Translator: MintCatnip | Editor: AtlasStudios /Atlas Studios

  Inside a small villa, in a dark room.

  The light in the room was basically reflection from the bright lights outside, making the faces in the room look rather dark and creepy.

  A man with a pot belly was sitting on the sofa by the window. He pulled the curtain impatiently, took a look at the parked car that just came into his courtyard and the noisy young lady outside.

  “You should know these people right?” He gave an indifferent snort.

  “I know them!” Huang He replied calmly as he sat on the sofa opposite the man, “They’re from the Criminal Investigation Unit of Hongjiang District.”


  “The police are really here now. How do you think we should handle this?”


  “Our motive is just to earn money,” Huang He replied after pausing for a moment, “I don’t support the idea of going against the police.”


  “Hur!” That man suddenly grinned and looked at him coldly. “You still care for the police, right?”


  “Care for them? Hah!” There was hardly any emotion on Huang He’s face. “I joined the police since the age of 22. I worked hard being a detective for nine years. I worked like a horse and performed my duties faithfully without complaint. I’ve always put in effort in my job but what did I get in return? Just because of a small mistake, they have no qualms making me the scapegoat and totally abandoned me……”


  The man raised an eyebrow with a half-smile.

  “My ties with them are being cut off clean after all that time spent in the detention center…… Brother Six, you won’t be able to understand as you’ve never been in there before. It’s too horrid…… It felt as though you’re in darkness where you even start to doubt if you’re still a human. It could totally destroy any belief that you’ve been living and holding onto……”


  His voice was cold and broken as he spoke of the unjust case that he suffered from.

  But in the next moment, he looked up directly at the man’s pair of scrutinizing eyes.

  “But, this is still a legal society after all, we still need to careful around the police if we want to live without worry. If we can strike it rich without having to deal with the police, isn’t that for the best? Why should we push ourselves into a corner? If this matter gets out of hand, we’re going to have it rough.”


  “Hur!” That man sneered. “Now that Bai Muchuan is here and Jia An’s in my place, if we just let him go like this……”


  “He has no evidence,” Huang He interrupted him and said as a matter-of-factly, “if Bai Muchuan has enough evidence, he would have shown his arrest warrant directly instead of coming here all alone…… In short, he’s here to test you. If you really try to do anything to him, you would have acted according to what he wanted you to.”


  The man furrowed his eyebrows as he mulled over Huang He’s words.

  “Brother Six,” said Huang He as he looked at him, “if you believe me, let me settle this matter!”


  “Brother Six!” Someone knocked on the door.

  The man whom Huang He addressed as “Brother Six” took a glance at Huang He. “Come in.”


  The door was opened.

  Some glaring light from outside shone into the room blocked by a woman who wore a lot of jewelry. The neck, the head, the ears and her wrist, there were so much jewelries on her. She applied a blood-like colored lipstick on her lips, making her look dangerous and sexy.

  She nodded at Brother Six and looked at Huang He unhappily.

  “Your little lover is creating a scene outside. Should I just drive her away or make her into mincemeat?”


  Make her into mincemeat…… She could say such things so easily as though it did not matter.

  “I’ve already said not to pick up her call. You should have just ignored her,” said Huang He in a slightly reprimanding tone, “and you have to tell her the address! Aren’t you asking for trouble?”


  The woman pouted and wiggled her hips as she walked into the room. “If you don’t get rid of her, she’s going to spell trouble for us. She seems to be on good terms with the police……”


  Huang He’s eyes looked down. “She did not know anything.”


  “You can’t bear to part with her? In my point of view…… why should we talk so much to them? We’ve gotten ahold of their Captain anyway. Now that they’ve come right to our doorstep…… why not just take them all out, once and for all……”


  “Bullsh*t!” Brother Six suddenly growled. “Take out all of them? You’re asking for death?”


  Brother Six then turned to Huang He. “I’ve thought over what you’ve said just now. It makes sense…… We just want to make money. Harmony is the best way to generate wealth…… If we can settle the problem amicably, why should we force ourselves to a corner?”


  Huang He paused for a while. “So you’re saying—”


  Brother Six nodded at him, his eyes forming a dangerous squint. “I’ll let you handle this.”


  Huang He quickly got up from the sofa and appeared to be a little agitated. “Brother Six, thanks for you trust in me, but—”


  Brother Six smiled at his hesitation, “What is it?”


  “Jia An has been discovered by the police,” Huang He gave it a thought. “We can’t protect him anymore.” Next, he narrowed his eyes and slowly gave a smile. “Sometimes, when a pawn has lost its value, we have to abandon it mercilessly!”


  “Hahahaha!”


  Brother Six cackled in response and patted on Huang He’s shoulders in satisfaction.

  “That’s exactly what I’m thinking! Just do as you say.”


  “Thank you, Brother Six!” Huang He said respectfully while lowering his head. “I am well aware of how the police handle cases, their habits and their principles. As long as they can close their case and account to the public, they also want to avoid trouble whenever possible. Who would want to look for trouble all day long when they can enjoy their life? Furthermore, no one would dare to trifle with Brother Six!”


  “Hahaha, you’re right.”


  Huang He’s words made Brother Six very glad. He turned to look at the woman. “Danyue, you’ve gotten me a good helper this time!”


  “Of course,” Tian Danyue smiled beautifully. “If he’s not capable enough, do you think I will introduce him to you, Brother Six?”


  Brother Six looked at her and Huang He, an ambiguous glint flashing past his eyes. “Oh, so it’s not for your own benefit?”


  Tian Danyue smiled. “Brother Six, you’re laughing at me again……”


  “Hahaha, hurry and get moving then! Once this matter is settled, Brother Six will give everyone a handsome reward.”
……

  “Huang He!”


  “Huang He!”


  “You come out here right now! Why are you hiding inside? Are you still a man?”


  Following Fang Yuanyuan’s yells, there were other smashing and crushing sounds in the courtyard.

  Tian Danyue looked down from the window and turned back to stare at Huang He angrily.

  “Look at the kind of woman you’re involved with? Hurry up and make things clear to her. They are going to destroy the courtyard!”


  Huang He did not answer her but looked at Brother Six respectfully. “I’ll go down now. Brother Six, you rest here.”


  “Hm,” Brother Six responded, sitting lazily on the sofa, kneading a string of prayer beads calmly.

  Huang He left the room slowly. He looked at the dark sky out of the window and puffed a sigh as he hurried down the stairs.

  Tian Danyue followed behind him, cussing along as she walked down the stairs, as well as the sound of her high heels.

  “This little vixen is really not afraid, huh? She actually dared to come to Brother Liu’s territory to snatch a man—are all of you dead? How can all of you just watch her throw her weight about?”


  At the main door, there were two men in suits. When both of them saw them coming down the stairs, they addressed the woman, “Sister Yue.” Then, they moved aside and said haltingly. “Sister Yue, we…… we’ve asked her to stop……”


  “Hah! You’ve finally appeared!” By now, Fang Yuanyuan was really fuming in anger. When she saw Huang He coming out together with the woman, her anger got elevated to another level that even her eyebrows felt hot. “Huang He,” her voice was sharp and clear. “You tell me, what the hell is going on? What is your relationship with this woman?”


  “Yuanyuan……” Huang He called her name gently, his adam’s apple moving accordingly. When he also took a look at the people with Yuanyuan: Xiang Wan, Tang Yuanchu, Cheng Zheng, and He Wencai, he slowly gave a frown. “Since you don’t trust me anymore and even brought so many people to create a scene, there’s no need for me to say anything more.”


  She distrusted him and brought people to create a scene?

  Although Huang He did not say the sentence in a harsh manner, yet the words were as though a heavy hammer, hammering Fang Yuanyuan’s heart.

  That kind of feeling was like someone had given her a tight slap in front of everyone; she had no place to hide or heal her wound. It felt so painful that her heart hurts.

  “Huang He?” Fang Yuanyuan said his name in a broken, sobbing voice. “Are you’re saying that there is no need to say anything to me anymore? So you’re really with her?” She pointed at Tian Danyue. “You’re going to be with this woman……?”


  Huang He looked away to avoid meeting her gaze.

  “It’s up to you to think what you like. Now that you’ve made things come to this, we can’t go back to the way things were.”


  “You bleeping jerk!” Fang Yuanyuan yelled as two strings of tears rolled like beads down her cheek. It was clear she wanted to cry out loud, yet she endured her tears as she did not want to show her weakness. She immediately dashed toward Huang He like a leopard, grabbed his collar, and looked at him with her teary eyes.

  “Why? In just a day, you’ve actually changed?”


  Huang He stayed still, allowing Yuanyuan to grab his collar as well as yell and shout at him.

  “You should go back. We—are through.”


  We are through?

  We are through?!

  Urgh! D*mn! Fang Yuanyuan’s brain was muddled.

  She was unable to differentiate if this was real or a farce. Under Huang He’s apathetic voice and the woman’s disdainful sneers, she felt she was about to go crazy.

  “You shameless scumbag!”


  Slap! She did not know how she delivered the slap to Huang He.

  When she came to realize what happened, her hand was as though burning, and it hurt. Huang He’s head tilted to one side, a few red finger marks had instantly appeared on his face. It simply showed how hard she had slapped him.

  For a moment, the entire courtyard went silent.

  After that slap, nobody spoke a word.

  Huang He tasted blood at the throat; he swallowed it and lifted his hand to wipe the blood at corner of his mouth.

  “Is it enough?”


  Fang Yuanyuan moved her lips and suddenly bawled in tears.

  “Not enough! Not enough! Even a lifetime is not enough!”


  In the quiet night sky, her shrill voice exploded like firecrackers, but was especially heartbreaking.

  Xiang Wan’s spine felt tense and she walked over to support Yuanyuan. “Forget it, if the cattle refused to eat the hay, we couldn’t be pressing their head to make them eat? The scum is a heavenly match for the b*tch, just leave him be.”


  “Who are you scolding?” Tian Danyue asked in high-pitched voice.

  By this time, Fang Yuanyuan had completely lost control; she was sobbing and did not have any strength to quarrel anymore.

  Xiang Wan looked at Tian Danyue calmly while holding on to Fang Yuanyuan. “I’m her elder cousin. You didn’t hear wrongly, I just called you a b*tch and him a scum. What about it?”


  “Are you asking for death?” Tian Danyue stomped with her high heels and wanted to come at Xiang Wan.

  “Just stop!” Huang He gave a low shout, startling Tian Danyue in her tracks. She glared at Xiang Wan furiously and did not say a word.

  Huang He gulped and puffed a sigh before looking at Xiang Wan. “Take it that I’m the one who let her down. Teacher Xiang, please bring her back home……”


  “She’s my cousin. Of course, I need to bring her back.” Xiang Wan’s voice was very calm, but it felt chilly. Although she did not have the intention to argue with them, her stance and aura was not less harsher.

  She turned to take a look at Bai Muchuan’s car in the courtyard. “However, besides my cousin…… I need to bring my superior back as well.” The corners of her mouth turned upward to reveal an unfriendly smile……