In the early morning, the sky was just breaking dawn.
At the exit of the train station, black-cab drivers who had been waiting for a while, as well as hotel staff and other station personnel swarmed towards the passengers.
"Handsome, need a hotel room?"
"We have special services!"
"Miss, where are you going? I can take you there, at a very reasonable price!"
Qin Jun, dressed in a faded camouflage uniform with a camouflage army bag on his back, was the odd one out in the crowd. He looked more like a migrant worker returning home.
No one tried to engage him, and even the co-passengers exiting the station would make a way around him, occasionally casting disdainful glances at him.
Qin Jun, oblivious to all this, quickly walked along the sidewalk, his mood fluctuating.
All he could think about was getting back home to see his parents, but having been away for many years, how were their health? Had they aged?
With these thoughts, he quickened his pace.
Once he was almost halfway home, something caused Qin Jun to halt in his tracks. His eyes fell on an elderly lady by the street.
The lady, with silver hair and a face full of wrinkles, was rummaging through a trash can, pulling out plastic bottles and gingerly placing them in a sack on her back.
Suddenly, a familiar pang hit Qin Jun. This silhouette, these motions, this woman, were too familiar to him.
Unable to restrain his emotions, Qin Jun called out, "Mom!"
The lady slowly lifted her head, looking in the direction of Qin Jun in the distance, seeming to find the silhouette vaguely familiar.
Qin Jun called out again, "Mom, it's me, Da Jun!"
"Da Jun?" The old lady seemed panicked, rubbed her eyes and then carefully looked at the hale and hearty figure not too far away. It was indeed her son.
"Da Jun? Is that really you?" Her eyes started to glisten.
"It's me, your son, Qin Jun." He quickly ran over. After eight years in the army, he had transformed from a street punk into a tough and resilient man.
Throughout his years in the army, he had been shot, faced numerous adversities, and even stared death in the face multiple times; yet, not once had a tear rolled down his cheek.
However, facing his mother, tears started to roll down his face. His mother, on the other hand, burst into tears: "You little devil, you finally came back! Mom missed you to death!"
Eight years ago, when her son enlisted in the army, he called home on their first New Year's. There was no word from him thereafter.
All the years of yearning had turned her hair grey and now that she saw her son alive and well; it was more than just excitement.
Da Jun's skin tone had darkened, and his physique had significantly bulked up. Holding her son's hand, his mother smiled contentedly, “Finally, you’re back. Let me go home and make some dumplings for you.”
"Great!" Qin Jun nodded vigorously.
At this moment, the sun began to rise in the east, bathing everything in its warm light.
...
The Qin family lived in what is well known locally as a ‘city village’— rural surroundings, but located in the urban district.
This village should have been leveled for new development years ago, however, the owner of the development company took off, resulting in the project shelving for decades, which delayed the demolition until now.
Upon carrying the snakeskin bag for his mother back home, he noticed the transformation of the village. The surrounding neighbours had significantly changed: constructing new houses, replacing their doors and windows with composite aluminum ones. However, their own home remained the same, even identical to how it was eight years ago.
Upon opening the door, a musty smell wafted out– due to the house's position in a low-lying area, the sunlight was all blocked by their neighbours. The furniture was still the same reddish-brown plywood cabinet from eight years ago. Though the cabinet's colour had faded, it was remarkably dust-free.
"Let me make some dumplings!" said his mother and she went into the kitchen.
Qin Jun scanned the surroundings and asked, "Mom, where's dad?"
"Your dad has gone to the University Town to sell Shouzhua Bing pancakes. Oh, yes, I will ask him to come back now." Saying this, his mother picked up the phone from inside the house.
"Huh? What?"
"Old Qin is hospitalized?"
"I got it. I'm going right now!"
"What just happened?" Qin Jun stood up abruptly.
Hanging up the phone, a look of concern covered his mother's face and her eyes became teary. She said: “Your dad has been assaulted, he is currently being resuscitated at the city hospital!”
His mother rubbed her reddened eyes, hastily took out two passbooks from the reddish-brown cabinet, murmuring, "Old Qin, you can't go wrong, how am I supposed to live without you?"
Tears fell. Old Qin was the pillar of the family. If anything happened to him, their family's survival would truly be imperiled.
"It will be okay. I'm here!" Qin Jun patted his mother's shoulder. Though a small gesture, it provided great comfort to his distraught mother. With a son, what was there to be afraid of?
After gathering some necessary things for the hospital, mother and son hurriedly left, hailing a cab to the city's first hospital.
At the entrance to the emergency room, two middle-aged men were silently smoking. Upon seeing Qin Jun and his mother approach, they promptly put out their cigarettes and rose, saying: “Mrs. Qin!”
"How's Old Qin doing?"
"He's already been rushed into the ER!"
"What exactly happened?" The mother tearfully asked the father's two friends.
The two started recapping the chain of events.
Old Qin had arrived early in the morning with his tricycle to the snack street near the university. He had set up his tools and started working. At this time, many students who were heading to class would stop by to grab his famous handheld pancakes, so there was a long queue.
Out of nowhere, a bald man driving a Mazda 6 came up, trying to jump the queue for the pancakes. Old Qin simply told him, "Please wait a while, there are quite a few people queuing in front!"
The bald man then proceeded to flip Old Qin's tricycle over and beat him up with a wooden stick from his car, leaving him unrecognizable.
"Isn't this bullying?" The mother covered her nose, suppressing her emotions so as not to cry out. She turned to say, "Old Wang, Old Liu, I'm really grateful to the both of you!"
Old Liu scratched his head awkwardly, "Don't say that, we and Brother Qin are old friends!"
Qin Jun cut in: "Uncle Wang, do you know what car that bald man drives, where he usually appears?"
Old Wang squinted at Qin Jun, "Da Jun?"
"Yes!" The mother nodded, "My son is back!"
"It's good that he's back!" Old Wang nodded, "That bald guy drives a red Mazda 6, he often hangs around the DaQing restaurant near the university. He's not a good man, never pays for his meals, and is always ready to fight if you so much as say a word he doesn't like. We usually avoid him."
Upon hearing this, a raging fire ignited in Qin Jun's heart. He clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging into his palms.
There was no blame to be laid at Old Wang and Old Liu. When coming across such a thug, everyone would naturally try to avoid them.
Taking a deep breath, Qin Jun said to his mother, "I'm going out to withdraw money. I'll be back soon."
Without waiting for his mother's response, Qin Jun turned around and left.
"Jun, take your bankbook!" By the time his mother ran outside the building, her son was nowhere in sight.
...
University Town, Snack Street, is full of hawkers selling diverse food items such as fried breadsticks, mala skewers, noodles, dumplings, and stew. Workers, college students, and local residents are often frequent patrons of these street food establishments.
After roaming the street for a while, Qin Jun immediately spotted the red Mazda 6 parked in front of a restaurant.
"Bam!"
With a single punch, Qin Jun dented the car's hood.
Immediately, the alarm of the Mazda 6 sounded, and a bald man with a bushy beard and a face as red as a monkey's butt, sporting a thick gold chain around his neck, charged out from the restaurant.
Qin Jun stepped forward swiftly, glaring at the bald man, asking: "Is this red Mazda 6 yours?"
"Did you damn well smash my car?" The bald man, sounding like a drake, reeked of alcohol all over.
Not wanting to waste words, Qin Jun landed a punch on the man's stomach.
"Puh!" The bald man spat out the rice he'd just swallowed.
