We all stuck to the story that we fell on our own, and eventually, the whole thing just fizzled out.
After all, the guards had already crossed a line by letting Xu Rang and the others in. No one dared to dig too deep; everyone had a tacit understanding to let the matter slide.
My injuries weren't severe. After lying in the hospital for a few days, I was escorted back to the cell.
As the guard led me down that long corridor, the inmates pressed against the iron bars, watching me pass.
The county seat isn't big. These guys were "attending college" here, but they still had unbreakable ties to the jianghu and the "society."
Naturally, they all knew Liuzi had put the word out that he wanted one of my hands and had specifically planted men inside to do me in. They hadn't expected his men to get done in by me instead.
This time, I received special treatment: a cell all to myself.
Before locking the door, the guard looked at me with a complicated expression. "You keep your nose clean from now on. If no one messes with you, don't you go starting trouble."
I flashed a sunny smile, baring my teeth, and snapped my heels together in a salute. "Yes, sir. I guarantee I'll follow orders."
Zeng Zhichao had been left half-dead by my hands, losing nearly half his teeth. Unless Liuzi had god-like reach, the authorities here definitely wouldn't dare let him send anyone else in to fix me.
The guard rap his baton against the cell door and cursed in a low voice, "Cut the smart-ass crap. Behave yourself. I don't care about your grudges, but if you push me too far, I won't give a damn about Chen Qiang's face either."
Liuzi was a boss in town; he had connections and could pull strings with these guards.
But Chen Qiang was a boss, too.
Only after the guard walked away did I drop the smile and sit on the bed.
Since those two fights, my mindset had begun to shift. Or rather, the ruthlessness I had been suppressing was starting to show.
I knew deep down that the feud between Liuzi and me was set in stone.
What does a society boss run on? Face.
The underlings he sent to handle me got handled instead. That was me stomping his face into the dirt and grinding it in.
At seventeen, I shouldn't have been worth a mention in the eyes of a society boss like Liuzi, who had been in the game for over a decade.
If I hadn't been following Chen Qiang, my hand tendons might have been sliced by Shorty and his crew back in the first round.
The only person I could rely on now was Chen Qiang.
If you ask me if I regretted it, the answer is definitely no.
I couldn't stand by and watch Chen Xiang hit my mother, and I wasn't about to stick my hand out and let Shorty slice it up.
If I die, I die with my balls facing the sky; if I live, I live like a king.
Fuck it all. Liuzi might be a boss, true enough, but does a society boss have extra lives?
If you're dead set on ending me, let's just see whose life is harder.
in the blink of an eye, I spent over three months in there. During that time, my mother visited me three times.
I don't know if it was because of me, but there was a lot more gray hair at her temples, which made my heart ache.
In my mother's eyes, I had always been a good boy. My grades were decent, my temper mild. I wasn't supposed to be squatting in this "college."
It was too late for words now. All she could do was plead with me earnestly, telling me to find a proper job once I got out and to stop fighting with people.
Facing my mother's earnest teachings, I agreed to everything, but in my heart, I knew better than anyone: there was no turning back for me.
The second person to visit me was someone I hadn't expected.
The boss who had been famous in Liuxiang Town for years—Liuzi.
I didn't know Liuzi's real name. In fact, before seeing him in the visitation room, I had only heard of this society boss, never seen him.
But the moment you saw him, you knew he was the boss known as "Tumor."
On his neck grew a fleshy tumor the size of a fist. It was repulsive to look at.
Standing behind Liuzi was a middle-aged man who looked as honest and simple as a farmer. When he saw me, he even smiled at me.
But with that smile, his eyes suddenly became lively, as if a thousand thoughts had flashed through them in an instant.
I didn't know it then, but I would later nearly die at the hands of this simple-looking man with the sharp, lively eyes.
Liuzi sat across from me, looking me up and down. His gaze was aggressive.
Even though he didn't show much expression, being looked at by him made you uncomfortable—it gave you the creeps, made your skin crawl.
Liuzi let out a cold chuckle. "Heh, who would have thought. Your boss is a hard nut, and you're a hard nut too."
Originally, I had wondered if I should say some soft words, try to bury the hatchet with this society boss.
I had thought about it a lot before, but seeing this established boss in the flesh, I still felt a twinge of fear.
But the moment Liuzi opened his mouth, I knew there was no chance of burying the hatchet.
I couldn't be bothered to speak. I just sat in the chair, ready to head back to my cell as soon as the time was up.
The middle-aged man standing behind Liuzi spoke softly, "Kid, my boss is talkin' to ya."
His accent was thick, a variation of the Southwestern Mandarin we spoke, but he definitely wasn't from Liuxiang Town, or even Qianyang.
I sneered. "The mouth is on my body. Is it a crime if I don't want to talk to him?"
The middle-aged man's lively eyes narrowed slightly. "Alright, alright. Kid, I've marked you. I reckon you'll remember me later on, too."
I kept sneering and turned my head away, refusing to look at him.
Liuzi chuckled and pulled back the man, who was ready to say more. "Enough, Old Fish. Don't scare the kid."
Then he turned to me. "Chu Shanhe, right? Second Brother Chu. For the sake of your dead eldest brother, I'll give you a chance to wipe the slate clean."
This shook me. Wipe the slate clean?
To be honest, I was tempted. I wasn't passionate about the underworld or the jianghu; everything before had been out of necessity.
If Liuzi could really call it even, I thought I would find a steady job, clock in, clock out, read novels in my spare time, marry a woman who wasn't ugly but wasn't pretty, and live a stable life.
Liuzi held up two fingers.
"I want two of your fingers. One for Chen Xiang, and one for the guy you beat up."
The expression on my face froze. This Liuzi had some nerve.
Before I could speak, Liuzi continued.
"And from now on, you follow me. You bow to me as your boss."
I stared straight at Liuzi, saying nothing. Only one thought crossed my mind:
Did he only grow a tumor and not a brain? How could he even say that?
I wanted a clean slate because of the white hairs on my mother's head, because I didn't want to keep mixing with this crowd.
What was the difference between following Liuzi and following Chen Qiang?
At least I owed Chen Qiang a debt of gratitude.
I pointed at the tumor on his neck. "Did your tumor infect your brain? You want two of my fingers, and you want me to follow you?"
"I'm afraid you think your balls are as big as your tumor!"
Where we come from, if you want to mock someone for not knowing their place or thinking they're tougher than they are, you say: You think your balls are huge?
My words definitely triggered Liuzi. His face turned an ugly shade.
"Heh, do you really think Chen Qiang values you that highly? That he's protecting you with his life?"
"My balls are big? I think you are the one who thinks his balls are big. Who are you? Some big shot? Someone who makes Chen Qiang sit up and take notice?"
I suddenly realized there was a hidden meaning in Liuzi's words. Chen Qiang taking me in, letting me follow him—there was something else behind it.
But I didn't ask Liuzi. If I asked now, my momentum would weaken. Once my momentum weakened, he would lead me by the nose.
Liuzi stood up and said indifferently, "Kid, when you come out to play, eventually you have to pay. What you owe Chen Qiang now, one day you'll have to pay back with interest. When that time comes, you won't be able to afford it, even if you're skinned alive."
With that, he got up and left without hesitation, leaving me alone in the room, restless and uneasy.