The 16 partners went to eat barbecue

  It was already midnight after work, and to thank a few colleagues for their help, Liu Ziguo invited them to have a late-night snack. They were all young men without family burdens, and as soon as they heard this, they were overjoyed. After changing out of their uniforms, they got into Liu Ziguo's car and went to the night market to eat barbecue.

  The night market stalls are located on the edge of the slum "Gao Tu Po", which is a dilapidated road during the day, but at night, dozens of spicy hot pot, lamb skewers, home-cooked stir-fry stalls, and fried food stalls are set up, making it very lively.

  Nowadays, urban people have a rich and colorful nightlife, and midnight snacks are indispensable. Those who get half-drunk in bars, exhausted from PK in internet cafes, and finishing night shifts all like to go to night markets and food stalls to continue their revelry. This has also led to the prosperity of night markets, which operate until dawn before gradually dispersing, leaving behind a trail of disposable chopsticks, wastewater, vomit, and scattered urine stains.

  Liu Ziguang and his friends went to a barbecue stall called "Dìdì Dàodào". It was quite famous in the area, with generous portions of lamb skewers at affordable prices. The key was that they used real lamb meat, not those fake ones brushed with sheep oil, which made their business very good.

  Four off-duty security guards picked a relatively flat low table, each with a small stool, Wang Zhijun seemed to be a regular customer, and didn't even look at the menu, directly telling the dirty little guy who came to greet them: "One catty of meat, two catties of baked buns, eight stinky dried tofu, four bottles of beer, hurry up."

  "Want some waist meat, mutton balls, mandarin fish, or sausage?" the young waiter asked indifferently while sniffing his nose.

  Wang Zhijun shook his head like a rattle drum: "No more, not enough for another point."

  The mutton skewer business is small and thin, relying on high-profit products like lamb balls, waistbands, and sausages to make money. Seeing these few people so shabby, the young man didn't say much, clamped the ballpoint pen behind his ear, and shouted at the master under the shed: "Table 7, one catty of meat!"

  "Hold on." Liu Ziguang stopped the young waiter, picked up the menu and browsed through it saying: "What's with all these lamb dishes - lamb waist, lamb eyes, lamb balls, lamb whip, lamb chops and lamb shank? Bring eight portions of each, four catties of meat, do you have beer by the barrel?"

  "Ah! Fresh draft beer, 80 yuan a barrel."

  "Bring two barrels of draft beer."

  "Liu Ge, the four of us can't finish that much." Wang Zhijun said.

  "Four big men can't finish this little meat? Today I'm treating, brothers eat freely."

  Upon hearing this, Wang Zhijun finally put his mind at ease, and the other two silly security guards also smiled.

  Before long, several stainless steel plates were brought up, with large handfuls of meat skewers emitting the aroma of cumin and chili powder. A whole bucket of beer was moved over, and four hungry men raised their large beer cups to clink together: "Cheers!" Suddenly, white foam and golden liquid overflowed everywhere.

  They were happily drinking, and from the distant flashing neon internet cafe came out a dozen or so fashionably dressed young people, the youngest being 15 or 16 years old, and the oldest being 17 or 18 years old. They all wore drooping pants, board shoes, tight-fitting tops, and their hair was dyed in various colors. Among them were also two heavily made-up girls.

  The young hooligans swaggered into the underground passage, pushed four tables together, and sat down in a circle. The boys took off their shirts, revealing their thin, tattooed backs. The girls sat on small stools, their low-rise pants exposing a large expanse of white skin. They pulled out cigarettes from the boys' packs, smoked, and laughed loudly, occasionally letting out exaggerated shrieks and uninhibited jeers.

  Liu Ziguang was listening to Wang Zhijun boasting about his glorious history as a paratrooper in the 16th Army when he was interrupted by these young people. He slightly furrowed his brow, reached out and grabbed the young man who had just brought over some skewers of meat, saying: "Tell those kids to keep their voices down."

  The young man widened his eyes in disbelief, looked at Liu Ziguang, and walked straight to that table, saying something to a cool guy wearing a shiny jacket sitting in the center.

  In an instant, the crowd fell silent, and the thugs turned their heads to stare coldly at Liu Ziguang and his friends, with a few of them grasping beer bottles in their hands.

  Wang Zhijun and others also found that something was wrong, so they quietly grabbed the small stool under their buttocks. Since they were on duty in the neighborhood and couldn't fight, it didn't matter if they did outside.

  Liu Ziguang seemed nonchalant, continuing to drink his wine. The cool guy in the red shirt across from him glared at Liu Ziguang, flicking his orange-dyed hair, and said something under his breath. The young hooligans turned their heads back around, continuing to chat and laugh, their voices even louder than before.

  Wang Zhijun felt a weight lift off his shoulders and let out a long sigh, saying to Liu Ziguo: "These young punks are fighting for their lives, it's better to avoid them."

  Liu Ziguang smiled and said nothing. The four of them moved the table a little further away from those young people, then continued eating and drinking.

  Two 10-liter barrels of draft beer, large plastic mugs, drinking freely, and in no time several people were bloated and uncomfortable. Wang Zhijun clutched his belly and said: "I can't take it anymore, I need to go relieve myself."

  Another two colleagues also stood up and said: "We can't hold it in either, let's go together."

  Three people went to the back of the flower bed on the other side of the road to release stress, at this time four people came out of a Passat sedan that had been parked by the roadside without a license plate, all wearing tourist shoes and baseball caps with low brims, their hands behind their backs, holding long strip-shaped objects wrapped in newspaper.

  Liu Ziguang was still drinking alone with his back to the road, when four men quickly approached him from behind. Without saying a word, they drew out sharp blades and slashed at the back of Liu's head.

  Don't look at Liu Ziguang not turning his head, he had already heard their footsteps, the long knife brought wind sound and chopped down, he just slightly tilted his head to dodge it, in his hand was a steel bar with a string of lamb skewers, this steel bar was made from tricycle wheel spokes, extremely sharp.

  With a "peng" sound, the steel bar pierced into the attacker's right eye. Instantly, the long knife fell from his hand and he covered his eyes, letting out a blood-curdling scream. The other three men were also seasoned fighters on the road and didn't panic when they saw their companion get hurt. Instead, they became even more ferocious, swinging their sharp weapons at Liu Ziguang.

  Liu Ziguang single-handedly took on three, his footing not disordered in the slightest. First, he charged at the biggest of the trio, dodging his chopping blade and landing a right hook on the man's temple. The 1.8-meter-tall giant silently collapsed to the ground.

  The other two had not yet reacted, and Liu Ziguang had already rushed forward, kicking them in the face with a loud crackling sound that could be heard by the gang of hoodlums sitting far away. The two men fell to the ground without making a sound, one leg still twitching.

  Liu Ziguang clapped his hands, continued to sit down and drink wine and eat meat, raised the wine glass suddenly turned his head, against that table of stunned little rascals raised the wine glass, nodded with a smile.

  The hoodlums quickly turned their heads away, not daring to make any more noise.

  Wang Zhijun and his companions finished pouring water, pulled the zipper to walk over, saw four people lying on the ground, and couldn't help but be startled: "Liu Ge, what's going on?"

  Liu Ziguang smiled faintly and walked up to the skewer stall owner, tossing down a stack of money saying: "Sorry about that."

  The middle-aged boss puffed on his cigarette, the cleaver in his hand chopping the mutton without stopping, "Scram, nothing's wrong."

  "Thanks." Liu Ziguo turned around and left, pulling along three stunned colleagues.

  As they walked along the road, Wang Zhijun, still in a state of shock, asked: "Liu Ge, has someone died? What's going on?"

  Liu Ziguang said calmly: "I have a good grasp of the situation, no one will die. Besides, I'm acting in self-defense, they tried to kill someone but didn't succeed, so they don't dare report it."

  Wang Zhijun and others finally felt at ease.

  Send the three of them back home, Liu Ziguang turned the steering wheel and went to the Candy Bar, no need to think about it, you know that Knife Hand is treating, didn't expect this kid to be so ruthless, for such a small matter, he wants to kill someone. If not, deal with him, in the future, sleeping will not be at peace.

  Arriving at the entrance of the bar, I found that it was dark inside with all lights out and the rolling shutter door closed. There wasn't a single car outside, apparently they had received news of the wind and were afraid that Liu Ziguang would come to take revenge, so they fled overnight.

  He ran away, and Liu Ziguang didn't confess either. After all, he had just returned and had no social foundation at all. As for the intricate underworld relationships in this city, he was completely in the dark and couldn't find a way in.

  After driving around for two circles, Liu Ziguo drove home, and coincidentally passed by the underground passage. It was already 4 am, and there were no pedestrians on the street. The diners at the big stall had also dispersed, and the boss was cleaning up the tent, stove, and other items, preparing to go home and rest.

  Liu Ziguang stopped the car by the side of the road, got out and took a few glances. Under the dim streetlights, the remaining bloodstains had vanished. The young man was holding a plastic basin and a broken mop, washing the ground. At this moment, when he looked at Liu Ziguang again, his eyes already held a hint of reverence.

  "Boss, I'm in trouble." Liu Ziguo flicked a cigarette over.

  The middle-aged boss looked up and smiled, with a faint scar on his face: "A small matter, common."

  "What about those little guys?"

  "He got up and left by himself."

  "Didn't report to the police?"

  "They even dared to call the police! These few kids, just by their accent, are obviously from Northeast China, who knows what kind of trouble they're carrying on them, and yet they still dare to look for the police?"

  Upon hearing this, Liu Ziguang finally put his mind at ease. He wasn't worried about himself, but mainly feared that his parents would be heartbroken.

  The boss seemed to have mixed with him before, but looking at his calm appearance, he didn't want to talk to Liu Ziguang much. Liu Ziguang nodded and drove away.

  ……

  The next morning, Liu Ziguo got up early and bought buns, fried dough sticks, soy milk, and a newspaper. After serving the two elderly people breakfast, he started cleaning again.

  After coaxing the two elderly people out of the house in high spirits, Liu Ziguo also stepped out of the door wearing slippers. Having been away from home for eight years, he wanted to take a good look at what changes had taken place in his hometown.

  The high slope is still the original high slope, except that it is more dilapidated than eight years ago, and there is almost no change. The small earthen buildings are randomly built outside, with electric wires hanging randomly, sewage flowing on the roadside, walls covered with small advertisements, and even the bicycle repair stall at the street corner still exists.

  "Uncle Guo, your new dog!" Liu Ziguang greeted the old man who was repairing bicycles warmly and walked by slowly.

  Unconsciously, I walked to the vicinity of my alma mater. On the side of the road were three old and worn-out snooker tables with mottled dark green surfaces. Groups of idle young people held cue sticks, smoked cigarettes, and played listlessly.

  Liu Ziguang strolled over, saw the billiard table and couldn't resist the urge to play a few rounds. Suddenly, a cool guy wearing a red T-shirt walked out of a flat house by the roadside, who was the leader of that group of young hooligans from last night.

  "Liu Ziguang?" The young man in red called out tentatively.

  "Huh? Do you know me?" Liu Ziguang looked him up and down.

  "It's really you! I'm Xiao Shuai, we're from the same big yard." The young man exclaimed with great joy, "I was wondering yesterday, why it looked so similar, it's really brother you."

  Liu Ziguang also patted his head and suddenly realized: "I remembered, Bei Shu's family that little kid who always had a runny nose and still wet the bed, Bei Xiaoshuai!"