Chapter 38: Pledge of Allegiance
The County School classroom.
It was filled with sons upon whom their families pinned their high hopes.
A large hall, bright windows, wide desks, and soft chairs.
On the podium, the teacher was reading from a book with great emotion, his fingers tapping on the desk to keep the rhythm.
Below, the students were reading along, swaying their heads.
Some were reading earnestly, while others were distracted.
Jiang Rong swayed his head as he read. He was actually very smart; he could master a passage after hearing the teacher read it once or twice. However, this lousy County School had a teacher with very little skill, who only knew how to teach in this way every day.
He kept spouting that “read a book a hundred times and its meaning will naturally reveal itself.” Jiang Rong had already memorized it, so reading along was a waste of time.
But the teacher was a snitch, so he could only sway his head along with the rest, glancing out the window from time to time.
Outside the window were trees, and in the trees were birds. The birds seemed to notice his gaze, fluttered, and flew away, flapping their wings.
Jiang Rong felt a bit envious; the birds flew so high, so free.
The birds in the forest suddenly took flight in flocks.
Flapping their wings, flutter, flutter.
The “Big Brother” that Gouzi had been bragging about had arrived.
The few boys who had been fooling around grew restrained.
Gouzi included.
Jiang Feng saw them from up in the tree first.
There were only four people in their group.
All were carrying weapons; the last person had a spear, the two in the middle each held a machete, and the person in the front held an axe.
The man with the axe had a scar on his face, looking very ferocious and ugly.
Jiang Feng subconsciously touched the scar on his own forehead.
Father had treated it, so it shouldn’t look that ugly.
He thought of a joke: those with scars on their faces cannot serve as officials in the imperial court.
Gouzi led the others to greet them warmly, calling out “Big Brother” in a flattering tone.
Jiang Feng also jumped down from the tree, followed behind, and called out “Big Brother” as well.
Their group had only six people, though there were originally eight.
Er Niu had gotten into a fight the day before yesterday and broken his leg, so he couldn’t come.
Xiao Si’s Mother was critically ill and bedridden, so he had to stay by her side and couldn’t come either.
The remaining six were loafers.
They were all sons of poor families, with no work to do, no books to read, just drifting through life, hanging out together.
Their figures could always be seen in the streets and alleys.
They dared not commit major crimes, but minor ones were constant.
People like them had no future; they couldn’t even find wives.
Gouzi didn’t know how he had befriended this “Big Brother,” who said he would bring the brothers some benefits.
The moment they stepped outside the city, their fates changed.
They had taken a one-way ticket out of the city.
The lives of the poor weren’t worth much, so they didn’t think too much about it—they just walked forward. If you die, you die; if you live, you live.
Among the group of boys, Jiang Feng was one of the few who actually thought about things.
Because he had a family, and he cared about his family.
Because he cared about his family, he had come along too.
He called out extra loudly, “Big Brother.”
The men with the knives, axes, and spears saw the greenhorns in front of them and smiled warmly, yet with a hint of cruel mockery.
Once upon a time, they too had been this naive and soft.
The few boys looked at Gouzi’s “Big Brother” and felt a bit nervous, even subconsciously stepping back.
Jiang Feng quietly inched forward a little.
When they came, they were clearly told it was to cheer them on, but seeing the valiant and spirited “Big Brothers” from the mountain stronghold, armed with knives, axes, and spears, the boys felt both fear and envy.
The “Big Brother” with the axe patted Gouzi, and at the same time patted Jiang Feng who had squeezed to the front, praising, “Well done. Follow me, and you’ll eat well and drink well.”
Gouzi had only dared to promise his little friends that Big Brother would eat meat and they would drink the soup. He hadn’t expected Big Brother to directly say they would all eat and drink well together. Gouzi felt a rush of excitement, his face turning red.
“Big Brother, whatever you tell us to do, we’ll do it, without a word of complaint. These are all my good brothers; we all listen to you,” Gouzi said, patting his chest and stiffening his neck.
Jiang Feng echoed along with his friends. He wasn’t the strongest among them, nor was he the thinnest. Usually, he just managed to fill his stomach with water, so his frame couldn’t be fat. On the contrary, Gouzi had more connections and was stronger.
But Jiang Feng was sharp and would manage to scrape together some food, so he didn’t let himself starve.
His gaze was very sincere, and his features were quite decent; among the group of boys, he looked quite reliable.
Even the mountain bandits had a pretty good first impression of Jiang Feng.
“There will be a time for you to perform in a while. Don’t rush, just wait. Today, Big Brother will teach you your first lesson: have patience. Wait.” The bandit with the axe sat down to wipe his axe. The handle was stained with thick blood, and the blade was extremely sharp.
The other bandits did the same, sitting down to wipe their weapons.
The boys, empty-handed, felt inexplicably hot-blooded watching them.
Jiang Feng leaned in toward the bandit with the axe and asked, “Big Brother, could you give us some weapons? Otherwise, if a fight breaks out later, I’m worried we won’t be able to help. I also want to be as majestic as you.”
The bandit looked with surprise at the boy whose eyes were filled with trust and admiration for him. He was sharp and pleasing; he had potential. If he didn’t die, he could be brought back to the stronghold.
“We have some. Old Nine, take them to get some.”
The bandit with the spear led them into the dense forest. Under a large tree, some good gear was actually buried.
There were spears and knives, long and short, with bloodstains and rust.
Jiang Feng picked out a spear. Mother had one, and he had played with it before.
The boys hadn’t expected that just being called to cheer them on would actually result in being issued weapons.
They had thought it would just be like the fights they had between friends, where they would just stand by, watch the fun, and shout slogans. Now, seeing these weapons, the boys were very excited, as if they were participating in some major event.
It didn’t feel like they were there to rob people; it felt more like they were attending their own coming-of-age ceremony.
Gouzi picked out a big knife, and the group played around with their chosen weapons near Big Brother.
They were very happy.
The bandits didn’t stop them; they just watched.
Jiang Feng joined in the fooling around, taking the opportunity to get a feel for the weapon. It looked like he was just messing around, with no accuracy at all.
Jiang Feng noticed that the man who had taken them to get the weapons had climbed up a tree. Suddenly, the man in the tree tapped the branch, and Big Brother raised his axe.
The boys stopped their fooling around. Mimicking the experienced ones, they crawled down in the dense forest, crouched, and poked their heads out.
People were coming on the road not far away.
There was a sedan chair, with servants, maids, and guards—a wealthy family.
The boys’ eyes lit up, looking at Big Brother with anticipation.
Jiang Feng squinted, recognizing the sedan chair. It was the Jiang Family’s, and he also recognized the servants and guards.
For a moment, his heartbeat accelerated many times over. He couldn’t even control his body; he wanted to rush out.
Gripping the spear, he spun it twice, his palms wet. It felt as if rushing out would free him, would be exhilarating.
But in his mind, Father’s words always echoed: “Fenger, if you have a choice, we should be good people. Being a good person takes advantage of situations; you take advantage everywhere.”
He turned his head to look at the bandit Big Brother. He saw him remaining unmoved.
Gouzi asked in a low voice, “Big Brother, do we go?”
“The target is tough, there are people behind them. Don’t move rashly.” The bandit continued to wipe his axe.
The group of boys watched the sedan chair pass by brazenly.
Jiang Feng held the spear in one hand and rubbed a small, round stone he had picked up with the other.
A colony of ants was busy running back and forth on the ground.
A long time passed again. Finally, more people came.
This time, the boys were eager to try.
As it turned out, it was just two peddlers carrying baskets.
Jiang Feng even recognized them—that dwarf Little Peddler. His younger sister, Jiang Xiaoyu, talked about him every day, saying the candy he sold was the best, the absolute best, and especially sweet.
Thinking of Jiang Xiaoyu, the corners of Jiang Feng’s mouth couldn’t help but lift slightly.
The young lad had a shallow little dimple on his cheek.
