CH 4

Chapter 4 – Don’t Fight, Just Hide

Yan An had a terrible dream last night. 

In her dream, she found herself desperately struggling all night in a plunging ocean.

Surrounded by a deep, freezing sea and chained by two thin cords protruding from its bottomless abyss, she thrashed and struggled for freedom for what she felt like to be half a day. 

Finally overcome with exhaustion, her body eventually slumped. As she sluggishly looked up, she noticed Shan Yi silently treading towards her, step by step.

Donned a tight diving suit that accentuated his rugged body lines and muscles, he took off his goggles and approached her. Wordlessly observing her, he opened his mouth for the first time.

“Do you want me to save you?”

Yan An nodded her head desperately.

But then, Shan Yi’s lips contorted into a cruel sneer.

“… But I don’t like you. Then, why should I even bother saving you?”

……?

That was Yan An’s last thought before her vision went dark; her now cold, senseless body steadily sank into the ever-cold embrace of the ocean.

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8:30 Am in the morning. 

The morning sun’s rays cast slanting shadows through narrow spaces between the looming buildings and high-rises while illuminating the ground with a muted, lazy orange glow.

Enveloped by the gentle morning glow, Yan An shivered as she stood on a crosswalk. She’s still reeling from the nightmare she had last night.

She dutifully described her nightmare last night in detail to Ah Man. 

Ah Man, on the other side, thoughtfully stroked her chin.

“That dream of yours is definitely not normal.”

Yan An: Then will you please interpret that dream for me, oh, Great Master?

Ah Man: Alright. If you think about it, don’t you think that beneath a certain person’s pure and innocent exterior, they deep down wanted to be tied up?

Sending a smirking emoji, she further commented: In addition, the items they dreamed of are quite excellent and interesting in their own right.

Then followed up with a disappointing shaking head emoji: But alas, too bad that certain person was recently rejected.

The traffic light turned green, and Yan An zipped across the crosswalk. Picking up her phone, she rapidly tapped. 

Sis, there really is something wrong with you!

The directions to the consulate[1] were a little unclear on the map. Yan An circled the street and promptly realized her sense of direction wasn’t very good.

She randomly tapped a passerby on the shoulder and politely asked,

“Hello, can I bother you for a moment?”

The passerby paused and glanced at Yan An and stiffened.

He appears to be a young Spanish man with wheat-shaded skin and a light-trimmed beard. With three small silver rings piercings in his ears and sporting a graffiti-styled duck-tongued hat, he initially gave off a meek and low-spirited impression.

The man and Yan An wordlessly stared at each other. The man’s eyes betrayed a hint of shock before he turned and walked away without a word.

…Huh?

Yan An was taken aback by the man’s attitude.

Yan An stood and studied the man’s retreating figure. She couldn’t put a finger on it, but something about that man made her feel like she had met him before. She deeply contemplated before her eyes fell on the man’s graffiti-style cap.

The man who snatched her bag and ran from her last night also appeared to be wearing a fancy cap.

Narrowing her eyes, Yan An starts to tail him.

Hearing a particular footstep behind him getting louder and closer, the man glimpsed back and forth and gradually hastened his steps before breaking into a full run.

The hell?!

Seeing the man abruptly breaking into a run, any doubts in her heart immediately dispersed. She was deeply furious upon her realization as she yelled, “Stop! You thief!”

The man panicked and scrambled away. Pushing away several passers-by, the man glimpsed back, and seeing Yan An persistently on his trail, he couldn’t help but curse.

Yan An chased after the man for three blocks before the man veered into an alleyway.

After a few minutes of relentless chasing in the alleys, Yan An finally comes to a halt as she gasps for air.

She was dying of anger, yet she still lost the man.

Eventually recollecting herself, she immediately surveys her surroundings.

She appears to be in an old alleyway that’s similar to the many alleys that roughly divide this old Spanish town into a 3×3 grid. At every intersection, three splits spread in all directions, similar to an endless maze.

Spanish businessmen appear to be quite laid back as many shops are still closed even after 8 o’clock.

Yan An noted walking in the alleyways isn’t very popular, given the absence of traffic.

Yan An stretched her back and tiredly sat in front of a closed store. She discovered that running so early in the morning is more exhausting than the physical fitness exam’s when she was still learning how to fly.

Tired of the dog, but also lost the dog chase.

Yan An held her breath; she truly didn’t want to move anymore.

Opposite Yan An is a hand-made bakery.

Since the Spanish love their coffee and bread for their breakfasts, countless bakeries dotted the street, many proudly displaying their freshest local-made bread.

With her stamina practically depleted, Yan An rested as her eyes wandered all over these bakeries and cafes, admiring the endless displays of delectable bread and pastry.

After a while, her gaze paused on a glimpse of a particular figure.

She scowled.

A glass window of a shop reflected the barren and tranquil of the morning street. Through this reflection, a glimpse of a man in a duck-tongue cap emerged in the corner of the window.

The man took the cap off his head and combed his messy hair roughly as he trudged through the empty street. He casually glanced back and paused at the second unexpected sight of Yan An.

He cursed something under his breath and spat on the ground before abruptly marching toward her direction.

What a guy!

Yan An stood up in response, and this time she was smart enough to pick up a rotten table leg from the nearby garbage pile at the side of the road. Now armed, she didn’t hesitate to confront the approaching little doggie.

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Meanwhile, James lavished a bakery near the Chinese consulate with a mountain of praises.

“The bakery’s farmers’ bread and coffee are just as charming and captivating as the lady who runs it! You should go and try it out, Sam!”

Shan Yi was a distance away from the bakery. As he idly listened to James’s endless love and praises for this bakery, his ears perked up when he heard a curse, more specifically, in Chinese, brush past him.

“Damn this son of a bitch! I’ll show you that we Chinese aren’t pushovers!”

Shan Yi raised an eyebrow as he turned towards the corner of the alley where he heard the curse.

He peeked and witnessed Yan An picking up a wooden stick from a garbage pile. 

She fearlessly marched towards a man in the alley. With her current grim air surrounding her, she almost looks like a warrior who’s about head off into battle.

He glanced at the wooden stick in Yan An’s hand and incredulously wondered

Did this woman finally lose her mind?

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The man was caught off guard as he saw Yan An slowly emerging from the alleyway. He glanced at her hand and cursed.

He didn’t expect her to be armed.

With the man’s labored breathing, he appears to be in a worse condition than Yan An. 

But now, he didn’t need to run anymore.

Because now there’s only the two of them, there’s no more need to keep up the Cat and Mouse facade.

Sneering disdainfully at Yan An, the man muttered something in Spanish that Yan An couldn’t understand.

Yan An tried to question the man in English.

“Where’s my bag from last night?”

The man pointed his finger at his head with an exaggerated expression, as if he was wordlessly mocking her.

Slowly losing her patience, Yan An raised and pointed the wooden stick toward him. 

“I just want my documents back. Nothing more.”

But like all gangsters and ruffians, they prefer employing more crude and physical means to communicate than flowery words. 

The man spits on the ground and starts cracking his neck. Tossing away his cap, he boldly walked up to Yan An.

The man’s mouth mutters in Spanish as he lightly shoves Yan An’s shoulder with a teasing expression, like a cat playing with a mouse.

Yan An slapped his hands away as she cursed. Then without warning, the man grabbed her neck and choked her. The man’s grip was solid as he pushed the staggering Yan An with all his might towards the wall.

Quickly overcoming her daze, Yan An didn’t hesitate to swing the wooden stick towards the man’s ankles.

The stick accurately landed on its soft, fleshy target. The man grunted and staggered in pain.

Taking advantage of the stagger, Yan An relentlessly swung the stick on the kneeling man’s crown before following up with a quick knee kick.

Under her merciless and precise onslaught, the man howled in agony before collapsing and letting go of his grip.

The brawl didn’t even last a few seconds. The man never once had the upper hand against her. But in the end, this brawl didn’t benefit both of them at all.

Yan An covered her neck and coughed. She never thought that the man would actually fight her.

She tried her best to resolve things peacefully. She really only wanted her documents back, and if the other party demanded something in return, then the money isn’t even an issue.

But who would’ve thought this man would have the audacity to pick a fight with her when the Chinese Consulate was literally on the other side of the road?

Real ruffians and gangsters aren’t afraid of the police, let alone just an embassy of another country.

But then, as Yan An tried to sort things, the previously incapacitated man suddenly stood up and rushed towards her in a newfound vigor.

The man’s eyes were brimming with seething hatred as he roughly shoved Yan An down to the ground. The two were locked in an ensuing struggle, as their rolling bodies slammed against the closed door of a shop. With the grunts and the clamorous bangs from the door, it sounded like giant beasts were clashing in the secluded alley.

Yan An instinctively lowered her head and guarded it with her arms as she braced for a punch. But suddenly, a silhouette appeared from the edge of her vision.

Before she could fully react, the man atop her was viciously kicked in the stomach and slammed to the ground.

Yan An glanced up in shock and was left even more shocked by an unexpected appearance.

“Y-You! What are you doing here?!”

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Shan Yi’s dark eyes were brimming in cold ruthlessness. He smiled at her question, but his smile didn’t touch his eyes. His eyes were cold, like the freezing abyss of the ocean from her dream.

Her dream from last night violently resurfaced in waves.

Shan Yi rhetorically answered.

“What am I doing here, hm? Then I should ask the same thing you. Why are you getting into petty squabbles near an embassy?”

As the two leisurely chatted, the downed ruffian shakily stood up again. Glaring at Shan Yi and then at Yan An, he clicked his tongue. 

But he didn’t make a move. Instead, he cast a look behind the two of them.

Shan Yi turned his head and noticed two men dressed similarly to the man strolling toward them.

Yan An expression became slightly dark.

“No wonder he ran back here, back to his little nest of thugs. Turns out there are rats all over this place.” 

“This man you kicked just now was the one who robbed my bag last night, so I followed him over here.” As she hurriedly conveyed this to Shan Yi, she made a suggestion.

“Looking at our current situation, a wise man knows better than to fight when the odds are against him[2], we really should run.”

But Shan Yi, who remains strangely composed, smoothly answered back. 

“I’m not your underling. So, why should I run away?”

Yan An’s mouth gaped open.

?

Three men silently encircled Yan An and Shan Yi. The three men passed a knowing look back and forth to each other, and without a word, they rushed in.

Shan Yi took the wooden stick from Yan An’s hand. As the rough and uneven surface of the stick rubbed away from her palm, Shan Yi moved her aside as he calmly faced the assailants.

“If you don’t know how to fight, then get out of my way.”

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Shan Yi fought hard. Like a ruthless, veteran soldier armed with his trusty gun and knife, he relentlessly and efficiently pressed on against the onslaught.

Shan Yi’s fighting moves are crisp and graceful. His fist and feet pack an astounding amount of power, even after being punched, he didn’t flinch at the slightest and ruthlessly fought on.

Yan An watched as Shan Yi took numerous scattered rotten wooden table legs and threw them at the opponent. 

He didn’t aim at vital or lethal points per se, but all of them heavily reduced the fighting power of the opponent, as he coldly targeted the shoulders, wrists, knees, and ankles in pinpoint accuracy.

This man is stupidly good at fighting, especially bare-handed and in close quarters…

Yan An internally grumbled to herself as her ears burn in indignation.

After a continuous one-sided beating, the Spanish ruffians cried in pain and scrambled away, aimlessly fleeing in a group.

Shan Yi then threw away the wooden sticks in his hand. Muffled clangs resounded throughout the now barren alley. 

Hiding behind a large flowerpot, Yan An stood still, as her heart trembled from each faint thud from the falling sticks.

She was now convinced that this man is the dominant one in bed.

Yan An let out a deep heated exhale with sympathy. 

Standing up, she headed toward him and sincerely thanked him from the bottom of her heart.

“Thank you, my comrade.”

Shan Yi rubbed the bleeding corner of his lips, which had been peeled off during the fight. He smiled at her, before wordlessly turning around and walking off.

Yan An followed Shan Yi into a bakery.

She paid the bill for the bread and coffee. Picking a seat while carrying on to coffee and sliced bread, Yan An sat down with Shan Yi across from her. 

With half of her body propped up on the table, she worriedly pointed towards the bleeding corner of Shan Yi’s lips.

“Do you want to go to the hospital together for disinfection and your wounds?”

Remaining calm, Shan Yi wordlessly took a sip of coffee. The hot liquid brushed the corner of his lips. He felt a hot, scalding pain.

He shifted his eyes towards Yan An. After a moment, he lifted his finger and pointed at his neck.

Yan An’s eyes trailed downward and stopped at his bulging adam’s apple. She blinked, confused. 

Shan Yi opened his mouth, his throat deeply rumbled.

“You should go look at yourself in a mirror. When you sit across from me like this, everyone will think I’ve done something to you, while in reality, I’m barely even acquainted with you,”

A mirror was standing on the wall behind Shan Yi. Yan An immediately tilted her body and saw angry, pronounced red marks streaking across her thin, pale neck. Wordlessly staring at the spattered fingerprints left on her neck, she felt she can immediately make up a compelling, tragic backstory.

Glimpsing at Shan Yi, she began to remember memories from last night at the bar as she texted with Ah Man.

I heard that most of the men who are rough at you have impure intentions.

For example?

… Actually, how the hell do I know? Ah, wait, they choke you? They prob wanted you to experience the thrill of suffocation. Lol.

…… Godd*mnit!

Yan An immediately covered her neck with both hands.

Translator’s Notes:

[1] Consulates are like mini-embassies. Like embassies, they carry diplomatic intentions, but unlike embassies, which are mainly located in nations’ capitals and are more focused on political exchanges, consulates can be anywhere – financial markets, tourist areas, or large cities with healthy job markets.

[2] 好汉不吃眼前亏, a Chinese idiom that means that a wise man knows better than to fight when confronted with a disadvantageous situation.