Dirty

On the weekend, Tang Wan went to the company to work overtime. According to Tang Wan, there wasn't anything urgent at the company; it was just Lin Xuan making a show. When she left, she asked Jiang Fan if he needed the car. If he did, she would leave it at home. Jiang Fan shook his head and said he would rest at home today.

After breakfast, Jiang Fan went back to the second floor, intending to sleep for a while. However, he was soon awakened by a phone call. It seemed there was no peace for him today. Li Er asked on the phone if Jiang Fan had finished the game and whether they should study it together on the weekend. Jiang Fan didn't agree with the kid, knowing that if he got stuck with him, he wouldn't be able to do anything else that day.

He promised to do it together next week and hung up the phone, but was soon disturbed again.

Stepping out of the apartment building and looking at the overcast sky, Jiang Fan felt that it was going to rain. Just at this moment, Li Jiawei and Tu Kun, these two kids, came home for lunch. The two children were very enthusiastic about their little uncle Jiang Fan. Jiang Fan didn't treat them as outsiders and asked Li Jiawei to get an umbrella for him as he was going out.

Half an hour later, at the Zhongjie Pengpengliang Cold Drink Shop, Jiang Fan didn't understand why Guan Dagou had chosen this place. It was full of seventeen or eighteen-year-old kids. Wasn't he afraid of scaring them?

Guan Dagou had called for two consecutive days, and Jiang Fan couldn't figure out what he wanted.

Everything that needed to be done had been done, and there were no other matters. What did this persistent guy want?

While Jiang Fan was puzzled, Guan Junbiao came over with two cups of cold drinks. Jiang Fan looked at Guan Dagou and joked, asking when he dyed his hair red. The guy smiled and said he dare not, as it was too ostentatious.

With a plaid shirt, big shorts, a gold chain around his neck, and a tattooed arm, did this guy still think he was too ostentatious?

The two men sitting here eating ice cream felt a little strange. Jiang Fan asked Guan Dagou if he wanted to find a place to eat. Guan Junbiao first nodded and then shook his head, placing the black plastic bag he was holding on the table and pushing it towards Jiang Fan.

Jiang Fan opened it and looked inside, slightly frowned, and said softly, "What? Is Tu Laoda being generous again? Because of Li Er, I can't take over your business, and I don't understand this much anyway. Let's forget about this money."

It was a hundred thousand yuan, neatly stacked.

Although Jiang Fan was short of money, he didn't take it.

Guan Junbiao bitterly smiled, shook his head, and pushed the money back to Jiang Fan, saying with a bitter smile, "Jiang Brother, this money has nothing to do with my master's business. Don't forget that Lin Xuan gave me a hundred thousand yuan. My master found out about it yesterday and gave me two slaps, scolding me severely. I was indeed blinded by money. I borrowed this money from my master, so please, Jiang Brother, you must take it. I am friends with you, and for your safety, I definitely won't return this money to Lin Xuan, so..."

Jiang Fan's mouth curved into a smile, and he chuckled, "No regrets? A hundred thousand yuan is not a small amount. Tu Laoda won't earn much from this transformation."

"Maybe I'll regret it tomorrow, but I feel satisfied now. Otherwise, I always feel like I owe you something, and I can't be your subordinate," Guan Junbiao replied.

Jiang Fan took the plastic bag from the table and told Guan Junbiao to find a place to eat lunch. He would pay.

The two men walked to the parking lot in Zhongjie with tacit understanding. Jiang Fan looked at Guan Junbiao, and the latter did the same. Then they said in unison, "Where's your car?"

"Where's your car?"

Such tacit understanding made them both smile simultaneously, and then they said together again,

 'I didn't drive.'

"The car isn't at home."

Since that was the case, they had to take a taxi. The destination of these two men was very unified - the snack bar next to the railway station, a very simple earthen house. When they got off the taxi, Jiang Fan took out his wallet to pay, only to find that it was full of money.

Was this pocket money?

Jiang Fan didn't know why he had this thought. Walking into the small restaurant, it was very lively, almost full. The owner seemed very familiar with Guan Junbiao and told him to sit anywhere he wanted, and he would arrange it.

The small restaurant had no signboard, and most of the customers were migrant workers. Jiang Fan looked at the dishes being served on the tables. The plates were not small, huh?

While waiting, Guan Dagou went to help with the accounting.

The owner was an elder sister. She didn't need to order, and she served the dishes one by one: pork belly with pickled cabbage in a copper pot, a plate of braised eggplant, a plate of braised pork, and a plate of mixed bitter lettuce. The owner jokingly asked Guan Junbiao how old he was this year and why he still dressed like a child. Guan Junbiao smiled and said he was eighteen.

With iced beer paired with warm pickled cabbage, Jiang Fan asked with a smile, "Are you familiar with her?"

Guan Junbiao took half a bottle in one gulp, burped, and smiled, "When I was fourteen or fifteen, I had no place to eat. My mother, whom I had never met, ran away with someone. My father, who only knew how to drink and gamble, married a prostitute, and I was kicked out of the house. When I was almost starving, I met Aunt Sun. I helped wash dishes and clean tables for two years, and she gave me three hundred yuan as pocket money each month. At that time, this place was very chaotic. There were no surveillance cameras, and it was considered fast if the police arrived within half an hour after a fight was reported."

Jiang Fan took a bite of the braised pork, which was soft, sweet, and melted in his mouth. He smiled again at Guan Junbiao and said, "Don't tell me you fought with someone who was causing trouble."

"You're right. The person who came here to cause trouble while drunk is my current master. I was young and impulsive at that time. I don't know where I learned 'capture the ringleader first'. I took a kitchen knife and chopped at my master's older brother at that time. I was almost killed. Aunt Sun knelt down to them, and I survived. The next day, my master came and asked if I wanted to take revenge. Of course, I did... A month later, I was by my master's side, and it's been almost twenty years."

It was not surprising that Tu Xiao had eliminated his older brother. Those who walked on this path either served as someone's subordinate forever or became ruthless and raised their own subordinates. When Jiang Fan was drinking his second bottle, Guan Dagou suddenly told Jiang Fan mysteriously, "Aunt Sun's daughter is my secret mistress."

"Damn it, are you even a human?" Jiang Fan exclaimed.

"She's blind. I give her ten thousand yuan a month and bought her a house in the city center with her name on it. It's 120 square meters, a high-rise with an elevator. I hired two nannies to care for her. My master is helping me find a suitable cornea for her. When that day comes, she will be free."

Jiang Fan fell silent. He wasn't sure if Guan Dagou's actions could be considered a form of gratitude from the side. Ten thousand yuan a month was not a small amount, and all of Guan Dagou's money was earned through risky stunts. Maybe this was his way of showing gratitude.

The two clinked their glasses and drank the second bottle. Then, Jiang Fan smiled and asked Guan Dagou if he was married. Guan Dagou smiled and nodded.

"Yes, just like my dad. I married a woman from the streets, and she gave me a child. She knows everything I do outside and about my affairs. She never asks."

"Doesn't she dare?"

"It's not that she doesn't dare. She understands my personality. If I drink too much, she'll lock me out for the night and not let me in to disturb the child. She'll argue with me over trifles, but never about this."

What the hell is this? Are women so generous now?

This thought was instantly dismissed by Jiang Fan. It wasn't generosity, but understanding. Guan Dagou was compensating for this lover, but his heart was still at home, on his child.

After six bottles of beer, Jiang Fan's words also multiplied. He told Guan Dagou about Ji Jing's matter without mentioning her name.

Since he learned about this, it had been hard for him to understand. Shouldn't parents all love their children? How could there be such a family? After hearing this, Guan Junbiao closed his eyes and sighed, then smiled.

"Jiang, you've only seen the bright side of this world. You've seen too little of the darkness, and I've seen all of it. Two years ago, there was a similar incident at our debt collection company. A young girl came to borrow 80,000 yuan with no collateral, nothing but a work address. She knelt before me, hugging my leg and begging, saying she was still a virgin and willing to be my mistress for just 80,000 yuan! She would pay it back with her whole life."

"Wow, what a lucky break. What happened?"

Jiang Fan opened another bottle of beer and placed it before Guan Dagou. Guan Dagou took out a cigarette and handed it to Jiang Fan, lighting it for him. He exhaled and grinned, showing his teeth.

"Nothing happened. She committed suicide! I didn't agree to her being my mistress. The girl was only twenty-one, and her father asked her to prepare a dowry for her nineteen-year-old brother. In the village, it was 80,000 yuan! If she couldn't, he would marry her off to a forty-year-old bachelor in the village, use her dowry to get his son a wife. That bachelor could be her father! I, Guan Dagou, may not be a good person, but I have a heart. I gave her 30,000 yuan and told her this money didn't need interest. She should go home and then come here to work, with food and lodging provided but no wage, and the debt would be cleared in fifteen months. Unfortunately, she never came back after going home."

"Did she run away?"

"No, she still married that forty-year-old bachelor. She hanged herself on the wedding night. Jiang, tell me, isn't this a fucked-up life?"

Jiang Fan sighed and took deep draws on his cigarette. What kind of parents were they?

Guan Dagou took out another cigarette and lit it, continuing,

"In the end, that old bachelor didn't even let her body rest. Heh! He begged me, begged me to let him off. I asked him if she had begged him, and he hesitated. At that moment, I understood everything. I cut off his manhood and two of the girl's father's fingers. I told him, 'I bought this shit with 30,000 yuan!' How many years older was she than my young mistress? My young mistress sees money as just numbers. What about her?"

Guan Dagou became more and more upset as he spoke, lifting his beer. Jiang Fan also lifted his bottle.

Clink!

Two bottles of beer, two men.

In the end, Guan Dagou cried like a child, lying on the table.

Jiang Fan didn't comfort him. He had heard Ji Jing say her mother wanted her to marry.

Fucked-up life, dirty world.