How did hiring someone to press a pig image during Chinese New Year become a top trend?

The black Raptor pickup truck, like a wild beast that has just eaten its fill, slowly drove along the cement road in Liuwan Town.

Inside the train carriage, Xu An clutched the half-finished movie ticket in his hand, his forehead covered in fine beads of sweat.

Although the car was heated up very much, he felt a chill on his back.

"Second Uncle, how about... we go back?"

Xu An shrank his neck, his eyes darting around: "This doesn't even have a name or surname, it just drew a broken wooden gun, where are we supposed to find it? There are tens of thousands of people in Liuwan Town."

The second uncle, who was driving, held the steering wheel with one hand and was throwing pine nuts into his mouth with the other—they were "borrowed" from Xu An's pocket earlier.

"Go back? Go back where?"

Second Uncle glanced at Xu An, his eyes filled with contempt, as if to say, "Are you no good, kid?"

"Who was it last night who wanted a 'sequel'? Who said 'it has to be paid back'?"

"Playing the coward now?"

My second uncle chewed on a pine nut and mumbled, "Besides, isn't this clue obvious enough?"

"He drew a Mauser pistol on his phone and then tried to learn Shaolin Kung Fu."

"These kinds of children generally only have two paths when they grow up."

"Or he'll become the town's gang leader and work as a sewing machine operator."

"Or...?"

My second uncle suddenly turned the steering wheel, and the car drifted and came to a steady stop at the entrance of a blue and white courtyard.

Xu An looked up and was nearly scared out of his wits.

Liuwan Town Police Station

The police badge at the entrance gleamed with a righteous yet intimidating light in the winter sun.

"Second...Second Uncle?!"

Xu An's voice cracked: "Why did you bring me here? I didn't break the law! I didn't run that traffic light!"

My second uncle slammed on the brakes, turned off the engine, and pulled out the key—his movements were fluid and effortless.

"Either I become the boss here, or..."

My second uncle pointed to the gate of the police station and grinned slyly: "Think about it, 82, that was when the crackdown had just begun."

"A little brat carrying a wooden gun, shouting all over the street that he wants to eliminate evil and protect the innocent."

"Could it be an ordinary person?"

"get off!"

"But..." Xu An gripped the seatbelt tightly, "I have social anxiety! My legs go weak when I see people in uniform!"

"Stop talking nonsense!"

Uncle walked around, opened the car door, and pulled Xu An out like a little chick.

"Don't embarrass me, you big influencer with four million followers!"

"Old Zhao owes five cents; someone has to claim it today!"

……

The atmosphere in the police station's duty room was as frozen as freshly poured cement.

A young police officer was writing a police dispatch report with his head down when he looked up and saw a young man wearing an old military overcoat, with his neck hunched and his eyes darting around as he walked in.

Behind them followed a middle-aged man with a burly face, holding a phone and wearing sunglasses (the second uncle was responsible for holding the phone to live stream).

The police officer stood up alertly, his hand instinctively reaching for his waist.

"What do you do?"

"Report to the police or turn yourself in?"

Xu An swallowed hard, feeling as if his throat was blocked by that five-cent coin.

In the live stream room, hundreds of thousands of people were frantically spamming the chat.

【ID: Outlaw】: Hahaha! With this streamer's aura, coming to this place is like going back to his hometown!

[ID Detention Center Frequent Visitor]: I know this episode by heart! The next line is "Confess and you'll be treated leniently; resist and you'll be punished severely!"

[ID: Onlooker]: Anzi, hang in there! You're just a messenger, not a manhole cover thief!

Xu An took a deep breath, trying his best to look like he wasn't a fugitive.

"Um... Officer."

"I...I'm here to find someone."

"Who are you looking for?" the police officer asked, frowning.

Xu An took out the rusty tin box from his pocket, took out the piece of paper with a picture of a wooden gun, and handed it over tremblingly.

"Looking for... looking for someone who likes playing with wooden guns, wants to learn Shaolin Kung Fu, and was cheated out of five cents in 82."

The police officer was stunned.

He glanced at the note, then at Xu An, his gaze gradually becoming as if he were looking at a mental patient.

"Comrade, it's the Lunar New Year, and you'll be held responsible for making a false police report."

"Who draws wooden guns for no reason..."

Just then.

The door to the inner room suddenly opened.

A cold wind carrying the smell of smoke drifted out.

A burly, middle-aged man in a police uniform, with a square face and eyebrows like two sharp swords, walked out.

He was holding a large tea mug with the words "Serve the People" printed on it.

"Xiao Liu, what's going on? What's all the noise about?"

His voice was loud and clear, carrying an imposing and authoritative aura.

The policeman named Xiao Liu quickly stood at attention: "Chief Zhang! These two people... they're here to cause trouble! They brought a tattered piece of paper saying they're looking for someone who plays with wooden guns."

Xu An glanced at the name "Zhang Suo".

My calves cramped instantly.

This aura is even stronger than my second uncle's! My second uncle had the aura of a bandit, but this guy has the aura of righteousness, the kind of righteousness that makes people feel suffocated.

"Um... Hello, boss!"

Xu An instinctively reached out to bow.

Director Zhang squinted, his gaze sweeping over Xu An like a searchlight.

Finally, it landed on the yellowed slip of paper in Xu An's hand.

That instant.

Xu An swore he saw the dark-faced director's pupils contract sharply.

It's like... seeing your first love? Or seeing your creditor?

Director Zhang put down his teacup.

He walked a few steps to Xu An and grabbed the note.

The movements were so fast they resembled grappling and hand-to-hand combat.

He stared at the childish pencil writing on the note, and the ugly but carefully drawn wooden pistol.

[You're lying! You said you'd teach me kung fu after filming "Shaolin Temple"!]

Director Zhang's hands began to tremble slightly.

That usually stern, dark face, which had frightened countless thieves and hooligans, now had a strange blush on it.

That's...shame.

It's also...nostalgia.

a long time.

Director Zhang raised his head and looked at Xu An with a complicated expression.

"This thing..."

"Where did you get this?"

Xu An felt like he was being interrogated and quickly confessed, "This is... a keepsake left by my father. I am Xu An from Xu Family Village, and I am a messenger."

"Xu Family Village...the messenger..."

Director Zhang muttered to himself, his tightly furrowed brows suddenly relaxing.

He sighed.

He pulled a five-cent coin from his pocket—not a modern coin, but a well-preserved aluminum coin from the 80s.

With a "snap".

It was slapped on the emergency call center console.

"The creditors are here."

"These five cents..."

"I've been preparing for forty years."

The entire room fell silent.

Officer Liu's mouth gaped open wide enough to fit an egg: "Zhang...Zhang Chief? You wrote this?!"

The live stream chat exploded instantly.

[ID Logic Genius]: Holy crap?! It's a closed loop! It's really a closed loop!

[ID Police Academy Student]: I was just wondering, who would dare to draw a gun on an IOU? Turns out it was a real police officer!

[ID burst out laughing]: This contrast is too big! Was the black-faced Bao Gong a chuunibyou (delusional teenager) when he was young? Chasing after the projectionist to collect a debt in order to learn kung fu?

Director Zhang ignored Xiao Liu's shock.

He stroked the note, his gaze becoming somewhat unfocused, as if he had traveled through forty years and returned to that threshing ground under a sky full of stars.

I was ten years old that year.

"It's the perfect time to puff up."

"My family was poor and couldn't afford toys, so I carved a wooden gun myself and wore it on my belt all the time, feeling like a hero."

Director Zhang chuckled self-deprecatingly, a bitter smile tinged with sarcasm.

"That day, the commune showed a movie, 'Shaolin Temple'."

"I heard it was real kung fu, so I took the five cents I had saved up for half a month and bought a ticket."

"The projectionist was an old man surnamed Zhao, who seemed quite kind."

I asked him, "Do you know kung fu?"

He teased me, saying that if I obediently watched the whole movie, he would take me as his apprentice.

"I believe it."

"I sat up straighter than anyone else that night, and I didn't dare to blink."

"result……"

Director Zhang's eyes dimmed.

"It was about halfway through the film, around the time Jet Li was about to fight the villain."

The screen suddenly went black.

"Old Zhao said the machine was broken and he needed to get it fixed, so he told us to wait a bit."

"I'll wait."

"Everyone has left, but I'm still waiting."

"I spent three days squatting behind the screen."

"Old Zhao never came back."

Xu An felt a pang of sadness upon hearing this.

A ten-year-old child, harboring a dream of becoming a martial arts hero, waited for three days and three nights in front of an empty screen.

In the end, the dream shattered.

All that's left is an unfinished movie ticket and an obsession with "liar".

"So..." Xu An asked cautiously, "You became a policeman later because..."

Director Zhang took a deep breath and resumed his serious expression.

"Because I want to find him."

"I want to ask him why he lied to a child."

"later……"

"As I searched, I realized that there are just too many scammers in this world."

"Some people cheat you out of money, some cheat you out of love, and some cheat you out of everything, leaving you destitute and ruined."

"I thought, since I can't learn Shaolin Kung Fu, I'll learn how to grab people."

"This grab..."

Chief Zhang glanced at the police badge on the wall. "He's been arrested for thirty years."

In the live stream, countless thumbs-up emojis flooded the screen.

[ID with tears in its eyes]: Because of a lie, a guardian was made. Old Zhao's five cents were well worth the debt!

[ID Tribute]: This is the best outcome! Although you didn't become a great hero, you have become our hero!

"Then..." Xu An asked tentatively, "Have you found Old Zhao?"

Director Zhang shook his head.

"without."

"In those days, information was scarce."

"I checked the records. His name is Zhao Aiguo, and he was a temporary worker at the county film company."

"After that screening incident, he resigned and disappeared."

"Some say he ran away with the equipment, others say he went back to his hometown to farm."

"I always thought he was a bad person."

Xu An looked down at the tin box.

I checked the live stream again.

At this moment, several different messages suddenly popped up in the live chat.

[ID Old Movie Fan]: Wait! Zhao Aiguo? Born in 82? A projectionist?

[ID光影岁月]: I remember now! If it's someone from Anyang... I think I know where he is!

[Old Wang from the County Cultural Center]: Host! I'm from the cultural center in the neighboring county! If you're talking about that lame Old Zhao... he didn't run away!

Xu An's eyes lit up.

"Officer Zhang!"

"A netizen... seems to have a clue!"

Xu An quickly handed over the phone.

On the screen, a netizen with the ID "Old Wang from the County Cultural Center" posted a long string of text.

[Old Wang from the ID County Cultural Center: Zhao Aiguo didn't keep the equipment! That year, the projector's main light bulb exploded; it was an imported product, incredibly expensive. To compensate for that light bulb, Old Zhao sold his old house.]

[Old Wang from the ID County Cultural Center: He felt sorry for the villagers who waited to watch the movie, especially the child who waited until dawn. He was too ashamed to go back.]

[Old Wang from the ID County Cultural Center: He later worked as a gatekeeper at an abandoned cinema in our county. He never married, just stayed with that pile of old film reels. He said he owed that kid half a movie, and if he could never repay him in this lifetime, he wouldn't be able to die in peace.]

Director Zhang looked at those few lines of text.

That tough guy who didn't flinch even when facing a knife-wielding thug.

At that moment, my hands were shaking so badly I couldn't hold the phone.

"You...you didn't run away?"

"Is it to compensate for the equipment?"

"He dedicated his entire life to film?"

Director Zhang's eyes instantly reddened.

Forty years of hatred.

Forty years of misunderstanding.

At that moment, it turned into a bittersweet feeling that was hard to describe.

He thought the old man was a fraud who had ruined his dream of becoming a martial arts hero.

As a result, the old man, for the sake of a promise and to avoid causing trouble for the government, devoted his entire life to it.

Where...is he?

Director Zhang's voice was a little hoarse.

Xu An glanced at the comments section.

"The old Red Star Cinema in the neighboring county."

"Sixty kilometers from here."

Director Zhang suddenly raised his head.

He glanced at the clock on the wall.

Big Year.

Two o'clock in the afternoon.

"Little Liu!"

"arrive!"

Do I have annual leave?

"Chief! You haven't taken a year-end leave in thirty years! The bureau is forcing you to take it, but you won't listen!"

Director Zhang grabbed the car keys from the table.

Then he took out the wooden pistol that he had treasured for forty years and which had developed a patina... from the drawer.

"today."

"I'm on vacation!"

He turned his head and looked at Xu An, his eyes burning with a fire.

Just like forty years ago, when I was a child sitting in front of the screen, waiting for the hero to appear.

"Xu An, right?"

"How's your driving?"

Xu An was taken aback for a moment: "It's...it's alright? It's mainly because my second uncle drives it."

Director Zhang grabbed Xu An's arm.

"Walk!"

"Let's go to the neighboring county!"

"Now that we've found it..."

"So, what about the second half of the movie...?"

"It must be continued today!"

"A debt of five cents."

"I'll go get it myself!"

……

The black Raptor pickup truck roared out of Liuwan Town once again.

This time, however, a police chief in uniform was sitting in the passenger seat.

While driving, my second uncle kept glancing at Director Zhang's wooden gun in the rearview mirror. After holding it in for a long time, he finally couldn't resist:

"Chief Zhang...this gun is quite exquisitely made?"

Director Zhang stared straight ahead and coldly replied:

"That's right."

"Back then, I stole the wood my father used to make coffins to make this, and I was beaten half to death."

Xu An sat in the back row, holding the tin box, watching the winter scenery rushing past the window.

The number of viewers in the live stream has exceeded one million.

Countless people are waiting for this reunion that spans forty years.

Waiting for that ray of light to illuminate that dusty silver screen once again.

"Family members."

Xu An said softly.

"The movie ended, but the people didn't leave."

"Sometimes, what we perceive as missed opportunities and betrayals..."

"Actually, behind it all lies a bitter secret that they have to swallow their pride and bear in silence."

"Next stop."

"Red Star Cinema"

"Let's go see... that old man who has dedicated his life to preserving film."

"Could you... show us 'Shaolin Temple' one more time?"