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Eight Men Rob and Murder Their Neighbor Out of Jealousy
墨書 Inktalez
In December 2001, the winter in Xi'an was particularly cold. On Zhuque Street, eight men from Hubei were crammed into a dilapidated room rented by Duan Haiming, which was less than twenty square meters in size. The air inside was thick with smoke, and a few bottles of Erguotou and a plate of peanuts sat on the table.
"Damn this weather!" Guo Xuefeng rubbed his red, frozen hands. "It's better to be farming back home."
"Stop complaining; it's better than starving," Teng Zhen Ting said, taking a swig of liquor with a bitter smile. "I've been working on the construction site for three months, and the foreman still owes me two thousand yuan in wages."
Li Zhiwei lit a cigarette. "You guys are better off than me. I got fired last month and haven't found work since."
The room fell silent. The eight men, all from Yichang in Hubei, had come to Xi'an seeking a better life. But reality was far harsher than they had imagined; finding work was difficult, and getting paid was even harder.
"Our fellow townsman Zhang Xing is doing the best among us," Duan Haiming suddenly spoke up, his tone tinged with an indescribable bitterness.
Mentioning Zhang Xing changed the atmosphere in the room.
"Zhang Xing is doing really well now," Xiao Renquan said sarcastically. "I heard he’s making big money!"
Xu Yulin lowered his voice, "The other day he got drunk and told me he saved up sixteen thousand. I don't know if he was just bragging!"
Sixteen thousand! In 2001, that amount was astronomical for these migrant workers. They could barely take home four to five hundred yuan a month.
"What does Zhang Xing do to make so much money?" Li Zhiwei asked.
"He's just flipping some small businesses," Duan Haiming scoffed. "A couple of years ago, he was as broke as us, and now that he's rich, he pretends not to know us."
"Exactly!" Guo Xuefeng said indignantly. "Last time I asked him to lend me two hundred yuan in an emergency, he said he didn't have it. Then he turned around and bought his girlfriend a gold ring!"
The resentment in the room grew heavier.
Teng Zhen Ting had drunk a bit too much and slurred his words, "Why should it be like this? We're all from the same hometown, all come from poor backgrounds—why does he get to be rich while we suffer?"
"Yeah! Why should it be like that?" several voices echoed in agreement.
Duan Haiming rolled his eyes and said, "What do you think, how did Zhang Xing get that money? Is it clean?"
"Who cares if it's clean or not? It's still better than what we have!" Xiao Renquan gritted his teeth. "I break my back hauling bricks on the construction site, and I only make thirty bucks a day."
Xu Yulin grew more agitated as he spoke. "Once he got rich, he forgot about his poor brothers. At the last gathering, he didn't even show up!"
Li Zhiwei sneered, "Now that he's wealthy, he doesn't look at us mud-legged folks anymore."
As the drinks flowed more freely, so did their grievances. What started as mere complaints gradually morphed into real hatred.
"I just can't understand," Guo Xuefeng slammed the table. "We both come from Hubei and have the same farmer background. Why is there such a huge gap?"
"Maybe he just got lucky," Duan Haiming said darkly, "or maybe he did something shady."
At this, the room fell silent.
"I can't take it anymore; I need to go borrow some money from Zhang Xing. My kid needs to pay tuition," Teng Zhen Ting stood up. "He's got plenty of cash; he should help out a fellow villager!"
"Go ahead and try," Duan Haiming scoffed. "I guarantee he won't even open the door for you."
Sure enough, the next day Teng Zhen Ting returned looking defeated.
"How did it go?" several of them crowded around to ask.
"Damn it!" Teng Zhen Ting's face was flushed with anger. "Zhang Xing said he's tight on cash and wouldn't lend me a dime! But I saw several packs of Zhonghua cigarettes on his desk!"
The room erupted in outrage.
"What a guy, Zhang Xing!" Duan Haiming spat. "He really forgot where he came from after hitting it big!"
"Smoking Zhonghua but refusing to lend to his fellow villagers!" Guo Xuefeng cursed.
From that day on, the way these eight villagers looked at Zhang Xing changed completely. From initial envy to later jealousy, and now to outright hatred. They began to gossip about him behind his back, questioning his character, accusing him of having ill-gotten gains, and saying he was ungrateful.
At every gathering, the conversation always circled back to Zhang Xing.
They calculated how much money Zhang Xing actually had, speculating on the source of his wealth.
"When a fellow villager is in trouble, he doesn't help,"
Since Zhang Xing was unkind, they felt justified in their lack of righteousness.
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