South to North: A Prison Guard at the Beginning

Chapter 198 Collecting Protection Fees on the Street

Dongzhou City is relatively prosperous, of course, this is compared with other cities. It is definitely more prosperous than the Northeast, but it is a little worse than Shenzhen and Kyoto. But no matter what, it is still a southern city.

When I walked out of the platform and came outside, I saw various vendors selling things on the street, but most of them were selling food, so it was quite lively.

"Lao Gao, how far is your home from here?" Datian looked around and asked.

"It's not far away, just near the No. 1 Middle School. My family lives there. It's a house allocated to us by our work unit." Gao Yuliang said with a smile.

"Okay, then let's go quickly. I need to have a good rest. Although it's a sleeper berth, this whole day and night is really tiring." Datian stretched and said.

Yuan Mu didn't say anything, but was looking at a person in the corner not far away. To be precise, it was a child, about thirteen or fourteen years old, wearing a work suit that was washed bleached and slightly too big, with a dark face, and he was selling roasted potatoes.

Although he looked rather disheveled, his eyes were very bright, his eyebrows were thick and dense, and he had an unusual temperament.

"Old Yuan, what are you looking at? Let's go quickly." Gao Yuliang pulled Yuan Mu and said.

"Oh, okay." Yuan Mu nodded and then looked away.

Just as the three were walking forward, five sloppy young men appeared at the corner of the street. They were about twenty years old, hooligans, and dressed in army green clothes. The leader kept throwing peanuts into his mouth from time to time, and his posture seemed to say, "I am a gangster."

"Hey, Old Sun, business is pretty good today." The leader walked up to a middle-aged man who was probably in his fifties and spoke with a forced smile, picking up an apple from his stall.

"Hey, Brother Xing, it's all thanks to you that business is booming. My brothers and I must be thirsty after walking for so long. Just take whatever you want to eat!" Old Sun said with a flattering smile.

"Okay, Old Sun, you're quite sensible. Isn't it time to settle this month's sanitation fee?" The leader smiled and spoke.

"Of course, everything has been prepared for you. Please order it." Old Sun said as he took out an envelope from his pocket and handed it over.

The leader took the envelope, looked inside, and nodded with satisfaction.

"Okay, you're good. If you have any problems in this area, just tell me your name and I'll protect you!"

"Thank you, Brother Xing, thank you, Brother Xing!" Old Sun bowed and smiled apologetically.

"Let's go, brothers!" The leader waved his hand and left with a few people, but each of them took an apple before leaving.

After the five people left, Old Sun's face suddenly turned cold. He spat secretly and his mouth moved slightly up and down. If you look closely, you can see that what he said was the quintessence of Chinese culture.

The five people walked past several stalls and smoothly received several "sanitation fees". They seemed very happy and were talking and laughing all the way.

And these people not only collected money, in just a short while, the five of them had their hands full of things, including fruits, roasted sweet potatoes, melon seeds, peanuts, tea eggs, etc.

Soon, the five men walked up to the boy who was about thirteen or fourteen years old. One of the gangsters took two steps forward to the side of the leader and spoke.

"Brother Xing, I've never seen this kid before."

The leader nodded, then staggered up to the young man.

"Hey! Kid! Where are you from? Don't you know you can't set up a stall here?"

The young man looked up at the five people, his eyes revealing a hint of fear, but he still answered.

"I don't know, brother, I just sell some baked potatoes."

"Okay! You look quite pitiful. Pay five dollars for sanitation fee and you can continue to set up the stall." The leader said as if he was very generous.

It is now 1981. Five dollars was a lot of money at that time, especially for such a teenager. You can tell from his clothes that he is not a rich man. This work suit has been washed white and has several patches on it.

His pants were worn to a shine and the pair of cloth shoes on his feet were already tattered.

When the boy heard this, his eyes widened.

"Brother, I can't make more than five dollars from setting up the stall for a few days. I really don't have any."

"No? Then why are you setting up a stall? Hand over your earnings for today and get out of here!" The leader's face suddenly turned cold when he heard this, and he kicked the potatoes next to the boy far away.

"My potato!" Seeing this scene, the boy immediately rushed over and hugged the potato.

"Go, get his money!" The leader took out a handful of melon seeds from his pocket and instructed the people around him, as if he was doing something very ordinary.

"Okay, Brother Xing!" The gangster smiled and walked towards the young man.

"Kid! Take out the money!" the gangster stepped forward and kicked the boy.

"I, I have no money!" The young man held the potato tightly in his arms and shook his head.

"Boy! I advise you to pay the money quickly, otherwise I will loosen your bones soon!" said the gangster viciously.

"Fuck! Xiao Qi! Can you please hurry up? I still need to go drink!" the leader shouted impatiently.

"I got it, Brother Xing!" The gangster agreed and then stopped talking to the boy. He leaned over and started to search his pockets.

"I have no money! I really have no money!" The young man was so anxious that he was about to cry, and he tried his best to protect his pocket.

But he was too weak. Looking at his body, you could tell that he was malnourished. How could he possibly compete with this gangster? In no time, the gangster reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out a few crumpled banknotes.

"Fuck! What is this? Isn't this money?" The gangster waved the banknotes in his hand and kicked the boy.

"Give me back my money! Give me back my money!" The young man jumped up from the ground with strength he didn't know where he got from, grabbed the gangster's arm, and then bit it.

"Fuck your grandpa! You're a fucking dog!" The gangster was bitten and kicked the boy in the stomach in pain, sending him flying several meters away.

The young man curled up on the ground in agony, holding his stomach, tears streaming down his face. It was so painful, and he was weak to begin with, that he couldn't recover at all.

"Fuck! Why are you taking so long to do such a small thing? Let's go!" The leader glared at the gangsters and waved his hand, and then several people were about to leave.

But as soon as they turned around, they met three people head-on. They were Yuan Mu and his two companions who were about to leave.

Originally the three of them had walked quite far, but Yuan Mu happened to discover what was happening here. Originally he didn't want to meddle in other people's business. After all, this was not Kyoto or the Northeast, and there were many such things, so even if he tried to intervene he couldn't handle them all.