Among Shen Lang's many companions, Li Xiangqian was the most scheming of them all.
Regardless of whether Shen Lang acknowledged it or not.
As long as he had the title of a disciple, he could shamelessly follow Shen Lang on his beach-combing expeditions and grab a share of the spoils.
"You... you people!"
Liu Deshui was so angry that his nose was twisted out of shape.
Amidst the jeers and taunts of the crowd, Liu Deshui fled in panic.
Even as he slunk away in disgrace, he didn't forget to take the abalones from the bucket with him.
"Damn it! What an old bastard relying on his seniority. If you ever dare to pick a fight with my big brother again, I'll be the first one not to let you off."
After cursing at Liu Deshui's retreating back, Li Xiangqian shamelessly curried favor: "Master, let me help you get the fish down right now."
"Li Xiangqian, I am neither your master, nor will I ever agree to let you on my boat."
Shen Lang carried the bucket down the boat, shoving Li Xiangqian aside as he blocked the way.
"Master—no, no, no, Big Brother, are you still mad about before? I've already scolded my mom, and she promised not to come and trouble you anymore. Just take me in."
Li Xiangqian clung shamelessly to Shen Lang.
He used vicious language to attack his own mother, Lin Xiue.
Cursing her as an old fool and a short-sighted person without a brain.
Shen Lang sneered: "I've sworn an oath that even if you were to kneel down and call me grandfather, I would never take you along to play again."
Without giving Li Xiangqian the chance to keep pestering him.
Shen Lang called Feng Xiaodong over, picked up the bucket of fish, and prepared to head into town.
In his previous life.
Shen Lang was like a child who never grew up.
In dealing with others and making friends, he acted entirely on his own whims and moods.
Li Xiangqian had figured out Shen Lang's weakness: he cared a lot about saving face and valued loyalty above all else.
Every time he did something bad, he would use Shen Lang's name as a banner.
After stirring up trouble.
All of Shen Lang's enemies would come looking for him to settle scores.
Once Shen Lang cornered him and demanded to know the truth.
Li Xiangqian would sophistically argue that the other party had insulted Shen Lang first, and that was why he used underhanded methods to retaliate.
The several times he ended up locked away.
It was all because he was backstabbed by this traitor.
The last time he went in, Shen Lang took the fall for a ten-year prison sentence because of Li Xiangqian.
During his time sewing mailbags.
Aside from Feng Xiaodong, not a single one of his fair-weather friends was to be seen.
It was only at that moment that Shen Lang woke up from his delusions.
"Brother Lang, Li Xiangqian is scum, but we've always looked up to you as a great big brother."
"Big Brother, please don't lump us in with him and hold a grudge."
"If you're unhappy, I'll go round up some guys right now and give Li Xiangqian a severe beating."
Before long, the crowd hurried to catch up with Shen Lang.
They chattered away, expressing their loyalty while actively drawing a clear line between themselves and Li Xiangqian.
"Alright, you don't need to swear oaths. I don't hold a grudge against you. I was just worried that if we wasted any more time, these large yellow croakers wouldn't be fresh anymore, which is why I didn't stop to chat with you."
As he walked, Shen Lang placated his little gang of followers.
Some people are born bad seeds, like Li Xiangqian.
As for this group of village youths in their early twenties, while they weren't exactly upright citizens, they weren't thoroughly evil either.
They didn't have malicious intents; they simply lacked backbone.
They were classic fence-sitters.
A single good man needs three helpers; if Shen Lang wanted to make his business big and strong, relying solely on Feng Xiaodong was far from enough.
His core members could not tolerate the slightest trace of disloyalty.
However, these fellows were perfectly capable of handling errands and odd jobs at the bottom rung.
To put their minds completely at ease, Shen Lang assigned them a task.
Go home and report that he was safe.
Inform his mother and younger sister that he was heading to the county seat to sell fish and might return a bit late.
"Stop shoving! If you don't line up, none of you are going anywhere today, dammit!"
The township bus station.
A female ticket conductor wearing a black leather bag cursed loudly as she blocked passengers trying to squeeze onto the bus.
If they didn't line up to buy tickets, the bus wasn't leaving today.
"Well, if it isn't Shen Lang? Are you heading into the county seat on business? Get on up."
Just as the passengers were grudgingly queuing up and handing over money through the windows one by one to buy tickets, the conductor suddenly opened the bus door and beckoned two young men carrying fish buckets at the back of the line to board.
"Sister Liu, don't you usually work in the office? How come you're out working the route?"
Without standing on ceremony, Shen Lang stepped onto the bus.
"Ah, the regular conductor for this bus got sick, so I'm filling in temporarily."
Sister Liu, the female conductor, directly ignored the anger of the other passengers and struck up a conversation with Shen Lang.
Feng Xiaodong was dumbfounded watching this.
Even with the advent of a market economy, the gold content of an "iron rice bowl" steady government job still existed.
To say nothing else.
Just look at the drivers and conductors at the bus station.
Their attitudes were arrogant beyond belief.
At the slightest displeasure.
Mildly, they would curse you out; severely, they might even throw you off the bus altogether.
After all.
Wealthy people had their own vehicles and didn't have to suffer this indignity.
The number of privately contracted buses was limited.
Riding the state-owned buses back and forth between the county and the town had become the default choice for countless people.
Learning that Shen Lang was heading to the county to sell fish.
Sister Liu told him to put the fish buckets up front and said she would keep an eye on them for him.
Shen Lang and his friend could go sit in the back, and she would call out to them when they reached their destination.
"Big Brother, who is she?"
After they went to the back and sat down, Sister Liu began letting people onto the bus.
"Once upon a time, Sister Liu was being harassed by local punks, and I beat them off for her. That's how we got to know each other."
Shen Lang said casually.
Hearing this, Feng Xiaodong gave him a thumbs-up, praising Shen Lang for having more clout than ordinary people.
An hour ago.
As soon as the two of them entered the township, people kept greeting Shen Lang left and right.
Street vendors and shopkeepers all greeted Shen Lang very politely.
He never expected that even these arrogant people with government jobs would give Shen Lang face.
In the past.
Whenever Feng Xiaodong took the bus to the county seat to visit his mother, he frequently had to endure scowls and cold faces from the drivers and conductors.
People with connections would board the bus early and grab the window seats ahead of time.
That way.
No matter how crowded the road was or how foul the smell inside the bus, it wouldn't affect them.
Ordinary folks without connections had no choice but to squeeze all the way to the county seat like canned sardines.
The long-distance bus pulled out of the station and reached its first stop.
"Old uncle, there's an empty seat here. You can sit in mine."
Seeing an elderly man boarding with a cane, Shen Lang took the initiative to stand up and pull him over to sit in his seat.
"Young man, thank you so much."
The old grandfather smiled and thanked Shen Lang, then shouted toward the front: "Son, someone gave me a seat! Come over here."
"It's you."
Shortly after, a middle-aged man squeezed his way over.
"Boss, is the old gentleman your father?"
Shen Lang was slightly stunned; what a coincidence.
The man who had walked over turned out to be the customer who bought his seafood a couple of days ago.
"Young man, we really are fated. I wasn't wrong about you—you truly are a filial child."
The man in the Zhongshan suit patted Shen Lang on the shoulder.
Last time.
No matter what, Shen Lang had stubbornly refused to sell his two butter crabs to him, saying he was saving them to nourish his future mother-in-law's health.
Although somewhat disappointed, the man in the Zhongshan suit, who was himself a filial son, was very pleased by Shen Lang's display of filial piety.
He had still been willing to pay a high price for the seafood.
He never expected that just a few days later, the two of them would run into each other here.
To be able to voluntarily give up his seat to a stranger in need of help—he certainly hadn't misjudged the young man.
"You're too kind, Boss. Everyone has elderly folks at home, giving up a seat is no big deal."
"Here, have a cigarette."
Cigarettes were an important tool for men to build connections; the man in the Zhongshan suit proactively took out a pack, preparing to ask Shen Lang about the butter crabs.
"There's a thief on the bus!"
The next second, the expression on the face of the man in the Zhongshan suit changed drastically.
The cigarettes, lighter, and wallet in his pockets were all gone!