59: Chapter 59 Self-taught and Scheming_1 59: Chapter 59 Self-taught and Scheming_1 Yan Fei lay on the chilly ground, not caring that his new clothes were getting grimy.
He kept holding his stomach and making slurping sounds, lifted his hat with his hand, and pretended to wipe sweat off his face.
He sared his face with the dust on his hand until it was dirty.
Soon, people started gathering around him.
Two police officers, as if on command, rushed over.
Several big shots who had been in the car, didn’t speak a word.
They received criticisms from the surrounding crowd when they disembarked.
Yan Fei’s face, which bore the gene of Yan blacksmith’s family of honest and innocent boys, stirred even more compassion from the onlookers.
“Is there a doctor?
Is there one?
Please, co take a look at this young man,” yelled the cops as soon as they arrived on the scene.
The n who were in the car looked like trouble.
They hadn’t had a chance to say anything before being judged by the surrounding crowd.
As soon as the police arrived, they tried to speak but one of the officers gestured to them and said,” You guys, park your car to the side, don’t block the way, and stand right there!
It’s New Year, what are you doing driving around and onto the pedestrian sidewalk?
None of you run away, stand right here!”
Yan Fei couldn’t hold back his laughter anymore.
He pretended to have intense stomach pain and turned his face towards the ground.
He pinched his stomach hard a couple of tis to stop himself from bursting out laughing.
He used the chance to rub his eyes vigorously, making them appear red and swollen.
Even though his acting was a bit exaggerated, “fraudulent crashes” were rare these days, so his slightly overacting passed muster.
It’s evident why people often say it’s easier to learn bad habits than good ones.
Bad habits co naturally.
Take “fraudulent crashes”.
Yan Fei had never even heard about this for years, but now he was pulling one off.
After lying down for a while and seeing more and more people gathering, with the police still calling for a doctor, Yan Fei decided it was ti to stand up.
If a doctor actually ca and found that he had not a single scratch on him, he’d be exposed.
“Wait…
don’t move.
Wait for the doctor to examine you.” One of the policen saw Yan Fei trying to get up and quickly stopped him.
“Uncle, I’m fine now, it doesn’t hurt as much anymore.
I got to get ho quickly!
I want to start school tomorrow, I need to hurry ho!” Yan Fei made a pitifully painful face.
“Ah!
He’s still a student, so young yet earning a living on his own, it’s really difficult.
These people were so reckless, driving on the sidewalk…”
Imdiately a new round of criticism towards the “perpetrators” ensued from the surrounding crowd.
“I swear, I don’t feel pain anymore, uncle.
I’ve got to go to school and I need to hurry up and sell sweet potatoes to earn so living expenses!” The people around him reminded Yan Fei and gave him an excuse to leave sooner.
“No, wait a while longer, even if you feel okay, you still need to wait.
You might’ve been injured sowhere, maybe you’re just enduring it now and later you won’t be able to!” The policeman let Yan Fei stand up, but he still didn’t let Yan Fei leave.
Yan Fei reluctantly stood for awhile, then pushed past the policeman and walked to the cart.
Looking at the sweet potatoes scattered around the cart, whose handle had been broken off, he sighed.
He made it seem like he was extrely distressed and started to pick up the sweet potatoes.
“Oh dear…
don’t move around.
Just stand over there and watch, I’ll help you pick these up!” A woman hurried over to stop him and started helping him pick up the sweet potatoes.
There were a lot of people around.
They stopped their bikes, put down their bags, and stepped forward to help pick up the sweet potatoes.
“Why are we picking these up?
Let’s sell these sweet potatoes to the ones in the car!
He is relying on them to pay for school.
Look, most of them are battered from the crash, who’s going to buy them?” A young man wanted to help, but considering the dirty sweet potatoes and his new clothes, he was reluctant.
He hadn’t even managed to pick one up before he started grumbling.
His words reminded the helpful crowd.
“Yeah, don’t pick these up.
Let them buy them.
Look, the cart is broken too.
Even if the kid is okay, they still have to pay for the cart!
The year hasn’t even ended, and he ca all the way from his hotown to sell sweet potatoes to earn tuition money.
Was it easy for him?”
A hard-working boy, who was pulling a cart of sweet potatoes on the seventh day of Chinese New Year, had travelled from so remote village to the city, hoping to sell so sweet potatoes for his school fees.
Such a determined youth, who hadn’t sold a single potato yet, happened to be struck by a car driven by a gang of no-good thugs.
The perspective for public sympathy was as clear as day!
A couple of the thugs tried to argue their case, but the crowd shut them up with insults.
One thug who was nursing a leg injury was scorned particularly harshly, with much sarcasm and derision: “Can’t keep still even with an injured leg, serves you right for being a La Man!”
The determined lad, with a sincere and grateful face wearing an honest smile, kept expressing his gratitude to the kind “uncles” and “aunties” around him.
He even proclaid his aspiration to study hard and beco a useful mber of society.
With such character, the boy again received words of encouragent.
Amidst the expectant crowd, he moved his body a bit to prove he was not seriously injured.
Then ca the issue of compensation.
The price per catty of sweet potatoes, nor the cost of a cart handle, was of no importance.
What’s truly important was that during the festive season, when most kids were enjoying a rry holiday at ho, this boy had to sell sweet potatoes to earn a living and he unexpectedly got struck by a car.
What an enormous trauma that must be for him!
The thugs wanted to argue again, but two policen were ready to summon backup and take them to the station.
So, the gang emptied their pockets.
The crowd remained unsatisfied until the thugs handed over a couple of at packets and a heap of New Year’s gifts from their car, placating their wrath.
“Self-proclaid big shots who drive cars around couldn’t even scrape together a couple hundred bucks.
How embarrassing!” A snide young man, taking pleasure in their misfortune, added sarcastically.
The mont he finished his sentence, one of the thugs, a massive guy, glared at him and the young man beca irate.
Being the kind who enjoys stirring up trouble, he imdiately yelled: “Oh, glaring at , are you?
You compensated for the potatoes and the cart, but what about his filthy clothes?
And you haven’t paid for emotional distress!
Hey, that’s a nice jacket, a Diesel leather jacket.
Is it new?
I wanted to buy one but couldn’t find it.
Perfect, take it off now.
Hand it over as compensation!”
After making his point, the young man, backed by the crowd, insistently helped the mute thug off his leather jacket and handed it to a shafaced Yan Fei, whispering: “Quickly put it on – if you don’t wear it, I might take it back ho.
It’s a Diesel jacket – a foreign brand you can hardly find.
You won’t afford it even if you sell sweet potatoes for half a year!”
Yan Fei put on the leather jacket and, filled with guilt, the crowd took his expression as a sign of feeling wronged and comforted him.
They didn’t know that Yan Fei felt guilty because he felt he had scamd all these good-hearted people.
As he was about to leave, a few kind-hearted folks wanted to give Yan Fei their own money for his studies, which he vehently refused after much persuasion.
Hauling the cart with a broken handle, bidding farewell to the kind-hearted crowd and policen, Yan Fei finally started his journey ho.
Looking back at the thugs, each one picking up sweet potatoes under the crowd’s watchful eyes, Yan Fei figured it was far more satisfying than if he had broken their legs himself!
In truth, he felt sowhat sorry for those good-hearted people who ca to help him, and the stellar policen who were still there because of the sweet potatoes scattered on the sidewalk that were obstructing traffic – even more so now that many had been crushed and smashed.
At the thought of that fancy new leather jacket, Yan Fei found it on the expensive side.
But despite it being a bit big, it was incredibly warm.
By the ti he found an empty spot to cross into the sea island, he was sweating from the heat of the jacket.
He was heading ho in broad daylight, and even though the bus was packed, Yan Fei was enormously pleased, looking forward to buying a cow the next day.
At the sa ti, in another part of the city, soone was furiously smashing things around the house.
The newly fashionable VCD player was broken, with a large hole punched right in the middle of the color television screen.
A group of thugs stood solemnly silent nearby.
Not even the la one dared to sit, as they listened to the angry shouts of the man smashing things around.
“You bunch of pigs!
Calling you pigs is an insult to pigs!
I ordered you to find a person, and you dolts co back with a cart full of sweet potatoes, bought with my money!
Pigs, all of you!
Where’s your jacket?
What?!
You paid it out to the boy?
Why didn’t you give yourself to him as paynt?
If you weren’t my real brother, I would’ve killed you.
That new outfit I brought specially from Hong Kong hasn’t even been worn for a day and you give it away as compensation…”
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