An enemy is coming from afar
The night was eerily quiet. Suddenly, a faint rustling sound came from the darkness, like a stray cat rummaging through trash, which only added to the eerie atmosphere. The dim yellow light of the streetlamp illuminated the small space. Under the light, Gao Junxiao held He Qingcheng tightly, then suddenly turned 180 degrees and walked back quickly.
Gao Junxiao lowered his voice and said to Qingcheng, "A friend has come to see me."
Perhaps because the two left suddenly, there were some chaotic footsteps in the dark shadows. Judging from the sound, there were about ten people. Perhaps feeling the coldness of her boyfriend's palm, He Qingcheng forced a smile and teased, "You have too many friends. I can't afford to entertain them all."
"Then—run!!!" With Gao Junxiao's command, the two of them took off running.
Just as the cooked duck was about to fly away, more than a dozen thugs in black suddenly sprang out from the shadows of the street, each wielding a gun and mercilessly firing at the two men's backs. Sparks flew everywhere, and bullets whistled as they whizzed past the stone walls.
The two men ducked and darted into an alleyway to avoid the bullets. Gao Junxiao pushed Qingcheng behind him, quickly turned around, drew his sidearm, and fired two shots, instantly killing both men. However, the enemy outnumbered them and had overwhelming firepower.
He quickly calculated in his mind that even if every bullet in his hand was lethal, it wouldn't be enough. He couldn't fight head-on, especially since he had a helpless woman with him. Thinking of this, Gao Junxiao nervously turned to look at He Qingcheng, wanting her to stay where she was while he went to distract them.
Unexpectedly, He Qingcheng's face only showed calm indifference, her eyes darting around as if she was plotting something. Gao Junxiao was suddenly pulled by his girlfriend and ran deeper into the alley. Qingcheng said breathlessly as she ran, "Don't waste bullets, take them for a 'garden stroll,' let's go to the main road."
Before Gao Junxiao could even finish being surprised that the two of them had such a similar thought process, the fast-running thugs behind them caught up with a gun. Gao Junxiao used the corner as cover to grab the thug's wrist, twisted it behind his back, and disarmed him. A shrill scream pierced the crystal-clear night sky.
Taking advantage of the situation, Gao Junxiao smashed the assailant's carotid artery with the butt of his gun, leaving the assailant convulsing on the ground. The other assailant didn't even get a clear look at his face before his head exploded with a loud bang.
Upon seeing this, the thugs following closely behind opened fire without hesitation. Fortunately, Gao Junxiao was agile and retreated back into the alley. He exchanged glances with Qingcheng, and the two began to lead the thugs "strolling in the garden".
Outnumbered, they didn't want to confront the criminals head-on; a skillful escape was the best option. Once they reached a crowded main road, they would have a way to deal with them.
Relying on her familiarity with the alleyways, Qingcheng pulled Gao Junxiao through the many stone gates and through the narrow alleys, but the thugs were too persistent. Not only did they fail to shake them off, but they also gained more men.
The melodious songs from the gramophone grew clearer and clearer. Before them lay the main road, its neon lights shimmering. Gao Junxiao and Qingcheng strode out of the alley and mingled into the bustling crowd.
Unfortunately, the group of thugs were too arrogant. After losing their target, they fired three blank shots into the sky.
In an instant, panicked people screamed and scattered across the road. The merchants, on the other hand, remained indifferent, boarding up their doors as if nothing was amiss. Anyone who dared to cause trouble on the main road of the International Settlement was clearly a country bumpkin who had just arrived from the Shiliupu Wharf and knew nothing of the rules.
In the chaotic street, people kept a considerable distance from each other. Some of the thugs spotted the two and started shooting at the crowd like madmen. Qingcheng was quickly pulled back into Gao Junxiao's arms and taken to safety.
The police officers' shrill whistles rang out one after another as they directed the crowd away while running far away themselves.
Police officers carrying batons and guns rushed to the scene, but when they saw a group of menacing-looking people with real weapons, they were so frightened that they hid behind cover and fired a few shots without caring whether they hit their targets or not.
Qingcheng had long seen through those thugs disguised as officials. Whether they were foreign or Chinese police officers, they were always quick to extort money and collect protection fees, but now that there were gunshots in the street, they were passing the buck to each other, as if they were competing to see who could get there the slowest.
The two men crouched in the corner, not leaving immediately, watching the two groups fight like dogs. After all, it was a main passageway, and the police had to come and intimidate them to maintain appearances; otherwise, who would believe the concession was safe in the future?
Whether those people were just unlucky or they were just incredibly lucky, a police car came speeding by.
A tall, burly man with a buzz cut jumped out of the car. His police uniform wasn't even buttoned up, and his firm chest was barely concealed. He spat out a cigarette butt with a "pui" sound, then pulled a submachine gun from the trunk and started firing, rat-a-tat-tat...
The black-clad thug probably didn't expect a fierce man to appear out of nowhere. Before he could even process what was happening, his body exploded with countless red holes, and he fell to the ground, his eyes wide open in death, emitting a burnt smell.
The remaining thugs, unafraid, used their companions' corpses as shields to charge at the man. Qingcheng patted Gao Junxiao's knee and whispered, "These guys are too dedicated! What kind of god did you mess with?"
"I don't know which deity he is, but I do know that the man before me is a true god of death," Gao Junxiao said earnestly.
Following Gao Junxiao's gaze, Qingcheng saw the man with the buzz cut and a fist the size of a clay pot trace a shooting star in the air, hitting the thug squarely in the face, and then kicking another thug in the stomach, sending him flying straight away and knocking down several other thugs.
The brutal, realistic fighting style amused He Qingcheng, who was hiding by the wall. Wow, this was practically Lu Zhishen reincarnated! She was now bursting with inspiration and really wanted to write.
"I don't quite understand you. You should at least avoid such a violent scene, you're a lady from a respectable family," Gao Junxiao teased with a smile.
"What do you know? This is called field research. It's rare to see such a realistic fighting scene, so of course I have to carefully copy it and take it back as material." Qingcheng thought about how rubbish the martial arts moves she had written before were, and she must improve them in the future.
Just then, she felt Gao Junxiao tapping her shoulder. She didn't want to pay attention to him, but he persisted in tapping her shoulder. Finally, Qingcheng couldn't stand it anymore and grabbed Junxiao's harassing hand, scolding him in a low voice, "What are you doing? Why is your face so red? Do you have high blood pressure?"
"If I ever get high blood pressure, it'll definitely be because of you." Gao Junxiao said awkwardly, clearing his throat and saying in one breath, "Your cheongsam is ripped."
Gao Junxiao raised an eyebrow and looked down at Qingcheng. Qingcheng followed his gaze and her face flushed red to the roots of her ears. She immediately stood up and started buttoning her clothes. She wished she could disappear into a crack in the ground. It turned out that it wasn't a loose seam, but that the side buttons of her cheongsam had come undone while she was running.
Standing was fine, but when she squatted down... ouch, her lining was completely exposed. Now she understood why the rules of the girls' school clearly stipulated that ladies should not squat.
"It's okay, it's okay, no one else saw it." To prevent the silence from making things more awkward for the two of them, Gao Junxiao spoke first.
"You saw it." Kiyosumi's aggrieved voice escaped through her fingers as she covered her face.
He said that if he saw it, it would be considered indecent, but if he said he didn't see it, it would be even more outrageous. Gao Junxiao could only hug Qingcheng, pat her back, and gently comfort her, "I'm not a stranger, I take full responsibility, I take full responsibility."
"An accident is what it means to be fully responsible! Who asked you to be fully responsible?" Kiyosumi finally raised her head, still puffing up her cheeks, her face flushed, looking as cute as a little goldfish.
Oops, I just slipped up. Before Gao Junxiao could explain properly, Qingcheng's expression changed drastically: "You... I'll take you to the hospital."
Only after Qingcheng said that did Gao Junxiao feel a burning sensation in his left waist. He lifted his dark coat and saw that his white shirt underneath was soaked in blood. He must have been shot when he pulled her out of the crowd.
Seeing that his blood had stained Qingcheng's white sweater, he immediately pulled away from her and leaned against the wall, saying with a face full of guilt, "I'm sorry for getting your clothes dirty. I'm fine, it's just a small scratch."
"What a minor scratch, that's a gunshot wound! We need to go to the hospital!" Qingcheng's voice suddenly rose as she took off her white wool sweater and pressed on the wound.
"Master Wu, please have mercy." Gao Junxiao was feeling dizzy and unsteady on his feet. Leaning against the wall, he shouted at "Lu Zhishen." The pain, once noticed, came in waves. He struggled to sit up and, leaning against the wall, said to Qingcheng, "I need to go and ask some questions. Please help me."
"Hey, which brother is this? It's Brother Gao!" That Master Wu had good eyesight and immediately found Gao Junxiao's location after looking around.
Under the moonlight, Qingcheng refused to compromise. Gao Junxiao touched her silvery face and coaxed her gently, "Be good, just for a moment. I'll explain and we'll go to the hospital right away. It's really nothing."
Qingcheng couldn't persuade Gao Junxiao otherwise, so she warned, "Two minutes at most." After Gao Junxiao nodded, Qingcheng helped him walk towards Master Wu. When Master Wu saw Gao Junxiao's condition, he also stepped forward with concern and helped him sit down: "Brother Gao, you've been hit by a stray bullet. I'll take you to the hospital."
"Don't rush to die, are there any survivors?" Upon hearing Gao Junxiao's question, Master Wu dragged up a half-dead thug, threw him in front of Gao Junxiao, and kicked him hard: "Damn it, don't die yet, your grandpa is asking questions."
The assailant coughed up a mouthful of blood with pink foam after being kicked, indicating that he had been shot in the lung.
"Who sent you?" Gao Junxiao didn't waste any words and went straight to the point, although he knew he probably wouldn't get any information out of him.
“…Gao…Junxiao…you…are…dead…by…the…Big Boss…want…your…life.” But the thug only managed to utter a few words after a lot of effort. Gao Junxiao bent down and whispered something in his ear, then with a snap, dislocated the guy’s jaw.
The thug could only let out mournful groans from his throat, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Gao Junxiao.
"Damn it, you're calling your grandfather by his name too!" Master Wu wanted to kick him again, but Gao Junxiao waved him off.
Gao Junxiao said to Master Wu, "These are all assassins. Focus on searching their personal belongings. If you can save this one, do so; if not, just throw him into the mass grave to feed the dogs. Also, he has poison stuck in his back molar. Find someone to pull it out for him. Thank you for your help, Master Wu."
"Liu Datou, come and clean this up. I'm taking my brother to the hospital. And this thing has really messed things up for me." After saying that, Master Wu spat at the thug again, cursing under his breath: "Damn it, in my territory, you hurt my brother. You've got a death wish."
"Yes, sir." A neatly dressed young policeman saluted sir and began directing the cleaning.
After Gao Junxiao was helped to the back of the carriage, he raised his watch to show Qingcheng: "Look, I didn't go over time." Qingcheng couldn't be angry with him, so she could only press his hand back onto her leg with red eyes.
Outside the emergency operating room, Qingcheng bowed to thank Mr. Wu for driving them to the hospital.
Master Wu chuckled and waved his hand to indicate that it was no problem, it was his brother's duty. He then changed the subject and said, "Sister-in-law, your man is too good at enduring pain. This injury is not life-threatening, but it hurts a lot. I used to have a back injury, and ouch, I was rolling on the ground in pain. After the anesthesia wore off, I couldn't sleep for several nights in a row, and I was always woken up by the pain."
Wu Ye's expression was unusually rich. Qingcheng wanted to laugh but couldn't manage a smile. Even the strong man in front of her couldn't bear the pain, so how could her A Xiao endure it? She blamed herself for not noticing Gao Junxiao's abnormality sooner.
"Master Wu, is there anything I should pay special attention to?" Qingcheng decided to ask Master Wu for advice before asking the doctor.
"It's nothing. Just don't sleep together for now. Once you're healed, it's all yours." Master Wu's casual remark startled Qingcheng so much she almost dropped her bag and coat. She shouldn't have asked. Oh well, he's a江湖人士 (jianghu person, someone from the martial arts world), you can't judge him by common sense.
As a result, Master Wu thought that Qingcheng's silence meant she was unwilling to continue persuading him: "Sister-in-law, don't be anxious. A man's most precious possession is his two kidneys, you know? Take advantage of the time while he's recovering and give him a good boost. Give him all sorts of things, like deer antler, tiger penis, mutton, dog meat, big loach, sea cucumber, and oysters. Hey, once he's healed, I guarantee you won't be able to get out of bed for three days."
"Brother Xin, I wouldn't lie to you." As he spoke, Master Wu lit a cigarette, but a nurse immediately came to stop him, and he tactfully greeted her. Qingcheng didn't want to argue with him, and with a forced smile, she saw Master Wu outside to smoke. She suspected that Master Wu might also be selling miracle drugs on the side.
A moment later, the emergency room light went out, and the doctor pushed open the operating room door and came out. Gao Junxiao, clutching his waist, followed him out. Qingcheng immediately put a coat on him and helped him sit down in a chair. Actually, what Master Wu said was rough but reasonable. Gao Junxiao should indeed have some nourishment, but it had to be done scientifically.
The doctor said to Qingcheng, "He had three stitches on each side. Fortunately, it was a penetrating wound and didn't damage any internal organs. However, the old wound hadn't healed, and now there's a new one. The family should be careful. He shouldn't do any strenuous exercise recently, and the wound shouldn't get wet. He should eat a light diet. The stitches will be removed in ten days. You can go to the pharmacy to get the anti-inflammatory medication and then go home."
"Old wound, doctor, where was he injured before?" Kiyosumi asked anxiously.
"Right shoulder." The doctor glanced at Gao Junxiao and said bluntly, "It's a gunshot wound from about half a month ago. The skin and flesh have just healed, but the tendons and bones are still injured."
"Okay, thank you, doctor." After seeing the doctor off, Qingcheng felt a little lost, unsure where to touch him without touching his sore spot. At this moment, Gao Junxiao was like a white-feathered bird forced to wade into the mud, so fragile it was heartbreaking. With his knowledge, he should be discussing scholarship, not politics, but unfortunately, the torrent of the times forces you forward, forward, and forward again.
"Does it still hurt?" Qingcheng's fingers traced across the man's shoulder, as gently as a swallow skimming across white clouds.
"I'm really fine, I know what I'm doing." Gao Junxiao forced a weak smile.
"Didn't you say you'd bring me back whole? You're clearly injured, why didn't you tell me?" Kiyosumi said, propping herself up on her arm and looking down at me.
"It's intact, not a single part is missing. If you don't believe me, come and check it yourself," Gao Junxiao stubbornly insisted.
“Gao Junxiao, I just realized that you don’t trust me at all.” Qingcheng suddenly cupped Gao Junxiao’s bloodless face and leaned in without any hesitation. “I admit that you are very talented, but you don’t need to show off in front of me. When you are in pain, I hope that your first instinct is to tell me. I’m giving you that sentence back now.”
Gao Junxiao's face flushed, and he lowered his head, not daring to look at her. Qingcheng forced the man to look up into her eyes again, and said somewhat angrily, "Are you so smart that you can't tell the difference between pity and affection?"
"I can tell the difference, but I'm a man, I'm not that delicate." Gao Junxiao's eyes were panicked, and his breathing became increasingly unsteady.
“If you insist that being a man makes you exceptionally resilient, you might have to revolutionize yourself before you can revolutionize others,” Qingcheng said solemnly. “Everyone has the right to be weak, so no matter what, I will never despise you. And remember what I said next was by He Qingcheng: when the storm comes, I may not stand in front of you, but I will definitely stand by your side.”
Her promise was like a lark knocking on the door of the soul, incredibly beautiful. Gao Junxiao took Qingcheng's soft, slender hand, reverently kissed the back of her hand, and asked, "Can you stand here for a lifetime?"
The touch was light and fleeting, and Qingcheng felt a tingling sensation, like wild grass brushing against her back. After recovering, she was annoyed by his frivolity, but when she saw his slightly red eyes, her heart softened: "Then you must hold my hand tightly."
"Okay." Gao Junxiao smiled and wrapped his arm around Qingcheng's waist, leaning gently against her.
When Master Wu drove the two of them back to Gao Junxiao's apartment, Chen Yao greeted them with a strange smile as soon as the door opened. However, his smile gradually disappeared when he saw Gao Junxiao's weak appearance. He hurriedly helped Gao Junxiao sit on the sofa. Seeing that he was being taken care of by Chen Yao, Qingcheng reassured herself and repeated the doctor's words before saying goodbye to Master Wu.
Inside the room, Gao Junxiao thought about what had just happened, and a certain string in his heart was plucked. No one had ever said such things to him before. She really was the most special person in the world.
Kiyosumi's earnest little face appeared clearly before him once again. The two were so close, her cherry blossom-colored, alluring lips opening and closing before his eyes. If it weren't for the stinging pain in his waist keeping him awake, he almost would have lost control. Now he deeply regretted not following his heart and instead enduring that torture.
Perhaps the more you cherish something, the more you fear losing it; it's better to let things take their course.
In order to create a clean dating environment for the two of them, it's time to put dealing with the mole on the agenda. He just said two names to the assassin, and the assassin's pupils visibly contracted when he heard the second name. That makes things easier. The grievances have their source, and the debts have their debtors. This matter won't end like this.
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