Chapter 5
Jesse didn't stay here for too long. He left after For brought back dinner and everyone shared it.
Plenty of food was a rare and expected pleasure for the children of Little Asia. Jesse, not one to be trifled with, thought it would be a waste if he didn't eat, and so he contentedly enjoyed the food.
Even a child like Xiaohua, who is a little adult and loves to worry about Noble, will show a childish joy when eating. This is exactly what For hopes to see after working hard for a long time every day to earn food.
For is also a member of this "family". He is the only adult here, and his characteristic is very obvious - he likes children very much.
Xiaohua, who usually puts on a mature front, is adorable for her joy when she eats something delicious or receives a beautiful hairpin. Noble, who always has a blank expression, can also be adorable for sitting quietly and thoughtfully beside For when he's feeling anxious. For thinks Jesse is somewhat concerned about Noble, and his cautious demeanor is also amusing, but they can't know that.
There's no such thing as talking while eating or sleeping at home. However, when For asked who Jesse was, the chattering children all fell silent. Xiaohua smiled and said, "He's a friend my brother met outside."
Jesse was horrified. Even though Xiaohua had previously told him not to tell his parents about the human traffickers, he was completely clueless and couldn't accept being considered Noble's friend.
In the outside world, a person with many friends would be regarded as a very powerful person by his peers; but among the minors in Little Asia, especially in the eyes of a proud and cautious person like Jesse, being called a friend might make their hair stand on end, especially when this friend is Noble!
Noble didn't know what Jesse was thinking, he just thought about it for a while.
One, two, three. OK, I figured it out.
Noble nodded: "Yeah, we're friends."
When he said "yo", his tone was still very flat, and there was no tone in his words, so much so that Jesse wanted to complain: What are you yoing about!
But For was so happy that he couldn't express it in words. Jesse couldn't just turn hostile and say, "He and I are not friends at all!" He could only fake smile, fake smile, fake smile until he finished his meal and said goodbye to go home.
In the end, Noble was the one who escorted him out. This place was a mess. First, the houses were messy. For a stranger here, trying to leave alone wasn't impossible, but it would likely take a lot more time to wander around. Jesse said he remembered the way in with Xiaohua and could leave on his own, but Noble refused. This brings us to the second reason for the mess: the people. Noble could use his face to get in (because he'd beaten up all the troublemakers here), but Jesse might have to work harder.
Jesse wasn't afraid of a fight, but he didn't like it when it was wasted. Especially since Noble had told him, "If you've just eaten, you'll likely throw up if you fight."
This is very realistic.
/
"For really wants you to stay." Noble said suddenly.
Jesse didn't know what to say. He felt that people needed a certain distance between them. Right now, they weren't close enough to be considered a team. But if he were to reject her, he'd have to bear it, having just finished a meal with her. He thought to himself, "You're really good at chatting." He'd never met someone who was so consistently explosive with his conversation. It was as if when Noble started a conversation, he didn't even bother giving anyone else a chance to chime in.
However, in the spirit of humanitarianism, he still said politely: "Thank you, that's not necessary." I really don't know you well, and you look like a big trouble to me!
"Alas." Noble sighed softly.
Jesse was completely baffled. He thought, "Brother, are we really not close? We should always be respectful to each other. You're making me feel really bad for doing this!" But no matter how I thought about it, I didn't feel I'd done anything wrong.
Noble glanced at him and changed the subject: "Those human traffickers today, do you know where they came from?"
"Uh... From outside?"
This time, Noble didn't sigh, but his eyes showed he was about to sigh. "He's definitely from outside Little Asia. But he's affiliated with an organization called Doubt... Do you know who the □□ in Little Asia is from?"
Jesse nodded.
Little Asia, also known as the Kowloon Group's execution ground... Even though he had never been to the outside world, he could already tell how formidable the Kowloon Group was. The Kowloon Group consisted of nine organized crime groups, and one of them, the Katsuya Group, was the strongest militant faction based in Little Asia. Because of this, Little Asia was virtually completely isolated from the outside world. Robbery, kidnapping, and even assault committed in Little Asia went unpunished by law; even crimes could be filed, leading to the nickname "Kowloon Execution Ground."
"Those things that happened in the past were either done by Katsuya's subordinates themselves, or by individual thieves who sneaked in to do it...After the Kowloon Group was established, their leaders no longer look down on these petty thefts. Doubt is not a small organization outside. Their coming here means that they either paid their subordinates to pave the way or they just barged in. Either way, it means that Little Asia will be in chaos for a while." Noble said, he looked up at the stars in the sky, thinking: It probably won't be so quiet in the future.
Jesse realized that when Noble mentioned the Kowloon Group, he sounded familiar, as if he knew them well. This made him curious—of course, as soon as this thought occurred, he began to warn himself: Don't be curious about unnecessary things. The more you know, the faster you die!
But he still accepted Noble's kindness: "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Noble said.
As he paused, the road ahead of Jesse changed from feeling familiar to feeling familiar. It was time to say goodbye. Jesse said, "Goodbye."
Jesse said in his heart: Never see you again.
"Don't forget I owe you a favor." Noble said, "See you later, friend."
He emphasized the word "friend" and it had a meaningful meaning.
The faint smile on his face made Jesse think it might be his illusion. After all, there were few lights here and the moonlight was still too dim.
Humph... Never mind, I still have to report to ICE. I've worked so hard for so long, no, I need to pay more.
/
Noble closed the door. The front room was empty, with only a light on. He turned it off and walked into the inner room. Xiaohua had already sat up and looked at him. "Brother? Welcome back."
"Yeah," he said. He took off his coat and hung it on the rack.
"I've got some clean clothes for you—by the way, do you want to bandage that wound on your hand first?"
Noble glanced down at his hand. He thought about it. The scab would hurt if it got wet, but bandaging it would be a hassle. So, he decided to just bear with it. "It's almost healed," he said.
Then he slowly walked towards the bathroom and slowly pulled the bottom of his clothes upwards, first to his scarred waist and abdomen, then to his bandaged chest, and finally to his slender neck. He tore off the clothes and threw them to the ground.
"Don't throw clothes on the ground!" Xiaohua complained.
"Oh, I forgot. Sorry, sorry." Noble responded, picking up his clothes with one hand and walking inside.
However, Xiaohua knew that next time she would probably just throw her clothes on the ground.
Sigh... I don't know where I learned this from, but I just like to throw things around like this...
...whether now or in the past.
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