Lawless Gangster - Chapter 16

Chapter 16ixteen

In the taxi, Xiao Li sat in the back seat, trembling. Looking at him like this, Qi Xiu Yuan couldn’t help but to feel pained, so he held him in his embrace.

The taxi driver was still stuck in the shocking emotion that he felt, when just a moment ago, a young man wearing only underpants had jumped in front of his car and stopped him. At that time, his complexion was rather unsightly. As he shot another glance toward the back seats from the corner of his eyes, his complexion became even more unsightly.

Once he saw Xiao Li’s tinted lips opened and closed slowly, Qi Xiu Yuan moved in closer to him. It was then that he heard him strenuously spoke out a few words.

Probably afraid that Qi Xiu Yuan did not understand what he was saying, Xiao Li’s eyes were packed with a kind of anxiety that could not be neglected. Then, he tried his best to open his mouth again as if there was something else he wanted to say.

The look in his eyes told Qi Xiu Yuan everything.

“Don’t worry,” said Qi Xiu Yuan as he stretched his hand out and gently covered Xiao Li’s mouth, “I’ll try my best not to make any mistakes.”

He pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number. In just a few seconds, the call went through.

“Who’s this?” The voice sounded rather lazy.

Just hearing the sound, it’s clear that it was Han Jia.

“Han laoban, Xiao Li and I are together,” said Qi Xiu Yuan briefly, “He was ambushed and got injured. Right now, he’s unable to personally talk to you. We are heading out to the Third Hospital now. If you know anyone there, please inform them for a second.”

“Who are you?” Once he heard those words, Han Jia’s voice immediately became sober.

“Someone that Xiao Li helped before.”

Qi Xiu Yuan wanted to hang up the phone but Xiao Li continued to stare at him with anxious eyes. Understanding the meaning behind that look, Qi Xiu Yuan let out a sigh and continued on to say, “He was ambushed at the back alley of the Arc de Triomphe and his car is still parked there. You should send some men there to check it out.”

Not even bothering to wait for Han Jia to reply back, Qi Xiu Yuan hung up the call.

When he looked at Xiao Li again, he could see that his mood had clearly become a lot calmer.

Xiao Li was in his embrace, with eyes hung low in relieve. Delicate beads of sweat from his forehead slipped down his smooth and youthful face before rolling past his brows and finally moistening his eyelashes. It appears to have a kind of gentleness to it as it slightly fluttered against the sweat that gathered near his eyes.

Qi Xiu Yuan promptly shifted his eyes elsewhere as not to look as though he was staring all too relentlessly; and with such softness welling in his eyes.

What kind of joke is this?

He was only wearing underpants. If he were to get out, some things are fundamentally impossible to hide.

Once the driver heard the content of his phone call, he didn’t even dare to glance out of the corner of his eyes toward the back seat anymore. During the entire journey, his foot pressed hard on the gas pedal and just like a flash of lightning, they arrived at the Third Hospital.

As expectedly, Han Jia had informed someone he knew there already. And just as Qi Xiu Yuan helped Xiao Li get up and out of the car. Some people lifted and brought a stretcher over. Believing that the injuries were caused by a violence gang fight, the surgery was led by a senior middle-age surgeon.

Who had known that Xiao Li was actually poisoned.

Blood tests were arranged, and even experts in toxicology were notified. More surprising, someone had taken the time to hand Qi Xiu Yuan a white garment.

There was a group of people busily moving about all the way directly to the special care unit, but there were no confusion or disorder.

It was impossible for Qi Xiu Yuan to help out, so he could only ‘patiently’ wait outside. To his surprise, after just waiting for only a minute, that senior surgeon came out to look for him.

“The person inside said several times, ‘make him leave,’ does he mean you?” asked the surgeon.

Qi Xiu Yuan was stunned for a moment, then he nodded his head. He turned around with the thought of leaving, but after thinking about it again, he pushed the door open and entered the room instead.

Xiao Li had already been moved onto the sickbed. Beside him were two people busily handling various medical instruments that he had never seen before. Beneath the lighting hung above Xiao Li, Qi Xiu Yuan could see even more clear the bloodstains on the shirt that he had given Xiao Li to wear earlier. A doctor came over, and with a medical scissor, he snipped the shirt open, only to find that there were many sharp gashes on Xiao Li’s body.

Qi Xiu Yuan did not have the heart to look at those wounds as he walked toward the bed and stoop down close to Xiao Li.

“Are you thinking that in a moment your subordinates will come, and you don’t want me to get involved in all this?”

It seemed as though Xiao Li had no way of speaking so he could only quietly look attentively at him as he lay beneath the steady light.

However, Qi Xiu Yuan felt that he himself have already received his answer.

So, he said softly in a low voice: “I understand. I……I will come and see you again tomorrow.”

Once he finished, he faced Xiao Li and gave him a warm smile before he turned and left the hospital sick ward.

By the time he returned home, it was already very early in the morning. Unexpectedly, Susu was still in the living room waiting for him. Moreover, it seems as though she had waited for a long time before she fell asleep.

Qi Xiu Yuan then remembered that earlier Xiao Yang looked for him in regards to the ‘marriage proposal’. Susu was most definitely restless from not knowing what her older brother’s response was, so she stubbornly stayed here waiting for him.

He let out a sigh and sat down on the sofa, then caressed his sister’s hair. He couldn’t help but to be deeply worried and sick at heart as well.

Now, in the looming silence, he was finally in the frame of mind to think over everything that he had just experienced. The more he thought about it, the more fear crawled into his heart.

If he didn’t see that Lincoln car; if Xiao Li was overtaken by those people, what would have happened? Although in his mind, he had known early on that Xiao Li is a gang member, it was only after having experienced the fear of being hunted by that gang, did he himself fully understand what this kind of identity signify.

The violence, blood, and cruelty made Qi Xiu Yuan naturally disgusted. However, even until now, to him this person Xiao Li has a peculiar charm. For a time, he struggled between this disgust and the inner longing he had for Xiao Li. Even more so, he had thought that he could finally mentally prepared himself well enough.

But it was only just a moment ago did he truly came to realize that, Xiao Li was not at all reeking of blood and violence, but rather, he lives in a world painted with blood and violence; so in turn, even he himself was surrounded by the blood and violence.

A second later, those words suddenly no longer seem so distant; no longer seem to be just an idea, but rather it transformed and took existence in this reality.

It transformed into a hasty escape that did not give Xiao Li the time to put on his clothes; it transformed into fragments of glass that clung to Xiao Li’s body, leaving behinds countless gashes; it transformed into the trembles that broke out within Xiao Li’s body and refused to leave as his face turned a deathly pale, giving way for beads of sweat to roll down; it transformed into those mysterious pursuers whose faces blurred into the darkness of the night as they come and go in silent……

Qi Xiu Yuan couldn’t sit still any longer, he got up and walked to the balcony, then he walked back to the living room again. He went back and forth like this for quite a few times, unable to keep his heart calm.

These matters that forces one to walk between the line of life and death, does that person often encounters it? Being accustomed to the darkness of life, how can you truly belong to yourself?  

—–

“Li ge, Li ge, quick wake up……” someone called at the side of his ear.

Xiao Li’s brows knitted tightly to each other. His mind was still fuzzy as he tried to collect them. But even then, he only felt the dizziness, extreme fatigue and didn’t want to give his eyes the right to open.

“Xiao Li, Xiao Li.” It was a different person’s voice.

“Let me do it,” said the second person again. Then immediately after something cold covered and wipe his face a bit at a time.

Xiao Li quivered and his eyes suddenly shot open.

A middle age man around forty, or slightly more, years of age, wearing a glasses was sitting beside his sickbed, using a wet and cold towel to wipe his face.

When the man saw Xiao Li opened his eyes, he moved the towel to the side and let out a long sigh.

“The doctor said you were awake, but won’t wake up no matter what. I was really worried.”

Xiao Li shifted his shoulder. Now that he was already able to move it normally, he immediately sat up. He respectfully lowered his head and said: “Qing Ye.” ^[1]

With a warm tone of voice, Li Shi Qing said: “It’s good that nothing happened to you. The situation from yesterday, tell me about it.”

Xiao Li looked outside the window at the night light that has yet to exist. From that, he knew right away that Li Shi Qing had come to see him that on the same night. In his heart, he understood that this matter has become serious.

As he averted his gaze back, he became bewildered when he saw Lin Zi standing behind Li Shi Qing with red eyes. Soon after, he spoke about the situation that had occurred yesterday in details.

Li Shi Qing was silent for a moment before he asked: “What do you think?”

Xiao Li answered: “I heard those women mentioned Wu Tou Gui and Lao Bing Gui. ^[2] It’s possible that they came to avenge them.”

“Are you saying Lao Dong? He still has the strength to avenge his subordinates?” asked Li Shi Qing.

“Those two women weren’t just any ordinary novices, they were experts. If they were from this territory, it would be impossible for me to not know of them. I’m afraid he has found someone influential to support him,” imparted Xiao Li.

Li Shi Qing did not say anything else afterwards, he just simply nodded his head. After a while, he went on to say: “Then you should rest well. Take as many days as needed to fully recuperate.”

Once he finished saying that, his hand stretched out and touched the scar on Xiao Li’s cheek, before saying again: “Only when you preserve your life, would you be able to repay me.”

Xiao Li lowered his head and avoided his finger, “Yes, I will Qing Ye.”

Li Shi Qing gave him another glance before he got up and left with two or three other men.

Lin Zi sent them off to the door, then slowly walked back.

“What’s happened?” Xiao Li immediately asked, “Where’s Hong Tou?” ^[3]

With casted eyes, Lin Zi looked squarely ahead and wiped his eyes, his voice holding a sobbing tone to it: “Li ge, Hong Tou is dead.”

Xiao Li’s lips tightly pursed as he gritted his teeth in anger and asked: “What happened?”

In between sobs, Lin Zi tried his best to talk: “When Han laoban called yesterday, I remembered that Hong Tou went with you to the Arc de Triomphe, but no matter how many times I called, he didn’t pick up. I was afraid something happened so I took some men and went to look for him. We found him inside a bathroom, on the second floor of the Arc de Triomphe. His……someone had slit his throat. He was lying in……waste. His body was completely ice cold……he was still clutching a gun……”

Pain crawled into Xiao Li’s heart as he turned over, got off the bed and took a few steps. Then he turned his head and said: “Lao Wang, he……”

Lin Zi said: “He’s not dead. Someone stabbed him twice while he was sitting in the driver’s seat. One stab struck him in the neck, even if he were to live……and then there’s those two women that Qing Ye sent over. They were stopped and swapped on their way to the Arc de Triomphe. They were beaten until they lost conscious and thrown into a car on the roadside. There was a hose stuffed inside the exhaust pipe causing fumes to backlash into the car, luckily there was a small crack in the car, otherwise they would have died from carbon monoxide poisoning ……Li ge, the people in that gang are so malicious, even Lao Dong is not as malicious as they are……”

Xiao Li was silent for a while. Only until Lin Zi’s sobs slowly faded away did he asked in a low voice: “When is the funeral?”

“In three days.”

“As his brothers, we need to send him off in a brilliant manner.”

“Yes, Li ge.”

“……doesn’t he also have a grandfather?”

“Last year, he passed away. Hong Tou had asked for leave then.”

Xiao Li nodded his head, “You can go and prepare for it first.”

Lin Zi simply agreed and left the sickroom.

Xiao Lu stood in the same spot for a long time.

As he stared into the darkness of the night, the sky slowly brightened up and gradually a burst of sunlight shone on his face.

But.

In his eyes, only the dark abyss existed.