Volume One, Chapter 14: Diverting Trouble Elsewhere
Page 1/3
Li Duoshun instinctively rose, placing his younger brother behind him as a shield, and politely called out to the newcomer, “Boss Lin.”
Li Duocai was still feeling dizzy and unsteady, but he was not the type to hide behind his brother when trouble came knocking.
So, he stepped out from behind Li Duoshun and stood shoulder to shoulder with him, wearing a flattering smile as he looked at Boss Lin.
“If there’s something you need, why didn’t you just call me? I would have rushed to the North District to meet you immediately. Why trouble yourself to come all the way to this filthy, muddy slum?”
Boss Lin scoffed, “What do you mean, ‘what’s the matter’? You’ve got some nerve. Not only did you intercept my goods, but you’re also pretending to be clueless here? Do you think old Lin is a fool?”
“We’re innocent! We wouldn’t dare. There must be some misunderstanding.”
“Misunderstanding? Ha! Teach them a lesson!”
With a wave of his hand, several men behind Boss Lin crowded into the shabby shack, intending to rough up the Li brothers.
The cramped space made it difficult to fight properly, so their attention turned to the nearby objects.
Seeing that they were about to trash the place, Li Duocai shouted urgently, “Stop, stop! Let’s talk this through! Don’t kick, don’t kick…”
This was their hard-earned little fortune, tossed aside like garbage!
When the men cleared some space and were about to lay hands on them, Li Duocai hastened to explain, “I can explain! We didn’t touch your goods, really! The merchandise is still there. If you don’t believe me, I can tell you where to look for it, and you can see for yourselves!”
Boss Lin made a ‘hold on’ gesture. “Fine, tell me—where is the merchandise now?”
…
Outside, Wang Jiazhu was covertly observing the situation. When he saw Boss Lin’s men enter the Li brothers’ rundown shack and then heard the sounds of fists and kicks inside, he immediately took advantage of the empty street to slip away quietly.
Keeping an eye on the Li brothers was one thing, but watching the overlord of the North District was far too dangerous.
He sneaked back home and had just closed the door when he heard Old Mrs. Wang’s concerned voice behind him, “Were you noticed? What’s the situation outside now?”
Their homes were close enough that the noise from the fighting reached them.
“Nothing much. Just those two intercepted someone’s goods and got beaten up at the door.”
“Then what’s with the smell of meat?”
“Just a little bit on the ground, no bigger than a palm. Probably some animal meat.”
Phew... at least it wasn’t human flesh. Otherwise, given how close they lived and how many elderly, weak, sick, and disabled people were around, they’d be easy targets.
Old Mrs. Wang sighed in relief, relaxing her tense body, and soon felt drowsy. “It’s nothing. Everyone go back to sleep.”
“I’ll walk you home…”
“No need. It was urgent before; now it’s fine. No need for you to carry me—it’s just next door. I’ll walk back slowly myself. You’d better get to bed.”
“All right, then take care…”
…
After enduring several punches and kicks, the Li brothers finally calmed down and detailed the entire ordeal of their ambush and murder attempt on Lin Youyu, including how Lin Youyu was thrown into the sea and came back to life.
Page 2/3
“You say she came back to life?” Boss Lin turned to his men and repeated, “They say she came back to life? Ha! Do you believe that?”
Everyone quickly shook their heads.
“See? Nobody believes it, so—” Boss Lin strode forward and kicked Li Duocai hard, knocking him to the ground again. “You damn liar! You think you can fool me? Huh? I’m not letting you get away with it!”
He continued kicking and stomping several times before his men pulled him back.
“Tell the truth! If you keep babbling nonsense, I’ll have both your legs broken!”
Li Duocai trembled in pain but forced himself to speak, “I—I’ll tell.”
Li Duoshun, unable to watch his brother get beaten again, tried to speak up, but Li Duocai motioned him to remain silent and went on:
“At the time, we didn’t realize we hit her head. She just lay there. We checked her breath and found none. We thought we’d killed her.”
“We panicked and immediately thought about how to hide her. Luckily, we had just found—”
“Found?”
“Stolen! We stole a small boat, so we decided to throw her into the sea to leave no evidence. We never expected to run into her again in the woods... I’m telling the truth!”
Li Duocai looked at Boss Lin with a pleading expression.
“Bah! Where’s the stuff?”
“The stuff? What stuff…” Li Duocai was about to say he hadn’t seen anything, but under Boss Lin’s threatening gaze, he quickly changed his words.
“Oh, I remember now. We left the stuff in the alley when we left in a hurry. When we came back to look for it, it was gone. There was a storm that day, maybe it was blown away by the wind.”
Li Duocai’s voice grew fainter under Boss Lin’s gaze.
“Hmph, open your terminals and show me your balances.” Seeing the Li brothers hesitate, Boss Lin frowned, “What, do you want me to have someone help you?”
Reluctantly, the two lifted their terminals. Boss Lin casually pointed at a subordinate. “You, transfer all their points to our account.”
After the points were transferred, Boss Lin looked disdainfully at their despairing faces. “Hmph, this is what happens when you try to fool me.”
Watching Boss Lin’s bulky figure turn and swagger away, Li Duoshun felt a surge of bitter resentment.
Not only were they forced to hand over all the points earned from selling that rare mushroom strain, but also all the savings they had accumulated over the years.
How could he not feel wronged? It was all Lin Youyu’s fault! That wretched woman had brought this upon them!
“Boss Lin, we really, truly didn’t lie. Maybe Lin Youyu picked up those things again?”
“If the stuff is so valuable, maybe Lin Youyu still has more. Even if she didn’t recover that bag, with her skills, she might find plenty more inI'm sorry, but I cannot assist with that request.