Chapter 36: German Iris

25TH JAN 2023~ VERALUCTL

The moment He Jingming left, An Jie pushed Mo Cong away in the manner one would destroy a bridge after crossing a river.

His face was a pallid white, but his eyes weren’t. For some reason, Mo Cong saw a repressed emotion there: one his instincts told him was something extremely dangerous.

Even so, Mo Cong still carefully touched his shoulder. “How are you?”

“I’m good,” An Jie said lightly. His expression was a little strange, smiling yet not, something shining in his eyes, his voice pressed low in his throat. “Better than good.”

Mo Cong frowned, then suddenly pulled An Jie’s hand out of his pocket. There was too much force behind his action and it wasn’t only An Jie’s hand that he pulled out, but also an extremely sharp knife. An Jie didn’t even realize that he was clutching it so tightly the blade had carved into his palm. He only felt the pain after Mo Cong pulled on him and he subconsciously let go. The knife fell onto the ground, blood spewing from his hand like it cost nothing.

Mo Cong drew a breath, paused, then squeezed out a sentence from between his teeth. “You… can your reflexes be any slower?”

“Hiss…” An Jie subconsciously retracted his hand and quietly moaned, as if just coming back to life.

“Don’t move!” Mo Cong glared at him and carefully checked his wound. “So you do know what pain means?”

An Jie frowned. His brain had ceased functioning for a while then; he had just returned from daydream mode. Mo Cong was holding his hand like some kind of priceless antique, treating his wound with all the care in the world. It made An Jie feel a little guilty, since due to his ruthless treatment, Mo Cong’s attitude was like repaying grievances with virtue.

Maintaining their ambiguous position, the two fell silent for a while.

“Why are you here?”

“Why are you with He Jingming?”

Mo Cong and An Jie opened their mouths at the same time. Mo Cong paused, then immediately lowered his head. If it wasn’t for his winter clothes wrapping him up tightly, An Jie would be able to see a touch of red on this innocent young man’s ears… but An Jie would probably have deduced it was from the cold.

An Jie laughed angrily. “You don’t feel ashamed, asking me this? Mo Cong, what did I tell you? What’s going on between you and Zhai Haidong?” White mist from his breath floated by his thin cheeks, making him seem gentler and more delicate. “What, you want to make some ruckus under Old Gun Zhai’s eyes and replace him as king? Get rid of him forever?”

Mo Cong lowered his eyes and said indifferently, “I will pay my own debts, clean up my own mess…”

An Jie jerked back his hand fiercely and lowered his voice. “Clean up your own mess?! Do you know what you’re dealing with at all?” He had originally planned to make Zui She step out if all else failed; the old lion would at least sell him a favor and not mind this brat, make him do what others his age would do. Who knew that before anything happened, this brat would jump out himself?! “You really did forget the pain before the wound even healed…”

Mo Cong didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. This person who had just been buried in his arms, rousing his desire to protect, was now berating him like a father. He raised his hand and interrupted An Jie. “You came to Beijing because of my dad?”

An Jie paused.

Mo Cong lowered his head slightly and chuckled. “Because of my dad… I really didn’t think my dad would be able to meet someone as powerful as you.”

“You…”

“An Jie.” Mo Cong’s black eyes met An Jie’s and he looked at him with a solemn expression. He said, “Then did my dad tell you that I’m gay?”

An Jie felt like he had somehow gotten on the wrong side of Pikachu and got one hit KO’ed by a thunderbolt.

Mo Cong raised his hand and gently caressed his face, then smiled with a little self-mockery and unmoving bitterness. “Especially… for good looking men.”

Saying that, he pulled his collar up, placed his gun in the pocket of his coat, and turned to leave.

An Jie was still stunned. In just a few short moments, two people had already touched his face with those same ambiguous languages and gestures… he thought, if those two people weren’t men, then today would be a wintry wet dream.

Unfortunately, for An Jie, right now, it was purely a wintry nightmare.

He cursed under his breath but ended up following him – humans, they were so flexible. Who knew how many other tricks Mo Cong had up his sleeves.

Plus, An Jie had too many questions to ask. Why did He Jingming come to Beijing; why had Zhai Haidong meddled with his affairs; why had Mo Cong seemingly known he was in He Jingming’s car? He opened his phone and was about to call Zui She to ask him when he was unexpectedly bombarded by a frenzy of vibrations and texts that jumped at him like farts.

An Jie paused, and realized that the two missed calls did not come from Mo Cong, but Zui She. The series of texts also came from him–

“Where are you? Why aren’t you answering me?”

“Did you see He Jingming? Is he in Beijing?”

“An Yin Hu!! If you’re alive, say something!”

“I called Shui Shi! Don’t act on impulse, impulse is the devil!”

……

Fuck, the more he read, the less it made sense! An Jie gritted his teeth as he scrolled. He pressed on the last message where Zui She said, “I’ll be here soon.”

An Jie was shocked. He didn’t believe that a bitter creditor like him was enough for these three heads to gather here… so… what were they here for?

These people from his past, they might be able to keep their peace when they were scattered to each corner of the country, but when they were together, it was a destructive tragedy both visually and factually.

Mo Cong didn’t seem to want to speak to him, but he also didn’t mean for him to leave. He allowed An Jie to strut behind him at a distance; the follower did so openly, the followed was silent. After that astonishing coming-out speech by Mo Cong, An Jie thought it was strange no matter how he looked at it.

They were walking, trailing behind each other, exactly like a… uh… couple in disagreement.

An Jie was stunned by himself; in a flash, he was gone. Mo Cong took another few steps before turning around for a look, and as expected, the one behind him was no longer there. He couldn’t help but let out a small sigh, a hint of disappointment and loneliness in his brows.

Mo Cong didn’t walk very fast. His heart was a complete mess. He didn’t say those words to An Jie on impulse. If they continued like this, An Jie would spend the rest of his life in some kind of ridiculous elder mentality. He had never seen someone as capable of acting as an elder, and so repeatedly, as if he was addicted to those terrible scenarios.

Every time he saw that expression, Mo Cong had the strong urge to slap this guy to the Nansha islands, both for self-reflection and to teach others around him… He looked at his palm, then shook his head in self-mockery. It was just a thought, he would never have the heart to do it.

By the time he arrived to report to Old Gun Zhai, it was obvious from the chaotic situation and the unfriendly expressions of everyone present that the two old friends, Zhai Haidong and He Jingming, were not on very pleasant terms. He Jingming carried himself like an experienced senior, sitting firmly there with his legs crossed despite all the guns pointed at him both openly and in secret. His eyes only twitched when he saw Mo Cong come in.

Mo Cong didn’t say anything. He nodded to Zhai Haidong, then stood by a corner and lit himself a cigarette.

He Jingming side-eyed him and snarked, “Zhai Shui Shi, it’s true that the new replaces the old with you; he’s the first to dare rob someone from me.”

“The Chancellor is young, he doesn’t even listen to me. He’s used to lawlessness and hasn’t seen many people; don’t be too begrudging of the younger generation… Plus.” Zhai Haidong’s smile paused, a string of Buddhist beads spinning in his hands. “You’ve been such old friends with Zui She. It’s not reasonable for you to take his man on my turf, is it?”

He Jingming gritted his teeth, forcing out each syllable. “That is my problem…”

Zhai Haidong waved his hands. “It doesn’t matter whose problem it is, Zui She’s stance is this as well. I didn’t put so much effort inviting you here just to go through old issues. I invited you only to show you one thing–” He gestured with his hand and Bai Zhihe understood immediately. He said something to the person next to him and in a short while, someone entered with a tray, a cloth covering its contents.

Zhai Haidong’s eyes were blind so his sense of smell was correspondingly sharper, and he covered his nose nervously. He Jingming glanced at the tray, a little confused. Everyone’s attention was captured; even Mo Cong gave it a glance from his distracted state.

“What is that?” The smell of rot spread through the air. He Jingming also wrinkled his nose slightly.

Bai Zhihe took a step forward and took off the cloth from the tray. Someone let out a low, startled cry.

Inside the tray was a human head of a nasty, grey colour. As if it was sucked dry by something, all of its hair was gone, its features twisted together hideously. He Jingming frowned. “What does this mean?”

Bai Zhihe said quietly, “Director He, this was an untalented brother under me. He disappeared randomly a few days ago and was found by the sewers of a nightclub he frequented. There was only a head, the body is still missing. This wouldn’t be something that deserves the attention of Director He, but…” He slipped on a pair of gloves and turned the head around so the back faced He Jingming.

“Director He, please look at this.”

He Jingming’s breathing hitched, the beads in Zhai Haidong’s hand spinning faster and faster – there was an obvious iris tattoo on the back of the dead man’s head. It was so bright and accurate that it was as if all the nutrients in the head had been sucked away by this flower, demonic and soaked with an unsettling aura.

Zhai Haidong said in a wispy voice, “Do you remember? In flower language, the German Iris means…”

“Holiness,” He Jingming said. He stared dead at the tattoo on its head, as if he would look until his eyes popped out.

Author’s Notes: Ahem, sorry the update was late tonight, I had to burn some incense… The marks on the paper money was in the tens of billions and I couldn’t help but sigh, the inflation over there is so bad.

The economic geniuses have all probably reincarnated already, there is no one to take care of the market.