Yang Gang was the final trump card in Xing Wu’s hand. His whereabouts had been under Boss Jiang’s control since yesterday. Under normal circumstances, after Big Cao and his people were caught, Boss Jiang would have played this card to expose their den. However, Shu Han ultimately convinced Boss Jiang to bring Yang Gang directly to the competition venue. Yang Gang identified Big Cao’s people carrying air guns on the spot, while the steel ball in Qing Ye’s possession—given to her by Xing Wu—became solid evidence. The nature of the incident immediately escalated.
This became the largest mass gathering in An Zi County’s history, lasting over two hours. The situation finally progressed rapidly after leaders received news and personally intervened.
Everyone involved in this incident was caught—not a single person escaped. They were all taken to the station for case processing.
When Big Cao was being led out of the stadium in handcuffs, Xing Wu was just being carried into an ambulance on a stretcher. He slowly turned his head; the dazzling sunlight pierced through thick clouds, casting light on his heroic profile. A ghostly smile finally appeared on his lips, the dried blood like a victory mark viciously stabbing at Big Cao.
Only at that moment did Big Cao suddenly realize everything. He roared and rushed out from the crowd toward the ambulance, but its doors had already closed. Big Cao was quickly restrained again. That was the final eye contact between Xing Wu and Big Cao.
Some people are reborn through perseverance; others perish in their outbursts.
Before Xing Wu was loaded into the ambulance, Qing Ye couldn’t get a final look at him. Not just her—Fang Lei, Ye Ying Jian, and the other students were all taken to the station for questioning.
So when she left with the crowd, she only gazed distantly at Shu Han standing by the street. Shu Han appeared just as she had when Qing Ye first met her—her cold beauty still couldn’t hide the world-weary look in her eyes from experiencing life’s vicissitudes. Yet when she turned to look at Qing Ye, there was a complex light in her eyes. Neither showed any extra expression; they just exchanged a glance before heading down different paths.
Thanks to the timely blockade of the south and north gates, Big Cao’s people failed to transfer the guns. Soon after arriving at the station, under Yang Gang’s identification, they found the person who had shot at Xing Wu’s knee during the shot put event.
Further investigation revealed the gun came from Dark Hall. Following this lead uncovered Dark Hall’s illegal gun manufacturing case, successfully seizing a batch of illegally stored firearms. The situation grew increasingly serious.
To avoid punishment, Yang Gang directly informed Big Cao, revealing many secrets, including how Big Cao had ordered him to burn down Xing Wu’s house the day before Chinese New Year’s Eve.
Investigation of the participants who deliberately committed fouls during the competition revealed that they had all received red envelope transfers from Big Cao in the week before the competition. All chat records were uncovered, pointing directly to Big Cao.
The case became increasingly complex. Big Cao and Dark Hall’s people were directly detained. To smooth things over, Old Si Shen reached out to Director Ye from the target factory. In principle, given their years of friendship, Director Ye should have stepped in to help handle things, preventing the situation from taking a severe turn. However, this case was special—his only precious son had been involved.
Moreover, he had been beaten by Old Si Shen’s people just over two months before the college entrance examination. After Director Ye’s brother-in-law Director Jia intervened, Director Ye became furious and ignored Old Si Shen, directly cutting off Dark Hall’s escape route.
This development was unexpected even for Boss Jiang, who had been wondering how to work around Director Ye’s relationship. Now things have become much simpler.
Liu Nian, as the source of the egg distribution, was also called in for questioning. However, with his seemingly dim-witted appearance, no matter how the police questioned him, his answer remained the same: it was a promotional activity for the food factory’s opening. There was evidence of eggs on site, and the only message in the group was “Eggs can be collected at the county stadium.” Indeed, it didn’t specify eggs could be collected “inside” the stadium. Old Xie’s van was truly parked outside the stadium, and the elderly who left the stadium that day received eggs and happily went home. So these mysteriously appearing elderly people weren’t investigated further.
Hua Bi, Huang Mao, Lang Dai, and others all suffered varying degrees of injury. They were among the first group involved in the conflict, but because Xing Wu hadn’t raised a hand throughout the entire competition, with school teachers being injured students spontaneously protecting their teachers, and school leaders stepping forward to argue reasonably, they were all released that day.
As for Fang Lei’s side, everything was clearly explained. Hearing that their school’s teachers and students had been beaten, they were naturally outraged. Moreover, since these students were all top performers in An Zhong’s third year, parents gathered at the station’s entrance, demanding to know why students and teachers participating in county sports events were beaten, and requiring the county to explain. Therefore, all injured students were transferred to the county hospital, while those uninjured were released.
Regarding why Jin Zhong’s people, who had no connection to this event, appeared at the competition venue, they didn’t explain anything. Director Ye personally came to take away Ye Ying Jian along with the Jin Zhong students. Jin Zhong’s people didn’t even get to drink water; they were the first group to be released.
In short, the station was chaotic that day. There was an old man claiming his leg was kicked by some young fellow, demanding compensation; an old lady saying she lost her house key and couldn’t return home; and an old uncle who started playing his portable radio, filling the police station with “Love the mountains more than the beauty, which hero would rather be lonely, good men are full of courage, ambitions spread far across four seas…”
The group of uncles waiting got bored and started singing along, making the scene extremely chaotic.
What could have been kept behind closed doors became unprecedentedly influential due to the involvement of many social groups. Many people recorded videos on their phones; it couldn’t be covered up. That evening, superiors came demanding a thorough investigation.
Long after this incident, when people asked about the reason for the mass gathering on March 26, there were many versions of rumors. Some said it was due to conflicts over competition rules among county high school students. However, since the high school students present were all top students from various schools, others said it was because third-year students were under pressure and held a protest at the stadium. Some said underground forces caused trouble during the county sports meet, while a large portion of people said the gathering was due to a promotional activity giving away eggs at the stadium.
There were various theories, becoming more and more outlandish as they spread. However, undeniably, many participants in the county that day witnessed how an underground force that had dominated An Zi County for years was finally overthrown by the people and completely fell apart.
Qing Ye wasn’t allowed to leave until sunset, and during those hours, she was anxiously asking when her turn would come, when she could leave, her eyes bloodshot with worry.
Hua Bi and Huang Mao were injured and went to the hospital. Da Hei and Qing Ye left around the same time, and as soon as they left the station, Da Hei hailed a car straight to the hospital.
Just out of the elevator, they saw Li Lan Fang crying desperately, pulling at the doctor and wailing about saving her son’s life. There were people everywhere, countless unfamiliar faces swirling in Qing Ye’s pupils.
A breath caught in her chest and wouldn’t rise. She suddenly leaned against the wall, dizzy, the scene before her swaying and becoming increasingly blurry.
All that remained in her mind were Da Hei’s words from their journey there.
“At the internet café that time, Big Cao told Wu Zi that if he didn’t come to the county sports meet, he would make Wu Zi wish he were dead.”
When Big Cao said those words, he was looking right at Qing Ye. At that time, Qing Ye didn’t understand why they suddenly looked at her, but she remembered after leaving the internet café, Xing Wu said, “Misfortune shouldn’t extend to family members, but unfortunately, he doesn’t understand this principle.”
Perhaps Big Cao hadn’t looked at Qing Ye—even if Xing Wu went to the county sports meet if there was going to be a fight, Xing Wu would see it through to the end. But Big Cao had touched upon the one thing he shouldn’t have, so from the moment they left the internet café, Xing Wu had already decided that the final purpose of this competition wasn’t about winning or losing, but life and death.
He was trading his life with the devil, but for them, not yet twenty years old, seeking light from this bottom-level life, risking themselves and entering the tiger’s den was their only bargaining chip.
Da Hei ran over to inquire about the situation, and Qing Ye’s vision gradually became clear again, but she couldn’t hear those noisy sounds. Crying, and arguments all turned into silent chaos. Her gaze was fixed firmly on the corridor. She saw many people—Huang Mao, Lang Dai, Pang Hu, and many others she knew and didn’t know, all standing in the corridor, even two of Boss Jiang’s subordinates. Qing Ye stumbled along the wall almost crawling to them.
She was suddenly very afraid. She was afraid they would tell her the news she least wanted to hear. She just stood there, eyes bloodshot and flickering, looking at them, unprecedentedly disheveled. Pang Hu looked at her several times, wanting to speak but stopping himself, finally Huang Mao, avoiding her gaze, said to her, “Go in and take a look.”
Those words seemed to instantly dash all hope to hell. In the second Qing Ye turned around, her hand was trembling badly. She opened the door handle to the ward; the room was very dark, with an overwhelming smell of medicine creating endless oppression. She walked toward the hospital bed covering her chest but suddenly discovered there was no one on the bed.
Qing Ye froze in place, just about to turn around when she was suddenly embraced from behind. She unexpectedly fell into a familiar embrace. In that instant, Qing Ye trembled even more violently. She quickly turned around, seeing those familiar eyes smiling at her in the dim light.
She was momentarily dumbfounded and stepped back: “You…”
Then looked him up and down: “You…”
Xing Wu, seeing her already at a loss for words, raised his hand to hold the back of her head and pressed her into his embrace, saying with burning breath: “Not dead yet.”
Qing Ye’s tears instantly collapsed as she hugged Xing Wu tightly and cried out loud: “Why did you scare me?”
Xing Wu hissed in pain, and Qing Ye’s body stiffened as she quickly let go of him, moving around to his back. When she lifted his clothes, she saw a wound that had been treated but was extraordinarily obvious.
She anxiously asked: “What happened? What are they doing outside?” Xing Wu pulled her to the bedside, and Qing Ye discovered he could walk. She remembered his knee had been viciously attacked several times—how could he still walk?
Xing Wu’s hands were also wrapped in bandages, but he still raised his hand to wipe away the tears on Qing Ye’s cheeks and told her: “This afternoon, Dark Hall people already came to the hospital trying to inquire about my condition. Right now, my injuries play a crucial role in this case, so I might need to pretend for a few days. Once Boss Jiang’s side finishes their operations, everything will be settled.”
Even though Xing Wu was now lying in front of her, looking at her, talking to her, Qing Ye’s emotions still couldn’t calm down for a long time. With tears in her eyes, she said: “So what about your promise to come back and have lunch with me?”
Xing Wu just held her hand and pulled up the corners of his mouth helplessly.
Qing Ye cried more fiercely, pulling her hand away and saying with a trembling voice, “If we hadn’t shown up, if Da Hei and others hadn’t gone, you were planning to bear it all alone?”
Xing Wu said in a low voice, “They wouldn’t kill me. As long as the result is the same, the process doesn’t matter.”
“The process is you gambling with your own life! What if you don’t die but end up disabled?”
Xing Wu grabbed her hand again, half-jokingly saying, “If I’m disabled, you can find someone else.”
Qing Ye was so angry she raised her hand to hit him, but as her hand was about to fall, she really couldn’t find a spot that wasn’t injured. She stopped mid-air in front of him, and Xing Wu caught her hand again: “I told you before, how can you catch the tiger without entering its den? There’s always a price to pay.”
Qing Ye’s tears fell drop by drop: “Can’t write essays well, but you’re so good at smooth talk. What about your knee?”
The blood stains on Xing Wu’s face had been cleaned, though his head was still wrapped in bandages. He looked extremely battered, but his spirit wasn’t as weak as before. Instead, his eyes were dark and bright. He took something from the drawer and threw it to Qing Ye. When she looked at it, it was a pair of knee guards. The fabric covering the knee guards was damaged, revealing steel plates inside. She looked up at Xing Wu in shock: “So you were pretending on the field?”
Xing Wu lay on the bed, half-smiling as he patted his knee: “Wasn’t pretending, it hurt. The steel plates were jabbing my legs.”
“…”
Qing Ye threw the knee guards on the bed, crying and laughing simultaneously, angry yet amused. All the emotional ups and downs of the day converged at this moment. She felt she must look quite bipolar right now.
Xing Wu grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his embrace, saying to her, “After my injuries heal and the college entrance exam is over, shall we go traveling? I’ve never been to the seaside. Is the ocean beautiful?”
His back injury was severe and he couldn’t lie flat, only on his side. Qing Ye curled up in his arms, afraid to move, and said chokingly, “We’ll know when we get there.”
Her hand accidentally touched Xing Wu’s forehead, and she realized it was frighteningly hot. Qing Ye’s pupils trembled. She secretly looked at Xing Wu and found his eyes were already closed. She hurriedly got up from his embrace, making an excuse about washing her face.
She ran into a nurse coming to give him an IV drip, and only then did she learn that Xing Wu wasn’t as spirited as he appeared. His head CT showed concussion and subdural hematoma.
His strength had reached its limit; he had only forced himself to get up from the bed when he heard Qing Ye’s voice. She couldn’t imagine how much pain and discomfort he was enduring while trying to comfort her.
She ran to the hospital roof and had a good cry, then wiped her tears and returned to the ward, telling Li Lan Fang to go home and rest while she stayed to care for Xing Wu. By then, Xing Wu had fallen asleep with a high fever, and Qing Ye hadn’t eaten or drunk anything all day. Pang Hu and others bought her bread and water before leaving, but she could only manage two bites before being unable to swallow more.
For three whole days, Xing Wu drifted between consciousness and unconsciousness. When he was awake, he kept urging Qing Ye to go back to class. When she got frustrated, she directly replied, “If you keep trying to make me leave, I won’t take care of you anymore.”
He would just stare at her and smile without speaking. Some people are like that—cold and unapproachable when not smiling, but when they smile, it’s like the sky clearing and earth reviving. Xing Wu’s smile had that kind of magic for Qing Ye. She didn’t know when she had started finding his smile so irresistible.
Three days later, Xing Wu was out of danger and improving. He even secretly peeled a bowl of oranges for her while she was sleeping. Sometimes Qing Ye admired his iron-like recovery ability.
At night, she would curl up beside him, staying completely still all night, afraid of touching his wounds. Fortunately, Grandmother was in the same hospital, so when Xing Wu was hospitalized, Li Lan Fang could also look after Grandmother.
During these days, many people came to visit Xing Wu—classmates, teachers, his brothers, and Boss Jiang who came for a short while one afternoon. Although Qing Ye poured water for Boss Jiang, she remained cold throughout.
Boss Jiang said to Xing Wu: “From now on, there won’t be any middlemen making a profit between me and the target factory. Nowadays in this business, who talks about fighting and killing? It’s all about money. You’ve made quite a name for yourself this time—everyone outside is saying Young Master Wu has guts, single-handedly overthrowing the entire Dark Hall. Big brother here has paved the way for you.”
Xing Wu lowered his eyes expressionlessly, while Qing Ye turned away, not wanting to see Boss Jiang’s face anymore. Typical businessman, acting so righteous about his selfish interests and benefits—people who didn’t know better might even think it was somewhat noble.
If he cared about Xing Wu, he wouldn’t have nearly cost him his life. If she hadn’t gone to find Shu Han, Boss Jiang wouldn’t have sent anyone at all. He was just reaping the benefits afterward.
Boss Jiang didn’t stay long, but before leaving, he left a meaningful comment: “Zha Zha Pavilion area is being replanned. I’m currently negotiating cooperation with someone. That area’s influence will be mine in the future, and of course, it could be yours too if you want.”
After speaking, he took out a thick envelope from his small bag, placed it on the bedside table, and left with his subordinates.
Qing Ye looked up at Xing Wu, who was silently playing with his lighter, when he suddenly asked, “How long has it been since I smoked?”
“You haven’t smoked since you were hospitalized.”
Xing Wu flicked his wrist and tossed the lighter, which landed steadily in the trash can. The plastic bin swayed, and he suddenly said, “Should I quit?”
Qing Ye turned around and looked at him in surprise. Xing Wu glanced at the envelope on the bedside table: “Qing Ye, help me return this money to Boss Jiang.”
Qing Ye didn’t ask why, just took the envelope and ran after him, chasing all the way downstairs, calling out to Boss Jiang just as he was about to get in his car.
He turned around, and Qing Ye ran up to him, handing him the envelope: “Xing Wu asked me to return this to you.”
Boss Jiang lowered his eyes to look at the envelope, suddenly smirking, and waved to his subordinate, who took the item from Qing Ye’s hand.
She stepped back and looked at Boss Jiang, saying: “A teacup without tea, no matter how priceless, is just an empty cup. Goodbye.”
Qing Ye turned and strode away after speaking, while Boss Jiang slightly raised his eyebrows watching her spirited figure.
Sitting in the car, he pondered her words repeatedly, slowly saying, “Was that girl cursing me or…”
“Or what?” his subordinate turned back.
Boss Jiang looked at the dilapidated streets passing by outside the window—a three-wheeled electric cart loaded with garlic and onions hawking its wares, occasionally several dirty street dogs running wild, crooked utility poles, mailboxes with half-peeled green paint, and messy clotheslines crisscrossing outside cement houses in the distance.
He smiled and shook his head: “Wu Zi will never be mine to use.”