“It’s settled then — three million.”
“No problem. And besides the three million — there’s the woman. How was she? Exciting enough? A woman like that is a lot more fun than a respectable girl, I’ll tell you that. Hit her, and she screams even louder.”
Laughter filled the recording, cut through with the bright clink of glasses.
“Here’s to a fruitful partnership.”
---
He Wu’s expression had been growing tighter and tighter. In the end, he could hold it no longer — his hand slashed through the air with brutal force. The laptop smashed to the floor, screen and sound cut off together.
“That’s not all,” Jiang Cheng said.
He turned and looked behind him. Two men were carrying a body in from outside.
The faces of everyone present shifted at once. The room erupted. “What is this?”
“Him too. He knew about the deal.” Jiang Cheng said. “He came to me today, demanding I hand over the video — otherwise he’d go to you and accuse me of being an informant.” His eyes fixed on He Wu. “Boss — if you don’t trust me, I’ll walk out of here right now. But I spent enough years swallowing indignity in the police force. I’m not going to stand here and let every piece of filth take a turn walking over me.”
As he said it, he turned his head and looked directly at the man who had attacked him with the bat.
A sharp, needle-like fear shot up the man’s spine. He trembled, his eyes darting between He Wu and Jiang Cheng.
He Wu rose from his chair. He studied Jiang Cheng for a long, quiet moment. The loose flesh of his face twitched several times before he spoke. “A’Cheng. I’m old, and my judgment failed me. I owe you an apology for today.”
Silence.
“From now on, Lai San’er’s position — it’s yours.”
He Wu moved with steady steps, his bodyguards flanking him as he walked toward Jiang Cheng. At last, he raised his hand and placed it on Jiang Cheng’s shoulder. “Go get that wound looked after. In a few days, I’ll take you to meet someone.”
With that, He Wu left the Phoenix Flame Bar.
Jiang Cheng listened until the sound of the car engine faded into the distance. Then he closed his eyes, exhaled slowly from deep in his chest, and pressed his trembling fingers tight into his palms.
His back was drenched in sweat. His expression was as cold and hard as ice. His gaze swept around the room once before landing on the man who had swung the bat at him.
“Do you remember,” he said, “what I told you just now?”
The veins on the back of his hand stood out sharply as he drove his foot into the man’s stomach.
The man never saw it coming. His face contorted with pain as he buckled and went down, clutching his abdomen.
But Jiang Cheng wasn’t finished.
He was on him in an instant, fists closed like iron, slamming into the man’s face — blow after blow, each one heavy and merciless.
The man’s head was knocked sideways. Blood foamed freely from his mouth and nose, and he lost consciousness under the assault not long after.
Someone rushed over and grabbed Jiang Cheng by the arms. “Cheng, Cheng — enough, stop — that’s enough! You need to worry about yourself!”
“What are you all standing around for — get the doctor!”
With someone supporting him on each side, Jiang Cheng collapsed heavily onto the sofa.
He fought for breath in ragged heaves. The smell of iron rose from his nose and throat. His stomach churned and convulsed, the nausea threatening to overwhelm him. The moment he closed his eyes, dizziness came roaring back — thick and suffocating. Now that his guard had dropped, his mind and reflexes moved nothing like the sharpness he’d maintained moments ago.
Darkness rolled in from every direction, like a hallucination, like something real. He heard a voice asking him —
“Got yourself wrecked again? Don’t you think you’ve been alive long enough?”
“I’m tough. I’m not going anywhere.” He was pleased with himself, his fingers threading through the girl’s long hair. “I can’t leave you a widow.”
“I wouldn’t be a widow.” She arched a brow, looking away as if it were of no particular concern. “I’m very adaptable. I’d turn around and marry someone else.”
He was genuinely taken aback. “Oh, really? That’s the treatment I get? You chased me down and now you don’t appreciate what you’ve caught. Toying with a young man’s heart.”
“…Drop dead.”
She came to him and cupped his face in both hands, kissed him, let her sharp teeth break the skin of his lip.
Then she said, with absolute seriousness: “Promise me. Don’t throw your life away. Don’t get hurt again.”
I will. I promise I will, he thought.
Pale light grazed across the bridge of Jiang Cheng’s nose, casting a small sliver of shadow. Eyes closed, his lips moved — barely a sound.
He called out: “Xiao Wu…”