Chapter 25: Give Up

21ST AUG 2022~ VERALUCTL

After a long while, Chen Fugui finally smiled and set his body back onto the sofa. “My Chinese isn’t that great, all of your idioms look the same to me. I don’t quite get them. But what’s the Chancellor trying to defend against, planning so far ahead?”

Mo Cong lightly blinked and grinned. “Don’t be so distant, Uncle, what could I possibly be planning? I’m just afraid that when Uncle Chen asks me for the stock later, I won’t be able to handle it. If I really do make a mess under pressure, wouldn’t it be your face that’s lost? The list, including all the stuff Cao Bing was trying to move to the East, has all been sorted. I can get someone to grab it right now… Si-ge?”

“Hmm?” Xu Si was clearly out of it.

“Where’s the account book I got delivered to you last night?”

“Huh? Oh… Oh, that account book, I brought it. I thought Uncle Chen might want it so I brought it.” Xu Si reached out and a bodyguard quickly passed a small booklet over. “I haven’t had time to go through it yet, I didn’t expect you to move this fast.”

He passed the small book to Uncle Chen. “Please take a look. If there’s anything that needs fixing, give this young one some pointers.”

Chen Fugui took it and flipped through it. He sighed and placed the booklet aside. “The younger generation… What was that Chinese saying again? The one with the yellow river and waves?”

“The rear waves of the Yangtze River drive on those before them,” Xu Si answered with a smile.

“The rear waves of the Yangtze River drive on those before them!” Chen Fugui slapped Mo Cong’s shoulder, shook his head, and said meaningfully to Xu Si, “I’m so jealous of you, to have such a young and talented helper.”

Xu Si made a half-truthful gesture of courtesy before saying his goodbyes.

When they had all left, Chen Fugui lit another cigar and took a deep whiff before leisurely puffing out a breath – what did the Chancellor mean? On the surface, he was kissing up to him, giving him a hugely beneficial deal, and willingly allowing him to profit from the fight, but in actuality… he was showing off his power.

It was an announcement similar to a show of force – he didn’t need Chen Fugui, nor was Cao Bing a worthy opponent.

In this half-symbiotic relationship, showing him that they had such skill, was it because he didn’t want him to switch partners?

To have such a scheming mind and abilities, but be willing to stay under that failure Xu Si… What an interesting young man.

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Xu Si grew anxious the moment he got into the car. “Chancellor, what were you doing? Don’t you know what you just did was the same as going up against Chen Fugui? You’re really… Argh!”

Mo Cong fished out a cigarette, lowered his head, and lit it up. Under the faint light of the fire, his dark eyes stared expressionlessly at the cigarette at his fingertips without speaking.

“He didn’t care about it today, but have you thought about…”

“I wasn’t going up against him. Chen Fugui could tell that as well,” Mo Cong interrupted. For some reason, his expressionless words sounded a little cold. “Chen Fugui didn’t trust Cao Bing, nor will he trust anyone. That old white devil is quite the slippery one. He could sell out Cao Bing today, and on another day, sell out us.”

Mo Cong paused and took a few deep puffs of his cigarette.

“Then you were…”

“Si-ge, do you still not understand that old devil? If you don’t show him something unexpected, he’ll meet with you today and go find his next puppet the next,” Mo Cong interrupted again with a sneer. “Give that old dog a bone and he’ll run with you, and once you have no meat left he’ll bite you…”

Xu Si hesitated, his expression changing several times. Fortunately, it was too dark in the car for others to see. After a moment of silence, he said in a low voice, “You could’ve at least told me…”

“I had to do this in a hurry and didn’t have the time, sorry.” Mo Cong smiled. “Stop at the upcoming light, I’m getting off now.”

But Si-ge… even if I was wrong beyond measure, we’ve known each other for so long; even if it wasn’t a friendship of life and death, I’ve never seen you as an outsider. So why were you anxious to clear your name from mine in front of Chen Fugui?

Why was that?

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Mo Cong changed several taxis before slowly walking towards his neighborhood. His back was a little bent; undeniably, it was tiring to be with these people, but it was also exciting. Grudges and affairs, hooking up and fighting, taking life and death into his own hands… It gave him an unspeakable sense of achievement.

He was addicted to this feeling and was addicted to this identity – an identity completely different from that stupid and cowardly father of his, like a subconscious craving for a divergence from that man.

From a long distance away, Mo Cong saw An Jie leaning against the entrance to their apartment, his arms crossed in front of him, one foot tapping the ground from time to time. Unconsciously, he swapped on a teasing and warm smile and waved. “Did you run outside to go experience the life of the toiling masses working in the cold or?”

An Jie looked up at him and interrupted him expressionlessly, “Where were you?”

Mo Cong paused. “What… happened?”

An Jie’s face was a little grey, perhaps from the cold, and his eyes, usually narrowed in a grin, were now completely open as they looked at him. Under the weak streetlamp light, they were glaringly bright and freezingly cold.

“Where were you?” he asked again, almost mechanically.

At that moment, a certain illusion rose up in Mo Cong’s mind, as if this young man already knew his whereabouts. “Were you looking for me? You can call me if you need me…”

An Jie smiled stiffly. “Me, look for you? What could I need you for? But you better go back and take care of your sister.”

Mo Cong’s brows furrowed slowly. “Who? Xiao Jin or Xiao Yu? What happened?”

“Xiao Jin came back at dinner… and then,” An Jie paused, the muscles at his cheeks tightening before relaxing again as he said in a low voice, “someone from your father’s workplace came…”

Mo Cong sprinted into the corridor without hearing the end of his sentence.

An Jie remained where he was, staring coldly at the ground – he suddenly didn’t know what the point in so tediously looking after this young man to the point of taking a bullet for him had been. Mo Cong was cold and heartless, believing that the entire world was against him, so he had to be against the world. For those animal-like, supposed… supposed friends from the gang, he hadn’t even been bothered to look after his own sister!

Did he not consider what he could cause his family, living life on the edge, when the two girls were still so young? Did he not consider how that old bookworm, that man who was still so emotionally dependent, was still able to support this family?

Why did he care about this thing that harmed people, himself, his family, and society? An Jie might as well leave him to die, lest he brings shame to the old professor’s name.

He tucked his hands into his pockets, sneered, and slowly walked back.

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When Mo Cong barged into his house, Xiao Jin and Xiao Yu were in the living room, Xiao Yu sitting on the sofa and Xiao Jin leaning against the wall opposite her, her colorful hair strewn about messily and her dark eyeliner smeared everywhere with tears. Her face was blotchy with color, like a clown who had messed up her makeup.

She stared dead ahead at Xiao Yu, her eyes wide and unblinking, yet tears falling down in large droplets, some staining her clothes, some dripping onto the floor. Xiao Yu kept her head down and did not look at her.

Again and again, Mo Jin repeated the same question. “How come all of you knew, but none of you told me?”

Mo Cong lightly closed the door and sighed, reaching out to pat Mo Jin’s shoulder, only for the girl to dodge to the side, those eyes that looked especially large and angry immediately turning to him. “You also knew about dad, why did you not tell me?”

Mo Cong said in a low voice, “I was afraid you’d get too emotional. I mean, look at you…”

“Yes, of course, I’m emotional, I’m emotional.” Mo Jin nodded as she took two steps back, her lips trembling as if trying to squeeze out a sarcastic smile, but to no avail. “None of you are emotional, right? You were all so eager for him to die, weren’t you? Best if he went missing, best if there wasn’t even a corpse, to save you the trouble of mourning and buying him a coffin!”

“Mo Jin!” Mo Cong frowned and reprimanded her from the back of his throat. He took a deep breath. “Don’t overdo it–”

Mo Jin wiped her face hard. “I know my brain’s not as good as yours! I’m not good at studying, I’m always causing trouble, I fight with him every day, I get annoyed whenever I see him being happy and I have to make him unhappy… I leave the house, I repeatedly hold onto that stupid thing between him and mom! But he’s my dad! My only dad!”

Xiao Yu jolted; there seemed to be a flash of moisture in her big eyes. She quickly wiped against the back of her hand before lowering her head again, her long fringe covering her face.

Mo Cong stood there, stunned, his brain empty from that one sentence.

Mo Jin seemed to have laughed, or maybe just hummed, as she pushed him heavily aside and pulled open the door. The motion sensor lights in the corridor were activated by the movement and suddenly lit up.

An Jie was leaning against the opposite door frame, as if waiting for her to come out.

Mo Jin’s footsteps paused, her heart feeling more and more torn, more and more sorrowful, almost to the point of unbearability. She stumbled into An Jie’s arms, burying her face in his shoulder, her hands clutching onto his jacket as she cried silently. An Jie lightly patted her back. In the midst of that, as if without meaning to, he looked up and glanced at Mo Cong who was standing silently still.

From the first time they met, An Jie had always held a certain friendly and familiar attitude, but just then, it felt as if he was looking at a stranger. Mo Cong vaguely felt that something seemed to have changed.

Xiao Yu stood up from the sofa and went to her room without looking back, slamming the door shut.

Author’s notes: Ah… This is one sad chapter. Mo Cong, oh Mo Cong, you heartless brat~~~~ I’ve borne with you for too long!

Time to prepare some angst for him!