Chapter 722 Survival from Danger
In the darkness of the night, the roar of a train could be heard in the distance, mixed with his pounding heartbeat, making a dense drumbeat on his eardrums.
He suddenly found that his breathing became heavy, as if his whole body was burned by the flames of greed, and even his voice was trembling:
“You…you are breaking the rules!”
However, the previous ferocity was no longer in the trembling ending tone.
The alley was filled with a suffocating atmosphere of tension. Wang Jianguo clearly saw the scarred man's Adam's apple rolling violently, and his pupils shrinking sharply due to greed, reflecting the dazzling golden light of the small yellow croaker.
The other person's fingers holding the pistol trembled slightly, as if he was restraining the urge to snatch, or weighing the pros and cons.
"Hey, big brother,"
Wang Jianguo took half a step forward and lowered his voice deliberately, with just the right amount of earnestness and flattery in his tone.
"Your boss is always busy with all kinds of things. Why would you need to disturb him with such a trivial matter?"
His eyes swept over the thugs who were ready to make a move in the courtyard, and a flattering smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
"I have been in this black market for so many years, but I have never seen a person as courageous and decisive as you. Look at those brothers, who doesn't obey you?"
The night wind blew up the dead leaves in the corner, swirling between the two of them. Scarface's Adam's apple moved again, but his face still maintained a ferocious expression:
"Stop flattering me! The rules of the Black Tiger Gang..."
“Rules are dead, people are alive.”
Wang Jianguo spoke without waiting for the other party to finish, with a hint of helplessness and flattery in his voice.
"Please have pity on us who are trying to make a living. Please let us go. When we go out, we will tell everyone that Brother Zhao is a righteous man!"
He paused, his eyes wandering over Scarface's face.
"Besides, if this matter gets out of hand and gets to your boss's ears, he might even blame you for not doing your job well."
These words obviously hit Scarface's soft spot, and a hint of hesitation flashed across his eyes.
Seeing this, Wang Jianguo immediately struck while the iron was hot and handed the small yellow croaker forward. The coolness of the gold bar brushed across the other party's rough palm:
"Look, this is just a token of my appreciation for you, just buy some wine for the brothers. We will leave far away and will never cause you any trouble."
Scarface stared at the gold bar in his hand, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the smooth surface.
The coolness of the metal spread along the fingertips, colliding violently with the greed surging in the heart.
The roar of a train came from the distance, shaking the ground slightly and making him feel uneasy.
He clenched the gold bar tightly and hid it in his arms, but his movements were not as quick and decisive as usual, as if he was afraid that someone would snatch it away.
The scarred man's Adam's apple rolled up and down as if pulled by an invisible thread. The small yellow croaker in his palm shone brightly in the night wind, burning him so much that he could hardly hold the pistol in his hand.
He deliberately pointed the blade of the knife diagonally towards the night sky. The harsh sound of metal friction cut through the silent alley, but he did not take action.
The heavy touch of the gold bar falling into his palm just now was still vibrating repeatedly at his nerve endings.
"Aren't you making things difficult for me?"
He shouted in a hoarse voice, deliberately dragging out the last word, his leather shoes rolled heavily over the gravel on the ground, and the raised dust fell on Wang Jianguo's shoulders.
"The Black Tiger Gang's rules are here. How can we change them just like that if we want to cripple someone's hands?"
Having said that, he turned his back, deliberately avoiding anyone from seeing him greedily stroking the gold bar. His rough fingertips rubbed back and forth on the metal surface, as if he wanted to carve the touch into his bones.
Suddenly, Yang Huaixi's suppressed cough was heard from deep in the courtyard. The bloody sound startled Scarface so much that his whole body froze.
He turned around suddenly, with the muzzle of the gun pointed precisely at Wang Jianguo's forehead. However, when he caught a glimpse of the other party's tense yet deliberately relaxed mouth, he suddenly realized that he had already been caught in the vortex of this transaction.
The sound of a night watchman's clapperboard came from afar. The rhythm of three long and two short beats mixed with his pounding heartbeat, fermenting into a suffocating silence in the humid air.
"Okay, okay!"
He suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, and hit Wang Jianguo's shoulder hard with the metal butt of the gun, but the force was three points lighter than before.
"You are lucky today!"
Scarface deliberately raised his voice very high so that the younger brothers in the courtyard could hear it clearly.
"Take these two pieces of trash and get out of here immediately! From today on, I will chop you up once I see you within a ten-mile radius of the night market!"
He violently pulled Wang Jianguo by the collar, and his foul breath sprayed on his face:
"If you dare to tell anyone about what happened today..."
Before he could finish his words, the coolness of the gold bar in his palm suddenly spread to his heart, and his threat was stuck in his throat.
In the end, he just gave a hard push and watched Wang Jianguo stumble and crash into the wooden fence:
"Get out! Don't let me see you again!"
Wang Jianguo's back was still against the cold brick wall, his shirt soaked with cold sweat stuck to his back, but his legs were already trembling slightly uncontrollably.
He forced himself to stand up straight, his clasped hands shaking violently in the night wind:
"Thank you, Brother Zhao, for your kindness! I hope you will do me a favor in the future..."
Before he could finish his words, Scarface turned around impatiently, and the sound of his leather boots rolling over the broken porcelain pieces on the ground was like countless steel needles piercing his eardrums.
Suddenly, there was a clattering sound of dragging chains in the backyard.
Scarface shook his head fiercely at the thugs who had gathered around him, and his hair swept across the hideous scar on his forehead:
"What are you still standing there for?"
He deliberately slapped the pocket containing the gold bars loudly. The dull sound of metal collision made several of his younger brothers open their eyes wide instantly.
"Put away your weapons! If anyone dares to say a word about what happened tonight--"
Before he finished his words, there was a flash of cold light, and the dagger had already nailed into the jujube tree half an inch away from Yang Huaixi's ear, causing all the dead leaves on the tree to fall down in panic.
Dou'er, who was pinned to the ground, was the first to gain freedom.
She staggered to her feet, her knees leaving two bloody marks on the gravel, but she ignored the pain and stumbled towards Yang Huaixi.
The thugs dispersed cursing, and one of them kicked over a pottery jar in the corner before leaving. The broken pieces of porcelain splashed around Wang Jianguo's feet and scratched his cloth shoes.
In the darkness of the night, the sound of receding footsteps gradually mixed with the sound of a train whistle and disappeared at the end of the alley.
Only then did Wang Jianguo realize that he had bitten his lip and the taste of rust spread on the tip of his tongue.
He rushed towards Yang Huaixi who was lying on the ground, but saw that the coarse cloth on his chest was soaked with blood, the wounds caused by the hemp rope were still oozing blood, and he remained in a twisted posture as if he was being pressed down while unconscious.
“Brother Yang! Brother Yang!”
Wang Jianguo knelt on one knee, and with trembling fingers he reached for the other's carotid artery. Dou'er suddenly grabbed his wrist, with dirt embedded in the cracks between her nails:
"First... stop the bleeding first!"
She turned around and searched through the mess on the floor, finally pulling out a relatively clean piece of cloth. However, when she saw Yang Huaixi's bloody wrist, she abruptly turned her face away, her shoulders twitching violently.