Chapter 9#
Shandong Gang VS Beijing Gang#
Once blood was drawn, the fight couldn’t continue. Several guards panicked and picked up the Huo family’s son, running towards the health station.
Chu Xun had a few drops of warm blood on his hand, the blood of the second son of the Huo family.
The bloodstains quickly coagulated in his palm, looking like a few red beans held in his hand… His heart moved, and he followed them to the infirmary.
The infirmary was usually closed at night, with only a middle-aged female doctor on duty, knitting a sweater and watching TV. Suddenly, two emergency trauma cases came in, covered in blood, and the female doctor was dumbfounded.
The female doctor said: “This, this, this won’t do. The eye is stabbed, I can’t treat it. You should send them to the 301 Hospital next door or the Armed Police General Hospital.”
The guard said anxiously: “It’s too late at night, please clean the wound for us first. What if the eye is really damaged due to delay?”
Seeing the bloody wound, the female doctor clicked her tongue: “…I haven’t cleaned this before, I don’t know how to stitch eyes.”
The guard was angry: “You know how to knit sweaters, but not how to stitch wounds? What kind of doctor are you?”
This female doctor indeed only knew how to knit sweaters. She was the family member of some officer in the military region and hadn’t even attended nursing school. Usually, she only knew how to prescribe medicine, giving Ganmaoling for diarrhea and Xieliting for colds.
The guard and the female doctor actually just bickered for a few sentences, about half a minute. Huo Chuanwu stood in the infirmary, half of his face covered in blood. Squinting one eye, he saw a washbasin of water in the corner and a small mirror hanging above the washstand, presumably where the female doctor washed her face and applied cream every day. He went over and immersed his hands in the washbasin. The basin of water quickly bloomed with bright red blood. Then, facing the mirror himself, he calmly extended two fingers and pulled out the two-inch-long wood chip from above his eyebrow.
The guard and the female doctor turned around: “…”
The boy rinsed his hands in the washbasin again and looked at everyone innocently. Why are you all staring at me?
Does my bloody face look good?
Chu Xun watched from the door, seeing Little Huo’s thin eyelids covered with blood beads, eyelashes thick. He couldn’t tell if he was handsome, but it was true that he had a commanding presence…
The guard ran to the family area and called an old military doctor.
Huo Chuanwu was disfigured, but lucky enough that the wood chip didn’t poke into his eyeball but stabbed into the flesh of his brow bone. The doctor wiped the blood clean, revealing the boy’s handsome face again.
The wound was quite deep and required four stitches. Because it was on the head, anesthesia might affect the brain, so no anesthesia was used, and it was stitched directly.
After stitching, the old military doctor said sincerely: “Kid, you can take it. You’re material for a soldier, really doing your dad proud.”
Several doctors later discussed that the young soldier next door with the broken arm cried, but this little kid with the split head didn’t shed a tear.
Chu Xun kept lying on the door frame, lifting the curtain to watch, his heart inexplicably tight: Will that boy with a pair of beautiful eyebrows have a centipede stitched on his eyebrow? Will it still look good?
The stitching scene was too terrible. Watching and watching, he couldn’t hold back, ran in, and took the other’s hand. The boy’s hand was shaking and sweating a lot.
Huo Chuanwu kept trying hard to endure the pain, his fingers pinching Chu Xun’s hand until it hurt. Half of his face was then wrapped in gauze, looking like a big white zongzi, with only one eye exposed.
Chu Xun breathed a sigh of relief: “Does it still hurt?”
A layer of sweat appeared on Chuanwu’s philtrum. Avoiding the attention of those old doctors, he put away the chest-out heroic expression from just now, hummed, and quietly told Chu Xun the truth he had held back for a long time: “Oh mom, it hurts me to death.”
Chu Xun was stunned for a moment, then after a while, pfft, he was actually amused by the other party.
Little Huo usually looked silent, cold, serious, and reticent. Once he opened his mouth, his voice was deep, with the tone of a little man, and carried a thick hometown accent.
Chu Xun smiled, and the other party also smiled, seeming a bit embarrassed, a shallow dimple appearing on his face.
Chuanwu looked at Chu Xun’s face, especially examining the red mole on Chu Xun’s brow, and asked blankly: “Why is your hand hot?”
Chu Xun was stunned again: “My hand is hot?”
Chuanwu nodded vigorously, holding hands: “Quite hot.”
Chu Xun didn’t understand at that time why his hand would be hot, just that holding hands felt comfortable for both, hot and very warm…
The sound of running with big strides came from the corridor, and a half-grown young man questioned with a rough voice: “Where is my brother?”
The eldest son of the Huo family lifted the curtain, came in, hugged his brother, and touched his head: “Broken? Does it hurt?”
Huo Chuanjun glared deeply at Chu Xun and roared in a low voice: “Who hurt my brother?!”
As soon as the other party finished speaking, Chu Xun blurted out without thinking: “There was a group fight at the compound gate, a wooden stick suddenly flew up, and a wood chip flew out and stabbed your Little Second’s face.”
Huo Chuanjun and Huo Chuanwu both looked at Chu Xun coldly at the same time, the corners of their mouths curling into meaningful little expressions simultaneously.
After Chu Xun finished speaking, he felt it was too shameful and dishonest. A good child shouldn’t be like this! He lowered his head silently, pouted, and stopped talking guiltily.
The expression on Huo Chuanjun’s face clearly said, You kid think I don’t know who hit him?
And the expression on Huo Chuanwu’s face clearly said, You think I don’t know whose brother you are…
That night, the eldest of the Huo family carried his brother back. Commander Huo’s family lived in the family dormitory area, two buildings away, not close to each other.
Chu Yu also rolled back home and was naturally scolded by his grandparents. A worrying bear child, causing trouble and embarrassing the whole compound.
This child was used to being taught by parents and even beaten by his dad’s stick. His muscles and bones were tough, impervious to salt and sauce, soft and hard. Standing against the wall in his grandfather’s living room for punishment, he still stood with his neck crooked and feet at ease, looking like a rascal.
The next morning, Chu Xun went to the cafeteria to get food, buy fried dough cakes for his grandparents, and collect milk. He actually saw the Huo family boy, half of his face still wrapped in “zongzi skin”, also holding a rice bowl, walking all the way to the cafeteria to get food by himself.
Among the gossip of a group of children, Chu Xun heard from his buddies that Commander Huo was clearly in the barracks at the time. Hearing that his son’s head was broken, face covered in blood, and sent to the health station, he didn’t move an inch, continued doing what he was doing, and didn’t show up.
Huo Chuanwu returned home that night and was also punished.
Commander Huo asked his youngest son: “Got beaten?”
Chuanwu lowered his head: “Mm.”
Commander Huo asked: “Why did you let yourself get beaten? Why were you at the gate with the guards in the evening? They were on sentry duty, were you beating the gong for them?!”
Chuanwu: “Oh…”
Huo Chuanwu consciously slipped to the corner, stood at attention, and reflected on his punishment.
Commander Huo glanced at him and suddenly asked: “Did you cry?”
Chuanwu shook his head: “No.”
Commander Huo snorted heavily, his face softening a lot: “Get a stool!”
Just because he didn’t cry, the punishment changed from standing to sitting. Huo Chuanwu obediently moved a small stool, sat properly in the corner, and buried his head in reflection until midnight.
Young Master Chu was scolded, and Commander Huo didn’t pursue it, but this matter wasn’t over. The next day, the soldiers of the guard company exploded.
The young soldier who was beaten really had a broken arm and was seriously injured. Now, his brothers wouldn’t have it. The young soldiers of the guard company usually had friction and discord with this group of arrogant and domineering high-ranking cadres’ children in the compound, and now they were beaten again. Suffering such humiliation, young people were hot-blooded, and soldiers also had self-esteem. Who would be willing to take it? Some things accumulated not just for a day or two, but were long-standing grievances. The hierarchy in the military compound was strict, and treatment was based on rank, but everyone was a young man of seventeen or eighteen. The chief’s son was the chief’s son, but weren’t the subordinate soldiers also born and raised by parents? Why should they let you beat them for nothing?
Moreover, half of the people in the guard company were Commander Huo’s old subordinates from Jinan, all fellow villagers, particularly united, valuing brotherhood. One brother was beaten and disabled, and the others all quit.
The soldiers of the guard company immediately reported to the compound leaders, collectively demanding demobilization and transfer. We won’t stand guard and suffer anger for you anymore, we’d rather go home and farm!
You don’t say, when soldiers get tough, this move is really absolute.
If one or two people make a fuss, you can suppress it with military law and discipline.
If a whole company explodes, how do you handle it?
What’s more, it was indeed Chu Yu who was unreasonable first and injured the soldier.
What made the Shandong Gang soldiers even more unconvinced was that their Commander Huo, such a fierce person who kept his word and hated evil like an enemy, and whose military law was like a mountain, actually endured it this time. His own son’s face was cut open and almost disfigured, yet he didn’t make a sound. Was the one surnamed Huo afraid of the one surnamed Chu?
Hearing about the good deed his son did on the phone, Chu Huaizhi was rarely rude once, cursing with rough words on the spot.
Bastard, needs a beating, embarrassing me. Wait until I get back and beat him to death with a gun butt.
Chu Yu eavesdropped on his parents’ phone call from the side, snorted, turned his head and said to his brother: “Did you hear that? Dad said ‘fuck your mother’s X’ or something on the phone. Fucking back and forth, it still didn’t escape the few people in our family. Fucking my mom isn’t just fucking our mom, fucking his wife?”
Chu Xun thought for a while and asked: “What does fucking our mom mean?”
“Fuck…” Chu Yu laughed, reaching out to ruffle his brother’s soft hair, “It means Dad misses Mom. I said it, when a man holds back fire, his temper is easy to be irritable. Living apart is fucking inhumane!”
Chu Xun was only eight or nine years old. He didn’t have such a profound understanding of this fucking back and forth business, but he had a rough feeling in his heart that the verb “fuck” represented a certain vivid process and extraordinary meaning.
Chu Yu appeared nonchalant and indifferent on the surface, but he was actually panicked inside.
This matter was quite big and hard to end. His father forced him to personally apologize to the guard company and the Huo family’s son, write a self-criticism, and admit his mistake. Of course, he didn’t want to go, but if he didn’t apologize, the other party wouldn’t let it go. The soldiers of the guard company collectively went on strike and demanded demobilization, and the instructor couldn’t suppress it.
Chu Yu also regretted it at this time. That night he was just drunk and wanted to save face in front of his buddies, couldn’t lose face, so he choked with the sentry and started fighting. Fighting, compound children had fought countless fights since childhood. Wasn’t it just a fight? Was it worth it? He didn’t expect to hit so hard that day, actually breaking the young soldier’s bone.
Two days later, on the weekend, Chu Xun was at home playing with Shao Jun and Shen Bowen when he heard someone calling his brother’s name downstairs from a distance.
Chu Xun leaned out the window and looked. Standing downstairs was the eldest of the Huo family, Huo Chuanjun.
Huo Chuanjun looked up and saw him, his gaze cold, a cigarette in his mouth, tilting his head: “Let your Chu Yu come down.”
Huo Chuanjun was fifteen years old, also in high school, tall and broad-shouldered, wearing a white shirt and green military trousers, sleeves rolled up to reveal two tanned and tough arms. At that time, the old version of “Water Margin” produced by Shandong TV was being broadcast on TV. Chu Xun had collected a set of comic books of this TV series. Somehow, seeing Huo Chuanjun’s posture, the tiger-fighting hero Wu Erlang with the face of the Huo family boy automatically appeared in Chu Xun’s mind.
On second thought, that’s not right. If Huo Chuanjun came to fight a tiger today, isn’t the tiger preparing to be beaten his silly brother?
Hearing someone calling him, Chu Yu scrambled up from the bedroom bed, looked out the window, and cursed: “Mother’s X.”
Chu Yu fastened his belt and grabbed an iron shovel by the door as he went out. Seeing the posture was wrong, Chu Xun chased after him and grabbed the handle of the shovel: “Brother!”
Chu Yu turned his head and glared, pointing a finger at his brother arrogantly: “Don’t tell your grandpa!”
“Don’t tell your dad either!”
“Hear me?! Dare to talk nonsense and I’ll beat you!”
Chu Xun didn’t plan to run to his grandpa’s house to snitch, but his brother and Huo Chuanjun were obviously going to fight.
Teenage boys, young and aggressive, full of vigor, neither willing to suffer a loss. This breath must be recovered. Huo Chuanjun came today not only for the scar on his Chuanwu’s brow bone but also to seek justice for his fellow villagers in the guard company. He came to arrange a fight today.
The two met downstairs, glared at each other indignantly for a moment, said a few words, and left together.
Chu Xun knew what was going on and quickly went to find the second son of the Huo family. He guessed where Huo Chuanwu usually was, and sure enough, he called Chuanwu out at the barracks.
Sweating all over his neck, Chu Xun said: “Your brother came looking for my brother, they went to fight!”
“Let’s go stop them quickly, don’t let them fight, okay!”
The gauze on Chuanwu’s head was removed, but the wound hadn’t fully healed, a large patch of red potion color on his handsome brow bone. Hearing this, without saying a word, he looked around and casually grabbed a heavy iron hook with rust from the door of the barracks, probably an iron tool for the motor transport soldiers to repair cars.
Chu Xun was stunned: “…”
Chu Xun didn’t expect there was an even fiercer one here. If he had known earlier, he wouldn’t have called this kid!
Chuanwu carried the iron hook, remembered something halfway, turned his head and looked up and down at Little Second Chu’s bright clothes and fair skin. Looking delicate at a glance, definitely couldn’t fight. Chuanwu said to Chu Xun very seriously: “Don’t be afraid. If a fight really breaks out, I’ll block for you, won’t let it touch you.”
Chu Xun was dragged by the wrist by Chuanwu and ran. Behind them, Shen Bowen and Shao Jun, those two bad eggs, followed from a distance, trotting all the way, chasing to watch the excitement of the fight.