「Chapter 3: If you’re in trouble, find Third Bro」

After breakfast, Jiang Yuduo forces the skinny pretending-to-be-rich kid into taking all the uneaten food home.

“Having all this food…” The skinny kid argues, “I was gonna walk around the streets. Third bro why don’t you…”

“Don’t look at me. I’m on a diet.” Jiang Yuduo waves his hands. “Give it to beggars, stray cats or cats, or even rats.”

“Fine.” The skinny kid sighs. “Then I better get going, third bro.”

“Eff off.” Jiang Yuduo replies.

The skinny kid takes off with the food. Jiang Yuduo is on his way to see what the little brat who got himself into a fight was up to but his phone rings after just a few steps.

Cheng Qing was a good guy, he just had limited brainpower and dreamed unrealistically about becoming a top leader in the underworld. Jiang Yuduo digs out his phone and thinks about beating the shit out of Cheng Qing, just enough to make him dumb enough so Jiang Yuduo wouldn’t have to worry about him.

“Follow him for now, I’ll call you later.” He says as soon as he picked up the phone.

“… Yo third, you’ve got guts ordering me around.” The voice on the other end of the phone isn’t Cheng Qing’s.

Jiang Yuduo brings the phone closer to his face. It’s Zhang Daqi’s name on the caller ID.

“What’s up?” He asks.

“Don’t even pretend with me. How can you not know what’s up?” Zhang Daqi yells furiously across the line.

“I’ve lost my memory.” Jiang Yuduo replies.

“I’m telling you, Third,” Jiang Daqi continues shouting, “Control your damn ducklings and don’t let me see them on my turf again. Don’t think you’re some big shot just because I give you a little bit of respect.”

Jiang Yuduo barks back impatiently, “How many times do I have to say it? Save your respect, I don’t need it.”

“You motherfucker…” It sounds like Zhang Daqi is on the verge of cursing up a storm.

“Uncle Daqi, I’ve heard your bar is doing pretty well these days,” Jiang Yuduo cuts off the stream of obscenities before it begins, “you’ve got the nerve to shout at me when you can’t even be bothered to pay ￥3000? It’s been two months.”

“How’s that any of your damn business? Are you my mom or my dad? Or are you running a fucking shelter?” Zhang Daqi says. “I’m telling you that if I see another one of your goons here tomorrow, I will beat the living shit out of them.”

“Fine, I won’t have them come around tomorrow.” Jiang Yuduo lights a cigarette. “I’ll come myself.”

He hangs up before Zhang Daqi says another word.

“Sir, you have to bring your personal ID card to the new account services station and file for a lost bank card there.” The manager smiles and informs Cheng Ke.

“New account services?” Cheng Ke thinks long and hard for about 5 seconds, “But I don’t remember where I opened the account…”

The manager replies, “We can check that using your card number.”

“But I don’t know the card number,” Cheng Ke is becoming frustrated, “Can’t you use my personal ID to look that up?”

“I’m afraid not,” The manager says, “but it’s definitely not here. You could try at one of your local branches.”

Cheng Ke opens his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he mutters a “thank you” and leaves the bank without another word.

The manager continues speaking as he walks away, “You could also try logging on to your mobile banking app.”

As if Cheng Ke had a damn cell phone. But even if he had a phone, he wouldn’t have mobile banking.

Cheng Ke stood underneath a tree right outside the bank. What was supposed to be a simple task seemed impossible when it came to him.

He needed a phone. No matter what he was looking for or where he was going, he at least needed a place to sleep. Then he could use his ID and try all the banks near his house to find the damn branch that opened his account… except that he didn’t even have the money to take a cab.

He looked around his pocket, dug out the pack of cigarettes and the lighter. As he pulled out the cigarettes, a piece of cardboard attached to the cigarette pack fell onto the ground.

As soon as he picked it up, he saw the words written in ballpoint ink.

Jiang Yuduo.

‘If you ever need anything, come find me.’

Cheng Ke stared at the string of numbers on the packaging.

He did it for so long that he felt like he memorized the thing before lifting his head to look around.

In this day and age, did people even know what public telephones are? Since he had no cellphone on hand, Cheng Ke didn’t know what he could do with the number.

As he withdrew his gaze from his surroundings, a movement from a tree just a few steps from him caught his eye.

When Cheng Ke looked closer, he realized the slightly awkward man meeting his gaze was none other than the driver who helped Jiang Yuduo dig out the kitten from last night.

“You!” Cheng Ke points at the man and exclaims.

The man quickly adopted a “I’m just an innocent passerby” look and turns around to look behind him in the direction Cheng Ke is pointing.

“I’m talking about you,” Cheng Ke says as he walks up to the man, “You’re Jiang Yuduo’s driver, aren’t you?”

“Honor guard.” The man corrected him immediately.

“… Oh, the one on the left or the one on the right?” Cheng Ke asked.

“T- the head.” The man pointed at himself. “I cover every part of him.”

“Ah,” Cheng Ke looked at him and was certain this man was indeed the same type as crazy as Jiang Yuduo.

“You have a phone I can borrow?”

“Sure,” the head honor guard took out his phone and handed it over, all smiles, “who are you calling?”

“Not calling,” Cheng Ke took the phone, “I’m going to log on to WeChat for a bit, I need to get in touch with a friend.”

“Oh,” the head honor guard answered, “But my phone doesn’t have data.”

“What?” Cheng Ke looked up in surprise.

“Why don’t I take you to Third Bro? He’s got a data plan.” The head honor guard waved his hand, “C’mon.”

“Where to?” Cheng Ke was wary.

“To Third Bro,” the head honor guard said, “he lives right behind this skyscraper. He should be somewhere around there this time of day.”

“No need,” Cheng Ke refused to go anywhere that’s not a street after what happened. He tapped the call button on the phone and saw that the head guard called Third Bro about 5 minutes ago. Without hesitation, Cheng Ke hit redial, “I’ll give him a call.”

“Oh for chrissake, what now?” Jiang Yuduo picked up on the other end.

“Hello,” Cheng Ke answered, “Is this Jiang Yuduo?”

“Who is this?” Jiang Yuduo’s voice immediately cooled a few degrees.

“This is Cheng Ke,” Cheng Ke suddenly felt very awkward, “I was just…”

“And I’m the damn driver,” Jiang Yuduo interrupted, “Where is Cheng Qing?”

[TN: Cheng Ke’s name sounds the same as “passenger” in Mandarin]

Cheng Ke furrowed his brow not knowing how to continue the conversation, so he handed the phone back to the head honor guard, “He’s looking for a Cheng Qing.”

“That’s me,” the head honor guard nodded and took the phone, “Third Bro, I’m here, the other guy is Mr. Jaeger.”

Cheng Ke looks over in stunned surprise.

“You…” Jiang Yuduo bit his tongue. If Cheng Qing was standing in front him, he’d kick his ***. He breathed out slowly and tried to say calmly, “Don’t call him Mr. Jaeger in front of his face.”

Cheng Qing said quietly, “But I don’t know what his name is.”

“Didn’t he just fucking say his name is Cheng Ke?” Jiang Yuduo ended up shouting after all, “Give him the phone!”

“Hello,” Cheng Ke answered again.

“Your last name is Cheng, right?” Jiang Yuduo asked.

“Yup, Cheng Ke. Ke as in Keshou or being scrupulous.” Cheng Ke answered.

“Why are you looking for me?” Jiang Yuduo asked again.

“I… would like to borrow your phone,” Cheng Ke said with some difficulty, “Your head honor guard says his phone doesn’t have data.”

Jiang Yuduo remained silent.

‘Borrow his phone?’

‘What kind of idiotic excuse is that?’

‘That guy is definitely suspicious.’

Jiang Yuduo twitched his lips upwards, “I’ll be there, have Cheng Qing bring you to the crossroads.”

“Can you come to the entrance of the bank?” Cheng Ke asked.

“No.” With that, Jiang Yuduo hung up.

Cheng Ke followed after Cheng Qing towards the crossroad and felt ridiculous. The longer he stood there, the more uncertain he felt.

He just wanted a phone to call some friends and had no idea how that turned into a situation of looking suspicious like people meeting up to exchange fake IDs.

It was suspicious no matter how you looked at it.

When Jiang Yuduo and two other people came out from the alleyway next to them, Cheng Ke’s heart sank. He made an attempt to leave but it’s already too late.

Cheng Qing immediately blocked him from the front, and before Cheng Ke could push him off, the two men Jiang Yuduo brought along had him flanks on either side.

Cheng Ke was so surprised and shocked that he couldn’t be bothered to be anxious. He turned around to look at Jiang Yuduo and demanded, “What’s the meaning of this?”

“Follow me,” Jiang Yuduo looked at him, “You try to run, and I’ll stab you right here in the streets.”

“Go ahead,” Cheng Ke responded.

Jiang Yuduo pulled his hand out from his pockets and by the time Cheng Ke knew that Jiang Yuduo had a knife in his hands, the knife had already punctured through his clothes and cut the right side of his waist.

The tip of the knife pierced through his jacket and the T-shirt underneath and the blade dragged across his skin.

Cheng Ke could clearly feel pain coming from that area by the time Jiang Yuduo pulled the blade out.

He hadn’t noticed the dude being a leftie during yesterday’s fight.

Cheng Ke had never experienced this in his entire life. Even when he was causing trouble with friends, it usually involved all out brawls but rarely one-on-one confrontations.

It feels unreal to be stabbed by someone who was standing right there in front of him.

Either Jiang Yuduo missed, or this guy must be incredibly good at stabbing people with precision. After seeing the look in Jiang Yuduo’s eyes, Cheng Ke was leaning towards the latter.

“Come along,” Jiang Yuduo said again, “Don’t piss me off and nothing will happen to you.”

Cheng Ke kept quiet, glancing at the hole in his jacket and followed Jiang Yuduo towards the alleyway they had just come out of.

It was a short alley and a few steps later, they emerged onto a block of old residential buildings. Cheng Ke had been here to drink before, but he never knew that there were so many buildings behind the skyscrapers.

As they walked between the buildings, Cheng Ke glanced around and noticed that most of the buildings had been rented out. The windows were hung with signs or LED displays advertising salons, card cafes, self-care facilities, and also those suspicious education facilities.

Jiang Yuduo ducked into another hallway and Cheng Qing and the two other goons stopped there.

“Come.” Jiang Yuduo turned around and tilted his head at Cheng Ke in invitation.

Cheng Ke looked both ways before following him inside.

To be honest, while this place looked shabby, it was clean and orderly and didn’t seem like a place where someone could get murdered.

Jiang Yuduo opened a door on the first floor.

Cheng Ke looked inside and saw that it was an ordinary home. No fancy decorating, just white halls and a tile-covered ground with a mix mash of furniture, tables, and chairs. Very down to earth.

But it looked clean and Cheng Ke even detected a hint of flowers in the air.

“Come in,” Jiang Yuduo held the door open.

Cheng Ke walked in and examined the layout of the room. It was a two-bedroom unit and one bedroom had its door open so that you can see the tiny yard on that side.

“Not bad,” He couldn’t help but exclaim, “Can’t believe you have a house in this area of the city.”

“Want to look around?” Jiang Yuduo asked.

“Sure,” Cheng Ke nodded in agreement.

Jiang Yuduo led him to the backyard.

It was a tiny yard, no bigger than ten square meters. The walls surrounding it were high and you couldn’t see beyond them to the outside. Some unknown plants lined the wall, but they had dried up and things looked a bit sad.

As he took stock of the environment, something brushed against Jiang Ke’s pant leg.

Rats!

Thanks to his first instinct, Cheng Ke jumped in surprise.

Before Cheng Ke raised his right leg to step on the animal, Jiang Yuduo kicked out his own and stopped it in midair.

“My cat,” Jiang Yudou stared at him, “step on it and you’re dead.”

Cheng Ke looked down and saw a palm-sized kitten toddling past him, tumbling down the steps and into the yard.

The kitten reminded Cheng Ke of the real relationship between him and Jiang Yuduo and the bizarre circumstances that had brought him to this yard.

And in the next second, he felt the burning pain flare back to life on his right side.

‘How can l stand here and look at the yard with Jiang Yuduo under these circumstances?’

He didn’t know if the same thoughts were circling in Jiang Yuduo’s head, but he lowered his leg after a few seconds of silence and then turned to head back into the house.

“Tell me.” Jiang Yuduo sat down on the sofa in the living room and spread his arms out on the backrest.

Cheng Ke stood in the middle of the living room and experienced first-hand the aura of “Third Bro” surrounding Jiang Yuduo.

“Tell you what?” He asked.

“What you’re here for.” Jiang Yuduo answered.

“I’m here to dig through trash.” Cheng Ke replies.

Jiang Yuduo stayed quiet and tilted his head to look at Cheng Ke.

“Third bro.” To make talking easier, Cheng Ke hooked a leg over a chair and dragged it over to sit on it. He used the term as a sign of respect and continues, “Let’s be fair, I didn’t want to be here. I was just passing by when you dragged me here. All I want is to borrow a cell phone. If I can, great, if not, fine. Why are you doing this?”

“Where’d your phone go?” Jiang Yuduo asked.

“I left it at home,” Cheng Ke answered.

“Oh,” Jiang Yuduo scoffed, “so why don’t you go home and get it?”

“I don’t have money for cab fare” was Cheng Ke’s reply.

“A hundred yen can’t get you where you need to go?” Jiang Yuduo continued with the questions.

“I spent it all.” Cheng Ke returned.

Jiang Yuduo fell silent.

“One hundred,” Cheng Ke lifted up a finger, “not a thousand.”

“You’ve only got a damn hundred on you and you didn’t immediately go home?” Jiang Yuduo suddenly sprung up from the sofa and moved in front of Cheng Ke. He slammed his arms onto the walls behind Cheng Ke and leaned in so that the tip of his nose was almost touching Cheng Ke’s face.

Cheng Ke leaned back to put some distance between him and the tip of Jiang Yuduo’s nose.

Except the back of the chair right behind him prevented Cheng Ke from leaning back much further. All he could do was avert his gaze, which then fell on the long scar that stretched from Jiang Yuduo’s collarbone to somewhere hidden by his shirt.

He wrinkled his brow.

Jiang Yuduo stared at him and continued asking, “If you didn’t have enough money, couldn’t you take a cab, get home, and then pay the driver?”

Cheng Ke lifted his eyes to look at Jiang Yuduo.

These two days felt like a fucking dream. He didn’t have a place to stay and had somehow gotten himself involved with a loose cannon like the weirdo in front of him.

It was only at this point, after having answered a series of questions from Jiang Yuduo and having him come this close, that Cheng Ke began to wake up from the dreamlike sensation.

“Fess up!” Jiang Yuduo screamed next to his ear, “who sent you?”

Cheng Ke thinks his heart just about exploded out of his chest because of the shouting. If he had his mouth open, his heart might have jumped out.

Without thinking, he slammed his arm against Jiang Yuduo’s collarbone.

When Jiang Yuduo bent down because of the pain, he elbowed Jiang Yuduo’s chin with a violent motion.

“… ****.” Jiang Yuduo held his jaw with one hand and his ribs with the other, backed off a few steps, and fell onto the sofa.

Cheng Ke pounced forward, slamming Jiang Yuduo’s shoulders into the sofa, and positioned his bent knee between Jiang Yuduo’s legs.

“Move and I’ll crush your balls!” Cheng Ke pointed at Jiang Yuduo.

“Let me go in the next three seconds,” Jiang Yuduo looked at him, “or don’t think about stepping foot outside this door.”

“One, two, three.” Cheng Ke counted.

Jiang Yuduo looked at him, then looked down at his crotch area where Cheng Ke’s knee was resting.

“Move or I’ll get a hard on.”

“What did you just say?” Cheng Ke was shocked.

“One, two, three.” And then Jiang Yuduo thrusts his hips forward.

“Fuck you bastard!” Cheng Ke loosened his grip and jumped back several steps.

Jiang Yuduo laughed and sat up, calmly lighting a cigarette and sucking on it, “If you don’t want to say, fine. Leave or use the cell phone.”

Cheng Ke stared at him.

“Next time you’re trying to follow someone, try to think and come up with something a little bit less obvious,” Jiang Yuduo says, “If I catch you again, you won’t be so lucky.”

Cheng Ke suspects Jiang Yuduo was speaking in a foreign language because he understood absolutely none of that.

“Still want to use the phone?” Jiang Yuduo took out his phone and waved it around before placing it on the coffee table.

Cheng Ke understood this question and he refused flatly. “No.”

“See,” Jiang Yuduo’s mouth ticked upward in a smile, “you said before you wanted to use my phone. Now that I’m giving it to you, you say you don’t need it. It’s only been 20 minutes and you can’t keep your story straight.”

Cheng Ke was shocked again.

Three seconds later, he snatched the phone from the coffee table.

Jiang Yuduo’s phone didn’t have a passcode and it was easy to find the WeChat app. Cheng Ke found that though the phone wasn’t locked, WeChat wasn’t logged into either. He breathed a sigh of relief. He had no doubt this brainless idiot would accuse him of trying to steal information if he had pulled up Jiang Yuduo’s account.

He finds the option to verify identity via voice print.

We need to verify your voiceprint. Please hold the button and read the following numbers aloud.

Cheng Ke was glad that he doesn’t have a cold or a sore throat today, even if this method of verification made him look stupid… He held the button, cleared his throat, and said “seven-four-one-two-nine-six-five-eight.”

Jiang Yuduo chuckled.

There were several messages in his WeChat, but Cheng Ke didn’t have the time to go through them one by one. He quickly clicked on Liu Tiancheng’s name and hit the audio call button without bothering to type out a message.

But until the call times out, Liu Tiancheng doesn’t pick up.

Cheng Ke furrowed his brow and saw Jiang Yuduo smirking at him with interest over there on the sofa. He felt offended at the sight.

It was not that he cares about his reputation, but this was unacceptable.

He clicked over to Xu Ding’s chat and saw that Xu Ding left him a message yesterday.

[Coming out to play?]

Looks like Xu ding didn’t know about him getting kicked out yesterday, probably because they don’t usually hang out, so Cheng Yi forgot to “clean” him from the list of Cheng Ke’s friends yesterday.

“Why aren’t you using the phone?” Xu Ding picked up the audio call.

“I’ll wait for you in front of Secret,” Cheng Ke responded, “Come now.”

“… I’m not in the city,” Xu Ding replies, “I just drove out, will probably be back in three days.”

“Fine,” Cheng Ke didn’t have time to worry about how close he was with Xu Ding and said, “I’m going to stay at your spare house in the Roman Gardens. You’ve got spare keys?”

Xu Ding paused in surprise, “Yeah, with the concierge. I’ll call them and you can go pick up.”

“Thanks.” Cheng Ke hanged up the audio call, logged out from his account, deleted all his info, then placed the phone back on the coffee table.

He felt more relaxed now knowing that he had Xu Ding’s keys, which means he had somewhere to stay quietly for the next few days. He’s got a lot to think about, from trying to get his bank card and a phone or that nebulous future that he never thought of before.

“Can I leave now?” He looked over at Jiang Yuduo.

“Just like that?” The cigarette dangled from Jiang Yuduo’s mouth, “I saved you once, let you use my phone, and allowed you to rest at my home…”

Cheng Ke interrupted, “All I want to know is if I can leave now.”

“Go,” Jiang Yuduo answers, “I’ll remember these things for you.”

“Don’t bother,” Cheng Ke yanked off the watch from his wrist and tossed it onto Jiang Yuduo, “You’ve been eyeing this for a while, haven’t you? Is this enough?”

Jiang Yuduo looked at him and smiled without saying anything.

Cheng Ke pulled open the door and stepped out.

Cheng Qing and the other two goons were there still. As soon as he saw Cheng Ke step out, Cheng Qing shouted, “Third bro?”

“Let him go,” Jiang Yuduo answered from inside the house.

Cheng Qing stepped aside.

Jiang Yuduo picked up the watch and examined it. It looked brand new, probably hadn’t been worn for very long.

Cheng Ke didn’t even hesitate when tossing the watch over, as if this were just a fake…

Jiang Yuduo squinted and picked the phone back up again.

“We’re just gonna let him leave like that?” Cheng Qing stepped inside.

“Or else what?” Jiang Yuduo said.

“… isn’t that his watch?” Cheng Qing stuck his face closer, “Well goddamn, did you steal it from him?”

Jiang Yuduo cracked his knuckles.

“No,” Cheng Qing realized, “He gave it to you as a thank you!”

Jiang Yuduo thought about the disgust and anger on Cheng Ke’s face as he tossed the watch over and said, “Something like that.”

“Kudos to you.” Cheng Qing remarked.

“Get someone to look at it and see if it’s real.” Jiang Yuduo handed over the watch.

“And then?” Cheng Qing asked.

“Sell it.” Jiang Yuduo commanded.

“Got it.” Cheng Qing took the watch and headed out the door.

Jiang Yuduo closed the door and walked back to the window, where he lifted a corner of the curtains and peeked out. There was nothing strange happening outside. It was during the workday and only a few elderly men and women were walking around.

He picked up a can of cat food and tapped on it with his fingers.

The kitten dashed out from somewhere around the house. He only fed it a tiny bit of food yesterday, no more than a fingertip’s worth, and already it recognizes the sound and reacts appropriately.

While the kitten grabbed onto the spoon and licked the food clean, Cheng Qing called. “Third Bro, that dude really isn’t a random hobo!”

“Hm.” Jiang Yuduo hummed in agreement.

“This watch is a Jaeger. Something double sided something rotational.” Cheng Qing continued. “It sells for somewhere along the lines of 160,000 to 170,000 yen.”

“Hm.” Jiang Yuduo hummed again as he squeezed the kitten’s ear.

“Are we selling it?” Cheng Qing asked. “Big Pie says since we don’t have the original box or a receipt, the best he can do is ten thousand.”

“Bring it back.” Jiang Yuduo decided.

“Sure thing. You can wear it yourself.” Cheng Qing agreed. “It sure does look nice.”

“Piss off, I’m not gonna wear it.” Jiang Yuduo stretched lazily, “He’ll be back.”

...To be continue... ...

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