Chapter 5: Betrayal Has Nothing to Do with Friendship

  At night, Wenhe had a dream. In the dream, he seemed to have become a time traveler, traversing through his ordinary life of twenty-nine years. He toddled as an infant, babbled at two, entered school at seven, was young and proud at eleven, experienced humiliation at sixteen, hit rock bottom in high school, and remained silent in college. The scenes from the past flashed by like lightning in his dream, leaving him sometimes sorrowful, sometimes laughing, and sometimes poking his head out of the tunnel of time to tell his dejected self that year: "Laugh well, kid, your future is in your hands."

  Waking up in the morning, there was a wet mark on the pillowcase. With a warm and gentle smile, she patted her face: "No good!" Walking into the living room, her mother Ding Mei had just bought fried dough sticks and soy milk back, complaining as she walked: "Occasionally being lazy and not cooking, going out to buy breakfast is still so far away, it's really inconvenient."

  Wen Cheng hastily went over to take the fried dough stick and asked: "Not going to work today? It's almost 8 o'clock, isn't it?"

  Ding Mei works as an accountant at the Municipal Agricultural Machinery Factory. In recent years, the factory's performance has been poor, and with the state-owned enterprise reform, everyone is anxious. Those with connections are busy running around for transfers, while those without connections are petitioning everywhere. It's said that in just one month, the factory director Zhang Changqing comrade was pressured to the point of having his blood pressure soar to 180, and he has been hospitalized for rest.

  "What's the point of going to work, the factory director has fallen, this factory is doomed." Ding Mei was annoyed whenever she mentioned the agricultural machinery factory. She had only graduated from high school and didn't have a high level of education. In her early years, Wen Huaiming was just an ordinary small officer and didn't have the ability to get her a good job. Later, although he rose through the ranks, he was always stuck in a cold and unimportant position, never having any real power. Zhang Changqing gave her some face by letting her be the cashier, after all, it was a state-owned big factory. As time passed, she just got used to it. But last year, the country started to vigorously promote the reform of the state-owned system, like throwing a heavy bomb into the calm water, causing chaos everywhere, from the whole society to Wen's family, everything was in disarray.

  "It's just yellow, it doesn't matter." Wen Jian knew that the agricultural machinery factory wouldn't last until next year. After the factory went bankrupt and was settled, many problems arose, but they were all suppressed by the city authorities. Wen Huiming didn't have enough power to find a good place for Ding Mei in the second major employment of state-owned enterprise restructuring. In a fit of anger, Ding Mei took the compensation money and opened a clothing store, which did quite well, although she didn't become rich, it was much better than the salary at the agricultural machinery factory.

  "What's the big deal?" Ding Mei's eyes widened, "You little brat, what do you know? If the factory goes bankrupt, who will pay your mom's salary? Relying on your dad's uselessness, the whole family would have starved to death long ago!" This was indeed true, her salary was much higher than Wen Huiming's, and she had more benefits too.

  Wen Qian rolled her eyes and was speechless, so she simply stopped paying attention to her. She quickly finished three fried dough sticks and two bowls of soy milk, patted her belly, grabbed the plastic bag she had prepared earlier, and left.

  There is a small fruit knife and a nylon rope in the plastic bag.

  Today, he wants to teach Zhou Xiaochang a lesson. He was the one who made the phone call last night that tricked him into coming out and getting humiliated by Gu Wenyan. Wen Chen doesn't have many friends in class, but Zhou Xiaochang is considered one of them. His father works at the city's first food company as an ordinary employee. He's a tall and strong man who is known for being chivalrous and standing up for what's right. Along with Mu Shanshan, they can be said to be the two bullies in school, but while Zhou Xiaochang is praised as "Zhou the Hero", Mu Shanshan is known as "Mu the Villain". Whenever Wen Chen was bullied by his classmates, Zhou Xiaochang would often speak up for him. Wen Chen had always considered him a good friend and never thought that the seemingly chivalrous Zhou Xiaochang would betray him.

  So there is a saying: Those who can hurt you are those you love, and those who can betray you are those you believe in!

  This was completely different from Gu Wenyan, that night, every single one of Gu Wenyan's sarcastic remarks, every arrogant move, even every expression with a hint of mockery and disdain, deeply hurt Wen Jie's self-esteem. He hated Gu Wenyan but had no way to do anything about it, he wanted to trample Gu Wenyan under his feet many times, but every time he lifted his foot, he realized that even if he jumped up, he couldn't reach the pedestal where Gu Wenyan stood, this was a kind of unreachable despair and the deeper self-abasement under that despair. But this despair and self-abasement only made him feel angry, not sad. However, towards Zhou Xiaochang, young Wen Jie felt extremely heartbroken, after what happened, he didn't even have the courage to ask Zhou Xiaochang why he helped Gu Wenyan bully him? Afterwards, the two went to different high schools and never saw each other again.

  For him in his past life, a friend's betrayal was another devastating blow on top of an already dire situation!

  Since there is a chance to start over, whoever did wrong must pay the price.

  Arriving at the food company's residential building, Wen Ze bought a bottle of soda from a small shop by the road and sat under the eaves to drink. From his understanding of Zhou Xiaochang, this guy must be going ice-skating at the Workers' Stadium today, and last night he used this as an excuse to ask him out. It's not yet nine o'clock, so he should not have left yet.

  As expected, before finishing a bottle of soda, Zhou Xiaochang walked out the door wearing a red short-sleeved shirt and black shorts. Wen Xian put down the bottle and followed him from behind at a distance of one or two meters. After turning several streets, Zhou Xiaochang took a small path along a small park. Seeing no one around, Wen Xian quickened his pace and rushed over, kicking him in the back with one foot. Zhou Xiaochang stumbled and fell to the ground. Wen Xian kicked his butt again, then flipped him over and punched him right on the bridge of his nose.

  Wen Qian's current physique is not good, and compared to Zhou Xiaochang, it's like heaven and earth. But he knows how to hit people in the dark, the waist and nose are the fatal points of street fighting, especially when dealing with young people like Zhou Xiaochang, one hit is enough.

  Two lines of blood flowed down from his nostrils, Zhou Xiaochang let out a loud cry of pain, and tears suddenly burst forth. It wasn't that he had failed to live up to the reputation of a great hero, but mainly because his nose was connected to his tear ducts - whoever got hit would cry.

  Look at him having lost his will to fight, Wen Ze took out a nylon rope and quickly tied his hands behind his back with a living knot. He kicked him in the butt and sneered: "Get up, let me take a look at the face of a traitor, is it still so handsome?"

  Zhou Xiaochang has a good figure, half a head taller than Wen Chen. Although his appearance is not as handsome as Gu Wenyan's, compared to Wen Chen's ordinary face, it's the difference between an iPhone and a "big brother". So when they're together, Zhou Xiaochang always puts his arm around Wen Chen's shoulder and says: Come and admire my face, isn't it still so handsome?

  At this time, hearing these words again, even Zhou Xiaochang's tears flowed, and he couldn't help but lose his mind for a moment. He sat on the ground without shouting or crying, and only raised his head after a while, saying in a low voice: "Sorry... really, I can't afford to offend Gu Wenyan..."

  Excuse me?

  Hmph, Wen Jie suddenly felt amused. He had come today mainly to scare him, but the incident had actually happened over a decade ago. With his nearly thirty years of life experience, Zhou Xiaochang's betrayal was too insignificant to mention, and he had long since stopped caring. However, after returning last night, he suddenly remembered that back then, he had been so weak as to not dare come find Zhou Xiaochang to confront him, and he felt deeply ashamed of himself. To make up for the regret, he had prepared a fruit knife and nylon rope, planning to give him a good scare.

  It's a bit of an anticlimax, but Wen Jie suddenly felt that this matter was really too uninteresting. He had spent over a decade without finding an opportunity to take revenge on Gu Wen Yuan, and yet he came to find trouble with Zhou Xiao Chang after being reborn, which in some way was also a kind of weakness.

  Afraid of softness and weakness!

  He pulled out a fruit knife and stuck it in the ground, Zhou Xiaochang was so scared that his face turned pale. Wen Jian didn't want to play anymore, raised her hand and slapped him, five finger prints immediately appeared on the boy's white face.

  "Zhou classmate, this slap represents the end of our grudges and friendship. I'm giving you this fruit knife, originally I wanted to use it to make a hole in you, but now it seems unnecessary. In the future, when you want to betray friends again, take a look at this knife, it will tell you how to be human!"

  Gu Wen Yuan, just you wait, I'll also tell you how to be a human being!

  It took a while for Zhou Xiaochang to get up from the ground after Wen Qian left. He had betrayed his friend, and although he was afraid of Gu Wenyan, there was another meaning hidden deep in his heart that he didn't even want to reveal to himself. That is, he thought that with Wen Qian's timid and weak personality, betraying him once wouldn't be a big deal, would he dare to spread it out or even come to find trouble for himself? But today's Wen Qian completely destroyed his previous understanding, decisive, calm, and even with a bit of cold-blooded ferocity.

  If I had known he would have such a big reaction, would I still make that call?

  He cut the rope with a fruit knife, put the broken rope and the knife into his pocket, patted the dust on his buttocks, and slowly walked home.

  He still dares to make phone calls because... he can't afford to offend Gu Wen Yuan!

  This answer made Zhou Xiaochang feel disappointed!