After choosing an auspicious date, He Chu San kowtowed before the altar, offered incense, drank chicken blood, and formally joined Xiao Qi Hall as a disciple of Deputy Hall Master Cui Dong Dong. Because of his expertise in investment and financial management, he was appointed the society’s Investment Adviser. Besides advising the company, he privately helped the brothers and sisters manage their personal finances. Financial planning suddenly swept through Xiao Qi Hall. Gangsters who normally spent recklessly, made no plans, and lived entirely for the present began setting aside three or five thousand at a time. Once they had saved enough, they sought out Adviser He and asked him to “turn small money into big money.” Adviser He had no soldiers under his command. He had never smashed, robbed, or burned anything for the society and had never shed a drop of blood or a single tear on its behalf. Yet he swiftly won countless hearts and became a rising star admired by everyone. Even other underworld societies heard of him, and the brothers gave him a nickname: The Little Fortune-Bringer.
Fortunately, Father He never heard those underworld rumors. Otherwise, he would probably have grabbed a broom and beaten his son into a broken-legged little fortune-bringer.
Boss Xia remained as unaware of these rumors as Father He. In prison, he continued his usual routine of eating, drinking, participating in power struggles, and collecting followers. He did not, however, force Qin Hao—the young man he had rescued that night—to formally recognize him as Boss. Xia Liu Yi had saved him on impulse. The young man was an excellent fighter with considerable pride, and allowing Big Python and the others to ruin him would have been a waste. Although Xia Liu Yi had publicly claimed to have “taken an interest” in Qin Hao, the young man’s face looked so much like Azure Dragon’s that it constantly dragged Xia Liu Yi back into the past. His cold, withdrawn nature was also completely unlike Azure Dragon’s. Having that counterfeit face before him was like living with a thorn beneath his skin.
Fortunately, Qin Hao gave him no face at all. Even after being rescued, he remained solitary and rarely appeared before Xia Liu Yi to irritate him.
Half a month passed with neither interfering in the other’s life. Then the Mid-Autumn Festival arrived. The prison gave everyone a day off from work. Each inmate received two mooncakes and an additional chicken leg at lunch. The dining hall was filled with celebration. The warden came to greet them and wished everyone a happy festival, then mentioned that it was also his birthday. The prisoners therefore sang him a birthday song in chorus and cheerfully saw him off.
The instant the warden departed, the dining hall erupted. Several Chaozhou men jumped onto a table and began singing Love in the Late Autumn.
If fate has already decreed that we must part, there’s no need to pretend you want me to stay. If love were truly eternal, how could we ever separate…
The He Sheng Society men pounded the tables and answered with another song. I do not fear the bitter wind scattering our love! All the rivers and mountains are filled with feeling! Meetings and partings are destined by Heaven! I blame neither Heaven nor fate! I ask only that the mountains and rivers bear witness!
Like two hands, we share happiness and sorrow! We carry every burden together, without dividing yours from mine! You for me, and I for you—through hardship and despair, I will hold your hand! Friends! The men of Xiao Qi Hall sang together.
Songs rose one after another until the dining hall nearly shook. Even the guards were caught up in the mood and quietly hummed along. Xia Liu Yi tapped his tray to keep rhythm for his brothers while glancing around. The more excitement there was, the more likely someone would use it as cover to cause trouble.
Sure enough, he spotted Qin Hao carrying a food tray in one corner, while Big Python and several Sha Family Gang men approached him from behind.
Xia Liu Yi kicked Big Scarhead beneath the table and signaled him to investigate.
Qin Hao was a dangerous loner and equally alert. He sensed Big Python’s approach almost immediately, stopped, and turned to face him with a guarded, icy stare.
“You’re A’Hao, right?” Big Python sneered. “Friends outside say you fight as though you don’t care whether you live.”
Qin Hao did not answer.
“Why are you over here alone? Quiet, unfriendly, nobody likes you. Did Twin-Blade Xia fuck you all night and then throw you aside?”
Qin Hao flipped his tray directly into Big Python’s face. Greasy food covered the man before he could react. As he stumbled back, he cursed, “Fuck your mother!”
“Your dad’s the one getting fucked!” Big Scarhead pushed through with two men. “He belongs to Xiao Qi Hall. Didn’t your Boss Sha teach you any rules?”
“Oh? Twin-Blade Xia wore out this broken shoe and threw it away, but no one else is allowed to touch it?”
As Xiao Qi Hall’s second-ranking Red Pole, Big Scarhead was nothing like its number one, Xiao Ma. He could not trade insults. He simply fought. Without wasting another word, he rolled up his sleeves and punched Big Python.
Big Python staggered several steps and spat blood. He roared and charged, but his raised fist suddenly stopped in midair.
Xia Liu Yi had appeared without warning and caught his wrist with one hand. His grip tightened until the bones around the web of Big Python’s thumb creaked. Big Python screamed. Xia Liu Yi forced his wrist downward, bending him helplessly into the shape of a shrimp.
“Let go! Let go! Ahhh!”
“Limping Sha, are you going to control your man?” Xia Liu Yi called to Boss Sha nearby.
Limping Sha frowned, equally ashamed of Big Python’s behavior. “Enough! Come back!”
The incident ended there. Xia Liu Yi turned toward his table and said as he walked, “Bring Qin Hao over to sit with us.”
“I don’t need you to defend me,” Qin Hao said behind him.
Xia Liu Yi stopped.
“I have nothing to do with you. I don’t need your protection.”
His vision suddenly blurred. Xia Liu Yi grabbed him by the hair and smashed his head into the table. Leaning close, he spoke viciously into Qin Hao’s ear. “You think I want to protect you? I saved you in front of everyone that night. From that moment, you became one of Xiao Qi Hall’s people. Do you think Big Python truly wanted you just now? He was stepping on my face. From now on, stay beside me and stop causing trouble. And if you throw my kindness back in my face again, I’ll make sure you never see another sunrise.”
He slammed Qin Hao’s head down once more and gestured to Big Scarhead. “Take him over.”
“Yes!”
Xia Liu Yi also had Qin Hao’s bed moved beside his. The young man not only refused to submit but possessed no understanding whatsoever of tact or human relationships. He was the kind of foul stone that could lie silently in a corner and still attract disaster. If Xia Liu Yi left him alone, he would be dead under mysterious circumstances within three days.
…
Prison nights were endlessly long. Xia Liu Yi listened to Qin Hao turning restlessly in the neighboring bed and felt his own irritation grow. The photograph he had carried in his wallet for almost ten years—Azure Dragon’s silent profile as he smoked—kept appearing in his mind.
She’s my older sister! She likes you!
What about you?
I… I’m your follower. Your sworn disciple. Since I’ve taken you as my Boss, I’ll follow you for the rest of my life.
When he held me, I watched him carefully. He was thinking about someone else! I could tell from his face—he was thinking of someone else! He had to imagine someone else before he could hold me! Tell me who that bitch is, who that fox is! What does she have that I don’t? What did I do wrong…?
This isn’t what a woman needs! You know that! Can’t you truly…
I can’t.
Xiao Liu, it was my fault. Don’t blame yourself.
Xiao Liu…
Xia Liu Yi released a suppressed, furious breath. He clenched the jade Buddha against his chest, pressing it hard into himself as though he could use the pressure to suppress the sudden pain in his heart. Desperately, he forced himself to think of He Chu San instead: the shameless way he clung to Xia Liu Yi’s waist and acted spoiled, the unbearably sentimental way he pressed Xia Liu Yi’s hand against his cheek, and the shy, hopeful smile he had worn when he pushed over the small box containing the jade Buddha. With all his strength, Xia Liu Yi used that smile to bury all the blood and filth in his heart, every violent and murderous impulse.
Brother Liu Yi, after you get out, go legitimate. I don’t want us to be unable to see each other like this again.
Xia Liu Yi breathed in deeply, then released the stale air in a slow, heavy exhale.
He would go legitimate. Once he finished this last thing.
…
Big Scarhead slept on a lower bunk some distance away, spread out on his back and snoring loud enough to shake the room. His thick arms and legs hung over the sides. A light kick suddenly woke him. He opened his eyes and was about to demand who had done it when Xia Liu Yi covered his mouth.
“It’s me,” Xia Liu Yi whispered. He slapped the upper bunk several times. The Xiao Qi Hall brother sleeping above understood at once, climbed down, and went to squeeze into another bed with the others.
“Boss? What happened?”
In a voice only Big Scarhead could hear, Xia Liu Yi asked, “Is everything ready?”
“Yes. Besides Officer Xing, we bought one of Shrimp Skin’s followers. Over the next few days, Officer Xing will find excuses to transfer the other He Sheng Society men into different dormitories, leaving only Shrimp Skin and that follower. At night, the follower will lure Shrimp Skin into the shower room. I’ll hide the knife behind the hot-water pipe beforehand.”
“I’ll go inside. You and the others guard the entrance.”
“Yes.”
Xia Liu Yi returned to his bed, weighed down by his thoughts. Qin Hao remained awake, lying silently in the dark and watching him. Xia Liu Yi sensed his eyes and suddenly turned to glare. Qin Hao immediately shut his eyes and rolled away.
Damn it. Just looking at this kid made Xia Liu Yi’s chest feel tight. He wanted to take a knife and scrape that face off.
…
The prisoners received no holiday the next day and were transported to the nearby quarry as usual. The lingering autumn heat was at its peak. The midday sun burned against their skin, and the sea wind seemed capable of peeling away the scorched surface. The prisoners repeatedly stopped to wipe their sweat. They stripped off their soaked undershirts, wrung them out, and draped them over their heads. A few became so hot that they even removed their underwear, only for the sun to scorch their balls and send them scrambling to cover themselves again.
As prison tyrant, Xia Liu Yi naturally avoided whatever work he could. He handed his tasks to his followers, put on a large straw hat, and crouched in a blind spot beyond the guards’ view, lazily smoking. Dense scars of every length crossed his bare back. Under the heat, they darkened to a deep black-red, making his entire body seem ready to burn.
A fierce argument broke out in the distance. More and more men gathered around it. Xia Liu Yi irritably rose with half a cigarette still between his fingers. He instinctively moved to throw it away, then remembered that cigarettes were precious inside prison. Instead, he extinguished it and tucked it into his pocket.
“What happened?” he asked, catching hold of a follower who was staring in that direction.
“Brother Big Scar seems to be arguing with someone.”
Big Scarhead had been dragged into the dispute through no fault of his own. He was not someone who caused trouble for amusement. He had been working quietly when a Sha Family Gang member suddenly grabbed him and accused him of deliberately overturning a basket of stones the man had just filled. Big Scarhead naturally refused to admit it. Words became shoves, and shoves became a fight. Big Python rushed over from nearby. The moment he saw Big Scarhead, both old resentment and new rage erupted, and he swung a fist. The two men immediately began brawling.
By the time Xia Liu Yi reached them, almost everyone from Xiao Qi Hall and the Sha Family Gang had joined the fight. In the distance, guards were blowing whistles and running toward them while drawing electric batons.
“Stop!” Xia Liu Yi shouted. Seeing Boss Sha limp closer, he called, “Limping Sha! Call off your men! If this continues, every one of us will be thrown into solitary!”
Both bosses commanded considerable authority. At their shouts, the two sides reluctantly stopped. Big Scarhead stood panting in the center. Xia Liu Yi frowned and was about to reprimand him when Big Scarhead’s expression suddenly went blank. He covered his stomach and collapsed.
The surrounding men instinctively backed away. Big Scarhead struck the ground, blood gushing between his fingers.
Big Python stood beside him in shock, clutching a sharpened toothbrush handle that still dripped red.
Xia Liu Yi’s face turned cold. Murderous intent erupted from him. He lunged and locked one hand around Big Python’s throat. The stunned man had no time to react before Xia Liu Yi’s fingers crushed into his neck, leaving him struggling to produce broken sounds.
“N-no… not… me…”
“Twin-Blade Xia! Let him go! We can discuss this!” Limping Sha rushed forward to intervene, only for Xia Liu Yi to kick him away. The furious Xiao Qi Hall men launched another attack, and both sides plunged back into chaos.
The guards charged in shouting and drove their electric batons into Xia Liu Yi first. He convulsed and fell, directly facing Big Scarhead, who twitched in a pool of blood nearby. Big Scarhead covered his bleeding abdomen and groaned weakly. “Boss… stop fighting, Boss…”
Xia Liu Yi gritted his teeth and tried to force himself upright. A baton struck the back of his head, knocking him completely unconscious.
…
He awoke facedown in a solitary cell. The underground room was damp and bitterly cold, utterly unlike the blazing heat outside. Wearing only pants, Xia Liu Yi shivered several times before his mind finally cleared.
His head throbbed violently. His brow had been scraped, and one eye was swollen almost shut. He struggled from the floor, staggered to the iron bars, and held himself upright.
“Awake?” asked the guard stationed in the corridor.
“Where’s my brother?”
“The one who was stabbed? He was sent to the hospital. He’s alive.”
“Where’s Big Python?”
“Locked up like you. He claims he didn’t stab anyone—that someone pushed the toothbrush into his hand during the confusion.”
Xia Liu Yi frowned, pulling at the wound near his eye. He grunted softly.
The guard tossed him a cigarette. “Forget about Big Python. Your sentence is only a few months. If you kill him, do you want to remain here for life?”
“He hurt my brother,” Xia Liu Yi said coldly.
“You gangsters really believe you’re heroes of loyalty, don’t you?” The guard scoffed and tossed over a box of matches. “Smoke and calm down, Boss Xia. You have another two days in here.”
Xia Liu Yi spent three full days in solitary. Like every prisoner released from confinement, he emerged stubbled, exhausted, and mentally foggy. Limping Sha was released beside him. His steps were unsteady, and he had to pause after every few paces. The solitary cells were so damp and cold that the leg once broken by the police had ached without relief.
He endured it and hurried to catch Xia Liu Yi. Keeping his voice low, he said, “Twin-Blade Xia, the toothbrush did belong to Big Python. But he would never have brought it to the quarry to stab anyone. No matter how impulsive he is, he would never try to kill one of your men without my permission.”
Xia Liu Yi laughed softly. “So you’re saying he had your permission?”
“Believe me or don’t. I gave him no such order. Small fights are one thing. What could I possibly gain from a death?”
“Save your breath. You can’t save Big Python now.” Xia Liu Yi kept walking without looking at him. “And if I discover you gave the order, you won’t save yourself either.”
Angry and anxious, Limping Sha cursed beneath his breath. “Xia Liu Yi, if the two of us destroy each other, who benefits? Use your head. You’re nowhere near Hao Cheng Qing’s level—”
Xia Liu Yi seized him by the throat and drove him into the wall. “Shut your fucking mouth! Who gave you the right to say his name?”
The escorting guards raised their batons and forcibly dragged them apart. “Xia Liu Yi, behave yourself! You’ve only just come out. Do you already want to go back?”
Xia Liu Yi shoved Limping Sha away. The guards each took one man and forced them back toward the dormitory. At the entrance, they gave both bosses a hard push. “Cause trouble again and you’ll each spend ten days in solitary. Understood?”
“…”
“I asked whether you understood!”
“Understood, Officer,” the two men who commanded storms outside answered through clenched teeth.
The guards removed their handcuffs. “Get lost. Take your things and shower. You two stink to high heaven! Lights out in half an hour. Hurry up!”
Limping Sha angrily collected his towel and washbasin and headed directly for the shower room. His bad leg had stiffened badly and desperately needed hot water. Xia Liu Yi moved more slowly. Looking around, he discovered that neither the Xiao Qi Hall nor the Sha Family Gang members were in the dormitory.
“Officer?” He approached the door. “Where are the others from the fight? Still in solitary?”
The unfamiliar guard sneered. “They were moved to other dormitories. Should we leave them here so you can all keep fighting?”
Xia Liu Yi studied him suspiciously. He was certain he had never seen the man. “Where’s Officer Xing? At the shower room?”
“Officer Xing has taken sick leave.” The man waved his electric baton through the bars. “Stop asking questions and go wash. Keep dragging your feet and I’ll deal with you.”
Under the man’s stare, Xia Liu Yi headed for the shower room. It stood outside the dormitory building at the end of a long, narrow corridor. Because it was so far away, almost nothing that happened inside could be heard from the dormitory. An additional guard was therefore stationed at its entrance.
On Xia Liu Yi’s first night in prison, the men Pao-zai had sent attacked him in that shower room. Big Scarhead had bribed Officer Xing, who was guarding the entrance. Officer Xing found an excuse to leave, allowing the entire fight to pass unnoticed.
Now another unfamiliar guard stood rigidly at the door.
Xia Liu Yi looked inside warily. Boss Sha stood naked beneath the innermost shower with his back turned, water running over his body. No one else was present.
Boss Sha alone posed no threat, and a guard remained outside. Although Xia Liu Yi was suspicious, he entered. He glanced back at the expressionless new officer. Apparently uninterested in watching naked prisoners shower, the man turned his face away.
Xia Liu Yi approached a nearby shower. As he reached for the hot-water valve, he used the motion to speak quietly.
“Something outside isn’t right…” He stopped. Boss Sha had not merely been standing with his back turned. Strips torn from clothing bound both his wrists to the pipe. His ankles were tied together, and his own underwear had been stuffed into his mouth. Water poured over his helpless body as he stared at Xia Liu Yi and grunted desperately.
By the time Xia Liu Yi recognized the trap, his hand had already opened the hot-water valve. A packet of sea sand lodged inside the pipe exploded outward with the rushing water, blasting Xia Liu Yi across the face and body.
His vision went black. Agony tore through both eyes. Covering them, Xia Liu Yi cried out and stumbled backward. Even through the pain, he sensed movement behind him and instinctively swung the plastic washbasin in his hand. Clang! A sharp weapon pierced the bottom of the basin. Xia Liu Yi drove a kick backward, sending the attacker and weapon flying.
Rapid footsteps thundered from the entrance—seven or eight men, by the sound of them. Then Shrimp Skin shouted triumphantly, “Turn on every shower! Xia Liu Yi, you little bastard, you tried to scheme against me? I’ll make sure there isn’t enough of you left to bury!”
Water roared from every direction. Several men rushed him at once.
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