Chapter 123 - The real gang

Translator: Lionwwang  Editor: Lionwwang

Canteen is the old name, now it is basically called the internal restaurant.

Fat man is driving the van all the way to a big yard behind a small building in the back, and some young men in white coats come to help carry vegetables, fruits and meat immediately.

He is just standing aside, shouting and pointing how to move for a while. Then he is pulling me and Dorra to go inside.

“That’s the dining building. The first floor is a big restaurant, basically I don’t take more care about it. Anyway, there is no technical with the big pot food.” I notice that when he has walked a little longer, his left leg seems to be lame, then he is not so flexible at that time.

As walking ahead, he is rubbig his left thigh vigorously and saying faintly: “Upstairs is a small restaurant. The cooking standard there is not lower than that of the big restaurant outside. The guest’s level must be high enough or the management can come in. The top floor is a small banquet hall. It only serves during the holidays or when the superiors come here. I cook the dishes myself at these times.” He is saying with smile, “You know that we southerners love and dare to eat, which is famous all over the world.”

Next to the dining building is a small courtyard with a small building inside. The door is unlocked. He leads us in and goes directly to the second floor.

“This is where I live. Usually, the second floor is empty. The first floor is where the rest staffs of my restaurant live. This is the safest place.” He is looking at me and saying, “You can rest assured. I can’t garentee whether your enemies have relationships with the police, but even if they have, it is unlikely that they can go inside here to search.”

He leads us into the room, and I find out that he’s living in a very big place. As soon as he enters the door, he is pointing to an old-fashioned cloth sofa and saying: “Sit down!” Then he is pointing to Dorra: “Little girl, and you.”

Then he is taking out a small bottle from the cupboard drawer and throwing it to me. As soon as I catch it, I hear him saying: “This is traumatic medicine, really good one, much better than yours.”

He is looking at Dorra’s injured hand and says: “Young people still have to take good care of your body. Don’t think it’s OK to be hurt. That’s because of you’re young. When you get older in the future, you’ll have a harder time!” He gives me a glance and says, “Have you also hurt your leg?”

I’m dazed, saying: “Yes, I fell off the day before yesterday when escaping and hurt my knee.”

He is nodding: “When I saw you walking, that leg seems to be moving a little unnaturally. I give you a bottle of medicine and wipe it by yourself.”

He is sighing, goes into the innerest room. After a while, he is taking out a porcelain bottle and throwing to me.

“There are three rooms here. This is the living room. There are two rooms inside. The one inside is my own room. You can’t enter! The other room will let you live. You just rest here first.” Then he pours two glasses of water for us.

I help Dorra to change the medicine for her hand first. Then I roll up my pants and examine my injuried knee.

A large piece of congestion in the wound hasn’t dispersed yet. It’s purple, now it has already swollen.

He is frowning: “Why are you so careless…” Then he is walking towards me and grabbing the bottle in hand, “Let me make it for you.” Then he is looking up at me and says, “Maybe it will be feeling pain a little, just have to bear it.”

He is pouring some light-yellow medicine liquid on the palm carefully, with a strong taste of medicine, and it smells vaguely with a touch of sweetness. He is rubbing his palms a few times until turning red, then slapping on my knee. I’m too painful to grin on the spot.

His hands are full of calluses, hard and thick, and he is rubbing them vigorously on my knee, constantly adding some liquid medicine.

“This medicine needs to be rubbed evenly so that it can be distributed under the skin.” He does not care about the painful expression on my face at all, “My medicine is very precious, you have no place to buy it from the market.”

He has rubbed for a long time, almost rubbing off a layer of skin of my knee. But I do feel much more comfortable, feeling my knee is as hot as be burned.

“OK! My precious medicine is very valuable. Use once, and it’s a little less.” With the smile, he is standing up, putting the bottle back in the room and draws a basin of water. We both wash our hands to remove the medicinal smell.

Later, he asks Dorra to take a rest in the inner room. I see that he seems to want to talk to me, so I motion Dorra to go. Now the little girl is very depending on me, if I do not speak, she simply refuses to leave my side even half a step.

The fat fellow stands up, closes the door of the room. Then he is turning back and finds out the tea without hurry. He makes two cups of tea and puts them on the table. Then he is sitting down, seems to be in no hurry at all. When he has finished these things slowly, he is still looking at me with a smile in his eyes: “Although I have been in the south for many years, I still like drinking tea with a big cup.”

I say thanks to him politely and take out the last half pack of the cigarettes.

His eyes are shinning, looking at me: “You have this?” Then he is graciously taking one cigarette from my hand and lights. He takes a leisurely puff, after a while, he is sighing, “Okay, Chen Yang, I know you’re in doubt now. You can ask slowly. I’ll say what I know. But you won’t have the answers of what I don’t know, or what I can’t say.”

“How is Juan going to arrange us?” I’m asking with a low voice slowly.

“First, Juan is not my boss. I have no direct connection with him. So how he is going to arrange you, I don’t know, I can’t care so much.” he is saying lightly, “Secondly, I think it’s very difficult for him to do anything with it.”

I’m laughing, with a helpless smile on my face: “I know, Juan can’t help it too. It’s a too big trouble this time.”

“Juan and I don’t have much connections with each other. I just help Jim. Maybe you can guess that Jim and I were old comrades in the army and climbed out of the death together. If he didn’t carry me on his back all night, I would have thrown my life in that mountain.” Fat man is smiling faintly, with a faint wrinkle between his eyebrows.

“When can I see Juan or Jim?” I am looking at him and say, “When I called you that day, didn’t you say that as long as I get here in two days, you could arrange us way out?”

He is shaking his head: “Jim asked me to tell you that. When I went to pick you up this morning, I have already spoken to him by phone. He would come to see you soon. As for me, I’m only responsible for bring you here.” He is staring at me and says, “At least in my place, you are safe.”

I don’t say anything anymore, just feel a little empty in my heart. It seems that I have to wait until I meet Juan or Jim.

Fat fellow is looking at me with great interest. He is staring at me for a long time, and suddenly saying in a strange tone: “I admire you very much actually. Do you know how big trouble you’ve made this time?”

I laugh bitterly and say nothing.

He seems to be addicted to the cigarette. After smoking the whole cigarette, he is lighting another one immediately, “Juan is a man with a deep background. I don’t like dealing with him very much. Jim is dead-hearted because Juan saved his life. He just sold himself to Juan since then. He doesn’t understand: In this world, in addition to the kindness of parents, all the other kindnesses, no matter what kind of, is not worth the lives of their own to return! He’s such a stubborn fellow.”

He takes another hard puff and continuing: “Juan’s background, others don’t know, but how can I don’t know? Hum… That guy went down south with hundreds of monies, what dirty works didn’t do? You are young, you haven’t experienced that era. If you had courageous to carry a bag of gold and dare to cross the border smuggling, as long as you can live back, you can just make a lot of money! Juan was lucky enough to be saved by Jim several times. He also wanted to ask me to go to work together. I was too lazy to go. I didn’t want to go through the days of greedy in the morning and begging for my life on the sharp edge of the knife. But a lot of people I know went. Alas, once you get involved with the gangs, it’s just a whole lifetime. Jim, this fellow is dead-hearted and can’t come back anymore.”

He is grinning bitterly, rubbing his big nose, looking at me. His eyes are cold and quiet: “Boy, I admire you very much, I know you haven’t known that you had offend a big boss of the QH family. You beat their boss’s only son into a eunuch. Damn, you’re too bold!”

“QH family” I’m stunned.

“FXXX!” He’s laughing and scolding, “You worked for Juan before but still don’t know? But it’s not your fault. Nowadays, all the little messes on the street think they are the gangsters. In fact, how many of them know QH family? Do you think that if you dare to go out with a knife and cut people to collect protection fees, you are a gangster? Far from it!”

I frown: “QH family? It’s too old, isn’t it?”

“Old shit!” He is taking another puff.