Chapter 48: Little Brother

Dusk.

The evening glow blazed like fire, painting half the sky crimson.

Birds skimmed over the distant mountains and forests, leaving behind a lingering chorus of calls.

Pedestrians strolled through the streets of Wangla Town, some leisurely, others hurried.

Everything felt ordinary.

Zhong Yuan and Xiao Hua sat in a small street-side eatery, quickly finishing their dinner. Xiao Hua returned to the hotel first. After wandering around the town for a while, Zhong Yuan rented a motorcycle and headed to Dongli City.

From Wangla Town to Dongli City, it takes about an hour by motorcycle.

When Zhong Yuan arrived in Dongli, night had just fallen. He found an internet café in the city and went inside.

The café was quite busy, mostly filled with young people, some even underage.

Zhong Yuan scanned the room and sat next to a young man who had a few streaks of red dyed in his bangs. As soon as he sat down, the young man turned to look at him, scrutinizing his face before scoffing in a tone laced with disdain.

Zhong Yuan ignored it, started up the computer, and fiddled with it for a bit before getting up to buy two bottles of drinks and a pack of cigarettes at the counter. Returning to his seat, he placed one bottle and the pack of cigarettes next to the young man. When the young man glanced over, Zhong Yuan smiled and said, “Hey, little brother, I’m not very good with this computer. Could you teach me a bit?”

The young man frowned, clearly reluctant, but with the drinks and cigarettes right in front of him, he hesitated and finally asked, “What do you want to do?”

Zhong Yuan replied, “Nothing much, just want to download some movies to watch.”

Hearing this, the young man leaned over, helping him install a video download program while asking, “What kind of movies do you want?”

Zhong Yuan said, “Anything, really.” Then paused and added, “Do you have anything with homosexual themes?”

The young man’s hands paused, glancing at him with surprise. “Are you gay?”

Zhong Yuan waved it off. “Not me. It’s my younger brother. He recently told me he likes guys, so I wanted to... understand a bit.”

The young man stared at him for a moment before asking, “How old is your brother?”

“Just turned twenty,” Zhong Yuan answered.

Upon hearing that, the young man didn’t ask further. Soon, he helped get the software running and found several popular TV shows and movies with homosexual themes.

Zhong Yuan thanked him profusely.

After over an hour, the young man, frustrated with a game, threw off his headphones and grabbed a cigarette, about to step outside. Just as he stood, he stopped, glanced back at Zhong Yuan, and gave him a playful shove.

Zhong Yuan took off his headphones.

“Wanna step out for a smoke?” the young man waved the pack of cigarettes Zhong Yuan had given him.

Zhong Yuan smiled and nodded, “Sure!”

The two stepped outside together.

Once outside, Zhong Yuan pulled out a cigarette and offered one to the young man. Just as he was about to light up, the young man tapped him again, and when Zhong Yuan looked, he pointed to a dim sum shop across the street. “Come on, let’s grab something to eat first! It’s on me!”

Zhong Yuan quickly declined, “I’ll treat you!”

The young man chuckled softly, slung an arm around Zhong Yuan’s shoulder, and led him across the street.

The dim sum shop was spacious and quite busy.

Upon entering, the young man greeted a group at a table: “Xiao Cai, Sister Na…”

There were four people seated — three men and one woman. Hearing the greeting, they all looked over at the pair. Seeing him with a stranger of Chinese descent, some were surprised. One asked, “Brother Hong, who’s this?”

Brother Hong pulled Zhong Yuan to sit among them and explained, “Just met this uncle at the internet café. He said he wants to find some gay-themed movies to watch.”

At that, the others looked at Zhong Yuan with a different gaze.

Zhong Yuan awkwardly smiled and explained, “My younger brother recently said he likes guys. I’m trying to find some movies to understand that side of things.”

At that moment, Brother Hong added, “His brother is only twenty!” He glanced at the man sitting opposite him.

The man met Zhong Yuan’s eyes and smiled, saying, “This kind of thing is usually innate, but your brother is young and brave to face it so openly.”

Zhong Yuan smiled awkwardly, saying nothing further.

The man looked at him for a moment, then suddenly asked, “What’s your name, uncle?”

“I’m Li,” Zhong Yuan replied.

“Uncle Li, can I get your contact? I have a friend who’s also gay. I could introduce you; maybe it’ll help.”

Zhong Yuan’s face brightened. “Wouldn’t it be too much trouble?”

“No, fate brought us together!” the man said with a grin.

After a shy smile, Zhong Yuan gave his number. The man jotted it down on his phone.

After that, Brother Hong invited Zhong Yuan to order some food.

After eating and drinking, Zhong Yuan spent three thousand baht. When he left the dim sum shop, more than an hour had passed. Brother Hong, a little drunk and flushed, hugged him by the shoulder and insisted on taking him to sing karaoke.

Zhong Yuan declined, saying he had things to do at home, and slipped away.

Later, he wandered the city again to make sure he wasn’t being followed. Only then did he retrieve his motorcycle and head back to Wangla Town.

By the time he returned, it was nearly midnight.

Xiao Hua and Zhong Da were already asleep. But Zhong Da hadn’t slept well; he woke as soon as Zhong Yuan came in.

Seeing him, Zhong Da rubbed his eyes, glanced at the clock, and asked, “Brother, there’s some supper on the table. Want some?”

Zhong Yuan shook his head, “No thanks. You sleep. I’ll take a shower and sleep too.”

“Okay,” Zhong Da replied and lay back down.

After his shower, Zhong Yuan found Zhong Da fast asleep. He quietly climbed onto the empty bed nearby, pulled out his phone, and stared at Chen Mingjiang’s number for a long while before finally deciding to text him.

“I have something that might be connected to the human trafficking business over in Songkhla Province. Interested?”

It was already past midnight.

But Chen Mingjiang was clearly awake. Not long after the message was sent, he replied.

“You’re not sure?”

Zhong Yuan smiled and responded, “The files are encrypted. I can’t open them.”

“So, you want me to help crack them?”

“Not exactly. It’s not very useful to me. I just thought you might be interested. If you are, we can meet and I’ll show you. If not, no worries.”

This time, Chen Mingjiang fell silent for a while.

“Where are you?”

Zhong Yuan replied, “At the border between Dongli and Luokun provinces, Wangla Town.”

“Alright, I’ll message you before I head out tomorrow.”

Zhong Yuan smiled, didn’t reply further, and set the phone aside, lying down.

The night passed swiftly.

Early the next morning, Xiao Hua returned with breakfast and announced as she entered, “When I came up, the front desk was watching the news. They said there have been several large gunfights in Ai City these past two days, with quite a few casualties!”

Zhong Yuan said nothing.

To him, this was no surprise.

The Ai Kun Villa had burned down, and its owner had vanished. That place was always deep waters, hiding many restless factions. Now that Ai Kun was gone and the Foshou Gang leaderless, those factions would naturally seize the opportunity to strike. If they could snatch territory from the Foshou Gang, all the better. If not, at least weaken them, or cause them some trouble.

Songkhla Province was bound to be chaotic. The Foshou Gang certainly wouldn’t give up their turf easily, but reclaiming full control would be no simple task.

For Zhong Yuan, the chaos would divert the Foshou Gang’s forces and attention, making his next moves considerably safer.