Chapter Forty: Dangerous Characters

Chapter Forty: Dangerous Characters

Led by Qiangzi and Xiaofei, Xu Yun met Pang Gang in the orthopedics ward. The three-person hospital room had been crammed with seven beds. The workers, all encased in plaster, wore faces clouded with worry. Their pain was not for their injuries, but for the immense impact those injuries would have on their families. Without the ability to work, there would be no income; without income, there would be no way to live.

“Uncle, Yun-ge is here,” Xiaofei announced, pushing open the door.

Xu Yun and Qiangzi followed directly into the room. Pang Gang shivered and slowly sat up, turning around. His eyes were swollen, his cheeks bruised, and his thick lips trembled as he spoke, “Xu Yun, brother, I’m truly sorry… I really can’t manage the work at the medicinal restaurant anymore.”

Qiangzi dragged a chair over for Xu Yun, who sat down without ceremony. “Pang-ge, I already heard from Qiangzi what happened. You’re giving up over something like this? Then I must have misjudged you.”

Hearing this, the injured workers in the ward grew visibly annoyed. With everyone hurt like this, he still wanted Pang-ge to work? Even if it wasn’t outright bullying, it was certainly lacking in compassion.

Pang Gang forced a dry laugh. “It’s not that I want to give up. You can see for yourself—all my brothers are lying here.”

Xu Yun nudged Qiangzi forward, and pulled Xiaofei to stand before Pang Gang. “But you still have people. Do you really want your nephew to end up a thug? I can’t bear to see them wasting their days away.”

Qiangzi and Xiaofei were dumbstruck.

It took Pang Gang a moment to understand Xu Yun’s meaning.

“Yun-ge, we…” Qiangzi swallowed hard. “We can handle odd jobs, but doing renovations… isn’t that kind of overkill?”

Xu Yun smiled at him. “You think learning a trade from Pang-ge is beneath you?”

“Of course not!” Qiangzi didn’t dare protest. “Tomorrow I’ll get the brothers together to work with Pang-ge!”

Xu Yun took out the thirty thousand yuan Ruan Qingshuang had given him and placed it on the bed beside Pang Gang. “Consider this an advance on the renovation costs. Pang-ge, if you think the people I’ve found for you are up to the task, then start with them tomorrow. With your guidance, I have no doubt they’ll do well.”

Pang Gang was completely stunned, and the injured workers fell silent. The whole room grew quiet in an instant.

Just before Xu Yun arrived, a nurse had come to urge Pang Gang to pay the hospital fees for the next day. The cost of X-rays, plaster casts, and miscellaneous expenses already exceeded ten thousand yuan. Pang Gang was flat broke. Seven patients in one room were already unwelcome in the hospital, and without money, they certainly wouldn’t be treated kindly.

He didn’t even have enough to cover the hospital bills, let alone anything else. For seven people, the total cost would be at least twenty or thirty thousand yuan. The workers who did renovations for him were all from the lowest rungs of society. If the foreman was struggling, of course his workers had nothing.

Xu Yun’s sudden appearance with money was truly a godsend. To Pang Gang, this money was a lifeline.

Though Xu Yun had only known Pang Gang for a day, he understood his character well—if Pang Gang weren’t so honest, he would have struck it rich in renovations long ago. But his honesty was the very reason he struggled. A man like that would never accept a handout, so Xu Yun made the pretense of an advance payment. This way, Pang Gang could take the money without hesitation, and immediately resume work—a perfect solution.

After a long pause, Pang Gang finally grabbed the thirty thousand yuan. He looked up at Qiangzi and Xiaofei. “You both heard Wei Weiming this afternoon. If I take the workers back to the job, they’ll attack again. Aren’t you afraid?”

“Not at all!” Xiaofei was quick to support his uncle.

Qiangzi spat, a defiant look in his eyes. “Since when do people like us back down from trouble? Pang-ge, even if it wasn’t Wei Weiming but Fan Nanjie himself, I’d still take the job! Why should we be afraid? He’s nothing!”

Ever since Qiangzi had witnessed Xu Yun defeat the Four Wolf Gang, his confidence had soared.

“Pang-ge, you just focus on the renovations. I’ll handle everything else.” Xu Yun’s calm and steady smile made it seem as if nothing had happened.

“Alright!” Pang Gang gritted his teeth. If they weren’t afraid, why should he be? At worst, he’d get his arm or leg broken—worth the thirty thousand yuan Xu Yun had given him. “I’ll go pay the hospital fees. Then we’ll get back to work!”

With that, he strode out to pay the bill. The injured workers on the beds all cast grateful looks at Xu Yun. Without his timely help, they might already have been preparing to check out and go home to recover.

“Boss Xu, thank you,” an older worker said on behalf of the others.

“Me?” Xu Yun smiled. “Don’t thank me. The money for your treatment didn’t come from me, but from your foreman. I just paid him the renovation fee in advance.”

The workers understood, but their gratitude remained.

After Pang Gang paid the bills, he quickly returned and went back to the medicinal restaurant with Xu Yun and the others. The renovation work resumed as normal, though the workers were now a group of amateurs. Qiangzi’s men had never done this kind of work before, so they proceeded with great caution, afraid of making mistakes.

…

After more than half an hour’s journey, the bearded man was dropped off by the taxi driver at the foot of Jiuyan Mountain, north of Hedong City.

The driver pointed halfway up the mountain to a white European-style villa. “That’s Secretary Ma’s house, but I can’t say if he’s in.”

Secretary Ma? The bearded man combed his dark-red hair with his fingers and laughed softly. “Ma Pinghai, huh… That’s quite the title—Secretary.”

The taxi driver watched nervously as the bearded man stepped out, then quickly turned the car around, eager to leave Jiuyan Mountain. A few years ago, the mountain had been a popular spot for outings, but now the entire area had been bought up by Ma Pinghai and turned into a tourist resort. Just entering the gates cost fifty yuan.

The driver wondered about his mysterious passenger and glanced in the rearview mirror.

But the man—where was he?

The bearded man, who’d just gotten out, had vanished in an instant!

The driver rubbed his eyes hard and looked around, but there wasn’t even a shadow. Was he dreaming? But the bills on the dashboard were certainly real.

…

The villa was imposing, surrounded by three-meter-high stone walls and a wrought-iron gate more than four and a half meters tall. In the open space between the villa and the gate stood a marble pool, its expensive ornamental stones accentuated by fountains.

The bearded man walked up to the gate. Inside, two young men in black T-shirts lounged about, smoking. As soon as they saw someone approaching, they grew alert and snapped impatiently, “What do you want?”

“I’m here to see someone.” The bearded man smiled.

The two black-shirted youths sneered. “No one you want to see is here. Get lost—don’t block the entrance! Do you even know whose place this is?”

The bearded man’s smile vanished. “Isn’t this Ma Pinghai’s house?”

“Who the hell gave you the right to call Secretary Ma by name?” The two men erupted in anger, pushed open the gate, and strode out.

Bang!

In a split second, both men collided, hit the ground with bruised faces, without ever seeing how the bearded man had moved.

“With useless guards like these, Ma Pinghai, you really aren’t afraid to die,” the bearded man sneered, then strode towards the villa.

…

Time passed quickly. By late afternoon, Qiangzi was already adept with the nail gun and electric saw, and Xiaofei had graduated from just measuring to calculating materials. Pang Gang was surprised at how talented these guys were—their progress exceeded his expectations.

Originally, Ruan Qingshuang wanted to invite Pang Gang and his crew to stay for dinner, but Pang Gang insisted on returning to the hospital to check on his workers. Qiangzi and Xiaofei slipped away too; they felt embarrassed to keep eating at Yun-ge’s place every day.

Qin Wan’er returned to the medicinal restaurant looking weary, night already fallen. The whole group was waiting for her to eat.

“Wan’er-jie, why are you back so late?” Guoguo’s stomach was growling as she raised her tiny hand in protest. “We’re all waiting for you to celebrate my successful enrollment!”

Ruan Qingshuang looked at Qin Wan’er with the same puzzled expression. “Did something happen?”

After a string of remarkable achievements, Qin Wan’er had been officially promoted to First-Class Inspector, moving straight from deputy station chief in the Wenhui District to instructor—a true second-in-command, and soon to join the city bureau leadership. Who would keep her working overtime?

Qin Wan’er sighed. “There was a meeting at the bureau. The provincial office sent a classified document. They suspect an S-class fugitive has entered our city, but they don’t know who it is—no name, no photo, just a suspicion. We’ve been ordered to maintain first-level alert.”

No one noticed that as soon as she spoke, Qiu Yan’s face turned deathly pale. She knew all too well what S-class meant—an elite among elites! She had sent the three tracking chips off to Western Europe, South America, and Africa. Why would Blue Ghost still send someone here?

“Damn, you’d better be on full alert then. What does an S-class fugitive mean?” Xu Yun flashed a grin, his gaze already catching Qiu Yan’s ashen face.

Qin Wan’er was grave, not joking in the least. She glanced at Qiu Yan, then at Xu Yun. “Do you remember that Cangying Palace assassin?”

“Of course.” Xu Yun’s heart sank—he knew exactly what S-class meant. That kind of character was truly formidable.

“S-class fugitives are at least three times harder to deal with than someone like Gong You from Cangying Palace,” Qin Wan’er said, enunciating every word.

Xu Yun put on a look of surprise, but inwardly he laughed bitterly: “Qin Wan’er, you’re still underestimating S-class fugitives. Three Gong Yous? Ten wouldn’t be enough for their shoes. Anyone rated S-class is a top-tier threat…”