Chapter 557: Temporary Departure
I left Boss Huang’s ‘Fish Man Pier’ with a lot of doubts while thinking about the entire process of development along the way.
All the employees kept silent, perhaps due to an unknown source pressuring them, but none of them mentioned Tie Xian’s whereabouts.
A few months ago, when I made up my mind to avenge Bro Gang, I had entrusted Xing Xing to investigate into Tie Xian’s background. He was an unrepentant sc.u.m who would hit his parents, so that’s why no one in his family went looking for him when he disappeared.
Is it possible he would just disappear forever?
The fact that Ai ShuQiao, who was miles away, could react so quickly, sent shivers down my spine.
Who was the representative she sent this time? Whoever they are, they felt much more reliable than the private investigator who only knew to spy on us.
No, I can’t just wishfully think it was Ai ShuQiao who did it. Huo ZhenBang had the same motive and ability, so I have to ask him face to face.
After Huo ZhenBang snuck into Dong Shang City, he lived in a Western-style detached home with a garden provided by one of his ‘connections’. He gave me his address the last time he asked me to give Xiao Qin a present.
So, I once again headed out with my windbreaker and sungla.s.ses. This time, I was actually visiting triad boss, so I hope Officer Ma wasn’t watching me, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to explain myself.
I walked into the courtyard and was surprised that the door was unguarded. A sound like a quarrel came out from the house, the high pitched female voice was clearly Xiao Qin.
“If you got cla.s.smate Ye Lin killed, then I’ll fight to the death with you…”
“Xiao Qin, calm down, I wasn’t trying to get Ye Lin killed…”
That was the weak and helpless voice of Huo ZhenBang.
“You weren’t, then why did you give him tickets to an underground fight?” Xiao Qin said aggressively, “Ye Lin caused a bit of trouble at the underground fight, that’s why someone retaliated on him. He almost had his legs broken, if Dr. Zhao from the orthopedic hospital didn’t tell me, then I would have been kept in the dark.”
So, Xiao Qin heard about it from Dr. Zhao? After all, Huo ZhenBang’s men always try to protect Xiao Qin from afar, so they couldn’t do much if she forced them to confess that Huo ZhenBang had actually come to Dong Shan city.
“Miss, it’s not your father’s fault, it’s my fault.” It was Uncle Long’s voice, “I got two tickets by chance, so out of the goodness of my heart…”
“I don’t believe it, I don’t believe it. It was definitely dad who gave the tickets away, he always likes to act on his own.”
Huo ZhenBang sighed, “That’s right, I was the one who gave the tickets away, but I had no intention of harming Ye Lin. I thought he had promise, so I wanted him to see the dark sides of society while he was still young. I think regardless if he chooses to join the underworld, it would benefit him…”
“Who wants to learn about the underworld from you!” Xiao Qin interrupted, I was just thinking it was rare Xiao Qin would actually say something right, but then she followed up with: “Ye Lin cla.s.smate can become the king of the underworld even without your help!”
I don’t think you have to say that I will definitely walk down that path. My appearance might be a little bad, but I don’t want to collect protection fees. How awkward would it be if I run into the cla.s.s leader who has become a police officer while collecting protection fees.
Huo Zhenbang then whispered something, but I couldn’t hear from outside. In any case, Xiao Qin shouted:
“I don’t need you to care, don’t get close to Ye Lin cla.s.smate anymore. You’re the playboy who abandoned mom, so what if you lead Ye Lin cla.s.smate down the wrong path.”
“Uh… I didn’t abandon your mother, Hong Li beat me up and left on her own…”
“That’s because you spread your seeds everywhere. The reason why your men calls me ‘second miss’ is because you had a boy with someone else. Who knows how many illegitimate children you have? What if Ye Lin cla.s.smate learns from you and makes everyone pregnant?”
Hey, hey, what do you mean by ‘everyone’, all the girls in cla.s.s 2-3? I’m not that perverted to want to impregnate all the girls in our cla.s.s.
And please don’t mention the illegitimate child, that’s poking your father’s sore spot! You don’t know about his son that died in America in a mob fight, nor do you know about how your father drowned his sorrows with l.u.s.t and got AIDS and is now terminally ill.
The sound inside the house quieted down again. I don’t know what agreement the father and daughter reached, but after a while, I heard footsteps from behind the door, so I subconsciously hid behind the walrus in the garden. The garden was extremely artistic as all the the shrubs were trimmed into a variety of marine animals, and the fat walrus could completely cover my body.
The door opened, and Xiao Qin, accompanied by Uncle Hu and Uncle Bao, walked out with red eyes and was escorted onto the car. It seems they were taking her home.
As Xiao Qin waled down the pebbled path in the garden, she glanced in my direction and said to herself:
“This walrus looks a bit like Ye Lin cla.s.smate…”
Wow, what a keen sense, if she hadn’t just cried, she would have immediately found me hiding behind it.
I still had some things I wanted to ask Huo ZhenBang in person, so I didn’t go out to see Xiao Qin and watched her leave in the car.
Five minutes later, I walked up to the house and knocked on the door.
Uncle Long opened the door and didn’t seem too surprised to see me.
“We already spotted you on the garden surveillance camera.” Uncle Long said coldly.
That’s true, the triads would definitely have at least a few enemies. What kind of triad boss would Huo ZhenBang be if even I can easily approach.
Huo Zhenbang was now sitting behind an office desk. He took out various capsules hidden in the drawer and consumed it along with warm water.
He was depressed, his body sunk into the leather sofa and he had a listless gaze.
Even if he was terminally ill, he had to act out the majesty of a father in front of his daughter, but once his daughter left, he immediately looked like a sick patient.
Even if I knew Huo ZhenBang reaped what he sowed, but still couldn’t help but slightly sympathize with him.
“Ye Lin.” Huo ZhenBang broke the silence first, “It was my mistake to give tickets to an underground fight to you, but I didn’t tell you to go that night, didn’t I say to go after Xiao Qin’s birthday?”
That’s true, but I couldn’t hold myself back once I had the tickets. It’s the same thing as not being able to open a package after receiving it.
“I was a bit busy those days, so I wasn’t able to spare any manpower to protect you, I never expected these things to happen…”
Huo ZhenBang blamed himself which made me feel embarra.s.sed.
“Although Xiao Qin came today to quarrel with me, but I saw her hand wearing the jade bracelets I gave, as a father, I feel very gratified…”
“In any case, you did deliver my gift, so I should express my thanks.”
Huo ZhenBang slightly lowered his head with a sincere expression. It was rare for a criminal boss to condescend themselves to this degree.
Huh, so this meant Huo ZhenBang didn’t have the spare resources to threaten Boss Huang as well as make Tie Xian disappear.
I probed him a bit and asked a few more questions, but it seems due to Huo ZhenBang’s illness, he hasn’t had much contact with the outside world in the past few days.
So, the problem still lies with Ai ShuQiao. I’m afraid Tie Xian is in the hands of Ai ShuQiao and I don’t know when she will use him to blackmail me.
Next, Huo ZhenBang told me that he might have to leave Dong Shan City for a while.
The fight with Xiao Qin was one of the reasons. The other reason was the other day, Gramps Ren almost came knocking and warned Huo ZhenBang over the phone, “Don’t even think about harming my daughter.”
I feel slightly sorry for Huo ZhenBang when I think about I was the one who snitched on him to Gramps Ren.
“Leave Dong Shan city… where are you going, back to Hong Kong?”
Huo ZhenBang shook his head, “I’ll stay in mainland for a while, I might go to Shanghai… I heard that a certain scientific research inst.i.tution, has a new drug to fight AIDS. I also have some private matters in Shanghai to take care of.”
A private matter? Don’t tell me one of your many mistresses are in Shanghai.
At this time, Uncle Long interjected, “I heard that the research inst.i.tute in Shanghai was originally researching a prevention for SARS, but inadvertently discovered a new drug to control AIDS. Currently it’s done in absolute secrecy, and the government has invested a lot of money. They intend to go on the offensive against America and beat them at making a cure for AIDS.”
“Since you said that research is absolutely confidential, how did you know about it?”
Huo ZhenBang didn’t answer, but stretched out his index finger and pointed to the ceiling, as if to say “I have someone above me”.
I said straightforwardly: “Even if the drug is successful, there’s no reason for them to give it to a triad boss. I heard that some drugs in the United States are produced in small quant.i.ties and patients have to draw lots to decide who can use it…”
“You don’t have to worry about that.” Uncle Long answered for Huo ZhenBang, “It is because the Chinese government is involved, so we have room to bargain…”
“The Triads in Hong Kong may be getting weaker, but the triads exist wherever there are Chinese people. The Chinese government sometimes can’t help but to rely on the power of the Triads to deal with some corrupt officials who can’t be extradited back to China, so… you get the idea.”
“Ah Long, there’s no need to tell him that much.” Huo ZhenBang waved his hand, then turned his face to me, “Ye Lin, I’m a bit tired, so if there’s nothing else, Ah Long will escort you out.”
“Will you guys also go to Shanghai with Mr. Huo?”
I whispered to Uncle Long as he walked me out.
Of course, Uncle Long understood that I was referring to the trio of them.
“Yes, we’re going with Mr. Huo.” Uncle Long replied monotonously, then suddenly looked at me with a threatening look in his eyes.
“Ye Lin, listen carefully, don’t think you can bully the second lady just because we’re not in Dong Shan city. There are others in the triads keeping an eye out, and it won’t end well for you if they find out.”
I vaguely agreed while wondering who they were. Although I felt like I had some clues in my head, I couldn’t think of anything.
August 1st pa.s.sed and the police didn’t come to arrest me, nor did any hoodlums come to retaliate, but I always had a feeling of unease.
There was a famous saying in “The Fist of the North Star”: Only fighting can stop the trembling.
I wanted to follow the saying, but there were no opponents for me to fight, so I can only hit the sandbag to achieve inner peace.
I was also subconsciously recalling the correct use of ‘Fa Jin’ (aka Yang Jin) from Yin Yang Sanshou.
At first, I had a rough time and almost hurt my wrist, but after throwing more than 100 punches, I finally landed a decent ‘yang jin’ hit.
Again, I felt my vision darken and the similar to low blood sugar.
I was so excited and struck again. I could clearly feel the force stirring and spinning inside the heavy sandbag.
I couldn’t hold back the joy of getting stronger, so I struck another time. This time was bad, midway through the punch, I felt a lack of oxygen in my brain, then my legs went limp and I collapsed on my bed.
It took me a while to get over it.
Fa Jin used a lot of breath and should not be practiced often, Gramps Ren clearly told me that before.
It was close, I thought I was young so I didn’t have to hold back. It would be a shame if I suddenly died from using that attack earlier.
But on second thought, it was because of ‘Fa Jin’, that I almost killed(?) someone, so it seems that too much martial arts is not necessarily a good thing.
But in that situation, killing someone was better than being killed. It should be fine as long as I be careful in the future and not use Yang Jin so casually. Although I don’t lose my sense of reasoning like berserk mode, it was still a move that injured myself.
Not to mention, the side effect of possibly killing someone.
A few days have pa.s.sed, and I was wandering the streets with my head filled with worry of Tie Xian’s disappearance and Ai ShuQiao’s unknown motives.
The commercial district was full of people, it was normal for a Sunday.
Usually, I would be fed up when I saw so many people, but now that I was free from impending imprisonment, I actually found the pedestrians slightly cute.
What a shame, I’m not even sure how I escaped.
Suddenly an enthusiastic, horse-faced young man called out to me and mysteriously said:
“Young man, have you heard of Amway?”