Chapter 12: No One Can Rob My Money
A clinic in the Walled City.
Several men wearing suits stormed in aggressively, then parted to the sides, making way for a man in his fifties wearing a suit behind them.
“Bing Ye!” Hao Ge’s subordinates in the room immediately bowed upon seeing the arrival.
Bing Ye ignored them and walked straight to a bed, where he saw Hao Ge’s corpse.
He checked his breathing and confirmed the man was indeed dead before Bing Ye turned around expressionlessly: “What happened?”
“Hao Ge had just collected the money and hadn’t gone far when he was ambushed…” The subordinate recounted the events.
Bing Ye slapped him directly: “So you’re saying there was only one opponent, you watched him get killed, and then watched the guy run away?”
“Ghost Zai got a handful of lime thrown in his face and couldn’t see anything… I was checking on Hao Ge when Rotten Tooth Dong chased after, only to get ambushed by the opponent too… He’s lying in bed now and can’t get up!” The subordinate who got slapped clutched his face and explained cautiously.
“Useless!” Bing Ye slapped him again.
Bing Ye took out a cigarette and lit it, his expression silent yet fierce.
“Find that guy for me!”
After all, his subordinate had been ambushed and stabbed to death while collecting money in the Walled City, and the money was robbed.
If he didn’t catch and deal with the guy… if word got out, what would become of his face?
Would anyone dare to piss on his head from now on?
“How did that guy know you’d pass through there, and he went straight for the kill and robbed the bag without any hesitation—how did he know A Hao’s bag had money?”
“That kid who paid back the money!” Another subordinate who got slapped had eyes bursting with killing intent.
Slap!
“How did A Hao end up with useless trash like you! You think everyone else is as brainless as you?” Bing Ye said in frustration.
“You’ve been targeted!”
“Xiong Zai, you’re smart—take these guys over the next few days and find that guy for me!” Bing Ye said to a man in a suit not far away.
……
“Check if anyone’s been tailing you these past few days, or hanging around you… Over the next few days, keep an eye out in the Walled City for any fellow daoists or gamblers who suddenly got rich.”
“Twenty-eight thousand, almost thirty thousand—not a small amount. Whoever got the money won’t be able to hold back.”
After Bing Ye left, Xiong Zai immediately gave instructions.
“Got it, Xiong Ge!”
The two former subordinates of Hao Ge both had grim expressions, vowing in their hearts to dig the guy out and skin him alive.
……
“Today’s standing meditation has killing intent!” Senior Brother Li walked up to Chen Wujun, who was practicing the Golden Rooster Stance, sniffed, and indeed smelled a lot of bloody scent and medicinal smell.
After all, for the past few days, Chen Wujun’s knees had been blood and flesh every day, then medicated; they’d just healed a bit overnight, only to be practiced into blood and flesh again the next day.
Senior Brother Li looked closely at Chen Wujun and indeed felt that the kid had an unusual killing intent on him today.
Martial artists have sharper senses than ordinary people.
Though the Golden Rooster Stance also builds killing intent, it’s the kind built through stance—completely different from the killing aura of actually killing someone.
“Interesting!”
Soon, he put the matter aside.
Whatever the kid did outside had nothing to do with him.
Even if he really killed someone, as long as no one pinned it on him, he couldn’t be bothered.
After morning training, Chen Wujun’s two knees were blood and flesh again; he limped out of the martial arts school.
Blood directly soaked into his pants.
“Every day the knees get smashed into blood and flesh, then after stopping the bleeding, apply medicine, recover overnight, and continue the next day. The pain these past two days felt a bit lighter. Once the knees heal, they should be tougher than other places.”
Chen Wujun thought as he walked.
He went to the dentistry clinic to eat with his father, stood standing meditation for a while in the afternoon at the clinic, then said goodbye to his father and strolled along Long Jin Street.
At the entrance of the convenience store, he saw that kid from last time again, holding a lollipop and licking it.
Seeing him, Chen Wujun recalled how the kid had disrupted his plan last time.
Though Chen Wujun wasn’t petty, seeing the kid so happy now made him want to let him know he was celebrating too early.
Seeing Chen Wujun walking toward him, the kid immediately recognized him, pointed at Chen Wujun with one finger as if to shout, but suddenly thought of something and quickly shoved the lollipop into his mouth.
After so many days, the kid still remembered, showing Chen Wujun had left an indelible impression last time.
Then Chen Wujun walked over, pinched his face, took out the lollipop, turned, and slipped into the crowd.
Immediately, the kid’s wailing cries came from behind.
Along with a woman’s shrill cursing.
Chen Wujun walked through an alley and tossed the lollipop into the stinking gutter.
The kid wasn’t happy—he was very happy now, in a great mood.
The nearby shop was playing a song 《Blessing》; Chen Wujun hummed along as he walked: “Ah~ I send you, I send you, blessings never ending…”
“Gently drifting… seeking endless distant roads…”
“Boss, two strings of fish balls!”
Chen Wujun held a string of fish balls in each hand, walked along Long Jin Street to near the casino, and saw several people asking around next to a shop.
Two of them, Chen Wujun had seen yesterday.
“They’re indeed investigating. I changed clothes a few times before and wore a hat—even if noticed, they won’t recognize me!” Chen Wujun thought to himself, passing through with an unchanged expression.
Chen Wujun was born with a big heart.
Others facing this situation would feel some guilt or tension.
But Chen Wujun felt nothing at all, just walking and eating his fish balls.
Those hunting the killer never imagined the killer was this teenager in the crowd.
Chen Wujun saw a very large shop with red curtains hanging in the window.
He looked deeply, eyes full of curiosity and a bit of longing.
He knew what kind of shop it was.
A semi-public strip club in the Walled City.
It was said to be great, but he’d never gone in.
……
Three more days passed, and it was time for Chen Wujun’s family to pay back the debt.
During dinner, the iron gate outside was banged loudly.
Father Chen Hanliang opened the inner wooden door, and Chen Wujun followed; outside stood three men, one in a suit whom he’d never seen.
The other two had come before.
“Chen Hanliang, time’s up—pay back the money!” One of them kicked the iron gate and shouted loudly.
They even knew Father Chen’s name.
Chen Hanliang suppressed his anger: “This time I can pay for that wastrel son, but no next time! If you lend him money again, I won’t pay a cent for him—I can’t afford it!”
“Then pray your wastrel son doesn’t borrow elsewhere! In this Walled City, we’re not the only ones willing to lend to him!” The man said with a fake smile.
“Since the money’s ready, hand it over! Interest accrues daily—the longer you drag, the more you owe!”
“Wait a moment!” Chen Hanliang turned to the bedroom, took out a paper bag, and pulled out several stacks of cash.
“Here’s 30,7650—the IOU?”
“Over 30,000, scraped together so fast?” The other side didn’t take the money right away, instead sizing up Chen Hanliang and the others in the room.
Inside was just one woman, one half-grown teenager, and a child.
“What do you mean? What are you trying to pull?” Chen Hanliang demanded immediately.
“No meaning—we just lost a sum of money!” The man in the suit said.
“So we’re just curiously asking!”
“This money was from mortgaging the house to borrow!” Chen Hanliang suppressed his rage.
“Oh? Borrowed from whom?”
After a few exchanges, seeing nothing suspicious, they handed over the IOU and took the money.
“If you hear anything, tell us! Bing Ye is offering ten thousand as reward.” The man in the suit said.
The group had barely left when Chen Hanliang slammed the door shut.
He returned to the table, sat down, poured himself half a glass of baijiu, took a sip, and sighed.
Lately because of this loan shark, he’d gotten a lot more white hair.
He’d finally borrowed money to settle the loan shark, but the pressure of repayments ahead wasn’t small.
Chen Wujun ate while pondering that last mention of “Bing Ye,” unsure who it was.
Though he’d killed Hao Ge and robbed the money, in his mind, the matter wasn’t over.
They’d taken his family’s 30,7650—early or late, they’d have to pay it back.
Plus interest, compounded.
Him robbing others was no big deal, no matter how much.
Others robbing him—even a dollar was a huge deal; he’d definitely get it back.
After dinner, Chen Hanliang sat on the sofa watching Police News; Chen Wujun hovered beside the sofa, his butt two centimeters from it.
“Don’t learn from those rotten people—be a good person!” Chen Hanliang pointed at the criminals caught on television.
“I know!” Chen Wujun nodded obediently, thinking that those caught were rotten, but if not caught, they weren’t.
“By the way, about finding work—any ideas? You saw the situation; because of your worthless big brother, we’ll all have to tighten our belts to repay!”
“I asked around—the martial arts school needs someone for cleaning, 1500 a month. Besides regular cleaning, other times I can use the facilities freely.” Chen Wujun said.
“It’s also because I’m a martial arts school student that there’s this opportunity.”
This answer surprised Chen Hanliang a bit, but he didn’t think much, nodding with some relief: “That’s good!”
Since the second son liked martial arts practice, working at the martial arts school was also a good thing.
