Borrowing Influence

Tu Gang's father, Tu Ji, ran an auto repair shop in the south of town. There weren't many cars around in those days, and whenever he landed a job, he generally charged an outrageous price. If an out-of-town car came in, a few thugs would block the entrance with wrenches in hand, and the customer had to pay whatever he demanded...

With a little share of the profits going to Zhu Hongzhi to smooth over minor troubles, Tu Ji lived very comfortably...

Later, Tu Ji went into car accessories, mainly serving locals. He became much more scrupulous but made even more money... Who could have imagined that, a decade or so later, Qingshan Town would develop at breakneck speed thanks to its location? The first wave of people who had gone to seek their fortunes on the coast came back, and even luxury cars with pig-snout grilles or underpants-shaped badges became a common sight in the little town. Tu Ji's car accessories shop raked in money, and he even bought a whole row of five-story buildings along the street. He was, by any measure, loaded...

Qin An and Junzi marched Tu Gang into Tu Ji's auto repair shop with his arms twisted behind him. At this point, it was only a fairly large yard with a wide entrance. Several people sat idling here and there inside. With a cigarette in his mouth, Tu Ji was squinting sideways at a television set sitting on the ground. He was just like his son...

Seeing his son's battered face, Tu Ji's eyebrows shot up. "Who beat you up like this? I'll hack the bastard to death!"

Tu Ji had once ruptured a student's eardrum, so his explosive temper went without saying. He looked at Qin An and Junzi and paused. He knew Junzi. "Junzi, what's going on...?"

"Why don't you explain?" Junzi let go of Tu Gang. All he intended to do was keep Qin An from getting beaten up. His original plan had been completely different from what Qin An was doing now. Since Qin An insisted on coming here, he could handle it himself...

"Dad, kill them for me!" The sight of Tu Ji sent Tu Gang screeching like a cat whose tail had been stepped on...

To Qin An, he seemed more like a dog that had been beaten lame and had finally found its protective master...

Tu Ji's face darkened. Junzi was somebody, but what father could stand seeing his own son beaten into such a miserable state?

Several mechanics approached with wrenches on their shoulders, moving to surround them...

"Get the hell back where you belong. Do you take me for some out-of-town sucker you can fleece? Cut that crap..." Junzi said coldly...

Tu Ji waved them back, but said, "Junzi, unless you explain this properly, you won't find it so easy to walk out of this yard. You'll get a taste of that crap too..."

Although Junzi had told Qin An to speak, it had never even occurred to Tu Ji to take Qin An seriously...

"Uncle Tu, I'm Qin An, Qin Huai and Li Qin's son from the South Building. I don't know if you still remember me..." Qin An finally spoke...

Junzi could barely suppress a laugh. If he hadn't just seen how enthusiastically Qin An had kicked someone, he really might have taken him for a well-behaved, polite child...

"Qin Huai and Li Qin's son? You've grown so much I hardly recognized you..." Tu Ji wasn't in the mood to make small talk with Qin An, and Junzi's damned attitude was getting on his nerves, so he asked, "Do you know what happened?"

"Tu Gang has been pestering Li Changxing and Liu Wei's daughter, Li Xinlan, lately. I've been taking Li Xinlan to school these past few days. Tu Gang thought I'd stolen his girl and cornered me outside the school gates, so I brought Junzi along and beat him up..." Qin An gave a simple, clear account of what had happened. This little mess wasn't complicated to begin with...

Tu Ji knew both Li Changxing and Liu Wei. They had all originally worked in the education system and lived in the same building, so they saw each other all the time. They weren't particularly close, but they would offer each other a cigarette and nod in greeting when they met...

He had some recollection of Li Xinlan too. Tu Ji didn't have any particular objection to his son having a girlfriend at this age, but to think Qin An and Junzi had beaten Tu Gang into this state. His anger gradually became impossible to contain, and he swung a slap at Qin An's face...

Junzi reacted swiftly and caught Tu Ji's hand. Seeing their boss strike out, the mechanics rushed over with their wrenches and crowded around them. Without hesitation, Junzi pinned Tu Ji to the ground, a dagger appearing in his palm, its point pressed against Tu Ji's lower back...

Tu Gang was scared senseless. Who could have imagined Junzi would be this ruthless, drawing a knife at the first disagreement and refusing to take the slightest loss...? Afraid of hurting their own boss, the mechanics kept making threats but didn't dare move any closer...

"Brother Jun, let Boss Tu go... Boss Tu, don't start talking about beating and killing people before we've cleared things up. Let's talk this over properly..." Qin An stood there without so much as blinking. He really wasn't particularly frightened. The worst outcome was getting beaten up. What was youth without a fight? What was hot blood without taking a beating? As people gradually grew old, wasn't it that youth and hot blood that grew old too?

Junzi released Tu Ji. He greatly admired Qin An's composure. It was also very strange for a thirteen-year-old to remain so utterly unshaken. He was simply born to handle serious business...

A large part of the reason Junzi had managed to rein in his temperament and follow Secretary Tang was his admiration for Secretary Tang's magnanimity and composure. He couldn't exactly say he admired Qin An, of course, but he felt that certain aspects of his bearing closely resembled Secretary Tang's. They were the same type of person, someone who would go far in life...

After releasing Tu Ji, Junzi toyed with his dagger, but still kept Tu Ji within his reach...

"Let's hear what you have to say..." Tu Ji swallowed his anger. Even after being kicked out of the education system, his temper was as fierce as ever, but he also knew when he needed to rein it in...

"My second uncle is Qin Xiangshan, the wealthy businessman from Taiwan everyone in town has been talking about lately. Of course, he has nothing whatsoever to do with you, Uncle Tu, and you don't need to let me off out of consideration for him... Zhu Hongzhi went too far. On my second uncle's very first day in Qingshan Town, he tried to extort money from him, saying that if my uncle invested in a factory here, he had to get a share..." Qin An looked at Tu Ji, then at the wrench-wielding mechanics, who all practically had "I'm a thug" written across their faces. "Zhu Hongzhi's been locked up now. You've heard, haven't you?"

"What does Zhu Hongzhi getting locked up have to do with me? I'm a legitimate businessman. He extorted money from me too..." Tu Ji felt troubled. These days, those people in the government practically worshipped wealthy businessmen. He hadn't expected Qin An to have a second uncle from Taiwan, much less one who had returned to Qingshan Town...

"Zhu Hongzhi was locked up because my second uncle said something to Secretary Tang, and Wu Huade arrested him... I don't mean that my second uncle can order Secretary Tang and Wu Huade around. It's simply their responsibility to crack down on criminal thugs. Never mind that they usually turn a blind eye. Once they have a reason, making an arrest is only what they ought to do anyway..." Qin An looked up at Tu Ji, who stood a head taller than him. "Uncle Tu, you understand what I mean, don't you?"

"Are you threatening me?" Tu Ji's expression was indescribably ugly. A half-grown boy was speaking to him in this superior tone, explaining things and questioning him. He almost admired himself for not lashing out...

"Not really. It's just a reminder. Everyone knows what goes on at your repair shop... Zhu Hongzhi covered up plenty of things for you in the past, but that doesn't mean Wu Huade has nothing on file. If they really wanted to move against you, would they lack anything to use? Your son brought a gang to block the school gates. Put seriously, that's picking quarrels, provoking trouble, and disturbing public order. Sending him to juvenile detention wouldn't be out of line... If your son really beat me up, my second uncle would never let it go. What our Qin Family does best is stick together and protect our own. We never hesitate to help our family... My second uncle wants to invest in Qingshan Town, yet his nephew gets beaten up by local thugs. If he says a few words to Secretary Tang, I don't believe Wu Huade won't come looking for you..."

Qin An paused, turned around, and walked to the entrance. No one stopped him. "Uncle Tu, when all's said and done, this is just two children fighting. I only hope you'll keep Tu Gang in line. Don't let him keep cornering people whenever he feels like it, and don't drag your employees into it... If he wants to come after me again to settle the score, he's welcome to..."

Qin An only meant to tell Tu Ji that this was between children, and he needed to keep his thugs from interfering... What tricks could Tu Gang possibly come up with? Qin An really didn't take him seriously...

"Brother Jun, let's go..." Qin An called to Junzi, and they left...

Only after watching Qin An and Junzi walk away did Tu Gang speak, seething with resentment. "Dad, you're just letting them leave?"

"Behave yourself! Do you want me locked up along with Zhu Hongzhi? We're not such sworn brothers that I'd go in to keep him company!" Exasperated by his son's stupidity, Tu Ji gave Tu Gang a hard knock on the head...