Le roi des pilleurs de tombes

Chapitre 23

8

At noon, the wind blowing in my face was a bit hot.

With two tickets for the best seats in his pocket, Tai felt unusually nervous and wiped his handkerchief until it was completely wet.

I walked into the barbershop as usual, but I couldn't straighten my back as usual.

The proprietress is not here.

Sister Juan is cutting the hair of a little child who keeps dozing off, while Aunt Zhang is watching the news on TV.

Xiao Fen, who wasn't a customer, sweeping, or tidying up the bottles and jars, was sleeping on the table.

As soon as Aunt Zhang, who was sitting in front of the TV, saw Brother Tai walk in, she took the initiative to go to Xiao Fen's side and shake her awake.

Xiao Fen woke up sleepily, with a red arm mark on her forehead.

"..." Xiao Fen rubbed her eyes.

"Um... a haircut," Tai said calmly, but his expression must have been strange.

Covering him with a blanket, without saying a word, Xiao Fen coldly began to wash Tai Ge's hair.

Xiaofen's emotions, which she had concealed through silence, were fully expressed in her fingers.

Without any skill, he scratched wildly like a chicken claw, and bubbles even splashed onto Tai Ge's face.

Just as those little bastards said, this girl is in a bad mood...

"The weather has gotten cooler these past few days," Tai said coolly.

"..." Xiao Fen did not react, but gripped her very tightly.

Talking about the weather doesn't seem like a good idea, does it?

How stupid of me! I knew they were angry, why did I even talk about the weather? Tai thought to himself, feeling annoyed.

"Recently, all my underlings have had their heads shaved by you... Haha, it's hilarious even to myself." Brother Tai chuckled to himself, "A few of them even caught a cold because of it, it's really cracking me up, haha!"

"..." Xiao Fen seemed to be squeezing even harder, and she didn't care that the foam was clearly flowing onto Tai Ge's nose.

I'm dumbfounded!

They shaved their heads because they were angry, what's so funny about that? Tai punched himself inwardly.

"I've been thinking a lot lately," Tai sighed.

"..."

"About some things, things in the future." Tai didn't know why he punctuated it that way.

"..."

Let's find the solution!

Hurry up and solve this problem, Atai!

You're always chasing women, so why can't you handle this one? Why are you trying to act like a Casanova?

“I’m not a very thoughtful person, nor… how should I put it? This…”

"..."

"Some things can't be clearly explained with words, but if nothing is said at all, then nothing will be clear. Sometimes, communication between people does rely too much on words, and the original meaning is lost, so..."

So what? What are you talking about, Artest?!

Just as Tai Ge's face was burning, Xiao Fen suddenly shoved water down his face, quickly ending the scalp massage.

The thought that Xiaofen's unhappiness was all because he hadn't confessed his feelings yet filled Tai with self-reproach. Besides, he had just stammered and said something incomprehensible, making the usually cheerful Xiaofen lose her patience—it was all his fault!

I rinsed it with water, but the foam wasn't completely rinsed off, so I wiped it with a dry cloth.

Xiao Fen's quick and casual actions deepened Tai Ge's sense of guilt.

Her hair was still very wet, so she gave it a quick blow-dry—but it was still a long way from being completely dry. Xiao Fen then picked up the scissors and started haphazardly cutting it. Large clumps of hair fell out, making Tai Ge's inner world even more chaotic.

Xiaofen put down the scissors, picked up the electric clipper, and turned it on.

"!" Tai's body froze.

"..." Xiao Fen silently placed the clippers behind Tai Ge's burning ear.

Tai closed his eyes and tried his best to furrow his brows.

Is he bald too?

"Fine, this is the most basic punishment I deserve." Tai gritted his teeth.

Perhaps seeing that Tai Ge didn't resist, Xiao Fen swiftly and roughly cut off a large clump of Tai Ge's hair with her clippers. Then, one cut after another, the not-so-sharp clippers cut and pulled, not only shaving the hair off the scalp but also creating several clumsy and messy wounds.

Tai didn't move an inch or utter a sound.

Surprisingly, this excruciating pain of having his scalp slowly sliced apart provided Tai with salvation.

The more pain there was, the more guilt seemed to be atoned for, and the more his deeply furrowed brows relaxed.

When Tai saw himself in the mirror, now a bald head covered in blood, his anxiety vanished completely. Instead, Tai's expression returned to that of the ruthless figure he had been a year and seven months ago.

Calm and unhurried.

Even though he's bald, he's still a dashing bald man.

"Xiao Fen, leave work early tomorrow, I'll take you to see baseball."

Tai looked cheerfully at Xiao Fen standing behind him in the mirror.

Xiao Fen, who had been expressionless the whole time, found her hand holding the clippers trembling slightly.

"I bought two of the best tickets for the Times Eagles vs. Wei Chuan Dragons game through connections."

Tai Ge in the mirror stared into Xiao Fen's eyes.

"Go to hell!"

Xiao Fen suddenly screamed.

"It's all your fault! It's all your fault, you bad guys! You big bad guys!" Xiaofen pointed at the door with her clippers and shouted hoarsely, "Get out! I never want to see you again! Don't ever come in again!"

"?" Tai Ge was struck dumb, staring blankly at the out-of-control Xiao Fen.

Sister Juan was stunned, Aunt Zhang was stunned. Even the child getting a haircut was stunned.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Xiaofen burst into tears.

Tears streamed down her face, just as they had every night for the past two weeks.

"Never! Never come back! I'd rather wash hair for the rest of my life than cut hair for you bastards! Being a shampoo girl is better than being a bastard like you! A hundred times, a thousand times better!"

"..." Tai Ge didn't speak, his face remained stern.

I don't know what Xiaofen is angry about, but it's not about him not asking her out.

Xiao Fen continued to vent her anger by yelling and shouting.

Tai walked to the counter, took out five hundred dollars from his bag, placed it on the table, and pushed the door open and left without expression.

The wind chimes jingled.

With his back to Xiao Fen, who had once saved his life, Tai Ge kept his head down and didn't turn around to look at her again.

They went further and further away.

Xiao Fen squatted down, buried her face between her legs, and wailed loudly until she was too weak to stand up on her own.

The small television in the barbershop was still playing the news flash on its own.

"The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) match-fixing case has seen new developments. This afternoon, the Taipei City Investigation Bureau summoned nine Times Hawks players—Wang Guangxi, Liao Minxiong, Zeng Guizhang, Chu Zhiyuan, Li Congfu, Chen Zhixin, Xie Qixun, Huang Junjie, and Qiu Qicheng—for questioning. After further questioning by prosecutors, they were released on bail of NT$50,000. Regarding the details of organized crime involvement in the games, prosecutors are actively collecting evidence of gang members bribing or intimidating players, as well as the middlemen who facilitated the bribery..."

9

No one dared to make fun of Tai Ge's bald head.

Before negotiating with Old Man Quan tonight, Brother Tai gathered every bald man who had desperately offered advice that night on the side of the road. He punched one bald man with his fist, smashing them hard until tears streamed down their faces.

"Bastard! I'll fuck your mother!"

"You! I'll fuck your mother!"

"Stand still! Fuck! Fuck your mother!"

Tai was extremely unhappy, and no one dared to ask a question. They just stood there, heads bowed, waiting to be beaten.

No one will have an easy time tonight.

When they arrived at the seafood restaurant at the agreed time to negotiate with Old Man Quan, everyone there was a bloodied and bruised mess. Having been thoroughly punished by Brother Tai, their expressions were now filled with a fierce resentment.

Each bald man had been instructed beforehand to carry a pistol, but they discreetly tucked it behind their waist for added courage.

Old Man Quan's men were roughly equal in number to Brother Tai's men. They each occupied half of the shop, with the more important figures sitting around the round table and the less important ones standing against the wall.

They'd been talking for an hour, but the atmosphere hadn't been quite right; the food and drinks on the round table had barely been touched.

The atmosphere wasn't tense; rather, it was that Old Man Quan had absolutely no idea what Brother Tai was thinking.

From the very beginning, Tai Ge had a furrowed brow and spoke ambiguously, his deep-seated cunning a far cry from the rumored generous Tai Ge. Old Man Quan, preoccupied with how to take advantage of Tai Ge, grew increasingly grim. What bothered Old Man Quan even more was why Tai Ge had suddenly shaved his head so unkempt and unshaven – was he mentally unstable?

If you don't speak, I'm too lazy to talk to you either. The unnatural silence during the negotiation was intermittent, with only the radio on the iron frame smoothly broadcasting news into the air.

A stalemate cannot last forever.

Tai, who had been absent-minded, suddenly slammed his finger down in the center of the table.

"Are you saying you don't want to talk anymore?" Old Man Quan sneered, and his henchman pretended to take half a step forward.

"Talk! Why won't we talk!" Brother Tai slammed his hand on the table, almost flipping a fried fish over.

Everyone present felt their hearts race instantly.

"Let's see if you want to talk to me or talk to my gun! Let me tell you, I set up Old Wang's skinning shop. If you try to run the same business on the same street, I'll decorate it with bullets on opening day."

"You're being unreasonable." Old Man Quan's face turned ashen.

"Damn it! You're a gangster, I'm a gangster! Who's going to reason with you! If you want to reason, go call the police!" Tai Ge got more and more agitated as he spoke, spitting all over Old Man Quan's face: "Today I'm pointing a gun at you! If you think you have more guns than me, then keep your shop open! I'll shoot you! You can shoot back! Let's see who has more bullets left in a week! Damn it! I'll fuck your mother!"

"Are you kidding me? You're going to fight over a mere skinning shop?!"

"So what if it's just a shop! You scratched my car and won't pay me back, I'll still kill your whole family!"