Chapter 20

Near the rice noodle stall, there was a dog meat shop. The dirty iron cages were crammed with filthy dogs, their mouths bound with wire, pitifully watching the passersby. On the racks, a skinned dog hung, and the ground was flooded with sewage. The shop was crowded, and a large sign read "Freshly Slaughtered Live Dogs."

"How cruel, isn't there anyone to manage this?" Ma Ling turned away, not wanting to look at the dogs in the cages.

"In this world, people can't even survive, who has the time to care about dogs?" Liu Handong lowered his head and ate the rice noodles.

After the meal, Liu Handong paid the bill. The 300 yuan his mother gave him had been used to pay for the food in the detention center, leaving him with only a few dozen yuan. The two bowls of rice noodles with beef cost 25 yuan, and he had only a few small bills and coins left in his pocket.

Ma Ling put on the helmet, got on the motorcycle, and said, "I should go, let's shake hands."

Liu Handong extended his hand and shook hands with Ma Ling.

Ma Ling started the motorcycle and sped away, leaving behind a string of silver laughter, "Stay for dinner, don't starve to death."

In Liu Handong's palm was a 50-yuan note, still warm from Ma Ling's touch.

Apart from his mother, Ma Ling was the first woman to give him money.

Back at No. 108, while climbing the stairs, Zhu Xiaoqiang suddenly darted out, looking mysterious, "Brother Dong, you're back, I have something to tell you."

"What is it?"

Zhu Xiaoqiang looked around and whispered, "The residents on the third floor are prostitutes."

"What?"

"They brought a man back last night and kept making noise for half the night, keeping me from sleeping." Zhu Xiaoqiang said.

"Oh, don't you usually stay up all night playing games?" Liu Handong continued up the stairs.

"You don't know, the noise was so disturbing, it kept me awake, humming and moaning, it was unbearable." Zhu Xiaoqiang's expression was exaggerated, as if he were in great pain.

"Why are you telling me this? Do you want me to tell the landlord to kick them out?" Liu Handong asked.

"I didn't mean that. Brother Dong, you have a good relationship with them, can you ask them to be quieter next time?"

"I don't have any relationship with them." Liu Handong quickly distanced himself, worried that Ma Ling might hear and misunderstand.

Zhu Xiaoqiang was puzzled, "But they've asked about you several times, where you've been. By the way, Brother Dong, why haven't you been staying here for the past half month?"

"I was detained by the police." Liu Handong said, then left Zhu Xiaoqiang with his mouth open and went upstairs.

Sitting on the bed, Liu Handong took out the few pitiful bills he had and counted them, a total of 58.4 yuan. Eating was a problem, and the most urgent thing now was to find a job. He knew how to repair and drive cars, so buying a newspaper to look for job ads should help.

Walking downstairs, he suddenly noticed Wang Zhigang's disabled vehicle parked in the yard. The front windshield was shattered, the fuel tank was dented, and the tire was crooked. He hadn't seen Zhang Da's stall on the street, and he had a bad feeling that something had happened to Brother Wang.

Just as he was about to ask the landlady, Zhang Da came in with a lunch box, her face full of sorrow. Seeing Liu Handong, she started complaining, "Brother Dong, you're back. Wang Zhigang got into a car accident a few days ago after drinking. The car was destroyed, and he's in the hospital. The medical bills are in the thousands, and I have to take care of him every day, so I can't do business. I even had to send the child back to the countryside."

"How can we live like this?" Zhang Da's tears fell.

Liu Handong had an idea, "Sister Zhang, since the car is already destroyed, why don't I help you fix it? I can run errands for Brother Wang, and we can split the earnings. I'll pay for the fuel."

Zhang Da's eyes lit up, and she clapped her hands, "Brother, that's a deal!"

Liu Handong pushed the damaged disabled vehicle to the repair shop at the south end of Iron Slag Street. There was a dilapidated house with a pile of air pumps, water basins, welding machines, and old batteries outside. A burly man was squatting next to an upside-down bicycle, using a file to smooth the inner tube, with a Red Plum cigarette in his mouth, the ash long but not falling. A wooden board read "Car Repair."

"Master, can you fix this?" Liu Handong asked.

The man looked up, squinting, and said, "Push it inside. It doesn't matter what kind of motorcycle, electric bike, or bicycle it is, as long as it doesn't have four wheels, I, Chen Bachi, can fix it."

Liu Handong explained that it was a modified Qianjiang 125 motorcycle, turned into a three-wheeler with a covered compartment.

Liu Handong pushed the vehicle to the door, took out a Red Plum cigarette, and gave it to Chen Bachi, saying, "Master Chen, you have quite a lot of tools here."

Chen Bachi put the cigarette behind his ear and said dismissively, "You should have asked around. There's no second repair shop on this street. They all can't compete with me and have changed professions."

Liu Handong said, "Master Chen, I'm a bit short on cash and need to fix the car quickly to run errands. How about this: I'll use your tools to fix it myself, and when I earn money, I'll pay you back."

Chen Bachi stopped his work, looked at Liu Handong suspiciously, and then at the vehicle, "Isn't this Wang Lame's car?"

Liu Handong said, "Yes, I'm his neighbor, helping him out for a couple of days."

Chen Bachi said, "We're all on the same street, no need to talk about money. Use the tools as you like."

Liu Handong was delighted and immediately started repairing the three-wheeler. As an expert, he knew what he was doing, and Chen Bachi watched him methodically correct the wheel spokes, praising, "Guy, you have good skills."

"Average, Master Chen, can I use the welding machine?"

"Sure, you know how to weld?"

"Just fooling around."

In the afternoon, Liu Handong had the three-wheeler looking brand new. He cleaned the engine parts, replaced the filter and oil, inflated the tires, polished the spokes with cotton, and even fixed the seat with all-purpose glue.

"Thanks, Master Chen." Liu Handong got on the motorcycle and, with the sunset in the background, began his career as a disabled vehicle driver.

"Be careful." Chen Bachi waved goodbye, "Come by when you have time."

Liu Handong's luck was good. He hadn't driven 50 meters when he got a customer. A man rushed out of a hardware factory, pale-faced, holding his right hand, blood dripping down.

"Driver, to the military hospital, quickly." The man stopped the disabled vehicle and climbed into the compartment.

"What happened?" Liu Handong asked.

"My finger was cut off by a machine, driver, please hurry." The man's voice was low.

"Hold on!" Liu Handong revved the engine, and the three-wheeler shot forward.

The military hospital was on the other side of Yun Mountain, known for its top-notch limb reattachment surgery in the province. It was rush hour, and the roads were congested. The most convenient route was the mountain road, a winding path that could only accommodate two vehicles side by side, built by Chen Zikun during the Nationalist era and now in a semi-abandoned state.

...

At the foot of Yun Mountain, at the start of the mountain road, over a dozen motorcycles were gathering, engines roaring. The riders were dressed in bright professional racing suits, wearing full-face helmets. This was an informal race, with a mix of off-road, road, and Harley Davidson motorcycles, ranging from 125cc to 1800cc, the largest even bigger than a regular car.

A girl in a strapless dress held a white handkerchief on the side of the road, acting as the starter. When the handkerchief was waved, the motorcycles would roar out. The riders mounted their bikes, put on their helmets, and focused on the handkerchief.

Suddenly, a loud engine noise came, and everyone turned to see a three-wheeled disabled vehicle zoom past, with ads for treating vitiligo and erectile dysfunction on the side.

Everyone was stunned. The handkerchief fell, and they quickly started their motorcycles, chasing the disabled vehicle.

The mountain road was chosen by the racing club for its difficulty, with sharp turns and poor maintenance. It was around 6 PM, the time when it was neither dark nor light, the worst visibility. Under these conditions, it wasn't about the performance or displacement of the vehicles but the skill and experience of the riders, and most importantly, their courage.

The trees on Yun Mountain cast strange shadows on the road, and the wind rustled through the leaves, breaking the silence of the forest. The large motorcycles disrupted the tranquility, and the riders tried their best but couldn't catch up with the disabled vehicle.

On a straight road, the large motorcycles could easily catch up, but the sharp turns on the mountain road were extremely dangerous. The riders, being amateurs, had to slow down at each turn, while the disabled vehicle, like a ghost, not only didn't slow down but accelerated, with one wheel off the ground, yet it didn't flip over!

The mountain road was not long, less than five kilometers. By the time the motorcycles reached the end, the disabled vehicle was nowhere to be seen, only a blood-red sunset in the sky. The riders took off their helmets, looked at each other, and saw confusion and anger in each other's eyes.

This was not scientific!

The disabled vehicle, with its garish red rural paint, was dubbed the "Blazing War Chariot" by the club riders. Every evening, they waited for its appearance, but it never came.

Liu Handong quickly delivered the injured man to the military hospital, helping with registration and payment, but forgot to ask for the fare. After the man was taken into the operating room, he left on the three-wheeler, picking up another customer on the way.

This ride was interesting. Liu Handong saw a black BMW 760 parked on the side of the road. The driver was putting a dilapidated bicycle into the trunk, and a well-dressed boss opened the door, helping a shabbily dressed old man with white hair into the car. The driver then flagged down Liu Handong's disabled vehicle.

"Sh