I Stabbed Him Because I Didn't Like the Look of Him
But this time, even if Yan Hung tried to swindle someone, he couldn't swindle himself. As for whether Song Tianyao would swindle Golden-Tooth Lei, his Big Brother in name, Yan Hung didn't care. He had only borrowed Fuyixing's underworld name; it wasn't as though he had truly resolved to spend his whole life in a gang.
"I borrowed forty thousand Hong Kong dollars from the gang this morning. Can you get my Big Brother to wipe the debt clean?" Yan Hung put it directly to Song Tianyao. He was going to Sha Tau Kok to serve as a uniformed officer now, with no way to rake in money, and he didn't want to remain saddled with such an enormous debt to the gang.
Song Tianyao nodded. "No problem."
"At seven tonight, I'll bring my Big Brother to the Taibai Seafood Restaurant." Having received Song Tianyao's answer, Yan Hung stayed no longer. He rose and headed out with his subordinate A Wai, who had been dragged into the mess because of him.
Song Tianyao glanced at the thin stack of three thousand-dollar notes on the table, the corners of his lips lifting. If this paltry sum was all he got for a hard night's work, wouldn't that do a terrible disservice to the effort he had put in?
He had to go back to the Taibai Seafood Restaurant that evening, and there was a good chance he wouldn't make it home to sleep again. He hadn't gone home last night either, so his parents were probably worried about him to some extent. On top of that, he had already spoken to Zhao Wenye at the docks that morning, and Zhao Wenye should be reporting to his home after finishing work at the docks later.
At that thought, Song Tianyao felt he needed to take advantage of this free time to go home. At the very least, he could give his mother the three thousand Hong Kong dollars first, so she wouldn't have to worry about the debt for the time being.
After asking Wu Jinliang to book another banquet table on the third floor of the Taibai Seafood Restaurant, Song Tianyao walked out of Lu Yu Teahouse. Seeing Fish Stall Kun still standing guard outside the entrance, Song Tianyao sighed. This Double Red Pole might have had a sour look on his face, but he was fairly loyal. Unfortunately, the object of that loyalty wasn't Song Tianyao.
"Brother Khun, it's all settled. Go back and get some rest. Thanks for your trouble." Song Tianyao waved to Fish Stall Kun and climbed into a rickshaw. "Sorry for the trouble, the Squatter Area on Jialin Road."
Chapter 30: I Stabbed Him Because I Didn't Like the Look of Him
When Song Tianyao returned from Lu Yu Teahouse to the Squatter Area on Jialin Road, the neighbors were even more surprised to see him step out of a rickshaw than they had been yesterday when they heard he had been rejected by the police academy. Yesterday, after Song Tianyao was rejected, the neighbors who had lent the Song family money had come knocking to collect their debts, and even their neighbor Li Laoshi and his family of three had come to break off the engagement. It had been more entertaining than a storybook novel. How was it that Song Tianyao had returned today without a trace of anxiety or panic on his face, wearing such a composed expression? Most importantly, the Western suit he was wearing now probably hadn't come cheap.
"A-Yao, you're back?" A young man, emboldened by his usual friendship with Song Tianyao, came over bare-chested from the side. He leaned closer curiously and looked Song Tianyao up and down. "That suit cost quite a bit, didn't it?"
"Tell your mother to come to my house and collect the money later." Song Tianyao couldn't be bothered with the man's indirect probing. His blunt reply left the man speechless on the spot, and he brushed past him.
After passing through several low, narrow alleys, Song Tianyao had yet to reach his door when, just like yesterday, he heard his mother's familiar voice again. But today, she seemed to sound a little less confident.
Song Tianyao walked over slowly and saw two bare-chested men with tattoos standing outside his home, threatening Zhao Meizhen with vicious expressions. His short, dark, and skinny father, Song Chunliang, stood inside the doorway behind Zhao Meizhen, holding his younger sister Song Wenwen tightly. Zhao Meizhen stood in the doorway, both hands braced firmly against the frame as she confronted the two men. But her words had none of the fierceness with which she had battled the neighbors yesterday; instead, there was a note of appeasement and panic in them. The other neighbors were all hiding in their own homes, peering through cracks in their doors or poking their heads out of their second-floor attic windows to watch the commotion at the Song house.
"Brother Hua, my family owes the neighbors money, but we don't owe you any!" Zhao Meizhen gripped the doorframe with both hands. Though the two men shoved her around, she refused to budge an inch.
The man in the lead, Brother Hua, said impatiently, "Cut the crap. Lan Du Zhong lost three hundred dollars at my gambling den today, and his wife gave me this IOU to cover part of the debt. It says you owe him two hundred dollars, and it's got your thumbprint on it. What, trying to skip out on the debt? For the sake of being neighbors, I've valued your daughter at the high price of two hundred dollars. Just send her to Kowloon Walled City, and your debt will be considered paid in full! If you know what's good for you, step aside now and let us take your daughter. We can still be neighborly. Otherwise, you know I'm with Fuyixing..."
Before he could finish, Song Tianyao had already walked over to the chopping block outside his neighbor Li Laoshi's house, where braised meats were cut, and picked up the wooden-handled beef knife, greasy and fragrant with meat. He approached Brother Hua from behind, hooked one arm around his neck, and drove the beef knife straight into his chest with the other hand!
Song Tianyao immediately pulled out the knife and released him. Blood spurted from Brother Hua's wound! Song Tianyao's stab had given him a hemopneumothorax.
But before Brother Hua could turn around and see who had stabbed him, Song Tianyao drove the beef knife into his lower back from behind! The sharp blade made a heart-stopping puff as it sank into flesh. This time, Song Tianyao didn't pull the knife out. He left its handle protruding from the man's back as Brother Hua crumpled to the ground and convulsed again and again.
Only when Brother Hua fell to the ground did his underling react! He drew the watermelon knife from behind his back and hesitated, wanting to slash at Song Tianyao. Song Tianyao fixed him with a piercing gaze. "You want to lie here too?"
Startled by the murderous aura Song Tianyao gave off, the underling ultimately couldn't muster the courage to charge. He glanced at Brother Hua on the ground, then turned and ran. "You bastard, just wait! I'm going to get people!"
Song Tianyao paid him no attention. After scaring him off, he turned and walked over to the chopping block outside Li Laoshi's house. He picked up a towel beside it and carefully wiped the grease from his hands, where it had rubbed off from the knife. At the same time, he spoke unhurriedly to Li Laoshi's tightly shut door:
"Someone's been stabbed. Which neighbor will go fetch a policeman? Uncle Laoshi, would you like to go fetch one now? I did use your knife to kill someone. You'd better hurry and get the police here to clear things up, or you'll be in trouble if they count you as my accomplice."
There was a thud. Song Tianyao looked over and saw that his mother, Zhao Meizhen, had been so frightened by the scene before her that she had fallen to the ground.