roccoschili Chapter 21: Darkness Under the Lamp
Chapter 21: Darkness Under the Lamp
Cheng Xiaojin stood on the stone steps. To his left was the dark, murky waters of Shichahai Lake, to his right was a two-meter-high blue brick wall, and in front of him were a man with a buzz cut and two men in black T-shirts. The footsteps of the pursuers behind him were getting closer and closer.
He reached behind his ear and touched it; the unlit Zhonghua cigarette was still there.
"Hey buddy with the buzz cut, light that cigarette first, let's talk this out."
The crew cut didn't respond, and the steel pipe slapped his palm again.
"There's nothing to say. Mr. Sun instructed us to smash your mouth first."
Cheng Xiaojin didn't retreat; instead, she took two steps forward, reaching the edge of the shadow where the streetlights couldn't reach.
"Fine, I can't stop you if you want to make a move. You three are all 1.8 meters tall, and I'm just a street vendor in Panjiayuan. I can't beat you."
"But I have to settle some accounts with you."
The man with the buzz cut paused for a moment.
"How many years have you worked for Fatty Sun? Three? Four?"
"It's none of your business."
"How can it be nothing? It's a big deal..."
Cheng Xiaojin drew out his words and slowed down his speech.
"How much do you make a month? Five thousand? Eight thousand? If you beat me up today, Mr. Sun will give you an extra five hundred yuan at most."
"Shut up."
The man in the black T-shirt next to the man with the buzz cut took half a step forward and yelled at Cheng Xiaojin.
"When we were working for Boss Sun, you were still wearing open-crotch pants. Who gave you the right to spout nonsense?"
Cheng Xiaojin scoffed, his gaze sweeping over the black T-shirt's pilling collar.
"After following Mr. Sun for so long, I can't even get a new set of clothes?"
"Last year, Fatty Sun bought a Yongzheng famille rose bowl and made 400,000 yuan from it. How much did he give each of you? Two hundred yuan in gas cards?"
The man in the black T-shirt blushed, clenched his fists, and remained silent.
"Think about it, you beat up a well-known figure in Panjiayuan. Tomorrow it'll be all over the place. The crew-cut guy was working for Fatty Sun as a thug, and he beat up someone who just closed a big deal. How will you ever be able to work in this industry again? Who will dare ask you for favors?"
The man with the buzz cut twitched at the corner of his eye. He didn't put the steel pipe down, but he also didn't raise it again.
"You intercepted Mr. Sun's 800,000 yuan deal. Do you think he'll let you off the hook?"
"His business?"
Cheng Xiaojin chuckled.
"He originally planned to buy my things for 10,000 and sell them to Boss Lin for 300,000, pocketing 290,000 in between. Is that what he calls a business deal? You're working for this kind of person?"
The man with the buzz cut twitched at the corner of his mouth.
The footsteps behind us were already more than twenty meters away.
"Stop trying to sow discord here. President Sun has treated us very well."
The man with the buzz cut gritted his teeth, but his words lacked conviction.
"Not stingy? Last month you got into a fight over goods and got hit twice, and your hospital bills were over three thousand. Did Fatty Sun reimburse you?"
Cheng Xiaojin raised an eyebrow, and seeing the change in the buzz-cut man's expression, he knew he was right.
"Don't think I don't know. Your mother was hospitalized last week and needed to pay a deposit. You went to Fatty Sun to ask for an advance on your salary. How much did he give you? What can you do with 500 yuan? Can you buy half a box of anti-inflammatory medicine?"
The man with the buzz cut swayed on the steel pipe. "How the hell did you know?"
"Panjiayuan is such a small place, what can be kept secret?"
Cheng Xiaojin shrugged, his gaze sweeping across the alleyway, where he could already see the pursuers' shadows.
"Enough with the nonsense."
The man with the buzz cut pulled the cigarette from his mouth and threw it on the ground, then raised the steel pipe.
Just then, a beam of white light shone from the bushes by the Shichahai beach.
The white light was extremely strong, sweeping over in a flash and directly covering the faces of the man with the buzz cut and the two men in black T-shirts.
The three men narrowed their eyes at the same time, and the man with the buzz cut instinctively shielded his face with his steel-barreled arm.
Military flashlight.
Tieguai Li's voice came from behind the bushes, "Try taking another step forward."
The man with the buzz cut turned slightly to the side, his eyes watering from the blinding white light, unable to see the direction of the sound.
"Who?"
"Never mind!"
Tieguai Li's flashlight beam did not move away.
"You just opened that electrical distribution box behind you, didn't you? It has a number on it. It's within the surveillance coverage area of Houhai Police Station. You're tampering with the electricity of public facilities, so that's a public security case."
"Who the hell are you trying to scare?"
The man with the buzz cut adjusted his eyes a little and pointed the steel pipe toward the bushes.
"Try it if you don't believe me. I've already dialed the number, I'm just about to press the last button."
As soon as Tieguai Li finished speaking, Cheng Xiaojin bent down and felt a piece of half a brick in the crack of the stone slab. It was about the size of a palm and had sharp edges.
He swung the electrical box at the base of the still-lit street lamp.
The brick hit the metal box lid, sparks flew, and with a snap, the last streetlight went out.
It was completely dark around us.
Only a few scattered golden ripples remained on the surface of Shichahai Lake, reflected by the lights of the distant bar street.
"Walk!"
Cheng Xiaojin grabbed Tieguai Li's arm and turned to run into the dark alley.
Tieguai Li's prosthetic leg bumped against the stone slab, causing him to stagger forward half a step. However, he didn't turn off the military flashlight in his hand. Instead, he swung it left and right twice in the direction of the three men with buzz cuts, completely confusing their vision.
The two of them slipped into a dark alley less than a meter wide next to the stone steps.
The man with the buzz cut chased after him for a few steps, but his right foot slipped on a wet crack in the stone, causing him to stumble. His knee hit the edge of the step, and the steel pipe clattered to the ground.
By the time he got up and picked up the steel pipe, there was no one left in the dark alley.
"damn it."
The man with the buzz cut took two steps into the dark alley. It was so dark that he couldn't see his hand in front of his face. The walls on both sides were full of protruding drain pipes and air conditioner units. He bumped his shoulder against the wall twice and dared not go any further.
The two henchmen who followed behind also stopped at the alley entrance, panting.
"Boss, we can't catch up."
"We have to catch up, even if we can't. Boss Sun said that if we don't catch Cheng Xiaojin, we can forget about our salaries this month."
The man with the buzz cut spat, took out his phone to call Fatty Sun, his fingertips trembling with anger.
The other end of the dark alley leads to a dead end on Gulou Back Street.
Cheng Xiaojin and Tieguai Li leaned against the wall, panting. Both of them were out of breath from running.
Tieguai Li's prosthetic leg thumped against the brick floor. He squatted down, patted the joint with his hand, and cursed under his breath.
"That damn leg, it always lets you down at the crucial moment."
"Old Li, what are you doing there?"
"Master Ma sent me."
Tieguai Li turned off the flashlight and put it in the side pocket of his work pants.
"He called me in the afternoon and told me to keep an eye on the north bank of Houhai before dark, saying that I might not be able to leave smoothly after I finished my business today."
Cheng Xiaojin was stunned for a moment.
"Did Master Ma know that Fatty Sun would ambush people?"
"His exact words were, 'Sun Bingde is the kind of person who can give up money, but he can't lose face. You stripped him naked in front of Boss Lin, and if he doesn't get his revenge tonight, he won't be able to stay in Panjiayuan.'"
Cheng Xiaojin slid down the wall and sat on the ground, only then feeling a burning pain in his left elbow.
I bumped into a drainpipe in the corner when I was going through the alley. My sleeve was torn, the skin was turned inside out, and blood was seeping out.
Tieguai Li glanced at his elbow.
"It's just a minor cut, nothing serious."
"Where's the bag?"
"Uncle Zhou took it away. Take a taxi to Master Qi's place."
Tieguai Li nodded and took out a piece of oily cotton gauze from his work pants pocket and handed it to him.
Cheng Xiaojin took it and haphazardly wrapped it around her elbow, hissing as she did so.
"Is Uncle Zhou alright?"
"I'll send him a text message."
Cheng Xiaojin took out his phone and sent Zhou Banxian a message saying "Peace".
After waiting for about twenty seconds, Zhou Banxian replied with three words.
We've arrived, safe.
Cheng Xiaojin breathed a sigh of relief, put his phone back in his pocket, and was about to stand up when Tieguai Li leaned against the wall without moving, his flashlight bulging out of his pocket.
"Little Gold".
"Um?"
Tieguai Li lowered his voice even further, so low that it could only be heard by putting your ear close to his.
I passed by Huguosi Street before I came here.
"What's wrong?"
"Sun the Fatty's black bread truck is parked in front of Tong Kexin's braised food stall."
Cheng Xiaojin's expression changed, and the hand supporting her against the wall clenched into a fist.
"Where did he go?"
"I stood at the entrance of the alley for two minutes and then Fatty Sun got out of the car and went in. He asked Tong Kexin about your address and who you've been associating with lately."
Tieguai Li paused, his tone turning somber.
"Tong Kexin didn't say anything, but Fatty Sun had two chairs smashed in front of her stall. He said if she didn't take the initiative to apologize to him tomorrow, he would come and smash her stall every day so she couldn't do business."
"He dares."
Cheng Xiaojin gritted his teeth and stood up from the ground. The gauze on his elbow had been torn loose, and blood was dripping down his forearm.
"Damn his ancestor Sun Bingde! If you have any problems, come at me. What kind of skill is it to make things difficult for a girl?"
"Don't rush."
Tieguai Li reached out and grabbed him.
"When I came over, his car was still there. I guess he was waiting for you to be caught. He might still be here."