The punch had landed heavily.

Even though the person had left ten minutes ago, Han Sha’s face still burned with pain, and there was a metallic taste of rust in his mouth. He didn’t want to think about whether that area would swell up later. He just silently took out cigarettes from his pocket under the streetlight and lit one.

Just like doing business – earn too much money, and trouble would come knocking at your door, impossible to avoid.

Han Sha took a drag, unsurprised to find a ring of his own gum blood on the filter – fortunately, the bleeding didn’t look serious enough to require a hospital visit.

Number 29 in the distance still had its lights on. The day’s business had just ended, and there were still some dine-in customers who hadn’t left. This meant he shouldn’t go back too quickly either, to avoid being photographed looking like this. If it ended up online, it might create unnecessary complications that could even affect business.

He’d caused a lot of trouble in the past, Han Sha thought. Having worked at Huangliang Yimeng for so long, only having this one insignificant enemy come to his door was actually quite lucky.

Though he hadn’t expected the other party to hold a grudge for so long.

Under the stimulation of nicotine, Han Sha’s thoughts slowly drifted back to seven years ago, when he was still working at a nightclub on Jiujiang Road. His work hours were exactly opposite to Huangliang Yimeng’s – every day he’d rush out under cover of night, then return to his daughter’s side at sunrise, carrying the smell of cigarettes, alcohol, and perfume.

Finding that job initially was mainly for the high salary, but if there was another reason, it was that Han Sha hoped that at least during the day when Han Wanqing was awake, he could have more time to accompany his daughter, rather than coming home every day to find his weak daughter already fast asleep after long hours of waiting.

It could be said that from the beginning, Han Sha knew this wouldn’t be clean work.

He was a businessman who had long understood that the price of high wages was risk. However, he needed money, because money was his daughter’s lifeline, so for money, taking risks was always unavoidable.

These risks, he couldn’t avoid, and he couldn’t escape them.

In his second month working at the nightclub, a woman slipped him a five-hundred yuan tip, then immediately afterward in the small alley behind the back door, Han Sha saw her face clearly under the streetlight.

She wasn’t a very young woman. Heavy makeup covered some fine wrinkles on her face. From head to toe she wore designer brands, carried designer bags. Han Sha specifically looked – her right ring finger was bare.

Just like the drinks on the menu, everything in this place had a price. Both the woman and Han Sha understood this, but fortunately, they both knew where the red line was. So after a kiss, the woman asked breathlessly if he was free tomorrow, how about having lunch together.

Even if nothing happened, getting to know one more person often meant one more path to money.

Han Sha had his own scale. The woman’s invitation sounded very worthwhile. He didn’t hesitate much before nodding.

What would happen next, everyone knew.

After several meetings, Han Sha already knew she was an executive at some bank, divorced, with a son studying abroad, living in Yu Jiang’s famous wealthy district, and didn’t care about the cost of their meals – this was enough.

His daughter needed injections every two weeks. Han Sha’s time was limited, so he had to seize every opportunity that came his way, even if the methods weren’t honorable.

Fortunately, the woman never asked where exactly he spent the money. For three whole months, the woman had left many gifts by his bedside, from watches to phones, but without exception Han Sha sold all these brand-new items, never wearing them again.

Over time, Han Sha felt his nerves gradually relaxing.

Romantic relationships weren’t business deals after all. Many times, even he found it hard to control himself completely, making purely profit-driven decisions.

Clearly after the Bai Yiming incident, Han Sha had resolved to hide his daughter well, never letting her suffer even a little harm because of him again.

However, after selling gift after gift, Han Sha’s heart inevitably swelled with an impulse to tell the other party he had a daughter. Even occasionally, looking at the woman’s gentle face as she slept, he had inexplicable hopes that she might be willing to help him raise his daughter.

Solitary yin cannot grow, solitary yang cannot generate.

After once again exchanging the woman’s gift for money, Han Sha looked at the woman’s name in his contacts, his heart suddenly calming. He remembered what his master had told him: “Great fullness seems empty, yet its use is inexhaustible.”

From a Daoist perspective, many times impulses weren’t necessarily bad things.

He found the woman, wanting to invite her to see his daughter together. Who would have thought the woman would be quiet for a while, then suddenly break into tears in his arms.

All along Han Sha had thought he was the one harboring secrets, but on this day, Han Sha finally realized he wasn’t the only one keeping secrets.

It turned out his bedside companion was only keeping her right hand bare in front of him.

“Old Han! You’ve been slacking off way too long! Everyone’s gone and you’re still not back to settle accounts.”

Suddenly, Han Sha’s thoughts were pulled back by a voice nearby. Looking up, Bai Yang was already within five meters, then the moment he saw his face clearly, the man sprinted over at hundred-meter dash speed.

“Damn, which bastard hit you? Should we call the police?”

From the boss’s attitude toward the injury, it wasn’t hard to tell he’d lived in a greenhouse his whole first half of life. Han Sha couldn’t help sighing and stubbed out his cigarette butt.

“It’s a long story.”

Han Sha tentatively touched his face, feeling that the half that got hit had already swollen. From his past experience, it wasn’t a serious injury, but it was very troublesome.

Because logically, tomorrow was the shop’s day off, and he was supposed to go to the hospital for his daughter’s pre-birthday “warm-up.”

Thinking of his daughter’s disappointed face, Han Sha’s mood inevitably began to worsen. He really didn’t want to explain much to his naive boss at this juncture and tried to return to the shop without a word, only to be predictably grabbed by the arm.

Bai Yang stared at him relentlessly: “Your face is part of my business too. Even if I don’t ask now, when you’re at the register the day after tomorrow, someone else will definitely ask for me.”

That was true enough.

Han Sha thought about it and said coldly: “Just say I fell. My face doesn’t have ‘got beaten up’ written on it.”

He still wanted to leave, but then Lei Hong came out too. As a retired police officer, she naturally wasn’t easy to fool.

“Boss, there are still a lot of ingredients left. They might spoil by tomorrow. Xiao Song asked me to check if you want to use them up tonight.”

Lei Hong said this while her gaze shifted, landing on Han Sha’s face: “The other party hit pretty hard.”

“…”

Han Sha had a slight headache. When it would take more effort to lie, telling the truth actually became the easier option. He pinched his nose bridge: “Ran into an acquaintance.”

Bai Yang said irritably: “My sister said you had quite a few troubles in the past. You need to give me some idea, so if my shop gets implicated later, at least I’ll know what wording to use when I throw you under the bus.”

Han Sha almost laughed: “The simplest method is to just fire me directly, boss. But if you insist on hearing it, I can tell you – it’s just an emotional dispute.”

“Emotional dispute?” Lei Hong raised an eyebrow. “You’re this tall, but this angle wasn’t hit from below, and a woman wouldn’t have this much strength, so you slept with someone’s wife?”

“…Truly worthy of someone who used to be a police officer.”

Han Sha smiled, feeling this was the best explanation for that stupid past. He said lightly: “More or less. I just needed money, but I didn’t expect the other party to hold such a grudge after so long… not even afraid I’d report to police.”

He’d been called a liar many times in his life, but only this time did Han Sha feel somewhat wronged.

Fortunately, like a failed business deal, this incident had also taught him sufficient lessons, such as –

When earning money for his daughter, just focus on earning money properly. It was best not to mix his personal emotions and hopes into it.

The pain was still intensifying. Without surprise, tomorrow that area would turn purple.

Things had come to this point. Han Sha thought about it, suddenly feeling it would be a bit of a loss not to take advantage of Bai Yang’s soft heart that had delivered itself to his door. He said: “Boss, tomorrow’s the shop’s day off. Could I ask you for a favor?”