"Shark Jiu, perfect timing finding you here!" Wen Long glanced sideways at Shark Jiu, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder.
"Yesterday, two of my boys ca to support your place. Not only did you not show any gratitude, you had them beaten to a pulp. What do you have to say about that?"
"And these people still dare co here to drink? Careful they don't end up the sa way!"
Wen Long's voice bood loud enough for everyone in the dance hall to hear.
"Your lackeys started trouble and got what they deserved. Wen Long, don't make a scene in front of my custors. Let's take this outside and sit down." Shark Jiu strode straight for the exit.
Shark Jiu stood over a hundred and eighty centiters tall. Woman or not, her presence was even more imposing than Wen Long's.
"My lackeys started trouble? I'd love to hear what you have to say about that!" Wen Long sneered.
Monts later, the entire group filed into a nearby dog at shop, commandeering several tables.
Shark Jiu, Chen Wujun, and Wen Long sat at the sa table.
"Wen Long, is your brain broken? Did you even bother to figure out what happened before coming here to stir up trouble with ?" Shark Jiu settled into her seat and fixed Wen Long with a contemptuous look.
"Wujun had sothing to discuss with his brother. Your boys chased them out and started swinging. They got their asses handed to them because they were garbage!"
"And now you co to demanding an explanation? Wanting to hand soone over? Have you fried your brain on that junk you push?"
Shark Jiu's attitude was aggressive and unyielding, not sparing Wen Long an ounce of face.
Her words only stoked Wen Long's fury higher:
"They already got beaten once, and then soone dragged them into an alley for round two? Even knowing they were my n, they still got worked over like that?"
"Your lackeys broke things, so naturally they pay for damages. No paynt, they catch a beating. Simple." Shark Jiu waved it off without a care.
"They wrecked clothes during a fight, and you want my people to pay? You think I'm soone you can push around? And then you have the nerve to demand six thousand, then beat them half to death on top of it? Wah Zai got both legs and one arm broken, cracked ribs, lost several teeth. Fu Zai got a leg broken too. So shouldn't you be covering their dical bills?"
From start to finish, he hadn't so much as glanced at Chen Wujun, the one who'd actually done the beating. He didn't consider Chen Wujun worth his attention at all.
He was here to settle things with Shark Jiu.
"Did you never go to school? No school, fine, but you had parents, right? Break sothing, you pay for it. Nobody ever teach you that?" Shark Jiu's tongue was just as vicious.
"Here's what I think: let's call it even. Your boys started it, and the beating they took was their own damn fault. The remaining five thousand they still owe? Consider that their dical expenses!"
"The whole thing's settled. Clean slate."
"Shark Jiu, I ca here to negotiate, and you're treating like an idiot?" Wen Long's expression darkened until it could've wrung out storm clouds.
"I think you're the one whose brain's gone soft from all those drugs. You bring this many people over sothing like this, and you expect to give you an explanation?" Shark Jiu's face twisted with mockery as her lips peeled back, baring her signature shark-like teeth, her eyes glinting with nace.
"If you're not satisfied, rally your n and co fight!"
"So you're going to protect him? Let's see if you actually can!" Wen Long slamd his palm on the table, shot a glare at Chen Wujun, then surged to his feet and stord out.
He hadn't actually co expecting Shark Jiu to hand anyone over. He knew that was never going to happen.
All he'd wanted was for Shark Jiu to have the one who did the beating pour tea and apologize, plus cover the dical costs. That would've been enough to let the matter pass.
But since Shark Jiu refused to give him even that much face, he'd see just how well she could protect her people.
"If anything happens to Wujun, I'll skin you alive!" Shark Jiu called out lazily.
Wen Long didn't even turn around, leading his n straight out the door.
"The rest of you, head back!" Shark Jiu told her people, then called toward the kitchen:
"Old Li, fire up the pot!"
"Already done, bringing it right out!" The owner hurried over with a steaming hot pot of dog at stew.
"Try it. His dog at is the best in the whole Walled City. Want a drink?"
"Just soda. I still need to train later!" Chen Wujun shook his head and got up to grab a bottle of soda.
"You've beco a target now. Scared?" Shark Jiu asked with a sly grin.
"When soldiers co, send generals. When floods co, raise dams." Chen Wujun's only real concern was sothing else: "But would they go after my family?"
"Unless soone's truly desperate, nobody does that. All of us were born in the Walled City, raised in the Walled City. You have family, and so do they."
"But if you push soone to the point of desperation, then you'd better watch out."
"Then there's nothing to worry about." Chen Wujun said. He could use the practice anyway.
Whether it was Zhou Qing, Shark Jiu, or Senior Brother Li, they'd all told him the sa thing: real martial skill is forged in actual fights, not just training.
Besides, for sothing like this, Wen Long would send his underlings to cause trouble at most. He wouldn't make a huge production of it.
"The Walled City has been stable for too long..." Shark Jiu murmured after downing a glass of beer, her words carrying layers of aning.
Chen Wujun heard this, and sothing stirred in his mind.
'Senior Sister suddenly saying that...'
A spark of insight flashed through Chen Wujun's thoughts: 'Is Senior Sister saying her territory is too small?'
Then his line of thinking opened up like a floodgate.
Hetu and Lidong had been divided along Lung Tsun Road, north and south, for a long ti. Senior Sister wanted to use this incident to stir things up, to escalate sothing small into sothing big... She'd never intended to negotiate in the first place.
'So I've been pushed to the tip of the spear. Senior Sister wants to make this bigger?'
With conflict ca war. With war ca territorial expansion.
More territory ant more businesses and more revenue.
Chen Wujun turned to look at Shark Jiu. She was watching him with that sly, knowing grin.
Chen Wujun weighed things in his mind. Senior Sister wanted war, and in this sche, his incident was rely the spark.
More accurately, he was just a piece on the board.
But Shark Jiu had laid it out so transparently that he couldn't bring himself to resent her for it.
After all, for a woman to stand her ground in the Walled City and beco one of Hetu's Four Heavenly Kings, she was no saint.
Even between disciples of the sa master, you had to prove you were worth investing in.
Moreover, Ji Xiang, Ah Hao, and the others all had their own operations and their own crews.
This had been gnawing at Chen Wujun for a while.
He'd felt for so ti that Ji Xiang and the rest were standing in his way.
If war was coming... sure, he'd beco a target, but that also ant opportunity.
Whether it was seizing territory from Lidong, or if Ji Xiang or Ah Hao happened to fall in the process, each scenario was an opportunity for him.
Once it all clicked into place, Chen Wujun let out a long, steady breath.
"Senior Sister, I understand!"
He'd dared to train on a rooftop ledge the mont he first started learning martial arts. Now that opportunity was staring him in the face, why would he flinch?
Shark Jiu could read it all on his face. She knew he'd figured it out, and gave his shoulder an approving slap. "Sharp mind! Bold and smart, a natural-born leader."
Chen Wujun knew that four or five months ago, none of this would have occurred to him.
But over these past few months, his growth had been explosive, and not just in martial skill. As his worldview expanded, every other aspect of him had matured rapidly too.
"Still, you need to be careful in the coming days. Best pick up a weapon. Two options: blade and shield, or a short spear. Both are ideal for fighting in alleyways."
"The Wolf Fist you practice was originally derived from blade-and-shield combat, so you'd pick that up the fastest. Plus, in any alley, you can grab a plank of wood and use it as a shield."
"A short spear has more reach than a blade, it's easy to carry, and all you do is thrust. Fast and vicious!"
"Wen Long won't co after you personally. Neither will his top fighters. At most, he'll send so thugs to ambush you."
"If you've got a weapon in hand, even if you run into soone decent at New Arts, you won't co out on the losing end."
"After all, New Arts is fundantally different from what we do. Enhancent Reconstruction of their own magnetic field, improving physical capabilities, that's where their foundation lies."
"I understand!" Chen Wujun nodded. He already knew a fair amount about New Arts.
New Arts practitioners primarily relied on enhanced magnetic fields to boost their physical capabilities. They'd learn so combat techniques too, but the ti and effort they invested in actual martial skill was far less than what Old Arts practitioners like themselves put in.
Superior physical attributes were certainly an advantage, but if raw physicality decided everything, then nobody would need to fight at all. You'd just compare strength and call it a day.
"Good. As long as you know what you're dealing with, I won't belabor the point. Now eat your hotpot. His cooking is sothing else."
Chen Wujun stepped out of the dog at shop, and a few drops of water landed on his face.
He looked up. Through the narrow gaps between the Walled City's towering buildings, a few stray raindrops were drifting down.
'It's raining! No rooftop training today!' Chen Wujun felt a twinge of disappointnt.
But Stealing Heaven's Opportunity on a rooftop parapet was already dancing on the razor's edge between life and death. In the rain, one slip of the foot and he'd plumt. He was there to train, not to commit suicide.
"Not training today? Why don't you go see that girl, Ah Yue? If you never visit her, and she's as pretty as she is, she'll get bullied." Shark Jiu glanced up at the rain, then turned to Chen Wujun before heading off in the opposite direction.
A girl like Ah Yue, naturally beautiful and now learning makeup because of Chen Wujun's arrangent, was bound to attract jealousy.
If Chen Wujun never showed his face around her, the other dance hall girls would assu the two had nothing serious going on and would feel free to push her around.
Chen Wujun considered this for a mont, then walked into the dance hall.
"Karen, is Ah Yue in the back?"
"Go find her yourself." Karen pointed toward a side door.
Chen Wujun pushed through the door. Ahead was a storage room, and to the side, a staircase leading to the second floor.
Reaching the second floor, he found a number of dancers lounging in chairs, taking their break. Many hadn't even bothered with bras, sitting there bare-chested and smoking with their assets on full display.
"Wujun, looking for a particular girl?" one of the dancers asked when she spotted him.
Chen Wujun's eyes found Ah Yue right away. She was off to one side watching soone apply makeup, holding supplies and ready to hand things over at a mont's notice.
"Ah Yue!"
Spotting Chen Wujun, Ah Yue's face lit up with surprise and delight. She set down what she was holding, murmured a quick word to the makeup artist, and hurried over.
"Wujun, you ca to see ?"
"Co sit with downstairs!" Chen Wujun nodded. A mont later, the two settled into the booth where Shark Jiu usually sat. Ah Yue slid right up next to him, leaning against his side. Her body was warm and soft, and Chen Wujun felt his thoughts start to wander.
"How's everything? Got your family sorted out?" Chen Wujun wrapped an arm around her waist.
"All sorted, thanks to the money you gave . I rented a bed space for Dad and my little brother, and Dad's arm got looked at. It's broken, but he'll keep it." Ah Yue said.
In the Walled City, space was worth its weight in gold. Though Chen Wujun had given her three thousand, between dical bills and food, it didn't stretch far.
So they'd rented just a bed space, one by the window with slightly better ventilation, at three hundred a month. Father and son sharing it.
"Just a bed space? Where do you sleep?"
"I sleep right here! It's fine!" Ah Yue smiled.
"There's room upstairs to sleep, and it's actually spacious. Way better than sleeping in a corridor."
"The main thing is, so many people pass through those corridors every day. All kinds of people. It's really not safe."
"Oh, I heard soone's been causing you trouble. Did it get resolved?"
"Word travels fast, huh? It's nothing." Chen Wujun shrugged.
The two chatted casually. Then Ah Yue noticed Chen Wujun's hand beginning to roam, and color rose to her cheeks. She bit her lip and turned to look at him, her eyes soft as water.
"Do you... want to stay with you tonight?"
"Sure!" Chen Wujun felt the warmth and the supple curve beneath his palm, and his composure slipped another notch.
"Let tell Karen!"
Leaving the dance hall, Ah Yue was in high spirits, swinging Chen Wujun's hand back and forth as they walked. Chen Wujun, anwhile, kept his senses at their sharpest, scanning every face around them.
Only after walking for a good while did he confirm no one was tailing them.
It seed Wen Long hadn't deployed anyone yet.
Only then did he turn a corner toward his place.
The mont they stepped inside, he pressed Ah Yue against the wall and kissed her.
So soft.
From top to bottom.
...
In a room in the northern part of the Walled City, Wen Long's face was dark as a thunderhead:
"Get people on that kid. Watch his every move. The second you get an opening, grab him and bring him to !"
"Shark Jiu wants to protect him? Let's see if she really can!"
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