We stood back to back, just as we had all those years ago.
Ragged breathing echoed through the dark alley, the sharp stench of blood spreading everywhere.
But our movements were still in sync, our punches and footsteps falling to the same rhythm.
Before long, the remaining men were sprawled across the ground, too.
Lục Phong panted, wiping the blood from his forehead with the back of his hand as he looked at me.
“Damn… it’s still you…”
Before he could finish, he staggered.
I hurried to catch him.
He slumped against me, nearly all his weight falling onto my shoulder.
“…You okay?” I asked.
He pressed his forehead into the hollow of my neck and gave a soft laugh.
His voice was hoarse, his hot breath brushing my skin.
“Not really. I’m dizzy… Let me hold you for a bit…”
My hand hovered for a moment before I finally rested it gently on his back and gave him a light pat.
“Can you still walk?”
“No.”
He immediately latched onto me, pressing his whole body against mine.
“Give me a piggyback ride.”
….
15
In the end… I didn’t carry him.
I just half-supported, half-dragged Lục Phong to the car, then drove him straight to my place.
He was pretty badly hurt—his forehead needed stitches, and he was covered in bruises.
I got the first-aid kit and tended to his injuries.
When the alcohol-soaked cotton touched the gash on his forehead, he drew in a quiet breath, but didn’t flinch. His eyes stayed fixed on me.
“Brother Niên.”
“Yeah.”
“Why’d you come by today?”
“I was passing by.”
“Bullshit.”
He laughed, but the movement tugged at his wound and made his face scrunch up like a monkey’s.
“You were obviously following me.”
I didn’t deny it.
I pressed a piece of gauze against the wound.
“Don’t move.”
He fell silent. Only his steady breathing remained.
The light in the room was a dim yellow, and the air was strangely still.
When I finished, I stood to put the supplies away, but he caught my wrist.
“Hạng Niên.” His voice was low and hoarse. “For the past eight years, every day I’ve thought…”
I froze, but didn’t turn around.
“Thought what?”
He said,
“I’ve thought that if I’d been strong enough that day, you wouldn’t have had to rush in.”
“I’ve wondered whether anyone bullied you during those eight years.”
“I’ve thought that the first thing I’d do after getting out of prison was find you, no matter what.”
His grip tightened until my wrist began to hurt.
“But now that I’ve found you, what the hell? You’re pretending you don’t know me.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
“Lục Phong, what’s the point of bringing up the past?”
“It’s boring?”
He sat up abruptly, grabbed my shoulder, and made me look him in the eye.
“Then what isn’t boring? Being Tam gia’s obedient dog?”
“Or have you forgotten how we used to live?”
His eyes reddened. They held more than anger—there was pain, and something deeper, something that seemed about to break through.
“I haven’t forgotten.” I looked him straight in the eye. “But people have to look ahead.”
“Look ahead?”
He scoffed. His fingertips slid from my shirt collar down my chest, then stopped over my heart.
“Is this what ‘looking ahead’ means to you? Pushing me away like this?”
“Hạng Niên, this spot…” He pressed lightly through my shirt. “You really don’t feel anything for me anymore?”
Every fingertip felt scorching, and my head drew taut as a wire.
A second later, my heart pounded beneath his fingertip.
I jerked my hand away and stepped back, putting some distance between us.
“It’s your head that’s injured, not your brain. Stop talking nonsense.”
He looked at me, and the fire in his eyes finally dimmed a little.
“Hạng Niên, keep pretending.”
He gave a faint, bitter smile. He didn’t press me further, just turned and walked into the bathroom.
“I’m covered in blood. I stink.”
The sound of running water echoed through the empty apartment.
I stood in the middle of the living room and lit a cigarette, but before I could take a puff, it burned all the way down to my fingers.
Only when it burned me did I snap out of it.
Lục Phong came out wearing nothing but a bath towel.
His upper body was muscular and still beaded with water, the wound covered with a waterproof bandage.
He plopped down on the sofa without a care, took a cigarette from the pack on the table, and lit it.
“Where am I sleeping?”
“The living room.” I pointed to the side. “There are clean blankets and pillows in the cabinet.”
He took a drag and slowly exhaled the smoke.
“Got it.”
He said nothing more.
That night, I tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
Half asleep, half awake, I kept feeling… like someone was standing at the head of my bed, watching me.
When I opened my eyes, there was nothing but pitch darkness.
16
The next day, when I returned to the fighting ring, the atmosphere felt a little strange.
Tam gia called me into the office in the back.
He didn’t beat around the bush.
“A Niên, was that Lục Phong with you yesterday?”
I tensed inwardly, but kept my expression unchanged.
“Yes. He was slightly injured, and I had medicine at my place.”
Tam gia tapped his fingers on the desk.
Knock, knock, knock.
“My men say you helped him out and took care of the trouble in Nam Thành, too.”
I answered smoothly, leaving no opening.
“Keeping things in order is part of my job.”
Tam gia smiled.
“A Niên, how long have you been with me?”
“Seven years and six months.”
“Seven years and six months…” He repeated it slowly. “That’s a long time. I trust you.”
After a pause, he changed his tone.
“But Lục Phong is different. He’s a wild horse—he can run, but he could easily trample our own fields.”
“You understand what I mean?”
I lowered my eyes.
“I understand. I’ll keep an eye on him.”
“Keeping an eye on him isn’t enough.”
Tam gia leaned toward me, lowering his voice. Its tone turned distinctly colder.
“He needs to know who feeds him and who gives him his knife. Without Tam gia, he’s nothing. Same as you.”
I understood that warning better than anyone.
He wasn’t just worried Lục Phong might get out of control; he was also beginning to worry that the two of us were getting too close.
As I left the office, I ran straight into Lục Phong.
He was leaning against the hallway wall. It looked like he’d been waiting a while.
“What did the old man say to you?”
“Nothing. He told me to keep you in line.”
Lục Phong scoffed.
“Did he tell you to keep watch over me?”
I stayed silent, which was as good as admitting it.
He stepped closer and lowered his voice until only I could hear him.
“Hạng Niên, what do you think? Am I going to turn around and bite you?”
Someone walked past at the end of the hallway.
I gently pushed him away, my voice flat as water.
“Do your job, and stop asking about things that aren’t your concern.”
Lục Phong looked at me for a few seconds, then suddenly laughed.
His smile held a hint of mockery, along with something else—pain, maybe, or disappointment.
“All right, Brother Niên. I’ll do as you say.”
He turned and walked away, his back stiff with anger he was choking down.
17
Tam gia’s warning came quickly.
A few days later, a crucial shipment Lục Phong had been assigned to pick up was suddenly reassigned.
He was replaced by Tam gia’s distant nephew—a complete idiot.
The move was obvious: a slap straight across Lục Phong’s face, and a warning shot aimed at me.
When Lục Phong heard about it, he didn’t cause a scene or even ask why.
But just before that nephew set off, he stopped him.
He didn’t hit him. He just leaned against the car and leisurely said a few words.
The result: the kid went deathly pale and nearly pissed himself on the spot.
When I arrived, Lục Phong was grinning as he patted the kid’s cheek.
“What are you scared of? Do a good job, and Tam gia will think highly of you.”
When he saw me, his smile faded, and he straightened up lazily.
“Brother Niên, is there anything wrong with giving the new guy a little lesson?”
I pulled him aside, then coldly sent the kid away.
“Why bother talking to someone like that?”
Lục Phong’s eyes darkened.
“If I don’t talk to him, I’m supposed to hit him?”
“Then the old man would have even more reason to kick me out, wouldn’t he?”
He saw things more clearly than anyone.
“Hạng Niên, I… I can’t just swallow this.”
In the end, trouble still found us.
The nephew was so nervous that he took the wrong route and drove straight into a checkpoint.
Both he and the cargo were seized.
Luckily, the cargo wasn’t too sensitive, and they got him out soon enough.
But Tam gia had been thoroughly humiliated.
All his fury came down on Lục Phong.
In the office, a teacup flew past his feet and shattered into pieces.
“You pulled something, didn’t you?! Huh?!”
Lục Phong stood still, his expression blank.
“Tam gia, your nephew caused the mess. What does that have to do with me?”
“If you hadn’t scared him, would he have gotten that rattled?!”
“I was just ‘looking out for a colleague.’” Lục Phong sneered. “Who knew he’d be such a coward?”
Tam gia’s face turned livid with rage as he pointed at me.
“Hạng Niên! Look at the man you’re supposed to be guiding! He’s gotten completely out of line!”
I stepped forward.
“Please calm down, Tam gia. The urgent thing is to smooth things over with the other side.”
Tam gia panted, glaring at Lục Phong.
“GET OUT!”
Lục Phong said nothing and turned to leave.
I stayed behind to deal with the aftermath, a distinct sense of unease rising in my chest.
Lục Phong wasn’t one to take things lying down.
And yet this time, he was far too quiet.
18
A few days later, around midnight, I was jolted awake by my phone vibrating.
One of my men was calling, his voice so panicked it had gone shrill.
“Brother Niên! We’ve got trouble! Something happened to Tam gia’s nephew!”
My heart clenched.
“Explain.”
“He’s at the hospital… They’re calling it a car accident, but his injuries look really strange. Both his legs are broken!”
I leaped out of bed.
“Where’s Lục Phong?!”
“Brother Phong… He showed up for a little while tonight, then disappeared. No one can reach him now!”
I hung up and immediately called Lục Phong.
His phone was off.
A chill ran down my spine.
I grabbed my car keys and rushed out, running through all the places he might have gone.
I finally found him at an old riverside pier—a place that had been abandoned for a long time.
He sat alone on the embankment, a few empty beer cans at his feet.
The river wind blew hard, whipping his hair into a mess.
The distant city lights reflected on the water, breaking into scattered patches of cold light.
I pulled over and walked up to him.
“Lục Phong.”
He didn’t turn around. He tipped back the last can, crushed it in his hand, and threw it straight into the river.
“You’re here.”
“Did you do it?” I asked.
He laughed, his words thick with alcohol.
“Who? That idiot? Do you think I’m capable of something like that?”
I grabbed his arm and yanked him to his feet.
“Look me in the eye and say that again, damn it!”
At last, he turned to face me.
There wasn’t a trace of drunkenness in his eyes—only a chilling calm.
“I did it. So what?”
“He nearly ruined the whole shipment and got several of our guys killed, but because he’s Tam gia’s nephew, he got off scot-free.”
“It pissed me off, so I found someone to break his legs. That’s all.”
He leaned close, his breath hitting my face.
“Go tattle to Tam gia and take the credit.”
I looked at him, my chest tight.
“Do you even know what you’re doing?!”
“Of course.” He answered calmly. “Taking out the trash. Tam gia taught me that.”