Zhang Wenyuan smiled, lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and exhaled a long smoke ring before saying, "Uncle, don't you think this kid is different from ordinary people?"

"It seems so," Old Zhang thought for a moment, then shook his head. "I've had this feeling for a long time, but I can't quite put my finger on what's different. It's just that he seems to be more lively than the average person."

"Yes, that's the feeling."

Zhang Wenyuan sighed, “To be honest, I’ve met a lot of people, many of whom are richer and more powerful than Wang Tianxiao. But I’ve rarely seen anyone as composed as him, especially considering he’s only in his twenties, which makes it even more unbelievable.”

"That's why you gave him the motorcycle. It cost tens of thousands of yuan, more than an average person could earn in a lifetime."

“What’s a few tens of thousands of yuan?” Zhang Wenyuan laughed. “Uncle, I have a feeling that this young man is going to be someone important. He might even be doing better than me. So all my investments now will definitely pay off in the future.”

He threw the cigarette butt on the ground and slowly stubbed it out with his foot. "What's a motorcycle worth tens of thousands of yuan? People were already spending thousands of yuan to buy horse bones thousands of years ago."

Looking at Zhang Wenyuan, Old Zhang sighed inwardly. These young people, each one has a bigger vision than the last.

When you get old, all you need to do is take good care of your meals.

Wang Tianxiao was unaware that the two men surnamed Zhang behind him were still smoking and discussing heroes. He rode his motorcycle out of the alley and continued straight along the main road, unknowingly reaching a speed of over 70 kilometers per hour.

I must say, this car is of exceptionally high quality. At over 70 km/h, it showed absolutely no signs of drifting and remained as stable as if it hadn't even accelerated.

Wang Tianxiao had ridden a motorcycle in his previous life, but every time he hadn't reached this speed, he felt like the motorcycle was about to fly away, which scared him so much that he immediately slowed down.

As the saying goes, a car is like iron wrapped around flesh, while a motorcycle is like flesh wrapped around iron.

Motorcycles are cool to ride, but once an accident occurs, it can easily result in the vehicle being destroyed and people dying.

Wang Tianyi's son, Tian'er, died one night while riding a motorcycle in an accident, crashing into a sanitation worker's garbage truck.

Wang Tianxiao's second sister-in-law, Li Yali's younger sister Li Yaqin, also lost a leg in a motorcycle accident caused by her husband.

Wang Tianxiao knew that this thing was unstable, so when he rode it, he always maintained a standard, so that he could control the motorcycle and was not too excited.

As he rode, he arrived at Qingcheng Avenue.

Qingcheng is a very small prefecture-level city in eastern Gansu. In those days, it was extremely poor and lacked everything.

But in the 21st century, oil was discovered, and not only were high-speed rail, airplanes, and highways built, but the city also leaped to become the second largest city in Gansu Province, with an astonishing GDP growth rate.

The Qingcheng Avenue that Wang Tianxiao is currently riding is the main north-south road of Qingcheng, which is seven or eight kilometers long. Later, as the city developed, this avenue was extended to more than twenty kilometers, directly connecting several nearby towns and villages, making it the suburbs of the city.

Riding such a cool motorcycle, Wang Tianxiao hadn't even dared to rev the engine yet, but it already attracted countless onlookers, with men, women, and children all showing expressions of envy.

To be honest, Wang Tianxiao felt quite proud of himself.

Everyone says it's good to be rich, and it seems it really is. Look at him, riding this little motorcycle instantly elevates his status. If he were still riding his old bicycle, he probably wouldn't get this kind of treatment.

However, this thought only lasted for a moment.

He certainly wasn't indulging in such illusory temptations.

Material things are important because they are based on his expectation of satisfaction from the future he strives for. It's not just about obtaining material happiness, but also about enjoying a lot of happiness in the process of pursuing and striving for them.

As the car passed through Huai Shu Lane, he slowed down slightly, glanced into the lane, and was filled with emotion.

His elder brother, Wang Tianzhong, lived in Huai Shu Lane.

Wang Tianxiao's feelings for his elder brother are complicated.

Deep down, he still harbored resentment towards his elder brother for not treating everyone equally in their past life. Regarding the brothers' disputes, he adopted an attitude of minimizing major issues and resolving minor ones altogether, a policy of appeasement that prevented the seemingly fragile family from completely disintegrating, thus preserving a spark for future reconciliation.

Can.

Since there is misfortune, if the perpetrators are not punished, then the interests of the victims must not be protected.

Without a doubt, Wang Tianxiao was the victim.

He was too gentle. He thought that as the second oldest child, with his father gone and his older brother not at home, he should take good care of his brothers and sisters.

However, things didn't go as planned.

When people have enough to eat and drink, they will know etiquette. In desolate times, people are not only materially poor, but also lack a sense of morality.

When most people in the world lack basic moral qualities, Wang Tianxiao, who maintains a sense of morality, becomes an outlier.

His kindness and forbearance became a tool for his brothers to take advantage of him even more, constantly squeezing out his space to live for what would seem like a pittance to future generations.

Life is a tangled mess. If you are born into this mess, you either have to cut through it quickly and completely break free from the constraints that limit you, severing all ties with it.

Either you need to take it slow and find a thread that can be untangled from the mess.

In his previous life, Wang Tianxiao chose the second method, which proved to be unworkable. He could only rely on himself and couldn't control what others thought.

Let's get back to the eldest brother.

If we remove Wang Tianxiao's perspective and look at Wang Tianzhong from anyone else's point of view, he is indeed a decent person.

In fact, he is a very good person.

Wang Tianxiao's father passed away early, and his eldest brother was seven or eight years older than him, so the eldest brother naturally took over his father's responsibilities and helped his mother take care of the brothers.

Because his family had little land and not enough food, and there was some allowance for joining the army, Wang Tianzhong did not hesitate to join the army to ease the burden on his family.

A few years later, he was demobilized and started working at a police station in the county. He hardly spent any money and saved all his salary to support his family, buy food, and feed his younger siblings.

Later, when he went to work in the city, he never forgot his brothers.

He eventually rose to a fairly high official position, serving as the deputy director of the municipal criminal investigation bureau at the time of his death, which was equivalent to a division-level leader.

But after he passed away, he left behind only a small apartment of a few dozen square meters allocated by his work unit, and nothing else.

As a result of his death, his wife, who was Wang Tianxiao's sister-in-law, had to give up surgery due to lack of money, which delayed her treatment and led to her death.

He can be considered a cadre who is honest and upright.

It should be noted that in a prefecture-level city like Qingcheng, his position was already quite powerful, capable of wielding considerable influence. However, aside from some unfair treatment of his younger brother Wang Tianxin, he was generally able to handle matters impartially.

Wang Tianzhong was also a pitiful person.