Just in Time Chapter 75
Translated by Sylver (ko-fi)
Chapter 75 Beating
That day, the customer flow was large. Yi Chenliang and Sister Zhao were busy until after nine o’clock before they closed the door.
Previously, in order to balance work and take care of Xiaoxiao, Sister Zhao simply rented a bedroom on the second floor. Huang Chu didn’t have much business at the moment, and the room was vacant anyway. He didn’t stay here at night, so he just rented it to Sister Zhao, killing two birds with one stone.
“Sister Zhao, I’ll go first.” Yi Chenliang finished cleaning up and told Sister Zhao.
Sister Zhao came over holding Xiaoxiao, “Hey, be careful on the road.”
Xiaoxiao blinked her big eyes and reached out to Yi Chenliang for a hug. Sister Zhao coaxed her, “Uncle Xiao Yi Uncle is leaving, he will come to play with you tomorrow.”
Comrade Zhao Xiaoxiao yelled with a babble at Yi Chenliang.
Yi Chenliang, who often held her, took her over and played with her for a while. He whispered to her, “Alright, I have to go back and call your Uncle Yun for you. You have to listen to your mother.”
Zhao Xiaoxiao’s favorite was Yun Fang. After visiting Yun Fang in the hospital a few times, she remembered him. Probably understanding the words “Uncle Yun”, she twisted and turned in his arms, trying to find her Uncle Yun. Yi Chenliang laughed and pinched her face, “No, mine.”
Zhao Fang didn’t know what the big and small were muttering about. She reached out and took Xiaoxiao, “Don’t spoil her, Xiao Yi, go back quickly.”
Yi Chenliang touched Zhao Xiaoxiao’s head and went out to help Sister Zhao close the rolling door.
The shop was not close to the small area where he and Yun Fang lived. It was so late that there were no buses. Yi Chenliang habitually walked back. Some sections of the road had no lights. He turned on the flashlight of his mobile phone for illumination, then suddenly stopped and looked back.
Something was not quite right.
He turned off his phone and put it in his pocket, continuing to walk forward as if nothing had happened.
This section of the road was near a city village waiting to be demolished. The alleys were connected, and the residents had basically moved away. There were hardly any people at night.
It seemed that more than one person was following him.
Yi Chenliang quickened his pace, but he stopped after only a few steps.
Five or six people came out from the corner ahead. The one walking in front had slumped shoulders and a cigarette in his mouth. Li Kai gave him a sarcastic smile, “Ah Liang, long time no see. How come you moved away from Xinnan Alley without a word? You didn’t even say goodbye.”
“I left in a hurry.” Yi Chenliang took a step back, turned his head to look, and four or five people blocked his retreat. He frowned, “Brother Li, is this necessary?”
“Don’t misunderstand, I just wanted to catch up with you.” Li Kai laughed, “You say Wu City is not big, but if you really want to find someone, you can’t meet without some fate. You’ve been with me for more than half a year, I treated you as a brother, but you left without a word, Ah Liang, that’s not right.”
“Brother Li, this is not the way to reminisce, right?” Yi Chenliang looked at the people approaching from front and back, glanced around, saw a few wooden sticks standing against the wall, and moved his feet towards them, “If you’re not happy, I’ll treat you to a meal to apologize.”
“Tsk, someone has already treated you.” Li Kai laughed, “Your classmate from No.1 High School.”
Li Kai pointed to the people behind him, “Xiao Yuan, Lei Zi, they are good kids. Such good kids, you say beat and you beat, even let people be punished, I can’t stand it.”
Sun Yuan “pa” thumped the self-defense stick with his hand, excitedly gripping it tightly, “Brother Li, don’t waste words with him!”
Zhang Lei was beaten by Yun Fang last time because of his sharp tongue, and was disciplined by his uncle for a semester, but he couldn’t swallow the anger in his heart. Now he could finally vent, his stainless steel swing stick knocked against the wall, “Finally caught this idiot! Kill him!”
Seven or eight people rushed up, Yi Chenliang grabbed the wooden stick by the wall to block, the wooden stick was directly broken, the stainless steel swing stick hit his arm and made his arm lose feeling instantly.
He smelled a strong smell of alcohol.
These bastards had been drinking!
Drunk, they were all seventeen or eighteen-year-old brats, not to mention beating people, they would dare to kill. Yi Chenliang kicked the person in front of him, and the next second he was held tightly from behind, and an iron stick was chopped down at his head!
“Damn!” Yi Chenliang retreated violently, slamming the person holding him hard against the wall, his elbow desperately ramming his nose, reaching out to snatch the stick in his hand, blocking a strike at his knee.
Sun Yuan didn’t hit, and took advantage of the chaos to hit his head, Yi Chenliang blocked his stick and kicked him in the stomach, his back was then hit by a stick, and the pain made his vision go black.
Li Kai didn’t lift a finger from start to finish, leisurely smoking on the side, “Ah Liang, do you know how Wang Youwei died?”
Yi Chenliang was outnumbered after all. Seven or eight people surrounded him and beat him with sticks. He took several blows and his ears were buzzing.
“That kid was always thinking about your money. He wanted to sneak over that night, but the people in that yard had changed. He heard something he shouldn’t have, was chased out and silenced. Tsk, killed with one knife, died in Xinnan Alley.” Li Kai exhaled smoke rings in the dark, as if he wanted to confide in Yi Chenliang.
“It was the kidnapping case that caused a stir a while ago. When he sneaked in, the two murderers were plotting how to kidnap a businessman’s son for ransom. Wang Youwei, this idiot, was so scared that his legs went soft and he was heard by the people in the room.” Li Kai squinted his eyes, “People who do big things are ruthless and regard human life as nothing.”
Yi Chenliang spat out the blood in his mouth, leaned his back against the wall, seven or eight people surrounded him, he held the stick in his hand and stared at Li Kai, “How do you know so clearly?”
“Because I went with him.” Li Kai pressed the cigarette butt against the wall and walked up to Yi Chenliang, “Luckily I ran fast, otherwise I would be like him, dying so miserably.”
“I realized a truth from this matter.” Li Kai took the stick from the person next to him, “You have to be ruthless to be a person, not only to others, but also to yourself. I used to be too soft-hearted towards you, always thinking that it’s not easy for you to live alone–”
Li Kai squinted his eyes, “When you first came to Dongyang Street alone, I introduced you to the job, helped you find a house, and paid the rent. But now you see, you don’t appreciate my kindness, and you want to draw a clear line with me.”
“It’s heartbreaking.” Li Kai sighed.
“Brother Li, I’ve already paid back the money you lent me. I only took 30% of the money I made working with you, others take 70%.” Yi Chenliang’s vision was going dark, he gritted his teeth, “You don’t calculate like this.”
“You see, he’s settling accounts with me now. When I was helping him out, he called me ‘brother’ so affectionately–” Li Kai laughed at the people next to him, his tone suddenly changed, “Damn it, he’s just an ungrateful wolf!”
This time he didn’t need to speak, a group of people grabbed Yi Chenliang and beat him with sticks.
“I heard from Sun Yuan that your sweetheart is called Yun Fang? Damn, he’s been playing me around!” Li Kai kicked him in the stomach, “I was definitely fired from the shop because of him. After I clean you up, I’ll clean him up! Neither of you can run!”
Yi Chenliang stared at him with a grim expression, “Dare to touch him and see.”
****
Yun Fang handed in his papers, picked up his backpack and walked towards the dormitory. His roommate, who lived with him, caught up, “Yun Fang, wait for me!”
This person was called Han Bowan, also from No.1 High School. This time, only the two of them were in the first year of the Physics Competition Summer Camp, and they were assigned to the same dormitory, so he was particularly close to Yun Fang.
Han Bowan was a bit familiar, seeing Yun Fang looking at his phone, he teased him with a smile, “Your partner didn’t call you?”
“Hmm.” Yun Fang stared at his phone for a while, then dialed Yi Chenliang’s number.
After a busy tone, no one answered.
Seeing his bad expression, Han Bowan said, “Could it be that they didn’t hear because they were playing games or watching dramas?”
“No.” Yun Fang frowned and called Qi Huo.
Qi Huo was in the internet cafe, fighting passionately. He answered the phone with a bold voice, “Hello? Who is it? What do you want with your father?”
“It’s me, Yun Fang.” Yun Fang’s voice was cold enough to drop ice.
“Oh, rare guest! My little brother Yun Fang actually deigned to call me!” Qi Huo held the phone between his head and shoulder, his keyboard clicking away, “What do you need from your brother?”
Yun Fang didn’t care about his messy seniority, “Yi Chenliang didn’t answer my call.”
“If he doesn’t answer your call, go find him. Why are you looking for me? Hey, damn it, die! Trash thing stealing my kills!” Qi Huo moved his head, “I’m not talking about you, I’m cursing the idiot in the game.”
“I’m in Beijing.” Yun Fang was tired of talking to him, “Can you do me a favor and go check on him?”
Qi Huo heard something wrong in his tone, harvested a wave of kills, slapped his hand on the table, “Alright, wait, brother will help you check on my dear sister-in-law!”
Yun Fang: “…”
Ten minutes later, Qi Huo stood in front of the anti-theft door on the third floor and knocked, calling Yun Fang, “Yun Fang, Liangliang is not at home, I’ve been knocking for five minutes and no one has answered, and the lights are not on at home.”
“Sister Zhao said he left the shop an hour ago.” Yun Fang’s voice on the phone was a bit cold, “He might have had an accident on the road.”
Qi Huo had been particularly sensitive to the words “had an accident” since the kidnapping case, and immediately cursed, “Damn, I’m going to call the police!”
“It’s not possible to file a case now.” Yun Fang seemed to be packing up on the other end of the phone, “You help me look along the road first, I’m rushing back now.”
“No, Yun Fang, calm down, Yi Chenliang might just have been delayed on the road, I’ll help you find him first.” Qi Huo heard that he meant to come back in the middle of the night, “Isn’t your summer camp assessment tomorrow? I heard from Chang Ziqi that this assessment is quite important–”
Before Yun Fang on the other end of the phone could speak, Qi Huo’s phone was snatched from his hand, scaring Qi Huo almost to jump.
A blood-stained hand firmly gripped his shoulder.