SLLBTT Chapter 56
Translated by Q the Panda (ko-fi)
⋇⊶⊰Chapter 56⊱⊷⋇
"Hey! Who are you people?" Several swaggering men rushed out at the intersection, aggressively pointing at Liu Jiao and the Snow Wolf King. "Who allowed you to set up a stall here?"
The Snow Wolf King finally breathed a sigh of relief. After working for a long time, the gangsters had finally come to cause trouble. This was something the Snow Wolf King had anticipated. He thought protection money would be demanded shortly after starting the stall. Little did he expect it to take this long. Their goods were barely enough to sell, almost resorting to selling themselves. Fortunately, these thugs arrived just in time, or they might have really sacrificed their dignity. If this got out, it would be too embarrassing!
Good heavens, the Snow Wolf King and the Snow Leopard Chief Guard are collecting money openly on the street, letting anyone touch them!!!
No way, no way...
A stench that will last for thousands of years!!!!
As people in the queue saw the gangsters causing trouble, they quickly dispersed. Several thugs stood beside the stall, looking arrogant. They even kicked the sugar canister and said aggressively, "Who are you? Who allowed you to set up a stall here?"
The Snow Wolf King glanced at the snow leopard, then at the thugs, and said, "We... We are new to this place. We do not intend to offend any of you, gentlemen."
The leader of the thugs looked at the Snow Wolf King and said, "You speak quite politely! You seem like an honest person. I won't beat around the bush. Setting up a stall here requires a management fee, you know?"
The Snow Wolf King nodded. "I don't know how much it is. And to whom should we pay?"
"Just pay me. It's five thousand a month," said the thug leader.
"So much?"
"You think it's too much? Then don't set up a stall," the thug leader said rudely. "Besides, I just saw your business doing really well! Five thousand isn't much, right?"
The Snow Wolf King countered, "But if our business thrives, shouldn't you also raise the management fees accordingly?"
The thug leader laughed. "You're quite savvy!"
The Snow Wolf King suggested, "If that's the case, why go through all the trouble of setting up a stall? How about we join you, Big Brother!"
The thug leader was taken aback. "Huh?"
The Snow Wolf King pulled Liu Jiao, pointing at the thug leader, and said, "Xiao Jiao, why not address him as 'Big Boss'?"
Liu Jiao, though unsure, obediently called out to the thug leader, "Big Boss!"
The thug leader took a step back. "Hey? How did it come to this? Do I look like someone who casually accepts underlings?"
The Snow Wolf King asked, "So, are there any rules?"
The thug leader assessed the Snow Wolf King. "You two with your sleek looks, can you fight?"
The Snow Wolf King replied, "I'm average, but my wife is quite skilled. Come on, Xiao Jiao, demonstrate."
Liu Jiao, confused, asked, "Demonstrate what?"
The thug leader, eyeing Liu Jiao, a seemingly seventeen or eighteen-year-old fair-faced young man, shook his head. "How good is he at fighting? Can he send me flying?"
"Sure thing." Liu Jiao obediently sent the thug leader flying.
The thug leader, slapped away, couldn't believe it. He fell to the ground, touching his face, trembling with anger. "Unbelievable! How dare you hit me!" Then, the thug leader looked at the other thugs and shouted, "What are you all staring at? Attack together!"
Several thugs rushed forward, besieging Liu Jiao. Swinging his big tail, hopping around, Liu Jiao gave each one a slap, like a cat playing with mice, making them fall to the ground, calling for their parents.
After knocking down these thugs, Liu Jiao asked the Snow Wolf King, "Is my performance over?"
The Snow Wolf King sighed helplessly and said, "Well... it's a bit different from what I imagined."
Saying this, the Snow Wolf King turned to the thug leader again, "Big Boss, we really want to be your underlings."
The thug leader spit many vulgar words, making the Snow Wolf King frown. He turned to Liu Jiao and said, "Show Big Boss again."
Upon hearing this, Liu Jiao went up and delivered a few more blows to the thug leader. In the end, the other thugs carried the thug leader away, shouting before leaving, "Don't get too proud! If you're really brave, wait here!"
Liu Jiao, hearing this, looked bewildered. Onlookers advised, "You better leave! This Poisonous Me gang is not easy to deal with!"
Liu Jiao turned and looked at the Snow Wolf King. "Xiao Baizi, should we go or not?"
"Didn't they say if we're brave, we should wait? Do you think we're brave?"
Liu Jiao smiled. "Yes."
Feeling a bit bored standing there, Liu Jiao and the Snow Wolf King decided to stroll around the street. Liu Jiao asked, "Didn't they say we should wait?"
The Snow Wolf King simply said, "We haven't gone far. They can find us."
Saying that, the Snow Wolf King led Liu Jiao to wander the streets. "We earned quite a bit today. If you see something you like, just buy it."
Liu Jiao didn't find anything he liked to buy, so he and the Snow Wolf King sat by the street and enjoyed skewers.
After indulging in skewers for a while, the Snow Wolf King and Liu Jiao finally attracted a group of thugs brandishing knives. "Look! It's them! Cut them down!"
Seeing them wielding knives, the Snow Wolf King said, "Xiao Jiao, let's run."
In jianghu, people would say, "No matter how skilled you are, you still fear kitchen knives!"
So, the Snow Wolf King placed a wad of cash on the table, grabbed Liu Jiao, and leaped onto the roof. Under the moonlight filled with the aroma of grilled skewers, they recklessly sprinted away.
Suddenly, Liu Jiao recalled the scene of the Snow Wolf King and him running on the palace wall in the sunset. Back then, when Liu Jiao missed the days of running in the mountains, the Snow Wolf King accompanied him in a wild race inside the imperial palace. Now, Liu Jiao rarely reminisced about the days in the mountains.
Occasionally remembering the mountain springs, clear streams, tall trees, and deep forests, Liu Jiao still preferred Xiao Baizi.
Liu Jiao didn't know how far he and the Snow Wolf King had run, but they had left the city and reached a dense forest. The Snow Wolf King pulled Liu Jiao to sit by a stream in the woods and asked, "Tired?"
"Not tired." Liu Jiao shook his head. Although everything behind him was darkness, he said, "They really can't catch up with us at all."
"Of course not," the Snow Wolf King replied.
"Actually, there weren't that many of them. Despite having knives, I think we could handle them."
"That may be true, but right now, we are disguised as cat and dog demons," the Snow Wolf King said. "Being too skilled doesn't make sense. It could easily arouse suspicion."
Liu Jiao, not fully understanding, leaned on the Snow Wolf King's shoulder, gazing at the moonlight. After pondering the day's events, he asked, "When we're in disguise, do you always say I'm your wife?"
The Snow Wolf King chuckled at his words, "Yes."
"Is this part of the disguise?"
The Snow Wolf King turned around, looking at Liu Jiao under the moonlight, his face veiled in a layer of ethereal beauty. "No," he said. Then, the Snow Wolf King lowered his head and kissed Liu Jiao's lips.
The group of knife-wielding henchmen, completely unable to catch up, returned in defeat and reported to their leader. In fact, the thug leader that the Snow Wolf King and Liu Jiao encountered on the street wasn't a big shot at all. Reporting to his boss, the boss felt it was undignified to be beaten in public and sent a watermelon knife squad for retaliation. Unexpectedly, they failed again.
So, this boss reported the situation to his own boss and requested reinforcements.
The boss of the boss heard the report and said, "Let me get this straight. Two highly skilled youngsters want to join our gang, and you went to deal with them but ended up failing. Is that what happened?"
"Uh... seems like it..."
As a result, both the thug leader and his boss received a passionate rebuke covered in melodramatic insults.
The next day, to everyone's surprise, Liu Jiao and the Snow Wolf King appeared on the street again to set up their stall. This time, the thug leader came along with a few underlings, smiling and carrying two baskets of fruits.
Seeing him approach, Liu Jiao became wary, "Why are you here again?"
The thug leader chuckled and said, "Here, this worthless stuff, it's a gift for you."
Liu Jiao took the fruit basket and found it filled with mediocre bananas and apples. "Indeed, quite a worthless gift."
The thug leader couldn't hide the awkwardness on his face. "It's just a small token of goodwill..."
Liu Jiao rummaged through the fruit basket and remarked, "And coincidentally, it's all the stuff I don't like."
Seeing Liu Jiao looking innocent, the thug leader felt irritated. This little rascal, looking so pure, yet hitting people so hard, and speaking so venomously!
The Snow Wolf King, however, said, "Why bother bringing us something, Big Boss?"
"Aiya, none of that 'big boss' talk, we're all brothers here!" the thug leader said with a cheerful smile.
Curious, Liu Jiao asked, "If we're brothers, why did you attack us last night?"
"If we're brothers..." the thug leader awkwardly chuckled and said, "Not attacking wouldn't be brotherly! This... this is a tradition of our gang, also a test for you. It wasn't a real attack."
"Oh," Liu Jiao nodded, "So, that's how it is."
The thug leader then said, "Come, come, our Big Boss wants to meet you."
The Snow Wolf King and Liu Jiao followed the thug leader to meet the big boss. The big boss they met was in a luxurious office. As the office door opened, they saw a waxed long table. Behind the table, a swiveling black executive chair turned around slowly, revealing a fat, big-eared, thick-necked cat wearing a gold chain, with fuzzy ears supporting black sunglasses. The chubby cat had a leather jacket that refused to zip up properly draped over its body.
The thug leader said, "Look, this is the big boss of our territory, Big Orange Brother."
Big Orange Brother nodded toward Liu Jiao and the Snow Wolf King. "Are you two the newcomers who can fight well?"
The Snow Wolf King replied, "It's my wife who can fight, not me."
Big Orange Brother looked surprised. "You can't fight? Then why should I recruit you?"
The Snow Wolf King explained, "My wife can fight. He needs me to have the courage to fight. That's love..."
"Cut the crap," Big Orange Brother said, "I think you're just bundled up for sales!"
The thug leader, having only seen the Snow Wolf King's tall, slender, and refined appearance and never witnessed him fighting, believed the Snow Wolf King couldn't fight. He disdainfully said, "Hmph! Drag him down and beat him to death!"
"When did it become your turn to speak?" Big Orange Brother coldly glared at the thug leader.
The thug leader quickly trembled, afraid to speak.
Big Orange Brother said, "Look at this young man who can't fight but has a wife who can. What does it indicate?"
The thug leader didn't understand. "Indicate what?"
Big Orange Brother replied, "Can't you see it from his face?"
The thug leader looked at the Snow Wolf King's face and shook his head. "I don't see it."
Big Orange Brother said, "He's still a dog spirit. Dog spirits' X abilities are strong! And he looks so handsome! Well, even though he can't fight, he's still valuable."
The thug leader fell into confusion. "So... what should we do?"
Big Orange Brother pointed at Liu Jiao and said, "Keep this cat as a thug." Then, he pointed at the Snow Wolf King, "Take this dog to the ** Department for employment."