Chapter 1

"Su Le! Your mom got beaten up!"

If he hadn't received this call, Su Le would have walked into the examination room of Huinan No.1 High School to take the annual national college entrance exam. However, his life was suddenly changed by this call.

Su Le asked for the location of the incident, then, with his schoolbag on his back, he rushed towards Xiao Dongfeng without looking back.

Xiao Dongfeng was a small restaurant located at No. 38 Chunfeng Street. It consisted of six long tables in the main hall, a simply decorated private room, and a kitchen of less than nine square meters. This struggling little restaurant supported Su Le and his mother, Su Meihong. They usually lived in a narrow room above the restaurant.

Su Meihong was 38 years old. She held a knife in her right hand and placed her left hand on her waist, wearing a pink floral nightgown and a pair of bright red flip-flops. Her multicolored hair rollers hadn't been removed yet. Due to the recent scuffle, a few strands of yellow curls had fallen to her ears. Her large eyes were wide open, glaring at the five muscular, tattooed men in front of her. Su Meihong shouted, "Shi Baoya, I'll curse your eighteen generations of ancestors! It's just a few lousy dollars, right? I've been playing cards for over a decade; when have I ever dodged a debt? I said I'd pay you tomorrow, and you agreed yesterday. Today, you send people to smash my place. Are you a man? If you have the guts, come over yourself, don't be a coward! If I catch you, I'll cut you to pieces!"

A man wearing a black tight-fitting tank top, with tattoos all over his body, rushed forward and pushed Su Meihong to the ground, causing her knife to clatter to the side. The man said, "Smash it!"

These people were all local hooligans. They rushed in and, in an instant, turned Xiao Dongfeng into a mess. Su Meihong's eyes turned red. She unleashed her泼妇 nature, rushing forward to grab and scratch the leader. The man slapped her, leaving her dazed. Two others dragged Su Meihong and threw her out of Xiao Dongfeng.

Su Meihong's hair was disheveled, and her flip-flops had fallen off. She stood barefoot, cursing loudly. At this moment, someone came to her and held her arm.

Su Meihong looked up and saw her son, Su Le, smiling at her. "Mom, did you lose again?"

Seeing her son's playful smile, Su Meihong's anger flared up. She slapped him on the head. "Smile! What are you smiling at? I got beaten up, and you're still smiling! I don't know if you're even my son!"

Su Le threw his schoolbag to the ground, took two steps forward, picked up the knife from the ground, and walked into Xiao Dongfeng without a word.

Su Meihong was now somewhat nervous. "Son! Don't use the knife, don't cause any deaths!" She knew her son's temper; once he got angry, he would recognize no one.

Inside Xiao Dongfeng, the men were still smashing things. Su Le raised the knife in his hand and threw it. The knife spun like a windmill in the air, narrowly missing the leader's ear and deeply embedding itself in the wooden door leading to the kitchen. The knife blade continued to tremble even after it stopped.

The man was frozen in place, then slowly turned around.

Su Le still had a bright smile on his face. "Hey, isn't that Brother Bang? What brings you to my place? You've beaten me up and smashed my shop. We have nothing left but our lives. What do you want to do next? We have nothing to lose, so we'll fight to the death!" Su Le reached under the broken counter and pulled out another shiny kitchen knife. He had been playing with knives since he was three, and among his peers on Chunfeng Street, no one could match him in knife skills. He was confident in both tricks and speed. On this street, he would call himself second, and no one would dare to call themselves first, except for his mother.

At this moment, Su Meihong rushed in with a cleaver, screaming, "Son, you're young, don't be reckless. Let me handle the cutting!"

Su Le said, "We're a family. The two on the left are mine, the three on the right are yours! I just sharpened the knives yesterday, and today is a good day to test them."

Su Meihong was puzzled. Why did she have to take on three while he only took two? Her son was being irresponsible, leaving the toughest task to her. She would settle this with him later. She raised her cleaver. "Damn it! How dare you smash my shop? Do you know who I am, Su Sanjie, on Chunfeng Street? With a kitchen knife, I can go from south to north, from east to west, and no one dares to say a word against me!"

At this moment, police sirens were heard outside.

The man called Brother Bang nodded angrily. "Fine, you two are tough, Su Meihong. Remember this, and bring the money tomorrow, or else..."

"Or else what? I'm not afraid of you scumbags." Since her son appeared, Su Meihong's confidence, which had been shaken, returned. With the knife in her hand, she was fierce and unstoppable.

Brother Bang laughed. "I can't reason with you, we'll find your son!" He gave his companions a look, and they hurriedly left Xiao Dongfeng before the police arrived.

The police came and made a cursory inspection. For them, the destruction of Xiao Dongfeng was nothing new. This year alone, it had happened three times. Su Meihong was a compulsive gambler, owing money to many people due to her gambling. She had even been detained for gambling two years ago. The local police had educated her multiple times, but she not only didn't listen, she even cursed at them. Knowing her character, the police officers didn't bother with her anymore.

After the police left, Su Le picked up a broom to clean up the mess.

Su Meihong first returned the cleaver she had borrowed from the meat stall, then picked up her son's schoolbag from outside. She returned to the restaurant and, with a guilty smile, approached her son. "Well... it's over. Let me clean up, you go to class."

Su Le didn't say anything and continued sweeping the glass into the dustpan.

Su Meihong said, "Son, my dear son, are you angry with me? I promise, I won't gamble anymore."

Su Le sighed. "If you could quit gambling, pigs could fly."

"Hey! Damn it! You ungrateful son, how dare you talk to me like that? If it weren't for me, would you be here today? What did you say? Calling me a sow, if I'm a sow, you're a piglet!"

Su Le said, "Don't argue with me, Mom. How much do you owe?"

Su Meihong's eyes darted around, then she laughed. "Not much!"

"How much is not much?"

"Not much is not much!"

Su Le threw down the broom and smiled. "Mom, so I don't have to worry?"

Su Meihong waved her hand with a smile. "What are you worried about? If the sky falls, I'll hold it up. Just focus on your studies and get into a good university to make me proud!"

Su Le laughed. "No need to take the exam!"

Su Meihong was stunned. "What? What do you mean, no need to take the exam?"

"What's the date today?"

"7th... " Su Meihong suddenly remembered something and slapped her forehead. "Damn! How could I forget such an important thing? Son, did you finish the exam? How did it go?"

Su Le said, "I didn't go in. I got stage fright and came back."

Su Meihong poked Su Le's forehead hard. "You useless son! After all these years of hard work, the purpose was for you to get into a good university and have a bright future. But you, you damn fool! You skipped class before, and now you even skip the college entrance exam. All the money I spent on your education, if I had known, I would have saved it and made a fortune..."

"My grandmother didn't offend you, show some respect!"

Su Meihong was furious. "I'll curse your grandmother!" She took off her flip-flops and swung them at Su Le's head, hitting him hard.

Su Le covered his head and ran outside.

Su Meihong shouted, "Brat, you dare to run? Do you think I won't chop you up?"

Su Le said, "I don't believe you. You just talk big. When those people came, you didn't even try to cut them."

"Brat, I'll chop you up today." Su Meihong threw her flip-flops and really picked up a kitchen knife.

The neighbor, Aunt Wu, heard the commotion and came over. "Sister San, I called your son back, he didn't skip class..."

Aunt Wu's words clarified the situation. Su Meihong immediately calmed down and returned to her restaurant with the kitchen knife.

Soon, Su Le sneaked back and saw his mother sitting alone in the hall, sobbing. Su Le smiled. "What's this? Crying? First crying, then making a scene, then threatening to hang yourself? Mom, can't we be a bit more creative?"

"Get out!"

Su Le pulled a chair and sat next to his mother. He had a young, energetic face with a street-smart smile, a clear mark of his 17 years on Chunfeng Street.

Su Meihong couldn't stand her son's expression and laughed. "Brat, you have a thick skin!" She patted Su Le's head lightly, more like a caress. People express affection in different ways. Some like the gentle rain of spring, some like the gentle stream of summer, and some prefer the explosive excitement of a meteor collision. The way Su Meihong and her son expressed affection was undoubtedly the latter.

"Still angry?"

Su Meihong said, "Not at you, at myself. It's all my fault, I messed up your exam." Thinking about how her son had tried to make her feel better, Su Meihong felt even more guilty, and her eyes turned red again.

Su Le said, "Do you really take the exam seriously? With my grades, even if I took it, I wouldn't pass." Su Le was self-aware about his grades. He was severely biased in his studies, barely managing in Chinese and English, but consistently failing in math. Even his mother was puzzled; he could calculate complex accounts at a glance, a clear sign of a math genius. She couldn't understand why he struggled with math in high school.

"You might have a good day and get into a third-tier university."

Su Le said, "I'm just biased. My math is terrible, but not as bad as you think. If I tried a bit harder, Tsinghua or Peking University wouldn't be a dream."

"Big talk, you!" Su Meihong wiped her tears with a tissue. "Without exam results, you can't even get into a technical school or a junior college!"

Su Le said, "Isn't that better? I'll stay with Xiao Dongfeng and learn cooking from you. Speaking of which, when do you plan to pass this business to me?"

"Are you any good? I'm not dead yet, and you're already thinking about my property?"

Su Le said, "I heard that a person's success is related to genetics. Dragons give birth to dragons, phoenixes give birth to phoenixes, and a rat's son knows how to dig holes. You're just a cook, what do you think I'll become?"

Su Meihong said, "Why are you so unlike your father?"

Su Le said, "My father, what's he like? Can you tell me about him?" Su Le looked relaxed and expectant.

Su Meihong said, "How do I know what your father looks like? I was the belle of Chunfeng Street, and I had so many suitors. How do I know which one is your father?"

Su Le, despite his thick skin, felt a bit helpless. "Fine, I won't ask, I won't ask anymore, okay?" From childhood, whenever he asked about his father, his mother would dodge the question or make up stories. Su Le still didn't know his father's name.

Su Meihong said, "I'll go to the police station and see if I can change your name. Su Le, you've brought me bad luck in gambling. I've lost every time because of you."

Su Le said, "Don't do that! I have feelings for this name. If you change it, I'll really be upset!"

"You dare! You're my son, you'll call yourself whatever I say!"

New book, please follow, please give red packets, please recommend!

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