Return To 1990

Brothers are for milking dry

Lu Feng rushed out from the kitchen, looked at the mother-daughter pair and exclaimed, “It’s okay, I’m here!”

Duo Duo, who was lying in Jiang Xiaoyan’s arms, dropped her head to look at Lu Feng. The little face full of tear marks stopped crying. On the other side of the door: cursing and door-kicking continued.

Jiang Xiaoyan never thought Lu Feng would come forward, he was always indifferent to everything that happened at home before. Lu Feng walked towards the door; his back was tall, like a high wall making people feel at ease in Jiang Xiaoyan’s eyes.

Lu Feng opened the door and Li Da Fang kicked the air. She stood in front of Lu Feng, glaring at Lu Feng. She felt a bit guilty after all, Lu Feng’s reputation is not very good; eating, drinking, whoring and gambling everything everyday with a group consisting of two punks.

“So, you’re at home huh? You are home today, so you have to pay!” Li Da Fang said with a lack of confidence.

“Owe you sixty cents, right?” Lu Feng looked at her face and said, “I have sixty cents here, you give me the thirty cents back right now!”

Li Da Fang held the money back, a touch of contempt emerged on her face. Thinking in her heart that he was a soft egg, she pulled out the 30 cents from her pocket and handed it to Lu Feng saying, “Bring me the 60 cents!”

Lu Feng placed the money in his pocket and did not return the money; he just stared at her questioning, “What did you curse just now?”

“What?”

“What did you just swear from outside the door?”

Li Da Fang thought Lu Feng would not dare to do anything to her, so many people were watching. She hesitantly said, “What I called her is self explanatory, what’s wrong with that?”

Lu Feng’s face sank visibly. Raising his hand, he slapped Li Da Fang across the face.

“Pah!” the sound echoed throughout the hallway.

This slap hit Li Da Fang and she staggered, she almost fell to the ground. The surrounding people were astonished. They did not expect Lu Feng would dare to make a move.

“You dare to hit me!” Li Da Fang glared angrily and rebuked.

“What’s wrong with hitting you? My wife told you, a month later she will certainly return your money. This slap is to treat your cheap mouth. If you are not convinced, let’s fight!” Lu Feng sternly shouted.

“Old man, someone hit me!” Li Da Fang covered her face and shouted.

Li Da Fang’s man came out of her house, he was not tall. He only observed Lu Feng. On this floor, everyone knew that Li Da Fang is the master in her family; furthermore, the man does not even dare to fart in her presence.

“What? Want to make a move with me?” Lu Feng said with a gloomy face, “Yes, tomorrow I will call the brothers from my gang. Let’s stretch our hands and have a lot of fun!”

The man was shocked to hear this, and hurriedly pulled Li Da Fang’s hand to go home.

The surrounding people saw this result muttering, and scattered off. Lu Feng turned his head back to his house, looked at the terrified Jiang Xiaoyan and said, “It’s okay, go to sleep.”

When the lights turned off, the house fell in darkness. The moonlight entering the window through the thin curtains cloaked the house in a sense of haze. Lu Feng lay on the bed, using his arm as a pillow. This is his first night in the nineteen ninety.

Across the bed, Jiang Xiaoyan lightly patted Duo Duo, already beginning to fall asleep.

“You find a job in a few days, and the times will be better.” Jiang Xiaoyan said softly.

Lu Feng does not want to go to work. In this era full of gold, there are opportunities everywhere. With his talent, rising is simply too simple; however, the problem is lack of starting capital.

“You don’t hang out with your buddies. I’m begging you, okay?”, pleaded Jiang Xiaoyan.

Lu Feng nodded and implored, “Go to sleep!”

For the first time since their few years of marriage, tonight Jiang Xiaoyan slept extraordinarily well. In her dreams, Lu Feng’s heart and soul changed and he went to work every day. The days are very sweet, and the two of them want a child.

A few hours later, Lu Feng woke up after sunrise; Jiang Xiaoyan had long gone to work. She took Duo Duo along; apparently, in her heart she was still not comfortable to leave Duo Duo to him.

There was a bowl of porridge on the table; Lu Feng swallowed the porridge in big gulps. His heart was chaotic and did not know where to start. Suddenly a knock sounded on the door.

“Who is it?”, Lu Feng asked.

“Brother Feng, I-Ah, what’s going on with you these days?” A loud prickly voice came from outside the door.

He opened the door and saw a man in his early twenties, wearing flowing clothes. Lu Feng remembered him as Zhou Jianguo. His family is considered to have a bit of money.

“Why do you not go out ah? Not even looking for the brothers to play with.” Zhou Jianguo walked in casually and asked.

“My family recently had some things to take care of.” Lu Feng looked at him, silently thinking in his head. His group of foxes could be a little useful.

Zhou Jianguo’s family has three bungalows in the suburbs. Lu Feng sometimes goes there to drink. His other friend, Sun Longbin’s father is the head of a village. There are four or five second-rate people in his family, but they all make do with it. 

When these people go out to eat and drink, basically Lu Feng pays, getting played by them as a docile fool.

“You had no need to come to me, I was going to come to you guys.” Lu Feng patted Zhou Jianguo’s shoulder in a very intimate manner and said, “Where are the brothers?”

Zhou Jianguo always felt that something was wrong with Lu Feng but could not tell what it was. He said, “What are you waiting for, let’s go out: walk around, drink, have a good meal. It’s lively at night!”

Zhou Jianguo looked at Lu Feng’s back and sneered. He invited him to go out only to let him pay the bill, this kind of fool is not common. People do not care if Lu Feng has money or not. 

After eating and drinking, turn your head and go. It’s not the first time he has done so.

Inside the tavern, there were loud voices of people. There were already five to six people sitting on a long table. When the crowd saw the arrival of Lu Feng, they were overjoyed and greeted him, “Brother Feng is here!”

Lu Feng sat down on the table and swept a glance at the crowd. Without saying anything, he began to order; after three rounds of dishes, he was satiated. Lu Feng lit a cigarette, leaned towards Zhou Jianguo and said “Jianguo, are you my brother?”

“You are saying it out of the ordinary ah, we are two iron brothers, what is the matter brother? I am all for you.” Zhou Jianguo waved his hand boldly.

“With your words, I am convinced I did not make you a brother in vain. Your suburban houses are empty, right?”

Zhou Jianguo froze for a moment. Feeling that something was wrong, as he was about to resist; Lu Feng shouted, “Are you my brother!”

“Yes, brother!”

“If you’re a brother, lend me those houses for a few days!” Lu Feng reached out and put Zhou Jianguo in his arms, saying intimately “We are brothers; what do you mean by brothers? What is mine is yours; what is yours is mine!”

The people at the table watched, Zhou Jianguo was too embarrassed to resist, he nodded and replied hesitantly, “No problem.”

He thought, they were empty anyway.

 He would lend him a house for a few days and take it back; unbeknownst to him, Lu Feng didn’t intend to give it back for a while. .

Lu Feng looked at the mess on the table and frowned, “I am going to the toilet ah!” he ran out exclaiming.

After running out, he found a tree, squatted down under its shade and started smoking cigarettes. He waited for them to come out after checking out. 

What Lu Feng wants to try is canning. Now canning is a scarce thing, especially in rural areas. Canned foods are always given out as gifts. As for the raw materials for canning, Sun Longbin’s father is the village chief. At this time of the year, fruits are ripe in rural areas.  

In the restaurant: Zhou Jianguo, Sun Longbin and a few people were waiting left and right, but Lu Feng did not come back. Zhou Jianguo stood up, settled the bill and left the restaurant with others.

Lu Feng saw them come out, pretended to lift his pants and walked over.

“You fell in the toilet ah? The checkout person is gone? A total of one dollar two spent!” Zhou Jianguo began to report the bill.

“What kind of talk is this? I have a stomachache; besides, I used to settle the bill, didn’t I?” Lu Feng stared at him and said, “Are you really a brother? You say these kinds of foreign words, you still can’t pay the bill with me for a piece or two, brother I can see it clearly.”

Zhou Jianguo’s face was red and he couldn’t say anything.

On the side, Sun Longbin hurriedly rounded up his game saying, “We are brothers, it doesn’t matter.  Let’s go to the video hall!”

Lu Feng looked at Sun Longbin thinking in his heart, Brothers are for what? Brothers are for milking dry!