Chapter 20: Game Changer

19TH APR 2022~ VERALUCTL

Si-ge’s face twitched quickly. He stood up and motioned for his lackeys to stand down, the veins on his neck bulging. “Don’t move! None of you move!”

Cao Bing hissed in pain, his twisted face riddled with folds as he cursed, “Fuck… Xu Si, you bastard, you fucker…”

Si-ge managed to embody a great general at the moment as he lightly pushed down the barrel that was pointed straight at his nose. “Cao-ge, I didn’t do it. If I really wanted to, I wouldn’t have come here today to get shot down by your brothers.”

Cao Bing leaned to the side, sucking on his teeth as he glared viciously at Si-ge. “Not you? Who else would know the time and place if not you? Do you have anything to say against that?”

Si-ge glanced at Cao Bing’s leg; the blood seeping out had already soaked through his pants. “Quick, go get a doctor. You can’t delay this.”

No-one moved. Finally, a lad with dyed blond hair spat onto the ground and glared at Si-ge before putting away his gun and jogging out. Si-ge turned to Cao Bing and said, “Cao-ge, tell your mates to put down their stuff first, we’ll talk this through.”

Cao Bing hesitated before waving his hands dispiritedly. The people around him lowered their guns, but continued staring warily at Si-ge as he slowly sat back down. “Cao-ge, you chose the place today, I didn’t know where we were beforehand. I only brought so many people as well, all of them are here. The old rat wanted to betray you and found me, but I thought because we’re brothers of the same gang, and this Xu couldn’t turn his back on his brothers, I gave him over to you. If I wanted to harm you, wouldn’t that old bastard have found the right man? Would I still have brought him over?”

Cold sweat broke out on Cao Bing’s forehead and he pushed out the words through clenched teeth. “You… are saying there’s a traitor?”

Si-ge didn’t say anything but rather looked pointedly at the old rat. Without a word, Cao Bing understood. It wasn’t the first time that an agent or a traitor had appeared under him; these people following him… Cao Bing’s beady gaze swept over his underlings.

Si-ge breathed a small sigh of relief. “Since this was just an accident, I hope that it won’t damage our friendship, don’t you think?”

Cao Bing’s eyes flickered, the muscles on his face slowly relaxing as he pushed out a smile. “This… Of course, just then your brother I was a little panicked, don’t be offended…”

Before he had finished speaking, someone suddenly sprinted through the door. Everyone turned towards him at the same time; it was the blond who had run outside to find a doctor. His expression was one of shock and horror. “Da-ge… Ge, don’t trust Xu Si, I just heard, I heard…”

Before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly choked, a gurgling noise coming from his throat. His eyes protruded, falling straight down as he pointed at Si-ge, a bloody hole in his back- that man with the muted pistol again!

That direction! Mo Cong quickly drew the pistol from the waist of the man next to him, his movements too quick to be seen, and opened fire. A man grunted and from the direction of his shot, someone in black fell down. Mo Cong’s eyes widened.

The man who fell down wasn’t just anyone, it was Little Stick, who Si-ge had left outside to watch the door!

“Xu Si!” Cao Bing grew livid instantly. 

Si-ge’s face also paled. This time, there really was no way to explain the situation. Two people next to him quickly pushed him behind them and with the first bullet shot, the exchange of arms could no longer be stopped.

In the chaos, Mo Cong grabbed Si-ge’s hand and pushed his head down, avoiding a bullet. Si-ge shouted, panicked, “Shit, what the fuck is going on?”

“Don’t get too emotional, let’s leave first.” Mo Cong dragged him backwards, firing shots at his opponents at every available opportunity. “We’ve got someone on our back, most likely from Zhai Haidong. If it’s not his people, then something went wrong with ours… Little Stick wasn’t the one who had opened fire, there was no gun in his hands when his body fell down.”

Mo Cong’s aim was incredibly accurate. He had joined the gang just three years ago and his teacher had backed out in embarrassment in less than half a year. Everytime he pulled the trigger, someone was bound to keel over, and together with their followers acting as cannon fodder, he was able to escort Si-ge out. The two jumped into a car and pressed down hard on the accelerator. 

Si-ge’s soul was in shock. “Is Zhai Haidong trying to exterminate us?!”

A steely glint flashed across Mo Cong’s eyes. He didn’t answer, his thin lips pursed tightly, appearing extraordinarily cold in the darkness of the car.

Si-ge punched the car seat. “Shit!”

“It was a mastermind,” Mo Cong said quietly after a while. “I didn’t expect… I didn’t expect Zhai Haidong to have such a mastermind with him. No matter how this goes today, it’ll be bad blood with Cao Bing.”

“What do we do?”

“Nothing, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Mo Cong said lightly. “Let Zhai Haidong be happy this time, we’ll have to carry the blame today. We can’t take this loss for nothing… I will get back to him.”

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In truth, Mo Cong really wasn’t in a good mood. He had been the one setting traps ever since he joined the gang, and finally, today, he was the one to be tricked. It took him a while to get around the sudden shift in position.

After he finished calming Si-ge down, completed his aftercare, and dragged his tired and sulking body back home, he became even more angry when he saw Mo Jin cuddling with a similarly colorful youth downstairs. 

Mo Jin suddenly felt a strong beam of light on her face and instinctively wanted to make a scene. She looked up, only to see her brother’s darkened face, and forced out a twisted smile. That youth couldn’t take it though and started cursing at Mo Cong, whose phone torch was pointed at them. “Are you looking to die, you fuck?”

Mo Jin tugged at him quietly: why else would they say birds of a feather flock together, this youth was evidently the same as Mo Jin- a pure idiot. When Mo Jin tugged at him, he thought it was because she was scared and wanted to solve things peacefully. He immediately copied the handwave of the country leader and said with great righteousness, “It’s fine, don’t be scared of him, who the hell is he? Trying to act so fucking cool, he doesn’t even know who I am…”

“Xiao1 Hang, he’s my brother!”

“Huh?”

Mo Cong looked coldly at the couple and smiled. “I’ll ask you now, who are you?”

“Ge, ge, he didn’t know… I’ll apologize for him, please don’t be angry.” Mo Jin pulled out a smile and pushed the youth away before angrily reproching him, “Alright Zhuo Yihang, you should leave. There’s no business for you here.”

Mo Cong huffed, leaned against the wall, and lit a cigarette. Only when he saw the youth run away hurriedly did he slowly puff out a swirl of white smoke. “So, Zhuo Yihang. Then are you that Lian Nishang2?”

“Ge…” Mo Jin squirmed and grabbed onto his elbow. “He… he’s just a friend from the internet cafe, he’s a nice guy, just a bit stupid..”

“Just a bit?” Mo Cong looked at her without giving her the dignity to even pretend he agreed. “How stupid does someone have to be for you to call them stupid?”

“Ge, you’re scolding me!”

“I’m scolding you? I want to whip you!” Mo Cong twisted his cigarette hard against the wall. “Mo Jin, can’t you just keep it down just once? Can’t you learn from Xiao Yu and let me have a break? You’re an old girl now, can’t you tell that he’s taking advantage of you? How can you be so insensate?”

Mo Jin’s face fell, she didn’t even have the courage to talk back to this brother of hers. “What do you mean he’s taking advantage of me, can’t I take advantage of him? Who knows who’s losing here… Ge, one day I’ll get a harem full of pretty boys, and if I tell them to wash the dishes, they won’t dare mop the floor, if I tell them to meow, they won’t woof, and they’ll wait for me to pamper them everyday under my feet and secretly vie for my attention…”

Mo Cong had nothing to say. He could only reach for his cigarette case and lighter in fear that if his hands were free, they would slap her. He thought with some indignation that if someone could be insensitive to the point of his Mo Jin’s self-confidence and boldness, then they really were one of a kind.

“Giege…” Mo Jin saw that her brother had stopped talking and immediately sucked up to him again, swinging his arm. “This one promises it will never happen again, pretty please, don’t get angry giege…”

“Screw off.” Mo Cong patted down his goosebumps. “Leave that for An Jie.”

“Hehehehe, so you’re not mad at me, ge?” Mo Jin bared her little white teeth and smiled like Forrest Gump as she slapped down on Mo Cong’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, ge, your sister might be talented but I definitely won’t wreck all the pretty boys, I’ll leave you some of the best! Aren’t I such a good sibling?”

Mo Cong looked at her numbly and slumped against the wall, looking up at the sky in silent dismay. “Just what wrong have I done…”

“Alright gege, let’s go back home!” Mo Jin grabbed Mo Cong and ran for the building. “Xiao Yu has been saying since noon that you’ll come back later tonight and take her to borrow a book from An Jie-gege.”

“Why won’t she go herself?” Mo Cong asked weakly. 

“She borrowed one just the day before, so she’s embarrassed,” Mo Jin said as a matter of fact. 

“Why are you always bullying your younger sister, did you steal all her face while you were in the womb?”

“I didn’t… Ge, you’re laughing at me again!”

She actually saw through that. Mo Cong glanced at Mo Jin with surprised eyes. “Then you go with her later, I’m tired.”

“I’m just trying to create an opportunity for you,” Mo Jin grinned.

“Create an opportunity for me?” Mo Cong let out a cold laugh. “Weren’t you the one to stick to him like a bandage?”

“Because An Jie-gege is handsome!” Mo Jin said in all seriousness. “But I can’t abandon an entire forest for a single tree!”

“Don’t pretend to be cultured to me, I’ll burn all those crooked trees of yours tomorrow.”

Mo Jin pouted but immediately, her eyes twinkled and she jumped ahead a few steps, blocking Mo Cong’s path. “Ge, be honest, do you like An Jie-gege?”

“No,” Mo Cong replied, perfunctory and unmistakably patronizing.

“You don’t even like someone as perfect as An Jie-gege?!” Mo Jin lowered her voice and tried to push down her excitement. “Look, he’s handsome, good-tempered, quite funny sometimes, I heard he’s got good grades as well, he can take care of himself…” 

She frowned slightly, a little confused. “If even that doesn’t work, then what’s your type? Don’t be too hard to please, the technology these days still isn’t good enough to make you an ET.”

Mo Cong pulled her off. “Shoo, shoo, shoo.”

“No!” Mo Jin pounced on him and wrapped her arms around him desperately. “I won’t let go if you don’t tell me clearly! What’s your type?”

Mo Cong rolled his eyes at her in exasperation and said word by word, “Homely, not a troublemaker, doesn’t stick out, good at cooking, virtuous, gentle, understanding, alright? I don’t want someone like him with so many possible love interests.”

“Damn it, ge, you might as well go like a woman!” Mo Jin fell down in despair.

Mo Cong had no patience for her anymore and left her behind muttering to herself, climbing upstairs alone.

Author’s Notes: I wanted to go on a diet and be healthy today but I failed after quitting just breakfast…

Hungry hungry hungry~~~

1A prefix for ‘small’, used to refer to someone affectionately. Just to clarify, not his surname.

2A reference to Legend of the White Haired Bride. The protagonist is called Lian Nishang while her love interest is called Zhuo Yihang.