The boss's wife, Ah Mei, is a native Shanghai resident through and through, with the pride of being able to look down on the wealthy from the lower corners even when she's extremely poor. Nobody knows why she initially took a liking to the short and weak boss, and even gave birth to two kids for this farmer who ran away from Northeast China, which also made his household registration become a Shanghai resident. Whether she was out of her mind or not, outsiders wouldn't know, but she herself is clear: a real man isn't one who fights fiercely or pretends to be heroic, she didn't become a widow or follow a man who only knows how to wear his brother's hand-me-down clothes to live a life. So she always thought the boss, who appears timid and cowardly in the daytime but becomes vigorous and energetic at night, is quite endearing.

  Perhaps it was because of the love nest and the crow's fate that she had a good impression of Chen Ergou, a Northeastern farmer who was not bad in brain and heart, so she liked to throw flirtatious eyes at this young man, without fear of disgusting him. This child who had just arrived in Shanghai was still a rookie, although his eyes were not honest, he liked to steal glances at beautiful women when serving tea and dishes, and he couldn't wait for summer to come. Moreover, he dared to have some intentions towards her daughter, but Ah Mei decided to let him be Xiao Wei's tutor. Firstly, it was because she didn't need to spend money, secondly, she wasn't afraid that this young man would do anything harmful. A child who was willing to make medicine for Sun Dajie without asking for anything in return couldn't be bad, even if he was a bit mischievous, Ah Mei was also curious about who would be this child's wife in the future. Xiao Wei? No way, Xiao Wei was too simple, and Ergou might not even look at her now, let alone in the future. Wang Hu's little girl with the mouth that couldn't spit out ivory? The boss lady hadn't seen her, but she felt that the girl was just a lure to lead Ergou into the big mountain of Shanghai. As for Cao Jingjing? Boss lady Ah Mei shook her head, that woman was not ordinary. Although Shanghai wasn't that big, the boss lady had seen many strange things on the streets, but Cao Jingjing was really something else. This was the boss lady's intuition. If Ergou wanted to win over this girl, he would have to put in some effort and have a bit of luck, it wouldn't be easy.

  At this moment, Chen Erdou, Chen Fugui, Wang Huzi and Wang Jiefang sat at a table, ordering a table of Northeastern dishes. The boss saw these four people and knew that Erdou would never be the same as the first time he stepped into Ami Restaurant, no longer the simple child who trembled with two hands when he first got six or seven hundred yuan. The boss stood behind the counter, sighing and feeling emotional. The four big men just buried their heads in silence, eating fiercely. Chen Fugui didn't drink, Wang Jiefang was injured and didn't touch wine, so they only ate and didn't order wine. They had a great time eating, and Wang Huzi threw a cigarette to Chen Erdou. The two people facing each other quickly started smoking, and Wang Jiefang stared at Chen Fugui across from him, afraid of missing a detail. Fugui was laughing foolishly, and these four men were a strange and mysterious group. Deep and reserved Wang Huzi, loyal Wang Jiefang, capable Chen Fugui, and sinister Chen Erdou, participating in small-scale fights with dozens of people, was just a trivial matter.

  "Awesome!" Wang Jiefang couldn't help but give a thumbs up.

  Chen Fugui didn't respond, just looked around cautiously, with a simple and honest face like a rural person, the same as all the country people who came to the city for the first time. The boss's wife had never seen his behavior outside the M2 bar in Henglong Square, so she didn't have much of an impression, only thinking that this man was quite sturdy.

  "Rich and noble, this eight extremes fist, I wonder how many stumps it takes to have that kind of energy." Wang Huzi exclaimed sincerely, admiring Chen Fugui's physique. Just sitting next to him made Wang Huzi feel a suffocating pressure. Wang Huzi had heard Old Blind Man talk about some things related to eight extremes fist. Old Blind Man spent half his life traveling across China, searching for many people, one of whom was a legendary figure in the eight extremes fist, like an immortal ancestor. According to Old Blind Man, when practicing eight extremes fist to its peak, it's not just that knives and guns can't penetrate, but also that your body can be as warm as a summer day even on a snowy night.

  "In the big mountain, most of them are trees, worthless. If you really count how many are broken, it's not a lot, just sixteen." Chen Er Gou said with a smile.

  "Seventeen." Chen Fugui said with a silly smile.

  Chen Erdog opened his mouth, silent as death, leaving Wang Hu and Wang Jiefang somewhat perplexed. These seventeen trees were all personally selected by Grandfather with his brothers, and the order of each tree was predetermined, from thin to thick, stipulating that each one must be knocked down within a year. At that time, it seemed that the old man had said that after knocking down the seventeenth tree, wealth and honor would basically be able to walk out of that mountain, so he stopped helping Fugui choose trees. The old scoundrel had done everything he could, and also told them that from now on, the two brothers should help each other along the way, as they were brothers born in the same womb, a great fate from their past lives.

  The seventeenth tree was so sturdy that Wang Huzi and Wang Jiefang would never have guessed, but in just half a year, it had been knocked down. Chen Ergou could even imagine the scene of his mother walking alone in the deep mountains after she left, and with a heart full of sorrow, he asked Wang Huzi to buy a bottle of Er Guo Tou, poured a cup, and drank it all in one gulp. Before going to Shanghai, Chen Ergou didn't drink much wine, not only because he couldn't afford it but also because he had seen too many crazy old men get drunk and had an instinctive aversion to wine. But after arriving in Shanghai, he discovered that this wine was actually a good thing. In the past, whenever he heard poems about wine in language class, he would curse them as nonsense, but now, thinking back carefully, it wasn't all nonsense. With one cup of wine down, he poured another and raised it to Wang Jiefang, saying: "Jiefang, this cup is for you. I don't know if my face is too thick or too thin, but I really dislike saying 'thank you' and 'sorry'. However, today's events are etched in my memory. You're injured, so you don't need to drink with me; let your older brother substitute for you."

  Chen Ergou and Wang Hu finished their drink in one gulp, with a heroic spirit of "not drunk, not resting, once drunk, sleeping for three thousand days".

  Chen Ergou's originally pale face immediately turned a sickly shade of red, Chen Fugui wanted to speak but hesitated and ultimately couldn't stop him from drinking heavily.

  Li Sheng crouched at the second-floor staircase, eyes wide with wonder as he watched Chen Fugui, and also Li Wei who had been doing his homework earlier, slipped out to take a peek. Upon seeing Chen Fugui, he too was startled, then saw Chen Ergou drinking away, oblivious to life or death. This young man, increasingly incomprehensible to him, was only 15 years old, with a body still not fully developed, and a ten-year age gap with Chen Ergou, creating an almost insurmountable generation gap between them - one from the city, the other from the countryside. She didn't understand his world at all, but that didn't mean she couldn't feel him drifting further away. Unfortunately, she was just a girl who had grown accustomed to romantic tales of wind, flowers, snow, and moon, and would likely shy away from a worn-out copy of "The Black Satchel" with its profound and obscure content.

  She was just like the first girl who brushed past Chen Ergou, destined to spend her whole life reading only gentle and subtle poetry like Ruan Dacheng's "Yanzi Jian". Their emotions couldn't withstand great joys or sorrows, great ups or downs. This had nothing to do with right or wrong. Little Li Wei turned around and continued to study, his simple mind still thinking about the next episode of Hunan Satellite TV's "Happy Camp".

  "Wealth and honor, what's next?" Chen Erdou poured a third cup of white wine.

  "Alright," said Fugui with a smile.

  "Alright, then go to the troops."

  Chen Ergou downed another glass of 56-degree liquor in one gulp, his throat burning like fire. He stood up and rushed out, not willing to delay for a minute. "I'm going to make a phone call, anyway I owe her so many favors, it doesn't matter if I owe her one more."

  Chen Ergou ran very fast, because he felt that he had delayed his wealth and glory for more than 20 years, and this time he couldn't afford to delay another minute.

  When making the phone call, Cao Jingyue on the other end of the line was very silent. Although she was very satisfied with Chen Fugui joining the army, she didn't seem to be in high spirits. It seemed as if she had guessed that Chen Ergou's mother had passed away. Finally, she said: "Tomorrow I'll have someone take Fugui directly to the Shanghai Garrison Command, and he'll fly directly to Shenyang Military Region on a military plane. Don't worry, once Fugui joins the army, if he can't become one of China's top soldiers, then the Cao family will no longer be surnamed Cao."

  This time, Chen Ergou still didn't say thank you.

  Moreover, she is not a woman who needs Chen Ergou to say thank you.

  At night, Zhang Shengli and Wang Hu were supposed to go out and stay in a small hotel, making way for Fugui, but Chen Ergou didn't respond. He hailed a taxi and took Chen Fugui to the Bund, where they strolled along the Huangpu River. That night, he smoked an entire pack of cigarettes, crying hoarsely on the riverbank after drinking too much. Chen Fugui remained silent, watching this lonely figure who had been alone in Zhangjiashan, school, and Shanghai. His mother was gone... The life of Ergou, who wanted to give his mother a good life, had collapsed by half, but fortunately, after arriving in Shanghai, Ergou seemed to have found a reason to live for himself. Fugui looked at the river, the tower, and he too had his first ambition after leaving the mountains.

  The next morning, Ah Mei's restaurant had just opened when a rugged off-road vehicle with a Shanghai Garrison license plate pulled up to the entrance. A robust man in military uniform with two bars and two stars on his shoulders got out of the car. He was a genuine lieutenant colonel. When he saw Chen Fugui, his eyes lit up, and he said regretfully: "What a great talent! Unfortunately, he's not under our jurisdiction. What a pity for the Shenyang Military Region."

  Wang Hu looked at the two brothers and thought, what kind of old man could raise such two grandsons, and what kind of man could produce such a pair of sons?

  "Wealth and honor, now that we're in the army, I'm not always by your side to keep an eye on you. Don't let others take advantage of you again, you're always at a loss, it's uncomfortable for me, not pleasant." Chen Ergou said.

  Chen Fugui smiled and nodded.

  "You're smarter than me and in better shape, make a good impression in the army, when you get out if I haven't repaid that woman's great kindness, don't forget her goodness to our Chen family, Mother doesn't want to owe anyone favors, before she left we didn't let her have a good life, can't let her leave and still be worried, Grandfather was right, the Chen family can't produce ungrateful people." Chen Er Gou said in a low voice, helping Fu Gui straighten his clothes.

  "Grandpa's gone, mom's gone, they're all lying in their graves watching me. I won't let them die with their eyes open. You live well and wait for brother to come back and see you."

  Chen Fugui, carrying a sack, stretched out the hand that had overturned wild boars and pulled full giant crossbows, gently patted the head of his younger brother, who was half a head shorter than him, and finally stopped grinning, saying: "Ergou, when I get out, whoever dares to bully you again, I'll kill their whole family."

  "Hey big guy, when we go out on a mission, can you not kill anyone?" The officer, thinking Chen Fugui was joking, teased back.

  Wealth and honor make him narrow his eyes and slightly bow his body.

  The sharp-tongued figure who had been through countless battles subconsciously took a step back, as if facing a formidable enemy, and finally realized that this big guy didn't have the slightest bit of humor.

  Sitting in the car, Chen Fugui, sitting in the back row, made an effort to look through the window at Chen Ergou, laughing foolishly, not looking like a ruthless killer who wanted to kill the whole family.

  Chen Erdou's voice was hoarse and he couldn't shout "don't laugh", but as soon as he opened his mouth, Chen Fugui really stopped laughing, turned his face away, and left his younger brother, who never called him "brother", a majestic back view like the Changbai Mountains.