Left Ear (35)

  Left ear (35)

  By the time December arrived, I had already begun to get used to Beijing's weather.

  Occasionally going online, the mailbox is always empty. Only once did I receive a letter from Li Er, she simply asked for greetings, I replied to the letter, still with the old words, letting her study hard and strive upwards every day. She hasn't replied in a long time, probably because of senior three, and doesn't go online much either.

  I didn't expect to see the black man again.

  That day I went to an office building to look for a job, where there was a network company recruiting people, and I wanted to try my luck. It was a very imposing building, and as soon as I arrived at the bottom of the building, I saw a black man wearing a security uniform and white gloves, looking very dignified, directing people to park their cars. I pulled up my hat brim and walked past him.

  The staff of the internet company were very polite, and the one who received me was a short man with a small beard. He politely told me that all the people they wanted to recruit had been recruited yesterday, and asked me to act faster next time.

  "Okay, next time I'll definitely take a rocket," I said.

  Xiao Huzi laughed and said goodbye to me. I took the elevator downstairs, and when I passed by the gate, I was stopped by someone.

  "Little kid," he said, "I've been waiting for you in Beijing, and you've delivered yourself right to my doorstep."

  "What do you want to do?" I said, "I'm not afraid of fighting with you."

  "No fight," said the black man. "Fighting is for rough people. I'd like to invite you for a drink, are you daring enough to go?"

  "Who pays the bill?"

  He proudly said: "Of course it's me."

  "Are we going now?" I asked him.

  "Of course not, I get off work at 6:30 tonight, let's meet at Sanlitun at 10 o'clock sharp."

  "Alright." I waved at him and walked forward. He shouted from behind me, "If you don't show up, it means you're afraid!"

  Huh, who's afraid of whom is still uncertain.

  At 10 o'clock in the evening, I finished my tutoring for the night. Arrived at Sanlitun on time. The black man was already standing there waiting for me, he had changed out of his uniform and was still bald, wearing a black leather jacket, black leather pants, black gloves, and a pair of black sunglasses, making himself look like Batman.

  "I didn't think you'd come, I wasn't wrong before, among all of them, only you look like a man."

  "I said coldly: 'I don't like owing people. If you think I owe you something, it's best to settle everything tonight and be done with it.'"

  "You don't owe me anything, you owe her, but you'll never be able to repay her. So I'm going to help her get what's fair."

  "Go on," I said, "what else did you say?"

  "You drink twenty bottles of beer, no vomiting allowed. This debt is considered paid."

  "Is it that simple?" I said.

  "It's not easy, you finish drinking and then talk." "Okay," I said, "which house?"

  "Come with me," the black man said.

  He walked ahead of me with an air of superiority. He led me to the entrance of a bar, bowed and said: "Please."

  I went in, the bar wasn't big and there weren't many people. The black guy behind me asked: "How is it? Don't you think this place looks familiar?"

  I don't think so.

  "Don't you think this place is just like 'whatever'?"

  He must have blown a fuse.

  We found a place to sit down, and the black man quickly brought over twenty bottles of beer and put them in front of me. The singer on stage started singing, it was a female singer with very long hair, I couldn't see her face clearly, she was singing: I am your Chanel, you are my model...

  "Have you noticed? Look at that singer, she's wearing green eye shadow." The black man said while opening the wine bottle one by one and saying: "Drink, I want to see you drunk!"

  He wore gloves while opening a bottle of wine, which was very inconvenient, but he didn't want to take them off.

  "I'm coming," I

  That night I didn't get drunk, the black guy poured almost all the wine that was supposed to be mine into his own belly. He sat there rolling his eyes and said: "When I have money, I come here. In Beijing, I don't have any friends, Zhang Yang, let me tell you the truth, when I saw you today, I'm actually very happy, I feel like I don't hate you that much anymore."

  "Why don't you go back?" I said.

  The black man smiled as he slowly removed his gloves in front of me, both hands, left and right, were missing a little pinky finger. The sight was shocking.

  "Who did it?" I asked him in as calm a tone as possible.

  "Do I need to ask?" said the black man, "They told me never to come back, if I dare to go back, they will kill me."

  "Jiang Jiao's father?"

  "I don't know," the black man said. "I've offended too many people, I dare not be certain."

  I feel like I'm suffocating, as if I couldn't breathe.

  "Got a cigarette?" the black man asked me. Jump to! ~!

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