanitation fee".

However, Jiao Wei's family had already paid the sanitation fee and still had the receipt. It was obvious that, in this situation, the "sanitation fee" meant something else.

Whether it's "sanitation fee" or "management fee," and so on, in certain contexts the meaning is simply "protection fee".

Back when they were in a small county town, Jiao Wei's family's shop was somewhat more legitimate, but they had also paid this kind of fee; Jiao Wei just didn't know about it.

So, after figuring out the situation, Jiao Wei became angry and went to his parents, saying that if worse came to worst, he would report it to the police.

Jiao Ba, on the other hand, remained relatively calm, even cracking a couple of jokes with a smile, and then explained to Jiao Wei the stakes involved.

Actually, anyone doing business around here—whether a small shop, a street stall, or students running night-market stalls—has run into this sort of thing. He asked around the nearby shops, saw how much they paid, realized his own shop had paid a bit more, but he wasn't too upset, after all his family was new here, outsiders with no connections or background; after discussing it, they simply paid for one month.

When preparing to open a shop here, Jiao Wei's parents were actually mentally prepared, though they didn't expect it to come so quickly. The couple, once honest folk, had bumbled through their first two years in business and gathered some experience. Now that Jiao Wei has pierced this layer of secrecy, the couple will also share some of their experience with him.

Originally, the couple thought their child's future job would surely be like those high-level white-collar workers on TV, never having to deal with trouble-makers collecting protection fees; but no matter the position, there are always implicit rules—if you're strong, it's fine, but if you're just an ordinary person, you'd better follow the rules.

After hearing his parents recount those experiences, Jiao Wei felt uneasy inside; he's not stupid, he knows this is the reality, but being young and still full of fervor, back when he hadn't yet settled down to study, he'd also gotten into fights, argued with teachers, and even overturned desks; Jiao Wei couldn't be sure whether, if he saw those people again, he'd go up and clash with them.

After lunch in the afternoon, Jiao Wei sat at the eatery's entrance, helping to peel potatoes. Since the shop was full of people, he didn't stay inside; outside it was also more ventilated. Although his parents tried to stop him from doing it, Jiao Wei was stubborn, not afraid of being laughed at—what's wrong with helping peel potatoes at home? Who said college students can't peel potatoes? And he wasn't doing anything shameful.

Just as he was peeling, the owner of the neighboring shop came over.

The neighboring shop mainly sells noodles, run by a young couple. Over this period, the two families have become quite familiar, and the neighbor's owner also knows Jiao Wei.

"I heard your shop had visitors last night?" the owner said.

Yesterday the neighboring noodle shop had something going on, only opening half a day in the morning; as for the matter at Jiao Wei's family shop, the owner still heard about it from people around.

"Mm." Jiao Wei responded, not really wanting to bring up the topic, and his force while peeling the potatoes increased considerably.

The owner chuckled, "Don't be upset; actually we're all the same—our family too. Back when we'd just graduated, we didn't really understand the local rules and even wanted to call the police, but my wife stopped me. With a desire to keep the peace, we first paid some. Later we found someone, and then we didn't run into them again."

Seeing Jiao Wei silent, his potato-peeling slowed considerably. Knowing he was listening, the boss pointed to the hot-pot place opposite and said: "When they first opened not long ago, business was booming; later, for a stretch, a dozen or so petty thugs came to eat every day—at first they still paid the bill, but then they gradually started to cause trouble, and finally they outright demanded money. That boss wasn't a pushover either; although he told them to come the next day, that night he rounded up people. The next day, not a single thug showed up, and they never appeared again at his shop."

Also, the vendor of covered rice dishes, when encountering such things, would directly call a bunch of people over, preparing for a big showdown. Later, they were still dispersed by the police. However, those thugs never bothered him again. Thugs are the type who bully the weak and fear the strong; if they know you're tough, they won't come; if reasoning fails, you just come down hard—this is how society works now; to get by, you've got to be a bit ruthless. At that time, among those thugs there were also plenty who deliberately went shirtless to show off tattoos. They even kept steel pipes and knives in their vehicles, but in the end it didn't turn out that way.

There was a period of crackdown before; those people disappeared for a long time, only now slowly reappearing. But before, they were mostly low-level petty thugs, whereas these now popping up so quickly are probably not easy to handle. If you know the police or auxiliary patrol in charge of this district, you can go by and spend some money on this—it's still necessary. After all, everyone wants to do business peacefully.

Also, there are some nearby shops that aren't under scrutiny; their owners may not be locals, but they've been here many years and have some connections—I don't know whether they've taken other routes. As for a place like yours, you could first feel things out, ask nearby shops, find out who's in charge, then go pay respects to the mountain head; if someone looks out for you, then naturally there'll be no trouble. If that doesn't work, try other avenues. Everything's hard at the start; just get through it. If you really have no way out, just pay up on time, or else you'll be the ones losing out. We're out here to make money, not to seek anger, but the situation is stronger than the individual, and you don't know when the next crackdown will be, so…

He didn't finish his words; his wife called him, he answered and hurried back.

Jiao Wei remained seated there, absently peeling potatoes.

"Sounds pretty intense."

A sudden voice from beside startled Jiao Wei; he turned around and saw Su Qu holding a bowl of rice, standing there eating.

"Senior Su, why aren't you sitting in the shop to eat?" Jiao Wei said.

Because of Jiao Ba, Su Qu and Yi Xin both know Jiao Wei; sometimes after mealtime, when leaving campus they also drop by his shop.

"It's fine, the place is crowded; I came out for a breather and didn't expect to overhear that. If the boss hadn't said anything, I really wouldn't have known this sort of thing existed—even classmates who set up stalls never mentioned it, so I don't know if they just haven't run into it or they don't want to talk about it." Su Qu shoveled rice into his mouth while speaking indistinctly, then added: "But I think a well‑off club doesn't need to survive by such means; those people are probably just small‑timers, not worth giving face to. If it comes to a fight, count me in."

Su Qu's big build is indeed quite intimidating, but Jiao Wei wouldn't really resort to such extreme measures—he can't afford to gamble, his parents are still here and getting older; he doesn't want anything to happen to them, and even if he won a fight, what guarantee would there be?

"So, Senior Su, do you know… people in that line?" Jiao Wei said, not quite knowing how to put it.

Su Qu understood what he meant, but he hasn't been here long; usually his life is just a loop between lab, dorm, and cafeteria, so this is the first time he's heard of such things.

"I only know my boss." Su Qu said helplessly.

Jiao Wei shook his head: "Don't bother Ming Sheng Shu; he's already helped us a lot, and he has two kids of his own."

"Hmm…" Su Qu wiped his mouth, then his eyes lit up: "Do you know the guy called Wei Leng?"

We know each other, but not well; I stopped by before the shop opened, and later I also just grabbed a takeout and left, okay?

My senior martial brother mentioned it a bit; you can give it a try.

But, to find Wei Leng, you definitely need to go find Uncle Mingsheng, this...

I'm just saying what I know; whether you believe it or not is up to you.

Hmm.

Su Qu threw the empty disposable lunch box into the trash can, saying: "If you really want to ask Wei Leng for help, you don't necessarily have to go through my boss's connection."

What do you mean?

My boss's cat!

Jiao Wei: "..."