Wolves of Dragon City

Chapter Twenty-Four: Wardmates

After the brawl at Fumanlou, neither Changqing Company nor the four families—Su, Liu, Bai, and Kong—filed a police report. What happened in the restaurant stayed there. Whoever still held grudges, whoever still felt unwilling to let it go—that was a problem for the future. For now, it was clear that Second Uncle Su’s case had come to an end, with Changqing Company’s temporary compromise marking the conclusion.

Neither side stirred up more trouble, which perfectly suited the police department and the Zhannan District precinct. They were more than happy to see peace return to the streets and to avoid messy cases, so they had no interest in pursuing this fight any further.

Since Changqing Company’s arrival in Longcheng, many had clashed with them. Yet the only ones who could actually force them to compromise inside Fumanlou—and walk away with a solid sixty thousand in cash—were the four families of Su, Liu, Bai, and Kong.

The unluckiest one in all this was clearly Lu Feng. But the one who would pay the heaviest price was the Flower Shirt. He was finished. The evidence of his assault on the workers was solid. He’d been tagged for vandalizing the Su family’s garbage plant, and now Wang Daolin had pinned an arson charge on him as well. Plus, the shooting case would have to be solved too.

In short, since both sides wanted to bury the hatchet, the Flower Shirt was the perfect scapegoat.

As the saying goes, “When you already have lice, one more bite doesn’t matter.” Flower Shirt was destined to serve time anyway. As long as Lu Feng paid enough, it wouldn’t matter much to him whether he sat in prison two years more or less.

As for the four families, Su Tianyu, Su Tianbei, Kong Zhenghui, Bai Hongbo, and the others were all seriously injured. That same night, after leaving Fumanlou, they were sent directly to the hospital for treatment.

This fight wasn’t what anyone could call a decisive victory. At best, it was a comeback—a hard-earned reversal that fulfilled their psychological goal. But more importantly, they’d shaken Changqing Company’s confidence, especially Lu Feng’s.

It was said that when the doctors examined his wounds in the hospital, he still instinctively covered his head with both hands, half-conscious, thinking the fight wasn’t over yet, thinking Su Tianyu was still hitting him—just short of shouting, “Hide the ashtray!”

Clearly, Lu Feng had been traumatized. He’d probably never use an ashtray again in his life.

And that was exactly what Su Tianyu and Kong Zhenghui wanted when they insisted on taking the sixty thousand in cash. Because with someone like Lu Feng—if you showed weakness after the fight—he’d only come after you again later.

If you fight, then fight until they’re convinced—until they remember your name and flinch. Even if you lose, make sure they fear you next time.

The sixty thousand cash from Changqing Company was divided fairly:

Kong family, twenty-five thousand;

Su family, twenty-five thousand;

Bai family, ten thousand;

Liu family, not a single cent.

The Liu family had done the least in this whole mess. They’d basically “won by lying down” while their teammates fought for their lives. During the fight at Fumanlou, Liu’s second brother had been dodging the entire time, practically dancing between the punches. He knew perfectly well that the Liu family didn’t deserve any of that money.

As for the Bai family, although Bai Hongbo had managed to prove himself a third of a man in that fight—forced to defend himself and even awaken some courage later on—his contribution was still minor. He hadn’t pulled the media strings or leveraged the police connections. Ten thousand for him was perfectly reasonable.

Besides, Big Bai loved showing off—sometimes a few flattering words worked better than cash.

The turning point in this incident came from the Su family’s connection to Wang Daolin, while the Kong family worked their media ties from the outside. They had been the main force against Changqing, so an even split between the two made perfect sense.

With things settled, Su Tianyu, Su Tianbei, Kong Zhenghui, and Bai Hongbo all entered a long period of recovery. They stayed together in the People’s Hospital and gradually became familiar with one another.

Speaking of recovery—Big Bai was truly one of a kind.

Because everyone arrived at the emergency room at slightly different times that night, the hospital had randomly assigned their wards. As luck would have it, Su Tianyu and Bai Hongbo ended up sharing the same room.

Three days later, Su Tianyu couldn’t take it anymore. The guy was too much—talked endlessly and bragged about everything. He could go from the working conditions of street sweepers to when exactly Emperor Qin of Chinatown would die, and even ask Su Tianyu’s opinion on interplanetary migration.

Su Tianyu didn’t even have a house of his own right now—how the hell was he supposed to care about space colonization?

And it wasn’t just the talking. Big Bai had way too many female friends.

In just three days of hospitalization, Su Tianyu had seen at least twenty women visit him—each one dressed provocatively, carrying fruit or health supplements.

After some digging, Su Tianyu found out that most of them either worked in clubs or recruited girls for those clubs, while others managed “big projects” in night entertainment venues.

And Bai could chat with each of them for at least two hours straight. When it got late, he’d even ask Su Tianyu to step out of the room for a while.

Who could possibly put up with that?

Su Tianyu couldn’t. He eventually found an excuse to swap rooms with his second brother, Su Tianbei. But to his despair, Su Tianbei’s roommate turned out to be Wu Shixiong—a socially awkward guy who stuttered and acted like a total creep. It nearly broke Su Tianyu’s spirit.

Wu Shixiong had been injured during the trash plant attack. He’d been admitted earlier than Su Tianyu, and since Su had stayed in Bai Hongbo’s ward for three days first, by the time the two officially became roommates, Wu’s stitches were nearly ready to come out. He could move around freely.

Wu was a straightforward, honest man. He took good care of Su Tianyu, whose leg and arm were both badly injured. Sometimes Wu even helped him to the bathroom and made sure he got his meals on time.

After a week together in the hospital, the two had grown fairly close.

One night, Wu sat in a chair, picking at his toes, and suddenly asked, “Xiao… Xiao Yu-ge, people always talk about… getting women. But… how exactly do you… get them?”

Su Tianyu froze for a moment on his bed, unsure how to respond. “You don’t need to worry about that kind of stuff. Keep your nose clean.”

“I—I mean, I’ve… done it before,” Wu stammered, “but… I didn’t feel anything?”

Su Tianyu blinked in disbelief. “How’s that even possible?”

“I… I couldn’t hold it with one hand. It hurt when I squeezed.” Wu thought about it seriously before answering.

Su Tianyu immediately lost it. “Are you screwing with me?!”

As they were joking around, a loud voice suddenly erupted from outside the ward.

“Goddammit, I told you already—quit dragging your feet! I’ll bring it over in a bit. Ah, just go back, will you? You don’t even know what’s going on—why are you tagging along?!”

The shouting was loud. Su Tianyu turned his head toward the doorway, puzzled.