Chapter 5: What I Hate Most
"Yang Chen, have you got the money ready that I asked you to prepare yesterday? My brothers are waiting to take it and buy breakfast and drinks." Chen Feng fiddled with a silver chain in his hand and leaned forward with a sinister grin.
Old Li got anxious. He stepped in front of Yang Chen and shouted, "Chen Feng, don't push people too far! So what if your dad, Chen Laoda, runs this area? What right do you have to collect protection money? Chen Laoda already said that people who don't open shops don't have to pay protection money. You think we don't know that!?"
Chen Feng's father, Chen Dehai, was one of the notorious underworld bosses in the West District. Otherwise Chen Feng would never have dared to collect protection money so brazenly everywhere. Hearing Old Li use his father to pressure him, a cold light flashed in Chen Feng's eyes. "Old thing, what the hell do you think you are... You think mentioning my dad scares me? He's my dad, not your grandson! I collect protection money because I think highly of you people! Don't refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit!"
"You..." Only after speaking did Old Li realize he had nearly offended Chen Laoda. After all, they were father and son. What was he supposed to be?
But he just couldn't swallow the anger.
He was about to say a few more words for Yang Chen when Yang Chen pulled him back from behind.
Frowning, Yang Chen rubbed his forehead a little irritably and pulled Old Li behind him. Then he said calmly to Chen Feng, "You call yourself... Chen Feng, right? I'll call you Brother Feng. Don't go looking for trouble for no reason. I hate trouble. But I don't have the money on me today. I'll give it to you in a few days, so go back first."
"Hey!" one of the thugs laughed. "Brother Feng, this kid still thinks he's the boss!? He tells us to go back and we go back?"
The other punks also burst into loud, swaggering laughter, even shouting that they should "teach this kid a lesson."
Chen Feng looked as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world, but inside he was genuinely angered by Yang Chen's words. He sneered, "Yang Chen... say that again if you've got the balls. Believe me, I'll cut out your tongue..." By the end of the sentence, his tone had turned vicious.
Yang Chen's impatient expression suddenly went cold. He looked at Chen Feng with a complicated gaze and said, "You know what I hate most?"
"Wha..."
Before Chen Feng could finish asking, he suddenly felt his body fly into the air!
The next second, while a twisting pain ripped through his abdomen, his body smashed with a bang into the garbage pile by the roadside!
Bits of vegetable leaves and fish scraps soaked his whole body, and his clothes were drenched in foul water!
"I hate being threatened the most..."
As if he'd only casually shoved him aside, Yang Chen stood in the spot Chen Feng had occupied and withdrew the palm he'd extended.
The impact from the shove and the slam had left Chen Feng dazed and seeing stars. With the stench of blood in his mouth and nose and the rotten reek of the trash heap flooding his nostrils, he instantly retched.
"That bastard hit Brother Feng! You don't want to live anymore!!"
"Beat him to death, the son of a bitch!"
The thugs had barely registered what was happening before they saw their boss get hit. Relying on their numbers, they didn't bother thinking about how Yang Chen had done it, and swarmed forward with wild fists and kicks!
Yang Chen couldn't be bothered to look at them for long. No matter how they punched and kicked, he simply caught their blows with his hand and dragged them to the side of the road.
The thugs only felt as if a huge force had clamped onto their hands or feet, and before they could control themselves, they were hurled into the air and thrown out. One after another, they crashed hard onto the cement ground, crying out in pain.
When everyone saw that not even a strand of Yang Chen's hair had been hurt, they finally understood they couldn't beat him. Even Chen Feng, who had just crawled out of the trash heap, broke out in a cold sweat!
He had seen some of the skills held by the retired special forces under his father. Those men were all his father's ace cards, each easily worth ten ordinary fighters in a brawl.
But even those men didn't have force like this or speed like this. Flipping five or six people away in an instant was as easy as tossing cats and dogs.
You had to know, these little punks might not have trained in any real martial arts, but they had grown up fighting all day long. How could an ordinary person possibly beat them?
"Go!" Chen Feng gritted his teeth in fury, but he couldn't be bothered to save face. Right now, seeing Yang Chen's calm expression was as terrifying as seeing a ghost. He hurriedly shouted for his few lackeys to run for it, and they vanished without a trace.
Old Li and some of the onlookers were thrilled by Yang Chen's skill. These punks usually acted tyrannical and arrogant, and the small vendors all feared them. So Yang Chen's move naturally gave everyone a chance to vent their anger.
Still, none of them dared get too close to Yang Chen.
After all, Chen Feng might not be scary, but if Chen Feng's father, Chen Dehai, came after Yang Chen, they were all afraid of getting dragged into it.
Old Li was extremely excited. "I say, Xiao Yang, I never expected you to be this good. Did you learn martial arts before?"
"Mm... I learned a little." Yang Chen didn't want to say much. In fact, if Chen Feng hadn't gone too far and trampled on his bottom line, he would never have wanted to make a scene in the middle of a crowded street.
But just as he had told Chen Feng, he had his own principle: he hated being threatened the most!
Perhaps that kind of quirk could never be erased, no matter how much he wanted to live a low-profile life, because he had the dignity of a strong man!
Seeing that Yang Chen wouldn't say more, Old Li didn't ask again. Instead, he worriedly said, "Xiao Yang, you've sent Chen Feng packing for now, but what if he calls his dad, Chen Dehai? What are you going to do then? You know Chen Dehai is one of the two major gangs in our West District, a key figure in the Western Alliance. No one around here dares cross him!"
The Western Alliance...? Yang Chen smiled indifferently and suddenly asked Old Li, "Got a cigarette?"
Seeing that Yang Chen still looked so unconcerned, Old Li could only worry helplessly. Hearing him ask for a cigarette, he couldn't help chuckling bitterly. "Didn't you say you were quitting?"
"Forget it, I'm not quitting. It doesn't feel right without a cigarette after beating someone up." Yang Chen silently sighed. He hadn't expected Chen Dehai to be part of the Western Alliance. He had originally planned to avoid getting tangled up with these people, which was why he'd been reluctant to have much contact with Rose, but instead he'd gone straight onto the front line himself.
Old Li pulled a pack of Lanhua cigarettes worth a buck fifty from his pocket and lit one for Yang Chen. "Poor people smoke the cheapest stuff. These are strong. They'll do in a pinch."
"Hiss..." Yang Chen took a deep drag with obvious enjoyment and grinned. "Not bad. I like them strong."
"Young people should still smoke less. It's bad for your health," Old Li advised with a smile.
Yang Chen smiled faintly, but inwardly he thought: if smoking could damage my body, then all those years of training would have been for nothing.
After resting for a bit, the two of them got back to work.
Yang Chen started heating the cooked lamb skewers, charcoal-grilling the raw ones, while he even held one in his mouth and treated it like breakfast.
Though the whole job was dirty, he worked with real gusto, and from time to time he would grin at the vendors around him.
But not long after, a police car drove over from afar. Two local officers and a police official in a white shirt jumped out and walked up to Yang Chen with stern expressions.
The officer in front asked coldly, "Are you Yang Chen?"