Chapter 42
When Qi Xiu Yuan returned to Han Jia’s room with a radiant smile kissing the out of his handsome face, Han Jia was already impatiently waiting for him. The moment he saw him enter, he glared at him and said, “You beast. Don’t bother Xiao Li anymore!!”
“You’re jealous?” Qi Xiu Yuan said indifferently with a tone that was mean to provoke anger out of the person in front of him.
“Don’t you know that you’re going to cause him trouble!” Han Jia shouted yet it was a relatively low roar, “Or was this your intention all along?”
Qi Xiu Yuan’s complexion changed as he drew closer to him and asked, “What do you mean? Say it clearly.”
Han Jia bit his lips and pondered on his thoughts for a while before he found the words he wanted to say, “There’s someone…more fierce and difficult to deal with than you. This person is also aiming for Xiao Li——“
“Are you talking about your boss?” Qi Xiu Yuan asked before angrily saying, “After so many years, he’s still not willing to give up!”
Han Jia looked at with, shock clearly visible on his pallid face. After a moment, he slowly asked, “How did……Xiao Li already told you?”
“Who else would it be?”
A great silent befell the room as Han Jia let his gaze settle gravely on Qi Xiu Yuan. All the words that he had circling in his mind seemed to have scattered elsewhere. After what seemed like ages, a weak smile crawled on his lips.
“f.u.c.k, you’ve only known him for this long yet……what you’ve said is correct. I’m really starting to get jealous……”
As Qi Xiu Yuan lowered his head, seemingly thinking of something, Han Jia gave him a quick glance before saying, “You can’t beat Qing Ye. The immense power and influence that he has in this province is nearly hidden from everyone…if——“
“Shouldn’t this kind of matter…” Qi Xiu Yuan whispered, “…be something that Xiao Li have a say in? He’s not the kid that he was all those years ago. His status is already quite high now……don’t tell me, at this point, even his wishes aren’t being taken into consideration?”
“What does that matter?” Han Jia’s eyes drew to the needle inserted into the back of his hand as a cold sneer filtered the room. Before long, he said coldly, “At that time, we had strenuously climbed the ladder with that kind of mindset. We had truly believed if we continued, we won’t be bullied by anyone anymore and eventually we could……but what’s the result of it all now? Look at me, after the all the things that I have done and the status that I’d attained, the moment they say they don’t need me, aren’t I already thrown out?”
As those words entered Qi Xiu Yuan’s brain, his brows too knitted tightly together. Recalling the words that Xiao Li had just said to him, uneasiness quickly marched into his mind beckoning him to ask, “What would happen if Xiao Li doesn’t agree?”
The blood on Han Jia’s face drained into a pasty white. He slowly said, “It seemed fine if he kept things the way it is now, but if you keep on bothering and involving yourself with him, he will also……if Qing Ye finds out again……what do you have to go against Qing Ye?”
“I always thought……” Qi Xiu Yuan’s complexion sank.
He has always thought that the key to this matter was in Xiao Li’s hands. He has always thought that so long as Xiao Li
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chose him then everything else wouldn’t be a problem. Even though he had personally witnessed Li Shi Qing’s actions, he still did not antic.i.p.ate the complexity of this situation. So, with this simple mindset, he always pursued him vigorously, always tangled himself in his affairs—all because he wanted to stand beside Xiao Li. He wanted the only thing in Xiao Li’s eyes to be him. He wanted Xiao Li to smile at him—-to be closer to him more than any other person. That was all he wanted. He had never once thought that Xiao Li would consequently be faced difficulties or compelled to pay any undesirable price.
“Xiao Li wouldn’t talk to you about these things,” Han Jia looked at him coldly, “That’s the kind of person he is. Without saying anything, he would run off and deal with it himself. However… humph. I understand him because even if he told you, what can you do about it?”
Those words were sharp like needles, piercing Qi Xiu Yuan until his face turned pale. He walked toward the door while whispering to himself, “Let me think, let me think……”
——There are some things……that I must deal with. It can be very troublesome and time consuming……
——I don’t want to drag you down. It’s enough if it’s just me.
——Just tell me, are you willing to wait for me or not……if you can wait……
Xiao Li, Xiao Li, Qi Xiu Yuan thought painfully, what exactly are you planning to do?
—
Xiao Li has yet to enter the city when he received a peculiar phone call from Yan Ming informing him to hurry to Jin Ting. After just a few words, the call ended abruptly. Without having any time to return home to change out of his clothes, Xiao Li wore the same T-shirt and jeans and made his way to Jin Ting. Once there, the doorman nearly absent-mindedly stopped him.
Yan Ming is known to be a promiscuous and unprincipled playboy. Now, he was dressed in all brand name outfits, sitting on a sofa in the corner of the lounge with one leg crossed over the other. There were several people standing in front of him with a rather confrontational posture.
Once Yan Ming caught sight of Xiao Li from the corner of his eyes, he had the audacity to ridicule his clothes.
“Oh, Xiao Li!” He called out loudly, “This territory was just given to me and you want to secretly withdraw from the underworld? What are you wearing huh? A school uniform?”
“How can it be compared to Ming Ge’s style?” Xiao Li greeted politely before turning his head to look at the people confront Yan Ming. “Lin Zi, what’s going on?”
Hearing him, Lin Zi, the rather husky fellow’s complexion became unusually unsightly. He gave Yan Ming a quick glance then turned back to look the other way. It was then that Xiao Li noticed Zhang Xue Ming, the person that replaced Han Jia, taking a seat on the sofa behind him.
“Li Ge, when you were in charge of the eastern territory, Lin Zi belonged to Jin Ting.” Zhang Xue Ming looked over, “Now I need to use him. So that he can remove my restriction on the usage of these drugs. Is that not possible?”
“Whether possible or not, you don’t have the final say,” Yan Ming said calmly, “First off, Jin Ting is my territory now. When you see me, you should respectfully call me Ming Ge. Two, although I am a drug dealer, I don’t take the drugs I deal with. I personally know that subordinates are not allowed to touch them. Could it be that as a leader in the prost.i.tution ring, you also get f.u.c.ked?”
“You!” Zhang Xue Ming angrily stood up, “You may be in charge of Jin Ting, but Lin Zi is not your subordinate. What rights do you have to order him around?”
“Zhang Xue Ming, you’re in charge of all the male and female prost.i.tutes in Jin Ting now. But, that doesn’t mean that Lin Zi is under your command. Besides, if I order him around, I am giving his Li Ge face. Otherwise, I’ll have to beat him since he damaged my subordinates’ business transactions.” Yan Ming gave Xiao Li a glance, “I gave you face, so you wouldn’t tear into each other. Tell me, isn’t that right, ‘Li Ge’?”
Xiao Li retrained the anger that rose and said, “That’s enough. We’re all brothers in the same family here. There’s no need to quarrel over trivial matters like this, right? It’s my fault. I’ve been too anxious for the past two days that I didn’t handle everything properly.” He looked at Yan Ming, “Jin Ting is your territory now, so it’s only natural that you have the final say. Lin Zi is one of my men. If you think that he’s useful and want to keep him, then I’ll leave him here, but if you and he don’t follow the same path, I’ll take him away.”
The corners of Yan Ming’s lips curved into a smirk before he snorted with satisfaction, “Those are definitely the words of a righteous man. Then, I won’t investigate the damages that’s been done on my business transactions. You can take Lin Zi with you. It’s not like I don’t have my own men.”
“Li Ge——“ When Xiao Li led Lin Zi and a few other people out, Zhang Xue Ming chased after them, the tone of his voice ringing with a sense of grief as he shouted.
Halting, Xiao Li turned around to look at him.
“Li Ge, you’ve been in charge of Jin Ting for so such a long time, why didn’t you back me up? Don’t you know that Yan Ming, he——“
“Mr. Zhang,” Xiao Li interrupted him, his wording concise and comprehensible, “You’re not Han Jia.”
After saying just those few words, he swiftly turned back and led several of his subordinates out of Jin Ting, leaving Zhang Xue Ming standing alone in bewilderment.
Lin Zi followed behind Xiao Li out with a nervous expression coloring his face. With that same nervous expression, he gave the other a signal to go their separate ways, before he got into the car with Xiao Li. Finally, he asked, still consumed with nervousness, “Li Ge, are you mad?”
“I’m not.” Xiao Li drove while asking, “What’s going on with Yan Ming ordering you around?”
Shifting to look at him Lin Zi’s expression became sluggish as he pulled out a small packet from his suit pocket and gave it to Xiao Li to look.
A white powered substance could be clearly seen from within the simple and crude plastic packaging.
Keeping his eyes on the road ahead, Xiao Li took a quick look, his expression gloomy and unsettling. Then he immediately turned his eyes back on the road in contemplation.
When his cell phone buzzed, he grabbed hold of it with one hand while grasping the steering wheel with the other. Still maintaining a calm mindset, he answered the call.
“h.e.l.lo.”
“Xiao Li, it’s me.” Qi Xiu Yuan’s voice seemed extremely distant through the phone.
Xiao Li gave a crestfallen Lin Zi beside him a quick glance, then asked, “What happened?”
“The situation must be really troublesome, isn’t it? When you said that you wanted me to wait, is it because whatever you’re going to do is extremely dangerous?” Qu Xiu Yuan seemed to be trying his hardest to keep his voice calm. “I want to handle it with you.”
At those words, Xiao Li went silent for a moment. “It doesn’t have anything to do with you.”
“Xiao Li……”
It’s that tone again. I should forbid him from using such a miserable tone to speak. Xiao Li thought before sighing, “It really doesn’t have anything to do with you. Even without you, I would still have to do these things. These are my own personal matters.”
“Your matters are my matters.” Qi Xiu Yuan said with extreme stubbornness, “We’re a couple now, what’s there to separate between us?” [1]
“Who’s with you……”
‘Couple,’ hearing that that beautifully spoken word irritated Xiao Li to the point that he nearly wanted to curse at someone. He gave Lin Zi a glance to calm himself down, then whispered, “I have to take Xiao Yang to the other province tomorrow. Wait for my return and I’ll meet up with you again.”
“Then…I’ll wait for you.” Qi Xiu Yuan replied immediately as if afraid that he had regretted the words that he had said.
Xiao Li did not say anything else, but Qi Xiu Yuan could feel that he was smiling. Within second, Xiao Li slowly said, “If you’re willing to wait, it’ll be fine.”
Qi Xiu Yuan was somewhat at ease as he put his phone away.
Although he received Xiao Li’s promise, he was nonetheless consumed with fear and anxiety that refused to take its leave.
After the men that Xiao Li sent over to protect Han Jia arrived, Qi Xiu Yuan immediately rushed back into the city while his heart and mind waited with uncertainty for any news from Xiao Li.
But when the “tomorrow” that Xiao Li spoke of arrived, he did not receive any call from him. After calling several times, he discovered that Xiao Li’s cell phone was unexpectedly turned off.
Fearful, he started to look for him in everywhere that he could think of. There was no one at Xiao Li’s place. Many people at Jin Ting has been changed so none of them recognized him or was willing to talk about Xiao Li.
When he contacted Xiao Yang, Xiao Yang only told him that Xiao Li returned after bringing him to the next province. Without any other choice, he contacted Han Jia again. After listening to Han Jia, Qi Xiu Yuan discovered that he doesn’t know anything either. In the end, he could only ask Han Jia for Lin Zi’s contact information.
Once Qi Xiu Yuan was able to call Lin Zi, it wasn’t that no one answered the phone, but it was busy the entire time. He patiently dialed the same number repeatedly until it finally went through. However, the information that he obtained made him feel as if a basin of ice cold water was being thrown at him from head to toe.
Xiao Li was arrested by the police in the other province for the possession of drugs and was now detained as a criminal.
—
Translator’s Note:
[1] 两情相悦 – liǎngqíngxiāngyuè, literal translation is “the harmony between a couple” or “to be each other’s sunshine”