Chen Jian followed behind Shan Yu, looking at the back of his head, unable to quite figure him out.
He had been through a lot and met many people growing up, but Shan Yu was someone who couldn’t even be categorized—he’d need his own separate classification.
There was no need to guess—the ones who had gone to Zhenxi were a few of Xiao Pan’s buddies. Chen Jian could more or less figure out which ones. The whole town, including the old district, found them troublesome, but most of the time, they could only endure it.
Shan Yu’s way of doing things—clearly not understanding the situation and not planning to—worried him a little. If he pissed off that bunch, forget a few months, some people might not even last a few weeks.
No, there was no “if.” Chen Jian felt that as soon as Shan Yu opened his mouth, the “if” would disappear.
“Go ahead,” Shan Yu suddenly turned his head and said.
“It’s just a straight road,” Chen Jian took a few quick steps forward. “You still need someone to lead the way?”
“I’m afraid you’ll tip them off,” Shan Yu said bluntly.
Chen Jian was silent for a moment before glancing back at him. “So you’re putting me in the same group as them?”
“Not exactly,” Shan Yu said. “I’m just cautious. If you were worried about a conflict, you might call to warn them—it’s not impossible.”
“When did you ever show that you’re cautious?” Chen Jian actually couldn’t convince that group, but he wanted to try persuading Shan Yu instead. Six thousand a month—at least let him collect two months’ worth. He looked at Shan Yu sincerely. “You know to check out the town’s business landscape, so why not also learn about the people here?”
“You can get a rough idea of a town at a glance. A person? You might not figure them out in a lifetime,” Shan Yu said. “I don’t feel like it.”
“You never planned to stick around here, did you?” Chen Jian asked.
“Worried about that triple salary?” Shan Yu asked back.
“I could work for half a year on two thousand. If I said I wasn’t worried about six thousand, that’d be a lie,” Chen Jian answered honestly.
“I’ll give it to you later,” Shan Yu said.
Liu Wu was very obedient, waiting for them at the intersection.
As soon as he spotted them from afar, he ran over. Seeing Chen Jian, he suddenly realized, “Bro, the sixth person you were talking about was Chen Jian, right? You said there was someone else beside you!”
“Don’t lump me in!” Chen Jian said.
“Are they still inside?” Shan Yu asked.
“Yeah,” Liu Wu said. “I haven’t seen them come out. I wanted to ask the innkeeper from yesterday about them, but I couldn’t find her.”
“Wait here.” Shan Yu twisted the handlebars and rode down the small path.
“I’ll go with you,” Liu Wu didn’t hesitate.
Shan Yu didn’t say anything—he just glanced at him.
Liu Wu stopped in his tracks.
“I’ll call you later,” Shan Yu said.
Chen Jian’s motorcycle was parked neatly against the courtyard wall.
In the middle of the yard, five other motorcycles were parked haphazardly. A few people sat around a small stone table playing cards, cigarettes dangling from their lips.
The weather wasn’t hot anymore—mornings and evenings were even a bit chilly—but two of them still had their shirts off, probably to show off the faded, barely recognizable tattoos on their backs.
When they saw Shan Yu appear in his wheelchair, they didn’t move, still staring at their cards.
Shan Yu didn’t say anything either, just quietly watching them.
Just as Chen Jian was about to walk over, Shan Yu finally spoke. “That’s some high-level card playing. All relying on telepathy?”
For people who lived by their reputation, having their casual act exposed so bluntly was humiliating.
The guy sitting facing the entrance couldn’t hold back. He slapped his cards onto the table and looked up.
The others followed—some threw down their cards, some flicked them into the air, scattering them all over the ground.
Seeing this, Chen Jian regretted not taping Shan Yu’s mouth shut before coming in. He grabbed the wheelchair’s handle, trying to pull him out of the yard, but it didn’t budge.
Shan Yu had locked the wheels.
To be honest, Chen Jian didn’t want to get involved in this. If not for that twelve thousand, he would’ve been waiting at the intersection with Liu Wu.
But now, Chen Erhu had already seen him come in with Shan Yu. There was no avoiding trouble.
Normally, Chen Erhu came to collect protection fees—intimidation and harassment were part of the deal, but it was mostly a long-term, sustainable business. However, his brother seemed to have some financial dispute with Qian Yu. If they pinned everything on Shan Yu, who knew what else might happen?
“Erhu,” Chen Jian spoke up to break the tense atmosphere, testing the waters.
“None of your business,” Chen Erhu immediately found his target and started cursing, pointing at Chen Jian. “Look at you—this guy shows up yesterday, and today you’re already playing errand boy!”
Chen Jian didn’t respond. He simply stepped sideways, moving out of Erhu’s line of fire.
“It’s all about making money,” Shan Yu said. “If I offered you that price, you’d be impressive too.”
Chen Jian really wanted to cover Shan Yu’s mouth. This guy didn’t seem to care about anything—as long as he had his moment, whatever happened next was someone else’s problem.
“This boss sure talks big,” Chen Erhu stared at Shan Yu. “Do you even know who I am?”
“Erhu, do you know who I am?” Shan Yu asked slowly, reaching into the side pocket of his wheelchair.
Everyone stared at his hand. They knew he couldn’t pull out anything lethal, but with his unbothered attitude, he might just whip out a giant firecracker to scare them.
A wallet.
Chen Jian felt both he and Chen Erhu exhale in relief.
“This is my business card,” Shan Yu said unhurriedly, pulling out a card and holding it out toward Erhu.
Erhu gestured at San Bing beside him. San Bing walked over.
Just as San Bing reached out to take the card, Shan Yu let go.
San Bing hesitated for a moment, unsure whether to curse outright or wait for Erhu’s signal. Before he could decide, Shan Yu grabbed his wrist and yanked.
The force was directly downward. San Bing staggered and dropped to his knees beside Shan Yu’s leg. The momentum sent his head crashing into the wheelchair’s metal armrest.
“Fu-ck!” San Bing clutched his forehead, gritting his teeth.
Chen Jian could tell Shan Yu knew how to use his strength skillfully. He had already noticed it when Shan Yu was swinging that baseball bat. If San Bing were a stick instead of a person, he’d probably be spinning through the air right now.
To prevent San Bing from attacking the moment he got up, Chen Jian quickly went over and helped him up.
Blood seeped between San Bing’s fingers. It was a hard hit. He didn’t even struggle against Chen Jian’s support, so Chen Jian used the chance to move him a couple of steps back.
But the others weren’t going to just stand there.
Erhu was loyal to his crew—even if he bossed them around, he had their backs. This time, he charged in himself.
Chen Jian watched as Shan Yu flicked out his collapsible cane—one swift motion, snap.
The cane spun toward Chen Erhu’s face but only tapped lightly against his chest before returning to Shan Yu’s hand.
There was no doubt—Chen Erhu had never seen a move like this before. He stopped in place.
Seizing the moment, Chen Jian quickly stepped between them and lowered his voice. “Don’t act on impulse. He’s not just some ordinary guy.”
Then what kind of guy was he? Chen Jian hadn’t quite figured that out himself. But he was sure about one thing—Chen Erhu could already tell Shan Yu wasn’t normal. Someone needed to give him a way out.
“You came in and hurt one of my guys!” Chen Erhu glared over Chen Jian’s shoulder at Shan Yu. “How are we settling this?”
“If you’re here to collect protection fees, then act like it,” Shan Yu twirled the cane lazily in his right hand. “If you come at me aggressively, this is what happens.”
Chen Erhu had probably never gotten a response like this before. He had no immediate comeback.
“You need to understand—you’re the one taking money from me, in exchange for protection services,” Shan Yu said. “This is a long-term supply-and-demand relationship, isn’t it?”
“What the hell?” San Bing snapped out of his daze and blurted out.
“I’m not that desperate to stay here.” Shan Yu added.
“If this can be talked out,” Chen Jian caught Shan Yu’s drift and lowered his voice to persuade Chen Erhu, “there’s no need to fight.”
“We’re not thugs!” Chen Erhu raised his voice, pointing at Shan Yu. “Did we lay a hand on him? He’s the one who started it!”
“Fair enough.” Shan Yu turned his wheelchair and rolled toward the stone table.
The group instinctively made way for him.
“Here.” Shan Yu stopped beside the table, pointed at the stone surface, then at his own forehead, and looked at Chen Erhu. “Let your guy get even.”
Surrender.
Chen Jian quickly glared at him before Chen Erhu could speak. “Don’t mess around! Erhu just said—they’re not thugs! They don’t fight!”
Whether Chen Erhu was a thug or not was debatable, but since Chen Jian had stepped in, he could only grumble, “Cut the crap.”
“Alright, then—cash?” Shan Yu pulled a hundred-yuan bill from his wallet and held it out to San Bing. “Go get your wound checked. Probably doesn’t need stitches, but if it does, bring me the receipt.”
Chen Jian felt like his head was about to explode. He didn’t want to offend either side, but neither side was easy to deal with.
Before Chen Erhu could react, Chen Jian snatched the money from Shan Yu and shoved it into San Bing’s hand.
Fortunately, today had been a first for Chen Erhu—the first time he had ever felt truly confused in his gangster career. That gave Chen Jian enough time to keep interrupting, never letting his anger fully build up.
“Erhu, you—” Chen Jian was about to suggest that Erhu leave and come back another time when he wasn’t around.
“Do you want to talk about the protection fee arrangement?” Shan Yu asked.
“What?” Chen Jian and Chen Erhu both blurted out in shock.
“Rates, service coverage, working hours, payment methods—that kind of thing,” Shan Yu said.
Chen Erhu was completely speechless. How the hell was he supposed to answer that?
“This isn’t something that can be settled in a few words…” Chen Jian struggled to smooth things over.
“True,” Shan Yu nodded. “If we’re going to discuss it, we should set up a proper time. I’ll be busy fixing this place up for the next few days. Let’s arrange something next week.”
Chen Erhu still said nothing.
Shan Yu put away his cane, rolled up to Chen Erhu, and extended his hand. “Pleasure doing business.”
Chen Erhu hesitated for a solid three seconds before shaking his hand.
“If you want to set up a time, just contact Chen Jian,” Shan Yu added before rolling into the house.
“What the… fu-ck?” San Bing walked over. “What does this mean?”
“Not bad, Chen Jian,” Chen Erhu finally snapped out of it, turning his last bit of frustration toward him. “You sure know how to climb the ranks.”
“I’m not like you guys,” Chen Jian sighed. “I need to survive. I need to make money.”
“What does he mean by all this?” San Bing was still confused.
“He means he’s willing to pay you guys, and you provide him security,” Chen Jian explained.
“A security guard?” San Bing asked.
“Did you knock your brain loose?” Chen Erhu snapped at him.
“More like a bodyguard.” Chen Jian said. “Unless… Erhu, you actually want to consider it? It’s not a bad deal. Like he said, he doesn’t have to stay here. If he leaves, you guys won’t make a dime.”
Erhu didn’t respond. He was silent for a moment before turning and straddling his motorcycle. The others followed suit.
“You bastard,” Erhu pointed at Chen Jian. “Let’s see how long you last.”
The motorcycles roared to life and sped out of the yard, kicking up dust along the narrow road.
Chen Jian let out a long breath and crouched down. “Fu-ck.”
Who knew how this whole mess would end? Earning this twelve thousand felt like licking blood off a knife’s edge.
He spotted the business card Shan Yu had dropped earlier, picked it up, and glanced at it.
Then he cursed. “Motherfu-cker.”
It was Qian Yu’s business card.
He tossed it back on the ground and walked into the house.
Shan Yu was sitting by the window, sipping a glass of orange juice.
“Boss Shan…” Chen Jian walked over but didn’t even get a chance to continue before the room suddenly lit up.
“Oh?” Shan Yu looked up. “Power’s back.”
“We need to talk,” Chen Jian said.
“About what?” Shan Yu set down his glass.
“I don’t care what kind of mess you make,” Chen Jian pulled out a chair and sat in front of him. “But I’m just a worker, right? I make six thousand a month, handling your food, housing, and contacts while fixing up this huge house. That already makes you a shitty boss, doesn’t it?”
“Shitty,” Shan Yu nodded.
“And if you add this kind of situation to the job?” Chen Jian continued. “Then wouldn’t that make it…”
“You can leave,” Shan Yu said.
“What?” Chen Jian stared at him.
“When I had Liu Wu wait at the intersection, you could’ve stayed there with him,” Shan Yu said. “Why did you come in?”
Chen Jian stayed silent.
“I can give you a raise, or next time something like this happens, you can stay out of it,” Shan Yu said. “Your choice.”
Chen Jian sighed, leaned back in his chair, and didn’t want to say anything anymore.
“I’ll add a thousand,” Shan Yu said. “Per month.”
Chen Jian glanced at him.
“You wouldn’t back out even if I didn’t raise your pay,” Shan Yu said. “Might as well take a little extra.”
Chen Jian grabbed the orange juice bottle, took two swigs, wiped his mouth, and stared at him. “Boss Shan, do you realize you just stirred up trouble?”
“A bunch of kids,” Shan Yu chuckled. “Hardly trouble.”
“They’re not that young.” Chen Jian said.
“They’re about your age, right? Twenty?” Shan Yu said.
“How old are you?” Chen Jian asked. “Calling twenty-year-olds kids?”
“A full zodiac cycle older than you.” Shan Yu said.
That made it sound impressive. It took Chen Jian a second to process. “So… only six years older?”
“If you think it’s not worth it, I could say I’m sixty years older,” Shan Yu said. “Call me grandpa—it won’t kill you.”
Chen Jian sighed, feeling like there was no point continuing this conversation.
“Bro! Shan Yu!” Liu Wu’s voice suddenly rang out from outside. Probably unsure of the situation, he had been yelling for courage as he entered the yard. “Bro! Shan Yu! Shan Yu—”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m here,” Shan Yu raised his voice. “Shut up, you’re giving me a headache.”
