Chu Yi only realized what was happening after he fell onto the boxing ring - Coach He's shout of "Dang!" was the opening bell.

"Count, count!" Coach He gripped the railing.

Still counting?

Chu Yi quickly bounced back up before his nemesis could start counting.

Moon Moon still had an arrogant expression, probably feeling a great sense of accomplishment from knocking the floor sweeper down with one punch. His eyes were full of disdain.

"Watch your footwork," Coach He said from the side.

Footwork?

What footwork?

He hadn't practiced footwork or movement at all.

Could he kick? He did kick the punching bag every day...

It seemed that as a floor sweeper, he had to figure out all the moves himself while sweeping.

Five hundred yuan, not just one five hundred, but many five hundreds.

"Dang!" Coach He shouted again.

This time Chu Yi didn't freeze, but after all, he had no real combat experience. He could only quickly raise his hands to block when Moon Moon's straight punch came at him again.

Actually, if it weren't for that first "dang" that he didn't know what the heck it meant, he should have been able to block the first punch too. He had no real combat experience in boxing, but he had a very rich experience of being hit by fists.

When Moon Moon attacked again with a swing punch, he ducked down, then immediately straightened up, taking advantage of his lower position to quickly throw out a hook.

Moon Moon could have protected himself from this angle, but Chu Yi's punch was very powerful. After all, he was a floor sweeper. His fist went straight through Moon Moon's defending fists and hit him on the chin.

"One!" Coach He shouted.

Chu Yi could guess this was counting effective points, but shouting like this was especially like when they did military training before, and the instructor would shout "one" and they would all kick forward together...

Moon Moon's fist came over again. He immediately defended, and this punch hit the boxing glove.

But the next punch followed closely, hitting his chest, then another on his arm. His defensive posture was broken, and he was finally hit again in the face.

Fortunately, the amateur boxing gloves were thick.

Chu Yi steadied himself. For five hundred yuan, he decided to go all out.

Moon Moon had only practiced for a few months. He hadn't been idle either during these months. He knew all the basic moves, he just didn't know how to use them.

But Moon Moon had already demonstrated for him, so he just had to follow along.

He imitated Moon Moon, hopping left and right feet alternately in a feint, then threw a right straight punch to the face, left fist defending, a right straight to the chest, followed by a left swing, but not hitting the arm, hitting Moon Moon's head instead. As Moon Moon staggered, he threw a simultaneous right straight to Moon Moon's face.

Combo punches, perfect.

"Nice!" Little Lin shouted.

"Good!" Coach He applauded.

Moon Moon, after being attacked by his own upgraded moves, was a bit disgruntled and immediately attacked again.

Chu Yi dodged and defended while retreating quickly to the corner of the railing. Coach He clapped his hands: "Don't keep retreating! Attack, attack, sweep, sweep!"

He immediately copied Moon Moon's previous attack. Although it wasn't fully up to par, it still hit.

Chu Yi was very experienced in getting beat up. He would always pay attention to the other person's movements while being hit, although it was to predict in advance to protect himself. But this kind of experience was surprisingly useful in this kind of confrontation.

After two rounds of attacks, Moon Moon was a bit anxious. Chu Yi could see that his footwork was not as steady as before. Just as he thought to seize the opportunity for another round, his nemesis shouted, "Dang! First round ends."

"This, so fast?" Chu Yi was stunned and looked back at Coach He.

"Come here." Coach He waved his hand.

He walked to the corner. Coach He gave him a thumbs up: "I saw early on that you had talent, kid."

"How many, how many rounds?" Chu Yi asked.

"For little newbies like you, two rounds is enough, just playing around, sparring a bit," Coach He tilted his head towards Little Lin, "Explain to him."

"You did great just now, learned really fast," Little Lin said. "When you dodge, don't always retreat, try bending down. You... are short, and you can take advantage of this. Actually, it's not easy for him to defend against you."

"Mm." Chu Yi nodded.

"Also, maintain your mindset. I noticed you're quite calm," Little Lin glanced at Moon Moon, "That kid is a bit anxious. When anxious, it's easy for movements to deform. Watch him closely and attack more from below."

"Okay." Chu Yi bumped his gloves.

Calm? Of course he was calm. He had seen this kind of scene many times, and each time he was the one taking the beating. After so many years of tempering, it would be hard not to be calm.

"Five hundred yuan." Little Lin patted his shoulder.

"Five hundred yuan." Chu Yi jumped a little.

It would be great if Yan Hang was here.

If Yan Hang could see how he was learning on the spot and boxing with Moon Moon, he would definitely be pleasantly surprised.

His movements were certainly not as good-looking as Moon Moon's, but every punch he threw was solid and real. And this feeling was completely different from when he fought Liang Bing.

Although there was defiance, provocation, and contempt, there was no anger or fear, just a very refreshing feeling.

When the second round "dang" sounded, he bumped gloves with Moon Moon.

A total of two rounds, three minutes per round, one minute rest, less than ten minutes of confrontation in total, Chu Yi felt he had already broken out in a sweat.

Coach He checked the points with his nemesis. Chu Yi actually had one more point.

"How did you count?" The nemesis said.

"Counted like this, one, two, three," Coach He was very happy, "How was my floor sweeper?"

"Quite a good seedling. You didn't have him practice with you?" The nemesis looked at Chu Yi.

"He has no money," Coach He said, "He works for me."

The nemesis looked at Chu Yi again in some surprise, "Young man, why don't you practice with me? I won't charge you."

"No thanks," Chu Yi smiled, "I have to work. Just got a raise."

Coach He was a man of his word. He said he would add five hundred to the salary if he won, and he really did. Once added, it didn't change for two or three months. Chu Yi became the floor sweeper with the highest salary and shortest working hours in the boxing gym.

Very rich now.

He went to change to a data plan for himself, so he could continue to smoothly search for clues about "Little Li's BBQ" at home.

There were no shortcuts. He could only keep using the most foolish method. For every city listed in the review app, he would search one by one. For each Little Li's BBQ that came up in the search results, he would carefully look at the photos.

For those with storefront photos, he could compare them with Yan Hang's photo. For those without, he would write down the address in his spiral notebook. After searching through all of them, if he still couldn't find it, he planned to check each address one by one using the street view map.

Day after day, it was like a procedure that had to be completed. There was no disappointment or anticipation. In any case, he wouldn't stop until he found it.

In all his life, he had never put so much effort into doing anything.

If he had put this much energy into studying, he definitely would have had no problem getting into university.

"I'm going back to work the day after tomorrow," Mom said during the meal.

Chu Yi looked up at his mom. It felt like he hadn't heard her voice in a long time. He was at school during the day and only came home for lunch. After school, he went to the boxing gym. By the time he got home, the whole family was already asleep.

"Where to?" Grandma asked.

"A former colleague from the water delivery station referred me to a store selling water purifiers," Mom said. "There's a base salary each month, and I'll get commissions for selling machines."

"Selling water purifiers?" Grandma clicked her tongue. "How much money can that make? With your gloomy face, you think you can sell any machines?"

"Otherwise Grandma, Grandma, why don't you go?" Chu Yi glanced at Grandma.

Mom was stunned and looked at him.

Grandma was also extremely shocked. She froze for at least three seconds before swinging her chopsticks to smack his head.

Chu Yi grabbed Grandma's hand.

"The world has gone mad!" Grandma shouted and stood up, about to grab a stool.

Chu Yi quickly kicked the stool away with his foot.

"Do you see your son?!" Grandma was so shocked that her voice doubled in volume. She glared at Mom, pointing at Chu Yi. "What kind of thing have you raised?!"

"I didn't raise him," Mom picked up some food with her chopsticks. "I lost control of him long ago and don't want to manage him anymore."

Grandpa, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly jumped up and flipped the table by its edge.

The table was overturned, bowls and plates crashing to the ground.

The whole family froze in place, staring at Grandpa.

Chu Yi felt that Grandpa probably didn't even know what he was doing or what he wanted to express. Anyway, he was often like this - erupting suddenly, leaving everyone baffled.

Then he himself would stand there not knowing what to do next.

Chu Yi got up, grabbed his phone and went out the door.

There was still time before afternoon classes started. He had nowhere else to go, so he had to go to the riverbank.

The north wind was blowing fiercely. In previous years, Chu Yi paid close attention to the weather. He didn't like winter much, because his two down jackets that he had worn for several years couldn't withstand the wind. Winter was too miserable for him.

But this year, he hadn't paid much attention. He didn't notice when the autumn breeze turned cool, or when the north wind started blowing. Perhaps it was because this year he had secretly bought himself a few new pieces of clothing, so he didn't feel the cold.

It was also possible that his mind was too preoccupied with other things, leaving no room to ponder the weather.

He was busy with his part-time job, busy with boxing, busy searching for Little Li's BBQ.

If Little Li knew that someone was so persistently searching for his BBQ restaurant every day, he would definitely be very touched. When the time came, he would go and ask Little Li for a VIP BBQ card.

Chu Yi opened his arms to stretch in the wind, took out his phone, and snapped a few photos of the scenery by the river, avoiding the riverbank.

The trash that had been previously cleaned up from the riverbank had returned.

Chu Yi looked at the large expanse of garbage. Fortunately, the weather was cold now, so there wasn't much smell.

He turned around. The tree hollow was quietly waiting for him.

"I don't want to celebrate the New Year," when he pressed his face against the tree hollow, he truly felt that he had grown taller. Although it wasn't as strenuous as Yan Hang before, he still had to properly assume a horse stance.

"I want it to be quick, quickly take the high school entrance exam. I want to go to an out-of-town school, and then continue working part-time. During the holidays, I'll go traveling."

After saying that, he couldn't help but smile, feeling a sense of liberation.

"If I leave," he stroked the tree trunk, "I will miss you. You are the hollow spirit that knows all my secrets."

After thinking for a bit, he took out the little coin from his pocket and pressed it against the tree trunk: "This is lucky coin. You two get acquainted."

After saying that, he waited a while. After letting them get acquainted, he put the coin back in his pocket, turned around and leaned against the tree trunk, sighing softly.

The atmosphere at school was already very tense. The self-study classes were cancelled, and physical education classes were also cancelled. Only Chu Yi remained calm.

In order to ensure that he could at least get into a vocational high school, he would listen in class. The rest of the time, he remained calm and spaced out as usual.

Now, no one ridiculed his grades anymore. No one nagged about what would happen if he couldn't get into high school. Chu Yi felt it was quite good. Mom didn't even ask about his midterm exam results. The final exams were coming up soon, but no one mentioned it.

However, when he went to the boxing gym, Coach He asked, "Aren't you going to high school next year?"

"Mm." Chu Yi nodded, leaning on the mop.

"You only have half a year left. Will you continue working part-time? You won't have time to review."

"I won't review," Chu Yi said. "For me, reviewing is a waste of time."

"Your family doesn't care about you?" Coach He asked.

"They don't care." Chu Yi smiled.

"You kids these days, each have your own ideas," Coach He said. "But it's also good. If you choose your own path, you have no one to blame if you can't walk it."

"I can walk it." Chu Yi said.

I can walk it.

He had never felt as energetic as he did now. Let alone walking, he could even run.

When he ran to Aunt's car, Aunt sighed as soon as she saw him: "You change every day. Why don't you send me a selfie each month? I'm afraid I won't recognize you if I don't see you for a long time."

"Am I handsome?" Chu Yi asked.

"So handsome and good-looking," Aunt smiled and pointed to the back seat. "I brought some New Year goods for your family. I guess no one at your home is managing this anymore, right?"

"I manage it," Chu Yi said. "I used to be the one running errands before too."

"Aren't you busy saving money to become a tycoon now? Take it," Aunt said. "When you have time during the New Year, give me a call. I'll take you out for a big meal."

"Mm." Chu Yi opened the rear car door and took out a large bag of New Year's goods.

If one day he could really leave this place, grandpa, grandma, and his aunt would be the people he missed the most.

People are strange. This place held too many dark memories for him, but in the end, what he could remember was all good.

Grandpa treated him well, grandma treated him well, his aunt treated him well, Coach He, Little Lin and the receptionist all treated him well.

And Yan Hang too.

In previous years, his dad would bring back some money, the company would give out some New Year's goods, and he would run some errands to buy some more. On New Year's Eve they would set off firecrackers, eat dinner in a daze, then have a meal with his aunt's family, argue a few times in the process, maybe even get into a fight if the timing was right, and that's how they would spend the New Year.

This year it wasn't so complicated. With the situation at home, there was no need to celebrate the New Year at all.

On the first day of the lunar new year, he went to buy a scarf for his mom. For some reason, he originally wanted to find the shop from before, but it had been demolished along with that whole area long ago.

The scarf for his mom, two packs of cigarettes for grandma, a thick woolen hat for grandpa. None of the items were expensive, but this was the first time he had bought gifts for his family since his mom returned that scarf he gave her years ago.

He also took out 1,000 yuan from his savings, put it in a red envelope, and placed it inside the scarf.

After finishing the New Year's Eve dinner, he brought out the gifts and placed them on the table, taking them out one by one.

"These are for Grandma," he took out the cigarettes, "smoke less in the future."

"Then why did you buy me cigarettes?" Grandma tutted, took the cigarettes to have a look, then tutted again. "Look at you, coming here to show off now that you have money."

"I bought them at the convenience store," Chu Yi looked at her, "you can return them for money if you want."

Before he could take out the hat, grandpa had already reached into the bag himself. "This hat is not bad, but not as good as the one I have now. Things nowadays just aren't up to par. I've been wearing this hat for over ten years and it still hasn't broken."

"Then don't take it, give it back to him." His mom said.

Chu Yi placed the box containing the scarf in front of his mom. "Happy New Year."

His mom glanced at him and opened the box. She frowned when she saw the scarf inside, staring at it for a while before taking it out. When she saw the red envelope underneath the scarf, she sighed.

The gifts were all given out.

Except for his dad's share.

Chu Yi didn't say anything more. He picked up the remote, turned on the TV, and started spacing out at the Spring Festival Gala.

"Light it--" Yan Hang shouted at Cui Yi. He was standing at the edge of the hill holding a string of firecrackers, waiting for Cui Yi on the other side to light them.

The community management had cleared out an area by the hill for residents to set off firecrackers. By now, firecrackers all around were being lit, only the two of them were still standing there.

"The fuse is a bit short--" Cui Yi shouted back, studying it with a lighter, "Let me make it longer--"

"Old Cui!" Yan Hang said, a bit exasperated, "I really didn't realize you were such a coward--"

"This is called being cautious-- what if it explodes on me--" Cui Yi shouted.

"I'll do it!" Yan Hang put down the pole holding the firecrackers and walked over, shouting next to Cui Yi's ear, "You go hold it!"

Cui Yi went over and picked up the pole.

Actually, it would be fine to just put it on the ground, but for some reason, the people in this community all held up poles. Maybe it was part of the community culture?

Yan Hang looked at the fuse. It was indeed a bit short. Using a lighter to light it would probably blow up his hand. He took out a cigarette, lit it, then used the lit end to touch the fuse.

This fuse was not only short, but also burned extremely fast, far exceeding Yan Hang's expectations. When he saw the sparks flash out, he quickly tossed the firecrackers to the side.

But he didn't pay attention to the direction, tossing it towards Cui Yi.

As the firecrackers exploded, Cui Yi jumped, turned around and ran while carrying the pole.

Yan Hang was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but burst out laughing. He squatted on the ground looking at Cui Yi, laughing so hard he could barely stand up.

After running a dozen meters or so, Cui Yi finally remembered to throw the pole on the ground. He ran back and kicked Yan Hang in the butt. "You little rascal! You did that on purpose!"

"Lawyer Cui," Yan Hang laughed uncontrollably, "you really opened my eyes today. I've never seen a grown man afraid of firecrackers like you."

"Let's go!" Cui Yi grabbed his clothes, "Go back and eat."

They had the New Year's Eve dinner at Cui Yi's place, just the two of them, no one else.

Yan Hang made a menu, Cui Yi bought all the ingredients as requested, and he spent two hours making a table full of dishes.

It had been a long time since he put in so much effort to cook. In previous years, he and his dad would go to a restaurant for New Year's Eve dinner, for a more lively atmosphere.

This year, he was still thinking about how to spend the New Year alone, whether he should apply with his supervisor to work on New Year's Eve. He didn't expect Cui Yi to also be alone.

An orphan like his dad?

Or was his home too far away to go back?

Or had he fallen out with his family?

He didn't ask. He was already used to not asking about anything.

"I haven't been home for many years," Cui Yi picked up his wine glass, "This is the first time in so many years that I'm not spending the New Year alone."

Yan Hang clinked glasses with him.

"Thank you." Cui Yi said.

"You're welcome." Yan Hang took a sip of wine.

Like his dad, Cui Yi was used to having a big meal and drinking baijiu for the New Year.

After dinner, Cui Yi sat down on the sofa and beckoned to him, "Come, kowtow to me."

"Let's not take advantage like that." Yan Hang went over and sat beside him.

Cui Yi laughed and took out two red envelopes from his pocket, handing one to him, "This is the New Year's money I'm giving you."

"Thanks uncle," Yan Hang took it, "Happy New Year Uncle Cui."

"This one is from your dad," Cui Yi handed over the other red envelope, "He told me to give it to you until you're 22."

Yan Hang was stunned for a moment, his eyes suddenly feeling a bit sour. It took him a while to take the red envelope.

"Based on the timeline of finishing university and starting work, you'll only be considered employed at 22. At that time, I'll stop giving you New Year's money." When did his dad say this? Yan Hang could barely remember.

Yan Hang didn't open the red envelopes from Cui Yi and his dad. After watching the Spring Festival Gala with Cui Yi and returning to his own place, he put the red envelopes under his pillow.

It was already past midnight. The sound of firecrackers outside, which weren't very dense to begin with, slowly died down.

Yan Hang stood on the balcony, gazing at the mountains shrouded in a thin veil of mist outside.

Another year had passed.

A truly unforgettable year.

He lit a cigarette and sat down on the chair beside him, staring into the night sky, his fingers gently caressing the small stone on his ankle while also feeling the rope, checking for any wear and tear.

However, the rope he had chosen at the beginning of the year was just like him, exceptionally sturdy. Apart from a bit of fraying, it was in perfect condition.

Chu Yi.

Yan Hang propped his legs up on the balcony edge, looking at the small stone.

What was Chu Yi doing at this moment?

Little Li Barbecue.

Chu Yi lay on the bed. During these few days of the New Year, the boxing gym was closed, and he didn't have to go to school or the gym, so he could only stay at home.

Outside, the sound of firecrackers filled the air, creating a lively atmosphere.

Only his home had not even bought firecrackers this year.

Little Li Barbecue.

He had lost count of how many cities he had searched. In any case, apart from the words he had jotted down, the spiral notebook in his hand was filled with Little Li Barbecues from all over the country.

Where on earth was Yan Hang?

Was he in the next Little Li Barbecue or in one of the Little Li Barbecues in the spiral notebook?

Where is Yan Hang, where is Yan Hang, Yan Hang is right there in that Little Li Barbecue...

The song kept playing in Chu Yi's mind as if it were stuck on repeat.

This was the sixth Little Li Barbecue today.

Chu Yi sighed softly and clicked on the photos of this Little Li Barbecue.

A bunch of barbecued food.

Various meats, vegetables, seafood...

Then there was a storefront painted in red, with four black characters written on it: Little Li Barbecue.

Chu Yi took a glance, and his hand suddenly trembled.

Yan Hang was right there, in that Little Li Barbecue!!!!!