Urban Life: Our Youth

Two in the morning.

City B bus station.

There was a cool breeze, and there were no more pedestrians on the road.

Under the street lamp, at the entrance of the station, next to the flower bed, Zhang Xichun put the snakeskin bag behind him and reclined on it. He was so tired that he forgot about the mosquito bites and fell asleep quickly.

"Brother, wake up!" Zhang Xichun suddenly heard someone calling him while he was sleeping. He opened his eyes drowsily and saw a man in his forties standing in front of him, about 1.8 meters tall. But he didn't recognize him and asked: "You called me? Who are you?"

"Brother, please have a cigarette!" the man said and handed him a Chinese cigarette.

Zhang Xichun didn't want to take his cigarette, but seeing that he was very enthusiastic, he took the cigarette in his hand.

The man took out a lighter from his pocket and lit a cigarette for Zhang Xichun.

"It seems that we don't know each other. What do you want from me?" Zhang Xichun asked after taking a puff of cigarette.

"Brother, it's like this. I withdrew 1 yuan in cash from the bank today. The wad of money was all newly issued and the numbers were all in the same order. But I accidentally lost it. I searched for it all day and couldn't find it. I didn't find it until just now. I heard someone said that they saw you pick up 1 yuan. Therefore, I want to ask you if this is the case. If you really picked up the 1 yuan, please Return it to me, I'm eager to use the money," the man said.

"No, when did I find 1 yuan?"

"But someone obviously saw you picking it up." The man insisted.

"Brother, you lost your money and are very anxious. I understand your feelings, but I did not find the 1 yuan. If I did, I would definitely return it to you." Zhang Xichun hurriedly said.

"Brother, it's not that I don't believe you. As the saying goes, hearing is believing and seeing is believing. People told me clearly that they saw you pick up 1 yuan, but you said you didn't. Then why don't others tell others?"

"I only have a 5000 yuan salary paid to me by the boss of our construction site. Where can I find a wad of 1 yuan in cash with serial numbers?" Zhang Xichun quickly defended.

"Brother, do you think this will work? Could you please lend me a step and go to the alley next to me? Open your pocket and let me take a look. If it is true as you said, there are only five thousand, not the ten thousand." If it’s 1 yuan, then I’ll turn around and leave, what do you think?” the man said.

"This -" Zhang Xichun hesitated for a moment, but in order to prove his innocence, he agreed without thinking too much, "Okay."

Carrying the snakeskin bag, he followed the man into an alley. There was no one in the alley. When he reached the end, he found that it was a dead end and there were no cameras installed on both sides of the alley.

So Zhang Xichun shook out everything in his pocket. Except for a quilt, a change of clothes, two pairs of military sneakers, some toothpaste, a toothbrush, a washbasin and other miscellaneous things, there was nothing the man said. What 1 yuan in cash.

"Look, I only have 5000 yuan here." Zhang Xichun said, taking out the 5000 yuan from his pocket and showing it to the man.

However, at the same time, Zhang Xichun saw the man pull out a bright dagger from his waist. The blade was more than seven inches long. The tip of the knife was pointed at him, and he said with a fierce look on his face: "You look pretty good." To be honest, I'm not honest at all. I threw away the 5000 yuan. I ask you, where did you hide the other 5000 yuan? Why don't you take it out quickly!"

The man said, reaching out and snatching the 5000 yuan from Zhang Xichun's hand.

"You...you are a robber!" Only then did Zhang Xichun realize that he had met a robber who was wandering into the station.

Zhang Xichun reached out and grabbed the man, trying to snatch away the 5000 yuan. At this moment, another burly man came up behind him, and the two people sandwiched him between them.

"If he dares to resist, we will kill him!" said the burly man who came later.

"Yes!"

As the saying goes, a bachelor can't bear the immediate disadvantages. Zhang Xichun saw that he was no match for others. If he fought head-on, he might lose his life here, so he didn't dare to move anymore.

The two men searched his body again, and found only a worn-out elderly mobile phone, and nothing else.

The two men threw his old mobile phone on the ground and walked away.

"Bandits, robbers! You will be punished." Zhang Xichun sat on the ground and cried.

He cried for a long time and called Zhang Chuying: "Chuying, something happened."

"Dad, what's wrong? What happened?" Zhang Chuying's voice came from the other end of the phone.

Zhang Xichun told Zhang Chuying what happened.

"Dad, are you not injured?"

"That's not it."

"Hey, I asked you not to transfer and take the direct bus, but you didn't listen; I asked you to stay in a hotel, but you didn't listen. If you lose the money, just lose it. As long as the person is fine, it's fine," Zhang Chuying said, "Then You can call 110 now."

"Forget it, forget it, what's the use of calling the police? There are no witnesses, no cameras, who can prove it for you? If you suffer retaliation again, it will be even more uneconomical, just bear with it." Zhang Xichun said.

"Then why are you coming back? Do you still have money to buy a ticket? Otherwise, I will pick you up." Zhang Chuying asked.

"No, there's still 100 yuan left."

"Where did you get the 100 yuan?"

"I put 100 yuan in the leather case behind the senior's mobile phone, but they didn't notice it," Zhang Xichun said. "When it gets dark, I will buy a ticket and take the bus back."

"Okay, then slow down."

Just like that, early the next morning, Zhang Xichun took the only 100 yuan, bought a ticket, and took the bus back.

After listening to Zhang Chuying's story, I felt indignant and said, "A habitual station gangster like this should not be allowed to live in this world."

"If there are good people in the world, there will be evil people. This has been the case since ancient times." Zhang Chuying said.

"It's a good thing your dad didn't pay off all the 1 yuan salary, otherwise, others would have snatched it all away." I said.

"Yes, my dad was not in good health. Because of this incident, he was angry and annoyed. He became ill after he came back. However, since then, he has developed a habit of always putting 100 yuan on the back of his mobile phone case. Yuan Qian, he said that this money can save lives at critical moments!" Zhang Chuying said, "I didn't expect that my younger brother Zhang Chu'an found out, and he used the money to play games in an Internet cafe. I was really angry!"

"Today is the Internet age. Which child doesn't surf the Internet, play mobile phones, or play games? We can only take it slowly and wait until he grows up!" I comforted her.

"Who said it would be better to be older? My eldest brother Zhang Chuping is already in his second year of high school, but he is even more disturbing." Zhang Chuying said.

"What happened to your eldest brother?" I couldn't help but ask after hearing this.