Chapter 10: Chapter 10 Reversal of Life and Death (1)
Editor: Larbre Studio
“That said, I didn’t expect you to like this style, no wonder you had no reaction when I introduced Judy to you,”
Red Ghost glanced at Xiu, who was sitting beside him with her head lowered.
“She’s my neighbor, the keys to the apartnt were given to by you, rember?”
“The apartnt on Su Miao Street.” Red Ghost suddenly realized.
Li Yan picked up a kitten that was playing under the table and placed it on Xiu’s lap, “When do you get off work? I’ll take you ho and apply so safflower oil, you’ll be fine by the next day.”
Xiu bit her lip and nodded.
“Right, Yan.” Red Ghost pulled an Ericsson phone from his pocket and slid it across the table.
Li Yan looked at it and exclaid exaggeratedly.
“Wow, Red Ghost, you’re so good to , giving both an apartnt and a mobile phone. Just to clarify, I’m not gay.”
Red Ghost gave Li Yan a look and said,
“You don’t have to fight in the ring tomorrow, go buy yourself a nice suit, and wait for my call to et Judy. If you try to disappear on , I’ll throw you into the sea.”
“I’ll definitely rember.” Li Yan said with a playful smile as he took the phone.
The two continued to eat until late at night, when Li Yan finally escorted Xiu back to her apartnt on Su Miao Street.
“It’s so late, your mother must be worried about you. Go inside, I’ll see you tomorrow,”
Li Yan said kindly to the girl, glancing at the door of apartnt 412 next to Xiu.
Xiu looked up at Li Yan for a while, then spoke crisply, “Thank you, ah… Brother Yan.”
Li Yan scratched his head, smiled at the girl, and walked into his own apartnt.
“Bang.”
After the door closed, most of the lights in the corridor went out, casting the girl’s face in a mix of shadow and light.
…
“Ss~”
As soon as he closed his apartnt door, Li Yan broke into a cold sweat from the pain. He stuffed several pieces of candy into his mouth, but it was to no avail. The pain deep in his bones made Li Yan’s face appear sowhat deranged.
Since he stepped out of the ring, Li Yan had been feeling bouts of bone pain, which was one of the reasons he initially refused Red Ghost’s offer. The liquor at dinner had sowhat kept the pain at bay, but when he returned to his apartnt, the pain beca more intense and relentless.
After a while, as the bone pain gradually subsided, Li Yan, soaking wet with sweat, slowly relaxed his body.
He caught his breath and then pulled out so cash from the pocket over his chest to count it.
True to Red Ghost’s reputation as a big spender, the amount thrown at Li Yan to buy so clothes was a full thirty thousand, plus the fifty thousand that Red Ghost would pay him for winning the boxing match tomorrow. This would bring his Yan Fu points to a total of thirteen.
Just to be safe, as soon as the money ca in tomorrow, he’d exchange it for the ES Cell Enhancer first.
If he were to have an attack while in the ring, that would be a real ss, especially since he still had no lead on that ancient novel, the Sink Hook Chen Record Book.
Lying in bed, Li Yan thought about all this and gradually drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, Li Yan rented a suit from a photo studio in Repulse Bay, took the bus on a long detour, and genuinely admired the Hong Kong of 1986—a sight hard to co by in later years.
If Li Yan were a bit more carefree, he could have watched a movie starring Anita Mui or Leslie Cheung or even asked for their autographs. In his audio-visual store, there was a long-treasured photo of Alan Tam’s Space Odyssey concert happening around these days. The band Beyond, which had been together for three years, released their first album “Goodbye Ideal” this year. Hong Kong in 1986 held too many monts that had passed, never to return…
Unfortunately, Li Yan still had to hustle for his life, and these ideas could only remain on paper.
By the ti Li Yan returned to Su Miao Street, it was around 2 in the afternoon. Kowloon City was as cramd and dim as ever, with junkies, their faces pale and breathing out clouds of smoke, a stark contrast to the affluent scenery of Repulse Bay.
As he entered the corridor of the apartnt building and turned the corner to go upstairs, a hurried figure bumped into Li Yan’s arms.
Li Yan instinctively grabbed the other person’s wrist, only to find the reaction as swift as his own, and the way that person held his wrist subtly carried the flavor of military capture techniques.
Li Yan looked at the person in surprise.
The man was in his thirties, dressed in a checkered suit, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, exuding a heroic air, except his eyes were full of bloodshot veins, as if he hadn’t had a good sleep in a long ti.
“Sorry about that.”
The man released his hand and gave Li Yan an honest smile.
“No worries.”
Li Yan took a step forward, then turned back as if he had rembered sothing.
“Brother, where are you from?”
The man paused, then after a while, he answered.
“My hotown is in Hebei, a small place, Anwen County.”
Li Yan laughed out loud and patted the man’s shoulder hard: “My hotown is in Hejian, not far from yours. I’ve even pissed behind the broken temple in Anwen County!”
Li Yan had, of course, been to Anwen County since it happened to be the birthplace of Dong Haichuan, the grandmaster of Bagua Palm.
“Oh, fellow townsman?” Hearing this, the man’s eyes lit up as well.
“My na is Li Yan, what’s your na, brother?”
The man shook Li Yan’s hand with a hearty laugh.
“He Andong, they all call Dong.”
…
An hour earlier, Fuyi Building.
“The area north of Longjin Road is Taishuai’s territory. Although I’m responsible for the security of Kowloon City, it would be better for you, Red Ghost, to send people when it cos to finding soone on Taishuai’s turf.”
Si Lizheng pushed up his nanmu glasses, his weather-beaten face appearing indifferent.
Red Ghost smiled shyly and said, “Uncle Lizheng, there’s no need for such formalities. We ring-coachn hardly have the spare effort to help the police find people. You can search wherever you like, Uncle Lizheng, as long as you don’t turn our place upside down, there won’t be a problem.”
Red Ghost’s straightforwardness made Si Lizheng sowhat uncomfortable.
“How about asking Taishuai first? I’m not in a hurry.”
Among the five mbers of the Longcheng Executive Committee, Chairman Wu Haoxi dealt with drugs and was Hong Kong’s biggest drug lord. Two others dealt with human trafficking and the flesh trade, leaving Si Lizheng with gambling and Taishuai with only a fighting ring, the least territory among the five.
Even Wu Haoxi, who had the most swagger, had to show Taishuai respect, because Taishuai was crazy enough to be feared.
After all, it was just a minor issue, and Si Lizheng didn’t want to upset Taishuai over it.
“If I bother Taishuai with such a trifle, wouldn’t I get my legs broken? Uncle Lizheng, do as you please.”
Red Ghost spoke with ease. After all, the business of a ring-coachman was practically conflict-free, unlike Wu Haoxi, who was constantly clashing with major cri syndicates.
“That’s settled then.”
Si Lizheng nodded, and a person looking like a bodyguard quickly entered through the door.
“Boss, we’ve found them!”
Upon hearing this, Si Lizheng put down his cigar and smiled at Red Ghost.
“Seems like we really won’t be needing Taishuai’s help after all.” Then, turning his head, he asked, “What’s happened?”
“They found a familiar traditional Chinese dicine clinic, and the doctor there quietly alerted the police. The cops have already entered Longcheng!”
“Which clinic is it?”
Si Lizheng asked, while Red Ghost, acting as if it was none of his business, pulled out a cigarette and lit it for himself.
“Inside the apartnt at No. 22 Su Miao Street.”
The lighter nearly burned off Red Ghost’s eyebrows. He leapt up and yelled at the man, “What are you talking about?”
…
“Who would’ve thought I’d run into a fellow townsman here, it’s not easy. What brings you to Hong Kong?”
Li Yan passed over a cigarette, asking with a hint of interest.
Although Li Yan had only co to 1986 Hong Kong a few days ago, the intense feeling of foreignness and distance still made him feel sowhat lonely; only, with his strong will, he wouldn’t easily show it.
Now, He Andong’s familiar hotown accent made Li Yan feel an incredible closeness.
He Andong’s expression darkened upon hearing the question.
“I originally brought a few fellow townspeople to try our luck in Hong Kong for wealth and prosperity, but then…”
“Are there other townspeople with you?”
“Oh, they don’t stay here.” He Andong’s gaze wandered for a mont, then he said, “Enough about , what brings you to Hong Kong?”
Li Yan shook his head at him, “You wouldn’t believe even if I told you. Let’s drop it. It’s still early, and I know a great dog at hotpot place. My treat.”
He Andong hastily waved his hand, “Forget it, forget it…”
Their warm atmosphere was interrupted by a series of urgent vibrations.
“I need to take a call.” Li Yan said.
He Andong nodded to indicate that it was okay.
“Hello, Red Ghost, it’s only two o’clock, what’s the rush?”
“Where are you right now?”
Red Ghost’s voice was extraordinarily hurried.
“Inside the apartnt.”
Li Yan furrowed his brow; he could hear the urgency in Red Ghost’s tone.
“You bloody fool! Stay in the flat and don’t move. That building’s hiding a bunch of Mafia, the Flying Tigers are already on their way, watch out or you’ll get caught in the crossfire!”
“What did you say?”
Li Yan hadn’t caught on.
“The apartnt you’re in is hiding a gang of Mafia, bloody murderers, led by Dong. Heartless bastards, they kill without blinking!”
“Ah, now I understand~” Li Yan let out a sigh, “But, Red Ghost, can I give you a little bit of advice? Is that alright?”
“You’re giving advice at a ti like this? Go ahead.”
“When you’re on the phone, try to keep your voice down. You’re shouting so loud that the person next to can hear everything clearly, and it’s pretty embarrassing for .”
“What did you say?”
“Beep.”
Li Yan hung up the call and quietly looked at the Dong in front of him.
“Fellow townsman, tell your friends not to speak irresponsibly, throwing around words like ‘heartless’ is not nice, it’s hard to listen to.”
Dong said with a smile.
“ow~”
A kitten, spry and mischievous, suddenly appeared, pawing clumsily at Li Yan’s trouser leg.
“Ami, you’re being naughty again.”
The girl ran downstairs, picked up her orange kitten, looked up at Li Yan with a rare smile, and said,
“Yan.”
“Being heartless isn’t just a matter of saying so.”
Interestingly, Li Yan had been conversing with Dong in a Hebei dialect close to standard Mandarin, but now he had switched to Cantonese with a slight accent.
“Behave, Xiu, do you have any change on you?”
Li Yan patted the girl’s head.
“Yes.” Xiu nodded her head.
“Do brother a favor, would you? Go out to the street and buy a bag of candy for , okay?”
The girl obediently nodded her head and turned to leave, then quickly turned back around.
“You’ll wait here for .”
“No problem.”
Li Yan smiled, nodding his head as he watched the girl leave with the kitten.
Then he slowly turned his head.
In front of him was the dark mouth of a gun barrel and a thick red light that made it impossible to keep his eyes open…
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