He Chu San spent three whole days writing an extremely cliché story widely circulated among the common folk—a wealthy young lady and a poor boy secretly falling in love, only for the wealthy girl to be kidnapped by a gang boss and dragged back to his hideout in a sack. The poor boy risked his life charging into the den to battle the boss, after which the young couple happily eloped together.
Xia Liu Yi absentmindedly poked a fish ball with a bamboo skewer, rolling it twice through the curry sauce. “This gang boss also uses twin blades?”
Standing obediently before him, He Chu San sincerely praised, “Very imposing.”
Xia Liu Yi crooked a finger at him.
The moment He Chu San stepped closer, Xia Liu Yi grabbed him by the collar and slammed him onto the table in one violent motion, seizing his hair and smashing his forehead downward with a bang!Blood immediately burst from He Chu San’s forehead, his vision spinning wildly. After surviving the dizziness and focusing his eyes again, cold sweat instantly drenched his clothes—
Xia Liu Yi was holding the bamboo skewer aimed straight toward his eyeball!
He Chu San resigned himself to fate and closed his eyes. But after waiting a long while and feeling nothing happen, he opened them again in confusion. Xia Liu Yi had merely flipped the skewer around and lightly prodded his trembling eyelid with the blunt end.
“Quiet on the outside, but full of schemes inside! Taking the long route to insult me, huh?” Xia Liu Yi said. “Don’t play tricks with your Brother Liu Yi. Go rewrite it.”
With his “Indian A’San” bandaged head, He Chu San obediently spent another three days writing. When his father asked what happened, he claimed a flowerpot had fallen from upstairs and cracked his head open. Every morning he still left home carrying his little schoolbag. But once he turned the corner of the alley, several thugs would haul him to the company to write all day before delivering him home late at night like packaged cargo.
Three days later, he submitted a new script. This time it was about a free-spirited gang enforcer who fell in love with a beautiful woman forced into the pleasures trade. After a moving romance, the woman was abducted by a rival gang, and the enforcer fought through rivers of blood to rescue her, wielding twin blades as he cut down more than forty men alone and carved a bloody path through cramped alleyways…
The more Xiao Ma listened, the stranger it sounded. Leaning toward a subordinate, he whispered, “One man wielding twin blades against forty people? Why does this plot sound exactly like when our Boss Liu Yi rescued Boss Azure Dragon back then…”
“Ahem! I didn’t hear anything at all, Brother Ma.”
As Xia Liu Yi listened attentively to the script, his face darkened more and more. Meanwhile, He Chu San remained completely oblivious, merely lowering his head and reading the story outline, convinced that switching from criticizing gangsters to glorifying them meant he probably would not get beaten this time.
After diligently finishing the reading, he stood there waiting for feedback. The room fell so silent that even a pin dropping could be heard. Xiao Ma read the mood in the air and quietly flexed his knuckles, preparing to help Boss Liu Yi beat someone up.
“Where did this story come from?” Xia Liu Yi asked, lightly tapping the table with his knuckles.
“I heard it,” He Chu San replied, sneaking a glance upward at him and finally realizing the atmosphere seemed slightly off.
“Heard it from who?” Xia Liu Yi continued.
“Everyone says—”
Before he could finish, He Chu San was sent flying!
His skinny body crashed through two stools, smashing into the wall amid splintered stool legs. When he collapsed onto the ground, he was completely covered in dust and debris. After coughing twice, he actually spat out blood.
“Eighty percent strength,” Xiao Ma silently calculated in his heart.
Xia Liu Yi strode over in large steps and swung another broken stool leg down onto him!
He Chu San could not stop himself from crying out. A jagged nail protruding from the broken stool scraped across his arm, and blood instantly seeped out. Hurt and confused, he stared down blankly at his own blood, unable to understand why this moody gang boss had suddenly exploded again.
Flipping the stool leg around, Xia Liu Yi aimed the sharpened splintered end toward He Chu San. Expressionless, he raised it high, clearly about to stab downward!
At that moment, the door suddenly burst open from outside alongside the shouts of the guards.
“Boss!”
“Boss!”
The moment Hao Cheng Qing entered the room, he heard a heavy thud.
At only twenty-five years old, this man had inherited leadership of the gang as crown prince. Ten years of drifting through the underworld had tempered him into someone calm and composed in both conduct and temperament. He paid no attention to the strange noise, merely sweeping his gaze calmly around the room before asking:
“Where’s Liu Yi?”
Xiao Ma and the gathered thugs all stared dumbfounded toward the back of the door, sweating profusely—
With a creak, the wooden door opened. Xia Liu Yi jumped out from behind it in a miserable state, clutching the back of his head while casually tossing aside the stool leg in his hand.
“Eldest.”
Hao Cheng Qing frowned in confusion.
“I was behind the door beating someone up, Eldest!” Xia Liu Yi complained pitifully, rubbing the back of his head while hissing in pain. “Next time can you say something before coming in?”
Hao Cheng Qing laughed. Wrapping an arm around Xia Liu Yi’s shoulders, he pulled him close and personally rubbed the back of his head for him.
“Hurt?”
“Yes!” Xia Liu Yi answered shamelessly. “You need to pay injury compensation.”
“I’ll let you manage the new nightclub. Enough?”
“Enough! Enough!” Xia Liu Yi immediately accepted without hesitation. Turning around, he shot murderous looks at Xiao Ma and the others. The thugs instantly sprang into action, serving tea, dusting surfaces, and respectfully seating Boss Azure Dragon on the sofa.
Meanwhile, He Chu San—still flopping around behind the door on the floor—was hauled away by two thugs, one on each side, ensuring he did not offend the boss’s eyes in the slightest.
Once the underlings respectfully shut the door from outside, only Azure Dragon and Xia Liu Yi remained inside. Xia Liu Yi strode over and plopped himself heavily beside him.
“Eldest, why are you here?”
“Xiao Man wanted to come see the film set…”
Before Hao Cheng Qing could finish speaking, Xia Liu Yi shot upright, eyes widening.
“Xiao Man came? Where is she?”
Hao Cheng Qing calmly pulled a cigar from the box on the coffee table.
Xia Liu Yi obediently sat back down and lit it for him. “Eldest, my bad. I interrupted again. Go on, I’m listening.”
Hao Cheng Qing slowly took a puff before handing the cigar to him. Only after watching Xia Liu Yi casually bite down on it did he continue.
“She started feeling dizzy just before arriving. I had someone send her home first.”
“Her health’s still bad? How’s her mood lately?”
Hao Cheng Qing shook his head. “I’ve been too busy to spend time with her. Visit her more when you have time.”
“Okay,” Xia Liu Yi nodded. Then after thinking for a moment, he asked again, “You’re really giving me the new nightclub?”
“When have I ever lied to you?”
“Feels kinda inappropriate,” Xia Liu Yi complained while lighting Hao Cheng Qing’s second cigar. “Xu Ying’s been unhappy with me lately. After that subordinate got transferred away last time, he planted more people around me again. Affairs outside the Walled City have always been his territory. Me taking over the nightclub is stepping over the line. He’s definitely unhappy.”
“You don’t need to worry about him,” Hao Cheng Qing said. “If there’s anything in the accounts you don’t understand, ask Dong Dong.”
Lowering his head, Xia Liu Yi silently reviewed every matter in his mind before replying, “Alright. Don’t worry, I’ll handle it properly.”
Hao Cheng Qing smiled faintly. “You’re sensible. Eldest trusts you.”
The two discussed more serious business for a while before Hao Cheng Qing noticed the scattered handwritten pages on the floor, some stained with blood.
“What’s this?”
“The new movie script.” Xia Liu Yi immediately looked awkward. “I found a college student to write it, but the brat made up a bunch of nonsense…”
Before he could rescue the situation, Hao Cheng Qing casually picked up a page lying beside the coffee table. After reading it briefly, he said:
“Pick up the rest.”
Xia Liu Yi could only obediently bend over and scramble around gathering the scattered pages into a stack.
Watching Hao Cheng Qing flip through page after page, Xia Liu Yi’s heart pounded violently as he desperately tried to explain.
“That kid’s brain is waterlogged. I already beat him up, I—”
“It’s pretty good,” Hao Cheng Qing said calmly. “Film it exactly like this.”
“I… huh?!”
Setting the script down, Hao Cheng Qing stood up and patted Xia Liu Yi on the head.
“I still have things to do, so I’m leaving first. Remember to visit Xiao Man often.”
“Uh… this…” Xia Liu Yi still looked conflicted as the door opened from outside. Two alert bodyguards escorted Hao Cheng Qing out. Hao Cheng Qing waved dismissively while walking away, indicating no one needed to see him off.
Xia Liu Yi watched until his figure disappeared from sight. After closing the door, he leaned heavily against it.
Staring blankly at the stack of scripts for a while, he let out a quiet sigh.
Looking exhausted, he pulled out a cigarette and tilted his head to light it.
“Xiao Ma!”
“Yeah!”
“Take that kid to get treated.”
……
Several wraps were wound around He Chu San’s chest, several more around his arm, and the bandages around his head still could not be removed. He had evolved from Indian A’San into Mummy A’San.
Lowering his head, he sat beside the set watching a bunch of little gangsters run around under the director’s commands arranging props. Suddenly everyone stopped what they were doing and respectfully greeted someone in unison—
Xia Liu Yi had arrived to inspect the set.
Everyone flattered Xia Liu Yi except He Chu San, who buried his head lower and continued writing dialogue for the next scene as his tiny act of resistance.
Everyone here was a criminal, and Xia Liu Yi was the worst criminal among them. He only wanted to hurry up and finish all the dialogue, finish filming the movie, and return to school.
He had already missed two weeks of class. His attendance rate had plummeted, meaning this semester’s scholarship was definitely gone. Next semester he would have to ask his father for tuition money. At twenty-one years old, instead of supporting his father, he still had to spend his father’s money. Just thinking about it made him miserable.
Writing furiously with a gloomy expression, he was suddenly startled so badly by a gentle voice beside him that his pen flew out of his hand.
“What’s your name?”
The speaker was an exquisitely made-up woman—the film’s female lead, Xiao Man, wife of Azure Dragon and the gang’s sister-in-law. She had been around filming these past few days, though He Chu San had only glanced at her from afar without much interest.
Now that he saw her up close, he realized she possessed delicate features and a graceful temperament entirely unlike the flirtatious or fierce women among his neighbors.
Yet for some reason, he felt she somewhat resembled that gang boss. Especially the upward curve of her eyes. The difference was that Xia Liu Yi’s gaze concealed cunning beneath lazy indifference, while her eyes looked dazed and unfocused, carrying an everlasting melancholy.
He sat there blankly without responding, looking as though he had been frightened. Xiao Man did not mind and simply repeated the question.
“What’s your name?”
“He Chu San.”
Xiao Man smiled. “Were you born on the third day of Lunar New Year?”
“Yes.”
She smiled again and rubbed his bandaged “Indian A’San” head like petting a puppy. For some reason, He Chu San felt her gaze was slightly vacant and her movements rather strange.
“I heard you’re a college student?”
“Yes.”
“That’s wonderful. I never even attended elementary school. Is university fun?”
He Chu San thought for a moment before replying completely off-topic:
“The library has lots of books.”
“I don’t like reading books. I like singing,” Xiao Man answered just as irrelevantly. Then after glancing around to make sure nobody was paying attention, she quietly sang a short piece for him.
He Chu San increasingly felt there was something odd about her, but he did not point it out and instead listened attentively until she finished. She sang beautifully, her voice bright and clear like a little oriole in springtime.
“Sister-in-law! We’re starting filming!” someone called from afar.
Xiao Man straightened and glanced toward the speaker. In an instant, her expression became cold and dignified—the noble bearing of the gang’s sister-in-law. The person immediately stopped urging her and merely waited respectfully.
Turning back, Xiao Man asked He Chu San again, “What happened to your head? You got hurt?”
“Yes.”
“Who hit you?”
“Brother Liu Yi.”
Xiao Man sighed softly. “A’Liu, he’s being naughty again. I’ll talk to him for you.”
“No need, no need,” He Chu San said in horror.
“I must,” Xiao Man insisted, widening her hollow eyes slightly and shaking her head. “He’s always like this. That’s why he can’t make friends. Don’t blame him. He just never had anyone to play with. Back then it was so pitiful—there were only the two of us.”
Hearing her describe the terrifying Children’s Day Tyrant as some miserable abandoned puppy sent chills through He Chu San. To stop the conversation from drifting somewhere even stranger, he cautiously asked:
“Sister-in-law, shouldn’t you go film your scene?”
Xiao Man smiled faintly. “What’s the point of filming? No matter how much I act, he still won’t watch.”
He Chu San mistakenly assumed the “he” referred to Xia Liu Yi. Since he had been writing gang romance stories lately, he immediately imagined countless dramatic tales between the gang’s sister-in-law and the underling enforcer Xia Liu Yi—love growing over time, hatred, tragedy, life-and-death separation…
Fortunately, another voice interrupted before his gossip-fueled imagination spiraled further.
“Sis, filming’s starting. Why are you still here?”
He Chu San’s eyes widened as he watched Xia Xiao Man tiptoe, hook Xia Liu Yi’s head downward, and kiss his forehead intimately before rubbing his hair like petting a puppy again.
Xia Liu Yi, his hair now a complete mess, smiled at her with the tender gentleness of a lion turned vegetarian.
“Go on, Sis. Everyone’s waiting for you.”
Xiao Man smiled at He Chu San before lightly tiptoeing away.
He Chu San was still staring blankly after her when a plate of beef offal slammed down in front of him. Xia Liu Yi threatened:
“What are you staring at? Want me to dig your eyes out?”
“She… she’s your real older sister?”
“Call her sister-in-law!”
“Oh.”
He Chu San secretly watched Xia Liu Yi sit on the table eating beef offal while his head, chest, and arm all began aching faintly again. He constantly felt that Xia Liu Yi might suddenly get unhappy and smash a stool over him without warning.
Could you maybe not sit here? I can’t write with you watching me, he thought gloomily.
While He Chu San sulked internally, Xia Liu Yi was actually in an excellent mood.
Recently he had clashed with a lower-ranking member of the Sha Family Gang over business. The Sha Family Gang had smashed up one of his gambling dens. Xiao Ma had cleverly grabbed the cash and retreated with their own men immediately, leaving behind only the two spies planted by Deputy Hall Master Xu. The Sha Family Gang tore apart the place without finding much money, so they beat those two unfortunate men half to death instead.
The next day, Xia Liu Yi personally visited the underground clinic to “comfort” the two “brothers.” After admiring their horrifying injuries beneath the blankets, he naturally replaced them with his own people, then openly led his men to wipe out three Sha Family Gang establishments and loot over a hundred thousand dollars in cash.
The Sha Family Gang’s boss called Azure Dragon demanding an explanation. Azure Dragon first pointed out that this was merely a minor conflict between juniors and that bosses should not interfere personally. Then he gently soothed the Sha boss, saying that although that was true, Liu Yi still listened to him quite well. Therefore, he would ask Liu Yi to give him face by withdrawing his men from the Sha establishments, and from then on both sides could mind their own business peacefully.
The Sha boss nearly vomited blood from rage. They had killed people, stolen the money, and then proposed peaceful coexistence afterward. What a fucking masterful performance! Yet after suffering devastating losses, he no longer had the strength to retaliate. He could only swallow the grievance with broken teeth and silently add another debt onto Xia Liu Yi’s head.
Xia Liu Yi, however, counted the money happily. He had strengthened the gang’s reputation and brought honor to Boss Azure Dragon. Why would he care about the Sha boss’s tiny resentment? He had been licking blood from blades since fourteen years old. After ten years in the underworld, the number of grudges attached to him was already impossible to count.
While sitting on the table eating beef offal and mentally calculating accounts, he beckoned to Xiao Ma standing at the edge of the set, preparing to distribute the money among the brothers so everyone could have some fun.
Xiao Ma came trotting over in tiny rapid steps, but before he even got close, his mouth fell open and he pointed upward with a scream.
“Boss Liu Yi, look out!”
For the second time that day, He Chu San’s pen flew from fright. Instinctively he looked up—
Directly above him, an iron support beam with two massive fluorescent lights attached to it suddenly broke loose from age and poor maintenance, crashing downward with a thunderous roar!
He sat pressed against the wall with his stool wedged tightly in place. In that split second, there was no time to push himself away and escape.
He could only watch helplessly as the giant mass of iron came smashing toward his head!
And in that exact split second, Xia Liu Yi—who could have easily jumped aside to safety—instead lunged forward instantly!
He bent down and wrapped He Chu San into his arms while simultaneously driving his fist upward!
BOOM—!
With one punch, he actually knocked the entire iron structure flying away!
Stunned speechless, He Chu San found himself buried against Xia Liu Yi’s chest, his nose filled with the smell of beef offal clinging to the gangster’s body. The weather had recently turned cooler, yet Xia Liu Yi still wore only a thin tank top. He Chu San’s warm lips accidentally brushed against a hard little nub on his chest, instantly scaring cold sweat out of him.
That particular spot happened to be extraordinarily sensitive for Xia Liu Yi as well. His face darkened violently as he shoved He Chu San away.
“What are you rubbing against me for?! Trying to nurse?!”
Still dazed, He Chu San looked at him, then lowered his head toward his own shoulder—
There was a bloody handprint there.
A crowd of underlings rushed over shouting loudly.
“Boss Liu Yi!”
“Are you okay?!”
“You’re bleeding!”
Blood covered Xia Liu Yi’s hands, arms, and forehead where the iron frame had scraped him. He himself felt it was nothing serious, but his subordinates panicked anyway, surrounding him and insisting on taking him to get bandaged.
They had only taken a few steps when a woman’s shrill scream pierced through the set.
“A’Hao——!”
Xia Xiao Man shoved frantically through the crowd. Her bright red painted nails dug instantly into Xia Liu Yi’s arm as she screamed hysterically:
“A’Hao! What happened to you?! Don’t die! A’Hao! Waaaaahhh—!”
Throwing herself around Xia Liu Yi, she burst into uncontrollable sobbing so crazed it no longer resembled normal behavior. The underlings exchanged helpless glances, watching as Xia Liu Yi risked being strangled to death instead of dying from his injuries.
Finally Xiao Ma cautiously stepped forward.
“Sister-in-law…”
“AHHH—!”
Xia Xiao Man let out a shriek so piercing that Xiao Ma stumbled backward in terror.
“Don’t come over! Don’t hit him anymore! Don’t hit him anymore!”
Releasing Xia Liu Yi, she curled into a trembling ball. But after only two screams, she crawled back and shielded Xia Liu Yi desperately with her own tiny body.
“No! Hit me instead! Hit me! Don’t hit A’Hao! I’m begging you! You’re going to beat him to death! Wuuu… A’Hao…”
“I’m fine, Sis,” Xia Liu Yi said weakly, barely able to breathe from being squeezed so tightly.
“Wuuu… don’t die… A’Hao…”
“I’m really fine, Sis. You got frightened. I’ll take you home.”
“Wuuu… A’Hao…”
Xia Liu Yi turned his face aside and signaled subtly with his eyes. Several underlings immediately stepped forward to support them both. Xia Xiao Man still clung stubbornly to his injured arm. Xia Liu Yi’s face had already gone pale from pain, yet he made no effort to shake her off. Instead, he gently placed his free hand over hers in comfort.
Like that—one clinging to the other—they were escorted away by the underlings.
Xiao Ma remained behind to handle the aftermath. Lowering his voice, he grabbed one of the older gang members nearby.
“Hey, what was that thing Sister-in-law called Boss Liu Yi just now? A’Hao?”
“Seems like it was Boss Liu Yi’s old name,” the man whispered back. “I heard before he followed the boss, he wasn’t called Liu Yi. He changed his name afterward.”
Everyone completely forgot about He Chu San, who still sat upright at the table.
This poor child who had narrowly escaped death was staring blankly at the blood-stained plate of beef offal sitting before him.
Futile Devices Scans 
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