Chapter 155: Tong Mazi: Blame Me?
“Afraid of shit!” Biao Ye’s face was full of ferocity and disdain, “As long as we have money, where can’t we settle down?”
“If Beiping doesn’t work, we’ll go to Tianjin. If Tianjin doesn’t work, we’ll go to Shanghai!”
“I’ve long heard that Shanghai’s ten-mile foreign concession is mesmerizing. This old man has never seen it in his life, so it’s perfect to go check it out!”
“I just don’t believe it. No matter how powerful Cao Weida is in Beiping, can he reach his hand into those places?”
“You all relax. Follow me, Biao Ye, and if I have a bite to eat, you’ll absolutely have a sip to drink!”
“After we pull off this job, I’ll treat you all to the finest food and drink, then we’ll go to Bada Hutong to have a good time!”
Anyway, painting a rosy picture didn’t cost money. Xiao Jianbiao opened his mouth and it was a bunch of bluster.
These words excited the group of younger brothers. They came out to mix for nothing more than big bites of meat, big gulps of liquor, and playing with women for fun.
They even fantasized that if they couldn’t stay in Beiping, following Biao Ye to Shanghai to experience the taste of the ten-mile foreign concession would be quite good.
Outside the hutong, Cao Weida looked back meaningfully. With his sharp ears and eyes, though the voices weren’t loud, he still caught about forty to fifty percent of it.
He sneered coldly and muttered softly: “I’m just afraid you don’t have the fate for it!”
With that, he turned and left quickly.
Ever since he befriended Ono Shiota and the others, this was the first time someone dared to take the initiative to mess with him, this living king of hell.
Weren’t they thinking of pulling off this job and running to Shanghai’s ten-mile foreign concession?
Fine, if this old man doesn’t scatter your ashes across ten miles, this old man will take your surname!
He walked into a shop, flashed his police badge, and directly dialed the police station’s telephone.
Police Station.
“Yes, good, got it. We’ll head over right now!”
Little Ear, hanging up the telephone, was both shocked and furious. He hadn’t expected that while handling an errand for Big Brother Cao, they’d be targeted.
If Big Brother Cao hadn’t happened to go to the Sesame Hutong courtyard today and discovered this group of fearless bastards, they really would have succeeded, and who would take the blame for this mess in the end?
Could he explain it clearly?!
He laughed in extreme anger, slamming a fist on the table with a loud ‘clang’, “Good, very good! Damn it, they actually dared to mess with this living king of hell. They’ve really rebelled!”
“Lian Hu!”
“What’s up, big brother?”
“Call twenty brothers, grab the weapons, and come with me to Sesame Hutong!”
Damn it, today they’ll learn exactly how many eyes the Horse King has!!
Sesame Hutong.
The sun had already set, and the light was growing dimmer.
At this time, there were few pedestrians on the street, and those who were around hurried home.
Courtyard back door.
Seeing the light growing dimmer, Biao Ye checked the sky and ordered: “Time’s about right. Everyone put on your face veils. Hua Mao, you climb over the wall and open the door.”
The group of brothers immediately pulled out cloths from their pockets to cover their faces tightly, leaving only their eyes exposed. Except for one person left to guard each hutong entrance, the others gathered near the courtyard back door.
And that Hua Mao, after putting on his face veil, took two steps back, pressing his back against the wall of the house across the hutong.
Under the courtyard wall, two younger brothers intertwined their hands and squatted halfway, ready to assist.
Hua Mao kicked off with his feet, ran two steps with momentum, and stepped onto the arms intertwined by the two younger brothers.
“Hey!”
The two younger brothers grunted lightly and suddenly lifted upward. Hua Mao caught the force, his body shooting up instantly.
With that momentum, he grabbed the top of the over-two-meter-high courtyard wall with both hands.
Not far away, Cao Weida shook his head, “His reach is too poor. It’s just a wall top over two meters high, and he actually needs two people to assist.”
If it were him, he wouldn’t even need a running start. A single leap, two light steps on the wall, and he could jump to the top effortlessly.
The next moment.
“Ah~~”
Hua Mao let out a miserable scream and fell straight down.
“What happened?” Biao Ye and the others were startled and immediately looked around alertly.
“Biao Ye, there are glass shards on the wall top!” Hua Mao’s face was full of pain, and his hands were already dyed red with fresh blood.
The crowd just glanced and couldn’t help sucking in a breath of cold air. Hua Mao’s hands had several large gashes, some so deep you could see the white bone, with red flesh flipped outward. The bloody mess was utterly shocking.
“Hiss~~”
The crowd’s teeth ached at the sight, their hands unconsciously pulling back.
They all felt fortunate it wasn’t them doing the task, or else those tragically mangled hands would be theirs right now.
Biao Ye’s eyes narrowed, staring at the wall top darkly: “That bastard Tong Mazi actually embedded glass shards on the wall top!!”
The long-dead Tong Mazi: Blame me? This old man did so many evil deeds, can’t I guard against this?!
“Pfft~~”
Seeing Hua Mao’s miserable state, Cao Weida silently put down the pebble in his hand and couldn’t help laughing.
He’d only just taken over this courtyard, and this was his first time here. The glass shards on the wall top were naturally put there by that guy Tong Mazi.
Probably figuring he did evil deeds and feared revenge by sneaking in from the back yard, so he made some minor defenses.
But he hadn’t expected that he himself wasn’t targeted, and instead helped Cao Weida, who took his life.
If he knew in the afterlife, who knows if he’d be so angry he’d come back to life.
With blood flowing nonstop and his hands starting to go numb, Hua Mao shakily raised them, looking at the miserable state, nearly fainting.
He relied on these hands to make a living; most of his kung fu was in them. If his hands were ruined, his kung fu would be mostly wasted!
How would he mix in the future?!
Biao Ye’s face darkened as he snapped lightly: “Hurry and bandage Hua Mao’s wounds!”
A nearby younger brother snapped to, quickly tearing cloth strips from his body to bind Hua Mao’s wounds.
Biao Ye was furious inside, cursing incompetence, but with the younger brothers around, he couldn’t say it. He comforted kindly:
“Your injuries are serious. Hurry to the hospital for treatment.”
“Don’t worry, once this job is done, you’ll get your full share.”
“Thanks, Biao Ye.” With his hands so mangled, Hua Mao was indeed desperate to get to the hospital. After thanking him, he hurriedly left the alley toward the hospital, fearing that even a slight delay would ruin his hands for good.
“Tsk, this kid temporarily escaped a disaster, but if he thinks that’s enough to get off scot-free, he’s overthinking it.” Cao Weida curled his lip. Hua Mao was truly pitiful enough.
In the original plot, Hua Mao was Xiao Jianbiao’s thug, one of the people sent by Wen San.
Under Xiao Jianbiao’s orders, he had taught the boastful Wen San’er a lesson, slapping him eighteen big slaps and kicking him twice.
Later, Xiao Jianbiao eyed the Sato family’s property, sent Hua Mao to cozy up to Wen San, got the Sato family’s address and home layout. Then Sanhe Gang wiped out the Sato family and looted the 《Orchid Bamboo Painting》 that Sato had just acquired.
That’s right, the same 《Orchid Bamboo Painting》 that Cao Weida had intercepted.
Then Xiao Jianbiao ran off, abandoning Hua Mao.
This Xiao Jianbiao was bold enough to even kill Sato, so naturally offending Cao Weida wasn’t surprising.
After the War of Resistance victory, Hua Mao was again tricked by Xiao Jianbiao into assassinating the Japanese special agent Inukai Heisai who was about to be repatriated. It was supposed to be drop the weapon, lock up for a few days, then release him. But after he shot Inukai Heisai, he was shot dead on the spot by soldiers maintaining public order.
One could say this Hua Mao had neither brains nor intelligence, fooled by Xiao Jianbiao like an idiot, his life truly tragic.
Though his life was tragic enough, Cao Weida had no sympathy for him.
This guy had done plenty of bullying and domineering in daily life, relying on Sanhe Gang’s name for many evil deeds, bullying the weak and fearing the strong, barbaric and rogue—death was too good for him.
Now, he even jumped out to cause trouble for Cao Weida, who naturally wouldn’t let him off easily.
After Hua Mao left, a younger brother asked: “Biao Ye, what do we do now?”
Xiao Jianbiao glanced at the wall top. With Hua Mao’s lesson, clearly no one dared rashly grab it again.
He said darkly: “Find a club and a stone.”
Since they couldn’t climb directly, they’d use the club to climb up, then smash the glass shards on the wall top.
As for why not use a more convenient ladder—where would they find a ladder?
The younger brothers immediately scattered to search, but finding a club over two meters long wasn’t easy. After half a while, they still hadn’t found one.
Xiao Jianbiao’s face grew darker. With the light getting dimmer, if they delayed further, even if they got the door open, they wouldn’t dare run wild on the street.
Beiping’s nighttime curfew now was far stricter than two months ago, with sentries everywhere on the streets. With so many of them, plus dragging a box, they were too obvious a target. Dodging patrols was simply a pipe dream.
One younger brother suddenly said: “Biao Ye, why don’t we just stack a human pyramid? The wall top is just over two meters; two of us stacked would be plenty tall!”
“Damn it, why didn’t you say so earlier!” Xiao Jianbiao realized, yeah, a human pyramid would do it. No need for a damn club!
He glared at him discontentedly. The glared younger brother felt deeply wronged: I just thought of it too.
Xiao Jianbiao immediately called the younger brother back. Two squatted down, letting another step on their shoulders.
“Up!”
The two being stepped on exerted force to stand. Seeing the top one’s head rise above the wall top, a smile appeared on Xiao Jianbiao’s face under the face veil.
“Hiss~~ No wonder Hua Mao’s hands were so mangled.” That younger brother saw the crisscrossing glass shards on the wall top and couldn’t help recalling Hua Mao’s hands.
“What are you spacing out for? Keep going!” Xiao Jianbiao saw him not taking the stone and scolded softly in dissatisfaction.
The younger brother snapped back, chuckled awkwardly, quickly took the stone, and began clearing the glass shards on the wall top.
Crack~ Crack~~
Smashing the glass shards one by one, the fragments flew everywhere. The surrounding younger brothers dodged to the sides, which was tough on the two being stood on.
Others could dodge, but they couldn’t, so they couldn’t help cursing: “Can you damn well go lighter? They’re flying onto our faces!”
The shattered glass shards flying around hurt when they hit people. If they struck exposed skin unluckily at a sharp edge, getting a cut was the most normal thing.
The younger brother smashing glass up top immediately felt upset: You’re getting hit, and I’m getting hit first and foremost!
He was about to retort when a pebble suddenly flew from afar, smashing hard onto his hand.
