Chapter 20: What’s the Price for a Show?

A group of people secretly hated A Wa for his big mouth. None of them were stupid; they instantly understood that Chen Fengshi clearly did not get along with A Wa, and was very likely at odds with Sister Yao.

The car thief in white almost wanted to cry. Feeling that things were very bad, he still forced a smile and asked, “Brother, just name a price then. We know each other after all. It’s a misunderstanding among our own people, please show some mercy, show some mercy.”

A Wa also realized he had shot himself in the foot, and hurriedly tried to fix it by saying, “Old Chen, Brother Chen, we’ve drank together quite a bit in the past. We’re old acquaintances, you could show some face at least.”

“Old acquaintances? Old acquaintances, were you fcking blind just now? And now your eyes are so sharp?” Chen Fengshi scolded without any courtesy. He couldn’t be polite right now; he had to make the reason he was in the right perfectly clear. “You broke your promise and changed the deal from six hundred to six thousand; my clothes are torn, add two hundred, the penalty for breaking the deal times ten is two thousand; you made me waste energy beating up sixteen of you, beating one person counts as five hundred for mental distress plus fist damage, that’s eight thousand; you delayed me for so much time, let’s just call the time loss fee a thousand.”

The group of people all changed their expressions.

A Wa begged with a bitter face, “Brother Chen, that’s way too much! Actually, I only saw Sister Yao once a month ago. With my face, how could she lend that much?”

The one in white also hurriedly begged, “It’s our fault for not recognizing your greatness. Brother Chen, please show some mercy, give us a discount, give us a discount…”

Originally, Chen Fengshi did not want the incident to escalate further. A Wa’s appearance made him want to take the opportunity to vent for his old brothers, and he also felt he could drag Sister Yao into this. Sister Yao was a street person who always cared a lot about face. She often spent money for the sake of connections. Taking this opportunity, there was a good chance he could make Sister Yao go to the hospital for a checkup.

Chen Fengshi did not want to be entangled with someone like Sister Yao, especially after knowing the methods and ruthlessness Sister Yao used against her first boyfriend. As long as he could get Sister Yao to go to the hospital for a checkup, there was a good chance the matter would be resolved well.

“A Wa, you have to borrow money today, and you have to borrow it from Sister Yao.” Chen Fengshi cut off A Wa’s hopes with one sentence. The one in white said with a bitter face, “Brother Chen, that’s so much, we all have to figure out how to borrow it!”

“Make your calls, and if you want to call for people, go ahead—just remember the penalty is ten times, and for anyone else I beat down, the price will be extra!” Since Chen Fengshi had made up his mind, he simply went all out. It would be even better if he could get more out of this wave. These people would definitely call for backup, and he didn’t care if more people came to get beaten up and give him money.

So, the group squatting by the wall, with the help of the car thief in white dialing the numbers to find people, A Wa had the belt binding his hands untied, and he bit the bullet and made a call to Sister Yao.

Seventeen thousand, whether Sister Yao could afford it was another matter. A Wa didn’t think his face was worth that much at all. In fact, the others didn’t think his face was worth that much either, so they didn’t wait for his result and directly found their own people.

However, unexpectedly, after A Wa explained the matter on the phone, he actually got a surprising result!

He hung up the phone after thanking her repeatedly, and then said in a rush, “Brother Chen, we got it, we got it! Sister Yao said she’ll bring the money over right away, not a penny less!”

Chen Fengshi felt that Sister Yao agreed because of him, but it didn’t matter. He just wanted to use this to negotiate an ideal result.

The others squatting down held their phones in both hands, speaking in low voices. Some were really borrowing money, and at this time they said it wasn’t needed anymore; some were totally unconvinced and were simply looking for help.

Chen Fengshi ignored them and just waited for Sister Yao to come over.

Not long after, his phone rang. He took a look and saw it was actually Sister Yao. He thought for a moment and still answered.

“What do you mean?”

“No special meaning. He’s asking you for money, if you want to pay for them, then pay up. But, besides the money, you also have to agree to one condition.” Chen Fengshi went straight to the point.

“Are you joking? They’re not my sons, do you think they’re worth my money? I agreed because of you! At the end of the day, you’re still my man. With you extorting like this, you want to wait to die in the streets? Do you think you’re Liu Shuzhi? You really have the nerve to ask me for money? And negotiate conditions with me? You haven’t even given me a clear explanation for our business yet!”

When Sister Yao suddenly said this on the phone, Chen Fengshi felt goosebumps all over the floor, and he felt even more that there must be a conspiracy hidden behind it. This was completely not Sister Yao’s style of doing things.

“Thanks for the concern! My condition is very simple, please go to the hospital for a checkup! Confirm the truth about the hallucinations and false memories, and then stop pestering me! As long as you agree to this, you can name whatever discount you want for the ransom!” Chen Fengshi thought that since Sister Yao said that, it seemed she didn’t have the memory of him fighting Liu Shuzhi.

“I was considering going for a checkup, but now I’ve changed my mind! You want money, right? I’ll give it to you! You wait right there!” Sister Yao hung up the phone directly after speaking.

Chen Fengshi realized that he might have really shot himself in the foot. Sister Yao had always had a temper. Once she threw out this attitude, it was hard to have a normal conversation. He thought about it and felt that he hadn’t handled this beautifully. Firstly, he was too eager to solve the problem; secondly, he didn’t think Sister Yao would consider going to the hospital at all. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have done something so unnecessary.

Now that things had come to this, Chen Fengshi was unwilling to speak nicely to Sister Yao in return, preferring to make the best of a bad job. Listening to Sister Yao’s tone, things certainly wouldn’t end well when she arrived. He could only fight another round and talk terms after knocking them all down.

The night was already deep. People on the second floor of the internet cafe frequently poked their heads out of the windows to look. For them, a spectacle was certainly more interesting than games. But just waiting silly for the show to start was of course not as good as playing games while waiting.

Chen Fengshi smoked a cigarette, watching the stars twinkling in the night sky. He suddenly realized that he hadn’t wandered the streets at this hour for many years, let alone crossed paths with people who belonged to the night world, just as he hadn’t smoked for a long time.

Many years ago in his absurd junior and senior high school days, he didn’t want to be bullied in school, but he ended up in the night world outside of school because of two friends who valued loyalty above all else. Most severely rebellious kids had family environment problems, but he didn’t. His parents were harmonious, and the family atmosphere was very loving, so he didn’t have extreme thoughts or behaviors.

Later, in order to prepare for the college entrance exams, he went out to play less. He finally said a complete goodbye to the night world because his two best friends had accidents one after another. One was beaten and had his leg broken in retaliation, and was later sent abroad by his parents; the other, because of a breakup, and the person he cheated with was a very good friend, so he developed a world-weary mindset, cut off all contact with every friend with one clean sweep, and went to college in another city, not in Xuancheng.

Losing these two good friends made Chen Fengshi feel there was no need for him to step into the dark night anymore, and he had long been tired of the exciting ways of the night.

A van suddenly drove in. Chen Fengshi threw away his cigarette butt and rushed over quickly. Before the person opening the car door could jump down, he rushed in first! In the narrow space, he unleashed a fierce attack of elbows, knees, and headbutts. Three people fell out of the car, and the rest were all knocked out.

Chen Fengshi got out of the car and saw that his clothes were torn in two places. While tidying up his messy hair that had been pulled, he gave a look to the car thief in white. The latter immediately ran over obsequiously, dragged the people out of the car one by one, tied their hands with belts, pulled out the car keys, took out all the money from their pockets, smoothed and folded it, and offered it up with both hands.

Seeing that Chen Fengshi had accepted it, he woke the people up one by one and made them line up to squat by the wall.

So, there were sixteen more people.

Chen Fengshi asked the internet cafe for their takeout number, casually grabbed someone’s phone, and ordered a huge amount. Not long after, twenty bowls of noodles were delivered. He just sat in the van, eating while waiting.

He had just finished his sixth bowl when a group of people came out of the alley. They all looked fierce and vicious, their bodies were quite strong, and they uniformly carried machetes.

Chen Fengshi didn’t want to count how many there were. Before they all walked out, he directly got out of the car and rushed over. He beat down the five who came out in one breath, and blocked the alley to beat the ones behind.

When the fight ended, his clothes and pants were cut in six more places. The car thief in white dragged all the people out, skillfully tied their hands, took their wallets, woke them up, and directed them to squat by the wall. There were eighteen more people.

So, in a short while, three rows of people were squatting by the wall: sixteen, sixteen, and eighteen.

The car thief watched as Chen Fengshi returned to the old van to continue eating his noodles, not caring at all if anyone else came. His feelings had already shifted from initial defiance and resentment, to later shock, and now to worship.

“Brother Chen, are you planning to beat people up until dawn, a rhythm of taking on the whole city alone?” The car thief in white just had to spit it out.

Chen Fengshi glared at him annoyedly and said, “You talk as if you guys have the face to call that many people!”

The car thief in white shut up, but among the people squatting, another one picked up the conversation and said, “Brother Chen, I saw a survey that said anyone, through no more than ten layers of connections, can eventually know the president and the chairman…”

“That’s just theory. Do you really think you can blabber your way into inviting the chairman out for tea and a meal?” Chen Fengshi finished another five bowls, and then saw three cars drive out from another alley. The models were rare, but Chen Fengshi didn’t recognize the brands. Besides that, there were also over a dozen motorcycles.

The car lights flashed and made people’s eyes uncomfortable. Chen Fengshi was very annoyed. He directly inserted the van key, started the ignition, and turned on the high beams to flash back at those three cars.

As a result, that group of people was unhappy. Several motorcycles drove over and stopped on both sides of the van, planning a full-surround attack with their lights. Chen Fengshi buried his head in his noodles and ignored them.

After a stalemate for a while, the three cars probably felt that doing this was meaningless and everyone’s eyes were uncomfortable from the glaring, so they turned off their lights and engines. The motorcycles parked on both sides of the van also followed suit and turned off their lights. Only then did Chen Fengshi turn off the van’s lights, finished the noodles in his bowl, and jumped out of the car.

Seeing the eight people getting out of those three cars, they wore exaggerated and outlandish clothes, and their hair was colorful; there wasn’t a single black head of hair to be seen. The ones riding the motorcycles included both men and women, and very few of them wore helmets. Looking at them, they didn’t seem to be here for a fight, but rather to watch the show.

Among the three rows of people squatting, none of them showed happy expressions either, so it didn’t seem like they were here to pay the ransom.

A young man with golden hair, a tall and thin build, and especially thick and large lips got out of the black two-seater sports car. He lit a cigarette, smoked it, squinted his eyes, and looked Chen Fengshi up and down for a moment, then asked with a smile, “Are you the one who took on dozens of people alone?”

“So?” Chen Fengshi saw a few people get off the motorcycles—four men and one woman. Three of the men were very burly, and the woman had a slim figure, looking at him up and down with great interest. So, he realized that these people were probably not going to be peaceful.

Three girls had just walked out of the internet cafe. They looked quite pretty and spoke to the woman in the arms of the tall, thin man with thick lips and golden hair. They looked very familiar. It seemed that the ones passing the message that there was a show here were these three girls.

That man saw that Chen Fengshi was calm and composed, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth as he said, “I’ve never seen someone who can fight so well. You take money, right? I want to see you fight those four, how do you calculate the price?”