Chapter Eighty-Six: Crayfish

For ordinary people, riding a bus was nothing unusual, but for someone like Han Ning, who had been born with a silver spoon in her mouth, it was a rare novelty.

It was not that Yang Jiekai was unwilling to spend a little money on a taxi. He had deliberately chosen not to drive so that Han Ning could properly experience the life of ordinary people.

After transferring twice, Yang Jiekai brought Han Ning straight to a riverside open-air eatery in the southern district.

He had been here before with Wang Ying. There had been a minor incident that night, but to be fair, the food had been pretty authentic.

This was also the first time in Han Ning’s life that she had eaten at a place like this. Raised in comfort and privilege since childhood, she frowned when she saw the wooden table and the worn, mismatched chairs.

Seeing that expression, Yang Jiekai pulled out a napkin and carefully wiped down one of the chairs, then smiled. “Don’t look down on it. Most people in this world live exactly like this.”

The dishes soon began to arrive, and the first to be served was a plate of spicy crayfish.

Han Ning had never eaten anything like it before. She stared at the bright red heap on the plate, not knowing where to begin.

“These are crayfish. Never had them before?” Yang Jiekai asked with a grin.

Han Ning frowned. “I’ve had lobster, but never anything this small.”

“That’s why they’re called crayfish.”

Yang Jiekai laughed heartily, then taught her how to peel the unfamiliar little creatures. After quite a bit of effort, she finally managed to peel one and put it in her mouth. To her surprise, the spicy, numbing flavor was actually excellent.

But this was her first time handling such food, and it was terribly awkward. It took her a long time to peel even one.

As for the fellow who had brought her here, he looked completely at ease.

Just as Han Ning was about to give up, Yang Jiekai suddenly slid a bowl over to her. “You just eat. I’ll peel them for you.”

Han Ning froze. Looking at the small bowl of peeled crayfish, she felt a sudden warmth rise in her chest. But she did not show it on her face, keeping that frosty expression of hers. She had meant to say thank you, but in the end the words never came out.

“Work is indeed important, but the purpose of work is ultimately to make life better. If you throw away life itself and devote everything to work, then you’re putting the cart before the horse.”

Yang Jiekai peeled a crayfish for himself too, eating as he spoke. These were words from the heart. Back when he had been a mercenary, there was no way of knowing whether he would be alive tomorrow, so whenever he earned money, he spent it lavishly. Being a mercenary had been for money, and money had been for a better life.

As one northeastern comedian had once put it with rare honesty: the most painful thing in life is when the money is still there, but the person is gone.

Soon after, several more dishes arrived in succession, all authentic Sichuan snacks with that fiery, numbing kick. It was Han Ning’s first time trying them, and she found them delicious. As she ate, she gradually forgot herself and began to tuck in with real appetite, completely abandoning any notion of graceful manners. Watching her, Yang Jiekai could not stop smiling.

“Is it enough? If not, I’ll order a couple more dishes.”

“Mm, another serving of crayfish. Extra chili.”

She was used to delicacies from mountain and sea, yet had developed a particular fondness for a mere plate of spicy crayfish costing only a few dozen yuan.

“Coming right up!” Yang Jiekai stood, about to call the owner for another order, when he suddenly caught sight of a familiar figure.

Wang Ying?

Yang Jiekai froze. He had been about to go over and greet her, but his legs felt as though they had been filled with lead, and he could not bring himself to move.

Wang Ying had not come alone. She was linked arm in arm with a man, and the two of them were talking and laughing as they walked this way.

Was that her boyfriend?

For reasons he could not explain, Yang Jiekai felt intensely uncomfortable at the sight. But when Wang Ying passed by his table and cast him a seemingly casual glance, he suddenly felt much lighter.

“Honey, let’s change tables.”

“Why?”

“The scenery over there is better.”

Without waiting to see whether Han Ning agreed, Yang Jiekai laughed and picked up the table, carrying it a little farther away.

Wang Ying and the man sat down at a table not far off. They were chatting and laughing, and beside them were three bare-chested, muscular men, drinking and playing dice.

Before long, many more diners began to arrive, gradually filling the tables around those three men.

Yang Jiekai was no fool. When Wang Ying had passed him earlier, she had given him that seemingly casual glance and then pretended not to know him. But he could tell it was a signal of some sort.

“Honey, do you like police dramas?” Yang Jiekai peeled a crayfish and dropped it into Han Ning’s bowl.

“It’s okay, I guess. I don’t watch much television.” Han Ning took a napkin and dabbed at the corner of her mouth. “Why ask all of a sudden?”

Yang Jiekai chuckled. “You’ll see in a bit.”

About five minutes later, the three bare-chested men had nearly finished their drinks.

“Boss, the bill!” one of them said, rising to his feet. The other two also stood up, ready to leave.

At that exact moment, Wang Ying and the others, the “diners” seated nearby, moved all at once.

“Don’t move! Police!”

The man sitting beside Wang Ying was the first to leap forward. In an instant he had tackled one of them to the ground, while the other plainclothes officers disguised as customers surged forward together and rushed the remaining two men.

“Don’t move! Police!”

In the blink of an eye, all three men had been forced to the ground by the crowd.

Then, abruptly, came the sharp metallic click of something striking metal. One of the officers instantly changed color and shouted, “Get back! It’s a grenade!”

The faint metallic sound was all too familiar to Yang Jiekai. At once he knew it was a German-made hair-trigger grenade.

This kind of grenade was an explosive one. If it went off, nothing within ten meters would survive. Most terrifying of all, it was hair-triggered; once the safety was removed, the slightest release of the hand would set it off.

What shocked Yang Jiekai beyond measure was that at such a moment, those officers did not choose to retreat. Instead, they all threw themselves at the man.

They were using their own bodies to shield the people nearby, trying to make themselves into a wall of flesh to keep the shrapnel from spreading and harming innocent bystanders. But if the grenade exploded, there would be no chance of survival for any of them.

Police of Huaxia.

Originally, Yang Jiekai had not wanted to get involved. His skills were excellent, but in such a short span of time, rushing over would only give him a fifty percent chance of stopping it.

But when he saw Wang Ying charge forward too, he did not hesitate. He shoved Han Ning hard out of the way, his pupils tightening to pinpricks, his body folding low before he shot forward like a leopard, leaving only a blur in his wake.

Before the man could even release his grip, Yang Jiekai’s hand had clamped down on it with iron force.

All of this happened in the space between lightning and fire. By the time Yang Jiekai finished, the others had only just arrived. Seven or eight hands came down together. If Yang Jiekai had not acted in time, there would almost certainly have been seven or eight corpses on the ground by now.

“כולם back away!”

Yang Jiekai bellowed. Seeing that the officers still did not intend to let go, he shouted again, “Hold him down. Wang Ying, go protect my honey!”

The officers no longer resisted and immediately did as he said, because it had been Yang Jiekai who first seized the man’s hand. Even if they wanted to take over, they could not.

A group of male officers pinned the man firmly to the ground, while Wang Ying went over to shield Han Ning, who had already been frightened stiff, placing herself between her and the danger.

The man’s hand was trapped in Yang Jiekai’s grip. He wanted to let go, but could not. At the same time, his body was immobilized by seven or eight sturdy male officers and could not move an inch.

“Find me a thin piece of wire!”

Yang Jiekai knew this kind of grenade all too well. Disarming it was not especially difficult, but it required a tool.

The officers exchanged bewildered looks. Where on earth were they supposed to find thin wire at a time like this?

Then a slightly trembling female voice came from nearby. “Will a hairpin do?”

Yang Jiekai turned his head and saw that it was Han Ning. He nodded. “That’ll do.”

Han Ning removed the hairpin from her hair. She had been about to bring it over herself, but Wang Ying stopped her, took the pin, and with a forceful tug bent it into a short length of wire before walking it over to Yang Jiekai.

In less than a minute, the hair-trigger grenade had been disassembled, and the crisis vanished at once.

“Take him back first. I still have something to do. I’ll be over shortly.”

Wang Ying’s back was slick with cold sweat. She brushed aside a few strands of hair that had fallen over her forehead and smiled at Yang Jiekai. “Your good deeds are practically your profession, aren’t they? How is it that you’re everywhere?”

Yang Jiekai gave a wry smile. “I don’t want to be. I can’t help it. I’m just this unlucky—always the one who happens to run into things like this. Oh, right, is there a bonus for this kind of thing?”

Wang Ying did not know whether to laugh or cry. “These men aren’t wanted criminals, so there’s no bounty. But I can treat you to a meal as compensation.”

“Forget the meal. How about you take me out for drinks instead? After that, we can find a hotel and have a good talk about ideals, life, and the structure of the human body.”

Faced with his teasing, Wang Ying did not get angry at all. She only laughed and teased him back. “Sure. But after that conversation, won’t someone have to go home and kneel on a washboard?”

“That’s none of your concern!”

Yang Jiekai struck a swaggering pose. “In my house, I’m the one who calls the shots. It’s only natural for a man to have several wives and concubines. If I said half a word too much to my wife, I’d have to give her a proper beating—”

Halfway through the sentence, he suddenly went rigid. Turning sharply, he found Han Ning staring at him wide-eyed, her almond-shaped eyes nearly round with disbelief.

Damn it.

Yang Jiekai let out a silent cry and wanted nothing more than to slap himself hard twice. He had been too busy joking with Wang Ying and had completely forgotten about Han Ning, leaving her standing there while he had gone and said something like that.

“Let’s go. Don’t waste any more time. We’re going to the hotel to talk about life and ideals.”

In truth, Wang Ying had already noticed Han Ning’s expression. Though this was their first meeting, Han Ning’s look made it perfectly clear that she was the “wife” Yang Jiekai had been talking about. So Wang Ying had deliberately said those things, just to tease this fellow who knew nothing but how to run his mouth.