Chen Jianan was bored in Qiao’s house for three days, eating, sleeping, and drinking, and Qiao Wen stayed with him all the time, it was not specifically as an accompanying friend. He originally intended to go to the city to see the current situation as soon as possible, but this body was too weak, even walking from the second floor to the first floor made him pant for half a day, so he temporarily put aside the thought of going out and stayed at home to recuperate.

So the two ate a pot of rice every day and slept in the same bed and as long as one opened their eyes, they could see each other’s faces closely.

Chen Jianan was a restless man, although he couldn’t go out, it didn’t prevent him from tossing in a small room. On the third day, the injury was slightly improved, he got up early in the morning to move his muscles and bones.

Qiao Wen saw him punching at the air, thinking of his own sickly body, his heart moved and said, “Brother Nan, when I get better, I’ll join you to practice boxing on the rooftop in the morning.”

Chen Jianan snorted, as if he didn’t know him, and opened his eyes wide and said, “Don’t you like to move the least? Letting you climb to the rooftop can kill you half your life. Why did you suddenly think of practicing boxing with me?”

Qiao Wen said: “This illness made me figure it out. I just don’t like to move my body, it’s not good for my health. If I were like you, practicing boxing since childhood, I would definitely not be like this now.”

“That’s true.” Chen Jianan nodded very happily, and raised his hand to pat him on the shoulder, but just about it fell, he quickly remembered his weak body that couldn’t withstand his big pat, so he quickly changed to a gentle caress and said with a smile: “Okay, Xiao Qiao, I will teach you to practice boxing. From now on don’t call me brother, just call me Master.”

Qiao Wen glanced at him with a slanted face.

Chen Jianan seemed to be completely amused by his own statement, with his swollen face, his smile was almost completely out of shape.

While the two of them were messing around, a voice sounded from downstairs: “If you don’t want to pay,  then get out of the walled city.”

“Last month you rose up to 80, and this month it has grown to 100. Our small business only makes a few hundreds of dollars a month, can’t you give us a way to survive?”

After listening vaguely, Qiao Wen knew that it was the people from Hexing society who were collecting security fees, on the surface it was called security fees, but in fact they were protection fees.

Because the Kowloon Walled City was an unregulated zone, there was no police to maintain order, as long as it was inside the walled city, everything was up to the Hexing Society. The good people in the Western District naturally have to pay the so-called security fees every month.

Originally this was a slum, and the people had a hard time earning a living. A few tens of dollars a month for security was not a small sum, but now it’s gone up to a hundred that was really adding salt to the wound. It was no wonder some people were unwilling.

Chen Jianan frowned when he heard this voice, with a sullen expression: “I’ll go down and take a look.”

“I’ll be with you.” Qiao Wen said, then took a cane and handed it to him, “You lean on this, it looks more realistic.”

“I almost forgot.” Chen Jianan smiled sheepishly, took the cane, and went downstairs.

Downstairs in front of the stall, two men with flower-patterns in arms were collecting money one by one. Grandma Qiao’s dry goods stall had already been collected, now they were acquiring a fish ball shop.

The fishball shopkeeper’s wife was a hot-tempered woman. The child in the family recently got sick and had spent a lot of money, and the stall couldn’t get a hundred yuan at once, she was so angry that she picked up the feather duster to fight with the two of them, but before it would fall, one of the men caught it and snatched it fiercely, and without mercy he raised his hand to greet the boss’s wife with a big slap: “Get out of the walled city if you don’t pay! ”

But before the slap fell, he was stopped by a stick in mid-air.

Chen Jianan held up his cane and said with a smile: “Brother Scar, how come the security fee has gone up again? And without notifying the neighbors in advance, how could every family have come up with a hundred yuan?”

The young man called the scar, as the name suggests, he had a shocking old scar across his face, which made his already mediocre facial features even more uncoordinated.

He glanced at Chen Jianan and showed a contemptuous expression: “Pretty boy, Brother Fei is responsible for the security fees we just do what we are told to do. If you feel too much, just go and find Brother Fei.”

Chen Jianan said: “No matter what, if you suddenly raise the money, the neighbors won’t be able to take it out right away, so give two days of grace period.”

Qiao Wen stood at his stall, silently watching him bargaining with others more than ten meters away, and heard the grandma’s sigh: “If it goes on, this day is really impossible to live.”

Qiao Wen frowned and wanted to say something to relieve the grandma, but when he thought that he had nothing to offer at this time, and it was difficult to write a blank check, he didn’t say anything, just patted the Grandma on the shoulder as comfort.

Seeing that the boss lady couldn’t get the money Scar hurled two sentences and prepared quickly, and then turned to a incense paper stall, and pulled out the man who was standing inside: “Uncle Ming, if Brother Fei doesn’t look for you, are you not planning to pay your gambling debt?”

The man he caught was the owner of this incense paper stall. He was in his forties, with a rickety figure with yellow complexion, and he looked like he was perpetually harmed by tobacco and alcohol.

Facing the aggressive Scar, Uncle Ming looked like he had seen a ghost, shrinking and nodding in fear “Brother Scar, please give me a few more days of grace, I will pay the money as soon as I get it.”

Scar gave a sneering grimace: “Twenty thousand yuan of gambling debt, I  don’t think you can pay it back after another ten months of grace. Brother Fei said there is no need for you to pay back the money. Didn’t you have a 16-year-old girl in your family? Let me take her directly to Li to pay off your debt.”

Lido was the largest nightclub in the walled city. Of course, it was said to be a nightclub but it was not just as simple as singing and dancing, in fact it was a golden cave(money squandering establishment).

When Qiao Wen heard this, his face couldn’t help but sink slightly, and from the memory of the original owner, Uncle Ming’s daughter Bao Lian Qing’s innocent and sensible appearance came to his mind.

When Uncle Ming heard this, he knelt on the ground with a puff of fright, and kowtow his head again and again and begged, “Brother Scar, go and talk to Brother Fei. Give me a few more days. I will definitely pay it back!”

Scar naturally did not take his words seriously, kicked him away, walked into his incense paper stall, pulled out the trembling young girl hiding behind the counter, and raised his eyebrows and smiled: “Baolian, right? Uncle Ming, even though you don’t look good, your daughter is pretty. I’ll bring her to Brother Fei to have a look.”

“Abba, abba! Save me!” The sixteen-year-old girl cried out in fright.

Uncle Ming moved forward with his hands and feet together, and hugged Scar’s thigh: “Brother Scar, if you have anything to do with me, just hold me, let my daughter go. I can’t afford to pay back the money, the big deal is to pay for my life.”

“Abba! Abba!”

Many of the neighbors were gathered around him, but no one dared to step forward to stop him.

Just as a few people were entangled, Chen Jianan limped over, and pulled Bao Lian behind him: “Brother Scar, we are all neighbors, why do you do this?”

Scar snorted at him and said, “Pretty boy Nan, it’s only right to pay your debts. You are also from Hexing Society, don’t you understand our rules? Uncle Ming gambled on his own, and no one forced him. If he lost the money and died, it would definitely not work. Twenty thousand yuan is not a small sum. It’s more than enough to buy a few yellow-flowered girls, thanks to Brother Fei’s good talk.”

Uncle Ming: “Where is 20,000? The total is 2,000.”

Hearing this, Scar laughed “It’s almost a year you take two thousand from Brother Fei. And this twenty thousand is counted as a cheap deal for you.” After that, he looked at Chen Jianan again, “Pretty boy, let me tell you, this, Brother 4 can’t help you this time, unless you pay the money back, I will definitely take this girl away.”

Chen Jianan really didn’t have 20,000 yuan, and there was no way he could make such a big amount of money unless he killed someone. But apart from his family and Qiao Wen, he would never kill for anyone.

He hated iron and steel, looked at the rickety man on the ground, and fell silent.

(TL: Hate iron is not steel— It is used to express dissatisfaction)

“Two more days. We’ll pay it back.” A slightly weak voice suddenly sounded out in a grave silence atmosphere.

Chen Jianan followed the voice and his gaze fell on the young man in the shadow of Qiao’s stall, and he was stunned as if he had misheard it, because it didn’t seem like it could come out from Qiao Wen’s mouth anyway.

Qiao Wen was reclusive and Scar hardly ever met him. He narrowed his eyes to look at the person and said with a smile: “What a big tone, it is 20,000 yuan, not 200 yuan.”

Qiao Wen stepped out from the shadows, and walked toward them step by step, clearly he was still the same pale frail teenager, but his determined eyes and calm expression fell in Chen Jianan’s eyes, making him suddenly feel that this little Qiao was a bit strange.

“Little Qiao!” He moved nervously to Qiao Wen, separating him from Scar.

Scar’s gaze fell on Qiao Wen’s face. He always knew that Chen Jianan had a sick younger brother who looked like Pan An(first beautiful man in ancient time), and that likely to be this one.

In fact, he had a bit of an impression of Qiao Wen, but in the past, when this sick boy saw people like them, he would bow his head to avoid them, so he had never seen him face to face. At this moment, when seeing him up close, he realized that the rumors were true. ‘This boy really had a face that was more beautiful than a woman.’

However, although Scar was lustful, he was not fond of male. After being surprised, he returned to calmness and smiled, “Pretty boy, your brother said he’d pay back the money? What do you say?”

Without waiting for Chen Jianan’s answer, Qiao Wen had already begun to speak out calmly: “Two days, if we can’t pay it back, Uncle Ming and Bao Lian will be at your care.”

Chen Jianan called anxiously: “Little Qiao!”

Qiao Wen waved to him lightly, and he subconsciously stopped.

Scar originally didn’t take his words seriously, but seeing Chen Jianan’s anxious look, he suddenly thought of something and curled his lips with a smile, nodded: “Okay, I’ll give you two days.” As he said he patted Chen Jianan on the shoulder meaningfully, “Pretty boy, Brother Scar is waiting for you.”

After that, he left the incense paper stall and continued to collect money from other families.

Scar agreed so readily, of course, not because of his sudden whimsical kindness, but because he never believed that they could get 20,000 yuan in two days. When the time came, he would not only take Bao Lian away, but also take this opportunity to teach Chen Jianan a lesson.

Scar had always been proud of himself, for his eldest brother, Qin Yunfei, was a red stick and member of the group No. 3, and he was the opponent’s powerful subordinate and although he was a forty nine year old, it was a matter of time before he became a big boss. On the other hand Chen Jianan boss Zhao Asi, was just a douchebag who couldn’t afford to support him, but this pretty boy reputation in the walled city was much bigger than his own, especially those girls in the Lido, who love to talk about him whenever they had nothing to do.

Chen Jianan had caused him a great deal of discomfort for a long time, he felt that this boy had nothing but a face, so he long wanted to find an opportunity to give him some color and let him know that mixed clubs do not rely on their faces to eat.

Now the opportunity was delivered on his door, certainly he would not miss it.

Chen Jianan didn’t know the dark thoughts of Scar. As soon as he left, he immediately held Qiao Wen’s arms nervously: “Xiao Qiao, twenty thousand yuan, where are we going to raise?” Then he turned his head, and kicked the uncle Ming foot who was slumped on the ground like dead ashes, “How many times have I told you not to gamble, you don’t listen, you are going to die by yourself, why do you want to drag Bao Lian along with you!”

The man burst into tears and cried so badly, his sallow cheeks were full of tears, obviously regretted: “I don’t want to do it either. I just want to turn over the money, so as to save some dowry for Bao Lian. I originally owed two thousand, but I didn’t know that in a few months it became 20,000!”

Bao Lian knelt on the ground and hugged her father, crying, looking helpless and desperate. The father and daughter have been dependent on each other for many years, and it was true that the uncle was a bastard gambler, but his love for his only daughter was true.

Chen Jianan said angrily: “You dare to owe the money from Brother Fei? Don’t you know that his group of people will eat people whole and they don’t even spit out bones?”

Bao Lian burst into tears: “Brother Anan, can you help me and Abba?”

In the dirty and dark city, a sixteen-year-old-girl with a fair and beautiful face bloomed like a lotus in the mud.

Qiao Wen knew that if he saved this time, there might be another time, but he couldn’t just watch the girl fall into the wolf den.

He pulled out a memory from the original body, and it was the flower-like young girl holding a plate of prepared snacks and handing it to him, with a shy face: “Brother Awen, this is the red bean cake I made, do you think it tastes good?”

He sighed secretly, and pulled Chen Jianan, who was about to storm out, and said, “Brother Nan, let’s go upstairs and talk.”

With a  cold face Chen Jianan glared hard at the man on the ground, turned around to follow Qiao Wen, and did not forget to pretend to be limping with a cane.

Qiao Wen first went to his stall, and soothing the worried grandmother by: “Grandma, it’s okay, Brother Nan and I will think of a way.”

The grandmother murmured: “Twenty thousand yuan, where can you find it?”

Qiao Wen said: “Don’t worry, Brother Nan has a way.”

Chen Jianan: “???”

‘Don’t talk nonsense, I don’t!!’