How Did You, the Gang Leader, Raise Them?

A mighty throng passed through the market.

The commoners lowered their heads, not daring to look directly at them.

"Master Lin."

A commoner spotted Lin Fan in his uniform, a silver baton on his back and a knife at his waist. His eyes lit up. He picked up some of the fruit he was selling and hurried over, full of gratitude.

"Master Lin, have a pear. I grew it myself."

He couldn't bear to refuse the commoners' kindness.

"Thanks!"

They had been terrified when they first saw the gang members, but now that they'd seen Lin Fan, not one of them was afraid anymore. Who didn't know that their Master Lin was upright and impartial? Not only had He Sen of Loyalty Hall been arrested and paraded through the streets, but even Headman Chen, who'd tried to get him released, had been beaten black and blue with a single punch.

The commoners' thinking was simple.

Whoever treated them well was a good person.

Watching Lin Fan surrounded by the commoners, who kept feeding him treats, Wang Changhai felt a strange stirring in his heart. He remembered what his wife had told him: a golden phoenix had landed in his chicken coop.

Now that he thought about it, she was right.

"Master Lin, thank you." Madam Li, who'd been targeted by Jin Biao, had nothing much to offer. She approached with a baked flatbread, overwhelmed with gratitude. If the Master Lin before her hadn't been different from the other constables, she couldn't imagine what might have happened to her—or what kind of revenge she would have suffered.

As she spoke, she started to kneel before Lin Fan.

"There's no need for such a grand gesture. As a member of the Security Bureau, it's my duty to protect every ordinary citizen." Lin Fan steadied her and said, "Don't worry. Jin Biao and his gang won't be getting out. The subsequent interrogations have linked them to several murders, and they'll receive a heavy sentence."

The commoners pricked up their ears. They hadn't expected the gang to be tied to murder cases, too.

Lin Fan looked around and cleared his throat a few times. "All of you, go about your lives and don't be afraid of being bullied. If some local ruffians come after you again while I'm away, just endure it for now, then come find me at the Security Bureau afterward. I'll take care of it."

The crowd erupted.

"Master Lin is fair!"

"Master Lin is the incorruptible judge in the hearts of us common folk!"

"Hey, with a good constable like Master Lin, ordinary people like us can finally live in peace."

He accepted all their praise. It was only natural for the commoners to praise him when he took action and got things done.

He was going to climb his way to the top, standing tall.

Seeing how much the commoners adored their Brother Lin, the brothers from Jili Pier were fired up. Even though nobody had praised them, they still held their heads high, feeling as if some of the glory had rubbed off on them.

Wu Yong and Qian Tao clenched their fists.

They would follow Brother Lin's lead in everything.

In the past, the hall master's word had carried the most weight. But that notion had quietly changed. Now, it was their Brother Lin's word that mattered most.

Lin Fan raised a hand high in farewell, clasped his fist, and left the market.

The commoners watched him go. In their eyes, Master Lin's figure was tall and imposing, like a great mountain.

Before long, they reached Loyalty Hall's headquarters. When they arrived, they saw a large group of Loyalty Hall members standing straight outside the door.

All at once, their eyes turned toward Lin Fan.

"Hall Master, are you trying to give me a show of force?" Lin Fan said with a smile.

He didn't take the display seriously.

But in the eyes of those underlings, he seemed to catch a hint of admiration.

Lin Fan's fame was thunderous among them. Those few incidents had been explosive, and they talked about them whenever they had nothing else to do.

One man taking on eighteen.

Dozens of men from the shantytown had been beaten until they screamed, and even Yuan Jiang had been left in a miserable state.

It wasn't only women who admired the strong. Men did, too.

Especially someone as terrifyingly strong as Lin Fan.

The council chamber.

Loyalty Hall's senior members were all there. A man with black hair streaked with white sat in the grand chair at the head of the room. He was Chen Qingshan, the leader of Loyalty Hall.

Below him sat three hall masters.

One wore an eyepatch over one eye. He was calm and composed, resting with his eyes closed.

Another was fat, disheveled, and slovenly. He took off his shoes, put his feet on the chair, and vigorously scraped between his toes.

The last had slightly dark skin and a sturdy build. He held a dagger and, without saying a word, kept his head bowed as he intently picked dirt out from beneath his fingernails.

"Scrape away, will you? What do you think this place is? You scrape all day, and the stench fills the whole room." Chen Qingshan was in a foul mood. So many things had happened in the gang, and seeing Huang Wei behave so shamelessly only made him angrier.

Huang Wei looked completely unconcerned, though a little aggrieved. "Boss, I'm itchy."

He continued scraping between his toes.

The eyepatch-wearing hall master said, "Boss, that kid's one of Wang Changhai's men. Now he's a constable with the Security Bureau, and he's arrested He Sen. That's a slap in our face. If they can't reach an agreement today, I say we shouldn't let him leave, either."

Huang Wei looked up. "That guy can really fight."

The dark-skinned hall master scoffed. "So what if he can fight? He's still just a man. We've all clawed our way here through bloodshed. What kind of person haven't we seen?"

In the council chamber, one person chimed in, then another, but in the end, they were all saying the same thing: they had to make this guy release He Sen.

Chen Qingshan said nothing, but his expression made it clear that he was very unhappy.

Just then,

Footsteps sounded outside.

Everyone's attention was drawn to them at once.

Lin Fan and Wang Changhai entered the chamber, while the brothers who'd come with them waited outside.

As soon as they stepped inside, Huang Wei drawled mockingly, "Well, well, how did our great flatterer end up bringing so many people here? Don't tell me you're plotting something."

Wang Changhai glared at Huang Wei. He was just about to introduce Lin Fan to the gang leader when—

Lin Fan went straight to an empty seat, set his silver baton on the tea table, and plopped down. After glancing around the room, he fixed his gaze on Chen Qingshan.

"My time is precious. I don't have time to shoot the breeze with you. Say what you have to say."

Lin Fan's attitude set the hall masters off at once.

Arrogant.

So damn arrogant.

"Kid, you're way too damn full of yourself." Huang Wei flew into a rage. He picked up the shoe he'd taken off and hurled it at Lin Fan. He wanted to give the kid a taste of his own medicine and show him that this was Loyalty Hall, not a place where he could run wild.

He didn't even check whether it had hit Lin Fan.

Instead, he turned to Wang Changhai. "This is the man you brought up? You're a hall master—do you even know how to raise your men? You—"

Bang!

Before he could finish,

Huang Wei felt as if a mountain had crashed down on him, knocking him straight off his chair.

Everyone saw it clearly. Huang Wei had thrown his stinking shoe at the other man, and after dodging it, the kid had jumped to his feet, grabbed a nearby grand chair, and charged Huang Wei.

He swung the chair and unleashed a storm of blows.

"Full of myself? You're the one asking for death."

"You brazen piece of trash, daring to lay hands on a Security Bureau constable! Looks like you've never sat on a Tiger Bench in prison. If you're eager to try one, I'll take you there myself today."

There was no playing nice—only an all-out beating.

Huang Wei screamed, his cries shrill and piercing.

"Boss, save me! Save me..."

Everyone was stunned.

Wang Changhai stood there with his mouth hanging open, staring blankly. Wait, did the conflict really have to erupt this suddenly? He hadn't even sat down, let alone said anything.

The commotion was so loud that Loyalty Hall's underlings came rushing in. They were just as stunned when they saw the scene, but no one dared step forward.

Chen Qingshan and the others looked so grim their faces seemed ready to drip water.

Crack.

The grand chair broke apart.

Huang Wei curled into a ball, able to manage only a low, muffled groan.

Lin Fan exhaled and shook out his hand, looking dissatisfied. He scolded angrily,

"The underlings being ignorant is one thing, but the bosses are just as clueless."

Then he turned his gaze to Chen Qingshan.

"How did you, the gang leader, raise them?"