When I came out, I realized that it was the back of a small courtyard, and in front of it was a pet hospital... That doctor was indeed a veterinarian!
Since Jinhe has already let me go, given his character and personality, he won't go back on his word, so he won't harm me again. However, Fatty doesn't trust Brother Huan…
In his words, Huan Ge is not Jin He. Since he could be so ruthless as to kill me, he probably won't let me go either! After all, for him, only my death can put his mind at ease!
"He didn't trust you before, and he needed you to die to put his mind at ease. Now that he failed to kill you, it means your relationship has been broken, so he'll trust you even less! He wanted to kill you before, so what chance does he have now?"
The fat man's words made a lot of sense. I didn't say anything and followed his instructions.
He drove me away in that gray minivan.
This place was completely unfamiliar to me. My injuries hadn't healed, so I just lay in the back of the car, letting it bounce around for most of the day. I didn't know where the fat man had taken me, but I felt the bumps getting worse and worse. The car was originally on the main road, but as the bumps intensified, the road conditions seemed to be getting worse and worse.
We finally arrived at our destination. The fat man got out of the car, went around to the back, opened the car door, helped me up, and laughed, "Alright, kid, you'll be staying here for the next few days."
My upper body is injured, but fortunately my legs can still move. I'm a little dizzy after losing blood, so I can't do strenuous exercise. I can barely manage to walk a few steps while holding onto the car.
This place is clearly far from the city; it feels like the countryside, and the air around it is filled with a rustic atmosphere.
The countryside in the south is different from that in the north, with vast stretches of rice paddies. A strong, pungent smell of chemical fertilizer wafted from some vegetable gardens, almost knocking me over.
There was a village nearby, but it didn't look too dilapidated. Cement utility poles stretched the electricity all the way into the village. The houses were typical southern-style flat-roofed houses with pointed roofs…
This is a major difference between rural architecture in the south and the north. Many houses in the north have flat roofs, while those in the south have pointed roofs. This is mainly because the south experiences more rainfall. Especially in the coastal areas of the south, only houses with pointed roofs can withstand the large amounts of rainwater; flat roofs would inevitably accumulate too much water, causing problems.
We were at the very end of the village, with two forks in the road, one to the left and one to the right. The fat man pointed to one of the small courtyards and laughed, "This is it. Don't worry, it's very safe here."
A cement wall, an iron security door, and door gods pasted on the door. The fat man casually took out his key, opened the door, and went inside. He then noticed that the ground in the yard was covered in a thick layer of dust, and there was a pile of charcoal on one side. A kitchen and two large rooms. That was the entire layout of the yard.
The fat man helped me into the house, and then carefully locked the door.
The rooms inside were fairly well-furnished, but they looked like they hadn't been lived in for a long time. They were a bit damp and gloomy. One of the rooms inside had a large bed, while the other room served as the main room. Fatty helped me lie down inside, and I could smell a musty odor on the blankets. It seemed like no one had lived there for quite some time.
The fat man went outside for a while, then drove the car behind the house to avoid being seen. He came back in, wiped my face, and laughed, "You're lucky, kid. Do you know where you are?"
I gave a wry smile: "I don't know."
"This is where many underworld bosses stayed when they fled!" the fat man chuckled. "This place used to house quite a few influential figures."
I perked up slightly: "Oh?"
The fat man, who had been driving for half a day, seemed a bit tired. He casually leaned against the headboard and sat down next to me, slowly saying, "You know, everyone has their bad days. This place is very close to other cities, after all, it's a coastal area in the south. Some of the bigwigs in Hong Kong's triads who commit crimes and then flee usually go to Thailand or Vietnam, or to the mainland. It's usually one of those two." He clicked his tongue, took out a cigarette, and we each lit one before he continued, "They go to Vietnam or Thailand because the cost of living is low there. For example, in Vietnam, an average family of three in a city only earns two or three hundred RMB a month. If they flee there, they can live on that money for a long time! As for those who flee to the mainland, it's because the mainland is so big and populous. With so much space, they can just find a corner to hide in, and as long as they don't come out or have contact with anyone, they generally won't be found."
He suddenly patted the bed beneath him, blinked, and laughed, "You know what? A year ago, a gang leader from Hong Kong and Kowloon got into trouble and fled to the mainland. I was the one who brought him here to hide. He stayed in this house for a month!"
After listening for a while, I suddenly had a thought and whispered, "Brother, what exactly do you do?" Then I gave him a deep look and said, "Don't tell me you're just a chef. A chef wouldn't run away with someone's money."
The fat man squinted and smiled: "I am indeed a cook, but some of my old friends have gone into the water to make a living. As for me, I'm too lazy to move, and I don't want to live that dangerous life of making a living on the edge anymore. I'm just a marginal person here... You know what a marginal person is? I'm a kind of rendezvous point. If any of my brothers are in trouble and run to me, I'll take care of them. After I've taken care of them, those brothers will repay me in some way."
He laughed again after he finished speaking: "For example, the brother from Hong Kong and Kowloon who hid here for a month a year ago, later came back out of the gang and fought his way back. Now he is one of the top three people on the blacklist in Hong Kong's Organized Crime and Triad Bureau!"
I am not surprised at all.
I was mentally prepared; I knew all along that the fat guy wasn't an ordinary person!
"Do you make money from this?" I asked with a laugh.
"No, money isn't the most important thing," the fat man said lazily. "I'm almost fifty, more than half my life is over, what's money? Hmph... I crawled out of a pile of corpses, I've died once, so I'm more open-minded than others. If some brothers are in trouble, I'll help them if I can, and if they become rich in the future, I won't refuse money from those who are willing to give it to me. That's how it is..." A faint smile appeared on his face as he said this: "For example, that old Hong Kong brother I mentioned, he said that if I ever need his help in the future, he'll go through fire and water for me!"
I remained silent...
After a while, I glanced at the fat man again: "So... how long have you been doing this?"
"It's been almost ten years, hasn't it?" The fat man breathed a sigh of relief.
I took a breath!
ten years!!
That means he's helped countless people escape!
Over the past ten years, countless influential figures in the underworld have fled... After all, everyone has their bad luck sometimes, and over these ten years, countless people have owed him favors!
After experiencing these days of running away, I have fully felt the panic and despair that people feel when they are on the run, like a homeless dog!
In times like these, if someone steps forward to lend a helping hand... without a doubt, you'll be grateful to that person for the rest of your life!
Over the past ten years, how many people has the fat man helped?
Even if only a third... no, even just a tenth, a twentieth, of the people he helped went back and became incredibly successful... the amount of favors the fat man held in his hands would still be astonishing! Those influential figures owed him favors, and even if they didn't pay him, if the fat man ever needed their help in the future, as long as it wasn't too outrageous... there would be absolutely no problem!
"What's wrong? Surprised?" The fat man smiled.
I didn't say anything.
We ate cured pork for dinner.
This place was clearly one of the hideouts where the fat man ran his escape routes, and he was obviously quite professional at it. A considerable amount of food had already been stored there.
In his words, if you're going to flee, you have to be prepared to flee; go out as little as possible. Minimize contact with the outside world! This is the best way to avoid the danger of being exposed!
If you have food and water at home, it's best not to leave the house! In short, safety first!
The cured meat had been sitting for a while, and it tasted a bit off. But I ate it very carefully... Fatty told me that my body needs nutrition to recover faster!
Although the taste isn't great, the combination of vegetables and meat can still meet a person's normal nutritional needs.
For the next few days, Fatty stayed here with me. It seemed he didn't have to go back to work, but what worried me more was...
I'm worried that this matter might implicate him!
However, the fat man just smiled faintly at my concerns: "Don't worry, Ye Huan wouldn't dare to mess with me."
Although it was just a simple sentence, the weight it contained was self-evident!
"You should worry about yourself, kid." The fat man sighed as he looked at me. "Jin He may not kill you, but Ye Huan won't let it go. Don't think it's over. He might take a body back to report, but he'll still find a chance to kill you... You're all alone now, a lone wolf, powerless and without influence... If you ask me, you're practically doomed!"
However, I didn't react to what he said.
These past few days, instinctively, I've avoided any topic related to Huan Ge... I seem to be carefully avoiding thinking about anything related to Huan Ge!
Sometimes, in the dead of night, I can't fall asleep even lying in bed. Listening to the fat guy next to me snoring loudly, I just stare quietly at the ceiling.
Honestly, I'm dreaming.
The scene I dream about most is Huan Ge often smiling and saying to me in a kind tone, "Xiao Wu, you're one of my people, but I might not necessarily protect you!"
But in the blink of an eye, I dreamt that Jinhe pointed a gun at me and said, "Xiao Wu, I'm sorry..."
Part 1: In the Jianghu, Not in Control of One's Own Fate, Chapter 124: Two Paths
The days in hiding were incredibly boring. For the first few days, all I did every day was lie in bed and space out.
At the beginning, I missed home very, very much... I missed Yan Di, I missed my three bad friends, and Fang Nan... and even the little money-grubber.
Because my body was covered in wounds, I couldn't get it wet, so I couldn't take a shower for many days, and I even smelled strange. Fatty took good care of me and would even use a wet towel to wipe me down, but I quickly declined his "kindness."
He was incredibly strong, and he didn't know his own strength; sometimes he would rub my wounds so hard they hurt terribly.
And at times like these, I especially miss my little money-grubber…
Ah Mei is a professional nurse after all. When I was injured last time, Xiao Caimi often helped me wipe my body. Her movements were meticulous, thoughtful and gentle, and she almost never hurt me.
The fat man would chat and laugh with me every day, and I never saw any worry on his face, as if he didn't care even if the sky fell down.
He goes out every now and then to buy some daily necessities.
I sit in my room every day and don't go out, so I have no idea what's going on outside. There's no TV or newspaper here, and after a while, I even forget what day it is or what week it is.
I only remember that the fat man went out every seven or eight days, and after he went out three times, my injuries were almost completely healed.
The time when my scars were almost healed was actually the hardest time for me... People who haven't been hurt can't understand...
My biggest challenge is "itching".
The dozen or so scars all over his body have almost completely healed, with the wounds nearly 80-90% healed. The outer layer of the scar tissue is almost peeling off, but a tiny bit still clings to the skin…
I felt an unbearable itch all over my body, as if countless ants were crawling all over my wounds, almost constantly!
At times like these, you can't scratch it with your hands, because the wound isn't fully healed yet, and if you scratch it open, it will cause even more trouble!
If it were just a scar, I could grit my teeth and bear it. But this unbearable itching in more than a dozen places all over my body... I feel like this is even harder to endure than when I was stabbed!
The fat guy has been watching me struggle and fight with myself every day for the past two days, and he just looks amused.
Actually, he was also very bored. The two grown men stayed cooped up in the house every day and didn't go out. At first, they could chat, but after a while, they ran out of topics to talk about.
However, I feel like I'm surviving day by day, gradually getting through that blow.
A genuine smile started appearing on my face again occasionally. Whenever this happened, the fat man would give me a deep look.
I knew there was something in those eyes. But I just kept quiet.
Sometimes, the fat man would take out a wooden board from inside the house, draw a round target with a pen, and hang it on the wall in the yard. Then, he would take two kitchen knives, one big and one small, and stand at the door of the room, about seven or eight meters away, and throw the knives around for fun.
His aim was terrifying!! Over time, the center of the wooden wrench was almost dented by the cleaver, while the surrounding wooden board remained completely unscathed!
I vaguely remembered that when the fat man rescued me that day, a screwdriver he casually threw pierced the palm of the guy who shot me.
I can finally move around; all the bandages on my body have long been removed. The wounds inside have mostly healed, and the skin around the wounds is tender and pink, a clear difference in color from the rest of the body.
After lying down and sitting for nearly twenty days, I felt like my whole body was rusting. The first thing I did was move around in the yard, carefully moving a few stools and some clutter on the ground. Then I took off my shirt and did a hundred push-ups in one go, followed by some waist twisting and leg kicks to loosen up my muscles.
He closed his eyes, steadied himself, raised his hand and assumed the stance of a splitting fist, then scooped up his knees and circled around, twisted his waist and cut his hips, flipping and rolling... After punching all the way, he finally felt his body warm up from the inside out.
I got more and more energetic as I practiced in the yard, and I went through the boxing routine five or six times in one go before I started to pant slightly.
After all, I've just recovered from a serious injury, and I've been quite lax in recent years. I feel like I'm not even as good as I was when I was learning from my master.
The fat man had silently appeared at the doorway, arms crossed, leaning against the wall. He watched me finish my last set of punches, then clapped his hands and laughed, saying, "Well done!"
He slowly walked over and patted my shoulder: "Who taught you Pi Gua Quan? You've really got some skill." I took a breath and wiped my sweat: "I learned it from a master when I was a kid."
The fat man nodded without saying a word, then suddenly said slowly, "The master who taught you Pi Gua Quan was a master... Hehe, these days there are few people who know real martial arts, most of them are just showing off."
I shook the plug: "I feel like I've regressed too much... I've been living a comfortable life for too long, and I've neglected my skills."
The fat man nodded: "It's good that you have a sense of crisis. Alright, it'll be time to eat soon, so get ready."
I looked at myself, covered in sweat, and laughed out loud: "Damn it, I need to take a shower first. I haven't showered in over twenty days, and the whole house smells weird!"
The fat man looked at the smile on my face, a hint of comfort in his eyes, and laughed, "What's there to be afraid of if it smells bad? I'm not afraid. Back in the day, I was hiding in a foxhole on the battlefield. What kind of smell haven't I smelled?"
I finally took a good shower, almost scrubbing off a layer of skin. After the shower, I felt like I was a few minutes lighter.