Chapter 49 All an Act
“What did he just call you!?”
Though I already knew that Zhao Zichen couldn’t possibly be just a simple cardiology surgeon, what that man called him just then still made me jump.
“More on that later. Meng, you go ahead and clean this place up. With all those noises we made, someone was bound to have called the cops. We don’t want them on our case. And, send a few of our people out, get the words around, that as of today, all places here in the Black Alley are officially Red Lantern territory!”
It was as if the Red Lanterns around us suddenly had an adrenaline boost, or steroids. They yelled and roared triumphantly, sending echoes throughout the alleyway. On the other hand, the Black Dragons hung their heads low in defeat, especially Jin, who had buried his head almost entirely between his knees.
Many of the Black Dragons are hurt, or crippled, or worse. As for those who were hurt too badly, Zhao Zichen had his men take them directly to the Tong City Hospital. Looks like what he said before about looking after the hospital’s revenue wasn’t just talks.
“Alright brother, this is some fine work you done today! I got an entire hall booked at the Spring Gardens. Tonight, we celebrate!”
The crowd cheered all around.
Tonight, the Black Dragons looked after Zhao Zichen’s hospital revenue, while he on the other hand looked after my restaurant business. Looking at the number of people, my Spring Garden will be packed tonight.
“Come on, brother, don’t be in such a hurry to leave.”
I was just thinking of slipping out quietly unnoticed amongst all the chaos, but Zhao Zichen called out to me before I could get away. He smiled politely, “Brother, we have a celebration coming up. Won’t you come with us? My treat.”
For a second, I didn’t know what to say. Truthfully, I really didn’t want to get myself mixed up in this. I did promise Zhao Gongming that I would look out for his son’s safety, but with how it is, Zhao Zichen obviously didn’t need my protection at all. In fact, people should be praying and offering tributes to their gods and ancestors to keep him away from them.
How could someone as perceptive as Zhao Gongming not know that his own son is an underground mafia lord? Now I was really puzzled as to why he had me come here when Zhao Zichen obviously had everything under control.
“No, but thank you. My clothes are all wet, so I’m heading home for a hot shower first.” I said, a little put off by how uncomfortable it felt.
“I’m afraid, brother, that you probably won’t be able to find a place willing to sell you clothes tonight, much less a place willing to let you stay.”
I asked, “You know me?”
Zhao Zichen thinned his eyes playfully and hooked his arms on one of my shoulders, “Who doesn’t know you in Tong City now? The Black Dragons has made it known to all, that they’ll treat whoever helps you or do business with you as one of their enemies.”
I sniffed, “What are they, five years olds? Well, it’s nothing to it. I just happened to be around the neighborhood today. They pissed me off, so I hit a few of them around for a bit. I didn’t exactly did it to help you or anything.”
I promised Zhao Gongming that I won’t tell Zhao Zichen that he asked me to look out for him in the dark.
“But you did help me, a great deal, intentional or no. Plus, any enemy of them Black Dragons is a friend of mine.” Zhao Zichen smiled, extending a hand to me, “I’m Zhao Zichen, the leader of the Red Lantern, at least for now.”
Looking at his outstretched hand, I thought for a while. Then I took it and shook it, firmly.
“Well, you already know who I am. I’m Zhang Chao. Incidentally, I’m not too different from you in this regard, any enemy of the Chen’s is a friend of mine.”
I didn’t want to get myself caught in the conflict between the Black Dragon and the Red Lantern. These two mafia groups arouse fights over territories days in and days out. And, as a respectable member of the military, even if I was discharged, I would never associate myself with anyone who disrespects the law and thinks themselves outside of it. So I made it clear, that I had no interests in either the Black Dragon’s or the Red Lantern’s business, that I’m only after the Chen’s.
“A pleasure.” Zhao Zichen’s grip was firm too. Then he gave my shoulder a few pats, and said earnestly, “Well then, shall we? You’re not going to refuse again are you, brother? Come on, it’s a celebration, and you’re one of the stars in this!”
Since he put it that way, it’d be unthoughtful of me to refuse him even further. And he was right, if I don’t crash with the Red Lantern tonight, I actually won’t have a place to stay at all.
“Chao, how about we go and get ourselves some clean clothes first? Like you said, you’re all drenched, from getting into this mess in this heavy rain for my sake. And I don’t think I’m any drier either.” Zhao Zichen looked at me inquisitively. Seeing that I didn’t object, he motioned one of his people over and we headed for one of the shopping plazas in the city.
He told me to go ahead first, and told Meng to come with me. When I looked back at him, he said that he’ll wait for us in the car.
“I have another patient lined up for operation tomorrow. I need all the sleep that I can get before that.”
I was speechless. Utterly speechless. Really, if I hadn’t seen and heard it with my own eyes and ears, I’d never believed that he was a mafia boss, of the Red Lantern no less. Even now, I still find it hard to believe.
Between two unfamiliar men, shopping was no more than a process of finding out the quickest way to get what we need, and get out. Before long, we quickly found a shop that specializes in men’s clothing. While I went inside to look for what I want, Meng stood and leaned against the wall by the entrance and took out his phone to kill time.
“Please, just a moment, sir…”
I was just looking at myself in the mirror with a shirt in my hand, and suddenly a thin and frail hand reached from behind me and took away the shirt.
Startled, I turned around, and a lean but fine looking face was before me. A small woman stood before me, gingerly looking up to my face.
“We… we couldn’t sell you that, sir… maybe… maybe you could try elsewhere?”
I was startled at first, and then immediately remembered. How could I forget? The Black Dragon has made it clear to all in Tong City that no one was allowed to do business with me.
I didn’t want to trouble this small woman, since there was little she could do about it. I turned to leave, but my wet cloth was getting sticky and was clinging against me, and it was getting uncomfortable. So I asked if I could at least borrow a towel to dry myself off properly.
“But… alright. Please, wait for me for a while.” She hesitated a little bit, then turned around and went to the back.
But as soon as she walked in, a voice roared and chased her out.
“Wait? Wait!? I told you, kick his sorry butt out of my shop. What are you doing getting him to wait!?” Another woman with a body as large and unrefined as her bark came out, tearing aside the little curtain that separated the front and back section. She was probably the shop manager. She advanced on the little woman, pointing rudely at the little woman’s nose with her thick finger.
“Alright, I get it, no means no. There’s no need to be so harsh with her.” I couldn’t bear to watch anymore, and cut in between the two of them.
Hearing me, the fat manager’s beady little eyes locked onto my face. Then after a while, she spat forcefully, at me. She wasn’t a particularly skilled spitter, and instead of hitting one particular part of me, her saliva spewed around all over my face in my general direction.
I was livid beyond words. This crackpot of a nutjob wasn’t satisfied with just banning me from buying things at her store. She wanted to humiliate me on top of it.
“Why aren’t you getting lost!? Why are you still in my shop!? You had the balls to even show your face in public after that shameless stunt you pulled!?”
Subconsciously, I gripped my fists hard, as I imagined them sinking satisfyingly into her disgusting face. When this woman noticed my anger, instead of getting afraid, it seemed to have fueled her arrogance instead. She put her hands on her hip, and stuck her meaty face even closer to me, “Yeah, that’s right, hit me, like the brute you are. Come on, hit me! Just you try, and the next second I’ll call the cops and throw you behind bars where people like you belong! What, you chickening out? Really, just try thinking even a little bit with that thick head of yours, you crossed the Chen’s The Chen’s! They spread the word already, no one in the entire Tong City was to take your business. Think you can sneak in here and fool me?”
She spat again, this time on the ground, “Well, think twice! You must be nuts to think that you can pull a fast one on me, and on the Chen’s! I swear, even the rats have more dignity than people like you. Think you can buy our clothes? I think not! Why don’t you buy some underwear instead, and put it over your face to cover that stench that was reeking from your mouth!”
This fat woman fired her words at me like a machine gun. A dirty and disgusting machine gun. I was so disgusted by her that I was actually rendered speechless.
Feeling my tightly gripped fists, I willed as hard as I could and kept my anger and my desire to strike her down in place.
I kept chanting silently within myself, over and over again, almost like a mantra, “This is a woman. She may be fat, and she may be ugly, but she is still a woman. I am a soldier, and a man. I have not trained my fists to be used on a helpless woman…”
Finding my peace, I opened my eyes and looked at her, “My good woman, are you on your period? Or did you just accidentally eat a bag of gunpowder?” Leaving her with that, I turned around and walked away.
“You…! Get lost! And don’t ever come back!” That woman chased after me to her shop entrance, and yelled at me.
Hearing all the commotion, Meng lifted his eyes up from his phone screen and looked at me. Seeing the anger on my face, he asked me what was wrong.
That woman chased me out of the shop, and still she hurled her venomous words at my back. I wanted nothing to do with this woman, and said to Meng, “Let’s go, we’re leaving.”
With that, I began walking, but Meng quickly grabbed me and asked, “What’s going on here exactly? Boss wanted me to get you some clothes, if we leave without that, what am I going to say to Boss?”
I sighed, “I appreciate it, brother, but like your boss said, there’s probably no one willing to sell clothes to me in this entire Tong City.”
Only now, did I realize just how annoyingly disgusting the Chen’s could be. Truly disgusting, they were. I couldn’t even find a place to live, and do something as simple as buying a change of clothes! Though they couldn’t really kill me, they disgusted me so much that I felt as if they might as well be killing me!
“The moment that lady saw me, she became fired up or something, and she has been like that ever since.” I sighed, “Never mind, let’s get out of here. If I stay and hear her words any longer, I might actually be mad enough to go against my principle of never hitting women.”
But Meng quickly went in front of me and stopped me, “Oh, you mean that? Didn’t you know? They did it on purpose. These business people, they do that on purpose so they can please the Black Dragons. You think they don’t want you in their shop? Think again. They wanted you in their shop, they wanted it bad, because then they can put on an act of insulting you and chasing you out, like that woman just then, and get on the Black Dragon’s good sides. Maybe they’ll even be rewarded.”
