Age: My Small World

The car started moving again, and this time all four of them stared out the window.

Just twenty minutes later, Yang Jun, who had been resting with his eyes closed in the car, suddenly opened them.

"Watch out, stop the car."

He patted the driver on the shoulder.

The driver did indeed stop the car.

The road ahead of the car had been blocked by several logs at some point.

Finding such a large log in this place is no easy feat; it's safe to say it was definitely a team effort.

Sure enough, after the car stopped, more than a dozen figures suddenly emerged from the bushes and behind the hillside, each carrying a stick, hoe, sickle, or similar weapon.

Compared to the firearms in Yang Jun's and others' hands, these weapons were really nothing.

But the driver stopped them from getting off the bus.

"Let me talk to them first, and then we'll see how things go."

The driver then opened the window slightly and looked at the leader who was walking over with a smile.

They knew it was wrong to steal, so they even covered their faces with coarse cloth so that no one could tell what they looked like.

"Hello comrade, is there anything I can help you with?"

The man shook his head at him, then pointed with the sickle at the truck bed.

"Give us the stuff."

His words were concise and clear: he wanted something.

The driver's eyes looked rather unpleasant.

"It's impossible to give you everything, and you won't need any of it anyway. How about this, I'll leave you some food."

The leader continued to shake his head: "Leave the things here, you can leave."

It seems he wants them all.

The remaining people gradually surrounded them.

The driver's grip on the gun tightened involuntarily, but then, as if remembering something, he loosened his grip.

He never intended to fire a gun as a show of force.

"Please wait a moment, I'll get out of the car and talk to them."

The driver got out of the car anyway, seemingly unafraid that the men were carrying weapons.

Yang Jun also knew that these dozen or so people were actually children around ten years old, an age when they were prone to impulsiveness.

It was at this age that he became bold enough to intercept military trucks.

They were all talking within a fifty-meter radius, so Yang Jun was able to hear what they were saying.

Unexpectedly, the driver called out the leader's name as soon as he got out of the car.

"Alamu Abdushe, you've acted recklessly again, haven't you? Daring to bring people to block my car? Believe me or not, I'll have your dad beat you up tomorrow?"

"Heh, go ahead and try if you dare. We're not leaving until we get what we want today."

The leader wasn't afraid at all; on the contrary, he became even more excited.

"And what about you? Your father is still working with us. If I run out of food, your father won't have anything to eat."

Upon hearing this, the children around looked at each other in bewilderment.

The man spoke in a mix of Xinjiang dialect and Mandarin, making it difficult for them not to understand.

"Alamu, should we just forget about it? I don't want my father and the others to go hungry."

It turned out that their fathers all worked in the same place, and this batch of supplies was being transported there. If there wasn't enough food and their fathers went hungry, then this deal would be too unprofitable. "Don't worry, they won't let anyone go hungry. If anyone goes hungry, it'll be them." Alamu was clearly well aware of the strict discipline of our army, and he also knew that these soldiers who had come from afar would rather go hungry themselves than let their fellow villagers go hungry.

He deliberately took advantage of this to seize supplies, even knowing that the driver had a gun.

"These brats are infuriating! Shall we go down and beat them up?" Sun was getting angry.

Yang Jun tugged at him: "Let's see what's going on first. We're not here to discipline a brat."

The driver was completely at his wit's end.

“Since that’s what you think, then I’ll have to go to your village and ask Mr. Wang to come and settle things, to see if he taught you to rob people on the road.”

Upon hearing Mr. Wang's name, the dozen or so children were suddenly startled, and then their faces showed expressions of fear.

Mr. Wang was assigned to be their team leader and was also the village's only teacher, so he held multiple positions.

But he would never hit or scold the children; all he did was to do things well and educate them wholeheartedly.

It was precisely this kind of teacher and team leader who terrified a group of unruly kids. If they made a mistake and were to be physically punished, they wouldn't even dare to say anything. Otherwise, if they just went through the motions, they might get a double beating from their parents when they got home.

The villagers knew all too well how rare it was to have such a good teacher, so as soon as Mr. Wang arrived, he gained the unanimous approval of almost all the adults, leaving all the mischievous children helpless against him.

"Wait, you surnamed Ma, we're not taking your things anymore, you should just leave now."

Even Alamu, who was in charge, couldn't remain calm now.

He thought that covering his face would prevent the guy from recognizing him, but the guy still called out his name and then used the same "Mr. Wang" to pressure him, which made Alamu feel quite aggrieved.

But he couldn't help feeling aggrieved. If Mr. Wang found out about this, he probably wouldn't just be facing a double beating from his parents.

Upon hearing Alamu's words, the driver immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Then he thought for a moment and called the group back.

"Please wait a moment."

"What are you doing? Are you going to back out?" Alamu's face showed more anger.

"Don't misunderstand, I already said I would give you food."

As he spoke, the truck driver opened a corner of the back door and took out a large piece of candy.

"Here, I brought these for you. Take them back and share them."

With candy to eat, the children left happily.

Before leaving, they didn't forget to take the wood with them; they could use it to start a fire and cook at home.

After returning to the car, the driver couldn't help but wipe away non-existent sweat from his forehead.

He forced a smile: "Luckily it was a false alarm, and it's fortunate that you didn't go down, otherwise these kids would have definitely caused a huge uproar."

"Comrade, aren't you afraid there will be a next time? What if they're not afraid of Mr. Wang then?"

"Hehe, no way." The driver waved his hand.

“These little guys still have something on them, so they won’t dare to do it.”

"Then why did you make us bring guns? It doesn't seem to serve any purpose."

Who knows how serious the driver suddenly became.

"These children don't need to be afraid, but there might be something going on at the next intersection, so everyone should be prepared at any time."

"There's a robbery going on?" Sun Buyu's lips twitched.

This road was already difficult to travel on, and it was only slightly repaired and is now passable by ordinary trucks. Who would bother to come to a place like this and keep stopping trucks? Aren't they afraid that a group of armed men will get out of the trucks?

"This time it's not ordinary people. There's a group of people who have always existed in this area, and they love to rob people when they see an opportunity. They're also known as bandits." (End of Chapter)