That day Yang Zhao was racking her brains on a piece of pottery in the studio when the phone call came.
It was Yang Zhao's younger brother Yang Jintian who called and brought a piece of news in a steady tone—he had entered the police station again.
Yes, again.
Yang Jintian entered the police station so frequently that Yang Zhao hardly even blinked her eyelids when she heard the news. She said to her brother on the other end of the phone, "Which one?"
Yang Jintian said, "Lingkong Police Station." After hearing this, Yang Zhao put down the pottery bowl in her hand, squinted her eyes, and said to the phone, "Lingkong? Why did you go south of the city?"
Yang Jintian said in a bad tone, "Went to a friend's party." Yang Zhao said, "And then, did you start the commotion at the restaurant?"
"A friend drank too much, got into a fight with the taxi while taking a taxi, and then started fighting."
Yang Zhao said, "Beating someone? It's not serious."
Yang Jintian yelled angrily: "We were beaten! Come here!" He yelled and dropped the phone.
Yang Zhao put down her phone and went to the sink to wash her hands clean. She put on her coat, opened her bag to see how much money was left, then tidied up and went out.
It was already past eight o'clock in the evening, and it was already dark outside. When Yang Zhao walked out of the studio, a cold wind blew in her face, making her tighten her clothes.
In the north in September, it has begun to be cold.
Yang Zhao went to the garage to pick up the car and lit a cigarette when she got in the car. The flame of the lighter fluttered a bit due to the wind closing the car door, Yang Zhao raised her hand to protect it.
Taking a puff of a cigarette, Yang Zhao spits it out slowly, the smell of cigarettes filled the car.
Yang Zhao likes to smoke, especially Yunnan cigarettes, and Dacheng Yuxi is her favorite. There were cigarettes everywhere in Yang Zhao's house, in the car, and in the studio.
She kept smoking the cigarette until it was half gone before starting the car.
Yang Zhao drove the car quickly and smoothly on the Second Ring Road. She opened the car window a crack and let the smoke drift out along the crack.
The streets were brightly lit.
Yang Zhao finished smoking a cigarette quickly, and she stubbed out the cigarette end before thinking about her younger brother Yang Jintian.
This is a poor child.
An accident three years ago caused him to lose his parents. Yang Zhao's parents took Yang Jintian back to their home to raise him. Yang Zhao also returned to this city that year.
She was away for a long time, so long that she couldn't even feel pain about the tragedy of her aunt's family. She was sad, but not to the point of pain. As for this younger brother, Yang Zhao is seven years older than him, and she is not close to him.
The Yang family's way of getting along was respectful and distant. Yang Zhao didn't have a deep impression of Yang Jintian when she was a child. It was the funeral of her aunt's family that imprinted this boy in her heart.
At the funeral, the fifteen-year-old boy cried like the world had collapsed. The feelings of the Yang family were restrained, and Yang Zhao never knew that a man could be so desperate.
That is, from that day on, Yang Zhao decided to stay. She did not live with her parents but rented an apartment outside. She even rented two floors, the lower one was used for living, and the upper one was used for work.
Yang Zhao took care of his younger brother as much as possible, but it seems to have little effect now.
Because of the accident, Yang Jintian took a year off from school. He is in the third year of high school this year, which is a critical time, but he doesn't care about his studies at all. Yang Jintian went to the best high school in the city, which he got into by himself. However, something happened not long after the senior high school entrance examination, and he never studied seriously after that.
Neither Yang Zhao's parents nor Yang Zhao tried their best to persuade Yang Jintian to study hard, this is a customary habit of the Yang family -
if you don't want to, then no one can control you.
But this does not mean that they are indifferent to him. Yang Jintian is almost the person Yang Zhao cares about the most in her life.
She gives him a lot of living expenses every month, and she buys him a lot of books in the hope that he can come out of his sorrow one day, and she is always by his side when he needs it.
Just like now.
The Lingkong Police Station was not easy to find. With the help of navigation, Yang Zhao went around many times and finally stopped in front of a simple small house at the intersection.
The intersection was very dark, with only one street light. In front of the police station were two broken-down motorcycles on duty and a taxi.
Yang Zhao got out of the car and walked to the police station. When passing by the taxi, she glanced at the license plate number.
J4763
It was a taxi that can be seen everywhere, Yang Zhao just glanced at it and left.
When entering the police station, there was no guard at the door. The scope of jurisdiction of this police station is not large, and few people are coming and going on weekdays. Yang Zhao didn't meet the first person until she went to the innermost part.
It was a middle-aged man who was a bit fat, and his forehead was severely bald. When he saw Yang Zhao, he came over frowning.
"Who are you looking for?"
Yang Zhao said to him, "I'm here to find my brother, he just called and said he was with you."
The man said ahh twice, "Is that the one fighting, come with me. " Yang Zhao followed him to the second floor, and the man said as he walked, "Young people are so impulsive now, and they can even fight with taxi drivers. As a parent, you should take good care of them."
It was eerily quiet. The man turned his head and looked at Yang Zhao. Yang Zhao was expressionless. The man felt that his words were shameless and wanted to speak again. At that moment, Yang Zhao just raised her eyes and looked at him, which made the man feel as if he was stealing for a moment. Seeing her, the man immediately turned his head and continued to lead the way without speaking again. He had a bad complexion, this woman made him feel very uncomfortable.
He led Yang Zhao to the second floor. There were lights on in several rooms. The man took her to a room next to him, opened the door, and said, "Old Wang, I'm here to lead you."
Yang Zhao entered the house and took a look. The room seemed to be a small office. There was a desk with messy things on it. Next to the desk were two men in police uniforms. Next to the desk were two benches. Three men and a woman were sitting on the benches. Yang Jintian.
Of the four young men, only Yang Jintian seemed to be sane, and the rest were all drunk and fell asleep. The window was open in the room, but there was still a strong smell of alcohol.
The policeman called Old Wang came over. "Whose parent are you?"
Yang Zhao didn't answer. She walked over and raised Yang Jintian's chin. There was no scar on Yang Jintian's face.
Yang Jintian frowned and shook off Yang Zhao's hand. Yang Zhao asked him, "Didn't you say you were beaten and hurt?"
Old Wang came over and smoothed things over.
"What beating? My arm was pulled a few times, but it's fine."
After hearing this, Yang Zhao reached out and rolled up Yang Jintian's sleeve. Yang Jintian withdrew his hand and said impatiently, "I'm fine!"
Yang Zhao turned his head and looked at Old Wang.
"Where is the beater?"
The other policeman looked at Yang Zhao with displeasure. Yang Zhao didn't do anything, but it was because she didn't do anything that made people feel that she didn't take people seriously.
The policeman put the stack of materials in his hand on the table. Although the sound was not loud, it was enough to attract the attention of everyone in the room.
He looked younger than the previous two policemen, less than thirty. He looked at Yang Zhao and pointed at Yang Jintian.
"Get into trouble after drinking! Make trouble with an old lady in her eighties! Who are you to control them like this?!"
"Hey, Xiao Song, don't make noise." Old Wang patted the hand he was pointing at. "It's not a big deal, just go back and educate yourself."
Yang Zhao stood in the middle of the room and looked at the policeman named Xiao Song.
"Where is the beater?"
Old Wang stopped his hand, and he turned to look at Yang Zhao. Xiao Song cursed in a low voice, and Old Wang pushed him down, and said to Yang Zhao, "The thing is like this." Yes, these kids drank too much at night and took a taxi to go home. But when the car stopped, an old lady wanted to ride too. The driver thought the old lady was pitiful, so he wanted to pull her away. A few children may be a little muddy from drinking too much, so they must not let them go." When Lao Wang said this, he clapped his hands, "Isn't that the case, this started a bit of a dispute." After listening to Yang Zhao, he looked at Lao (Old) Wang and said: "Whoever hails the car first."
Lao Wang said: "What?"
Yang Zhao said: "Whoever beckons first will stop this car first."
Smiling, he said, "Isn't it right to give up your seat to the old lady? No matter what you do, you can't compete with someone in their 80s."
"Ah." Yang Zhao nodded, "That is to say, it was my brother who called first. The car. Comrade police, everything comes on a first-come, first-served basis, and if they take the taxi first, they should sit first."
Lao Wang was also a little unhappy when he heard this.
"What are you talking about? You can't stop worrying about this, right? Why are you grabbing a seat with an old lady in her 80s? Isn't that a scumbag!"
Yang Jintian sat on the side with his head down and heard this word stand up immediately.
"Who the hell are you calling a scum!? Who are you calling scum?!"
Xiao Song caught him standing up, and he slapped the table hard, pointing at Yang Jintian with staring eyes. "Sit down for me—! Sit down, do you hear me!? Do you want to be detained—!?"
"Fuck!" Yang Jintian became more courageous after he was drunk, he flicked his sleeves and was about to rush forward. Yang Zhao stopped him, "Sit down."
Yang Jintian wanted to break free, "Let go! I'm not fucking afraid of them! Let go! Let go—!"
Everyone is quiet.
Yang Jintian turned his face sideways, his face was extremely stiff, and red marks slowly appeared on his face.
Yang Zhao kept talking softly.
"Sit down, and sister will take care of the rest."
Yang Jintian didn't know what he was thinking, his eyes were flushed, and he sat down with his head buried, Yang Zhao didn't know if he was crying.
Yang Zhao turned her head, instead of looking at the two policemen, she looked at another corner of the room. It's a bit dim there, and if you don't look carefully, you can hardly see a person standing in the corner.
Yang Zhao looked at the man and said, "The driver who beat him up is you, right?"