Once he knew the youth’s private thoughts, the atmosphere of daily life became extremely awkward. In the morning, when the whole family sat at the same table for breakfast, Azure Dragon forgot to button his shirt, exposing a large expanse of his chest. It was one thing for Xiao Man to lower her head first; even Liu Yi turned his face away, forgetting to chew the omelet in his mouth, so that crumbs fell messily all over the floor.
Azure Dragon had raised the two of them as his own younger brother and sister, and felt that he himself had absolutely no improper thoughts toward either of them. How could he have known that at some point, he had become the shared dream man of both siblings? His heart was bitter and troubled. Caring for this one was wrong, doting on that one was wrong, and like some well-bred young maiden, he pulled his lapels tightly together. “What are you all staring for? Hurry up and eat.”
He could understand Xiao Man’s admiration for him somewhat. The little girl had just grown up and begun to have romantic thoughts; she had not had much contact with men, so transferring her feelings onto her eldest brother was only natural. Once she went out in the future and made more male friends, it would be fine. Liu Yi’s feelings, however, gave him an even greater headache. He did not want Liu Yi to become the rabbit lord that A’Ying and the others spoke of, and even less did he want A’Ying’s dagger to truly chop toward Liu Yi’s root of descendants. He wanted to find Liu Yi and talk to him again, but Liu Yi seemed like a little wild beast in the jungle, instinctively sensing danger; every day, the moment he saw Azure Dragon, he darted away as fast as if he had seen a ghost.
Xiao Man, on the other hand, remained obedient, practicing singing and dancing with her vocal teacher at home every day, and when she saw him, she still called him Eldest openly and naturally. She was eighteen this year, in the very bloom of youth, elegant, pretty, and refined. Azure Dragon stuffed money to the boss of an entertainment company in Tsim Sha Tsui East, wanting to release a record for her and see how things went.
The record soon went on the market. The entertainment company was too small, the production was poor, the publicity did not keep up, and sales were extremely dismal. Yet because it was rumored to have been sung by the younger sister of the well-known Azure Dragon Boss of Kau Lung Walled City, idle troublemakers in the Walled City began stirring up trouble for no reason and went one after another to record shops to gawk—the cover poster of Xiao Man showed her with two little braids, sitting in a sea of baby’s breath flowers, charming, adorable, and very moving. Quite a few obscene men printed the poster and took it home to amuse themselves with at night; there were even rival gangs that openly pasted the poster at the entrance of their own chicken dens to attract business…
A’Ying led men to smash up the other side’s place, and after making a huge scene, brought back all the copied posters they had confiscated for Azure Dragon to see. Many filthy and obscene words and drawings had been written and drawn on the posters. Xiao Man saw them from upstairs, rushed down crying, tore those posters apart, then hid in her room. From then on, she would not even see the vocal teacher, and she never sang again.
She did not sing, and for several days in a row, she also stopped going out. No matter how Azure Dragon tried to coax her, she refused to come out—she admired Azure Dragon in her heart, and now that such filthy things had been seen by Azure Dragon, she felt even more ashamed to face him. In the end, it was still her younger brother who climbed in through the window. The siblings stayed in the room for a very, very long time, and finally, Liu Yi used his jacket to shield Xiao Man’s face and led her out of the room, telling Azure Dragon that he wanted to take her outside to relax.
Of course, Azure Dragon agreed, and he also wanted to send bodyguards to follow them, but Liu Yi sternly refused—the bodyguards had all seen those posters smeared into such filthy things too, and he was afraid that seeing them would upset Xiao Man.
The siblings went out hand in hand at dusk and had not returned even by midnight. As the eldest brother, Azure Dragon was so anxious he was nearly on fire, almost mobilizing all the brothers in the gang to go out and search for the children. Suddenly, a tall girl with short hair rode a motorcycle with a rumbling roar and appeared outside the villa, shouting from outside the courtyard before she even entered the door, “Hey! Azure Dragon Boss! Hurry up and come out! Your brother broke his leg!”
The short-haired girl—only later did Azure Dragon learn that she was Liu Yi’s “rumored girlfriend,” Cui Dong Dong—rode her motorcycle and led Azure Dragon Boss’s large group of men to the nearest hospital. On the way, she told Azure Dragon that a racer at the racetrack had insulted Xiao Man over the poster incident, Liu Yi had gotten angry and bet a race against the other party, and the other party, stupid as hell, had nearly crashed into a large truck, only for Liu Yi to jump off his bike and save him. That person came out perfectly fine, while Liu Yi, this iron-gutted fool, had fallen and broken a bone himself.
Azure Dragon was slightly displeased that she called his own younger brother an “iron-gutted fool,” but after entering the hospital room and seeing Liu Yi’s unlucky face, bruised blue and swollen—if he was not an iron-gutted fool, then what was he?
Liu Yi’s leg had already been put in a cast. Seeing him come in, he guiltily turned his face aside and refused to look at him. Xiao Man was beside him, so distressed that her eyes brimmed with tears, and she looked as though she had also scraped herself across the ground once, her dress filthy.
Azure Dragon looked at the miserable state of these two siblings and truly wanted to raise his head to the sky and sigh. Being the eldest really was not easy, and he was especially failing at it—letting Xiao Man release a record had been his rotten idea, and buying Liu Yi a motorcycle had also been his rotten idea.
While he was reflecting on himself over here, A’Ying, who had rushed over after hearing the news, dragged the racer hiding in the corner of the hospital room out. A’Ying cursed furiously while trying to slap the racer, and even wanted to twist off one of the racer’s fingers as compensation. Liu Yi struggled to sit up and shouted for him to stop. “He already apologized! It’s not his fault I broke my leg!”
“Fuck, if it’s not his fault, whose fault is it?!” A’Ying did not stop hitting him as he cursed the racer. “You even dare provoke the younger brother and sister of Xiao Qi Hall’s boss?! What nasty things did you say about our little sister? I’ll burn that dog throat of yours…”
“It’s your fault!” Liu Yi interrupted him, shouting angrily. “The chicken den that posted Xiao Man’s poster belongs to Ding Sheng Society. It was because a few days ago, you colluded privately with an inspector outside the Walled City and robbed Ding Sheng Society’s goods in a black-eats-black deal. They were angry at you but couldn’t catch any evidence, so they took it out on Xiao Man’s poster!”
A’Ying’s face turned iron-blue. Black-eats-black robbery was a grave offense despised by people on the road. His hawk-like gaze glared at Liu Yi. “Who the fuck made that up to you? Was it this kid who said it?!” He picked up the racer and reached behind his waist to draw his dagger. “You stinking brat full of bullshit, may your whole family die…”
“A’Ying! Stop!” Seeing that someone was about to die, Azure Dragon shouted.
“You believe what he said?!” A’Ying said angrily.
“Put the blade away!” Azure Dragon said. “Shut up!”
A’Ying threw the racer aside hatefully, and the racer scrambled and crawled behind Liu Yi’s hospital bed to hide.
“Why take a child’s words seriously? When have I ever not trusted you?” Azure Dragon frowned and said to A’Ying. “What does it look like, shouting about fighting and killing in a hospital room? Take your men back first.”
A’Ying glared viciously at that racer, then took two lackeys and left the hospital room. The young racer was still cowering like a turtle in the corner. “Azure Dragon Boss, I really wasn’t talking nonsense. Brother Liu Yi saved my life today; I wouldn’t lie to him. My boss is someone from Ding Sheng Society, and he told me with his own mouth…”
“I’ll go back and investigate clearly, and I’ll give your Ding Sheng Society an explanation,” Azure Dragon said to him. “But one thing is one thing, and another thing is another. My brother’s medical expenses are on you.”
“Yes, yes, yes. I’ll go back right away and sell my motorcycle to compensate him. I’m sorry, Boss, I’m sorry, Brother Liu Yi, I’m sorry, Sister Xiao Man…” The racer bowed and scraped as he apologized, then slipped away.
Only Azure Dragon, Liu Yi, and Xiao Man remained in the hospital room. Azure Dragon called the still-shaken Xiao Man over, held her hand, and sat her down beside the bed, then stroked her hair. “You were wronged in this matter. Eldest has already sent people to patrol the whole Walled City. If they see any record posters, they’ll take them back. Whoever dares say a single word about you is making an enemy of the entire Xiao Qi Hall, and Eldest won’t let him off lightly. Eldest and Xiao Liu both ache for you. Don’t be too sad, all right?”
“Thank you, Eldest,” Xiao Man said with tears in her eyes. “I’m not sad about that anymore. I’m sad about Xiao Liu’s leg.”
Azure Dragon was sad about Liu Yi’s leg too. He lifted the quilt and looked over the injuries all over Liu Yi’s body, then pressed lightly on that cast-covered leg of his. “Does it hurt?”
Liu Yi hurt, but hurt was hurt; he still stiffened his neck unhappily, his mouth stubborn. “It’s all Brother Ying’s fault!”
Azure Dragon sighed and said, “Idiot, in the future, don’t go against your Brother Ying in front of outsiders.”
“That thing really was his fault!” Liu Yi said stubbornly. “He’s the one who caused Xiao Man to be retaliated against by others!”
“He once saved your life. No matter what, you should give him some face. You’ve already kowtowed and entered the gang. From now on, you are brothers of one family. In front of outsiders, even if he has a hundred wrongs, you still shouldn’t accuse him in public.”
“Then if he does something wrong, are you just not going to care?!” Liu Yi still said.
Azure Dragon had never been glared at so aggressively by him before, and his heart grew somewhat restless. “Whether I care about him or not is my business. You focus first on healing your own injuries. After you’re discharged, go home and recuperate. Before your leg is healed, you are not allowed to go out. And you are never allowed to ride a motorcycle again.”
Liu Yi began roaring like a little tiger, angry that he was favoring A’Ying, angry that he did not speak of justice or reason, angry that he was grounding him, and angry that he had confiscated his beloved motorcycle. In his heart, Azure Dragon very much wanted to stay and coax Liu Yi, but he hardened his heart and walked out the door without turning back. He hoped that the angrier Liu Yi was at him, the better—perhaps that way, he would forget those deviant youthful thoughts.
As for A’Ying’s black-eats-black matter, Azure Dragon later personally went to investigate, but halfway through the investigation, he no longer wanted to look deeper—he knew in his heart that if he kept investigating, it would go too far. A’Ying also knew that he had gone too far, and not long afterward, he handed over one of his subordinates. That subordinate wept bitterly and admitted to the fact that he had “robbed black from black,” compensated Ding Sheng Society with the goods, and with two fingers. Azure Dragon personally went to Ding Sheng Society’s boss to apologize and mediate, and the other party was only a small gang that could not stir up any real waves, so they did not make things too difficult. This matter was thus considered settled.
But this matter left a knot in Azure Dragon’s heart. As for the car he had promised A’Ying at the end of the year, he did not buy the car, but converted it into money and gave it to A’Ying instead. On one hand, he fulfilled the promise he had made as a boss; on the other hand, it was also a disguised warning to A’Ying. A’Ying smiled cheerfully in front of him and accepted the money, and the next year, he was indeed more cautious in speech and action, seeming to have restrained himself considerably.
A’Ying, this big brother, was still rather easy to set his mind at ease over, but Liu Yi was truly a little brother who did not give anyone peace of mind. With that wild temperament of his, how could he possibly lie obediently in bed? After nursing his broken leg at home for only half a month, he twisted the bedsheet into a rope, snuck out through the second-floor window, sat on the back seat of Cui Dong Dong’s motorcycle with his cast-covered leg sticking up, and went joyriding all around the Walled City. In the end, because they were avoiding a stray cat by the roadside, they crashed into the guardrail and both flew onto the street, falling until their noses were bruised and their faces swollen. Afraid of being scolded by Azure Dragon, he did not dare go home, and could only go sleep in Cui Dong Dong’s little delinquent girls’ den. That very night, Azure Dragon personally led men to catch him and bring him back, and simply confined him in the first-floor guest room with no windows.
Liu Yi behaved himself in the guest room for three days, touching around everywhere, until he felt a loose brick in the corner of the wall. Prying by day and prying by night, he pried a dog hole out of the wall and crawled out to run wild again.
This time, after being caught and brought back, he was locked up for two months, all the way until his leg was completely steady when he walked before he was released. This time, the little tiger had gone so long without seeing the sun that even his tiger hide had been shut pale, and his hair had grown very long. Sitting listlessly at the dining table and pretending to behave while eating breakfast, he looked exactly like he and Xiao Man were a pair of sisters.
Azure Dragon personally drove him out, took him to get a modern little side-part haircut, and bought him two new outfits. Liu Yi might have been lying down, but he had not grown any less in height; he was already nearly taller than Azure Dragon. When he looked in the mirror at the tailor shop, he had a tall body and long legs, and a youthful yet handsome and charming little face—Azure Dragon watched from the side, finding him pleasing to the eye and feeling very gratified. Yet this kid had not the slightest concept of beauty or ugliness. He enthusiastically made a series of funny faces at the mirror, then stuck himself to the mirror and picked at his eye boogers for half a day.
Liu Yi had been shut up by Azure Dragon for almost three months. Perhaps because he had gotten too angry, he really did seem to have forgotten all those youthful thoughts. On the way back, he draped himself carelessly over Azure Dragon’s arm, neither shy nor evasive, and as before, mumbled and rambled nonsense with Eldest.
In matters between men and women, Liu Yi also seemed to have opened his mind, but he had opened it too far, overcorrecting so much that he began going with Cui Dong Dong every few days to visit brothels—yes, Cui Dong Dong, this pretty girl, was actually a pretty girl who visited brothels. The moment Azure Dragon heard his subordinate’s report, he felt a headache, but he also could not violently interfere with Liu Yi’s freedom to make friends, and could only anxiously continue sending people to investigate in secret. He heard that this Cui Dong Dong had an extremely precocious temperament; not only was she good at fighting, she was also good at accounting. Though she herself was only sixteen or seventeen, she had managed that little delinquent girls’ gang of a dozen or so people in perfect order, and these past few years, she had earned quite a bit from racing alone. On one hand, Azure Dragon admired her talent; on the other hand, he was worried that Liu Yi would follow her into a life of reckless fooling around. So he simply personally stepped forward and extended an olive branch to Cui Dong Dong—inviting her to join Xiao Qi Hall, investing in business for her, and allowing her to form her own faction without being under anyone’s control.
Cui Dong Dong generously accepted the invitation and from then on became a member of Xiao Qi Hall. From then on, she also openly went in and out of Azure Dragon’s villa, and even greatly showed off her cooking skills, making an entire table of food for everyone to eat, earning lavish praise from Xiao Man and Azure Dragon, who both saw her in a new light.
Seeing that she had received his elder brother and sister’s sincere praise, Liu Yi grew envious and privately asked her for some tips, then also began learning to cook at home. That evening, Azure Dragon’s car drove back to a mountain-road bend not far from home, only to see thick smoke billowing not far away, the air filled with a burnt, foul smell, while behind them in the distance, a fire truck could be seen roaring toward them.
“What place caught fire?” Azure Dragon asked doubtfully.
The driver poked his head out to take a look. “Ah? M-Master, it’s our house that’s on fire!”
Azure Dragon rushed out of the car and looked: the maid who had run quickly was standing outside the courtyard, pulling Xiao Man along at a loss, while the housekeeper and several male servants had originally been repairing the television antenna on the second floor today, but now, forced by helplessness, had all jumped into the swimming pool in the backyard. The instigator, Liu Yi, was also soaking in the swimming pool, with a scorched-black chef’s apron still on his head.
Futile Devices Scans 
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