Madman!

Chapter 36: You Need Money to Be a Boss

Chen Wujun stepped into the same Dog Meat Shop as before and found Shark Jiu, Ji Xiang, Ah Hao, Flower Boy Rong, and Karen seated around a hot pot billowing with steam.

Other underlings occupied the surrounding tables, all turning to look at him.

"Shark Jiu!"

"Jun, come sit down! It's gotten so late, I'm a bit hungry." Shark Jiu waved him over.

"Jun, you were incredible tonight! One man against over a dozen — your reputation's made now. Who's going to dare look down on you after this?" Ji Xiang's face radiated enthusiasm.

Chen Wujun settled into an empty seat and placed a bag of money at Shark Jiu's feet.

"From the gambling den."

Then he took a bowl and chopsticks from the shop owner, along with a small dish of fermented bean curd chili sauce.

"Smells amazing. Perfect timing — I'm starving."

"Your wrist is hurt? I've got bone-setting liniment at my place!" Karen spotted immediately that Chen Wujun was favoring his left hand, the wrist swollen and red."It's nothing. I've got ointment at home — just need to rub some on," Chen Wujun replied with a smile, reaching his chopsticks into the hot pot to fish out pieces of dog meat.

He really was hungry.

"Nothing else will happen tonight. Just have Cun Bao hold the line with his men. Wen Long got caught completely off guard — he can't even muster a crew right now." Shark Jiu spoke between bites of hot pot.

"Lidong won't just let this go, will they?" Ah Hao mused while eating.

"The other bosses have mobilized their people, but they won't jump in easily. Otherwise that lunatic Elephant would have his opening! That guy's got something wrong in the head — all he thinks about is fighting and killing." Shark Jiu waved it off dismissively:

"Wen Long will borrow men and hit back a few times. We just need to hold firm."

"Tonight Cun Bao holds position with his crew. Tomorrow, Ah Hao and Flower Boy Rong, you two head over to back him up..."

"Once everything's settled, we'll divvy up the rewards."

"Jun, you really made us proud this time. Ah Fei and Curry will take some men and stay with you for now. Don't worry about anything these next few days — just keep your people close and wait by the phone."

Chen Wujun nodded. He understood what Shark Jiu meant.

In this operation, Ji Xiang, Ah Hao, Cun Bao, and the others had all contributed manpower and effort, spending no small amount in the process.

No matter how badly Shark Jiu wanted to elevate him, his own contributions weren't enough yet. It wouldn't shut people's mouths.

So he needed to stay ready with his crew for the next few days. If Wen Long counterattacked, he'd have to bring his men as reinforcements.

This only reinforced Chen Wujun's belief that offering those small perks to win over Ah Fei and Curry earlier tonight had been the right call.

...

Meanwhile, the other underlings nearby watched Chen Wujun sharing a table with Shark Jiu, Ji Xiang, Ah Hao, and the rest. They knew the boss was grooming him for a higher position.

Some felt he lacked the qualifications and seniority. None said it aloud, but jealousy simmered beneath the surface.

After finishing the hot pot, Chen Wujun said his goodbyes to Shark Jiu, told Ah Fei to arrange the crew, then headed back to the Dance Hall. By now there were hardly any customers left inside.

"How did it go? It sounded really violent out there earlier — you're not hurt, are you? Why is there so much blood on you?" Ah Yue rushed over the moment she saw Chen Wujun return. In the dim lighting, she could make out bloodstains all over him, and her face went pale with shock.

A quick check, however, revealed it was all someone else's blood.

"It's all other people's. Let's go!" Chen Wujun took Ah Yue back to their place. The moment they entered the room, he pulled her onto the bed.

Clothes were tossed aside one piece at a time.

The night's bloodshed had set his desires ablaze.

"Sss—" Chen Wujun accidentally braced himself with his left hand, and a spike of agony shot through his wrist.

Ah Yue pressed her palms against his chest and pushed him down, straddling him and gazing at him through half-lidded eyes, sultry and inviting.

...

A long while later, the room fell quiet. Chen Wujun lay still for a few moments to recover, then got up to fetch the ointment and rubbed it onto his wrist.

The ointment was from the martial arts school — two types in total. One for external wounds, one for promoting blood circulation and dissolving bruises. Both were far more effective than anything sold on the street.

Moments after applying it, Chen Wujun felt a wave of coolness spread across his wrist, and the pain eased considerably.

Lying in bed, he began to replay everything that had happened that day.

Scene after scene of the fighting flashed through his mind.

'In the alley, there were several moments where a Triangle Step into a Kneeling Step would have let me dodge those clubs. But I didn't have the experience — I just charged in, took someone down, and fell back every time. Wasted plenty of opportunities and stamina...'

'Real combat is the best teacher. Next time, I can do better.'

Having reviewed the night's events, Chen Wujun felt some of his energy returning — and with it, a restless stirring.

...

The next morning at five o'clock, Chen Wujun climbed out of bed and tested his wrist. It felt somewhat better — at least not as painful as the night before, and he could manage some simple movements.

He went up to the rooftop first and stood in his horse stance on the parapet wall for half an hour.

Back at the apartment, he sent Ah Yue downstairs to buy instant noodles and some beef.

After eating, Chen Wujun pulled out four thousand dollars and handed it to Ah Yue. "Find us a new place today. Somewhere close to here."

"It's not for your father and brother. I might use it as a base."

After parting with the money, he had only fourteen thousand left to his name — and that was only because Shark Jiu had been paying him these past two months.

He could only afford two Magnetic Field Crystals, enough for twelve days.

At least now he had more opportunities ahead.

After the meal, Chen Wujun headed to the martial arts school to train.

"Today, aside from stance work, just practice your footwork. Do you know what the most important thing is when you're out there in the streets?" Senior Brother Li sipped his tea unhurriedly, his tone leisurely and measured.

Clearly, he knew what had happened the previous night.

"What is it?"

"Running fast! When fists are flying, you want to embrace the fight — be fearless, unstoppable. But the moment things go south, you need to be faster than everyone else!" Senior Brother Li counseled with patient wisdom.

Chen Wujun had to admit the man had a point.

"What kind of technique does Senior Sister Shark Jiu use?" Chen Wujun mimicked Shark Jiu's movements from the night before. Though he'd only seen them once, his imitation of the turning, spinning, flipping, and twisting was remarkably accurate.

"That's Swimming Dragon Palm," Senior Brother Li identified after a few glances. "Before the war, it was called Turning Palm, or Eight Trigrams Palm, or Roaming Body Eight Trigrams Palm. They say it was once widely practiced, but almost all the essential combat content was lost during the war."

"Later, after Magnetic Field Crystals were discovered, some predecessors reconstructed portions of the Eight Trigrams Palm, then modified and expanded on it. The result became Swimming Dragon Palm."

"It retains some of the pre-war Eight Trigrams Palm's flavor, but it's an entirely different art now."

"Master told you before that martial arts are divided into external and internal styles, right? Swimming Dragon Palm is one of the internal styles."

Chen Wujun committed every word to memory.

At three in the afternoon, Chen Wujun left the school and headed to the largest gambling den they'd seized the night before.

The den wasn't open for business these days. The doors were pulled half-shut.

He slid the door open and stepped inside to find Curry sprawled across a gambling table, humming a song.

"Treading along the gray trajectory... nothing but reflections in the abyss... I carry on my back a lifetime of hardship, shadows and sighs..."

"Brother Jun!"

Several underlings nearby sprang to their feet.

Chen Wujun nodded and walked over to the table. "Curry, what song is that?"

He thought it sounded pretty good.

Curry sat up on the gambling table.

"Brother Jun, it's 'Gray Trajectory'! You know that movie from a few months back, A Moment of Romance? You didn't see it? It was huge! The song's from the soundtrack."

Though the film's protagonist was just a low-level nobody on the fringes, the story had struck a nerve with every man walking the underworld.

"Haven't seen it."

"Get me a disc copy when you can..." Chen Wujun said.

A few months ago, he couldn't have afforded a movie ticket.

He did have a secondhand TV and a secondhand disc player at his place, though. He could watch discs on it — usually he used it to watch recorded episodes of Crime Watch.

He hung around the gambling den until evening. Then Chen Wujun fished three hundred dollars from his pocket and tossed it on the table.

"Go buy Four Treasure rice boxes for everyone — from Lee's BBQ. Tell the owner I want generous portions!"

Spending three hundred just on a group meal still stung a little.

'If you want to be a boss, you don't just have to do what a boss does — you absolutely need money.'

'You need money to be a boss!'

...

A little past seven in the evening, Chen Wujun received a call from an unknown number.

"Hello? Hello?"

"Hold on!" The signal inside the gambling den was terrible. Unable to make out what the other person was saying, Chen Wujun extended the antenna on the side of his phone.

This time the voice came through clearly. It was Ah Hao.

"Jun, grab your crew and get to Elderly Street — Yongfa Building!"

"On my way!" Chen Wujun hung up and swept his gaze across the room.

"Grab your gear. We're heading to Elderly Street!"

The underlings snatched up blades and iron rods.

Chen Wujun had someone carry his blade for him while he took two steel pipes and taped them to his left forearm with adhesive tape.

His left wrist didn't hurt as badly now, but he still couldn't put any force on it, so he'd improvised this solution.

Then he took the blade from Curry's hand.

"Move out!"

The group filed out of the gambling den one after another.