As the weather was heating up, people dressed lightly. Yan Fei had barely dragged Heizi a few steps before he couldn’t take it anymore: "Stop dragging me, okay? Can’t I walk? You’re going to rip my clothes off!"
Yan Fei let go of his leg, "Go on then..."
"Help... Kidnapping... Murder..." Pretending to get up obediently, Heizi sprang up and began running while shouting. He had barely shouted a few times before Yan Fei had him pinned down again.
With nothing to gag him, Yan Fei simply half-dragged him along.
Heizi was truly out of strength. After being tormented all day and running over twenty miles without sleep, he was too weak to struggle.
Yan Fei had mapped out the route early on. Heizi had been running in circles, all within the residential area not far from the road. They got on the main road, and not long after, they arrived at a large bridge. He took away the hand covering Heizi’s mouth, and without giving him a chance to speak, he pushed him over the bridge railings.
Holding onto one of his legs, he said nonchalantly, "Don’t shout. If you do, I’ll let go. So, are you going back or not?"
Feeling the wind from the river, Heizi quickly became more docile. "Xiao Fei, don’t scare me. I know you won’t throw me. Hurry up and pull me up! I’m going back, okay?"
Yan Fei was indifferent, "I’ll hold you for a bit longer, want to see how long I can hold a person."
"Brother, Brother Xiao Fei, can I call you brother? Spare me, okay? You might inadvertently let go if you tire out, and then I’m finished."
"No worries, I’m in no rush. Besides, you’re not afraid of being thrown into the river. Just swim back up, what’s there to fear?"
"Haven’t you noticed how high we are? Brother, you’re my real brother, okay? Pull me up, please! I’m really scared you’ll let go!"
Yan Fei ignored him, leaning on the railing as if enjoying the scenery, while Heizi pleaded in fear.
Heizi didn’t dare to move, afraid that any movement might cause Yan Fei to loosen his grip and drop him.
After a long night of torment, Heizi finally managed to drag himself to the entrance of the cattle farm right before dawn.
Upon entering, Yan Fei disregarded Heizi and went straight to sleep.
Heizi kept an eye on him as he entered the house, but after a long restless night, he was genuinely tired. In the end, he obediently went in.
Deep down, he knew if it were anyone else, his shameless pleading would work, except for Yan Fei. Yan Fei showed absolutely no mercy. What if he really does beat me up, does it not hurt me if he doesn’t hold back in the end?
Mumbling about not making himself suffer any longer, he went into the house and fell asleep instead of working.
Just as Yan Fei was enjoying a deep sleep, Ma Chao arrived, soon followed by Heizi’s brother, Xiaohei. They came to check if Heizi had tried to escape during the night.
Upon seeing him sleeping, Xiaohei on an impulse, dragged him just to make him shovel cow dung. Whether screamed at or physically hit, he had no choice but to work. This dude was so exhausted, he could barely even hold the shovel steady, how could he work?
As a result, if he did a poor job, he would be scolded and hit. Although Xiaohei wasn’t that much older than him, he was his real brother after all, so even if he beat him up, there was nothing he could do. As soon as Xiaohei left for the Cattle Market, Heizi dropped the shovel, barely avoiding falling asleep right on the dung heap.
When Yan Fei woke up, Heizi was fast asleep in the room!
Yan Fei didn’t bother him, instead, he looked at the new-built distillery for brewing and saw it was almost ready, so he prepared to collect the sorghum.
The distiller’s yeast was originally in stock from Ma Chao’s house. Now that the grains were harvested, given good weather, the distillery could be used in a few days, meaning serious brewing could start.
The growth of the calves and the new fattened cows in the cattle farm, including the pigs, was good. Even without the notebook, it was obvious that they were growing rapidly from eating well.
Everything was going well, which made Yan Fei quite satisfied. Therefore, in a delightful mood, he went to school.
In terms of Yan Fei, the teachers had to learn to turn a blind eye. If they couldn’t, they would be driven crazy soon. So everyone was chilled about it - there were so many students in the class, with or without him, it made no difference.
There was a rumor that No.2 Junior High School in the town would divide students and start teaching before the New Year. However, rumors are just rumors, not facts. When the formal notice was issued after the New Year, they said they would start enrolling students in the autumn.
So, it was still a class with over a hundred students, which suited students like Yan Fei, who just wanted to get by. Many students idolized him, but they couldn’t imitate him.
Yan Fei’s sole task in school was to copy key points.
Not only to deal with upcoming tests, he didn’t even appear for the midterm exams this semester.
This was his long-term plan: he needed these notes for the High School Entrance Examination. While it was still two years away, it was better to prepare early. Otherwise, it would be a disaster if he realized he didn’t have any notes.
Just when Yan Fei’s schedule was disrupted, something happened as soon as he attended school in the afternoon.
It turned out to be about honest Zhang Qiang. A few days ago, he accidentally spilt food on a fellow student while serving food. Although they didn’t fight at that moment, that student knew some third-year students, who were there just to get their graduation certificates. After that incident, they came looking for Zhang Qiang.
If it were any other student, they would have been beaten unless a teacher intervened in time.
However, a group of guys called Zhang Qiang out, asking him to pay for the damaged clothes. They were just looking for an excuse to beat him up. Among junior high students, things were actually quite simple, and extortion was not a common occurrence.
Unexpectedly, honest Zhang Qiang thought that he was indeed at fault for dirtying the other person’s clothes, so he agreed to compensate.
The other students were confused, weren’t you supposed to say you had no money, argue a bit, and then get beaten up by us? Why did you obediently agree to compensate?
Now that it had come to this, they couldn’t lay a hand on him. Alright then, compensate us! Zhang Qiang truly was an honest fellow, he pulled out his clean pocket, a few meal tickets, and fifty cents. When he was handing them over, he even suggested, "Can you let me keep a little for food?"
After all, they were all students. Regular classroom fights were pretty normal, and then it would be forgotten in a few days, who held a grudge for that long? Now they felt embarrassed accepting his meal tickets. They made up an excuse, "We don’t want meal tickets, we want money. Once you gather enough, give it to us!"
Whether they actually wanted the money later or not, that was a future issue. At that moment, a bunch of guys gathered outside, and if they went back empty-handed, wouldn’t that be a loss of face?
As a result, Zhang Qiang took it to heart and started borrowing money everywhere. Who had money these days? Everyone exchanged wheat brought from home for meal tickets, they had piles of tickets, but not much money.
Everyone tried to convince him that it was over now, no big deal, but he persisted and looked everywhere for a loan.
After a few days of borrowing money, he still didn’t have enough to pay for the other person’s clothes. And just then, Yan Fei came to school, so Zhang Qiang went to borrow from him.
Yan Fei didn’t mind, it was just over ten dollars after all; a simple matter, so he gave the money to him directly.
Once Zhang Qiang went out with the money, Xie Dang’en explained the whole thing to Yan Fei. Everyone found it ridiculous, they were all students, an apology would have been enough. Was there really a need to borrow money from everyone?