TA • Chapter 9

Cheng Ke followed Jiang Yuduo into the restaurant, with several of his underlings trailing behind. For a split second, he awkwardly felt like he had usurped Chen Qing, the chief enforcer's position.

But compared to continuing to lock eyes with Cheng Yi at the restaurant entrance, this outcome was already perfect.

He didn’t know whether Cheng Yi was still standing outside or had also come in, and he didn’t look back.

"How many people, sir?" a server came over and asked.

"Six," Jiang Yuduo said. "Got a table on the second floor?"

"Yes." The server nodded.

Cheng Ke quickly counted heads in his mind and realized Jiang Yuduo had included him as well. He immediately felt a little embarrassed and wanted to stop Jiang Yuduo, but Jiang Yuduo didn’t give him a chance to speak, going straight up the stairs.

When they reached the second floor and Jiang Yuduo stopped to look for a table, Cheng Ke hurriedly opened his mouth. "Third…"

Third Brother?

If this had been before, he might have still been able to call him that, but the rental agreement had Jiang Yuduo’s ID attached to it. This Third Brother was only twenty-one, and he really couldn’t bring himself to say that "brother" anymore, even though he knew the title mostly just reflected Jiang Yuduo’s status in the trash can management world.

"Call me Lao San," Jiang Yuduo said, looking at him.

"Lao San," Cheng Ke nodded. "Thanks for earlier. I’m meeting someone else, so I won’t interrupt you and your friends having dinner."

"Why do you talk so roundabout," Jiang Yuduo said with a frown. "You could just say you’ve got plans and aren’t eating with me. What the hell is there to interrupt?"

Cheng Ke didn’t answer. He really had no way to continue that conversation, even though that was basically what he’d meant. But with Jiang Yuduo pointing it out so bluntly and crudely, the atmosphere immediately turned into one where there was nothing left to say.

"Is that right?" Jiang Yuduo asked again, still frowning.

"Yes." Cheng Ke had no choice but to nod.

"Nope," Jiang Yuduo replied flatly.

"…Huh?" Cheng Ke froze.

"I just asked if you wanted to eat with us, and you already agreed." Jiang Yuduo beckoned to a few of his underlings and pointed to a table by the window.

It was a big table, but two women and a man had only just sat down there. The underlings immediately walked over sideways and sat down across from them. After a brief hesitation, the three people got up and left.

Cheng Ke truly couldn’t even begin to comment on this behavior.

"How many friends did you meet?" Jiang Yuduo asked.

"One," Cheng Ke said.

"Female?" Jiang Yuduo narrowed his eyes a little, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Male." Cheng Ke sighed.

"All right, tell your friend the table number," Jiang Yuduo said. "He can join us."

In all his life, Cheng Ke really had never encountered such a forceful invitation to a meal. On one hand, Jiang Yuduo had just helped him out, though he now suspected that the supposedly "straightforward" Jiang Yuduo had not actually been helping him at all, but really had just been asking him. On the other hand, this aggressive dinner invitation made him extremely unhappy, no matter what Jiang Yuduo’s reason was.

"No," Cheng Ke insisted. "I…"

"Are you a woman or what?" Jiang Yuduo seemed to be getting annoyed too. "Why are you so damn slow? Do I have to chase you for two whole months before I can eat a meal with you?"

The wall of the psychiatric hospital had collapsed, had it? Why the hell didn’t they fix it!

"I can’t eat unless I sit in a private room," Cheng Ke said, not bothering to be tactful anymore. "The main hall is too noisy."

"Private rooms have no atmosphere. If nobody talks, there’s not a single sound, and that’s awkward as hell," Jiang Yuduo said coldly, yet somehow still took the time to explain. "Besides, the private rooms are all gone."

Cheng Ke looked at him.

Jiang Yuduo waved over a male server standing not far away.

The server ran over. "Third Brother."

"Tell him the private rooms are gone," Jiang Yuduo said.

"Sir, uh, hello," the server said awkwardly with a smile at Cheng Ke. "The private rooms are all… booked."

Just as Cheng Ke was still shocked that Jiang Yuduo’s sphere of influence seemed to extend beyond trash cans, Cheng Yi appeared at the stairwell landing.

"Fine." Cheng Ke surrendered immediately.

Jiang Yuduo glanced toward the stairs and curled his lips. "Come on."

Cheng Ke sat down by the table already occupied by several soon-to-be-in-prison underlings, deliberately choosing a seat with his back to the main hall. He really didn’t want to see Cheng Yi again.

One of Jiang Yuduo’s underlings poured him tea, then looked at Jiang Yuduo. "Third Brother, how should we address this friend of yours?"

"Address him with what bullshit?" Jiang Yuduo said. "Call him bro."

The underling seemed very used to that kind of reaction. He smiled and turned to Cheng Ke. "Bro."

"Cheng Ke," Cheng Ke said. He couldn’t be as brazen and unreasonable as Jiang Yuduo. "Just call me by my name."

"Hello, Ke-ge." Several underlings greeted him together.

"…Ah." Cheng Ke picked up his cup and drank some tea.

To ease the awkwardness, he took out his phone and sent Xu Ding a message.

-Do you mind eating with someone else? I ran into a few friends.

-Are they Xiao Yi and the others?

Xu Ding’s reply made Cheng Ke freeze.

-Jiang Tiancheng invited me just now. I said I didn’t have time.

-Oh, not them.

-It’s fine, I’ll be there in a bit.

Cheng Ke sent Xu Ding the table number, then stared at his phone for a moment.

Xu Ding was pretty familiar with Liu Tiancheng, but when Liu Tiancheng usually ate with this crowd, he wouldn’t invite Xu Ding. Cheng Ke frowned. What the hell was this guy playing at?

"That guy just now," Jiang Yuduo asked quietly from beside him, "is he your brother? He looks a lot like you."

"My younger brother," Cheng Ke said.

"Full brother?" Jiang Yuduo asked again.

"Yeah." Cheng Ke responded.

"Was your brother born to a stepmother?" Jiang Yuduo continued.

"…What?" Cheng Ke had no choice but to turn and look at him.

"An illegitimate son from a rich family, using all kinds of methods to squeeze out the eldest son while fighting for a billion-yuan inheritance and all that," Jiang Yuduo said.

"I really want to clap for you," Cheng Ke said, glancing at the several underlings across from him. The underlings were chatting amongst themselves, all wrapped up in talk of shapely legs, big chests, and tiny waists, completely oblivious to the fact that their boss was writing a script. He took another sip of tea. "Why don’t you say the eldest son is squeezing out the illegitimate son instead?"

"You’re down to collecting a hundred yuan from the street, so do we really need to think about who’s squeezing out who?" Jiang Yuduo said.

If Jiang Yuduo’s head injury had not still been seeping blood, Cheng Ke really would have wanted to smash the cup in his hand right into his face.

"Just kidding," Jiang Yuduo said with a laugh, leaning back in his chair. "Your younger brother, at a glance, looks like he’s got more brains than you. He also looks more mature than you. I thought he was your older brother just now."

Cheng Ke forced the corners of his mouth up into a smile.

After that, Jiang Yuduo didn’t say anything else. He just watched his underlings laugh so hard they nearly folded over in their chairs while chatting.

Cheng Ke listened for a while, but he really couldn’t figure out what was so funny. Stupid people really did have more fun.

Just as he was about to message Xu Ding to ask where he was, Jiang Yuduo suddenly raised a hand beside him and shouted, "Bro! Over here!"

Cheng Ke turned around and saw Xu Ding walking this way.

"It’s him, right?" Jiang Yuduo asked.

"If it wasn’t, would he have come over?" Cheng Ke was impressed by how Jiang Yuduo always shouted first and asked later.

"If it wasn’t, then he wouldn’t have come over," Jiang Yuduo said.

"Then why ask me if it was?" Cheng Ke was helpless.

"In case I ran into an idiot," Jiang Yuduo said.

A perfectly sufficient reason. Cheng Ke couldn’t argue with that. He stood up and smiled at Xu Ding. Just as he was about to pull out the chair beside him, one of the underlings had already pulled it out. "Bro, sit."

"Thank you." Xu Ding smiled and nodded.

"My friend, Xu Ding," Cheng Ke said.

"Xu-ge." Several underlings greeted him one after another.

Cheng Ke noticed that they called him Ke-ge, not Cheng-ge, but when they called Xu Ding, it was Xu-ge, not Ding-ge… The key point was that they didn’t even need to discuss it, and each time they said it in perfect unison. He didn’t know whether this X-ge way of addressing people was something they had a private agreement about.

He introduced Jiang Yuduo to Xu Ding as well. "This is Jiang Yuduo, my… landlord."

"Hello." Xu Ding nodded at Jiang Yuduo.

"Just call me Lao San," Jiang Yuduo said.

"These are…" Cheng Ke wanted to introduce the underlings, but found he didn’t know where to start. Suddenly, he envied Jiang Yuduo’s rudeness. With Jiang Yuduo, this kind of step was probably just skipped entirely.

"My little brothers," Jiang Yuduo said. "You won’t remember their names anyway, so no need to introduce them."

"Yeah," the underlings said, nodding. "Just give us orders directly if you need anything."

"All right." Xu Ding smiled.

"Can you handle spicy food?" Jiang Yuduo called the server over. "If everyone can, then we won’t order yin-yang hotpot. No fun in that."

"Ke and I can both handle spicy food," Xu Ding said.

Jiang Yuduo started ordering dishes. Xu Ding leaned closer to Cheng Ke and asked, "Landlord?"

"Mm," Cheng Ke nodded. "For real."

"Looks like…" Xu Ding said softly.

"Yeah," Cheng Ke smiled. Compared with the identity of landlord, Jiang Yuduo really did look more like a loan shark. After two seconds, he still couldn’t help asking, "Did Liu Tiancheng ask you to eat here?"

"Yeah, I turned him down," Xu Ding said. "Did you run into them?"

"Yeah," Cheng Ke sighed. "You should’ve told me to change places. If they see you here later, it’s going to be hard to explain."

"It’s fine," Xu Ding said quietly. "If they see me, they see me. I really don’t want to get involved in the matter between you brothers. We’re not that close. It’s better if they see me."

"You and Liu Tiancheng…" Cheng Ke knew Xu Ding’s relationship with Liu Tiancheng was still pretty good. They were not only friends, but also had business dealings.

"Not that serious," Xu Ding said with a smile as he took a sip of tea. "Don’t worry about this. Where are you staying now?"

"Pretty close to here," Cheng Ke said. "Jinshui Bay, just a couple streets over. The environment there is pretty good."

"That’s good," Xu Ding said. "Once you’ve settled in, the rest is easier to talk about. What are your plans afterward?"

Cheng Ke didn’t answer. Xu Ding’s question suddenly made him feel a wave of panic.

Plans?

He had no plans.

These past few days, he had run into so many things that it felt like he hadn’t had any time at all to make plans.

What frightened him, though, was that even if nothing had happened, even if he had plenty of time, he probably still wouldn’t make any plans.

"I don’t know," Cheng Ke leaned back in his chair and let out a soft sigh. "Damn."

"Take it slow," Xu Ding said. "After all, you’ve never worried about these things in all these years… just don’t put the sand painting down. I still have a collaboration I want to ask you about. Weren’t you always someone who couldn’t be moved when you were in a bad mood? So how are you feeling now?"

"Pretty good." Cheng Ke smiled.

Only after the hotpot was brought over did Cheng Ke realize Jiang Yuduo had ordered so many dishes the table couldn’t even hold them all, and the rolling cart beside them was packed too.

"You ordered this much?" he said.

"Don’t worry," Jiang Yuduo glanced at his underlings. "If it’s not enough, and none of us want to fight over food, we can order more later."

An underling picked up the liquor bottle and was about to pour drinks for Jiang Yuduo and Xu Ding, but Xu Ding stopped him. "I’m driving. Tea is fine."

The underling then extended the bottle toward Cheng Ke. Cheng Ke didn’t really want to drink. He usually did drink, but in this atmosphere, he didn’t know what kind of mood he was supposed to be in to drink.

"You’re driving too?" Jiang Yuduo looked at him.

Honestly, Cheng Ke really admired Jiang Yuduo. This kind of direct, no-room-to-breathe expression always caught him off guard, since he was used to speaking tactfully.

The underling poured him a glass of liquor, then filled Jiang Yuduo’s glass to the brim.

Cheng Ke glanced at the bandage on his head. With an injury like that, he was still drinking white liquor with a hotpot, not avoiding spicy food at all. The underlings didn’t seem to have any questions about his eating habits either.

"Their snowflake beef here is especially good," Jiang Yuduo said, picking up a plate of beef. "You guys probably come here a lot, right?"

"Yeah," Xu Ding nodded. "Every time we…"

Before he could finish, Jiang Yuduo had already dumped the entire plate of beef into the pot, then grabbed a skimmer and stirred it around haphazardly a few times.

Then the underlings all reached in at once.

"Eat fast," Jiang Yuduo said. "It’ll get overcooked in a bit."

"Okay." Xu Ding smiled and took a bite.

Cheng Ke had no choice but to hurry and take a bite too. He really did like this kind of beef, and he could tell that at this pace, if he hesitated even a second longer, the meat would be gone.

And he’d said, "It’ll get overcooked in a bit." With this setup, that was clearly unnecessary. He might as well worry about whether it would be undercooked instead.

Jiang Yuduo spent the whole meal tossing food in like that. Whether meat or vegetables, he would just pour in a whole plate at once, and then everyone would fight over it as if snatching things up.

Cheng Ke ate with deep emotion. He had never tried such an… exuberant way of eating before.

Xu Ding adapted pretty well, though, and chatted happily with Jiang Yuduo and the underlings. Xu Ding was different from these people. Their crowd, whether it was outstanding talents like Cheng Yi or useless trash like him, all relied on their families to some extent. Xu Ding had no background at all and had gotten this far on his own, so he could get along with Jiang Yuduo and the others very naturally.

Liu Tiancheng had always done business with Xu Ding and was considered familiar with him, but deep down he looked down on him a bit. Cheng Ke had never really felt anything about it before, but now that he was watching, he suddenly felt a little envious.

Don’t rely on your family for everything.

That line was probably something only Xu Ding had the qualifications to say. Yet people like him were exactly the ones others looked down on.

Cheng Ke smiled.

After tearing through the meal like they were fighting for food, Cheng Ke felt an unprecedented kind of… stuffed to the brim feeling.

Not only was his stomach full, his brain was full too. The entire time, he listened to the underlings talk about all kinds of strange things on their turf, the curious, the suggestive, the unbelievable, true or false.

Actually, Cheng Ke had heard plenty of this kind of stuff when he was hanging around with groups of people before, but compared with that, the underlings’ stories were obviously cruder and more exciting.

Unexpectedly, though, he didn’t find it repulsive. He only wanted to sigh at how vast the world was.

People like this, and things like this.

"Should I drive you?" Xu Ding asked as they left the restaurant.

"No need, I’m going to walk around nearby a bit and get familiar with the place," Cheng Ke said. He actually still wanted to go to the supermarket and buy… a mop, though he was very unwilling to do so. He couldn’t keep letting the floor stay covered in dust.

"All right, let’s keep in touch," Xu Ding said, then cupped his fist to Jiang Yuduo. "Thanks for the meal, Third Brother."

"No need to be polite with me," Jiang Yuduo said, waving his hand. "Call me when you come by to hang out."

"Okay." Xu Ding nodded.

After watching Xu Ding’s car drive away, Cheng Ke looked back at the restaurant.

"They’re not done yet," Jiang Yuduo said. "I’ve been keeping an eye on them. I haven’t seen them come out."

"…Why are you watching that?" Cheng Ke was a little speechless.

"Don’t know," Jiang Yuduo said. "Habit."

"Oh." Cheng Ke nodded. After a while, he didn’t know what else to say, so he pointed in the direction of the supermarket. "I’m heading that way."

"I’m going that way too," Jiang Yuduo said. "Let’s go."

After all, they had just eaten a meal like they were snatching food, and he’d had a bit to drink too. On top of Jiang Yuduo having helped him earlier, Cheng Ke found he could still accept walking down the street with these people for now.

But this was an experience he had never had before. Maybe it was because the underlings’ walking posture was too swaggering, but he kept having the illusion that he was patrolling the streets.

Halfway down the street, one of the underlings’ phones rang. He answered it and called out, "Brother Qing."

That was probably a call from the chief enforcer.

Then the underling went silent. The only change was in his expression. "I’m with Third… okay, got it."

"What’s wrong?" Jiang Yuduo asked.

Usually if Chen Qing had something, he would call him directly. Today he had suddenly called Da Bin’s phone, and Jiang Yuduo immediately sensed something was wrong.

"Third Brother," Da Bin cleared his throat, "well, Brother Qing asked me to help him… take some things over. The few of us will head out first…"

"What do you need that many people to take?" Jiang Yuduo interrupted.

Da Bin cleared his throat again. "Don’t know, probably…"

Da Bin wasn’t the type to get nervous. He usually lied more naturally and smoothly than a morning erection. The fact that he was struggling this much today could only mean Chen Qing had gotten into trouble.

"Did Chen Qing go to Zhang Daqi’s place today?" Jiang Yuduo turned to look at the other guy, Ertu.

Ertu hadn’t coordinated with Da Bin yet, so he nodded. "Yeah."

"Damn it," Jiang Yuduo turned and headed straight for Zhang Daqi’s bar. "Da Bin, call the others."

"Third Brother, Third Brother!" Da Bin sounded a little anxious. "Brother Qing said not to call you. He said you’re injured."

"Not call me?" Jiang Yuduo glared at him. "If I don’t go, which one of you can walk out of there on your feet today!"

Da Bin fell silent and quickly lowered his head to start making calls.

Jiang Yuduo rushed forward a couple of steps, then remembered Cheng Ke was still there, so he stopped and turned back.

"All right," Cheng Ke said, his face still showing surprise, though his words came out quickly. "See you."

Jiang Yuduo gave him a look, then turned and ran toward the far end of the street. Several underlings sprinted after him, while pedestrians on the road hurriedly moved aside to both sides. Anyone who didn’t know better would have thought they were filming a movie.

Cheng Ke didn’t know whether it was because he’d had too much to drink or because he was too idle, but seeing Jiang Yuduo’s figure disappear into the darkness actually made him feel a little tempted to follow and watch the excitement.

He had gone to bars ten times before and run into fights at least eight of those times. But honestly, because he didn’t know anyone involved and was completely outside it all, he never felt much even when he saw it.

It was just like playing ball in school. As long as someone you knew was on the court, even if they played an utterly shitty game, it still felt kind of exciting.

Cheng Ke thought about it, then crossed to the opposite street and followed the direction Jiang Yuduo had run.

This street was lined with all kinds of bars and nightclubs. The flashing lights were already enough to overload a person’s brain, and even without a fight, just standing there gave off a chaotic, dizzying feeling.

Cheng Ke was almost at the intersection and still hadn’t seen anywhere that looked like trouble.

But after walking a little farther, he heard voices.

Someone was shouting and cursing loudly, along with screams and the clanging crash of something he couldn’t identify. Then he saw several figures rush out from another direction at the intersection and run down the road to the right.

Were they the underlings Jiang Yuduo had called over to help?

Cheng Ke quickened his pace, then suddenly felt a little uneasy.

He subconsciously took out his phone.

A brawl with someone you knew involved was different from a ball game. Thinking of Jiang Yuduo’s half face smeared with blood today, and the wounds on his back that looked like they could have split a person in two…

Cheng Ke looked down at his phone, hesitating over whether to call the police.

Then sirens suddenly sounded far behind him. Cheng Ke let out a huge breath of relief, but it was quickly replaced by another worry. Would they get caught?

As the sirens rang out, a mass of shadows suddenly spilled out from the street on the right, scattering in all directions and disappearing rapidly into the crowd.

Cheng Ke still wanted to see the ending. Just as he took a step in that direction, someone suddenly grabbed his arm and yanked him backward hard.

"Fuck!" Cheng Ke cursed. The pull nearly made him stumble and fall.

Only after he was thrown against the side wall did he manage to stay upright. He lifted a leg and kicked straight at the person who had grabbed him.

The man dodged a little, but Cheng Ke still caught him in the waist. The man cursed, "Did you hit people without looking?"

"Jiang Yuduo?" Cheng Ke froze.

"What the hell are you doing running over here!" Jiang Yuduo glared at him.

"…Watching the excitement." Cheng Ke answered.

"And then what, greeting me before we get beaten up together?" Jiang Yuduo asked.

Cheng Ke wanted to say that he had no plan to greet him at all, but he didn’t have the nerve to say it out loud.

"Go back," Jiang Yuduo said. "What’s so fun about watching this kind of chaos? None of these bastards even treat themselves like human beings. Might as well watch dogs fighting."

Cheng Ke watched Jiang Yuduo disappear into the darkness again and let out a soft sigh.

Go buy a mop.

What kind should he buy?

The flat-headed kind?

Or the kind with a big bundle?