TDU Chapter 132: My name is Qiao Jiajin

Chapter 132 My name is Qiao Jiajin

My name is Qiao Jiajin.

I distorted the truth.

I’m no native of Guangdong Province, I’m only here to find someone. But truth be told, it don’t matter where I am. After serving four years in the clinks for Boss Rong, Portland Street’s nothing like it used to be.

On the day I was released, the only person waiting for me was someone I barely knew. None of the brothers showed up, not even Boss Rong. Only Nine zai had come around a few times over the last four years, but it’s been ages since I’ve seen him. 

Jin ge! Over here!" When the somewhat familiar man saw me, he enthusiastically waved from across the street.

I squinted at him, trying to place the face. "You’re...?" The name slipped my mind, and I couldn’t put a finger on where I'd seen him before.

"I’m Guy Liang, Jin ge."

Guy Liang. One of those names that’s as common as dirt—couldn’t recall a damn thing about him.

Four years ago, I had over a hundred brothers, each with their own crew, so who the hell could keep track of all those faces? I just nodded, playing it cool like I remembered. "What you doin' here?"

"Jin ge, I came to pick you up." He tugged me toward a rusted-out pickup truck. "Hop in. Bet those four years weren’t easy on you. Let’s go grab some fun, yeah?"

I couldn’t even put into words what I was feeling. Took the fall for Boss Rong, and for four years, not once did he bother to check on me.

But did I regret it?

Nah.

When I was eleven, Nine zai and I stuck a knife into the gut of a regional mafia boss. If it wasn’t for Boss Rong pulling me and Nine zai outta Kowloon Walled City, teaching us how to shadowbox, and putting us to work on real jobs, we’d be just another set of corpses rotting on the streets. Four years ain’t even close to paying back what we owe.

Boss Rong and Nine zai are probably too busy, so I’ll have to swing by the gang if I wanna see them.

The car rolled toward Mong Kok, but instead of turning onto Portland Street, we kept drifting around Shantung Street, eventually pulling up outside a small noodle shop.

It was a hole-in-the-wall joint, and I couldn’t figure out why we were stopping here.

Guy Liang yanked the handbrake, spun around, and flashed me a grin. "Jin ge! You hungry? Wanna grab a bite first?"

"I’m not hungry. Take me to see Boss Rong."

He sighed like it was the hardest thing in the world, then stepped out of the car. "You gotta eat first if you wanna see Boss Rong, or do you want him to be in charge of your meals too?"

I wasn’t gonna win that argument, so I got out and followed him into the shop. It was quiet, empty except for an old man behind the counter.

"What do you want?" the old man asked gruffly.

"Anything’s fine!" Guy Liang laughed. "Just bring the house special!"

I sank into a chair, my mind still reeling from how much everything had changed. Mong Kok looked nothing like it did four years ago. My eyes drifted out the window, and I couldn’t help but wonder who ran this stretch of Shantung Street now.

Was it still Cavity zai?

The old man slapped two bowls of mixed noodles onto the table with no care, causing the soup to splash everywhere.

I grabbed my chopsticks and dug in. The noodles were damn good—way better than the crap we had in the clink. I didn’t even bother chewing half of it, just slurped the scalding noodles and soup down, feeling it burn all the way to my gut. For the first time in a long while, I actually felt alive.

As I set the bowl down, I noticed a few more customers had trickled in. They were sitting nearby, picking at toothpicks, but their eyes never left us.

By the time I finished, all four of them had gotten up and were heading over.

Guy Liang must’ve sensed something was off, because he jumped up right away. "Ah... what’s up, da ge? What’s the problem?"

"Finished eating?" The man in front of us chuckled, his tone smooth but threatening. "Here, we charge an {eating fee} for the noodles, one hundred bucks per person."

I glanced over at the old shopkeeper, who muttered curses under his breath, clearly annoyed. "Always coming around to collect, collect, collect! Why don’t you go collect your mother’s ashes while you’re at it?!"

Despite the curses, the old man kept scrubbing dishes like it was any other day. It was clear he was no stranger to this kind of routine.

One of the thugs growled, "You better watch your mouth, you old bastard!" His voice was laced with malice, the threat hanging heavy in the air.

"What are you gonna do about it?!" The old man slammed a bowl down, grabbing a kitchen knife with surprising speed, ready to throw down. "You wanna go?!"

"Alright, alright..." The man in front waved his hand, signaling for his boys to chill. "We’ve already collected the protection fee, so by the rules, we can’t mess with him. Today’s just the {noodle fee}."

I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Things had changed, and I couldn’t keep up. I understood the protection fee the shops had to pay, but where was the actual {protection}?

Now, not only were they not offering any protection, but they were shaking down the customers for money too.

"Who are you lads affiliated with?" I asked.

"What’s it to you? You wanna talk to my da ge?" The man slammed his hand on the table, his voice rising. "Who the hell do you think you are? What rank do you hold in what measly little click you’re from?"

"Measly click?" That word hit me like a slap in the face. I couldn’t sit still anymore. Mong Kok was Boss Rong’s turf—how could anyone here not know who I was?

As I stood up, Guy Liang quickly stepped in, panic flashing in his eyes. "No, no, no… Jin ge, leave this to me, I can handle it!" He fumbled in his pocket, pulling out a couple hundred bucks, counting it out, and passing it to them.

"Apologies da ge, we’ll finish up and leave right away!"

The man took the money, grinning as he patted Guy Liang’s face. "Smart guy."

I knew I’d only been out for less than three hours, so it was better not to stir up trouble. Moreover, even a strong dragon can not dominate a local snake[1], so I kept quiet and let Guy Liang handle it.

But to my surprise, the head didn’t leave after pocketing the cash. He leaned in again, his grin widening. "What about the soup fee? You didn’t just have noodles, you had soup too. That’s five hundred per person for the soup."

"Huh...?" Guy Liang’s smile stiffened. "Da ge, we don’t have that much cash. Can you cut us some slack... how about next time?"

I set my chopsticks down slowly, rising to my feet. This had escalated beyond what Guy Liang could handle.

"Jin ge, Jin ge!" Guy Liang rushed over, grabbing my arm. "I can handle it..."

"What’s the deal, huh? You wanna start something?" The man shoved Guy Liang aside and turned his gaze on me. "Your eyes are telling me you’re not happy with the situation."

I locked eyes with him and asked, "Old man, how much for a table and a chair?"

"Depends on how you’re using it," the old man said. "If you break it yourself, it'll cost a thousand a piece. If it’s for those four bastards, no charge."

"Then you’re probably gonna take a loss." I never thought it’d take me more than ten seconds to deal with these clowns—hell, maybe even eight and a half. These guys looked like they'd never been in a real scrap, not with dozens of people, anyway.

Is this the kind of world now? Where you just scare people to make your way?

"Da ge... no more please..." The man in front was practically begging, groaning as he scrambled to plead. "I’m sorry!... Please, tell me... Which triad are you from?"

"I don’t care who you work for. Tell your boss A'Jin from Portland Street is back. If there's a problem, he can come talk to me himself. I'll take care of it."

I caught a glimpse of Guy Liang’s face—pale as a ghost, panic written all over him. I’m not very smart, so I couldn’t quite tell what was going through his head.

"A'Jin..." The man froze for a long moment after hearing that. "You’re that 426 Red Pole[2] under gambling addict Rong?" A sly, calculating smile crept onto his face. Without another word, he and his crew jumped up and bolted out of the shop, leaving in a hurry.

"Jin ge... this is bad..." Guy Liang’s voice was full of urgency as he looked in the direction they’d run off in. He turned back to me, his eyes wide with concern. "The news of your return can’t stay quiet for long. You need to get to the mainland, lay low for a while!"

"Lay low?" I was confused. "What do I need to hide for? Take me to see Boss Rong." Had I done all that time for Boss Rong, only to land him into more trouble? I was too dumb to figure out what was going on.

"You won’t be able to see Boss Rong!" Guy Liang was nearly frantic now. "Jin ge, Boss Rong took the gang’s money and ran off with Nine ge!"

"What?" The words hit me like a thunderclap. "Boss Rong stole from the gang?"

"Boss Rong took two million. Now the whole gang is after him!"

I sank back into my seat slowly, trying to process it.

Bullshit.

Nine zai and Boss Rong? No way they’d pull something this dumb. Since I was a kid, Boss Rong had always said the same thing to us— "A'Jin, A’Nine, you're my fist and brain; to me, neither is dispensable."