Chapter 10

"Stay away from the streets at midnight on weekends,

Come to the Apple Paradise quickly,

Welcome the wandering children,

Don't just stand there,

Shout out loud together..."

Following the rhythm of the "Little Tigers" song playing from the town's tape recorder, Qin Feng couldn't help but sing along. No matter how mature he was, he was still just a child under thirteen, and the sorrow of parting with his good friend quickly disappeared. He hummed the "Little Tigers" song as he hurried home.

Liu Zimo promised Qin Feng that when he returned, he would bring all the "Little Tigers" album tapes.

This made Qin Feng's mood much better. His sister was a big fan of the trio from Taiwan. For this reason, after picking up a nearly broken tape recorder, Qin Feng spent over a month figuring out the power circuit and managed to fix the broken tape recorder.

"Uncle Hu, give me four pancakes."

When he reached Hu's Pancake Shop, Qin Feng bought four pancakes and then spent two yuan on some donkey meat. Donkey meat stuffed in pancakes was Qin Jia's favorite, but since coming to Cangzhou, she had only eaten it twice, both times courtesy of Liu Zimo.

"Xiao Feng, what good news do you have? Did you find a treasure?"

Uncle Hu smiled and picked out four freshly baked pancakes, wrapping them in oil paper and handing them to Qin Feng. They had known each other for a few years, and he knew that as long as the little girl wasn't around, Qin Feng wouldn't eat first.

"What good news? Uncle Hu, if you have any scrap, don't sell it to others. I'll come to collect it later."

Although Old Liu had passed away, Qin Feng and his sister's life seemed to have a glimmer of hope. Over the past few months, following Liu Zimo's advice, he had changed from scavenging to collecting scrap.

In this era, people's lives were not yet affluent, and no one was willing to throw away anything valuable. By changing from scavenging to collecting, Qin Feng found that the money that was hard to earn in the past seemed to come much more easily.

This was because the town's residents had a good impression of Qin Feng. Things like newspapers, toothpaste, scrap copper, and iron could be collected every day, filling a whole cart. After selling them to the recycling station, Qin Feng found that he could earn about ten yuan a day.

This way, after covering the expenses for the two of them, he could save nearly three hundred yuan a month. Over the past six months, Qin Feng had saved over a thousand yuan.

Not long ago, Qin Feng had his eye on a small house near the town's urban area. The house was not large, only about thirty square meters, but outside the house, there was a large piece of open land.

Qin Feng calculated that if he bought the house, he could use the land for free. He could then open a scrap collection station and sell the scrap directly to the city's state-owned station.

This way, by eliminating the middleman, Qin Feng could earn at least seven or eight yuan more each day.

Seven or eight yuan a day, over a year, would amount to several thousand yuan. For Qin Feng and his sister, this was an astronomical sum. If it weren't for the taste of success, Qin Feng wouldn't have known that the profit from collecting scrap could be so high.

Actually, around 1992, people hadn't fully realized that the "iron rice bowl" (job security) was about to become a thing of the past. They still looked down on those who ran small businesses or stalls.

But it was these unassuming small businesses that, during the transition from a planned economy to a market economy, created countless millionaires. Those who opened scrap collection stations in the 1980s and 1990s had, by the 2000s, at least a million yuan in assets.

Of course, a scrap collection station was still a bit far off for Qin Feng, as the house required over four thousand yuan, which he couldn't afford at the moment.

But Qin Feng believed that once he got a tricycle, he could go to the city to collect scrap. In a year or so, he could save this "huge sum" and create a true home for himself and his sister.

In early March in the north, although it was still a bit cold, the withered grass and trees were already showing signs of spring, which somewhat alleviated the sadness in Qin Feng's heart due to Old Liu's passing.

"Chirp..."

Seeing his lonely house by the railway in the distance, Qin Feng put his index finger in his mouth and whistled loudly, calling for Da Huang.

Qin Feng didn't know what breed Da Huang was, but he had raised him from a puppy and considered him part of the family. The donkey meat he bought today was also for Da Huang.

"Hey, where's Da Huang?"

Usually, after whistling, Da Huang and his sister would immediately appear at the door. But after walking another ten meters, Qin Feng still didn't see Da Huang running out to greet him.

"Something's wrong, why do I smell blood?"

Standing downwind, a gentle breeze brought a strong smell of fresh blood to his nose. This made Qin Feng stop in his tracks, his body trembling slightly.

Qin Feng would never forget the night five years ago when he was hidden in a wardrobe and smelled this same smell.

Although Qin Feng didn't see anything, he heard his father's惨叫声，以及另一个逼问自己下落的男人的声音，这是他终生都不会忘记的。

第二天早上，屋子里只剩下一大滩鲜血，透过门缝，秦 Feng 发现有两个陌生男子守在自己的家门口。

年幼的秦 Feng 搂着完全不懂事的妹妹，从后窗逃出去，爬上了离家不远的一辆运煤的火车，这才来到了现在居住的地方。

回忆如潮水般涌入秦 Feng 的脑海，闻着风中鲜血的味道，秦 Feng 的眼睛里充满了血丝，原本松弛的身体也变得紧绷起来。

这五年多来，秦 Feng 一直害怕那些人再找到自己和妹妹，每天睡觉时，只要有一点风吹草动就会被惊醒，他时刻都生活在警惕之中。

所以鲜血的味道让秦 Feng 的大脑皮层激素分泌加快了数倍，身体一矮，秦 Feng 的身体隐入到了右侧的一片杨树林中。

“发生了什么事？妹妹怎么了？”

此时的秦 Feng 虽然无比担心妹妹秦 Jia 的安全，眼睛已经被仇恨烧得通红，但他的行为却十分冷静。

从小将 Da Huang 养大，秦 Feng 深知 Da Huang 的秉性和战斗力。Da Huang 和自己一样，平时蔫儿吧唧的，但一旦有其他生物触犯到它，它总是往死里咬。

两年前镇子上有户人家养了一条正宗的德国黑背，有一次被那家小孩牵了出来，在一群孩子的挑唆下，放狗去咬 Da Huang。

但让所有人都没想到的是，看上去瘦不拉几的 Da Huang 却是凶悍之极，根本不顾那狼狗咬住了自己的尾巴，一口就死死咬住对方的脖子，生生地将其喉咙给咬断了。

这一幕把当时在场的孩子和旁边看热闹的几个大人都吓住了，从那天起，Da Huang 的凶名也不胫而走，那些孩子虽然厌恶秦 Feng 兄妹，却再也不敢明着欺负他们了。

所以此刻 Da Huang 没了声息，秦 Feng 相信，在自己那小屋里一定发生了什么变故，没有三四个成年人，根本就别想制服 Da Huang。

“啊……”突然，一声男人的惨嚎声从那屋子里传出，声音凄惨无比，中间还掺杂着怒骂的声音。

“肯定是 Da Huang 干的，Da Huang，妹妹，别急，我来救你们了！”

将一直揣在怀里保温的烧饼驴肉扔到了地上，秦 Feng 脱去了破旧的军大衣，把装着枪头的木头盒子打开，将那闪烁着寒光的枪头取了出来。

撕下一块破布缠在了枪头根部，秦 Feng 将其紧紧握在了手中，那冰凉寒冽的感觉透过破布传入到手心后，秦 Feng 的眼中闪过一道疯狂的神色。

来到现在住的这个地方，除了几个孩子，秦 Feng 从来没有得罪过什么人，所以他下意识里就认为，是当年残害父母的仇人追来了。

这让秦 Feng 既恐惧又愤怒，心中掀起了滔天巨浪。

由于妹妹太小，秦 Feng 一直不敢回到以前生活的那个城市，对于父母是否死亡，也仅是他自己的推断。现在仇人找上门来，让秦 Feng 压抑了五年多的怒火，终于完全爆发了。

深吸一口气，秦 Feng 趴在冰冷的地面上，从背着屋子大门的方向，缓缓爬了过去，地上那些枯黄中带绿的草丛，将他的身形完全遮挡了起来。

“妈的，我说孙老大，你可没说这臭丫头还养了条狗啊？”

在秦 Feng 那破屋子里，此时挤满了人，除了躺在床上昏迷不醒的秦 Jia 之外，还有郝老大、六子、张军龙和孙家两兄弟。

不过此时六子的模样却有些凄惨，他的右臂上血肉模糊，半边身体都被鲜血染红了，张军龙正拿着一条撕破的床单给他包扎着。

“六子，我大哥也没讨了好，不也是被咬了一口吗？”

孙老大的情况也不比六子好多少，右边大腿处的裤子已经被完全撕破了，被 Da Huang 生生撕下了一大块皮肉。

孙老二拿着一瓶二锅头往伤口处倒了上去，疼得孙老大忍不住惨嚎了起来，这正是秦 Feng 在外面听到的惨叫声。

“小声点，别把镇子上的人给招来了。”郝老大那平日里笑容满面的一张脸，此时也满是阴霾。

他怎么都没想到，仅仅对付一个小女孩，就让六子身负重伤，要不是张军龙眼疾手快推了六子一把，怕是那一口能将六子的喉咙给咬穿掉。

那 Da Huang 狗动作之快，咬人时那种不死不休的凶悍劲，就是心狠手辣的郝老大回想起来，也忍不住心有余悸。

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PS: Second update, thanks to Tian Ya and friends for the support. The weekly recommendation ranking is in danger, please support Bao Jian with your recommendation votes. Thank you all!

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