Harmonious Neighbors

"When, when did they start playing mahjong again?"

Li Mao pointed his chopsticks toward the ceiling and asked irritably.

He Che thought carefully about when the upstairs noise disturbance had started acting up again.

"Over a week ago, I think... It seemed to start last Wednesday."

"Fuck, fuck!"

Li Mao had been bottling up a bellyful of anger with nowhere to vent it.

He couldn't afford to provoke an Enigma, and he couldn't beat up his own rebellious little brat.

Did everyone really think they were so lucky that they could dance the waltz on top of Li Mao's head?

He threw down his chopsticks, went into the kitchen, grabbed a cleaver, and made to head upstairs to "persuade" the neighbors with virtue.

Apparently, he hadn't beaten them badly enough last time...

This time, he would have a nice, thorough "discussion" with that bald bastard about whether they could stop playing mahjong.

The moment He Che saw Li Mao pick up a weapon, he feared the man might lose his temper and actually start swinging the cleaver.

After all, the last time Li Mao had gone upstairs, he had come back after breaking one of the neighbor's legs.

Fortunately, the other party hadn't made a fuss afterward. Otherwise, it would have been troublesome to handle.

He Che hurried to his feet and blocked the door, trying to persuade him. "Forget it. It's broad daylight. We can't strip people of the right to play mahjong in their own home, can we? Besides, I'm done with my exams. A little noise is fine. Isn't that just the atmosphere in this building?"

The residents of the housing complex where He Che and Li Mao lived were hardly model citizens. They were all thugs and hooligans, and the people of Willow City called the place a gathering ground for scum and trash.

Filth and chaos were the norm.

Sometimes, several drunks would be sprawled all over the hallway.

Playing cards was even more common.

Back then, He Che had found Li Mao at someone else's card table.

The problem was that the neighbors upstairs had not had this mahjong habit before. It was only after a new tenant moved in a few months ago that this hobby appeared.

It would not have been a big deal, except those months had happened to be when He Che was preparing for the college entrance exam.

So Li Mao had gone upstairs and knocked on the neighbor's door.

But that stupid asshole hadn't said a single nice thing. He had mocked Li Mao's stutter with a group of people and told He Che that, since he already lived here, he should stop dreaming about getting into college and becoming some kind of social elite.

Those two remarks had hit Li Mao's nerves. In a rage, he had not only smashed the other party's home to pieces but had also broken one of the man's legs while he was at it.

There were countless downsides to living here.

But there was definitely one advantage: everyone here had some kind of criminal record or shady business hanging over them.

Even if you beat someone to death, you might not end up in prison. You might even receive a commendation banner and a cash reward the next day.

In short, Li Mao's little operation had thoroughly intimidated them and perfectly achieved his goal of creating a good study environment for the kid.

After He Che found out, though, he gave Li Mao a thorough scolding for being too reckless. If they pursued the matter, they could still scrape together money for compensation, but if he ended up with a criminal record, wouldn't his whole life be ruined?

At the time, with He Che's college entrance exam being the highest priority, Li Mao merely pursed his lips in disagreement and said nothing in rebuttal.

In truth, he had already silently concluded that being good at studying did not necessarily mean having a good brain.

Had He Che followed him for so many years without noticing that his life was already ruined beyond all repair?

Could his life possibly get any more ruined?

He was already worse than an aluminum can. At least someone was willing to pay to recycle an aluminum can, while his life only deserved to be tossed into the "hazardous waste bin."

Li Mao dangled the cleaver in his hand and shouted at He Che impatiently, "Move! Stay out of a, adults' business! Bad a, atmospheres need righteous people like me to clean them up! No crooked, evil influences are getting through my door! If he provokes me, that's his bad luck!"

"Besides, you're done with your exams, and I, I need to catch up on sleep! Keep stopping me, and I'll use you to t, test the blade!"

Thinking back, He Che realized that Li Mao had indeed said he wanted to catch up on sleep when he came home and had told him not to disturb him.

With the noise upstairs, along with the constant clack-clack of high heels stomping across the ceiling, even someone like Li Mao, who usually passed out the moment his head touched a pillow, would have trouble falling asleep.

Seeing that, He Che snatched the cleaver from Li Mao's hand and compromised. "Then I'll go upstairs with you and talk to them this time. Don't bring this thing. It could cause trouble."

Li Mao was not some murderous maniac or outlaw.

He had no desire to spend his next life in an Alpha prison playing Chrysanthemums Bloom All Over the Mountains.

Taking the easy way out, he let go of the cleaver and had He Che return it to the kitchen.

"Let's go." Only after He Che came back did he say this to Li Mao, who stood by the door with his hands in his pockets.

The moment he heard the command, Li Mao's long legs moved at lightning speed.

Still, as He Che walked upstairs beside him, he felt that Li Mao's gait was strangely odd today, though he could not pinpoint what exactly was strange about it.

Maybe he was overthinking it...

When they reached the upstairs apartment, the racket inside became even more obvious. The whole hallway felt like some massive underground card parlor.

Li Mao raised his foot and kicked the security door before them twice, with more than twice the force he used to kick his own front door.

He Che, who had intended to knock politely, silently lowered the hand he had just raised.

Li Mao noticed the little movement beside him and sarcastically remarked, "What's that hand f, for? When they open the door, are you gonna g, grab his bald head and give him a good scalp massage to h, help his hair grow back?"

He Che: ...

It proved that it was best not to provoke your elders for no reason, even if they were only seven years older and unrelated by blood.

When Li Mao saw that He Che had gone silent, he knew his kid's rebellious phase had received the ultimate cure.

He snorted and ordered He Che, "Stay, stay away from me! Why are you standing so close? Did I reproduce through mitosis or something?"

This time, He Che was displeased. He shot Li Mao a sidelong look.

"Didn't we already finish arguing just now? Which grown man has a heart smaller than the eye of a needle?"

"You..." Li Mao thought better of it and swallowed his habitual curse.

He glared at He Che. "I'm gonna s, smoke. Don't want to choke you."

He Che's expression darkened as he asked, "Can't you just not smoke?"

Li Mao muttered, "Bossy dad."

All he knew how to do was boss Li Mao around, while he would only give other people scalp spas.

Of course he couldn't not smoke. His body was practically falling apart, and he did not know whether he would have the strength later to smash that bald bastard's other leg.

And how exactly was he supposed to ask the hospital to remove a mark?

An Alpha like him being marked probably counted as a difficult and rare case, right?

Would it be especially expensive?

He had given all his money to that little brat He Che. Where was he supposed to get more?

And that Enigma with the apparently abnormal brain... probably would not hold it against him anymore, right...

The moment Li Mao thought of that blue-eyed pervert, he was so frightened that he hurriedly kicked the still-closed security door several more times with loud bangs, trying to kick last night's memories out of his head.