TA •Chapter 76

Chapter 76

"Help me."

Those two words stabbed at Cheng Ke’s heart like a fork.

Not as sharp as a knife, not as piercing as a needle, but the kind of dull, dragging pain that came in a chain was even harder to bear.

A lot of possibilities flashed through his mind. It couldn’t have been a street fight. Nobody knew that kind of thing better than Third Brother. Even if he needed help, Da Bin and the others would have been more reliable. He was even less likely to ask for help over something like that.

By the time Cheng Ke rushed out the door, he had already decided it had to be related to "them."

He just hadn’t expected it to be this serious.

He hadn’t expected Jiang Yuduo, who had been avoiding it all this time, trying so hard to hide it so no one would find out, to suddenly and without warning tear off his own disguise.

It was almost impossible to breathe.

Cheng Ke had kept holding him tightly the whole time. One arm wasn’t enough, so he used the arm in the cast too, hugging Jiang Yuduo hard.

Jiang Yuduo was badly hurt. Cheng Ke could clearly smell blood, and there was blood on Jiang Yuduo’s head, face, and shoulder. Maybe his heart was bleeding too.

For nearly a minute, Cheng Ke had no idea what he was supposed to do.

He just felt heartache.

In his long twenty-eight years, in the life that was already twenty-nine by虚一岁[[N]] and thirty by虚两岁[[N]], this was the first time he had cried like this.

Tears covered his face, and his mouth was full of salt too, with a hint of sweetness that had gone off course.

After a long while, he slowly let go of Jiang Yuduo and cupped his face with one hand. "Where are you hurt? Is it serious?"

"Not serious." Tears were streaming down Jiang Yuduo’s face too, all over the place. His scarred face, streaked with tears and blood, had nothing beautiful about it. It was so far from being like pear blossoms in the rain that it might as well have been eight hundred Earths from the moon, but it could still land a direct axe blow to the middle of someone’s chest.

"I’ll call a car," Cheng Ke said, wiping at his face. "Let’s go back first, okay?"

"They haven’t left yet," Jiang Yuduo said, his gaze landing somewhere behind Cheng Ke. "We can’t let them follow us back."

"If they follow us back, they follow us back. I’m not afraid." Cheng Ke couldn’t help looking back again. At that moment, he had a fierce urge to see people. One person, two people, however many there were, whoever they were, as long as they were people, that was enough. But there was still nothing behind them, only the wind moving the bare branches gently.

"Cheng Ke would see them," Jiang Yuduo said softly.

Cheng Ke froze, then hugged Jiang Yuduo’s head again, kissing the top of it twice. "It’s fine. Whether there are people or not, Cheng Ke doesn’t care. He doesn’t care."

Jiang Yuduo took his gaze back and looked at his face. After a while, he tugged at the corner of his mouth and smiled faintly. "You cried."

"Yeah," Cheng Ke said, rubbing his face carelessly. "I haven’t cried like this in a long time. I couldn’t hold it back."

"Cheng Ke." Jiang Yuduo looked at him.

"Hm?" Cheng Ke answered.

"You’re really good-looking," Jiang Yuduo said softly with a sigh. "Even crying like that doesn’t really change it."

"…Really."

Cheng Ke didn’t know how to answer.

"Let’s walk back. It’s close," Jiang Yuduo said. "With the way I look now, a taxi won’t take us."

"Okay." Cheng Ke nodded. "Can you walk?"

"I’m not hurt much." Jiang Yuduo leaned against the wall and stood up, then looked down and moved his legs a little.

"Where exactly are you hurt?" Cheng Ke asked.

"The only place bleeding is my head," Jiang Yuduo said, touching his scalp and coming away with a hand full of blood. "It’s not that big a cut. It just won’t stop."

"Then…" Cheng Ke looked at that hand full of blood and started to panic again.

"We can just stop the bleeding when we get back," Jiang Yuduo said. "If that doesn’t work, then go to… that community clinic. It’s fine. Worse than this and I’ve still been fine."

"Mm." Cheng Ke nodded and pulled the hood of his coat over Jiang Yuduo’s head for him.

Maybe because his emotions had swung too hard, Cheng Ke felt freezing cold as he walked back with Jiang Yuduo. He had the urge to shiver the whole way.

Luckily the road wasn’t long. According to the taxi driver earlier, running along the side streets would be faster than driving.

The two of them got home in about five minutes.

After they got inside and shut the door, Cheng Ke quickly shrugged off his coat and flipped every light switch on the wall. Several lights in the living room came on.

"Let me look at your wound." He pulled over a chair and got Jiang Yuduo to sit down.

"Rinse it with water and you’ll see everything." Jiang Yuduo said.

"It’ll get inflamed." Cheng Ke carefully examined his head. Jiang Yuduo had short hair, so the wound was still easy to find. One glance and he saw it.

Three cuts, all clustered toward the back of his head.

"Fuck," Cheng Ke said through clenched teeth. "They didn’t even dare come at you head-on?"

"If they had come at the front, they might’ve smashed my nose too, and that would’ve been worse," Jiang Yuduo said.

"Let’s disinfect it first, then stop the bleeding?" Cheng Ke said, getting up to fetch Jiang Yuduo’s small first aid kit, the one he always used.

"I’ll do it myself." Jiang Yuduo took the kit, opened it, and pulled out alcohol, iodine, and some kind of styptic powder.

Cheng Ke knew his style. He’d just grab a bottle and pour it all over, then sprinkle the powder on top, and the whole process would take less than five minutes.

But today, Cheng Ke didn’t stop him from treating the wound that brutally. He just sat to the side and watched Jiang Yuduo.

"How did this… happen?" Cheng Ke asked.

"Ran into one of Zhang Daqi’s people," Jiang Yuduo said. "I’d passed behind his bar."

"How did you end up there…" Cheng Ke started, then stopped.

"I was trying to shake the two people following me," Jiang Yuduo said, twisting off the cap and hissing the alcohol onto his head. "I didn’t pay attention and ended up there."

Cheng Ke let out a soft sigh and said nothing.

He still hadn’t fully recovered, but Jiang Yuduo seemed to have started slowly pulling himself back together. That helpless, hopeless state from before was already fading.

Cheng Ke didn’t know whether Jiang Yuduo really bounced back that quickly, or whether he was just used to disguising himself and could force himself back to being "normal" in the shortest possible time.

But this time, the difficulty might have been a little too great.

The second time he poured alcohol over his head, a large tear slipped out from the corner of Jiang Yuduo’s eye and hung on his chin.

He sniffled and gave his head a slight shake. The tear on his chin fell away.

"I’ll help," Cheng Ke said, standing and picking up the styptic powder. "You just sprinkle it on, right?"

"Mm." Jiang Yuduo nodded, his voice thick with a heavy nasal tone.

Cheng Ke bit the cap open with his teeth, then held the bottle and sprinkled the powder over the wound like he was shaking pepper.

He didn’t know how much he should use. The powder quickly turned red with blood. It took three or four rounds of sprinkling before the bright red blood was finally no longer visible.

"Good thing I’m not squeamish about blood," Cheng Ke said.

Jiang Yuduo smiled and sniffled again.

Cheng Ke bent down to look at his face, and Jiang Yuduo quickly turned his head away.

"Don’t look," Cheng Ke said. He straightened up, reached over from behind him, cupped Jiang Yuduo’s chin, and pinched it lightly. "Does the wound hurt?"

"Not anymore," Jiang Yuduo said.

"Mm." Cheng Ke responded.

Jiang Yuduo and he stood and sat facing the window. Earlier, when he came back, Cheng Ke had drawn the curtains open, so this time they weren’t fully closed like usual. They were left open by about a foot.

Cheng Ke looked outside. There weren’t many people, but someone passed by now and then, along with cars. He hesitated for a moment. "Should I close the curtains?"

"…No need." Jiang Yuduo said.

"I’m not, worried you’ll see them," Cheng Ke cleared his throat. "It’s just, you know, all the lights in the living room are on right now."

"Mm." Jiang Yuduo answered.

"And the two of us are just standing here facing the window," Cheng Ke said. "People outside can see us really clearly."

Jiang Yuduo lifted a hand and wiped at his eyes, then laughed. "The whole setup is pretty weird. Kind of like a horror movie, right?"

"Yeah." Cheng Ke nodded. "For the health of the broad masses of the people, let’s close the curtains."

"Okay." Jiang Yuduo said.

Cheng Ke went over and drew the curtains shut. When he turned around, he saw that tears had gathered again on Jiang Yuduo’s face after he’d just wiped them away.

He had never imagined Jiang Yuduo could cry like this, like a wronged little kid, his tears impossible to stop.

Cheng Ke went to the bathroom to get Jiang Yuduo’s towel, thinking he’d wipe that tabby-cat face for him, when Jiang Yuduo’s phone rang.

"It’s Chen Qing." Jiang Yuduo wiped at his tears again, reached for the towel, and rubbed it over his face back and forth.

"Answer it?" Cheng Ke asked. "How do you know it’s Chen Qing?"

"By now everyone in this area already knows Third Brother got taken care of by Zhang Daqi," Jiang Yuduo said. "Chen Qing’s definitely going to call and ask."

"Then…" Cheng Ke looked at him, wondering if Jiang Yuduo would start crying while talking to Chen Qing, and if he did, Chen Qing would probably be frightened half to death.

"It’s fine." Jiang Yuduo took out his phone, looked at it, answered, and turned on speaker before placing it on the table. He kept wiping his face with the towel. "What."

That shout surprised Cheng Ke a little. Just from the sound, he couldn’t hear anything different from usual at all.

"Third Brother, are you okay! Fuck! Are you alright! Are you hurt! I’m almost at your house!" Chen Qing’s voice came through the receiver, wrapped in wind.

"I’m fine," Jiang Yuduo said. "What are you coming over for?"

"If I don’t tear down Zhang Daqi’s bar tonight, my last name isn’t Chen!" Chen Qing roared. "That bastard, hanging on to a coffin and refusing to let the lid close!"

"When you decide what surname you want instead, let me know," Jiang Yuduo said. "Go home first. I’m fine."

"Go home my ass!" Chen Qing shouted. "I brought people with me!"

Cheng Ke froze and looked at Jiang Yuduo.

"How many people?" Jiang Yuduo asked.

"How many came?" Chen Qing was probably asking the people beside him.

"There’s about forty now," Da Bin’s voice came from the side. "Not everyone’s here yet."

"Are you crazy?" Cheng Ke blurted out. "Walking around the street like that, the police would be questioning you before you even got a hundred meters!"

"Brother Ke?" Da Bin heard Cheng Ke’s voice. "Don’t worry, we didn’t walk together. We split up, and none of us are carrying anything. They’re waiting near the bar, and Brother Qing and I came to check on Third Brother first. When it’s time to move, the cars will bring the stuff over."

"Mm." Jiang Yuduo answered.

The moment Cheng Ke heard that, he got anxious. Splitting up, gathering together, using cars to haul weapons over. That sounded like a huge fight, and if anything happened, it wouldn’t be something a few days in detention could handle.

After Jiang Yuduo hung up, Cheng Ke looked at him. "Jiang Yuduo, have you guys ever done this before?"

"No," Jiang Yuduo said, lifting his eyes to look at him. "No one’s ever pissed me off like this before."

Cheng Ke was already dizzy, and now, with the added anxiety, he felt like his vision was about to blur.

He wouldn’t allow something like this to happen, especially not with Jiang Yuduo in this state. Jiang Yuduo wouldn’t let his little brothers see anything unusual, but right now he clearly couldn’t control his emotions the way he usually did. If these people found out he was "not normal," Cheng Ke didn’t even dare think about what would happen.

"When they get here in a bit," Cheng Ke said, "listen to me first."

"About what?" Jiang Yuduo asked. His face had already been wiped clean, but Cheng Ke didn’t know if it was because he knew Jiang Yuduo’s condition now, or because no matter how he looked at him, he still felt like there was a bit of pitiful grievance in his expression.

"Don’t fight. If this fight breaks out, it’ll get too big," Cheng Ke said. "Chen Qing and Da Bin, they all have jobs. What happens if they get locked up?"

Cheng Ke knew Jiang Yuduo cared about these little brothers.

Sure enough, after he finished speaking, Jiang Yuduo fell silent.

"Use some other method," Cheng Ke said. "If you really want to beat someone up to vent, you can always do it on a smaller scale afterward."

"What other method?" Chen Qing slapped the table and pointed at Jiang Yuduo’s head. "Did you see what his people did to Third Brother!"

"Don’t point at me." Jiang Yuduo said.

"How badly did they beat him up…" Chen Qing pointed at Cheng Ke, hesitated, then pointed at Da Bin. "How badly did they…"

He probably decided Da Bin was on his side and wasn’t worth pointing at. There was no one else in the room he could point at, so he stabbed a finger hard at the table instead. "How badly did they beat him up! Everyone outside already knows Third Brother got beaten! Third Brother! He’s been in this area for so many years! Nobody could beat him up like this!"

"Listen to Cheng Ke finish." Jiang Yuduo sighed.

"Fine," Chen Qing sat down. "Go ahead. Anyway, whatever the method is, we have to get this anger out."

"You guys have a lot of people, right? Send a hundred or so in to sit there. Go in whenever he opens for business, and stay until closing. Do it every day," Cheng Ke said. "No need to order anything."

Chen Qing looked at Cheng Ke. "Just sit there and not order anything? That’s embarrassing."

"Order a glass of orange juice." Cheng Ke said.

"The cost is kind of high, Brother Ke," Da Bin said. "A hundred plus people sitting there all night, one drink each, that would be…"

"Not all night," Cheng Ke said. "Until no one goes in there anymore."

"Fuck," Chen Qing looked at him. "Do you have no concept of money at all?"

Cheng Ke fished out the bank card from his pocket and put it on the table. "I’ll pay."

"That won’t do!" Chen Qing said. "This money…"

"This money came for free," Cheng Ke said. "Money that came in crooked should be used crooked too."

"But…" Da Bin frowned.

"You can’t fight," Cheng Ke said. "Especially not this big of a fight. If you don’t want to use this method, then fine, find some other way to solve it. In any case, you can’t fight."

Chen Qing froze. It took a long time before he turned to look at Jiang Yuduo. "Third Brother?"

"If you can avoid fighting, then don’t fight." Jiang Yuduo said.

He said that a lot, and Chen Qing didn’t make another sound after hearing it.

"If you’re still pissed off, you can smash the cup after you finish your drink," Cheng Ke said.

"That’ll cost money," Da Bin said. "He charges a hundred yuan for one cup."

"Call the police, file a complaint." Cheng Ke said.

"What if he notices and won’t let us in later?" Chen Qing asked.

"Then make trouble. Why shouldn’t they let you in?" Cheng Ke said. "If one person can’t go in, then two can’t go in, then a hundred can’t go in. Make trouble a hundred times and he won’t have anyone going in that night either. If they dare to make a move, you call the police."

"Have you done this before?" Chen Qing looked at him.

"…Yeah." Cheng Ke said.

"Fuck, rich people are this boring too?" Chen Qing asked.

"Only rich people are boring," Da Bin said.

"Where the hell did you find so many boring rich people?" Chen Qing asked again.

"I hired two construction crews," Cheng Ke said. "Don’t worry about me. You just do this first, and if it doesn’t work, we’ll talk."

Chen Qing looked at him. After a long while, he finally let out a sigh. "You’re trying to force us into being good citizens."

"Brother Qing," Da Bin reminded him.

"Alright, alright, wrong wording." Chen Qing waved a hand, then thought about it for a long time. In the end he grit his teeth and looked at Da Bin. "Notify the ones who got there first. Tell them to go in and order a glass of orange juice. Best if each of them takes up a table. Make it as obnoxious as possible, preferably obnoxious enough to drive people out. If they can’t take a table, then sit in a row at the bar. Another row can stand behind them. Anyone with time to spare can even go occupy the bathroom. When it’s done, come find me for the money."

After Chen Qing and Da Bin left, Cheng Ke let out a breath and sat in the chair, rubbing his face.

"So childish." Jiang Yuduo said.

"Whatever, as long as there’s no fighting, anything goes." Cheng Ke said.

"Are you afraid something will happen to me?" Jiang Yuduo looked at him.

"It’s not that I’m afraid something will happen to you," Cheng Ke said. "I’m not going to let anything happen to you."

Jiang Yuduo said nothing. He stared at Cheng Ke for a very long time, then bared his teeth in a smile, and tears slid down along with it.

"You weren’t done crying just now, were you?" Cheng Ke leaned over the table and reached out to touch his face.

"Mm." Jiang Yuduo answered.

"It’s fine." Cheng Ke stood and walked up to him. "Cry if you want to cry. At your age, you probably haven’t cried like this before, have you?"

"No," Jiang Yuduo rubbed at his eyes. "I don’t know why I’m crying."

"You don’t need a reason." Cheng Ke hugged his head and looked at the few pieces of gauze Jiang Yuduo had stuck on all crookedly.

"Don’t look at me." Jiang Yuduo said.

"Okay." Cheng Ke answered.

Jiang Yuduo took hold of his waist, turned him around, then wrapped his arms around him and pressed his face against Cheng Ke’s back.

Before Cheng Ke could even react to what he was doing, he was already hearing Jiang Yuduo cry.

Right against his back, loud and clear.

Cheng Ke had always felt that you could hear emotion in a person’s crying. Real crying, fake crying, happy crying, sad crying, a brat rolling on the ground crying. Every kind of cry carried a different emotion.

But in Jiang Yuduo’s release-like sobbing, there was no relief after the release. All Cheng Ke could hear was pain.