Chapter 7: Descending Once More into the Dry Well
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Cheng Xiangru, dragging his battered body, pulled his younger sister along as they followed Boss Zhou out of their home. Outside, four black SUVs were lined up in a row, each flanked by several burly men dressed in black suits. Cheng Xiangru had initially thought that Yang Hu’s gang, being local bullies with numbers on their side, would be hard to confront. How could Boss Zhou be so confident in helping him reclaim what was his? But seeing this display, he believed it. Still, he couldn’t quite understand why Boss Zhou would bring such a formidable entourage just to pick him and his sister up to go to Rong City.
Boss Zhou, showing no disdain for Cheng Xiangru’s dirt-covered appearance, helped him into one of the vehicles and deliberately placed Cheng Yimo, his little sister, in another car to wait by the doorstep. Cheng Yimo was still young; she deserved a life in the sunlight, and some scenes were better left unseen.
The three vehicles rumbled slowly along the village road, drawing the curiosity of many villagers. Cheng Xiangru pressed his face to the car window, searching for signs of Yang Hu and his gang. Finally, at the threshing ground at the edge of the village, he spotted the scoundrels.
“There they are!” Cheng Xiangru clenched his fists tightly.
The three cars roared forward, surrounding the startled Yang Hu and his gang beneath the old tree at the center of the threshing ground. Doors flung open, and Boss Zhou’s men stepped out one after another, closing in.
Cheng Xiangru walked into the crowd, staring at the panicked faces of Yang Hu and his thugs. When he saw Yang Hu clearly, he was momentarily stunned. Yang Hu’s fat, round face was bruised in shades of blue and purple; half of it was swollen grotesquely, like a bulging balloon, severely deformed.
“You little bastard?” Yang Hu’s jaw nearly dropped in shock.
The rest of the gang gaped in disbelief, too stunned to speak.
Boss Zhou squinted and smiled slightly. “Kid, what are you planning to do?”
“Break their hands and feet, crush their manhood.” Countless humiliations from childhood surged through Cheng Xiangru’s heart, fueling an endless well of hatred. If he could, he would grind these scoundrels to dust.
Boss Zhou shook his head. “No killing. Don’t maim them badly, or it’ll be hard to sort things out afterward.”
Cheng Xiangru thought for a moment. “Would knocking out their teeth count as maiming?”
Boss Zhou hesitated. “Maybe... not.”
“I understand.” Cheng Xiangru glanced around, found a fist-sized stone, and quickly picked it up.
Seeing this, Yang Hu stepped forward defiantly, shouting loudly, “What are you all doing? Don’t think you’re tough just because you’re dressed in black. I’m telling you, this is Cheng Family Village. I’m the one in charge here! Even if you’re dragons, you’ll have to bow to me. If you’re tigers…”
Before he could finish, a man in a black suit pulled out a pistol, silently aiming its dark barrel at Yang Hu.
Yang Hu’s mouth twitched. “It’s fake, right? Just a lighter?”
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“Bang!”
The gunshot broke the air. A puff of dirt erupted on the ground in front of Yang Hu, leaving a bullet hole.
“Kneel!” Boss Zhou’s face darkened as he barked.
With a thud, Yang Hu dropped to his knees. “I’m wrong! I’m wrong...”
The rest of the gang, terrified by the gunshot, followed suit, kneeling one after another, heads bowed, hands over their ears, their bodies trembling like leaves in the wind.
Cheng Xiangru was startled by the gunshot but immediately felt emboldened.
He gripped the stone and approached Yang Hu. “Lift your head! Open your mouth!”
Yang Hu trembled as he raised his tear-streaked, snot-covered face, his pants stained yellow below. “Please, I beg you... ah!”
Without another word, Cheng Xiangru swung the stone, smashing into Yang Hu’s mouth, instantly spraying blood.
“Your teeth have more backbone than you!” he spat. Even after that blow, not a single tooth was knocked loose.
Grabbing Yang Hu by his hair, Cheng Xiangru forced him to tilt his head back and smashed the stone down repeatedly. The brutality was so fierce that even Boss Zhou winced.
Soon, Yang Hu’s face was a bloody mess, several teeth shattered, not a single front tooth left; he looked utterly defeated, almost fainting.
“Next!” Cheng Xiangru kicked Yang Hu aside and moved on to the next man, ignoring their cries and pleas as he hammered down again and again.
With each strike, memories of past torments inflicted by these scoundrels flooded his mind, fueling his strength despite his exhaustion.
Before long, every one of Yang Hu’s gang was left bloodied, spitting teeth onto the ground.
But the humiliations Cheng Xiangru had endured were far from repaid.
He gasped for breath, his eyes nearly bleeding from exertion. Returning to the already broken Yang Hu, he raised the stone high, ready to strike again, when suddenly a hand grabbed his wrist.
Boss Zhou pried the stone from his grasp and pulled him into an embrace, gently stroking his hair. “Enough, child.”
Cheng Xiangru, unable to explain why, broke down and wept openly despite his usual resilience.
“Let’s go.” Boss Zhou produced a tissue, wiping the blood and tears from Cheng Xiangru’s face.
Cheng Xiangru nodded, wiping away tears, and silently followed Boss Zhou into the car.
Behind them, a man in a black suit handed stacks of money to Yang Hu and the others — likely for medical expenses.
Yang Hu, looking like mud, straightened slightly when he saw the money, glancing at Cheng Xiangru’s back. He raised his hand slowly, as if to say he could still endure more, but his bloodied mouth could not form a single word.
On the car ride, Cheng Xiangru finally regained his composure.
After this bloody retaliation, he knew that this time he left for good — he would not be coming back.
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His suspicion and doubt about Boss Zhou from the previous night suddenly seemed less important.
Even if the man was a devil, as long as he could rescue him from this hell, Cheng Xiangru was willing to entrust everything to him — except his sister, of course, including himself.
“Boss Zhou…”
“Don’t be so formal. Call me Uncle.”
“Uncle Zhou, I have a secret I want to tell you.”
“Hm?”
Cheng Xiangru produced the circular jade pendant from his pocket. “This, actually, is a key.”
Boss Zhou turned to look at him, surprised. “How did you know?”
His tone implied he had known all along.
Cheng Xiangru did not withhold anything. He recounted the entire process of entering the dry well in the backyard last night, using the jade pendant to open the wooden door, and discovering the countless antiques inside — though he omitted the mysterious shadow and the five handwritten manuscripts.
Boss Zhou pondered deeply. When the car returned to Cheng Xiangru’s home, he quietly asked, “Can you take me down to see it?”
Cheng Xiangru nodded. “Sure.”
After getting out, Cheng Xiangru first checked on his sister, then told her to wait in the car while he led Boss Zhou to the backyard.
Several men in black suits, following Boss Zhou’s instructions, removed the broken table covering the well’s mouth and fetched ropes, harnesses, and high-powered flashlights.
Boss Zhou personally demonstrated how to secure the harness, then descended the dry well skillfully, impressing Cheng Xiangru silently.
Cheng Xiangru followed closely behind, sliding down with little difficulty to the bottom.
The two of them crawled through the tunnel, avoiding crossbow traps, and used the jade pendant to open the wooden door.
As soon as the door opened, Boss Zhou rushed inside eagerly.
Cheng Xiangru expected the antiques to delight Boss Zhou, but instead, he just bent his head, searching intently as if looking for something specific.
He barely glanced at the antiques, seemingly indifferent.
“Uncle Zhou, what are you looking for?” Cheng Xiangru followed, hesitating whether to help.
Boss Zhou straightened up, his eyes burning as he looked back at Cheng Xiangru. “Kid, when you came down last night, did you take anything with you?”
Cheng Xiangru was startled, about to mention the wooden box and the five manuscripts, when Boss Zhou pressed urgently, “Like... a sword?”