Chapter 57
Chapter 57
Pei Yuming circled the flower bed in the residential complex, smoking one cigarette after another. Every so often, he looked up toward the building, feeling a bitterness he could not describe.
For some reason, Su Jin was taking especially long this time. As he walked around the flower bed, he somehow ended up in the pavilion across the way without realizing it.
He lifted his head absentmindedly and saw a familiar figure drift past beneath the trees. The familiar dark-gray jacket on that person looked, no matter how he looked at it, exactly like his father’s.
Before he could even process it, his legs had already carried him after the man.
Before he could catch up, two burly men suddenly emerged from the grove beside them. One of them made a gesture at his father, apparently signaling for him to follow.
Pei Yuming was certain he didn’t know those two men. Judging by their age, they didn’t look like his father’s friends either.
Who were they?
His head full of questions, he followed them from behind. Even in his panic, he remembered to keep his distance. The two men led his father to a corner by the back wall of the residential complex. The man wearing sunglasses looked around, and from the way he moved, Pei Yuming felt he was probably checking for surveillance cameras.
What kind of business had to be kept away from cameras?
Questions piled up in his mind as he cautiously moved closer along the shrubs.
When he was about a dozen meters away, he finally saw clearly: his father was taking a thick stack of pink banknotes out of the cloth bag he always carried and handing it, trembling, to Sunglasses Guy.
Sunglasses Guy accepted the money like he was doing him a favor, counted it a few times at random, and said in a thuggish tone, “That’s it? You trying to send off a beggar?”
Pei Yuming didn’t hear what his father said. The next second, he saw Sunglasses Guy shove him, not too hard but not gently either, nearly pushing the old man to the ground.
A rush of fury shot straight to Pei Yuming’s head. He no longer cared whether he was a match for the two of them. He rushed out and shouted at them, “Stop! Who are you people? What right do you have to take my dad’s money?”
The two were startled by the hotheaded young man who had suddenly appeared. But once they reacted, not only did they show no fear, they even deliberately took two steps toward him. Sunglasses Guy, in particular, pointed at Pei Yuming arrogantly and threatened, “You’re his son, right? Good. Perfect timing. Your dad still owes us five hundred and thirty thousand. A father’s debt is paid by his son, so you’ll pay it back for him today!”
Only then did Pei Yuming realize he had been reckless. Although counting his father, there were two of them as well, they were in a completely different weight class from the two young, strong men across from them. He regretted rushing out directly just now. He should have called the police first, then come over to stall them. That would have been the way to protect himself and his father.
But it was obviously too late for regrets now. While the two men still hadn’t made a move, he quickly took out his phone, preparing to call the police.
The two men opposite him reacted fast. Sunglasses Guy charged forward first and knocked his phone away, snarling, “Fucking behave yourself!”
Pei Yuming dodged the kick he threw at him, crouching down to pick up his phone, but he failed to avoid the second kick. Sunglasses Guy sent him sprawling flat on his back.
“Son!” His father was terrified and wanted to come over to stop Sunglasses Guy, but halfway there, he no longer dared to get close.
“I’m fine!” Pei Yuming braced himself against the ground and struggled to his feet, hurriedly waving at his father. “Dad, hurry up and leave! Don’t worry about me!”
“Leave? Leave where?” The other man in a white T-shirt blocked the path in front of his father and declared arrogantly, “Nobody’s leaving today unless you cough up the money!”
Pei Yuming turned his head and coughed twice before he could speak. “What you’re doing is illegal.”
Sunglasses Guy and White T-shirt Guy had never expected that after holding it in for so long, this was what he would come out with. They burst out laughing on the spot.
Sunglasses Guy bent down and hauled Pei Yuming up from the ground, baring his teeth in a sneer. “Illegal? Then why haven’t the police come to arrest us after all this time?”
Pei Yuming glared at him with hatred. While Sunglasses Guy wasn’t paying attention, he raised his fist and swung it into the man’s face, knocking his sunglasses off on the spot.
“Oh no…” Seeing that his son had actually thrown a punch, Father Pei was so frightened he covered his face. “Don’t, don’t fight… Let’s talk this out…”
Whether his voice was too soft or none of them took him seriously, the moment he finished speaking, the fight broke out. Of course, it was less a fight than a one-sided beating, with Sunglasses Guy and White T-shirt Guy kicking Pei Yuming back to the ground.
Pei Yuming curled up to protect his organs, but their punches and kicks were heavy and vicious. In just a few blows, pain was tearing through his entire body.
Just as he thought these two men who had no regard for law or rules might actually beat him to death today, a familiar shout suddenly rang in his ears. “Stop! What do you think you’re doing?”
That shout made both men stop kicking. Pei Yuming seized the chance to crawl aside, and in the end, his father shakily helped him to his feet.
Pei Yuming never would have expected that the person who had shouted for them to stop was Lu Dong. Lu Dong, whom he had known for more than twenty years and who had hardly ever even lost his temper with anyone, had actually dared to interfere in this kind of violence?
It was hard to say it wasn’t because he was saving him.
For a moment, Pei Yuming’s feelings were indescribably complicated.
“Lao Pei, are you all right? Can you hold up?” Lu Dong glared sharply at the two men, taking advantage of their hesitation to ask in a hurry.
Pei Yuming waved a hand, indicating that he was fine.
Lu Dong nodded at him, then pointed at the two men with the hand holding his phone. “I’ve already called the police. Don’t think either of you is walking away from this in one piece today.”
“Heh. Did we say we were walking away?” Sunglasses Guy looked utterly disdainful as he slowly approached Lu Dong, clearly preparing to strike.
Lu Dong’s cheeks tightened. At the critical moment, he actually didn’t turn and run. He didn’t even take a single step back.
Pei Yuming almost saw him in a whole new light. He raised a hand to free himself from his father’s support and signaled for him to hurry away, then limped slowly toward Lu Dong.
Two against two, and their side was still at an absolute disadvantage: one injured, the other too weak to truss a chicken. No wonder the two men opposite them weren’t afraid even after Lu Dong said he had called the police. In this situation, they could beat them up and run afterward. It wasn’t as if anyone could stop them.
“What do we do?” Pei Yuming asked Lu Dong in a low voice.
Lu Dong kept his eyes fixed on the two men as he answered Pei Yuming. “If it really comes down to it, we’ll just have to tough it out. They won’t actually beat us to death.”
“…” So he did have some self-awareness after all.
“How did you get mixed up with them?” Lu Dong asked in return.
Pei Yuming said, “I don’t know. They said my dad owed them money. Before we could even get it straight, they started hitting me.”
“Owed them money?”
Lu Dong’s eyes lit up. He said to Sunglasses Guy, whose large hand had already reached his collar, “Brother, all you want is money, right? How much? I’ll pay it.”
The words worked exactly as intended. As soon as Sunglasses Guy heard them, he lowered his hand. He looked at Lu Dong suspiciously, sizing him up from head to toe, then warned, “If you dare mess with me, I don’t care who you are. I won’t let you off. Got it?”
Lu Dong used a hand to smooth the collar Sunglasses Guy had wrinkled, then said, “Go on. How much?”
Sunglasses Guy was convinced by his display of wealth. He couldn’t help running his tongue over his teeth. “One million.”