Chapter 213: Chapter 188: Settling Old and New Scores
In his haste to catch the cart, Zhao Jun hadn’t had a chance to drop his gun off at home.
But carrying a gun around was obviously not an option, whether on the cart, in the city, or inside stores.
Luckily, there were no security checks in those days. Zhao Jun had wrapped the gun in a burlap sack. On the entire journey, aside from the male employee who bought his mountain goods, not a single other person had asked what he had rolled up inside.
Yellow Cotton-padded Jacket and his band of robbers had foolishly believed Zhao Jun’s lie, thinking he was actually carrying a pickaxe handle.
And all seven of them were armed to the teeth. Why would they be afraid of Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu?
But what the group of thugs never expected was that the kid was a damn liar. The so-called pickaxe handle had suddenly become a gun.
The moment Zhao Jun raised the gun and aimed it at Yellow Cotton-padded Jacket, the man’s blood ran cold.
Getting shot while committing a roadside robbery in this day and age meant you died for nothing.
Yellow Cotton-padded Jacket’s lips trembled. He wanted to say something conciliatory, but he was scared witless.
Before Yellow Cotton-padded Jacket could speak, Li Baoyu pointed to one of the others and bellowed, "What the hell is that you’re holding?"
Zhao Jun shifted the muzzle to the left, instantly locking onto the bald Elder San.
The bald Elder San’s hand, which was gripping an iron chain, trembled. With a loud CLANG, the chain dropped into the snow.
Now that the bald Elder San had been scared into dropping his "Weapon," Li Baoyu turned and pointed at Yellow Cotton-padded Jacket, yelling, "What was that crap you were spouting just now?"
Yellow Cotton-padded Jacket forced a smile onto his face and said in a placating tone, "I was just saying the young man’s satchel is... quite nice-looking."
Hearing the bastard’s pathetic excuse, Li Baoyu’s temper flared. "Get the hell outta here! You think that’s what you meant?"
Despite Li Baoyu’s question, Yellow Cotton-padded Jacket gave an unrelated answer. "You want me to get lost, young man? I’ll get lost right now."
With that, Yellow Cotton-padded Jacket started backing away, and his underlings followed suit. As he retreated, the bald Elder San kept casting a longing gaze at his iron chain.
"You..."
"That’s enough, Baoyu," Zhao Jun said, stopping him. He didn’t lower his gun, however.
Yellow Cotton-padded Jacket backed away another twenty meters, put his hands together in a respectful bow toward Zhao Jun, then turned and fled.
"What was that all about!" Li Baoyu picked up the chain the bald Elder San had dropped. He hefted it in his hand, and his eyes lit up. "Brother, this thing must weigh close to a dozen pounds!"
Zhao Jun smiled faintly. He picked up the burlap sack, folded it a few times, and handed it to Li Baoyu before slinging the gun directly over his shoulder.
The rest of the walk home was uneventful.
When they were about three miles from the village, with night about to fall, Zhao Jun pulled Li Baoyu into a small grove of trees and took some money out of his pocket.
The two Lynx Furs had sold for a total of 6,100 yuan. After giving Xu Changlin his 860, Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu each got a share of 2,600 yuan.
Zhao Jun gave the money to Li Baoyu, then took the two bottles of soda from Baoyu’s pocket and stuffed them into his own.
Seeing Baoyu’s conflicted expression, Zhao Jun laughed. "What’s wrong? Having second thoughts?"
"Yeah." Li Baoyu clutched the crisp, new banknotes, still fragrant with ink, a look of reluctance on his face.
...
It was past five, nearly six o’clock, by the time the two of them returned to the village.
They parted ways at their doors.
As Zhao Jun reached his front door, he could hear voices from inside.
Wang Meilan’s worried voice drifted through. "Where on earth did my son go? The dogs came back this morning, but he’s still not home."
She said this, but she knew that since all four dogs were unharmed, Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu were probably safe.
She just didn’t know where those two rascals had run off to. It was already dark, and they still weren’t home. It was enough to make a person worry.
"Off messing around somewhere again!" Zhao Youcai’s voice cut in. "He’s about to start his job, and he’s still running wild all day. If you ask me, he’s just itching for a beating."
Hearing this, Zhao Jun was not pleased. He couldn’t help but recall the two brutal beatings he had received from Zhao Youcai since his rebirth.
’If I don’t get my revenge now, when will I?’
At this thought, Zhao Jun threw the door open and called out, "Ma! I’m home."
The sudden shout startled Zhao Youcai, who was in the middle of bad-mouthing him.
Wang Meilan was at the stove cutting pickled cabbage. When she saw Zhao Jun, she quickly put down her knife and gave him a light pat. Her voice, however, was gentle. "Son, what have you been up to? You must be freezing."
Zhao Jun smiled. "Ma, I went In the Town."
"What were you doing In the Town?" Wang Meilan asked.
Before she could finish, Zhao Hong, who had heard them talking from the inner room, came running out. A torrent of words tumbled from her lips: "Brother, Brother, did you bring any good snacks back from In the Town?"
As she spoke, she saw that Zhao Jun’s hands were empty and couldn’t hide her disappointment.
"Soda!"
But in the next instant, when Zhao Jun pulled a bottle of soda from his pocket, Zhao Hong let out a delighted shriek and threw herself at him.
You couldn’t blame the little girl for being so eager; their living conditions were just too harsh.
In her entire life, Zhao Hong had only had soda once, at Zhao Chun and Zhou Jianjun’s wedding reception.
She never imagined that her big brother, on this trip to the city, wouldn’t bring back cookies or cakes, but would instead bring back such a wonderful surprise.
A scuffling sound came from the inner room. Hearing the word "soda," Zhao Na came running out too.
"Nope, not yet." Zhao Jun gently pushed the two little girls away and placed the two soda bottles on the stove counter, next to the salt jar.
After a four-hour walk in the cold, the soda was mostly frozen slush. How could he let the children drink it like that?
But the two little girls wouldn’t have it. When he wouldn’t let them drink, they started to cry and make a fuss. In the end, it took a couple of harsh words from Wang Meilan to get them to quiet down and go back to their room.
"You silly boy!" At that, Zhao Youcai actually started to lecture Zhao Jun. "If you weren’t going to let them drink it now, why’d you take it out in the first place? See? Now you’ve made your sisters upset. I’m telling you, you’re still hopeless. The year before last you were stealing apples from little kids. You just don’t know how to do things right."
Zhao Jun felt a knot of resentment tighten in his chest as he listened to Zhao Youcai.
That must have been three years ago, around the New Year. Someone had given Zhou Chunming two bags of apples, and before leaving work, Chunming had made a special trip to the cafeteria to give Zhao Youcai one of the bags.
Zhao Na was still little back then. When Zhao Youcai brought the apples home, he gave most of them to Zhao Jun and Zhao Hong.
Zhao Jun ate his quickly. Once he finished his own share, he snatched Zhao Hong’s, making her cry several times.
In his past life, after returning to his hometown in disgrace, he had lived with his eldest sister. His two younger sisters had bought all his clothes and shoes for him, for every season.
During his first New Year back home, the sight of apples had prompted Zhao Hong to bring up the story of him stealing hers.
Back then, Zhao Hong had just been laughing as she recounted the childhood memory, but to Zhao Jun’s ears, it had transformed into boundless regret.
When he had money, his sisters never saw a dime of it. When he was broke, they helped him pay off his debts and supported him.
He had wanted to make it up to his sisters, but he was willing in spirit but weak in the flesh. The thought that he had never once fulfilled his duty as an older brother, and had instead become a burden for his sisters to support in his old age, felt like a knife twisting in Zhao Jun’s heart.
That was why, since his rebirth, he had done everything in his power to take care of his two younger sisters.
It would have been fine if Zhao Youcai hadn’t brought up the past, but his mentioning it today made Zhao Jun’s heart ache.
Zhao Jun remembered asking Zhao Hong in his past life how she could remember it so clearly when she had been so little.
Zhao Hong had said it was because of Zhao Youcai. Apparently, after their father got older, he would bring it up every single time he ate an apple.
’Sigh.’ Zhao Jun sighed inwardly. As he looked at his own father, a single thought formed in his mind: ’Dad, I think it’s time we settle all our scores, new and old.’
With that thought, Zhao Jun smiled. "I had to take them out. The bottles were frozen solid outside. Wouldn’t they start frosting over as soon as they came inside?"
"So what if they do?" Zhao Youcai said, looking unconcerned. "It’s not like you have anything valuable in that satchel of yours. What’s there to worry about?"
"Who says there’s nothing? There’s money!" As he spoke, Zhao Jun began to pull cash out of his satchel—one stack, then a second, and then a third that wasn’t quite as thick as the first two.
But the sight of those three stacks of cash was enough to send Zhao Youcai looking around for a club and made Wang Meilan’s hands and feet turn ice-cold with fear.
"Son!" Wang Meilan’s face paled in shock. She grabbed Zhao Jun’s arm. "What have you done? Where did you get all this money?"
You couldn’t blame Wang Meilan for her reaction. This was a huge sum of money for the times. She was terrified that for Zhao Jun to bring home so much at once, he must have been involved in some illegal business.
"Ma, Ma, please don’t worry," Zhao Jun said, quickly trying to soothe his mother. "Baoyu, Master Xu, and I went up the mountain and hunted a Tiger cub. We went to town early this morning and sold the pelt."
The moment Zhao Jun said this, the frantic look on Wang Meilan’s face vanished. On the other hand, Zhao Youcai, who had just grabbed the sweeping broom, suddenly felt his own hands and feet go cold.
