Chapter 313: Idol Shattered

The rain in Jiangzhou, although not heavy, had not stopped. Reflected by the streetlights, it was drizzling, shining with crystal light.

At the street corner opposite the Second Middle School, two groups of teenagers, holding steel pipes and machetes, ran toward each other.

A chaotic battle broke out instantly. The shouting and screaming lasted for more than ten minutes. The victors of one side supported each other and walked away.

The wounded lying on the ground were soon sent to the hospital by the police who arrived. The water-logged ground was left with patches of blood.

Liu Feng, holding his still-bleeding arm, walked into the courtyard gate with a limp.

His mother, Wang Jinhua, was not yet forty, but her temples were already gray. The early death of her husband, the rebellion of her son, and the pressure of life had carved the traces of time on her young face early on.

It was fortunate that there was still a sensible and well-behaved daughter; otherwise, she really didn't know if she could hold on.

"Creak!"

The old wooden door, eroded by wind and rain and time, was pushed open with a creak, and Liu Feng walked in.

Wang Jinhua was squatting in front of the stove, filling it with firewood. She didn't know what was stewing in the pot, and steam was bubbling out from the edge of the pot lid, and the sound of bubbling could be heard.

Hearing the door sound, Zhao Jinhua looked up. Seeing her son return injured, with blood still flowing on his arm, she stood up and said: "Fighting again?"

"None of your business!" Liu Feng said rebelliously, pushing his mother aside with his hand, and lifted the door curtain into the room.

Wang Jinhua didn't say anything, followed silently into the room, lifted the cabinet, found a piece of clean white cloth, used both hands to exert force, and with a "rip," tore off a strip.

Then she found two anti-inflammatory pills, wrapped them in the cloth strip, took an enamel teacup from the side, and smashed it hard a few times. After opening it, the anti-inflammatory pills had already been smashed into powder.

At this time, Liu Feng had already taken off his wet, blood-stained clothes. Wang Jinhua saw that the wound was not deep, secretly breathed a sigh of relief, sprinkled the smashed anti-inflammatory pills on the wound, and then very skillfully wrapped the wound with the white cloth.

Liu Ye was thirteen years old this year and had just started the first year of junior high. She had been lying on the kang table doing her homework, and after seeing her brother return, she had been watching silently.

Seeing her mother finish bandaging her brother and turn to go out again, she widened her eyes and said fiercely: "Liu Feng, how old are you? You only know how to cause trouble. Can't you let Mom worry less?"

"Little yellow-haired girl, stop meddling in my business." Liu Feng snorted and turned on the second-hand black-and-white television that his mother had bought last month.

"Click, click, click..."

Liu Feng twisted it a circle. The provincial channel that could usually be seen was all snow today, and it was also jumping lines, the picture was very unstable, and finally, he could only tune back to the Jiangzhou channel. But it wasn't that clear either, probably because of the cloudy and rainy weather, the signal was bad.

Wang Jinhua brought a small basin of stewed cabbage into the room, "Xiao Ye, stop writing for now, tidy up the table and eat."

Liu Ye tidied up the books and notebooks on the table, put them on the windowsill, then jumped to the ground, shuffled out of the room in her shoes, and helped her mother pick up the cornmeal cakes and put them on the plate.

"Liu Feng, can you do some work and help bring the bowls and chopsticks?" Liu Ye put the plate on the table with a heavy "bang."

Liu Feng curled his lips, took off his shoes, and got on the kang: "If you want to do it, do it yourself. Don't look for trouble when there's nothing to do, hear me?"

Wang Jinhua brought the bowls and chopsticks in: "Your brother's arm is injured, don't make him do this and that."

"He deserves it!" Liu Ye also hated that her brother wouldn't improve, and she found him very displeasing to the eye.

It is said that children from poor families take charge early, and girls mature earlier than boys. Especially Liu Ye, who grew up in a single-parent family, understood her mother's difficulties even more.

Used to the bickering of these two siblings, and unable to manage them, Wang Jinhua could only sigh, took off her shoes, and got on the kang.

"Eat!"

At this time, the familiar music on the television sounded, and the Jiangzhou news began.

"Hello, audience friends in front of the television. Today is Monday, August 24, 1992, the 26th day of the seventh lunar month. Welcome to watch Jiangzhou News..."

"As of this afternoon, the prime culprit of manufacturing and selling counterfeit goods, organizing organized crime, involvement in prostitution, gambling, ***, forced humiliation of women, intentional injury, and provoking trouble, Zhao Jianlong, has been executed. Next, please watch our station reporter's follow-up report."

"I don't want to die, I really don't want to die, please government give me a chance to reform and start anew..."

The family of three turned their heads to look at the television in unison. They saw Zhao Jianlong kneeling on the ground without any dignity, wailing loudly with snot and tears, shouting that he didn't want to die.

Liu Feng opened his mouth wide, looking unbelievable: "No, no, this isn't Brother Long, this certainly isn't Brother Long..."

Liu Ye suddenly laughed loudly. Liu Feng looked at his sister fiercely and roared angrily: "What are you laughing at?"

Liu Ye wasn't afraid at all. She raised her head, her smile undiminished: "You are really ridiculous. It's already said on TV that it's Zhao Jianlong, what else do you have to deny?"

"Do you know what self-deception means? If you don't know, go look in the mirror and you'll understand. Oh, by the way, you've always said Zhao Jianlong is your idol."

"What's wrong? Now that you see him so afraid of death, kneeling there repenting so cowardly, it shattered the fantasy in your heart, did it poke your lungs..."

Liu Ye lectured her brother, and it was hard to imagine that these words came from a thirteen-year-old girl.

"I'm telling you, Liu Feng, if you keep tossing around like this, sooner or later, you will eat a bullet just like Zhao Jianlong."

"Stop eating!" Liu Feng roared, threw his chopsticks on the ground with a "bang," put on his shoes, and left.

Liu Ye shouted: "If you have the ability, never come back. I can support Mom by myself."

"Just say a little less." Wang Jinhua was very satisfied with this daughter in every way, but this unforgiving mouth made her very headache.

"Mom!" Liu Ye took a fierce bite of the cornmeal cake, "Just pretend you don't have this son. Once I get into university, you can enjoy your blessings."

"Sigh!" Wang Jinhua sighed, picked up a chopstick of cabbage for Liu Ye and put it in her bowl, "Eat quickly."

At this time, the detainees in the detention center were also watching the news. Seeing Zhao Jianlong's body being lifted onto the funeral vehicle by the funeral home staff, the atmosphere in the entire detention center was suppressed to the extreme.

"Crackling..."

"Bang bang bang..."

I don't know where the sound of firecrackers came from, and fireworks bloomed in the dark night sky in the drizzling rain, lighting up the pitch-black night.

As time passed, the sound of firecrackers became more and more dense. Liu Feng stood by the side of the road, looking up at the brilliant fireworks in the sky, a smile appearing on his young face.

"Brother Feng!" A little fat guy ran to his side, panting, "Zhao Jianlong is dead, he was shot." ===== CHAPTER 314 =====