"How will you get up? The houses now are different from the houses you had back then, and these are multi-story buildings."
"Then don't worry about it," Wei Tiezhu said honestly.
I walked upstairs with a heavy heart. I was worried about these two kids. They were different from the people in Group 5 and Liangshan. I had taken them to the wilderness as soon as they arrived, isolating them from the world. I hadn't been able to keep up with the sights along the way. If I let them carry out the mission, there was a high chance that something bad would happen.
As I walked upstairs, I paid special attention to see if anyone was hiding. Number 2 was a nightclub, and now the door was chained up, so it was unlikely anyone was hiding there.
Upon reaching the top floor, I immediately saw a table in the center of the teahouse. Tea was already brewed, its steam rising gently, and several delicate snacks surrounded an antique-looking teapot. On the other side of the miniature rockery, a thin, withered, blind old man sat in a sandalwood chair, holding a pipa. Hearing someone come upstairs, he began to strum the strings, playing a tune I couldn't quite place. It was very peaceful; I had initially thought he was going to play "Ambush from Ten Sides." Apart from him, the entire teahouse was deserted.
I sat down and poured myself a cup of tea. The tea was slightly yellow, and it tasted dry and refreshing. I didn't know what kind of tea it was. I smacked my lips in satisfaction, but then a sense of unease began to creep into my mind. Was this a movie shoot? It was all so tense and suspenseful. And the name "Listening to the Wind Pavilion" was a bit unsettling: it had a sense of impending doom.
Just then, I heard footsteps on the stairs, and a man with a sinister face came up and stood in front of me. I suddenly chuckled. I was wondering how he knew I was there. Since no one could hide on the second floor, this guy was probably hiding in the sugar and tobacco shop across the street, watching with binoculars. He really went to great lengths to create a fantastical atmosphere.
"I am Liu Xuan." The sinister man's voice was even more unpleasant than it had been on the phone.
"No problem, Xiao Qiang."
Liu Xuan looked at the blind man strangely. He walked over, put a 100-yuan bill in the plate in front of him, and said, "Change to 'Ambush from Ten Sides'." I chuckled again.
Liu Xuan got a little annoyed by our laughter, sat down in a chair, elegantly picked up the kettle and started washing the cups. After a while, he finally poured some tea, first smelling it, and then striking a pose with his pinky finger. I cursed inwardly, "Another pretentious show-off!"
Liu Xuan said in a pretentious tone, "Manager Xiao, my uncles were very unhappy yesterday. You went too far."
I said, "I don't know your uncles."
“We’re all in this together, why be so serious? I’ll give you another chance today, but this time it’s not as simple as just calling me ‘brother.’ You have to pour me some tea as an apology, and then I can still give you that manager’s position.”
I said, "I don't have time to waste with you, we both don't have much time left. I only put people in the bar so my 'clients' would have a place to go. If you didn't welcome me, you should have told me directly, but you hurt my friend..." Just then, I suddenly saw Li Jingshui outside the window clinging to the glass like Spider-Man, still climbing up. He was surprised to see me through the glass, waved at me, and then climbed up.
Seeing that I suddenly looked surprised as I was talking, Liu Xuan couldn't help but turn around and glance back. Li Jingshui was no longer there. He turned his head and asked, "What's wrong?"
"...Uh, it's nothing, let's continue with our business—well, there's really nothing to say, you should leave here as soon as possible and go hide for a year before we talk."
This time, Liu Xuan suppressed his anger and asked, "Why do you keep making me hide away for a year? What exactly do you want?" I saw Wei Tiezhu climb up as well...
"I want to save you. Those people are looking for you everywhere. They want to cut off your arm."
This time, Liu Xuan was so angry he laughed. He slammed his fist on the table and said, "You surnamed Xiao, I've been terrified of you since I was a kid!"
I knew we wouldn't be able to talk today. Fortunately, Li Jingshui and Wei Tiezhu were already there, so I wasn't flustered at all. In fact, I felt like a villain—just waiting to smash a glass and harm someone. People like that are usually no good.
I took out my phone, dialed a number, and asked him, "Was it you who investigated my place last night?"
He saw me on the phone and asked suspiciously, "What are you doing?"
I pointed the phone at him and said, "Just fiddling around, you won't believe me, look." As I spoke, I held the phone out to him, and Liu Xuan involuntarily leaned forward to look. I pressed the dial button, then quickly withdrew my hand. The screen displayed: "What? Scouting? Oh no! He's calling for backup! I have to make my move first!"
That bastard Liu Xuan actually planted someone to deal with me.
...But I didn't expect them to be lying in ambush so close! Liu Xuan flipped the table, and with a loud crash, groups of tough guys rushed out from the surrounding private rooms. They were wearing Taoist robes, some with kung fu headbands, and lined up in a row, glaring at me angrily.
Damn it, I was planning to smash the cup and make someone the villain, but someone beat me to it again. This murderous aura wasn't all an act after all, and this scene looks familiar—especially like the scene in *Fearless* where Chen Zhen kicks down the Japanese dojo.
Unfortunately, the music was completely mismatched. It was only then that I realized the guy was playing "Ambush from Ten Sides" on a erhu at all. He had switched to another erhu and was clearly playing "Desire"!
I'm not stupid. I was on guard the moment Liu Xuan flipped the table. I dodged the table while keeping my teacup in my hand. Now that I'm standing by the window, teacup in hand, Liu Xuan finally looks like a real villain. He slyly waved both hands at the same time: "Kill!"
I saw twelve menacing kung fu guys charging towards me, yelling. Before I could even smash my cup, there were two loud crashes as Li Jingshui and Wei Tiezhu burst through the window, kicking the two in front away and flanking me. I finished my tea, smacked my lips, and finally had a chance to act like a villain, brandishing my hands like two pistols and casually saying, "Let him kill—"
And so, amidst the mournful strains of the erhu piece "Yearning," a fierce battle began!
Chapter Sixty-Nine: The Ultimate Blind Man
I have to thank Liu Xuan. If he hadn't made such a commotion, Li Jingshui and Wei Tiezhu wouldn't have been able to get to the rooftop so quickly. I still get chills thinking about it. That teacup was only the size of a thumb; it would have been less impactful to cough if it had fallen to the ground. If we had followed the original plan, I would have been dead.
The sudden arrival of reinforcements startled the burly men for a moment, but they immediately swarmed over. It was clear that these people were not the "commoners" Xu Delong had described. Judging from their expressions and physiques, they had all practiced martial arts since childhood. Even the two men who had been kicked away by Li Jingshui and his group got up as if nothing had happened. I began to regret bringing only two people with me.
Sure enough, as Wei Tiezhu's fist struck a burly man, he also took several blows to the face and abdomen, as did Li Jingshui. Neither of them panicked at all. Li Jingshui even wiped a trace of blood from the corner of her mouth and said with a smile, "Hey, you're both trained fighters."
Wei Tiezhu kept his mission in mind, shoved me behind him, and then charged into the crowd with his huge fist. A series of bangs rang out. The 14 people were crammed together, and they didn't care about any routines. They just punched and kicked each other, with very little room to dodge. In less than 10 seconds, almost everyone was bleeding.
Seeing that I was bound to suffer sooner or later, I was considering whether to call Zhang Qing and Yang Zhi from the bar to come and save the day when a figure jumped in front of me, holding a watermelon knife, and said with a sinister smile, "Hey Xiao, you think you can run away?" It was Liu Xuan.
As he spoke, his knife came slashing at me. I raised my bag to block. The guy had a smug look on his face; he was probably very confident in the sharpness of his knife, intending to slice my bag in half and then hold it to my neck like an assassin. There was a dull thud; his knife bounced back, leaving a large gash. I grabbed the handles of my bag with both hands, swung it with all my might, and aimed it at Liu Xuan's hand holding the knife. This guy clearly wasn't thinking straight; seeing something that could deflect a knife coming at him, he dared to block with his hand. With a "crack," the knife was smashed away, and his hand twitched. I swung the bag again with renewed vigor, this time hitting his head. Still in pain, Liu Xuan couldn't dodge and took the hit squarely, his body flying backward and landing on the ground. I grabbed the bag and quickly stepped over him, pulling out a bright and well-formed rectangular block from the tattered bag—it was that eternal brick!
So, I, Xiao Qiang, started getting into brawls at 13, just to make up the numbers. At 15, I took matters into my own hands, and at 17, I finally found my perfect weapon—a brick. I became famous for my ruthlessness, yet for not injuring anyone. My skills improved daily, until I reached the point where having no brick was better than having one, a final hurdle I couldn't overcome. People nicknamed me: "With a brick in hand, I need nothing more." Before I turned 24, whether I joined a fight or not, it was a significant bargaining chip. It wasn't until I met Baozi two years ago that I completely faded from the scene.
I raised the brick high and smashed it twice against Liu Xuan's forehead, instantly cracking his skull open. As I smashed it, I cursed, "Now you're the one who stabbed my friend, now you're the one who smashed my pawnshop, now you're the one who was showing off just now..."
Liu Xuan was covered in blood and screaming. I was happily filming when suddenly a sharp pain shot through my back. A kung fu guy kicked me off Liu Xuan's back. It turned out that Li Jingshui and the others could only handle four or five people each. This guy couldn't squeeze in, so he saw me beating Liu Xuan from the outside and came to help.
I stumbled and rolled, dropping the brick I was holding. The burly man chased after me. Liu Xuan struggled to his feet, his vision completely blurred by blood. He hysterically yelled at the man, "Kill him!"
I knew I couldn't beat him with my bare hands. Just then, I bumped into the blind man playing the erhu. I saw a pipa next to him and was about to pick it up and smash it when the old man finished playing a section and casually picked up the pipa and placed it on the other side of his body. I didn't know if he was really blind or just pretending.
I had no choice but to punch the burly man in the face. He smirked, spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, looked at me with a cold smile, and then punched me to the ground. Liu Xuan shouted excitedly, "Kill him!" My hands were flailing on the ground when I suddenly grabbed the megaphone in front of the old blind man. Before I could even get a firm grip, the old man moved the megaphone handle to another spot. I then felt for the leg of the chair he was sitting on; he had his erhu tucked between his legs and was moving the chair away with both hands…
I felt around as he carried things, and I looked up at him in frustration and said, "You have to give me something, right?" He adjusted his sunglasses, picked up his erhu, played a tune of "A Man Should Be Self-reliant," and sat there smiling without saying a word.
I had no choice but to sit half-on the ground and kick the burly man in the stomach. He grabbed my foot, pulled me down, and was about to deliver a brutal blow. Then Li Jingshui shouted, "Kill!" Ignoring the rain of punches, he forcefully grabbed a man's neck. I knew he was going to kill; a slight twist would be fatal. He and Wei Tiezhu were both hardened warriors who had seen countless battles. Before, any encounter between them was a fight to the death. His eye socket was already shattered, and he had endured countless blows. This only fueled his killing intent, making him feel as if he were back on the battlefield amidst the smoke of war…
At this critical moment, a burly man suddenly rushed out and shouted, "Stop fighting! Stop fighting! I know this guy..."
As soon as he spoke, the kung fu men stopped. Li Jingshui released the man she was holding and ran towards me with Wei Tiezhu. Military orders were paramount; although they themselves were seriously injured, failing to protect me was what truly made them feel humiliated.
The burly man who was holding me had already stomped on me several times. He only stopped when someone spoke, but he still wouldn't let go of one of my feet. Then another man, also a burly fellow with a shaved, bluish scalp, came over and freed me. He put his hand on my shoulder and looked me over carefully. One of my eyes was already fogged up, so I squinted at him. I definitely recognized this man, but I couldn't really know him, because I couldn't remember his name or even where I'd met him.
His men also crowded around him, some staggering, and one of them asked, "Brother Tiger, do you know this kid?"