Chapter 182: When Reputation Falls, People Scatter

At the night market entrance, Old You lay covered in blood on the ground, not yet completely unconscious. Supporting himself with his elbows, he crawled forward two or three meters, calling out hoarsely: "Help... help me... please help me."

Old You was a familiar face at Tianhong Port - many of the management fee collectors at the night market entrance recognized him and immediately ran over to ask about the situation, while also calling for Old You's brothers from the gambling den.

Wei Xiangzuo stood among the hundreds of onlookers, watching Old You whose legs and knees had been brutally smashed, his mouth twitching, very quiet.

"What happened?"

"The dock gang's having internal strife, must be Xu Hu's people who did it."

"Go help him up."

"Fuck, why are you so meddlesome? Don't want to live anymore, offending Xu Hu?"

"...!"

The crowd discussed among themselves, all watching but no one reaching out to help Old You.

After about six or seven minutes, Old You's brothers ran out from the gambling den, pushed through the crowd to reach the center.

"Brother You!"

"What happened to you?!"

"...!"

Five or six brothers supported Old You up and without another word carried him toward the car.

The crowd followed to watch the excitement, with several familiar faces gesturing and offering suggestions, while Cheng Gang stood on the third floor, squinting as he observed the situation below, saying hoarsely: "He'll definitely contact Tattooed Dragon."

"What if he still won't cooperate?" Xu Hu's brother asked.

"Then we go to Zone Three and deal with Old You's wife and child," Cheng Gang replied without a trace of emotion in his eyes before turning to leave.

Xu Hu's brother watched his back with tightly furrowed brows but said nothing.

Eating from this bowl of the underworld - when times were good they were really good, but when things went wrong, they were truly miserable. You never knew who would stab you in the back, who would kick you when you're down.

Old You didn't have so many schemes - he wasn't some man whose word was law. He just had some wishful thinking when he went to see his woman, and ended up in this state.

If Cheng Gang hadn't still wanted to get the storefronts back from Tattooed Dragon, Old You wouldn't just have lost his legs - he would definitely have died too.

After Old You was taken away by his brothers, the crowd gradually dispersed, but they were still discussing this matter in whispers. Especially Wei Xiangzuo's lackeys - they felt even more uncertain, all feeling Xu Hu was too ruthless - if you offended him, he would really try to kill you.

Wei Xiangzuo stared at the blood on the ground and the car taking Old You away for quite a while before turning to leave.

......

In the car heading to the hospital, Old You shivered all over, gripping a brother's arm with his right hand, mumbling somewhat hazily: "Er Li... I... I don't want to die, save... me, save me...!"

"It's alright, Brother, we're going to the hospital now," the brother replied softly. "Almost there, almost there!"

"Where are the others who were with you?" the driver asked.

"All... all beaten and scattered, they caught my woman... I... I was set up," Old You replied weakly. "It was... was Cheng Gang, he investigated me secretly."

"Damn it, I'll kill this Cheng Gang sooner or later!" Er Li cursed fiercely.

"Call... call my big brother... we won't fight anymore... let's hand over the storefronts to them. We can't fight Xu Hu - they'll do anything for money," Old You was truly terrified - even if he had a hundred people protecting him now, he didn't want to oppose them anymore.

Half an hour later, Old You arrived at the hospital and was wheeled to surgery.

In the stairwell, several brothers gathered together, talking in low voices.

"I think Brother You is right - Wei Xiangzuo has fucking run away, what's the point of us still holding out here?" Er Li said with bloodshot eyes. "Cheng Gang was a dog before, but now he's living better than us!"

"I really fucking misjudged Old Wei!" another person also agreed with furrowed brows. "He caused this trouble, he proposed the fight, and now that big chaos has broken out, he runs away, leaving us brothers at home to take the beating. This isn't right!"

"Call Sister-in-law, have her contact Brother Dragon, just hand the storefronts over to Xu Hu," Er Li said softly while smoking. "Otherwise they'll keep biting at us, make an example of us - who can withstand that?"

"Alright, I'll call Sister-in-law," another young man nodded in response.

......

In an ordinary community in Zone Three, a woman called Tattooed Dragon's phone. He was recuperating outside Dragon City, in very bad condition, having had several fevers and staying in a stupor.

"Big Brother, Old You is in trouble."

"...!" Tattooed Dragon forced himself to be alert: "What... what happened?"

"He was lured by Cheng Gang to Fugang District, caught and had both legs smashed. Er Li and others just took Old You to the hospital," the woman was crying by this point. "Big Brother! I just don't understand - why didn't you let Old You sell the shops before? That Wei Xiangzuo has fucking run away - what are we holding out for him for?!"

Tattooed Dragon asked breathlessly: "Which hospital is Little You in?"

"You hide outside and don't manage anything anymore, but Old You is in the port! Did you think about him? Did you think about us mother and child?" the woman shouted reproachfully. "He's lost both legs - how will we live in the future?!"

Tattooed Dragon was silenced, speechless.

"I don't care! If you want to persist, you come back and persist - our Old You can't keep taking the blame for nothing," the woman said unequivocally. "I'm going to call Xu Hu's side soon, discuss the storefront matter with him - we're not managing anything anymore."

With that, the woman hung up.

In a dimly lit single-story house, Tattooed Dragon sat up in bed wrapped in bandages, his gaze blank.

When Tattooed Dragon fled, he had lost his phone, and during these days recuperating here, he had been constantly feverish and unconscious, so the friend sheltering him had only managed to contact Old You before but didn't know Wei Xiangzuo.

Tattooed Dragon lay in bed, frowning in thought for a long time before lowering his head to send a text message from memory to people in the port: "Help... help me contact Big Brother, tell him... I've done what I could, I can't hold on anymore, can only hand over the shops."

......

Late at night.

Xu Hu called Cheng Gang and said concisely: "Well done - Old You's wife called me, willing to discuss the storefront matter now."

"Hehe," Cheng Gang smiled coldly. "Tattooed Dragon must have contacted her."

"Later you go with Gu Baishun to negotiate, sign the agreement," Xu Hu instructed.

"Good."

In Zha'nan District, at the entrance of a large food stall mainly selling braised dishes.

A server was using a sharp deboning knife to slice braised pork knuckle.

Wei Xiangzuo, drinking high-proof baijiu, suddenly asked: "Is the knife for sale?"