Chapter 223 — The Zou Father and Son

Because he had something more important to do today: "Bing Shao" had come to Songshan, and he meant to gather a few brothers and go pledge himself to Bing Shao. As for the matter of Tang Zhi and Wei Zhao, naturally he would not bother with it now.

Though he hated Wei Zhao with every fiber of his being, Li Erlan firmly believed that once he had Bing Shao's backing, fixing Wei Zhao would be the work of minutes, and Tang Zhi would sooner or later be his plaything.

Casting one last hate-filled glance back at Wei Zhao, Li Erlan quickened his pace. He knew well enough why Bing Shao was recruiting him at this moment. Before, he had still harbored misgivings; after all, he was one of the shantytown's own, raised there since childhood, and helping Bing Shao move against the shantytown residents was, in any light, hard to justify.

But Wei Zhao's appearance had hardened his resolve.

Wei Zhao, of course, had no idea what was going on in Li Erlan's head. Seeing the man pass by without a word, he was rather puzzled. "He's not bothering you anymore?"

Tang Zhi shook her head in equal confusion, but not in answer to whether Li Erlan had stopped harassing her. She simply could not make sense of what had gotten into Li Erlan today.

He walked Tang Zhi to her door but did not go in. "I'll be off, then?"

"Mm..." Tang Zhi was rather annoyed. If you're leaving, just leave, why announce it to me? Am I supposed to invite you in to sit? Isn't that plainly asking me to say it? And if I don't invite you, I'll look terribly rude. Helpless, Tang Zhi said, "Won't you come in and sit a while?"

"I'll go straight back." Wei Zhao smiled.

"Oh..." Tang Zhi was even more annoyed. I've swallowed my pride and invited you, and you still won't come in, what is that supposed to mean! She turned and, without another word to Wei Zhao, hurried back into the house.

On Monday, Zhong Yongliang had barely arrived at school before he could not wait to summon Zou Ruoming out.

"Liangzi, you were looking for me?" Zou Ruoming was in a foul mood. Yesterday's business had left him thoroughly vexed and thrown his entire plan into disarray. He had intended, just as Zhong Yongliang suggested, to have someone snatch Tang Zhi and then take her by force.

He had already worked it out with his elder brother, Zou Ruoguang, for him to bring men and help. But when he got home last night, he made the tragic discovery that his brother had been beaten badly; both his hands were crippled, and he would need a good long while to recover. His plan would have to be postponed.

This was how it had happened: Zou Ruoming came home to find his father, Zou Tiandi, sitting there with a face like thunder.

"Dad, what's the matter?" Zou Ruoming was puzzled. Why did his father wear that expression, as though he had been robbed?

Zou Tiandi had not been robbed of money; he had been robbed of a hospital room. In Songshan City, he was not the sort whose stomp made the ground tremble, but he did, more or less, carry some weight, and his connections ran deep. Yet a few nameless bumpkins had snatched a hospital room out from under him. If word of this got out, would he not be laughed to scorn?

How was he supposed to keep his footing in Songshan's high society after that?

So Zou Tiandi had straightaway ordered Zhao Guangdong to call his eldest son, Zou Ruoguang, the local thug boss of the North District, and tell him to bring men to the hospital and settle the score. If those bumpkins were not taught a severe lesson, this grievance could never be swallowed.

But just as he was waiting at home for news of his son's triumph, he received a bad report: his son had been beaten by the people in that hospital room. Though the details were still unclear, his son was already on his way home, and Zou Ruoguang had taken a heavy loss.

Since Zou Tiandi had made his fortune and opened his KTV parlor, it had been a long time since he had suffered such a loss. Especially after secretly bankrolling his eldest son, Zou Ruoguang, into the position of North District thug boss, Zou Tiandi had straddled both the lawful and the lawless worlds and prospered mightily.

"Don't ask so many questions! Go to your room and do your homework like a good boy! Our Zou family is counting on you to be the one scholar, to help me run the business someday!" Zou Tiandi glared at Zou Ruoming and snapped.

Zou Tiandi placed great hopes on this younger son, Zou Ruoming. He and his eldest, Zou Ruoguang, were both rough men who had entered the underworld early and could never have pursued any learning, but both of them wanted Zou Ruoming to make something of himself.

The bigger Zou Tiandi's KTV business grew, the more keenly he understood how vital managerial talent was. He could hire such people with money, of course, but no outsider was ever as worry-free as one's own flesh and blood. So he hoped Zou Ruoming would study hard, take a degree in business management, and come back to help him build his enterprise into something greater still.

Zou Ruoming played his part well enough, acting the obedient treasure at home and obeying Zou Tiandi's every word. But how could Zou Tiandi have guessed that his elder son doted on this younger brother to the point of indulgence, not only helping him in his misdeeds but keeping them hidden from Zou Tiandi himself?

"Okay..." Zou Ruoming answered meekly and went back to his room. Once the door was shut, he did not open his books; instead, he pressed his ear to the door and waited for his elder brother to return, to hear what they would say...

It was not long before his elder brother, Zou Ruoguang, returned. Peering through the crack in the door, Zou Ruoming was startled to see that both of his brother's hands were wrapped in bandages.

"Ruoguang, what happened to you...?" Although Zou Tiandi had run with the rough crowds in his younger days and no longer paid much mind to the cuts and bruises of brawling, such things had all but ceased ever since Zou Ruoguang pacified the North District and became its foremost gangland boss.

"Dad, that man is a real fighter — I couldn't beat him!" Zou Ruoguang was terrified of Wei Zhao down to his very bones, and so he held nothing back. "None of my men are a match for him! My guess is, even if he hasn't quite reached the level of a Yellow-tier fighter, he's close! And he may know pressure-point strikes!"

"What? That formidable? Impossible, surely? Those two brats can't be more than twenty years old — how could they be fighters?" Zou Tiandi was taken aback, unwilling to believe it.

"Dad, to be honest, I don't believe it either, but he really is formidable. This business — let's just let it go. We don't have any deep grudge against him..." At this point, Zou Ruoguang felt a chill of fear...

"Damn it, you worthless thing!" Zou Tiandi snorted coldly. "How can your nerve be so small? Even that good-for-nothing younger brother of yours has more guts than you — he dared to molest a female classmate back in middle school. And look at you! I made the wrong call back then — I should have sent you to school and let Ruoming run the streets!"

Zou Ruoguang hung his head, not daring to look at his father.

"However formidable he is, two fists are no match for four hands. That's an old saying, and it must hold some truth — otherwise how would it have been passed down all these years?" Zou Tiandi gave another cold snort. "Your Uncle Yan is already a near-Yellow-tier fighter, and yet wasn't he surrounded and captured all the same? It took me enormous effort to get him out of prison!"