Huang Daqiang's face instantly changed the moment he heard the name Scarface.
This guy was entrenched in the factory district of the southern suburbs. Rumor had it he ran a roller rink and had quite a fierce reputation in that area. He liked to bully anyone he took a dislike to and was a genuine street thug.
Seeing Huang Daqiang back down, Jing Hu shoved him aside.
"Get lost! Stop being a nuisance here! Coward!"
Huang Daqiang was pushed so hard he almost crashed into the wall, but he didn't dare fight back. Instead, he hurriedly pulled back his mother, who was still trying to step forward and argue. "Mom, no, don't confront them. Let it go. This isn't even our family's business anyway."
Before Auntie Zhang could say anything, Yaya's uncle and his group had already reached the door of apartment 501 and started pounding on it loudly.
"Open up in there! Hand over Yaya! Or we'll call the police and report you for child trafficking!"
"Come on! Open the door now!"
Inside the apartment, Liu Yutong and the others had already heard the commotion outside.
"Yuncheng, Ma Da, you two go ahead with your own tasks. I'll handle this."
But Ma Da quickly interjected, "No way! Miss, I'm going abroad for quite a few days this trip, and I haven't had a chance to show off... ahem, to spread the positive energy of our Wanlong Society. Let me handle this, let me."
With that, he turned around and opened the door directly.
Outside, Yaya's uncle and his family, who were just about to continue banging on the door, were startled and instinctively took a step back.
They saw a slightly chubby young man standing in the doorway, with several other young men in black suits behind him.
The chubby guy looked at them and started cursing without any courtesy.
"Yap, yap, yap, what the hell are you yapping about?"
"Making such a racket in broad daylight, disturbing the peace! Have you got no manners?!"
Yaya's uncle and the others were completely dumbfounded by this sudden torrent of abuse from the young man.
Once they recovered, they got angry too.
"Who are you? Watch your mouth! I'm Yaya's biological uncle! Here to take my niece home! Who the hell do you think you are, trying to stop us?"
"Biological uncle?"
Ma Da let out a scornful laugh. He used his pinky finger to dig in his ear, then blew on his fingertip, almost sending earwax flying into their faces. "Where were all you relatives when Yaya's parents were around and needed help? Now they're barely gone, and you come sniffing around like you caught a scent? What are you, dogs?!"
"You!"
Yaya's uncle, Jing Fu, flushed red with anger. His wife, Wang Jinhua, immediately stepped forward and shrieked, "How dare you insult us! We are Yaya's closest family in this world, recognized by law! Who knows what you shady people are doing holding onto the child? Maybe you want to traffic her! Get out of the way! Or we'll call the police!"
"Call the police?"
Ma Da acted as if he'd heard something hilarious. He turned his head and grinned at his black-suited companions behind him. "Brothers, they say they're going to call the cops!"
"Hahaha..."
"Go ahead, call them if you dare!"
"I'd like to see if Officer Friendly will take your side."
"Let me tell you this, punk. Yaya is under our Miss's protection now. She's taking full responsibility for everything concerning the girl. If you're scheming for the child or the property, you'd better drop that idea right now. Get the hell out of here, all of you! One more word of nonsense, and I'll make you fly!"
As soon as Ma Da finished speaking, the several black-suited men behind him cooperatively cracked their knuckles, producing crisp popping sounds.
Yaya's uncle's family were all bullies who only picked on the weak. They couldn't help but take another step back.
Despite their earlier bravado, facing these few men in black suits who looked very much like gangsters, their aura weakened considerably, and they grew somewhat timid.
However, their delinquent-looking son, Jing Long, young and hot-headed, was the first to step forward.
He had just been bragging to Huang Daqiang about knowing some tough gangsters. If he got intimidated by some strange fat guy now, he'd lose all face.
He had to deal with these black-suited guys no matter what.
"Hey, fatso, who the hell do you think you're scaring? You think wearing a black suit makes you hot stuff? Let me tell you, I know this area. You know Scarface? The boss over at the roller rink? That's my big brother! Believe it or not, I can make one call and he'll bring dozens of guys over here!"
"Scarface? What kind of stray cat or mangy dog is that? Never heard of him."
"Kid, if you want to call someone, you'd better do it now. Otherwise, I'm afraid you won't get the chance later."
After saying this, Ma Da turned his head and spoke into the apartment, "Miss, please wait a moment. I'll just clean up some trash first. I promise it won't take too long."
From inside the room, Liu Yutong gave a faint "Hmm" of assent, granting silent permission.
She understood perfectly well that sometimes, reasoning with low-level thugs like these was useless. You had to use rules they understood to settle things.
Jing Long was thoroughly enraged by Ma Da's arrogant attitude. He immediately pulled out his knock-off phone and made a call.
"Hey! Scarface! It's Little Long! Yeah, over at Happiness Community. Ran into some clueless tough guys... yeah, wearing black suits, acting all high and mighty... bring more guys. Don't worry, there'll be benefits for sure!"
After hanging up, Jing Long felt much more confident. He pointed at Ma Da, "Just you wait, fatso. Scarface is bringing his men right over. Don't you dare run if you've got the guts!"
Ma Da: "Don't worry, I promise I won't run. I'll wait for the people you called."
"Let's go, wait for them downstairs. I want to see what kind of character this 'Scarface' really is."
"Escort them downstairs. The Miss dislikes noise."
"Yes, Brother Ma!" The men immediately stepped forward.
"Hey, hey, hey! What do you think you're doing?"
"Assault in broad daylight!"
"You... you just wait, you'll get yours soon! My son called for backup, you just wait!"
"Ah!!!"
"..."
There was no way Yaya's uncle's family could match Ma Da and his crew. They had no power to resist and were forcibly dragged downstairs.
Upstairs.
Auntie Zhang and her son Huang Daqiang were watching this scene, extremely nervous.
First, they were nervous about whether the black-suited guys would be too rough. Second, they were nervous about Scarface, who might arrive soon.
"Mom, that kid really called Scarface. That guy really does have a bunch of reckless young thugs under him who fight like they don't care about their lives. Shouldn't we call the police?"
Auntie Zhang was also hesitant because calling the police might not be good for Yaya, since that family were technically her relatives.
"Maybe let's wait and see a bit longer? Miss Liu and her people aren't ordinary folks."
She also remembered what she saw at the car accident scene that day. The number of those black-suited men seemed far greater than this, not even a fraction of them were here.
Not long after.
From the closed-off road on the south side of the residential complex came the roar of motorcycle engines and the sound of many footsteps.
More than twenty hoodlums, dressed like delinquents and wielding steel pipes and cleavers, appeared on the scene in a formidable group, led by a young man with two fierce-looking knife scars on his face. The leader was none other than Scarface.
Jing Long, who had been crouching on the ground covering his head, immediately stood up excitedly when he saw the reinforcements had arrived. He pointed at Ma Da, "Scarface! That's the fatso right there!"
"I dropped your name, but this damn fatso not only refused to show any respect, he even said you were some nobody and that he'd make you fly if you dared show up!"
Scarface, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, stepped forward with a menacing look, sizing up the mere seven or eight men in black behind the fat man.
Although they looked somewhat familiar, he couldn't quite place them and didn't give it much thought.
"Fatso, nice suit. Which outfit are you with? Tell me your boss's name. If I know him, I might go a little easier on you later."
Ma Da, hands in his pockets, sauntered forward a couple of steps until he stood right in front of Scarface. His seemingly harmless appearance now carried an inexplicable sense of pressure.
"Scarface, right?"
"Do you watch TV? Or read the news online?"
"What's your point?"
"No point, really. I just wanted to say that TV and the internet are always reporting about how the world needs peace, how our social environment needs harmony and stability. I think they make a good point."
"So, today, I want to resolve this peacefully." Ma Da pointed at Scarface, then at himself.
Scarface, thinking he was about to back down, laughed. "What? Trying to beg for mercy?"
Ma Da wagged a finger. "NO! NO! NO! You've got it wrong."
"What I mean is, you, and all the men you brought, kneel down right now, kowtow three times to me, Brother Ma, apologize, and say 'Sorry, Brother Ma, we were wrong.' Then we can consider this matter settled. How about that?"
The lackeys behind Scarface burst out laughing upon hearing Ma Da's words.
"Hahahaha... Is this damn fatso out of his mind?"
"Kneel and kowtow to him? Who the hell does he think he is!"
"I'm dying, is this fatty here to tell us jokes?"
Scarface viciously threw his cigarette butt to the ground and crushed it under his foot, pointing at Ma Da's nose as he cursed, "You damn fatso, are your eyes not working? Can't you see how many brothers I have behind me? You actually dare to tell me to kneel and kowtow to you, you motherf—... you absolutely deserve it!"
Thump!
"Big brother, see how promptly I kneel? Can we... can we still talk about harmony?"
After uttering this plea on his knees, Scarface looked around at the dense crowd of black figures that had materialized and swallowed hard.
There were so many of them, it was as if they had dyed the entire street block black!
