Chapter 10 Qiao Feng II 2

  Everything was so quiet afterwards, the days passed gradually, and the exams were getting closer and closer. Linghu Cong was like a lazy old dog that had been whipped to finish an entire semester's worth of tasks. Fortunately, he wasn't alone, at least there was Yang Kang, another old dog standing firmly with him on the same front line.

  "Hmm, this one," Linghu Cong cleared his throat and asked, "What are the three central links of the economic construction in the current thirty years of the Great Song Dynasty?"

  "It's simple." Yang Kang replied, "Firstly, increase the production of silk products and the mining of gold and silver to ensure we can fulfill our obligation to pay tribute to the Jin Dynasty; secondly, vigorously develop animal husbandry to improve the quality of war horses in the Great Song as soon as possible, so that we can guarantee the speed of strategic transfer in conflicts with the Jin Dynasty; lastly, expand economic cooperation with Mongolia to promote military cooperation and let Mongolia attack the Jin Dynasty."

  "Great, you're awesome," Linghu Cong said, "Why are we always sending Mongolians to fight instead of going ourselves?"

  Yang Kang crooked his mouth: "If you want to pass, stop talking nonsense, the rest can't be finished, so I'll have to use my trump card!"

  "You're making another small strip?"

  "Small strip?" Yang Kang snorted, "Underestimating me, this time it's as big as a desktop!"

  "Are you out of your mind?"

  "Cut the crap, I've already reserved it on the desktop. Just take that table tomorrow morning and you're all set. Hehehe." Yang Kang said with a sly smile, "Convinced yet?"

  "What's that? Ah Zhu said last year there was an exam, our classmate Ah Zi stuck a cheat sheet on her leg, and she could look at it by lifting up her skirt, the teacher didn't even dare to check her... you're far from being as good as her...... haven't seen Ah Zhu for several days..."

  Yang Kang sighed: "I also thought of hiding the note in my shorts, but the pant leg is too narrow, and it's too hard to flip it over..."

  "Ding ding ding", someone knocked on the door.

  Linghu Chong raised his head and saw Qiao Feng leaning against the door with his arms crossed, smiling in schadenfreude.

  "Let's go, let's drink." Qiao Feng said.

  "Are you treating?" Linghu Cong blurted out without thinking.

  "I'll treat," Qiao Feng laughed. "You little scoundrel, you're really a poor devil. I'm leaving tomorrow and you still want me to treat."

  "Are you leaving tomorrow?" Linghu Chong's heart skipped a beat. It was already early July, the time when seniors graduated and left school.

  Yang Kang was originally going to stay up all night to recite the outline again, but at this time he didn't say anything and closed his book saying: "Let's go."

  Guo Jing was carrying hot water back when he was pulled over by four people who pushed and shoved him along the way.

  It's almost midnight, and it's summer. Linghu Chong thought of when he was a child lying on a reclining chair under the starry sky, with his small belly facing upwards, his father sprinkled water under the chair, and as the water vapor slowly dissipated, there was a cool breeze. As Linghu Chong gazed at the moon, all sorts of thoughts ran wildly in his little head.

  Four people went their separate ways, some going and some returning, passing each other by without a word. The road was unusually quiet. A gentle night breeze blew in, making Linghu Chong feel comfortable enough to want to let out a belch despite his empty stomach.

  Under the grape arbor of the girls' dormitory, it was bustling with people, a sea of black heads, and various weird songs rose and fell.

  All I saw was a brother jumping onto a cement platform in the midst of heavy darkness, using all his might to shout loudly: "Xiang Xiang, I love you, but tomorrow I have to leave."

  Yang Kang looked at Guo Jing, Guo Jing looked at Linghu Chong, and Linghu Chong looked at Qiao Feng. Qiao Feng covered his face: "Really can't imagine that this kid is still one of us..."

  Yang Kang originally wanted to laugh, but since everyone else didn't laugh, he didn't either. And as they walked further, he actually felt that it wasn't funny at all. Yang Kang knew the brother who was shouting loudly, and normally he was a very dull and honest person.

  "We have a set menu here, how about 'Gathering of Heroes'? It's more cost-effective than ordering dishes separately." the boss said.

  Qiao Feng shook his head: "We have many useless people here, no heroes. You might as well put the bear paws on the table."

  The boss was stunned for a moment, Qiao Feng waved his hand and smiled: "Bring two plates of shredded potatoes first, we'll order other dishes later. Half a crate of beer, you're not closing tonight, are you?"

  "It doesn't matter, it's fine even if you drink until tomorrow morning."

  "Tomorrow I still have to catch a train," said Qiao Feng.

  "This," Yang Kang scratched his head and said, "Let's start with a toast?"

  "You go ahead and eat while you rest, it's no trouble to come and go," said Qiao Feng.

  Yang Kang smiled and ate his food and drank his wine. Linghu Chong said that he had heard that every time someone graduated, there would be people who went crazy, and these past few days were a real eye-opener. Guo Jing asked what was going on. Qiao Feng said that yesterday, a brother who was graduating got emotional as he was leaving and wrote poetry crazily with a brush on the wall, but in the end, he was caught by the dormitory head and reported to the department, receiving a demerit. Yang Kang said "awesome", if I could be like him when I leave, it wouldn't have been a waste for me to spend a few years at Bian Da. Qiao Feng said that this wasn't even the most awesome thing, a brother who had drunk too much beer sat on the windowsill of the second floor playing guitar, and accidentally fell off, but surprisingly got up, dusted himself off, and ran back upstairs. Yang Kang said "this one is nothing special", our second brother can walk down from the top bunk after getting drunk. Everyone laughed together.

  Linghu Cong clearly felt that Qiao Feng's heart was not in it as he chatted idly. Qiao Feng spoke carelessly about others' affairs, but when he laughed, there was a hint of fatigue.

  Linghu Cong looked out the window, where a small road was lined with small restaurants. It was said that the government offices of the previous dynasty were located here. Now it's full of small eateries, except for home-cooked dishes and cheap beer, there's nothing else, but it's always a gathering place for students. The advantage is that you can get discounts, haggle over prices, and if you don't have enough money, you can even use meal tickets to make up the difference. In short, at that time Linghu Cong ate freely and easily, many years later when he used a pure silver fork to pick up a piece of salmon, he had to stop and chat with clients, and would curse in his stomach, it's not as good as eating Japanese tofu behind the school.

  In the past, Linghu Chong didn't think friends were that precious either. Linghu Chong told Qiao Feng that women are like brothers and sisters, while clothes are like outerwear. Qiao Feng stared at him and said "What?" Linghu Chong said nonsense, can you afford a big pile of clothes? Can you handle a big pile of hands and feet?

  So Qiao Feng is an article of clothing.

  Linghu Cong got drunk and ordered too much food, twenty yuan short. As he stood there in a daze, the clothes rushed in to drink and slapped twenty yuan on Linghu Cong's head. From now on, the clothes would not appear in time to lend him money. Linghu Cong thought for a long time, only this reason made him regret Qiao Feng's departure, but just this one reason already made Linghu Cong feel desolate and inexplicable.

  It's very troublesome to have no hands or feet, and it's also terrible to have no clothes. No one can live naked in a crowd, except for going to an island to be Robinson Crusoe. Without clothes, people may feel very lonely.

  Linghu Cong thought of the two words "parting", a man's parting is just that simple.

  Qiao Feng handed each of them a business card that read "Suzhou Beggars' Gang Co., Ltd. : Assistant General Manager".

  Linghu Cong was taken aback for a moment and felt that he had heard of this beggar gang headquarters before. However, he was drunk and couldn't think it through.

  "Come to Suzhou to find me later," Qiao Feng said, "Don't ask me for a house to live in, I'll only provide food."

  "Whose business is it?" Yang Kang smiled.

  "If you bring your wife, I'll take care of two; if you bring your son, I'll take care of three. If you bring both your son and daughter, then perhaps the Family Planning Committee will take care of your meals." said Qiao Feng.

  Yang Kang was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing and spat out a mouthful of beer.

  "Stop smiling foolishly." Qiao Feng lazily raised his cup, "You little rascal, be careful. With your temperament, you can only remain a bachelor. If you don't change, no one will follow you in the future."

  "What's going on?" Yang Kang furrowed his brow.

  "Hmph," Qiao Feng sneered, "You're too arrogant, thinking that just because you have some minor skills, you can do whatever you want. Outside, no one will tolerate you, and whoever doesn't like you will secretly sabotage you, and you'll die without even knowing how."

  "Damn it!" Yang Kang hated being pointed out his mistakes, and with a push of his wine cup, he stood up abruptly.

  "Use your brain." Jiao Feng patted Yang Kang's shoulder and forced him down, "Do you know Liu Yong? If you don't want to end up like him, change now."

  Qiao Feng took a sip of beer: "Liu Yong was a talented young man in our school back then, but when he died, he didn't even have enough money for cremation. The hostesses at the bar chipped in to help pay for it."

  Qiao Feng didn't mean to be sarcastic, but Yang Kang's face was stern and he didn't say a word.

  "You..." Qiao Feng began to look at Linghu Cong.

  Linghu Cong stuttered: "Boss, I know I was wrong... I'll study hard every day and make progress, do less unrelated things, really work hard to improve my average score, and then study well for the exam to go abroad."

  This time it was Qiao Feng's turn to stare blankly, after a long while, Qiao Feng shook his head and sighed, also patted Linghu Chong: "Actually you little guy is really too clever, but you're too inexperienced in being human, I'm afraid that once you've said something, you won't be able to change it."

  "It's my turn now?" Guo Jing was a bit nervous.

  "I won't mention you again," said Qiao Feng. "You'll never change your ways, just use Huang Rong to cover for you."

  Linghu Cong chuckled. Qiao Feng shook his head: "I'm afraid not everyone is as lucky as him."

  The boss came over and asked: "Do you want to add a few more dishes?"

  "That's all, we've said enough." Qiao Feng poured the remaining beer into several cups, raised his cup to everyone and drank it dry.

  When the four of them stood up, the private room next door opened and a group of brothers from the history department stumbled out, drunk. To their surprise, it was Duan Yu who rushed to the front of the boss and shouted with a red face: "Boss, can we get a discount? We ate so much at this table, shouldn't we get 30% off?"

  The boss looked at his appearance of a rogue idler and could only nod: "70% off, 70% off..."

  A group of people left in a flurry. Qiao Feng picked up a toothpick and began to pick his teeth: "What's wrong with Duan Yu now?"

  "About Wang Yuyan..." said Linghu Chong, "it was like this two months ago."

  "He's still just a kid..." Qiao Feng said.