Seeing Zhang Huang knocked down, Liu Jiang was shocked, though he still dared not provoke further. "Don't think you can leave today. Just wait!"
Suddenly, several men nearby cried out with a sob, "Young Master Liu, this is bad! Huang Ge seems to have stopped breathing!"
What?
Chen Zhezhe was startled. No way! That punch this morning had only broken Zhang Zhi's bones; how could the exact same punch kill someone?
This was bad. If someone was actually beaten to death, he was totally finished.
His face turning pale, Chen Zhezhe was still just a student, after all. He couldn't compare to these gangsters who fought and killed every day. When it came to murder, he didn't have the guts. Hearing that someone was dead, he stood frozen on the spot, not knowing what to do.
"This is a murderer! You can't let him get away!" Liu Jiang said as he pulled out his phone, his trembling fingers pressing the buttons. "Daring to go up against me? We don't even need the police; I'm going to make sure you're carried out horizontal today."
*Whoosh—*
A beer bottle came flying through the air, smashing against the wall into pieces. Everyone present failed to dodge, getting splattered with beer all over.
Having vomited for ages, Jiang Chen leaned against the table with a pale face. "What is the meaning of this, Liu Jiang? These are all my friends. Which one of them are you planning to keep here? Do you need to keep me here with them, too?"
"It's you?" Liu Jiang's face turned pale.
This Liu Jiang obviously had a substantial background, but Jiang Chen didn't seem afraid of him at all.
Never would he have imagined that she actually knew this sort of underworld gangster, and moreover, Liu Jiang seemed genuinely a bit fearful when facing her. Ignoring Liu Jiang, Jiang Chen walked straight up to Chen Zhezhe and whispered, "It's fine. Watch me handle him."
Although Jiang Chen didn't like Chen Zhezhe, they had come out to eat together after all. If Chen Zhezhe and Liu Jiang got into a conflict, she naturally had to help Chen Zhezhe.
Remembering Zhang Huang lying on the ground, Liu Jiang instantly regained his confidence. "But he beat someone to death! Even if I don't care, the law will! Haha!"
What?
Beaten to death?
Jiang Chen's expression changed drastically. If someone had really been beaten to death, she wouldn't be able to help at all. She hurriedly went over to check on Zhang Huang, and as soon as she got close, she immediately caught a heavy smell of alcohol—even stronger than the one on her.
She felt for his breath; it really did seem like he had stopped breathing.
Not a single wound on his body—how could he possibly be dead?
"No matter what, get him to the hospital first. There might still be a chance!" Jiang Chen stood up, made a phone call, then walked over to Chen Zhezhe and lowered her voice. "I'm sorry, if he's really dead, I won't be able to help you. But he's a famous expert in Jiangcheng City's underworld. How on earth did you knock him down?"
Come to think of it, Chen Zhezhe himself had no idea how he had knocked the man down. Clearly, he had been sent flying by a punch from Zhang Huang, and his arm still couldn't be lifted up, yet somehow the other guy had gone down instead.
"Call the police first!" Liu Jiang quickly dialed 110. "Hello, someone is dead here, right at Fucheng..."
Several men hauled the collapsed Zhang Huang back up to his feet.
Jammed by the motion, Zhang Huang jerked a few times, opened his mouth with a retch, and vomited wildly, emptying everything in his stomach. Yet still unable to straighten his back, he kept dry heaving until he finally threw up bile.
Jiang Chen was overjoyed. Walking over to take a look at Zhang Huang, she discovered that the guy simply seemed to be heavily drunk and showed no signs of injury at all.
"Liu Jiang, you just said he was beaten to death, so how come he's just drunk now? Are you trying to frame my friend?"
Jiang Chen was furious, but Liu Jiang was even more baffled. "That's impossible! Huang Ge is usually like a monk—he doesn't drink or touch women. How could he possibly get drunk?"
Seeing that Liu Jiang genuinely didn't look like he was lying, and then looking at Chen Zhezhe, who still hadn't a clue what was going on, she realized there was no murder. Still, with no one dead, it could be considered a happy ending of sorts.
At that moment, police lights flashed outside, and the police arrived. A police officer in his early thirties walked in accompanied by a female officer. "What on earth is going on here? Who called the police just now?"
Seeing Liu Jiang, the officer frowned. "How is it you again? I'm telling you, Liu Jiang, the next time I see you at a crime scene, no matter who is backing you, I'm taking you in."
Upon seeing this officer, Liu Jiang shivered all over, harboring an absolute terror toward him. He put away his initial arrogance, stepped forward, and offered a flattering smile. "Captain Han, why did you come out today? Have a smoke. This is good tobacco, usually pretty hard to get!"
With that, he moved to offer the officer a cigarette.
The officer surnamed Han didn't speak; he just looked at Liu Jiang's hand. Liu Jiang gave an awkward chuckle and pulled his hand back. "I know, I know—discipline, right? I won't make things difficult for you. I'm leaving right now."
The officer let out a cold snort. "Speak up, what's going on here? Xiao Xue, take notes. We have to file a report later!"
The female officer surnamed Xue looked gentle and delicate, but dressed in a police uniform, the combination of majesty and vulnerability was truly alluring.
Liu Jiang was relatively well-behaved, merely playing down his flirtatious antics toward Shen Tingting while otherwise telling the truth.
When it came to Chen Zhezhe knocking down Zhang Huang, the officer glanced over at Chen Zhezhe. "He hit him?"
"Hehe, it was him!"
Officer Han narrowed his eyes, and Chen Zhezhe felt a chill run through his body. What kind of gaze was that? Incredibly sharp. His eyes stung as if flashed by a glaring light.
"Go on!"
The officer surnamed Han took off his cap and tossed it aside, muttering under his breath, "This cap is so stiff, it leaves a mark like a piece of wood and gives me a headache!"
It seemed this officer surnamed Han possessed quite a commanding presence. Just standing there, he cowed the thugs—who had moments before looked like fierce guardian deities—into not daring to make a peep. Leisurely pulling a Changbaishan cigarette from his pocket, he took a fierce drag while listening to Liu Jiang's account. Right until the end, he tossed the cigarette away. "So you're saying what you described actually happened?"
"Of course it's true! Would I dare lie?"
The officer pointed at Zhang Huang. "Take this one away!"
"Hey, hey, Captain Han, you can't do this... That guy fought too, why aren't you taking him?" He pointed at Chen Zhezhe.
"Shut your mouth. You know damn well who started it, or I'll take you away too!" Captain Han glared at him. "I'm telling you, Liu Jiang, keep acting this wild and sooner or later you'll fall into my hands. Don't think that just because someone is protecting you, I wouldn't dare touch you. Next time... Hmph!"
While speaking, he walked right up to Chen Zhezhe. "Kid, you've got some decent moves. Zhang Huang is notoriously tough in the city, yet you knocked him out with a single punch. Still, you look like a student, so let me give you a warning: don't hang out with these people; nothing good ever comes of it! You won't be this lucky next time!"
"Thank you!" Chen Zhezhe had a favorable impression of this officer; at least for now, he seemed like a good cop.
Placing his cap back on his head, the officer asked the female officer beside him, "Well? Did I compromise our image?"
"Very good. Very majestic," the female officer replied with a straight face, looking at his slightly crooked cap.
"Wrap it up!"
Han Jun, the deputy captain of the municipal criminal police detachment, barked an order and turned to walk out.
"I'm telling you, this isn't over today. Just you wait!" Liu Jiang threatened, pointing at Chen Zhezhe.
With Jiang Chen present, Liu Jiang left resentfully, casting a few lingering, intense looks at Shen Rongrong's face before departing.
Xu Shanshan helped Liu Yi up. The injury didn't look light, though no bones were broken, and he walked stumbling and unsteady...
After saying goodbye to Jiang Chen, Liu Yi, and the others, Chen Zhezhe also headed home.
When he returned, the house was dead quiet, save for a faint light glowing from his own bedroom.
*She isn't watching... those movies I usually watch, is she?* At this thought, a faint, mischievous smile appeared on Chen Zhezhe's face.
Suddenly, a burst of tense music accompanied by a ghostly howl erupted from his bedroom, followed immediately by a sharp scream from Qin Xin!
Something was wrong?
Chen Zhezhe tossed the takeout food he had brought back onto the table and darted into his bedroom like an arrow.
The bedroom lights were off. In the pitch-black room, only the computer screen emitted a faint glow, displaying a man in Qing dynasty official attire holding his body rigid and hopping forward.
Damn it, she was actually watching a zombie movie? Didn't she say she needed to cultivate and heal her injuries?
Qin Xin was wrapped in a quilt, huddled in the corner of Chen Zhezhe's bed with only her bare feet and two bright, gleaming eyes staring intently at the screen from the darkness.
Hearing the door open, Qin Xin was startled. She let out a shrill scream and snatched up Chen Zhezhe's pillow, hurling it straight at his face!
As she threw it, she even yelled, "Ghost!"
The voice was exceptionally piercing, making Chen Zhezhe's eardrums ache...
What the hell!
Swatting away the flying pillow, Chen Zhezhe said irritably, "You're not allowed to throw my things around!"
Looking at the 1980s Hong Kong movie playing on the screen, Chen Zhezhe was utterly speechless...
This girl really got way too immersed in her fiction.
Chen Zhezhe turned on the light. Seeing him by the illumination, Qin Xin leaped off the bed and ran barefoot right up to him. "You scared me to death, scared me to death! What kind of movies do you even have on here?!"
Damn it, there were so many romance films, action films, and romantic action films on the computer, yet she had to pick a horror movie to watch.
He rolled his eyes. "Didn't you say you wanted to stay home and heal? Why are you watching ghost movies? Aren't you hungry? I brought back some food..."
She wouldn't have felt it if he hadn't mentioned it, but the moment he spoke, Qin Xin felt her stomach growling loudly. She wailed, "I'm starving! Hurry up and give it here!"
Fine!
Women were truly troublesome.
As Chen Zhezhe turned to walk away, Qin Xin followed right at his heels, tugging at his clothes with a timid expression while repeatedly glancing back longingly at the computer screen.
"What now?"
Qin Xin's reply almost made Chen Zhezhe trip and fall: "There's a zombie... I'm scared!"
"Crap! Aren't you an immortal? A single immortal spell and you could obliterate a ghost!" Chen Zhezhe curled his lip.
While clutching Chen Zhezhe to make sure he didn't run off, Qin Xin mumbled, "The ghosts in that thing are way too scary..."
Seeing Chen Zhezhe open the lunchbox, Qin Xin beamed with joy. "Awesome! There are ribs..."
With that, she reached out to grab them with her hand, but Chen Zhezhe snatched her wrist. "Wash your hands!"
She gave a dissatisfied mutter. "Wash them, then!"
As she walked toward the bathroom, she kept casting reluctant glances at the container of ribs and potatoes. Just as she reached the doorway, she suddenly poked her head back out through the crack: "Those ribs are mine... You're not allowed to sneak a bite!"
Chen Zhezhe: "..."
Pretty was pretty; even wolfing down food like that was a sight to behold. Like a fierce tiger descending from the mountain, Qin Xin made short work of the meal, then lingeringly licked her lips.
Still chewing the food left in her mouth, she asked Chen Zhezhe, "What was it you were saying just now?"
Chen Zhezhe's mouth twitched.