KEIGHTY: We surpassed our ko-fi goal once again!🎉 It’s all thanks to Flowersky‘s generous ko-fi donations! Here’s two extra chapters to celebrate! (Extra Chapter 1/2)
Qiao Mudong drove directly towards the north of the city. Although it was already past rush hour after getting off work, there was still some traffic jam when the car entered the Second Ring Road. In the past two years, the city has been building subways. Digging and sieges have been carried out everywhere. Long-term traffic jams have made people accustomed to being stuck in traffic jams.
He Yu didn’t ask Qiao Mudong where he was going. He thought that he wouldn’t go so far as to sell him, right? Generally, selling kidneys would only be enough to buy an iPhone.
Qiao Mudong was very familiar with the northern part of the city. The car drove through those unnamed small streets and finally stopped on the side of a narrow old street.
Qiao Mudong got out of the car and walked towards a small noodle shop specializing in hand-cooked noodles on the roadside. He Yu had no choice but to follow.
The noodle shop is very small, a single-room shop with a stove outside and three or four square tables inside. Qiao Mudong walked straight to an unoccupied table, dragged the stool out with his feet, and sat down, then shouted, “Boss, two sets of four dumpling soup with thick bean sauce.”
He Yu followed him into the noodle shop. He looked up at the price list on the wall. The price was only two or three yuan at most. He raised his hand and said, “I want three. That’s enough for me.”
The boss responded, “Okay!”
Qiao Mudong took the chopsticks from the chopstick holder, held them in his hands, and said, “Then make him another bowl of glutinous rice and eggs.”
He Yu did not refuse any more, and he reached out for a pair of chopsticks. He raised his head, saw traces of oil smoke on the ceiling above his head, and asked, “Does it taste good here?”
Qiao Mudong said, “This is an old shop that has been open for more than ten or twenty years. When I was a child, my mother didn’t have time to cook for me, so she would give me money to come and eat by myself.”
He Yu nodded. “I can tell that it’s up to your taste.”
Qiao Mudong snorted, “What’s my taste then? You’re also up to my taste; you have a problem with that?”
He Yu said, “Not really. You have the conduct of a daye, ba.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Qiao Mudong hummed twice, this time to express his satisfaction.
As soon as the dumpling soup was served, the hands of the two people started moving. He Yu gently stirred them together with chopsticks. Just seeing the bright red bean paste inside was very appetizing.
The boss stood next to them and said to He Yu, “We make and fry our Douban by ourselves. How does it taste?”
The dumpling soup was still very hot, so He Yu picked up a stick and put it into his mouth. After tasting the taste, he nodded to the boss. “Yeah, it tastes great!”
The boss smiled and returned to the stove.
Qiao Mudong said proudly, “Not bad, right? Did you know how I was caught by the police last time?”
He Yu didn’t understand where his high mood came from and said inexplicably, “Don’t tell me that you were arrested just for eating dumpling soup.”
Qiao Mudong shook his head. “I was eating here and got into a fight with someone. That kid called five or six people and wanted to beat me up. I kicked him until he knelt down and then kicked him in the stomach. Later I heard him say that his legs were broken and his intestines seemed to be torn. Someone called the police and I was arrested.”
He Yu sighed and asked him, “Is it worth it? You were so impulsive to the point of spending several years in prison.”
Qiao Mudong lit a cigarette and asked He Yu: “Then, do you think what you did was worth it? What a good college student you were, trying to survive. But you didn’t handle yourself well and ended up suffering too.”
He Yu’s hand holding the chopsticks couldn’t help but tremble, but he quickly calmed down and continued eating.
When the dumpling soup was halfway eaten, the fermented glutinous rice eggs that Qiao Mudong ordered for He Yu were also served. When He Yu reached for the bowl, he suddenly noticed that a young man opposite him kept looking back at Qiao Mudong.
He Yu touched Qiao Mudong’s wrist and asked in a low voice, “Do you know that person?”
Qiao Mudong turned around to take a look and said, “I don’t know him.” Then he knocked on He Yu’s bowl and said, “Eat quickly; no one is willing to wait for you, na?”
After finishing all the food, He Yu felt a little tired. He left, firmly supporting himself with his hand, and stopped by Qiao Mudong’s car on the back cover, standing up straight with difficulty.
Qiao Mudong paid the money and walked out, then reached out and pinched He Yu’s butt.
He Yu pushed his hand away and cursed, “Fuck off!”
Qiao Mudong unlocked the central lock and said to He Yu, “You get in the car first; I’ll go to the opposite street to buy a pack of cigarettes.”
He Yu did not rush to the car but stood there and watched Qiao Mudong walk to the canteen opposite, say a few words to the boss, and then take money out of his pocket.
At this moment, He Yu saw five or six young people walking aggressively towards Qiao Mudong from a distance of more than 20 meters. One of them was the person who had been staring at Qiao Mudong in the small noodle shop just now, and some of them had knives in their hands.
He Yu’s heart tightened, and he blurted out loudly, “Qiao Mudong! Let’s go!”
Qiao Mudong first turned back to look at He Yu, and then noticed those young people. He didn’t run in a hurry, but he hesitated for a moment.
The owner of the small cigarette stall was so frightened that he shrank back and did not dare to come out.
He Yu was anxious and shouted, “They have knives; don’t be stupid!”
Qiao Mudong cursed angrily, “Fuck!” He turned around and ran forward.
When those people saw this, they immediately followed after him. He Yu took out his phone to call the police and chased after them as well.
This area was where Qiao Mudong had been hanging out since he was a child, and the surrounding environment was very familiar. He ran forward for a while, then turned around and went into a small alley on the side of the road. The alley was sandwiched between the outer walls of two residential areas. It is only wide enough for two people to walk side by side, but it is still a bit narrow.
He Yu followed the group of people, turned into an alley, and screamed inwardly. He didn’t know if this alley was a dead end, but he guessed that Qiao Mudong’s purpose of running here was not just to get rid of those people.
Sure enough, under the light of the street lights in the neighborhood next door, He Yu saw that the group of people had stopped, but because it was too narrow, they couldn’t squeeze in all at once, so they all yelled “Stop him!” from behind, baring their teeth and claws. “Don’t let him get away!”
Qiao Mudong stopped running. He turned around, wanting to kill these people one by one. He kicked the person in front of him.
Still on his knees, the person suddenly leaned forward and lied on his stomach, blocking the way of those people behind him.
Qiao Mudong said coldly, “What do you fucking want? Have you mistaken me for the wrong person?”
Someone from behind helped up the person who fell down in front of him, pointed at Qiao Mudong, and said, “Surnamed Qiao! You injured my brother and have stayed in the hospital for half a year. How dare you come back? Do you want to die?!”
Qiao Mudong sneered, “I say, where do you evil children get your confidence from, acting so recklessly here? It turns out to be a group of rats from the ditch. Come on then if you’re so capable! I’ll send you back to stay with that kid in the hospital for another half a year, so it would be worthwhile!”
“Fuck!” someone yelled. “Don’t talk bullshit with him; just do it!”
Qiao Mudong chose a good place. Those in front couldn’t beat him, and those in the back couldn’t squeeze in. The two people chasing at the front were so scared that they couldn’t retreat even if they wanted to.
He Yu stood at the back; his footsteps and breathing were covered by the noisy voices in front, and no one noticed him. He was very worried. He was worried that Qiao Mudong would be injured by those people, and he was also afraid that Qiao Mudong would be too harsh and beat them into a miserable state.
He Yu anxiously hoped that the police would come soon. Suddenly, he saw a flash of a knife in the hands of the person standing behind, pushing forward with all his strength. He Yu was immediately frightened and shouted, “Qiao Mudong, they have knives!”
When the two or three people crowded in the back heard the shouting, they all turned their heads. Someone pointed at He Yu and said, “They are together!” So someone immediately turned around and came towards He Yu.
Even after three years in prison, He Yu is still not a good fighter. He just knows how to protect himself and has learned not to stand around and take beatings without fighting back.
Two people rushed over. One grabbed He Yu’s arm and twisted it back, while the other aimed his fist at his face. He Yu raised his leg and kicked the person in front of him in the stomach. The person was kicked back two steps due to this. The person behind him cursed and raised his knee to hit He Yu’s lower back. He Yu then rushed forward, pushed the man in front of him against the wall, and punched him in the nose.
Qiao Mudong naturally heard the commotion there. When he heard someone heading towards He Yu, he suddenly became violent. He grabbed the arm of the person in front and pushed him back, trying to pull away the two people who were surrounding He Yu.
Suddenly, Qiao Mudong saw a flash of a knife in the hand of the person standing in the way, slashing towards the top of his head. Qiao Mudong had no way to block it, so he could only turn sideways to avoid it. The knife struck his shoulder, leaving him with a long gash.
The man himself was startled, and almost out of control, he slashed sideways for the second time using the knife. This time, Qiao Mudong raised his foot and kicked the knife’s handle. At the same time, he reached out and grabbed the man’s wrist, twisting it and snatching the knife away. Qiao Mudong simply hit the man on the back of his neck with the knife’s handle, knocking him unconscious.
Blood flowed from Qiao Mudong’s shoulder. His expression was so fierce that it was almost ferocious. The lights on both sides drew a long and narrow shadow on the ground. He raised the knife and shouted, “Still don’t want to run?!”
The two people did not dare quarrel with He Yu anymore. They turned around and ran out of the alley as if they were frightened.
When the two other people who were still conscious saw Qiao Mudong grabbing the knife, they didn’t dare to come over and slowly retreated deeper into the alley.
He Yu stood up, holding on to the wall. He felt a sharp pain in his lower back, but what he was most worried about was the stab wound on Qiao Mudong’s shoulder. When he came closer, he didn’t dare to touch Qiao Mudong and just asked, “How is it?”
Qiao Mudong handed him the car keys and said, “Go and bring the car over.”
He Yu was worried about leaving him here alone.
Qiao Mudong urged him, “Hurry up, don’t wait for the police to come!”
He Yu was a little helpless. He looked at the wound on Qiao Mudong’s shoulder, thinking that it wasn’t necessarily their fault if the police came and interrogated them. But he still endured the pain in his lower back and ran outside quickly.
Why trouble always follows them. They can’t even enjoy a nice date at the noodle shop.