Night.
“Boss, let me kill that Zhang Qinghuan,” Jiang Mubei sighed, “I feel that as long as we kill him, we can approach the core power of the Arts Society in minutes. This idiot might be our biggest obstacle.”
“Don’t say such angry words,” Xu Linsen flipped through the news on his phone, “Although Zhang Qinghuan is a bit foolish, he’s not bad at heart. Black Spade has its principles. We need to unite those who are willing to change the world together.”
“We still need to unite with that Zhang Qinghuan?” Jiang Mubei was incredulous, “I feel that if we unite with him, we’ll be further away from success.”
“Seek common ground while reserving differences,” Xu Linsen said.
At this time, footsteps came from outside the corridor. The two stopped talking and looked towards the apartment door.
The person passed by Jiang Mubei’s room and opened the door next door.
Xu Linsen knew that this was Chen Sui coming back from work.
He thoughtfully asked, “By the way, what do you think of Chen Sui? I seem to have heard this name before, but I don’t remember where.”
“I don’t have any impression either,” Jiang Mubei shook his head, “I’ve observed him. His steps are unsteady. He should be an ordinary person. Boss, do you suspect him?”“It’s not that I suspect him, it’s just that his appearance is a bit sudden. He lives next door to us and joined the club with us,” Xu Linsen said, “Of course, he moved in first, so there’s nothing to say about that. I just asked casually.”
“By the way, Chen Sui goes out every night and I don’t know what he does,” Jiang Mubei said.
“I heard he works in a nightclub in District 4. Don’t worry about it. He won’t have anything to do with us,” Xu Linsen said.
“That’s true. What he does at night has nothing to do with us,” Jiang Mubei nodded.
Xu Linsen said, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, he comes back at 4 am every day and gets up at 9 am. He only sleeps five hours, but he’s energetic.”
“I’ll pay attention to him tomorrow.”
“Mm, observe him,” Xu Linsen closed his phone, “Let’s sleep. Zhang Qinghuan said there is a very important task tomorrow.”
The next morning, the two received a call from Zhang Qinghuan and went downstairs. They saw Zhang Qinghuan carrying a bag, while ‘Chen Sui’ and Zhang Mengqian looked around nervously, not knowing what they were looking for.
After the two went downstairs, Zhang Qinghuan opened the bag and gave everyone an iron rod.
Jiang Mubei asked doubtfully, “Are we going to destroy some gang? If so, are the few of us enough?”
“We’re not going to destroy anyone,” Zhang Qinghuan shook his head, “There’s something more important to do.”
Eh, now Xu Linsen felt strange. He gave out rods but didn’t hit anyone. What was he going to do?
Zhang Qinghuan led them back to the pigeon coop, and Zhang Mengqian said, “Let’s go to apartment 703 first.”
Zhang Qinghuan sneered, “Regarding his daughter’s matter, he must agree today, whether he wants to or not.”
Xu Linsen and Jiang Mubei looked at each other.
Jiang Mubei whispered, “Isn’t this guy going to seize someone’s daughter? If so, are we going to be his accomplices?”
Xu Linsen shook his head, “Let’s see. If the two are in love, but the father-in-law disagrees, at most we won’t help, but we can’t interfere. If he wants to hit someone, you can stop him.”
“Okay, if he forces someone into prostitution, I’ll kill him directly,” Jiang Mubei whispered.
Speaking of this, Xu Linsen suddenly turned to look at Qing Chen, “Chen Sui, what do you think?”
Qing Chen looked at the two innocently, “I think you’re right…”
Arriving at the door of room 703, Zhang Qinghuan aggressively knocked on the door, “Li Sangu, get out here!”
Zhang Qinghuan banged on the door, and Jiang Mubei wanted to stop him several times.
At this moment, the door opened, and a middle-aged man stood weakly in the room, “What are you doing?”
“We’re here to talk about your daughter!” Zhang Qinghuan said.
Qing Chen, Xu Linsen, and Jiang Mubei silently looked at Li Sangu. Behind him, a girl of eight or nine years old was carefully folding cardboard boxes…
Zhang Qinghuan said, “Are you going to send her to school? She’s of school age now. What’s the use of her folding cardboard boxes with you? Federation Primary School is free. Why don’t you send her there?”
Qing Chen, Xu Linsen, and Jiang Mubei: …
This is completely different from what they thought. It’s not about forcing a girl into marriage at all.
They looked around the room.
Cardboard boxes were piled up in the room, all folded by Li Sangu and his daughter. After they were all folded, they would be sent to District 5 to be sold to gift shops there.
However, one cardboard box only costs a few cents. They might only earn one or two days’ worth of food by folding them all day.
This is the situation of most people in Lower District 3. They don’t want to do bad things, and they don’t have the ability to change their lives. They are like worker ants, doing the lowest-level work that no one wants to do.
Li Sangu reluctantly said, “That’s easy for you to say. What’s the use of going to school? After graduating from primary school, won’t she still have to come back and fold cardboard boxes? What’s the difference? Can going to school be eaten?”
Zhang Qinghuan pointed at Li Sangu with an iron rod, “If you talk like that, I’ll hit you.”
Li Sangu said painfully, “You’re a gang. Can you do something that a gang should do? Go kill someone, it’s better than worrying about whether my child goes to school!”
Zhang Qinghuan sneered, “If you send her to school, we’ll reduce your Protection money by 200 yuan every month.”
“Really?” Li Sangu’s eyes lit up.
People in Lower District 3 often let their children drop out of school. Most people haven’t even finished primary school before they come back to help with work.
But this is ultimately due to excessive life pressure.
In this world, those parents who sell their children’s eyes are still a minority. As long as there’s a possibility, who wouldn’t want to send their children to school to learn?
Zhang Qinghuan asked, “Will you send her?”
Li Sangu nodded, “Yes… but the people in Ninth District Primary School aren’t good either. They constantly create excuses to collect various fees.”
“Don’t worry about that, we’ll take care of it!” Zhang Qinghuan waved his hand and left.
This solution is certainly the gang’s solution.
Zhang Qinghuan asked Zhang Mengqian, “How many households do we need to deal with today?”
“112 households,” Zhang Mengqian said, “Those who are of age but haven’t gone to primary school.”
Zhang Qinghuan smiled freely, “Everyone work hard today. We need to finish all 112 households today. If we can successfully complete the task, I’ll treat everyone to fat intestine noodles!”
Fat intestine noodles are also a specialty of the slums. After livestock are slaughtered, the good meat is supplied to the big shots, and only a few people like to eat intestines, so fat intestines are the cheapest real meat in the city.
Of course, even the cheapest isn’t something ordinary people can afford. Zhang Qinghuan is being generous today.
Xu Linsen and Jiang Mubei looked at each other. They never thought that the Arts Society would actually take care of this matter.
Compared with their Student Protest organization, the Arts Society’s actions are more brutal, but their coverage is stronger.
Black Spade’s current wish is that children all over the world can read and understand what’s happening in the world.
Thinking of this, Xu Linsen and Jiang Mubei became interested in the Arts Society.
Xu Linsen whispered, “I can now confirm that the person behind the Arts Society is the one Yang Yang mentioned. I really want to see what he’s going to turn Lower District 3 of City 22 into.”
Qing Chen looked innocently at the ceiling behind him.
…
…
In the Ninth District fat intestine noodle shop, Qing Chen and others sat side by side at a long table, slurping noodles. Zhang Qinghuan and Zhang Mengqian were the loudest.
Their small team completed the persuasion task of 112 households in one day, and everyone was smiling.
It’s just a small matter, but for some reason, life felt particularly fulfilling.
Xu Linsen wiped his mouth, thought for a moment, and asked Zhang Qinghuan, “Boss, aren’t we a gang? Why are we doing this kind of thing?”
Zhang Qinghuan stopped eating and casually said, “This wasn’t decided by me. The people above said that we need to let the sound of reading return to the campus. They said that if this vast world can’t accommodate a desk, it’s the fault of all adults in the world…”
Having said this, he realized he had slipped his tongue, “Cough, cough, the ‘people above’ I’m referring to are the wise men in heaven. They instructed me in my dreams.”
In a flash, Qing Chen became one of the wise men in heaven…
Xu Linsen didn’t care about Zhang Qinghuan’s clumsy excuse. He was just thinking about the previous sentence, “But we’re a gang. Shouldn’t we be fighting and killing?”
“You don’t know this,” Zhang Qinghuan laughed, “When I was young, I was very poor. I couldn’t even afford junior high school. I could barely eat, so how could I go to school? Later, I worked hard to make money, thinking that when I had money, I could be happy. But although my business is doing well, at least my brothers have food and drink, but I’m still not happy enough. Until recently, I’ve been like I’ve been injected with chicken blood, full of endless energy. Do you know why?”
“Why?” This time it was Qing Chen who asked.
Zhang Qinghuan said, “I suddenly knew why I was so empty before. It’s because before I was trying to make my own life better, but now my goal is to make more people’s lives better. It’s different.”
Jiang Mubei mumbled, “His ideological awareness is quite high…”
Zhang Qinghuan continued, “And, the children all go to school, at least they can find a slightly better job, and they don’t have to join gangs like me. When they don’t need to join gangs, won’t there be only the Arts Society left in City 22? We’ll collect all the Protection money, dominating the market. This is the art of cutting off supplies!”
Xu Linsen: “Pfft!”
A mouthful of noodles landed in his bowl.
Qing Chen: “???”
He never expected that his guiding ideology, when passed on to Zhang Qinghuan, would be misinterpreted like this!
“Brother, look,” Jiang Mubei handed his phone to Xu Linsen. There was a message on it, which was the wanted notice that Shendai Consortium had just issued for Blackheart A in City 22!
The reason for the wanted notice was that Xu Linsen killed Takahashi Taisei, a member of the Shendai Consortium!
Xu Linsen and Jiang Mubei looked at the wanted notice for a long time. They came to City 22 with the task of killing Takahashi Taisei, but they hadn’t done it yet!
Something was strange.
It was the person they wanted to kill, even though he didn’t do it, he was still considered to be killed by him…
Xu Linsen was silent for a long time, “There’s no such coincidence in the world. It must be the person Yang Yang mentioned, trying to get rid of me…”
Jiang Mubei raised his eyebrows, “Let me know where he is, and I’ll settle this score.”
Qing Chen suddenly raised his hand, “Boss, another bowl.”
Zhang Qinghuan mumbled, “You eat less, how can you have such a good appetite?!”