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The Age of Struggle
Chapter 1 - Return of the King

Chapter 1 - Return of the King

In the early hours of the morning, Liu Ziguang walked out of the railway station in Jiangbei City. The starlight was shining on the dark sky. The yellow light bulb above the exit projected his upright figure on the square. He saw that there were passengers pouring out at the exit. The taxi drivers and small hotel attendants who solicited passengers came around like flies, but no one paid attention to him, who was dressed as a migrant worker, Only a few middle-aged men with paper signs were powerless to shout and greet him: "X County, Y County long-distance bus, get on the bus and go."

Liu Ziguang strode along the street under the light of the street lamp, with mixed feelings in his heart. After eight years, he finally came back. He doesn't know whether his home is still there, whether his parents are okay, whether their hairs are gray, and weather they are healthy. Thinking about it, he couldn't help speeding up his pace.

When Liu Ziguang was still some distance away from his home, he suddenly stopped and looked at a cleaner on the street. It was a gray-haired aunt, wearing work clothes and long sleeves, who was sweeping the road. It may have been due to a holiday event but there was garbage everywhere on the ground. She often bent down to pick up drink bottles and waste paper then stuffed them into a garbage bag. It seemed that her waist was not very good, It was hard for her to bend every time.

Suddenly, she heard a deep cry behind her: "Mom!" Her hand that was tidying up the garbage stopped, then shook her head, sighed and continued to be busy. The voice rang again. This time, the old woman no longer doubted her ears, and slowly turned around. There was a familiar figure standing in the dark. The old woman could not believe her eyes, and trembled: "Xiaoguang, is that you?"

"It's me, your son is back." Liu Ziguang's memories rushed in like a flood. In his long military career, he had hammered and molded down from the weak young man into a solid man that was casted from iron. For eight years, he had shed blood and sweat, but not a drop of tears. But at this moment, tears burst out, and the iron man cried like a child.

His mother, who was also in tears, held Liu Ziguang in her arms and sobbed. Her son, who had been missing for eight years, finally came back. The days of hopelessness finally kindled a new light of hope. She had struggled for eight years to wait for this very moment. The old woman held her son tightly and didn't dare let go, for fear that it was only a dream.

Her son was dusty and thin, but much stronger than before. Touching the developed muscles on his arms, the woman finally smiled happily: "Came back, finally came back."

The red sun was slowly rising as it was approaching dawn.

Liu Ziguang's home is located in the famous "Gaotupo" of the city, which is a dirty and poor shantytown. Due to various historical problems, there has been no demolition here. After helping his mother pull the cleaning car back home, he found that the town has changed quite a bit. Many families have built two or even three story buildings. This is because the local area is about to be demolished. It is only necessary to compensate when you increase the area of the building. But his family is still the same, with two low bungalows and a small kitchen built of asbestos tiles outside.

When he opened the door lock, a musty smell wafted to his face. Because the sun was blocked, the home was naturally dark and humid. The furnishings in the home were still the same as they were eight years ago. Even his three-squared bedroom was the same. The bed was covered with blue printed sheets, and under the bed were a pair leather shoes. The shoes were clean, and their were traces of it being wiped often..

"Xiaoguang, are you hungry? I'll light the stove and cook for you now." His mother said, she opened the door of the coal ball stove, picked up the tongs and replaced it with a new coal ball.

"Mom, I'm not hungry. Don't be busy with me. What about Dad?" Liu Ziguang asked.

"He haven't come back from the night shift in the nearby Zhicheng Garden. You see, I almost forgot to call his PHS to let him come back home." My mother said.

Mom picked up the phone and dialed for a long time, and finally got through. After they chatted for a bit, she said, "Your father had an accident while working, and now he is in hospital. What should we do?"

Liu Ziguang said calmly, "Mom, don't panic. Let's pay a visit to the hospital first. It's important to check how he's doing."

His mother took out a small bag made of leather from the bottom of the cabinet, took out a thin stack of money and two passbooks. Her eyes were red again, and she said nervously: "Please don't have an accident, our family can't afford to struggle." Her legs are a little soft. Over the years, the couple have been living on each other's behalf and supporting one another through thick and thin. If something were to happen to the man of the house, the roof of the family would collapse.

A pair of strong hands held his mother.

"You have me now, nothing will happen." Liu Ziguang's firm voice sounded, this gave his mother the reassurance she needed. [Nothing will go wrong since my son has come back. No matter how hard it is, there is a son to stand up.]

His mother packed the necessary articles for hospitalization, such as the heat preservation bucket, lunch box, chopsticks, spoons, a change of clothes, and handed them to her son to carry. The mother and son closed the door and locked it, then took a car to the emergency department of the First Hospital of the city.

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Outside the emergency room, two middle-aged men in black security uniforms were smoking. When they saw Liu Ziguang's mother and son come to meet them, they said, "Here you are, sister-in-law."

His mother said anxiously, "Where is our old Liu?"

"He's in there, they took an x-ray film, and just entered the emergency room, the company leader also informed me, and I arrived here later, sister-in-law, please don't worry..." His father's colleague snuffed the cigarette end, and walked quickly with his mother to the emergency room, without asking who Liu Ziguang was.

The door of the emergency room was closed, and doctors and nurses with masks were busy inside. His mother was afraid of delaying the doctor's treatment, so she stood at the door and did not dare to go in. His father's colleague took an X-ray and introduced the details of the matter in a low voice.

"Lao Liu was working from midnight to dawn. There are two doors in our community. For the convenience of management, one door to go in and one door to go out. At about five o'clock in the morning, a BMW was blocked at the exit and he had to go in. Lao Liu went up to persuade him. However, the guy drank too much wine and kicked Lao Liu down with one foot. He also took out the steering wheel lock and hit Lao Liu face to face. If we hadn't arrived in time, it would not be a simple matter like a single arm fracture."

Hearing that his father was so bullied and beaten by others, his mother broke down in tears again: "Lao Zhang, Lao Li, thank you, how much did it cost for the treatment, I will give it to you."

Lao Zhang said, "sister-in-law, don't say that. Lao Liu was injured on business and can be reimbursed by the company. Besides, we have already called the police. This time we have to pay him tens of thousands of dollars."

"Where does the culprit live? What's his name?" Liu Ziguang suddenly interposed.

Lao Zhang looked at Liu Ziguang suspiciously: "This is?"

"This is my son," His mother said.

"Oh," Lao Zhang nodded and sighed, "That man is a big business. He drives a champagne BMW SUV in and out of the building. He lives in the 16th building. I don't know which house is his. That man is not a good guy, and the couple is fierce. We usually hide when we see him, but Lao Liu had to fight against him. Isn't that asking for trouble?"

Liu Ziguang was furious, and his fists crackled. He did not blame Lao Zhang and Lao Li. The two security guards, who were nearly half a century old, were laid-off workers, just like his father. They were just trying to preserve their livelihood. Who had the courage to fight against local ruffians and bullies.

"Mom, you stay here first, and I'll come back in awhile." Liu Ziguang said while turning away.

"Xiaoguang, where are you going? Come back now." When the mother chased out, her son had already disappeared.

...

There are only a few cars in the parking space downstairs in the 16th building of Zhicheng Garden. One of them is the champagne golden BMW X5 SUV, which was parked across two parking spaces.

Liu Ziguang saw from the driver's window that there was no one in the car. A large steering wheel was locked on the steering wheel. It was strange that there was a huge S sign in the center of the steering wheel. What kind of bullshit BMW off-road vehicle is this, it was clearly a Shuanghuan SCEO.

Liu Ziguang made a punched, and a deep pit immediately appeared on the door. This fake BMW screamed sharply, and the alarm sounded throughout the community.

Liu Ziguang looked up and saw that there was no one looking at the sixteen buildings. He hit it again, the bonnet changed shape, and the alarm sounded again. This time, a window on the upper floor was finally opened, and a red face of flesh was exposed. Because of the angle problem, he did not see Liu Ziguang, so he only held the remote control key and pressed it, the alarm stopped suddenly, and the fat face retracted.

Liu Ziguang saw the location of the house, went straight upstairs to the eighth floor, and rang the doorbell.

After a long time, there was no movement inside. Liu Ziguang rang the doorbell again patiently. At last, there was a roar from inside: "Can't even get any sleep! What are you doing?"

Liu Ziguang said in Mandarin, "I am a property company. Neighbors complain that your car disturbs people..."

The anti-theft door suddenly opened, and an angry fat man stood at the door, full of wine and impatient: "I really can't catch a break!"

Without saying a word, Liu Ziguang grabbed the fat man's fleshy face and dragged it out. He took the opportunity to throw him down the aisle. The fat man's slippers flew up into the sky and hit the wall with his head, there was immediate bleeding that trickled down all over his face.

Liu Ziguang walked forward slowly and stepped on the fat man and asked coldly, "Did you hurt the security guard at the entrance of the community?"

"You... who are you?" The fat man hasn't come back to his senses yet and Liu Ziguang didn't ask any more. Just step on it, and the fat man's right ankle bone will break with a snap. A scream like that of a howling pig spread far away, and the echoes in the Zhicheng Garden can't be silenced for a long time.

Liu Ziguang asked again, "Which hand did you hit in the morning?"

Then the fat man made up his mind that he will definitely get his revenge, he just needs to take the current loss and bide his time. He moaned: "Don't fight, how much do you want?" At this time, the fat man no longer had the look from before. The pajamas were open, the fat belly was rolling, the nose was running, tears and blood were smeared on his face, and he also spoke with a crying voice. It looked so pitiful.

"Left hand or right hand?" Liu Ziguang asked politely, as if wasn't about to break a person's arm, but to guess riddles.

"Someone's trying to kill me, help!" A strong woman rushed out of the room, her face was fleshy, her eye shadow was dark, and her newly tattooed eyebrows were like two slender black worms lying on the triangular eyes, which was not good at first sight.

The woman tried to wave and claw at Liu Ziguang. Liu Ziguang didn't even need to look in her direction. He kicked the shrew back into the room with a straight back swing and continued to ask the fat man, "If you don't answer, I will treat it as both hands"

"Right... no, it's the left hand, it's neither of them. Please forgive me." The fat man cried loudly, and was so scared that his snot ran down to his wide open mouth. A mouth full of smoked yellow teeth was exposed in broad daylight and was truly a disgusting sight to behold.

Liu Ziguang was not moved. He stretched his foot and stepped on the fat man's right elbow. He squeezed the forearm joint and gave it a sharp stomp. With a crisp sound, the arm hung down at an incredible angle. This time, the fat man didn't howl any more. He went into shock.

"Take the money to see my father in the emergency room of the municipal hospital, or you will break your husband's other hand and foot." Liu Ziguang left a word to the frightened shrew in the room and turned away.

Awhile later, the fat man regain consciousness. The sound of the ambulance outside was getting closer and closer. The shrew knelt down and cried, "Husband, call the police."

"It's too good for him if we call the police. Call Qiangzi, hurry up." Fat man said weakly.

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