Chapter 188 - 187: Charging Fees

Ye Xuan quickly put this matter behind him.

People were constantly seeking him out for various reasons, essentially nitpicking and stirring up trouble for no reason. Even with the Old Chief suppressing them from above, those people remained incredibly arrogant. In short, they wanted to use every means possible to bring Ye Xuan down.

However, Ye Xuan wasn’t afraid of them. He let them investigate and interrogate to their hearts’ content; they couldn’t find a single shred of evidence against him anyway. After tossing and turning over this for more than a week and realizing they truly couldn’t do anything to him, those people had no choice but to temporarily give up.

"Have you found him? How is he doing now?" Ye Xuan asked, looking at Vermilion Bird beside him as they walked out of the military headquarters.

"I found him, but it seems he doesn’t want to see us," Vermilion Bird said, her expression dimming as she handed Ye Xuan a photograph. "He opened a butcher shop in Longcheng District and sells meat for a living."

Ye Xuan looked at the man in the photo, his expression grave. His eyes were dark and unreadable, hiding whatever thoughts swirled in his mind.

"Back then, the immense pressure forced him to resign from his position as the Black Tortoise Chief," Vermilion Bird continued. "He even rejected the logistics post arranged for him by the Old Chief and slipped away quietly. There has been no news from him at all for the past two years. It took a lot of effort to track down his current address."

Thinking of Xuanwu, Vermilion Bird felt a sharp pang in her heart. She thought that if she had only recovered sooner, perhaps he wouldn’t have been forced to leave.

"This guy... he’s still as stubborn as ever." Ye Xuan let out a heavy sigh as he stared at Xuanwu in the picture.

"Are we still going to find him, then?" Vermilion Bird asked with a complicated look, glancing at Ye Xuan.

"Yes, why wouldn’t we? Even if he is crippled, he is still my, Ye Xuan’s, brother." Tucking the photo away, Ye Xuan stepped down the stairs. No matter what Xuanwu had become, he would always be his lifelong brother.

Soon, Ye Xuan and Vermilion Bird arrived in Longcheng District.

Located in the eastern part of Jingcheng, this area was considered the old town. The infrastructure and environment were relatively poor, and the buildings were all old-fashioned residential blocks. The population was also incredibly mixed, with all sorts of people gathered here.

Vermilion Bird and Ye Xuan searched for quite a while before finally locating Xuanwu’s butcher shop. A group of hooligans—dressed like thugs, sporting dyed hair and tattoos—had gathered in front of Xuanwu’s stall.

"Hey, Old Zhao, time for this month’s fee! Hand it over, quick!" one of the thugs, a scrawny guy who looked like a skinny monkey with yellow hair, shouted arrogantly at Xuanwu, who was wearing an apron. He slammed a telescopic baton onto the shop’s cutting board with a loud WHACK.

Xuanwu put down his butcher knife and wiped his hands on his apron. "I remember giving it to you just this Monday. Why are you asking for it again today?"

Hearing this, the thug was instantly infuriated. He smashed his baton against the counter with a loud BANG. "If I say you didn’t pay, then you didn’t pay! Cut the crap and hand over the cash!"

Seeing them acting so unreasonably, Xuanwu frowned. The surrounding vendors saw this and immediately spoke up in Xuanwu’s defense.

"Zhang San, Li Si, you guys are bullying him too much. Old Zhao clearly paid."

"Yeah, exactly! He paid on the same day as me."

"Don’t just endlessly pick on Old Zhao just because he’s an honest man."

Seeing all these people speaking up for Xuanwu, the hooligans grew anxious and angry, glaring fiercely at the onlookers.

"Are you all tired of living? How dare you talk back to me?" Zhang San sneered. "One more word of bullshit, and every single one of you will be paying an extra five hundred bucks a month!"

As soon as those words left his mouth, no one dared to speak again. None of them came from wealthy families; they all relied on their small businesses to feed their households. Every month, on top of the fixed stall fee, they already had to pay an extra thousand in protection money. If another five hundred were added, it would be difficult for them to even make ends meet.

It was truly despicable! Rumor had it that the Cyan Dragon Chief wasn’t dead, though no one knew if it was true. If he really was still alive, they prayed he would return quickly to save ordinary citizens like them from this misery.

"Old Zhao, stop fucking dawdling and hand over the money!" Seeing that the others had gone silent, Little Yellow Hair wore an arrogant expression once more, cursing as he demanded the money from Xuanwu.

Xuanwu glanced at his cash box. His total earnings over the past few days didn’t even amount to a thousand bucks. Furthermore, he really had paid already. These people were clearly just looking for trouble.

With Xuanwu’s personality, even though his Martial Arts were completely crippled, he still wasn’t a pushover who would just let people trample all over him.

"Zhang San, Li Si, I’ve already paid. I’m not paying this money today," Xuanwu said resolutely, pulling the cash box tightly against his chest.

Little Yellow Hair Zhang San instantly flew into a rage, glaring with his beady eyes as he roared, "Old Zhao, are you itching for a beating? Hand over the money right fucking now!"

With that, Zhang San reached out to snatch the cash box from Xuanwu’s arms. Xuanwu’s stubborn temper flared up, and he refused to let go no matter what. The two struggled for a moment before Li Si, standing to the side, swung his baton and struck Xuanwu squarely on the back.

Everyone around gasped in shock. A heavy blow like that was no joke.

Xuanwu grunted. His body swayed, and for a split second, his grip loosened. Zhang San took the opportunity to snatch the cash box away.

"Damn it, you actually dared to resist! I’m going to teach you a fucking lesson today!" He first emptied the money from the box into his pocket, then cursed as he raised his hand to strike.

Xuanwu narrowed his eyes to slits, ready to fight to the death. Just as the baton was about to land on his head, a hand suddenly reached out, tightly gripping the other end of the baton.

"Damn it, who the hell has the guts to get in the way of your Master San!" Infuriated, Zhang San spat a curse and spun around to teach the person holding his baton a lesson.

But the moment he turned, he took a solid kick straight to the abdomen. He was sent flying, crashing into a vendor’s stall and scattering vegetables all over the ground with a loud CRASH.

The onlookers screamed and scattered in all directions.

"Fuck, who the hell are you? How dare you touch my brother?" Seeing Zhang San get beaten, Li Si immediately charged at Ye Xuan with his baton.

Ye Xuan stood rooted to the spot without even blinking. With a grab of his hand and a lift of his leg, he kicked Li Si flying as well.

Seeing this, the remaining thugs didn’t dare to rush forward, staring at Ye Xuan in sheer terror.

When Xuanwu saw Ye Xuan and Vermilion Bird, his expression drastically changed. Without even bothering to pack up his stall, he turned to leave.

"Xuanwu! Stop right there!" Ye Xuan shouted sternly, his face cold as he saw the man trying to leave.

Xuanwu’s footsteps faltered. He hesitated for a moment but still didn’t stop.

Ye Xuan furrowed his brows, taking a few quick strides to catch up, and reached out to grab him. "Do you really want to avoid me that much?!"

Ye Xuan’s voice hit Xuanwu’s heart like a heavy hammer, finally rooting him to the spot.