Xia Liu Yi spoke with humble deference over the telephone, clarifying matters to Golden Maitreya. He explained that he had only taken in Jude Guanyin by chance, and upon discovering her betrayal of the Buddha Lord, he had immediately placed her under confinement. He added that he had only just been released from prison and was currently under tight surveillance by the police, making it difficult to act freely. Nevertheless, he promised that at Christmas, he would personally smuggle Jade Guanyin to Thailand as a festive offering to godfather—though presenting a Christmas gift to a Buddhist overlord was, admittedly, rather incongruous.
Xia Liu Yi did not return home for an entire night and day. By the following evening, He Chu San called to ask after him. Xia Liu Yi merely claimed that urgent matters at the company required his attention and that he was still in a meeting, telling He Chu San not to wait for him.
After hanging up, he returned to the sitting room of the village house—not Xiao Ma’s, but the very one where he had once lived alone in Kowloon City. Xiao Ma and Cui Dong Dong were whispering together on the sofa. Xia Liu Yi walked over and dropped into a seat opposite them, fatigue evident in his posture.
“Where were we?”
“We were discussing whether to bring Qin Hao,” Cui Dong Dong replied. “Boss, he hasn’t been in the underworld long enough, and his background isn’t fully clear. I don’t recommend taking him. Let me go instead.”
“No,” Xia Liu Yi said sharply, his gaze cutting toward her. “You can’t go. If anything happens to me on this trip, you must stay behind to hold the Hall.”
“If something happens to you, I’ll retire to Australia!” Cui Dong Dong shrugged. “Who wants to be your Deputy Hall Master, managing everything all day? I’m exhausted! And you still expect me to take over as Dragon Head? Not a chance!”
“Dong Dong!” Xia Liu Yi barked.
“Alright, alright, fine,” she relented, unable to argue further. “But you still need to think this through, Boss. Is Qin Hao clean? Will he treat you like a brother? If danger comes, will he stake his life for you?”
Xia Liu Yi frowned. “I don’t need anyone to risk their life for me. I’m not bringing someone to protect me—I need help to deal with Golden Maitreya’s death warriors. Each time, he only allows me to bring two people into his lair. Qin Hao is skilled, steady, and familiar with Thailand. Among my men, there’s no one more suitable.”
“But he just joined, and now he’s going with you to Thailand…” Cui Dong Dong, cautious by nature—perhaps overly suspicious—still hesitated.
“I’m not going to make a deal,” Xia Liu Yi said impatiently. “Even if he harbors ulterior motives—or even if he’s a police officer—so what? There are no trade secrets to leak. And even if killing happens, it’ll be on Thai soil—Hong Kong law can’t touch it. He’s not about to summon Interpol to wipe out Golden Maitreya’s stronghold, is he?!”
“Well, you never know—” Cui Dong Dong muttered, only to be silenced by Xia Liu Yi’s glare. She raised both hands in surrender. “Fine, fine. I’ll investigate him again, just to be safe. Let’s talk about something else.”
The three of them chattered deep into the night, laying out their plans in the village house. At last, Cui Dong Dong yawned and took her leave, saying she was going home to spend some tender time with Second Sister-in-law. Xiao Ma awkwardly excused himself as well, claiming he had to return to watch over Jade Guanyin.
Before leaving, the two of them glanced at Xia Liu Yi, who sat motionless on the sofa. Cui Dong Dong, ever fond of gossip, asked, “You’re sleeping here?”
“Mhm.”
“Not going home to sleep with the missus?”
“Get lost.”
Cui Dong Dong spat at him and stormed off indignantly. Just as she reached the door, Xia Liu Yi called out, “If your investigation clears Qin Hao, tell him to move in here.”
“…!” Cui Dong Dong froze.
Seeing her expression twist in an instant, Xia Liu Yi frowned. “Don’t get the wrong idea.”
“…!” Cui Dong Dong.
Who wouldn’t get the wrong idea, Boss?
Just look at Xiao Ma, pressed against the door outside, eavesdropping—he was already celebrating on the spot, doing an imaginary moonwalk at the thought that the missus had fallen out of favor.
…
As it turned out, the “missus” accepted his supposed loss of favor far more easily than Xia Liu Yi had expected. On the third day of Xia Liu Yi’s absence, He Chu San called him again and asked directly, “Did something happen in the underworld? Are the police investigating you again?”
Seizing the opportunity, Xia Liu Yi shifted the blame onto Xie Jia Hua and the elders. In a few concise words, he implied that during the process of “going legit,” dissatisfaction had arisen among the elders, who had stirred up trouble and drawn the attention of the Major Crimes Unit. There was no need to worry—it was already being handled—but for He Chu San’s safety, it was best they not meet for the time being.
He Chu San raised no objections to this explanation. After a long silence on the other end, he let out a quiet sigh. “Alright. I understand.” He did not press further, and after a brief farewell, he hung up.
Uneasy, Xia Liu Yi summoned the bodyguards assigned to shadow He Chu San and questioned them. They reported that He Chu San’s daily routine—work and home—remained unchanged. In fact, unusually, he had tacitly permitted their covert protection. As for Golden Maitreya’s black-clad assassins, they lingered only around Xiao Ma’s and Xia Liu Yi’s residences, with no sign of having discovered Mr. He at all.
Only then did Xia Liu Yi feel reassured, and he turned his full attention to the upcoming trip to Thailand. After a thorough investigation, Cui Dong Dong found no suspicious background regarding Qin Hao. Moreover, Qin Hao had a half-sister, born of the same father, who was currently recuperating in a private hospital funded by Xia Liu Yi’s money. Even for his sister’s sake, Qin Hao had no reason to betray Xiao Qi Hall.
Thus reassured, she informed Qin Hao to move into the boss’s village house.
In these days, Xia Liu Yi lived in seclusion, rarely stepping out. Each day, he sparred fiercely with Qin Hao in the training room at the back. It had been a long time since he had trained in earnest.
Before becoming the boss, when striving to be a model Red Pole, worthy of the title “Twin-Blade Blood Asura”, he had trained rigorously every day—building strength, honing martial skill, frequently exchanging blows with brothers at the boxing gym, even engaging in street fights. He had been, in essence, a professional practitioner of violence.
But since rising as Dragon Head, he no longer needed to fight personally. His days were filled with banquets, toasts, and endless dealings in the business world, his mind tangled with affairs upon affairs. His physical training gradually slackened. Especially after moving in with He Chu San, he had become downright indulgent—no training room at home, no more visits to the gym, and three daily meals carefully prepared and served by He Chu San, complete with desserts and sweet soups after meals…
If not for the fact that he still maintained the habit of doing three hundred push-ups a day, his sculpted abs might well have turned into a soft “sweet-soup belly.”
After a week of grueling, sweat-drenched training, Xia Liu Yi felt he had regained much of his former peak condition. He instructed Qin Hao to hold nothing back—attack with full force, without restraint. The result: both men ended up half-dead, bruised black and blue all over—save for one rule: no strikes to the face. They still needed those handsome faces intact to meet Jin Mile.
After the brutal, evenly matched fight, Xia Liu Yi told Qin Hao to go upstairs to wash up, while he himself collapsed onto the sofa downstairs, exhausted, pressing a bag of ice to his temples. As the cold seeped in, he replayed every detail of the battle in his mind.
Yet he remained certain—Qin Hao had held back.
Perhaps out of concern for his injured right hand, Qin Hao had deliberately pulled his blows several times, avoiding vital points.
This quiet young man, in the end, still left himself room—never daring to truly go all out before the Boss.
Xia Liu Yi did not mind this in the least. He knew Qin Hao was solitary by nature, lacking a sense of security, slow to lower his guard before others—just as he himself had once been. Brotherhood was something to be cultivated over time; there was no need to rush it.
Nor did he care much about his injured right hand, nor lament that he could never again return to his peak condition. Martial prowess was important, but brute strength alone was never the key to victory. Besides, that injury had been sustained in saving He Chu San—he harbored not the slightest regret. If losing another hand, another leg, or even his life could bring Azure Dragon and Xiao Man back from the dead, so much the better.
He mused that tomorrow he might call Cui Dong Dong over for a spar. Her style favored yielding softness over brute force, entirely different from Qin Hao’s—fighting her would bring a different kind of pleasure. Had Jade Guanyin not been injured, he might have summoned her as well for a proper bout; he had always been curious about her true strength, though he had never intended to provoke her before.
Sprawled carelessly on the sofa, he turned these thoughts over in his mind, and before he knew it, exhaustion overtook him and he drifted into sleep.
Suddenly, he felt a warm touch brushing against his cheek. In his haze, he thought himself lying on the bed in He Chu San’s rented room, lingering in the afterglow of a shared “smoke”. Instinctively, he leaned into the other’s palm, rubbing against it.
Eyes still closed, he began to speak lazily—then, in a flash, memory struck like lightning. He recalled where he truly was, recalled that the bodyguards were stationed outside, and that within this house there should be only himself and Qin Hao—
In an instant, he slapped the hand away and snapped his eyes open, shouting, “What are you doing?!”
The one whose hand he had struck aside—He Chu San—sat by the sofa, eyes slightly widened, looking at him with surprise and hurt.
Xia Liu Yi froze on the spot. For a moment, he thought he was still dreaming, or that he had somehow mastered the art of shifting forms and returned home. Dumbfounded, he rubbed his face, then looked again—and even reached out to touch He Chu San’s cheek.
It was real. He Chu San was truly here, in his village house.
“Brother Liu Yi,” He Chu San lifted a brow, puzzled.
“How did you get here?” Xia Liu Yi was even more bewildered.
He Chu San broke into a smile. “It’s Sunday—I don’t have work. I came to see you. I guessed you might be staying here recently, and it turns out I was right.”
He turned and opened a large thermos on the tea table. “I made hawthorn and pork tripe soup for you. Put it in the fridge—have the bodyguards heat it up before drinking.”
Xia Liu Yi felt more alarm than delight. He glanced toward the door, tension tightening his voice. “How did you get here? Was anyone following you? Where are the bodyguards I sent—didn’t they stop you?”
“They’re outside. Don’t blame them—they tried to stop me, but I insisted. I borrowed a colleague’s car, wore sunglasses and a mask—no one could recognize me. Besides, Xie Jia Hua already knows about me. I’ve left him no leverage—so even if he knows I came, it doesn’t matter.”
Having brought this upon himself, Xia Liu Yi could not explain further, and anxiety gnawed at him. He hurriedly pulled He Chu San close and kissed him once, then tried to send him away.
“Alright, I’ve received your kindness—your Brother Liu Yi is very touched. Now go back.”
“I’m already here,” He Chu San clung to him shamelessly. “If I leave, I’ll just be seen again. Might as well stay the night.”
“No. You cannot stay here.” Xia Liu Yi refused flatly. If it were only a brief visit, it might pass as a subordinate reporting in. But an overnight stay—if Golden Maitreya’s spies noticed, He Chu San’s identity might be exposed.
Seasoned in enduring rebuffs, He Chu San’s persistence was unyielding.
“Then I can stay a while, right? I’ve missed you these past few days, Brother Liu Yi…”
As he spoke in a cloying, drama-like tone, he wrapped his arms around Xia Liu Yi’s waist, boldly pinching through the sweat-damp undershirt, his voice dropping hoarse as he licked his lips. “You’ve just been exercising? All damp like this… very tempting. Want to have a ‘smoke’ to relax, Boss?”
His dark, clear eyes gazed at Xia Liu Yi with focus and expectation, his handsome features enticing, the tip of his tongue flicking over thin lips. Xia Liu Yi’s heart pounded wildly, countless forbidden images exploding in his mind—
Yet by sheer will, he steadied himself and shoved He Chu San away. “No. Go back.”
“Brother Liu Yi…” Even in failure, He Chu San persisted. Xia Liu Yi, fearing he would not last another moment, quickly rose and pressed his hands to He Chu San’s shoulders, pushing him toward the door.
“Not even a little while?” He Chu San clung stubbornly, like a child, wheedling as he went. “Then one more kiss.”
“No!” Xia Liu Yi had no doubt that one kiss would lead to losing all restraint. Flustered, he pushed and pulled He Chu San toward the entrance. As they struggled, He Chu San suddenly froze, his expression changing as he stared into the house.
At the same moment, Xia Liu Yi heard footsteps descending the stairs. A bolt of shock ran through his mind as he turned—
Qin Hao, freshly bathed, came down wearing only black undergarments, a towel draped over his head as he dried his hair. His posture was relaxed, as though long accustomed to living here. Water traced down his bare upper body—lean, strong, and marked with scattered red bruises.
Xia Liu Yi froze. He Chu San’s face darkened.
Pulling the towel from his head, Qin Hao saw the two at the entrance—locked together—and was equally stunned.
The three stood in silent confrontation.
Outside, A’Nan, having heard faint commotion, pushed the door open curiously. One glance inside nearly cost him half his soul—he immediately shrank back, clapping a hand over A’Mao’s mouth and dragging him away.
Heavens above—what an injustice, Boss! What a bloody melodrama—no evening drama could rival this!
Inside, more than ten seconds passed in stiff silence. Xia Liu Yi suddenly seized He Chu San’s arm—afraid he might bolt—and called upward, “You go out first!”
Sensing the tension, Qin Hao lowered his gaze and said nothing. He strode past them and exited toward the backyard training room. Xia Liu Yi shut the door, dragged He Chu San upstairs, and into the second-floor bedroom.
Locking the door, he pressed He Chu San firmly onto the bed, rubbing his temples. “It’s not what you think.”
He Chu San did not look at him. His expression was blank as he asked softly, “What do I think?”
“He’s just here training with me. We just finished.”
“And then? He’s not staying here?”
“He…” Xia Liu Yi faltered, irritation creeping into his voice. “He stays in the guest room! I sleep here alone! Look at this bed—does it look like two people have slept here?”
He Chu San glanced lightly at the bed and said coolly, “So what? He can stay the night, but I can’t? What kind of ‘training’ do you do—day and night? For several days?”
Never before had Xia Liu Yi heard him speak in such a tone. His temper flared. “What kind of attitude is that?! You don’t trust me?!”
“How would I dare not trust you,” He Chu San said, lowering his eyes as he stood. “I won’t argue. I’ll leave.”
As he turned toward the door, Xia Liu Yi caught up, pressing him against it and kissing him fiercely—biting, swallowing, until He Chu San’s lips and tongue tingled. Breathing hard, he broke away and grabbed He Chu San’s hand, pressing it against himself.
“You feel it yourself! Does this seem like someone who’s been fooling around behind your back?”
He Chu San looked down expressionlessly, cupping him lightly—then slid his hand further, following the contour.
At last, the “actor” could no longer suppress his smile. A soft laugh escaped him. “Then I won’t stand on ceremony.”
His other hand slipped beneath the loose waistband, grabbing boldly.
Xia Liu Yi froze for two seconds—then realization struck.
“Damn it! You were pretending to be angry?!”
“Hahaha… You told me to feel it! Ah—ow, ow—don’t pinch my ear! Do you still want to ‘smoke,’ Boss? You’re already this hard…”
Futile Devices Scans 
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