Aboard the Treasure Music One cruise ship, Su Tiannan felt his blood stir at Tianyu's words. He even seriously wondered whether he was really going to spend the rest of his life tending the family's little patch of turf.
The two chatted outside for a while and smoked a few cigarettes before returning to the private room together. By then, Bai Hongbo had already performed several of his signature tricks, including a demonstration of his tongue probing the bushes. All in all, he drew nonstop cheers from Su Tianbei and the others.
They partied until past two in the morning, when Treasure Music One was about to close for the night, and everyone prepared to leave. Before they left, Bai Hongbo was still shouting, "Take whoever you want with you! I'll pay!"
Anyone who could say something like that was a true stand-up guy. Su Tianbei immediately picked two girls, planning to head back and get in some rehabilitation exercise himself. But then Third Sister called again and said their old man was already home. The news scared Su Tianbei limp on the spot. He asked Big Bai to reserve those two spots for him; he would take care of business when he had time.
Big Bai didn't mind. In his eyes, anyone willing to go whoring was a brother for life, the kind he could entrust his wife and children to. He readily agreed, then immediately called out with gusto, "Come on, that's it for tonight. Raise your glasses, everyone. Let's have one together!"
With their host taking the lead, everyone naturally had to give him face. They filled their glasses and listened to Bai Hongbo's speech. "Classmates, our old men being wrongfully locked up taught us a lesson! One chopstick snaps easily; five chopsticks fight for their lives! None of us have much clout in Zhannan, so we have to stick together to survive! The battle at Fortune House put Li Hongze in check and smashed Lu Feng. This is where we start becoming badass! From now on, I hope all you classmates will talk more and visit more often. We can help each other in business, and in bed, we can be comrades who trust each other with our backs!"
Bai Hongbo's education only stretched far enough for a speech like that. It sounded a little crude, but the sentiment was certainly right, and he had a way of making people feel close to him. Su Tiannan was the first to respond. "Brother Bai's right. From now on, we stick together!"
"Come on, bottoms up! To the pounds of blood we left at Fortune House!" Bai Hongbo roared.
Everyone clinked glasses and drained them.
From that point on, the Bai Family, Su Family, and Kong Family began visiting one another more frequently. And after coming to Dragon City, Su Tianyu could finally say he had made a group of friends.
That night, only Bai Hongbo went out for rehabilitation exercise, unaware that his father was also being released that evening. None of that mattered, though. His phone had long since run out of battery and shut down.
Among the others, Kong Zhenghui drank until he was throwing up foam, while Su Tianyu and the rest obediently went home to see the old man.
At the Su Family compound in Zhannan District.
After seeing Wang Daolin off, Second Uncle Su Zhengcai sat in the middle of the courtyard, satisfying his cravings with dinner. He had really suffered during his time inside. When he first arrived, the younger inmates showed him no respect, and with his foul temper, he got into plenty of fights. On top of that, Li Xing deliberately targeted him and barred his family from depositing money into his prison account, so he had to eat the same terrible food as the ordinary detainees. During the first week, he couldn't even take a dump.
Once the younger generation entered the courtyard, Su Tianbei grinned and called out, "Father of mine, you're back?"
Su Zhengcai shot him a sidelong glance. "That intelligence of yours really does come from your mother!"
Hearing that from beside him, Second Aunt immediately stood up and cursed, "Your mother! Nothing good ever comes out of that filthy mouth of yours. You lot talk. I'm going to bed!"
"I'm going to bed too." Third Sister stood up with a yawn.
Su Zhengcai pointed at Tianbei and continued scolding him. "I'll settle up with you tomorrow for all your reckless nonsense. Go on, get your ass to bed. I want a word with Tianyu!"
Seeing his father safely home had already filled Su Tianbei with joy. He was more than happy to go straight to bed and avoid another scolding. "Sure, you two talk. I'm off!"
"Then should I head back too?" Su Tiannan asked.
"Yeah, go on. We'll talk tomorrow." Second Uncle was still quite polite to his eldest son, nodding in his usual tone.
"Well, that's it. Now that you're back, none of us get any fatherly love." Su Tiannan teased him, then patted Tianyu on the shoulder. "You two have a chat. I'm going inside to sleep."
"Sure!" Su Tianyu sat on the concrete stool in the pavilion and grinned at Second Uncle. "Not bad. You little old man look pretty lively!"
Su Zhengcai raised his arm and smacked Su Tianyu on the head. Only after looking him up and down for a long while did he nod in satisfaction. "You little mutt, Sixth, not bad! You've made something of yourself! Paying for your schooling wasn't a waste!"
"Heh." Su Tianyu chuckled. "You didn't suffer too much in there, did you?"
"When I first went in, some of the young punks didn't want to fall in line. I beat up two of them. Once I'd established myself, everything was fine." Su Zhengcai pulled out his cigarette pack and tossed Tianyu a cigarette.
"Haha, at your age, you're still fighting to be top dog?" Su Tianyu spoke so freely with his second uncle because he knew the man was a real character. He talked like a street tough and seemed every bit an old gangster with nothing useful to do. In reality, though, Second Uncle had carried a gun, fought on the front lines, and served as a junior officer in his younger years. He had only left the service when the Corps in District One underwent large-scale troop cuts.
"The men of our Su Family have to be dragons wherever we go. Living with someone pushing our heads around? Not a chance." Su Zhengcai took a drag and picked some sleep from his eye, then sighed. "But honestly, I was muddleheaded this time. I underestimated the Changqing Company. Fuck, we took a bigger loss than I ever expected, but we had it coming!"
"Yeah." Su Tianyu wholeheartedly agreed with his second uncle.
"Wang Daolin told me plenty. Your eldest brother called me a couple of days ago and talked a lot about you too." Su Zhengcai patted Tianyu on the shoulder and tilted his head. "Kid, you showed brains and guts in this affair! So let me test you now. With things where they are, what should our family do next?"
Su Tianyu looked up at the starry sky, took a drag, and answered, "The way I see it, our family hasn't reached the point where we can make money standing tall! Taking on Changqing only let us stand up for a little while. To wrap things up, we still have to kneel!"
"Fucking bullshit!" Su Zhengcai cursed. "How come you've got no balls?"
"Why are you cursing at me?"
"You're wrong, and I'll smack you too!" Su Zhengcai glared.
"I'm just telling the truth. Our connections in this industry are too weak. Sure, this incident got us connected with Wang Daolin, but the Sanitation Management Council is still the one with its hand on our lifeline! What else can we do but kneel?" Su Tianyu replied, spreading his hands.
"Fuck that. I, Su Zhengcai, have never knelt to earn my keep! Whatever happens, happens!" Su Zhengcai waved his hand with absolute defiance.
At noon the next day.
In the banquet hall at Yu Jinrong's home, the four tough guys-Su Zhengcai, Su Tiannan, Su Tianyu, and Su Tianbei-were all kneeling on the tatami, holding their wine cups and nodding and bowing with broad smiles at Yu Jinrong and two other leaders from the Management Council.
Viewed from the side, the kneeling posture of these four brave, loyal men of the Su Family was absolutely textbook. There wasn't a single fault to be found.
Upstairs, a beauty with large eyes asked a young man, "Who are all those people?"
"They're all in sanitation. They came to pay their respects to my dad!"
"...Then that makes sense!"
"What makes sense?" the young man asked.
"Damn it, one of them smashed my car! He even cracked my Winnie the Pooh's head open!" the wide-eyed beauty said through gritted teeth. "I remember now. It was him. His name's Lu Feng!"
Before you continue