Antidote - - - Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Even if Cheng Ke had determined that Chen Qing was a black-box guardian, he would not have imagined that he could be so weak before seeing it with his own eyes. After all, he worked with the boss of this area.

Cheng Ke felt that these dozen steps were extremely long.

During ten of those steps, he saw Jiang Yuduo get elbowed on the back, then elbow that person’s nose in return. As the man turned his head, blood splashed out of his nose and Cheng Ke saw Ba Pie* draw out a knife.

(Note: We have changed Ba Pie’s name to the proper romanization, from the previous chapters, the name used was ‘Ba Pi’.)

Although Cheng Ke doesn’t know much about the specific forms of this kind of gangster fight, he also knows that he can’t recklessly use a knife. Unlike fists and clubs, you can easily cause serious injury with a knife.

But his next move made Cheng Ke to understand why Jiang Yuduo is the leader of his gang.

Jiang Yuduo, who was facing away from Ba Pie, didn’t know in which direction he caught a glimpse of the knife. Nevertheless, he stretched out his hand and grabbed the blade, pushing it in the opposite direction.

The knife flew out of Ba Pie’s hand and landed on the ground next to him.

At that moment, Cheng Ke felt only a sharp pain in his palm.

Ba Pie didn’t care about the knife anymore, and raised his elbow to Jiang Yuduo’s shoulder, planning to smash it down again. If it hits, Jiang Yuduo would at least fall on one knee. That same move would completely bring Chen Qing down to the ground.

But before his elbow could fall on the other man, Jiang Yuduo’s elbow had already hit Ba Pie on his lower abdomen, squeezing out screams of agony deep from his lungs in layers of tearing pain.

To the side, another man was fighting with Chen Qing. He lifted his foot to step on Chen Qing’s stomach, but Cheng Ke quickly rushed over and kicked the man directly to the ground. The inertia of Cheng Ke’s attack sent the man rolling out two or three meters away.

As Ba Pie’s screams faded into pained groans, his combat effectiveness deteriorated as well. At that moment, the other guy rushed to pick up the knife on the ground.

Cheng Ke was about to tell Jiang Yuduo to be careful, but Jiang Yuduo had already stepped over. Before the man could stand up, he stretched his arms over the man’s shoulder and grabbed him by the chin.

“Jiang Yuduo!” Cheng Ke yelled. He froze on the spot and a chill rushed from the soles of his feet to his head, leaving his mind blank.

Jiang Yuduo seemed to have not heard his voice. He pulled the man’s chin and pushed his other shoulder with his other hand. The man suddenly rotated in the air like a top then rushed down and fell to the ground.

Cheng Ke rushed over and grabbed Jiang Yuduo’s arm, violently dragging him back two steps.

At that moment, Jiang Yuduo turned his face and stared at him for a while: “I told you to run.”

Cheng Ke wanted to say something, but couldn’t; Jiang Yuduo’s eyes were as cold as what he had just done.

He turned his head and looked behind him again.

Ba Pie was groaning in pain with a sullen expression, clutching his stomach. Laying on the ground not far was the Top who tried getting up two times before collapsing again.

The man who was kicked by Cheng Ke got up, but Chen Qing jumped from the ground and shoved him, knocking him to the ground again.

“You,” Jiang Yuduo pointed to the man who had just been hit, “Can you move?”

The man sat on the ground and shook his head after hesitating for a while.

“No?” Jiang Yuduo tilted his head.

The man was stunned, then nodded quickly.

“Call your people to that place,” Jiang Yuduo said, “I will be there in five minutes. If they haven’t left when I arrive, they will not be leaving today.”

The man looked at Ba Pie and the Top, then took out his cell phone.

“Go.” Jiang Yuduo picked up the bag that was thrown aside by Cheng Ke, grabbed Cheng Ke’s arm, and led him to the side road.

“That person…” Cheng Ke was still a little worried, turning his head and looking at the person who was still lying on the ground.

“I just stunned him,” Jiang Yuduo turned to look at him, “Do you really think I would break his neck?”

Cheng Ke frowned and said nothing.

“Impossible, Third Brother is generous,” Chen Qing said while shaking his arms and legs behind him, “He hasn’t put a heavy hand on anyone for so many years.”

Cheng Ke was speechless.

After walking down the path, Jiang Yuduo stopped and looked at Cheng Ke.

“I’m going home.” Cheng Ke reached for the bag.

When he saw Jiang Yuduo’s hands full of blood, he suddenly remembered Jiang Yuduo’s empty hands…No, the moment when Jiang Yuduo grabbed the blade with his bare hands. Cheng Ke suddenly felt that his own hands were a little weak.

“Forget it,” Jiang Yuduo moved the bag back, “You can just follow me and take a taxi back later.”

“We have to deal with your injury first.” Cheng Ke said.

“I will just go to Sister Qian’s place and treat it.” Jiang Yuduo said.

Cheng Ke’s mind was quite confused now, so he didn’t say much, and simply continued to follow him.

After walking out of that road for a while, they arrived at another small street that looked like Jiang Yu’s place. There were a variety of health and disfigurement homes, early child education centers, as well as breakfast restaurants and grocery stores.

Jiang Yuduo stopped in front of a door without a sign.

“It’s over there.” Chen Qing pointed his chin forward, motioning at the door.

Cheng Ke looked to the side and spotted several people standing next to the telephone pole ten meters away. They must be Ba Pie’s people…

Jiang Yuduo glanced at them and entered the unnamed store.

“Go in,” Chen Qing whispered to Cheng Ke, “If we don’t go in, they will come over and do something to us.”

Cheng Ke followed into the shop.

It was a chess and card room with four or five card tables and a mahjong table that was overturned. Mahjong chips were scattered all over the floor.

There were a few people inside, neither sitting nor standing playing cards.

Cheng Ke looked around. Some of them were here to simply play cards, and some were Jiang Yuduo’s men. He recognized Da Bin.

“Brother,” Da Bin approached us, “Are you all right?”

“I’m okay.” Jiang Yuduo said.

“What should I do with the people outside?” Da Bin asked.

“Escort them away,” Jiang Yuduo said, “try not to get physical.”

Da Bin nodded and took a few people out with him.

“This matter must be solved by the Third Brother,” said a man standing in the corner.

“Shut the fuck up!” A woman’s voice screamed aggressively, “You must not want to live anymore if you’re doing something as stupid as cheating at the game”

Cheng Ke was taken aback when he saw a woman standing in front of the tea room.

She looked in her early forties and was tall. Cheng Ke figured that she must’ve been pretty when she was young, but now she looks like someone you shouldn’t provoke. She can make anyone kneel just by yelling.

This should be the owner of the house that he rented.

“I didn’t…” The man began to argue.

“Take his money!” Lu Qian pointed at him, “Search him until he has no money left!”

“I have no money!” The man shouted, “Third brother! Third brother! Don’t let your sister be so unreasonable!”

“Qing’er,” Jiang Yu opened his mouth, “if he says another word, strip him naked and throw him out.”

“Alright.” Chen Qing swung his neck with a crack.

The man lost his voice, and several of his poker companions in the room turned over his money under the command of Lu Qian.

“I will say it here today,” She said. “Just play cards and be happy. Whoever dares to cheat, I will make your whole family suffer!”

The man didn’t speak, and walked along the wall to the door.

“Did I say you could go?!” Lu Qian glared at him, “If I let you today, don’t you think Ba Pie’s people would try the same? You want to go now? You’re too naive!”

“Then what am I going to do? Nothing serious happened!” The man was very shameless, “Sister Qian, I am also an old customer…”

“You’re an old customer, and you play like such!” she screamed at the man, “My table is broken too! The chairs are gone!”

“My money is there,” he said.

“This is the money that you won by cheating!” Lu Qian said, “Before five o’clock tomorrow afternoon, send me the money with double the amount. If I don’t see the money before five o’clock, you will get what’s coming.”

To be honest, Cheng Ke had never seen such a scene. He was stunned during the whole process, until Lu Qian set a price of 3,000 yuan and the man left irritated.

The people in the room began to lift the tables and chairs, setting them back up, and arranging the mahjong chips once again.

Chen Qing took a first-aid box and began treating Jiang Yuduo’s wounded hand. He felt that Chenre Qing’s bandaging technique was good and better than Jiang Yuduo’s.

However, the injury was not as serious as Cheng Ke had imagined. Jiang Yuduo didn’t move his hand after holding the knife, so his wound was not deep, but the bleeding hadn’t stopped and already red droplets stained the floor.

“Does it hurt anywhere else?” Lu Qian asked Jiang Yuduo.

“No.” Jiang Yuduo said.

“Is this your friend?” Lu Qian looked at Cheng Ke again.

“Well, he’s the one who rented your house,” Jiang Yuduo said, “Cheng Ke.”

Cheng Ke nodded to Lu Qian, not knowing what to say, and simply continued to be silent.

Lu Qian frowned, “Why did you get a civilian involved?!”

“It wasn’t intentional,” Chen Qing said. “He came over to pay the rent, and Ba Pie blocked him when he went out.”

“Ba Pie went and blocked you?” Lu Qian was a little surprised.

“It’s okay,” Jiang Yuduo said, “he doesn’t dare to do anything in the future.”

“Send him back home quickly,” Lu Qian waved, “Don’t be pestering me here.”

“Okay.” Jiang Yuduo responded.

“Cheng Ke, right?” Lu Qian turned her head to look back at him, “Why are you still with them? Next time ask the Third Brother to collect the rent, and don’t come over.”

“Alright.” Cheng Ke nodded.

“Where is your car?” Lu Qian looked at Chen Qing, “Send him back.”

“We didn’t drive here, the car can’t go in reverse when it comes in.” Chen Qing said.

“Do you fly an aircraft carrier? Just go out from the front!” Lu Qian said.

“I’ll go get the car.” Chen Qing sighed, turned and walked quickly towards the door.

“Just take a taxi,” Jiang Yuduo said, taking out Cheng Ke’s rent from his pocket and handing it to Lu Qian, “Here.”

“Take these and give them to me next month,” Lu Qian waved, “Hurry up and go, I feel dizzy looking at you all.”

Cheng Ke noticed that Da Bin and his people had already come back, and they were all blocking the door.

After leaving the house, Jiang Yuduo let Da Bin’s group go away and let Chen Qing go back first.

“You’re sending him back alone?” Chen Qing asked.

“It makes no difference if you follow him,” Jiang Yuduo said. “Aren’t you on duty at four o’clock today?”

“…Right.” Chen Qing nodded, turned and left.

Jiang Yuduo pointed to the other end of the alleyway: “Go over there, it’s the street, you can take a taxi.”

“I don’t want to take a taxi.” Cheng Ke said.

“Huh?” Jiang Yuduo looked at him.

“Will there be trouble?” Cheng Ke asked.

“No,” Jiang Yuduo said, “It seems that you’re particularly reluctant to walk.”

“Let’s go,” Cheng Ke pulled the zipper of his jacket and put the hoodie over his head, “I’ll get motion sickness if I take a taxi.”

“Fine.” Jiang Yuduo said.

“Your hand…” Cheng Ke looked at Jiang Yuduo’s hand. Blood had leaked out from under the bandages again, but only a few bloody droplets.

“It’s okay,” Jiang Yuduo raised his hand and examined it, “I never feel any pain.”

After walking into the street, Cheng Ke could feel that the north wind was only blowing gently. He took a deep breath against the wind and let out a long breath.

But neither he nor Jiang Yuduo spoke.

He didn’t know why Jiang Yuduo was silent. He hasn’t talked much since he finished eating yesterday.

He didn’t speak because he wanted to say too much, and his mind was full of the figures of Jiang Yuduo neatly tidying up the people from before, combined with the scene of the chief guard riding a bicycle.

“That Ba Pie,” Cheng Ke asked, breaking the previous silence. “How are his injuries? Does he have internal organ damage? A cracked bladder?”

“…I don’t know,” Jiang Yuduo turned his head, “I didn’t use too much force, don’t try to help me here.”

Cheng Ke smiled.

“Are you cold?” Jiang Yuduo asked.

“Yeah,” Cheng Ke said, “but I don’t want to take a taxi.”

“I’m not asking you to take a taxi,” Jiang Yuduo pointed forward, “I’m asking if you want something warm to drink.”

“What?” Cheng Ke looked ahead and saw a row of beautifully decorated small shops: coffee, milk tea and dessert shop.

“Fresh ginger crushed milk.” Jiang Yuduo said.

“Fresh crushed what?” Cheng Ke asked confused, “fresh ginger?”

“Well, crushed milk.” Jiang Yuduo said.

Cheng Ke hesitated for a moment, and followed Jiang Yuduo into a small shop. It sounded a little uncivilized, but he still wanted to taste it somehow.

In fact, the fresh ginger is crushed and mixed with milk. It looks very simple and civilized, but it doesn’t look like it will taste good at all.

“Taste it.” Jiang Yuduo handed him the cup, looking expectant.

Cheng Ke was so used to Jiang Yuduo being like this. Every time he asked him to taste something, he would have this look of expectation, which looked particularly…childish and sincere.

Especially now, after Cheng Ke watched him turning people into spinning tops with that coldness in his eyes; the contrast was a bit jarring.

So he grabbed the cup and took a sip.

He does not like to drink milk tea, nor does he like to eat things with ginger in it, let alone ginger bits, but facing Jiang Yuduo’s eyes, he decided that when he took this sip, no matter how badly it tastes, he has to say that it tastes good.

“How is it?” Jiang Yuduo asked.

“It’s delicious,” Cheng Ke replied. Surprisingly, his answer was sincere. He took another sip, “Actually, it’s delicious.”

“I don’t like eating ginger,” Jiang Yuduo took another glass and took a big sip. “But I think this is good, and the ginger taste is not strong.”

“True.” Cheng Ke nodded.

When they came out of the milk tea shop, they still had nothing to say, but the atmosphere was not as tense as before.

When they finally arrived at Cheng Ke’s place, the two stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Cheng Ke hesitated: “Do you want to come up and sit down?”

Jiang Yuduo looked at him silently.

“Then it’s best if you go back,” Cheng Ke said, guessing that he was unwilling to go in. He felt a little abrupt asking him. He turned to the elevator and walked over, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Jiang Yuduo replied.

His answer made Cheng Ke not want to turn his head back to look at him. After pressing the elevator button, he stared at the elevator door in a daze.

The elevator came down quickly, the door opened, and he walked in.

As soon as he turned around, he found that there was another person behind him, almost walking into the elevator next to him.

He was taken aback, and quickly staggered a step back. When he looked over, he found that it was actually Jiang Yuduo.

“What the hell?” Cheng Ke looked at him, “Didn’t you just leave?”

“Didn’t you invite me to go up and sit down?” Jiang Yuduo pressed down the floor and glanced at him. “You really are slow. Didn’t you sense that I was standing behind you?”

“…No.” Cheng Ke said.

“If someone were to attack you,” Jiang Yuduo said. “You probably wouldn’t be able to stop it with a single move.”

“Who would attack me?” Cheng Ke said.

After speaking, he remembered Jiang Yuduo’s previous words and the days when he turned around downstairs.

“Are you talking about them? Ba Pie’s people?” He asked.

“No.” Jiang Yuduo said.

“Then who the hell is it?” Cheng Ke asked again.

“They haven’t been here these days,” Jiang Yuduo didn’t answer directly, “I’m still surprised.”

Cheng Ke couldn’t keep asking, so he remained silent.

After entering the house, Jiang Yuduo took off his coat and turned around in the living room: “Is this a safe?”

“Which one?” Cheng Ke turned his head and saw him standing in front of the wine cabinet, “Who the hell would have a transparent safe? Who puts their wine in the safe?”

“Oh, it’s a wine shelf, right?” Jiang Yuduo bent over and took a look, “You even put red wine that doesn’t reach 300 yuan in here?”

“I just took it from the supermarket,” Cheng Ke laughed. “How do you know the price so well?”

“I’m not familiar with the expensive ones,” Jiang Yuduo sat on the sofa, “I know the supermarket’s red wine better. I go shopping every week.”

Cheng Ke looked at him. Sometimes he felt that Jiang Yuduo was a very complicated person. Apart from the look of expectation when recommending food, he was also not very capable of pushing Jiang Yuduo and buying groceries in the supermarket every week. Just now Jiang Yuduo, who was fighting with people on the street, was the same person.

“I want water.” Jiang Yuduo said.

“Oh,” Cheng Ke quickly took a cup and walked towards the drinking machine, “I forgot.”

“Let me play with this.” Jiang Yuduo got up and followed.

“What are you doing?” Cheng Ke was stunned.

“This drinking fountain,” Jiang Yuduo took the cup, “do I turn this faucet?”

“Yes.” Cheng Ke looked at him.

Jiang Yuduo put the cup under the faucet, opened the water, and immediately bent over to open the door under the water fountain, and looked inside: “Oh, it’s filtered from the machine below.”

“Yeah.” Cheng Ke responded.

It was not until the cup had been filled up that Jiang Yuduo closed the door and took a sip of water: “This is very convenient.”

Cheng Ke watched him silently, and after a while he asked, “You asked me to teach you taekwondo that day”

“Well,” Jiang Yuduo nodded, “can’t you?”

“Maybe,” Cheng Ke smiled, “I think if we actually fought, I wouldn’t be able to beat you.”

“Your expectations for me are too high,” Jiang Yuduo leaned against the water fountain, “I didn’t have it easy the last time we fought…”

“I meant a fight like today’s.” Cheng Ke said.

Jiang Yuduo took a sip of water and said nothing.

“Why did you make me run?” Cheng Ke asked, “And why did you let me call the police? Those people were not your opponents.”

“Just in case,” Jiang Yuduo said.

“In case of what?” Cheng Ke asked again.

“What if I can’t beat him,” Jiang Yuduo frowned, “I’ve never fought with Ba Pie before. He’s not here often.”

Cheng Ke couldn’t tell what was going on in his head.

“I wouldn’t have called the police if you weren’t there,” Jiang Yuduo lit a cigarette, “you’re different from us.”

“Oh.” Cheng Ke sighed softly, after thinking about it, he couldn’t help but ask, “Do you…always fight like this…?”

“It depends on who you run into.” Jiang Yuduo said.

“I actually wanted to ask… Where did you learn those tricks?” Cheng Ke asked. Ordinary street gangsters have been fighting for their entire life and yet they would never pick up skills like Jiang Yudo’s.

He was silent for a while, and sighed: “I fight like that as soon as I start to remember things.”

Cheng Ke felt that he couldn’t continue this conversation.

“Cheng Ke,” Jiang Yuduo put down the cup, “I…just, I just want to ask something.”

“What else do you want to ask?” Cheng Ke felt helpless when he heard him ask questions like this.

“Yesterday,” Jiang Yuduo cleared his throat, “were you angry?”

Cheng Ke was stunned for two seconds and then breathed a sigh of relief: “No, I wasn’t angry yesterday, and I’m not angry now.”

“…Oh,” Jiang Yuduo cleared his throat again, and stood up straight with determination, “I’m sorry.”

“Huh?” Cheng Ke was stunned again.

“I didn’t mean to say that you’re disgusting. Even with someone as stupid as Chen Qing, I’ve never find him disgusting.” Jiang Yuduo said, “I treat you as a good friend.”

Cheng Ke didn’t understand the logic of his comparison with Chen Qing, but his heart is slightly moved.

“Friend?” He looked at Jiang Yuduo.

“Yeah.” Jiang Yuduo nodded, and a pile of soot fell from the cigarette he was smoking. He took the cigarette out from his mouth and nodded again.