When Xiao Li walked out of the entrance of the station that he was kept before release, there was already a black off-road vehicle waiting outside for him.
"Xiao Li." A sturdy looking man wearing a pair of black sunglasses stood outside of the building called his name before walking towards him.
"Did Mr. Zhou speak to you about this already?" [1]
"You're the person that's here to pick me up?" Xiao Li raised his head for a glance at the person. Looking at his height, he seemed to tower over the average person. Someone strong and built like Lin Zi was already 190cm, but this man was even taller than him.
"I don't know if you've ever heard the name 'Haozhu Chen' [2] before, have you?" The man stretched his right hand out and smiled while saying, "But, 'Daoba Xiao' [3] has a well-known reputation here."
Xiao Li firmly grasped his hand for a moment, "I've never heard that before. But, the name Chen Wu. I don't dare to recklessly say it out in the open."
"You flatter me." Chen Wu gestured for them to walk towards the off-road vehicle, while taking the time to speak with him, "It was rather difficult getting you out of here, why don't you seem very happy about it?"
Xiao Li did not look at him nor gave a reply as he followed behind him. Just as he opened the car door, he was met with a blast of surprise.
There was already someone in the vehicle and to make it worse, it was a very familiar looking person.
"Xiao Li, long time no see." A woman [4] with curly hair lifted her head causing the syringe in her hand to clumsily fall out, "When I heard that you're being picked up, I immediately took the chance to come with and continue our fated meeting just like before ah."
Remembering that face, Xiao Li quickly retreated while simultaneously swinging his elbow back so that he could strike forward, however, there was someone waiting behind him already. His arm was grasped with great strength, while the other arm was pulled back close to his shoulder blade. Then he was forced to walk forward.
The woman inside the car quickly moved over. Within seconds, a sharp needle punctured his shoulder. She pushed the end of syringe, allowing more than half the liquid inside to invade his skin.
Ignoring the glower wolfing down Xiao Li's appearance as well as his struggle to get free, the curly hair woman licked her lips and pulled in closer to the side of his face. "Every time I see Li Ge…a man like you, I just want to 'stick' it in."
Xiao Li's brows drew together as the last bit of soberness took refuge in his eyes.
—-
Holding a stick of cigarette loosely in his mouth, Yan Ming waited at the intersection with impatience and uneasiness.
Sun Ze Yu never personally appeared, but he had contacted Lu Wu. This area was the designated location that Lu Wu informed his subordinates would come to meet them. But the time that they had scheduled in advance has already passed by for more than half an hour. The other party has yet to appear and seeing that they did not have their detailed contacts either, made Yan Ming's uneasiness even more intense than before.
"Ming Ge," his most trusted confidant peered his head out from within the driver's head to explore the surrounding area. "Should we give Qing Ye a call?"
"Wait a bit longer." Yan Ming inhaled another puff of smoke before his brows wrinkled together.
"Ming Ge, you also know how ruthless Li Ge's fists are. If by chance he struck Lu Wu's men and ran off, Qing Ye will be at a dead loss and all his efforts would be in vain. Worse, wouldn't we be blamed for it?"
"I'm not the only one that knows the ruthlessness of his fists. I don't believe Lu Wu is the kind of person that would not be keep his open eye and be alert about it this kind of thing. More so, he knows of what Xiao Li has done before." Yan Ming said in a fidgety manner. As expected, the more he pondered, the more anxious he felt which only caused him to walk back towards the car to get his cell phone.
"Hey! Ming Ge, is it that car?"
A black off-road vehicle drove towards them from the distance. Strange enough, although the weather was rather pleasant, all the windows were closed.
Yan Ming waited for the vehicle to approach before he moved in closer. Once the window rolled down, it revealed a tall and robust looking driver, wearing a pair of black sunglasses.
"Chen Wu?" Yan Ming said, a bit startled as he looked at the scar on Chen Wu's forehead.
"We're a bit late," Chen Wu snorted, "I had to take my comrade to the hospital on the way here. From the look of it, two of her ribs were broken."
Hearing that, Yan Ming did not know what kind expression to put on. Chen Wu, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes at him from behind the sunglasses. "Your younger brother here has really strong bones. Even when he's been drugged to this extent, he still has the guts to risk his life just to attack us back. You see, my arm was nearly destroyed by him. Let me say this," he hesitated for a moment, "If you guys don't have any intention of keeping this person, remember to give him to us."
"What? You've taken a liking to him?" Yan Min openly sneered, "Don't worry, it won't be your turn no matter what."
Without expressing any other opinion, Chen Wu kept his mouth closed and raised his chin as a signal for Yan Ming to open the back door himself.
When Yan Ming opened the door, the two rows of seats in the off-road vehicle were already torn and thrown out. Xiao L was lying down in an extremely uncomfortable posture. His eyes were half open, half closed, disorientation and blurriness clearly visible with just a glance at his expression.
"What drug did you use?" Yan Ming' reached out to inspect Xiao Li's eyes.
"Who knows?" Chen Wu said, "That comrade of mine drugged him. Mr. Yan, aren't you an expert in the usage of drugs? You can't tell?"
Yan Ming scoffed, 'no comment.'
His confidant had already run over early on and dragged Xiao Li out of the vehicle. He then grabbed him by the waist and heaved him on his shoulder before returning to their own car just a distance away.
As the confidant carried Xiao Li away, Chen Wu looked at their backs, the corner of his lips tensed into a purse.
'SLAM!'
Yan Ming shut the back door and tapped on the window. "There's no need for you to sigh with sorrow like that. Since he wants to leave the gang, it's the same as betrayal. No matter where you go, this kind of situation doesn't have a good result. "
Chen Wu gave him a glance then started the engine and drove off without rolling the windows back up.
—
"Okay……bring him back." Li Shi Qing hung up on the phone call and faced Sun Ze Yu with a smile masking his face. "Thank you Sun Tingzhang, Xiao Li is already on his way back."
Sun Ze merely said 'it's fine', then looked at Li Shi Qing from the corner of his eye. "Then you must not forget, since this person is back, he is considered to not be a part of the gang any longer."
"I understand." Li Shi Qing smiled faintly, then said in between pauses, "Who has such great power and influence to be able to make Sun Tingzhang find me and ask for this person?"
"Who said I'm not the one that wants him, huh?" Sun Ze Yu said absent-mindedly.
"Sun Tingzhang, what do you need a gangster for?" Li Shi Qing's smile did not change the entire time. "The person who has the good relationship with you must be the one with this kind of thought, right?"
"A good relationship?" Sun Ze Yu's complexion sank. He snorted before saying, "In short, I want you to let Xiao Li go, but…I've never demanded that he be the slightest uninjured. Do you understand?"
Li Shi Qing merely smiled.
A few minutes later, Sun Ze Yu impatiently stood up, "Cut his hand, his leg or gauge his eyes out, just do as you wish. I only promised the other person I'll take him out of the gang, but I never promised what condition he would be in."
Li Shi Qing also stood up and politely walked him out while smoothly and evasively saying, "Then I'll handle it according to what Sun Tingzhang mean."
—
"Hello, Sun Tingzhang." Qi Xiu Yuan spoke into the handset, "I wanted to ask you, how is the matter that I've asked you for help with coming along now?"
"Qi laoshi, since you've been asking me every single day, you must really be concern about your rival in love." Sun Ze Yu replied in an unhurried mannerism.
In truth, Qi Xiu Yuan does not have any desire, whatsoever, to speak to with him. "Please answer me."
"Xiao Li has already returned and I've also told Li Shi Qing that I want him out."
Qi Xiu Yuan let out a sign of relief, "Then, is he safe now?"
Sun Ze Yu smiled and whispered, "Now? Qi laoshi, you only said that you want the person, you've never set a time limit, did you?"
Those words forced Qi Xiu Yuan's brows together, "What do you mean?"
"Qi laoshi, I'm doing this for your own good." Sun Ze Yu paused for a moment before speaking again, "If Xiao Li came back with his hands and legs still completely attached, he'll really escape somewhere far with Han Jia. Wouldn't your love be a fail then, hmmm?"
Qi Xiu Yuan went silent for a moment then a few words squeezed out from the gaps between his teeth, "You're messing with me?"
"How can that be? Qi laoshi, you'll understand my earnest efforts sooner or later. I'm only helping you—"
"Where is Li Shi Qing's house?" Qi Xiu Yuan immediately interrupted him.
"What?"
"Where is Li Shi Qing's house?!" Qi Xiu Yuan shouted, flustered and exasperated.
This time, Sun Ze Yu went silent instead. A moment later, he said coldly, "Sorry, I don't know." The phone call was then disconnected before anything else could be said.
Worried, Qi Xiu Yuan gritted his teeth in anger. First, he dialed Xiao Li's number, just as he did every day since he was in police custody. As expected, it was still turned off.
Without any other option, he felt compel to get in contact with Han Jia, but before he could dial the number, another call came through.
"Ge, Ge, quickly come and get me!" Susu's voice was a raveled with confusion.
"What happened? I have an urgent matter to—-"
"Ge," Susu's voice cracked as if on the verge of tears, "There's a pervert stalking me. When I went to work this morning, I saw him outside staring at me. Right now, I'm in a public telephone booth on Yu Xin road. It's really dark and scary outside, I don't have the nerve to walk out. Ge, come here and get me!"
"……stay there and don't move. I'll go immediately."
Qi Xiu Yuan closed the phone and turn to face the driver, "Make a U-turn and go to Yu Xin road."
The driver seemed to be someone that had experienced all kinds of strange scenarios since he was not the least curious at the sudden change of direction. Even more surprising, he didn't give Qi Xiu Yuan a glance either as he went about and turned the car around.
Translator's Note:
[1] Mr. Zhou - a lawyer mentioned in the previous chapter
[2] Haozhu Chen - Haozhu means 'porcupine' so in this instant, he's introducing himself as "Porcupine Chen". I'll leave it as Haozhu Chen for the time being since the translated version of it is awkward for me. But, his real name is "Chen Wu".
[3] Daoba Xiao - 'Scarred face Xiao' is what Xiao Li is known as, but it is not used often. This was mentioned earlier in the novel; forget which chapter it was T^T
[4] Curly hair woman - she's from chapter 14, who chased after Xiao Li after he had jumped out of that room near Arc' de Triomphe