Several uncles and elders supported Azure Dragon as he took the position. Azure Dragon was twenty-five that year, the youngest Dragon Head in the history of all the gangs of Kau Lung Walled City. Naturally, there were people below who were unconvinced, and there were also people who felt the future was worrying. Before the Dragon Ascension Assembly had even been held, some people had already taken the brothers under them and gone elsewhere to seek another master. At the Dragon Ascension Assembly, there was even an older brother who openly spoke without restraint to Azure Dragon, refusing to bow to such a young Hall Master.
Azure Dragon was respectful and courteous toward elders. He had a chair brought for the man to sit on, then walked in front of him to speak with him. As they talked, he drew the dagger hidden inside the Dragon Head Staff and stabbed it into the man’s heart with one thrust.
As for those brothers who had taken their men and defected to other gangs, Azure Dragon also personally led people to capture them and bring them back, offering them before the hall with three blades and six holes.
This series of swift and decisive actions intimidated the brothers in the gang who had been growing restless, and also made his name as “Boss Azure Dragon” resound throughout the jianghu. He was even more daring and ready to bear responsibility than his father, drawing his blade and seeing blood, which greatly satisfied the uncles and elders who had supported him. But the uncles and elders believed that if one was determined to be sharp and enterprising, one had to “reform” as well; Xiao Qi Hall could not continue being poor and run-down. Deputy Hall Master Uncle Yuan, one of his father’s sworn brothers, volunteered to take him to Thailand to “open new channels,” and there they met a warlord of some weight, nicknamed Golden Maitreya, who was a trusted subordinate of the Golden Triangle drug lord Kun Zhang.
Golden Maitreya was very friendly toward Azure Dragon, claiming that he had known Azure Dragon’s father, and that when Azure Dragon’s father had fled to the Golden Triangle in his youth, he had once saved him, after which the two had become sworn brothers. He invited Azure Dragon to participate in his “business”—his legs had been crippled in a war two years ago, making him no longer suited to being a warlord, and he was preparing to move to Thailand to live a quiet life, while using the connections and military power he had accumulated over the years to act as Kun Zhang’s agent for white powder transactions in Southeast Asia—and he had chosen Xiao Qi Hall as one of his transfer stations in Kau Lung Walled City.
Azure Dragon hesitated, unable to decide. Uncle Yuan pulled him aside and quietly laid out the stakes for him one by one: Golden Maitreya and Kun Zhang behind him were no small force, and from then on, even if only out of respect for Kun Zhang, all the gangs in the Walled City would treat Xiao Qi Hall with a degree of courtesy; “powder stalls” stood everywhere in the Walled City, and whoever controlled the source of the “powder” was equivalent to holding the greatest power of life and death; not to mention that once this major business was done, the brothers in the gang would eat and drink well and never again have to bitterly struggle for a living; Your father was torn over this, and you saw for yourself what end he came to. The moment he died, other gangs wanted to come take a cut and wipe out his whole family. Do you still want to go on living a life where anyone can bully you like that…
Azure Dragon ultimately acknowledged Golden Maitreya as this “uncle.” When he returned to Kau Lung Walled City, he brought back two large boxes of “goods”—Golden Maitreya had generously lent them to him, not charging him the capital first and waiting until he had sold them all before settling accounts with Golden Maitreya.
On the day A’Ying was discharged from the hospital, Azure Dragon placed the name plaque of “Red Pole” together with a thick stack of banknotes on the desk in the tattoo room. A’Ying’s father had died of a sudden serious illness two years earlier. A’Ying poured a pot of good wine before his father’s spirit tablet and kowtowed three times with loud knocks. Accepting the name of “Red Pole,” he converted the tattoo room into Xiao Qi Hall’s first “powder stall.”
The next year, when Liu Yi was fifteen, he formally bowed to Azure Dragon as his master and kowtowed to enter the gang. Azure Dragon originally did not want him to enter the jianghu, but this kid had been born looking exactly like a gangster, and his will to join the gang was extremely firm—if you won’t let me bow to you, then I’ll go bow to Brother Ying; in any case, I’m joining the gang, and in any case, I’m helping you.
Azure Dragon now had money, so he hired the best martial arts master in the Walled City for him, and when he had free time, he personally taught him as well. Liu Yi knew absolutely nothing about studying, but in martial arts, he was naturally clever, able to understand one thing and infer the rest. After a year of training day and night, he wielded a pair of twin blades with vigorous force, and looking at him, he did seem somewhat the part.
Because the old small building had had too many people die in it and had already become an ominous house, Azure Dragon’s family temporarily rented an independent tenement house inside the Walled City. The tenement house had only three floors, with relatively few rooms, and they also had to arrange accommodations for the new bodyguards, so Liu Yi still lived in the same room as Azure Dragon. This kid went “heh-heh-ha-hee” every day on the martial arts field, and when he returned indoors, he would be covered in foul sweat, falling asleep as soon as his head hit the bed, and every time, Azure Dragon would lift him up and chase him off to bathe.
On the day of Liu Yi’s sixteenth birthday, at six in the morning, Azure Dragon vaguely heard the sound of splashing water. When he opened his eyes, he saw that Liu Yi was not in the small bed beside him. He got up and walked to the bathroom next door, where Liu Yi, wrapped in a bath towel, was scrubbing his underwear vigorously. Upon seeing him appear, the boy turned deathly pale, and almost shoved and batted him out of the bathroom, dropping even the customary “Eldest”: “Go away! Just go!”
Azure Dragon found it amusing. At the same time, calculating the age, he thought the boy’s development was a little late—to be having his first nocturnal emission only now.
What baffled Azure Dragon was that after Liu Yi finished washing his underwear, he refused to go near him for several days straight. He didn’t go near him, nor anyone else; he would often sit alone in a corner of the training ground, clutching his twin blades and staring blankly. At night, he stopped sleeping in Azure Dragon’s room, instead sneaking his bedding out to squeeze onto the sofa, only to sneak back at dawn and pretend to be asleep.
Azure Dragon began to feel a faint sense of unease regarding Liu Yi’s abnormal behavior—in his own youth, when he discovered that his interest in women was not as intense as that of A’Ying, he had been just as erratic for a long period. He didn’t dare think too deeply about the matter, instead adopting the attitude common among old-fashioned parents toward such issues: he asked A’Ying to find an excuse to take Liu Yi to a brothel to “see the world.”
A’Ying quickly found an excuse to facilitate this, and just as quickly returned to report: “Hahaha! That little cub of yours, he puked not long after he got inside! He ran away!”
“Could the kid actually like men?” A’Ying sat on his desk, toying with a dagger. “If the little brat dares to go down a crooked path, I’ll chop his dick off.”
Azure Dragon felt a wave of irritation. “Why do you hate gay people so much?”
“It’s disgusting! Men naked, hugging each other—don’t you find that nauseating?”
“When you’re draped all over me in the bathhouse, why don’t you find that disgusting?”
A’Ying chuckled, shifted his backside, and sat down on his thigh. “We’re brothers; how is that the same! I am open and aboveboard with my handsome boss, with zero intent to fck! But if the boss has designs on me and wants to fck me, then I…”
“Then what?”
A’Ying began to take off his clothes with a cheeky grin. “Then I’ll just have to reluctantly comply…”
“Get lost!” Azure Dragon pushed him away. A’Ying burst into laughter, his bare chest revealing a dark green tattoo of a predatory eagle spreading its wings. Like an eagle, he flapped his arms and headed for the door. “I’m going to go tease that little brat of yours again!”
“You are not allowed to go!” Azure Dragon ordered sternly, then sighed. “He doesn’t like men. He’s just young and doesn’t care for those things yet. Don’t bother him, just let him be.”
Letting Liu Yi sleep on the sofa every day was not a long-term solution. The child was growing up and truly needed his own space. Azure Dragon pulled A’Ying in to help, spent several days suffering over the finances, and finally steeled himself to purchase a luxurious villa facing the sea and leaning against the mountains. Before they moved in, A’Ying accompanied him to inspect the house, praising it endlessly along the way.
“…this room is for Xiao Man… this room is for Liu Yi…” Azure Dragon described his vision to A’Ying room by room.
A’Ying strode inside, eyeing the bright and airy space. “That kid is damn lucky. He was destined to die on the side of the road, but you picked him up. He hasn’t done a damn thing and gets to live in such a nice house for nothing.”
Azure Dragon laughed. “Envious? If you’re so envious, come live here too. You can take the room right next to mine.”
“The hell I’m living with you!” A’Ying refused immediately. “It would disturb me from partying with the pretty girls!”
The family moved into their new home joyfully. Xiao Man excitedly pulled Azure Dragon around, running happily inside and outside the house, asking about this and touching that. Liu Yi sat in his room, silently polishing his twin blades; other than martial arts, he rarely went out. Azure Dragon watched the two siblings as if their personalities had been swapped, and could only smile bitterly to himself.
One afternoon, after finishing the gang’s business, he called A’Ying to go out into the streets. At sunset, the two of them returned home with a thunderous roar on their bikes. Hearing the noise, Xiao Man put down her needlework and curiously poked her head out the window. She saw Azure Dragon and A’Ying in the courtyard, still on the same motorcycle. Azure Dragon tilted his head and said to her, “Tell your brother to come out and see this.”
“Xiao Liu? Xiao Liu?” Xiao Man called out happily.
After quite a while, the boy finally shuffled over and poked his head out of his room’s window.
Azure Dragon took off his helmet and patted the brand-new, cool-looking motorcycle beside him. “Come down and try it. It’s yours.”
The boy “tested” the motorcycle in the courtyard for a few laps, and finally, a long-lost smile appeared on his face. Suddenly, he slammed on the gas and rushed toward A’Ying. Amidst A’Ying’s screams, he grazed past A’Ying’s clothes and zipped away toward the mountain road outside the villa.
“Damn it! You brat!” A’Ying chased after him, cursing. “I was the one who accompanied your Eldest to buy that!”
Azure Dragon laughed, throwing an arm around his shoulder. “Fun, right? Do you want one too?”
“Kids’ stuff,” A’Ying said with disdain, then added with a grin, “For the end-of-year bonus, keep my share. How about trading it for a sedan for me?”
Azure Dragon tapped him on the forehead. “You fool. You’ll get your share, and the Boss will gift you a car on top of that.”
“Wow, and the gas money comes from the Boss too?”
“In your dreams.”
Less than a month later, A’Ying came back to report, looking jolly: “The little brat met a girl at the racing track. Looks like there’s something going on between them. But that girl is pretty wild—her personality is even more boyish than his. Looks like the little brat doesn’t like men, he just has a special taste.”
“Why are you spying on him?” Azure Dragon said. “Stop meddling in his business.”
A’Ying felt rejected and walked away with a “Tsk!” He was stopped at the door by Azure Dragon. “What’s the girl’s name?”
“Xi Xi? Dong Dong? It’s a weird name anyway.”
Azure Dragon sent men to look into the girl, Cui Dong Dong. The feedback was not very good: the girl was the same age as Liu Yi. She was born and raised in a brothel and was sold to a wealthy merchant at age twelve. Two years ago, a fire broke out in the merchant’s home, burning everything to the ground, including the people. Only this young girl escaped. The police suspected she set the fire, but they couldn’t find any evidence. The girl produced a will, inherited the remaining property of the merchant, and raised her flag in the Walled City, forming a small gang of barely a dozen girls. Her subordinates were all teenage delinquents who didn’t do an honest day’s work and liked to race at the track. She was fearless when racing—wilder than any man.
Word on the street was that the girl’s mother died of syphilis, and the girl herself carried more than a few dirty diseases.
Azure Dragon felt worried. After much deliberation, he approached Liu Yi like a concerned father for a talk.
“Girls from brothels are fine for a bit of fun, but don’t take it seriously, and definitely don’t sleep with her easily.”
Liu Yi stood before him listlessly, eyes lowered toward his own shoes. He was now almost as tall as Azure Dragon, wearing a tight-fitting vest that revealed the budding muscle lines on his arms. “Isn’t this what you wanted? For me to date?” He didn’t even look at Azure Dragon, saying stiffly, “I know, it was you who told A’Ying to take me to the brothel back then.”
Azure Dragon was choked for words. The child was grown up, smart, and the rebellious phase had arrived.
“I want you to date a girl from a good family, not…”
“Dong Dong isn’t what they say she is!” Liu Yi interrupted him.
Azure Dragon was silent. He was neither articulate nor an overbearing, autocratic parent. Facing this child he had raised and cared for since he was small, he couldn’t put on a stern face.
After a long time, Liu Yi said to himself, head hung low, “Don’t worry. I won’t date her. I don’t like her like that—not that kind of liking. Everything you want me to do, I will do. Everything you don’t want me to do, I won’t.”
Azure Dragon saw a drop of moisture fall onto the ground and quickly stepped forward to lift Liu Yi’s chin—the boy’s eyes were slightly red and watery.
Azure Dragon sighed and pulled him into his arms. “Why are you making yourself so miserable? What did Eldest say? Did I scold you?”
“No. Nothing.” Liu Yi looked away, frantically wiping his tears.
“You can do whatever you want. When has Eldest ever forced you? Eldest is just worried about you…”
Before he could finish his sentence, the boy suddenly turned his head, his cheek accidentally brushing against Azure Dragon’s lips. The boy went rigid, turning bright red in an instant, and broke free from his arms in a flash.
“You…” Azure Dragon started.
The boy turned and ran, bolting so fast that he vanished in the blink of an eye.
Azure Dragon remained standing there in awkwardness, the soft and fresh sensation still lingering on his lips. He had just clearly seen the shy and bewildered look on the boy’s face—the same expression he often saw on Xiao Man.
He was no fool.
Azure Dragon stood rigid for a long time, finally rubbing his temples in frustration. He couldn’t think of what to do, only wanting to drag A’Ying out and give him a beating. That jinx!
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