At eleven in the morning, the sky was dim, with layers of dark clouds pressing down over the mountaintops as if rain were about to fall.
Two kilometers from a construction site in the northern suburbs of the city, at a fork in the road, a small food stall had been set up by the roadside.
It was a tricycle converted into a mobile food stand. On it were insulated containers filled with hot rice, braised meats, several home-style dishes, and chilled mung bean soup.
The vendor was a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties named Uncle Wang. He was a local villager who made a living by riding this tricycle around construction sites on the outskirts of the city and selling boxed lunches.
Recently, Uncle Wang had been showing up at the construction site entrance every day without fail. He could sell dozens of boxed lunches in a day, which was enough to make a living.
Today, as lunchtime approached, he pedaled toward the construction site as usual.
But just after turning a bend, before he even reached the entrance, he slammed on the brakes and immediately turned around, pedaling back the way he had come.
He had not seen the workers waiting for lunch. Instead, he had seen large numbers of idle gangsters streaming toward the construction site from the direction of Jinchuan City.
Many of them were covered in tattoos, with brightly dyed hair, and were carrying steel pipes or machetes. They gathered in groups of three or five, cursing and swearing, their hostility palpable.
Before long, the abandoned construction site was packed with a sea of gang members—at least several hundred of them.
Uncle Wang had lived through most of his life and had seen his fair share of major incidents.
Back in the day, when people from Qi Tianhu’s generation were carving out their territory, street clashes and brawls had been commonplace.
But this was the first time he had ever seen so many gangsters gathered in one place.
There was no need to guess. Something major was clearly about to happen here.
Uncle Wang did not dare stay another moment. He pedaled his tricycle for dear life, covering the two kilometers back to the fork in one breath before stopping and setting up his stall again.
Business at the roadside was not as good as at the construction site, but at least passing truck drivers would buy a few meals.
While Uncle Wang squatted beside his tricycle, holding a steaming boxed lunch and shoveling rice into his mouth with braised dried tofu, two black luxury cars pulled over on the opposite side of the road.
The doors opened, and five people stepped out in succession—three women and two men, each of them carrying an extraordinary air.
Uncle Wang instinctively looked over.
The girl standing at the front looked barely twenty, yet the aura surrounding her was so imposing that people instinctively felt intimidated and dared not look directly at her.
She definitely wasn’t an ordinary person. She must be the daughter of some powerful family, he thought.
“The Young Lady, all of Qi Tianhu’s people have entered the abandoned construction site. There should be at least eight hundred of them—somewhere between eight hundred and a thousand by our estimate. They’re all carrying weapons.”
“I didn’t expect him to be able to gather so many people in such a short time, even after we sent so many of his men to the hospital over the past few days. Qi Tianhu’s foundation in Jinchuan really is quite deep.”
“They’re probably mostly small-time gangsters paid to make up the numbers. We’ve looked into the going rate around here. It’s only fifty yuan for showing up once.”
“Fifty? That’s a little cheap.”
“The Young Lady, should we head over now?”
“Zhou Ming seems to have been brought there as well. He’s apparently being held upstairs at the construction site and isn’t in any immediate danger.”
“No rush. We’ll wait until our people have all arrived.”
“Yes!”
Just then, the slightly chubby young man on the opposite side suddenly noticed the small food stall by the roadside.
His eyes lit up.
“The Young Lady, they have chilled mung bean soup!”
Only then did the girl look toward the opposite side and see the sign hanging from the stall: Chilled Mung Bean Soup.
“Then let’s go have a bowl of mung bean soup and make Qi Tianhu wait a little longer.”
“Coming right up!”
The chubby young man scampered across the road first.
The others followed.
Uncle Wang had been secretly sizing up these five extraordinary young people all along. When he saw them approaching, he quickly stood up, set down his half-eaten boxed lunch, and greeted them warmly.
“Welcome, folks! I’ve got hot rice, braised meats, home-style dishes, and chilled mung bean soup. It’s awfully hot today—how about a bowl of mung bean soup to cool you down?”
“Five bowls of mung bean soup to start!” the chubby young man said eagerly.
“Sure thing!”
Uncle Wang wiped down the two folding tables beside him with a rag, then gestured toward the stools.
“You can sit over here if you don’t mind the humble surroundings.”
“Thank you,” the girl said. She did not seem to mind at all and led the others over to sit down.
Soon, Uncle Wang brought out five bowls of chilled mung bean soup one after another.
“Enjoy, everyone. I’ve been simmering these mung beans since early this morning, and I used old-fashioned rock sugar. They’re nice and sweet.”
“Thank you, Uncle,” the girl said again.
She picked up the disposable bowl in front of her and used the spoon to take a mouthful. The air was still hot and heavy, so the cool, sweet soup felt wonderfully refreshing.
All of them drank slowly, except for the chubby young man. The moment the bowl was placed in his hands, he tipped it back and drained it in one go. Then he called out to the vendor.
“Boss, another bowl of mung bean soup!”
“And bring me two portions of that braised-meat platter too. No rice.”
Uncle Wang: “...?”
It took him a few seconds to process what the young man meant.
He only wanted the meat.
Rich people really were something else!
When the second bowl of mung bean soup and the braised-meat platter arrived, the chubby young man could hardly wait to dig in.
But just as he was about to pick up his chopsticks, a woman’s voice came from the neighboring table.
“In a moment, you’re going to run over to the construction site.”
The chubby young man’s face immediately fell.
“No, please, The Young Lady!”
“Hahaha...”
