Chapter 65 Returning to the City

Chapter 65: Return to the City

Jiang Luo had a bizarre, kaleidoscopic dream.

In it were Zhang Xiangping, Jiang Jianmin, Su Lan, Zhao Guangyuan, Zhao Mingshi, and Guo Ronghai, who, knife in hand, lunged at him, declaring that the barefoot fear not those who wear shoes.

These figures swarmed around him, their faces contorted, spewing a torrent of words.

Then, all of them were consumed by the same blazing inferno that had marked his previous life…

Hospital room, early morning. Jiang Luo opened his eyes, turned his head, and saw Huo Zongzhuo, his back to him, one hand in his pocket, standing by the window talking on a mobile phone.

Jiang Luo’s mind was still hazy; for a moment, he couldn’t distinguish between the Huo Zongzhuo of his past life, who always gave him the cold shoulder, and the Huo Zongzhuo of this life, who was his close ally.

After a moment’s pause, he heard Huo Zongzhuo say “Okay, got it” twice into the phone. Jiang Luo finally snapped back to reality, remembering this was his second life, that he was in the hospital because he had been kidnapped by Guo Ronghai the previous night and had just been brought back from the rural north of Jiangsu by Huo Zongzhuo.

“Awake?”

Huo Zongzhuo turned around, only then noticing Jiang Luo was awake.

He walked back to the bedside, his voice gentle, his tone concerned, “Did I wake you?”

Jiang Luo’s mind was working a bit slowly. He asked softly, “What time is it?”

Huo Zongzhuo raised his wrist to check his watch: “Just past 8:15.”

Jiang Luo then tried to sit up: “Let’s go, back to the city.”

Huo Zongzhuo put down the phone, sat by the bed, reached out to hold Jiang Luo’s arm, and looked at him seriously: “How are you feeling now? Is anything bothering you?”

Jiang Luo curved the corner of his mouth and smiled: “What am I, made of mud? That fragile?”

“Don’t worry, I’m not uncomfortable, I feel pretty good.”

As he spoke, he moved to throw off the quilt.

Suddenly remembering something, he looked up at Huo Zongzhuo: “What about that bastard Guo Ronghai? Is he dead?”

Huo Zongzhuo looked at Jiang Luo and said calmly: “Not dead, just lost too much blood. I had someone send him away. You won’t see him again.”

Sent away?

Jiang Luo asked: “Sent where?”

“Don’t concern yourself with it.”

Huo Zongzhuo said steadily: “Sent away is sent away. You just need to know he won’t appear in front of you again.”

Is that so.

Jiang Luo thought for a moment, then nodded: “Alright.”

He trusted Huo Zongzhuo, knew that Huo Zongzhuo handled things reliably. If he said it was OK, then it was definitely OK.

Jiang Luo threw off the quilt and got out of bed, still muttering: “I was so focused on running away at the time, I should’ve slapped that bastard a couple more times.”

As he spoke, he winced, raised his hand to press the back of his neck, and tilted his head back.

“Careful.”

Huo Zongzhuo quickly stood up and went over.

This little episode ended up being all scare, no real danger.

Jiang Luo was discharged from the hospital, wearing Huo Zongzhuo’s winter coat, and returned to the city with Huo Zongzhuo. On the way, he used Huo Zongzhuo’s mobile phone to call Wang Chuang and let him know he was safe.

Wang Chuang said something on the other end of the phone, and Jiang Luo said casually: “Alright, alright, quit your mourning. It’s fine, I’m not dead.”

“Report to the police? Have you lost your mind? If the police ask me, what do I say? That dog Guo Ronghai didn’t stab me, I stabbed him, and then I go to jail?”

Huo Zongzhuo was driving beside him. Hearing Jiang Luo’s tone, he knew Jiang Luo had recovered and was truly fine.

He smiled to himself, couldn’t help himself, reached over, and affectionately ruffled the back of Jiang Luo’s head with his palm.

Jiang Luo, on the phone, glared over: “What, petting a dog?”

After returning to the city, pushed by Huo Zongzhuo, Jiang Luo, who insisted he was fine, had to make another trip to the hospital.

The hospital prescribed oral medication and also gave him ointment for his neck, telling him to rest quietly.

Jiang Luo left the hospital. Originally, he wanted to go to the company to handle some matters, but Huo Zongzhuo insisted he go back to the Hilton.

Jiang Luo, carrying a large bag of medicine, swiped his card to enter the room, announcing: “I’m fine, really.”

He asked Huo Zongzhuo: “Don’t you have work to do today?”

Meaning: Huo Zongzhuo should go do whatever he needed to do, no need to be so nervous about him; he really was fine.

Huo Zongzhuo followed him in, closed the door, and gestured toward the bed with his chin: “Take off your clothes.”

Jiang Luo joked around, crossing his arms in front of his chest, looking defensively at Huo Zongzhuo, saying: “Is this appropriate? Two dudes alone.”

Huo Zongzhuo truly hadn’t expected Jiang Luo to still have the energy to joke.

And this kind of joke?

He pointed to the bed, in a no-nonsense tone: “Get on the bed! Or I’ll undress you!”

“Okay, okay, okay.”

Jiang Luo gave in easily, with an attitude of surrender, still muttering: “Don’t be so fierce.”

The result was Jiang Luo stripping down naked right there, right in front of Huo Zongzhuo, even taking off his underwear. After undressing, he hopped into bed, his dick bouncing a bit as he moved.

Huo Zongzhuo: “…”

Seeing Huo Zongzhuo looking down there, the now re-energized Jiang Luo, while sliding under the covers, said: “Pretty impressive, huh? It’s not small, right?”

Then he lifted the quilt, covered himself again, and said: “Wanna compare?”

Huo Zongzhuo: “…”

Huo Zongzhuo wanted to give Jiang Luo a few sharp raps on the head.

You brat!

Huo Zongzhuo said sternly, going to get the medicine left on the sofa: “Time for your medicine.”

Jiang Luo shifted how he was sitting on the bed: “After taking medicine, I still have to sleep? I already slept, I’m not tired.”

He added, "My car is still at the entrance of Sincere Department Store. That bastard Guo Ronghai didn't mess with my car, did he?"

Huo Zongzhuo got the medicine, poured water, walked back to the bedside, sat down, and handed the medicine and water to Jiang Luo. "The car is fine, still in the same spot. Take your medicine."

Jiang Luo reached out, took the cup and medicine, and took the medicine.

Huo Zongzhuo looked at Jiang Luo, his gaze slightly dropping, and noticed a large bruise on the back of the boy's neck extending to his shoulder.

Huo Zongzhuo's expression darkened, unable to muster a smile, and he wasn't in the mood to joke with Jiang Luo.

Jiang Luo noticed, and while taking the medicine, he reached up to gently touch his shoulder, saying nonchalantly, "It's fine, it'll heal in a couple of days."

Huo Zongzhuo didn't say anything but also reached out, gently touching the bruised spot with his fingers. After Jiang Luo finished the medicine, he went to get a medication patch from the bag, had Jiang Luo turn over and lie face down, and applied the patch to Jiang Luo.

Jiang Luo, lying face down and still restless, quipped, "They say if you survive a disaster, good fortune follows."

"My blessings are yet to come."

Huo Zongzhuo didn't respond to that but asked, "You mentioned earlier that the factory was burned down?"

"What factory burned down?"

"I called Wang Chuang. The factory is fine; it wasn't burned."

Jiang Luo paused, then said, "Oh," his tone light. "It's nothing. I was just rambling nonsense earlier."

Huo Zongzhuo, applying the patch, looked at the back of Jiang Luo's head, thoughtful.

When everything was done, Jiang Luo lay flat on his back, looking at Huo Zongzhuo by the bed. "I really can't sleep."

Huo Zongzhuo wasn't having it. "Even if you can't sleep, lie down."

Jiang Luo: "What am I supposed to do lying down? It's boring."

Huo Zongzhuo, like a strict old-school tutor, said, "Just lie down. Even if it's boring, lie down."

Jiang Luo: "Turn on the TV."

Huo Zongzhuo: "No. The doctor said you need to rest quietly. Lie down."

Jiang Luo: "Then sing me a song?"

Huo Zongzhuo didn't respond at all; Jiang Luo knew he couldn't sing.

Jiang Luo: "Should I sing for you?"

"Gently, I will leave you,

Please wipe the tears from the corners of your eyes.

In the long, long night,

In the days to come,

My dear, don't cry for me..."

Huo Zongzhuo reached out, pinched Jiang Luo's mouth with his fingers, making it into a duck mouth.

Jiang Luo, making duck noises, couldn't help but laugh, making sounds through his pinched lips, "It hurts, it hurts," he protested.

Huo Zongzhuo pulled his hand back and suddenly said, "When I picked you up from the countryside, you sang a few songs in the car that I had never heard before."

Jiang Luo then realized that he had been so caught up in singing at the time that he had even sung songs that weren’t released until the '90s.

Jiang Luo just shrugged: "Which song are you talking about? I was just singing whatever."

"What did I sing? I don't even remember."

Huo Zongzhuo said nothing and didn’t press further, as if he'd just mentioned it casually.

The two of them stayed like that, one lying and one sitting, talking, until after 20 minutes, Jiang Luo fell asleep, quietly lying on the pillow under the covers.

Huo Zongzhuo looked at Jiang Luo, reached out his hand, and gently stroked the boy’s face with his knuckles, looking utterly fond.

When he discovered Jiang Luo was missing last night, he'd been more anxious than anyone, so anxious that he almost came unglued.

To find him, he had tried everything, using every connection he could in Haicheng, even calling Beijing.

And so, Huo Zongzhuo clearly understood that he liked Jiang Luo more than he had ever realized.

Huo Zongzhuo gently and lingeringly stroked Jiang Luo’s cheek with the back of his hand, letting all his feelings show.

That evening, not long after Li Fengrui’s car was driven out by his driver near Pacific Department Store, several cars boxed it in, cutting him off.

What was this?

Li Fengrui frowned, wary but not really scared.

After all, this was Haicheng, not some overseas location—this was a safe city, and small-time gangs were nothing, posing no threat to him.

Seeing a man step out of one of the cars that had intercepted them and walk toward his vehicle, Li Fengrui calmly rolled down the rear window and looked out.

The man approached, bent down, and held out a cell phone.

Li Fengrui glanced down briefly, said nothing, took it, and held it to his ear, calmly saying, "Hello?"

A steady voice came from the other end of the cell phone: "Young Master Li, let me give you a word of advice—this is Haicheng, not your Taiwan."

Li Fengrui snorted disdainfully, "Let’s not beat around the bush. Why don’t you just state your name and tell me what you want?"

The voice on the cell phone replied, "Your dog bit one of my men. This is the first time, so I’m only warning you. If there’s a second time, not only your dog, but you yourself will never set foot on the mainland again."

Li Fengrui frowned, "Who are you? What dog? What are you talking about?"

The call ended abruptly. The man outside the car reached in unceremoniously, took the cell phone directly from Li Fengrui’s hand, and simultaneously tossed a small paper box through the window before turning and walking away. Soon, the cars that had intercepted them also drove off one after another.

Li Fengrui found it baffling and cursed under his breath, calling them crazy, before finally looking down at the paper box on his lap.

What is this?

He opened it and looked inside, but upon seeing what was inside, he was so startled that he grabbed the box and threw it out the window.

As the box hit the ground outside, its contents spilled out.

It was a hand.

A severed hand.

The hand was large and broad, with rough knuckles—clearly that of a man.

The hand had a distinctive feature—a simple gold band on the ring finger.

Young Master Li had just seen that ring and was too shaken to think about whose hand it might be.

After the car got farther away, a few images popped into Li Fengrui's head, and he realized it was Guo Ronghai's hand.

Guo Ronghai?

Still shaken, Li Fengrui wondered, what did this mean? What had Guo Ronghai done? Had his hand been cut off? And for what reason?

Li Fengrui reacted quickly, his thoughts immediately turning to Jiang Luo, since it was because of Jiang Luo that he had kicked Guo Ronghai out in the first place.

Had Guo Ronghai gone after Jiang Luo?

It then occurred to Li Fengrui that Guo Ronghai, cornered and desperate, might have gone after Jiang Luo for revenge.

Had Guo Ronghai been caught and taken care of as a result?

So who was it that had just warned him on the phone?

Jiang Luo had someone backing him—who was it?

Li Fengrui ignored the severed hand, leaving it on the ground, and couldn't care less about whatever fate had befallen Guo Ronghai.

After the initial shock, he quietly thought to himself, pondering Jiang Luo's background and who might be supporting him.

He also thought: No wonder Jiang Luo could launch a brand, open a factory, keep his brand out of Pacific Department Store, have the nerve to cross him, secure a ten-million loan, and get the town government to guarantee it—it was all because he had someone behind him.

Haicheng was full of powerful people, and Li Fengrui had no intention of offending anyone he shouldn't here.

Young Master Li began to consider how much distance he should maintain with Jiang Luo.

He also thought: With the Spring Festival approaching, perhaps he should send Jiang Luo a gift too.

After all, that dog, Guo Ronghai, had come from their Pacific Department Store.

Since he had bitten Jiang Luo, Li Fengrui was partly responsible.

With that in mind, Li Fengrui picked up the phone and called Jiang Luo.

Beep—beep—beep—

No answer.

Li Fengrui hung up, didn't care why Jiang Luo hadn't answered.

Maybe he was busy, or maybe he was actually pissed off about the Guo Ronghai incident.

It didn't matter.

Li Fengrui now truly respected Jiang Luo and sincerely wanted to befriend him.

He believed that, given his strong position, Jiang Luo would never refuse to work with him—unless he was blind.

"Mr. Li, just now... should we call the police?"

The driver was also pretty spooked by the severed hand.

"No need."

Li Fengrui had no desire to involve the police.

It was just a severed hand, and he couldn't care less about some dog's life.