Chapter 281: Overbearing and Domineering

Chapter 281: Overbearing and Domineering

Li Ruobing knew something was wrong.

Zhuang Xiaodie had called her earlier, not long after Wu Chen got out of the car and walked into the alley alone. Zhuang Xiaodie had caught pieces of what was happening: a woman shouting, “Help! Please save my boyfriend!” Voices yelling “Mind your own business!” and “Get him!” And a steady run of curses.

From those shouts she had worked out that Wu Chen had stepped in to help someone, that the other side had a great many men, and that a fight had broken out. The screams that followed had genuinely frightened her.

Wu Chen had told her to stay in the car.

She knew getting out would only make things harder and help nothing.

So she stayed obediently where she was.

But she was terrified all the same. She was afraid something might happen to Wu Chen. She had no one else. She knew no one in Donghai. So she called Li Ruobing for help.

Li Ruobing’s reaction surprised her.

After hearing that Wu Chen had gone to help someone and ended up in a fight, Li Ruobing’s response amounted to: Oh. It’s fine.

Zhuang Xiaodie sounded so frightened and unsettled that Li Ruobing even spent a few moments calming her down.

Li Ruobing knew exactly how absurdly capable Wu Chen was in a fight. The man was barely human. Unless someone had laid a trap specifically for him, there was nothing to worry about.

A chance encounter where he stepped in to help a stranger obviously was not a trap aimed at Wu Chen.

So Li Ruobing was not worried in the least.

She reassured Zhuang Xiaodie, told her everything was fine and not to worry, said a few more words, and hung up.

That had been Zhuang Xiaodie’s first call with Li Ruobing while sitting in the car.

This time Li Ruobing had called her. Their second.

Li Ruobing had assumed that stepping in to help someone and beating up a crowd of foulmouthed small-timers would be over by now. It was almost half past ten at night. She had only meant to ask whether it was finished and when they would be home.

Instead Zhuang Xiaodie said it was not over—and that another large group had shown up.

Had it blown up?

“What kind of people came? Did they drive? How many?” Li Ruobing asked, thinking it through.

“They came in… Mercedeses and things like that. All luxury cars. More than a dozen people… There’s a middle-aged man who looks like some kind of boss. He’s using a cane, limping. I think Mr. Wu knows him. The second he got out he started shouting about a misunderstanding. It looks like he’s trying to explain something to Mr. Wu…” Zhuang Xiaodie said, watching through the window.

“That’s Crooked Zhao.” Li Ruobing relaxed at once. “Then it’s fine. They’re all famil—”

“Ah!” Zhuang Xiaodie cried out in alarm.

“What happened?” Li Ruobing asked.

“Mr. Wu kicked that Crooked-whatever man down… Oh no, oh no, they’ve pulled guns! Those are guns—” Zhuang Xiaodie was genuinely terrified.

Li Ruobing started too.

Wu Chen had kicked Crooked Zhao down?

And his men had drawn guns?

She could hear Zhuang Xiaodie’s breathing come fast and ragged.

“And then?” she asked quickly.

“It’s… it’s all right now. That Crooked man… he cursed at them and told them to put the guns away…”

Li Ruobing let out a breath. After a moment’s thought she said, “Send me your location…”

She was going over to see for herself.

At that moment she was not worried about Wu Chen. Nothing could happen to him, because the other side was Crooked Zhao.

But she had never expected Wu Chen to simply kick the man. It was too unexpected. It even ran against Wu Chen’s character.

Wu Chen did not hit people who came to him smiling. Unless someone attacked him first, he handled things with extraordinary calm. Borrowing another man’s strength, applying pressure to the mind—those were his methods. He rarely reached for violence first.

Crooked Zhao had arrived after the fact. He clearly had not taken part in the original incident; he was only connected to it.

And the instant he got out of the car he had called it a misunderstanding and tried to explain, and Wu Chen had kicked him down anyway.

Something was very wrong.

Li Ruobing did not know exactly what had happened, but she could tell this had turned serious.

Not because she thought Crooked Zhao would do anything. He would not dare.

What Li Ruobing was thinking about was Wu Chen and her younger brother, Li Ruotai.

Even when you beat a dog, you look at its master.

And Crooked Zhao was not Li Ruotai’s subordinate in the ordinary sense. Before Li Ruotai ever came to Donghai, Crooked Zhao had already been one of the city’s underworld bosses.

If a man like that truly offended Wu Chen so badly that an apology could not settle it, then Li Ruotai would naturally deal with it once he knew.

If Li Ruotai hit Crooked Zhao, punished him however he pleased, that would be no problem at all.

Wu Chen hitting him was different. The nature of the thing changed.

There were two key points.

First, Crooked Zhao had not taken part. He personally had not provoked Wu Chen.

Second, Li Ruotai’s relationship with Donghai’s underworld was complicated.

Li Ruotai had operated in Donghai for years. That he had brought the people of the underworld so thoroughly to heel was not simply a matter of family power. It depended on his methods and his ability—how he treated the men under him, how he held their loyalty. A great deal was bound up in it.

If Wu Chen hit Crooked Zhao today, the whole of Donghai’s underworld would be buzzing by tomorrow. And however Li Ruotai handled it, the situation would be awkward.

If he sided with Wu Chen, there was no telling what rumors would run through the underworld, or whether he could hold the same loyalty afterward.

If he sided with Crooked Zhao—he could not possibly side with Crooked Zhao. Whatever he thought privately, in public he would certainly stand with family.

Li Ruobing was not worried about anything else. What she feared was that this might open a rift between her man, Wu Chen, and her own younger brother, Li Ruotai.

What was she supposed to do?

Li Ruobing decided she had to go herself and find out what was happening.

—

“Mr. Wu, it’s a misunderstanding… It really is a case of the flood washing into the Dragon King’s own temple. Look at the mess this has become. I…” Crooked Zhao came hurrying over on his cane, limping off the main road toward Wu Chen.

His face was full of apology, his posture extremely deferential.

Wu Chen glanced at him and suddenly lifted a leg.

Thud!

Too fast.

Crooked Zhao’s legs were bad to begin with, and he had no time to react. Wu Chen’s kick landed square in his stomach. His body snapped backward, he staggered, and he crashed down at the roadside, the cane flying out of his hand.

“Boss!”

“Boss!”

Several men cried out. The ones who had come with Crooked Zhao were naturally his trusted confidants and his best fighters. They were stunned. It had happened so suddenly they could scarcely believe it.

After those shouts two of Crooked Zhao’s closest men actually pulled guns out from under their clothes.

There was no way they could stand and watch their boss get struck.

In Donghai, apart from Li Ruotai, if anyone else dared suddenly attack their boss in front of them, they would fight back.

And if Crooked Zhao ever fell out with Li Ruotai, they would still follow Crooked Zhao. They had been with him too many years. They made their living under him. Crooked Zhao was their boss.

Crooked Zhao himself lay there looking stunned and disbelieving.

He had never really dealt with Wu Chen face to face before, so he had not known. Was Young Master Li’s brother-in-law really this overbearing and domineering?

One of the lowest men under him had offended Wu Chen, and he had rushed over to apologize and explain—and Wu Chen had simply kicked him down.

In that instant Crooked Zhao was furious. He did not show it. When he saw his men reaching for guns he turned his head at once and swore. “What the fuck are you doing? Fuck! Put those away!”

As Crooked Zhao shouted, Wu Chen took two steps toward him.

Their boss had told them not to interfere. Crooked Zhao’s men stood there conflicted and confused, glancing at one another, at a loss. Were they really supposed to watch Wu Chen beat him?

Crooked Zhao braced a hand on the ground and pushed himself partway up. He was disabled to begin with, and now his clothes were covered in dust and footprints. He looked, in fact, rather pitiful.

Wu Chen walked over and crouched in front of him.

“Mr. Wu, it… it really is a misunderstanding…” Crooked Zhao forced out a smile and tried again. Furious inside, his posture stayed low.

He had already made up his mind. Unless Wu Chen meant to kill him today, he would take the beating. Whatever came after could be dealt with after.

Once Wu Chen was crouched down he moved again, rough about it. First he smacked the side of Crooked Zhao’s head. Then he hooked an arm around it and pulled him closer, leaning slightly forward so their heads crossed, as though he were about to deliver some warning.

The street was full of noise. Even horns from far off carried over.

Wu Chen lowered his voice and spoke into Crooked Zhao’s ear.

No one around them could make out a word.

All they could see was Crooked Zhao’s expression changing, and changing again.