I Just Want Outlive You, Don't Force Me to Beat You to Death

"Constable Chu… Constable Chu, have you come to listen to the opera?"

The waiter finally came over, his smile so strained that Chu Ning noticed immediately and said sternly, "Where's Old Liao? If you dare to tell me a single lie, be prepared to go to jail."

"I wouldn't dare…" The waiter turned pale with fright and quickly said, "Constable Liao was injured by the Vice Sect Leader of the Flying Tiger Gate and was later taken to the medical hall."

Chu Ning was taken aback; he hadn't expected this development.

"Tell me everything that happened, with no omissions."

...

...

Walking out of the opera house with a stern face, Chu Ning had just come from the medical hall; since Old Liao wasn't there, he must be at home.

After crossing a few streets, Chu Ning quickly arrived at Old Liao's home.

The front door was ajar, and even before entering, Chu Ning could hear Old Liao groaning.

"Old Liao, you're not dead yet? I thought you were gone and was looking forward to another funeral feast."

"Get lost, you've had too many feasts in Xiazhen Town."

Upon entering, Chu Ning greeted the bedridden Old Liao with a joke, and Old Liao just rolled his eyes at him.

Compared to other constables' homes, Old Liao's place didn't even have a courtyard. To him, his home was just a place to sleep. In fact, he spent even less time sleeping at home than in the opera house.

"Miss Xiao," Chu Ning greeted the woman dressed in opera costume who was preparing medicine for Old Liao.

"Master Chu," Miss Xiao also bowed in response.

"Miss Xiao, since young master Chu Ning is here, you should head back; otherwise, people will start gossiping," said Old Liao, looking at her.

Miss Xiao bit her lip and said, "All right then, Uncle Liao. Please rest well, I'll come to see you tomorrow. And please, Master Chu, help take care of Uncle Liao."

"Don't worry, with me around, Old Liao won't die."

"Go on, this kid may be thoughtless, but he won't let me die."

Chu Ning watched Miss Xiao leave and then smiled, "Did you explain things clearly to her?"

"Yeah, today this old chap here played the hero to save the beauty. I was afraid Miss Xiao might misunderstand and feel obliged to repay me with something like a marriage vow, so I told her about my past with her mother."

"If you were as handsome as me, Miss Xiao might indeed have offered herself in marriage, but with your old face, I'm afraid she's thinking about repaying your kindness in her next life by working as an ox or horse."

Chu Ning took a seat on a stool in front of the medicine pot, gauging the degree of the boiling medicine inside, while asking, "What exactly happened?"

"Since you came to see me, you must know already; I played the hero but didn't win against them," Old Liao replied.

"Old Liao, are you treating me like a three-year-old? How could you, with your slick ways, get into a fight with the Vice Sect Leader of the Flying Tiger Gate?"

If it were anyone else, Chu Ning might have believed it. He had been around Old Liao for a month and knew him too well.

According to the waiter, Old Liao was listening to Miss Xiao sing in the opera house when the Vice Sect Leader of the Flying Tiger Gate and his men came to listen too. The Vice Sect Leader asked Miss Xiao to come down for a drink, and Old Liao stepped in to intervene but ended up getting beaten by the Vice Sect Leader.

Old Liao would indeed have helped Miss Xiao out, but with his tactful nature, he surely wouldn't have provoked the Vice Sect Leader of the Flying Tiger Gate. Besides, Old Liao was still a constable. Although the Flying Tiger Gate, being powerful and influential, might not care much about a constable, civilians would normally not provoke officials, which is a universally accepted norm.

Even if that official is of low rank, he still represents a certain group.

Daring to hit a constable today, would they dare to hit an arrest officer tomorrow?

The most likely outcome should have been Old Liao smoothing things over, and the Vice Sect Leader of the Flying Tiger Gate giving Old Liao some face, resolving the issue.

"I'm just an old constable, with no connections or prospects. If they don't show me respect, there's nothing I can do," Old Liao said helplessly.

Chu Ning laughed, poured the cooked medicine from the pot into a bowl, and handed it to Old Liao, "So you, Old Liao, without any face, have caught the eye of the Vice Sect Leader of the Flying Tiger Gate, who has so many women at home, yet he fancies Miss Xiao?"

"What are you implying, Chu Ning? What's lacking about Miss Xiao?"

Old Liao got angry and was about to get up to argue with Chu Ning, but Chu Ning pressed him down, "Drink your medicine, I won't ask if you refuse to tell."

"What's to tell, it's exactly as it is, who else besides you has come to see me?"

Old Liao sighed. Chu Ning did not ask further, watching as Old Liao finished his medicine and poured the dregs away. When he came back, Old Liao had already fallen asleep.

Once Old Liao was deep in sleep, Chu Ning left the house, closing the door behind him and after walking through several streets, arrived in front of a courtyard. Without knocking, he directly leapt over the wall to get inside.

"Spare me... Chu... Officer Chu."

Liu Da, who was sleeping in the bedroom, suddenly felt something, opened his eyes to see a figure standing in front of him. At first, he thought it was an enemy who had come for him and begged for mercy in fear, but he was relieved when he finally recognized who it was.

"Summon your second brother, I have something to ask him."

"I'll go call him right away."

Liu Da hurriedly got out of bed. This house was rented for Liu Da with the money from Chu Ning, and the three brothers did not live together.

As per Chu Ning's instructions, the three had infiltrated the gangs of Daning County, initially joining smaller factions. As the leaders of those small gangs were eliminated by Chu Ning, they had now joined the three major gangs of Daning County.

Liu Da was undercover in the Three Bamboo Gang, the second brother in Flying Tiger Gate, and the third in Blood Blade Hall. The three belonging to different gangs naturally could not live together; this place was a base for the brothers to meet.

An hour passed, and Liu Da came in with his second brother.

"Officer Chu, my second brother is here."

"Jiang Laodi, how much do you know about your Flying Tiger Gate's Vice Sect Leader Zheng Yangjie?"

"Officer Chu, I... I'm just a lowly member in the Flying Tiger Gate, how could I know the affairs of the Vice Sect Leader."

"Second brother, think carefully, didn't you say that you had good connections within the Flying Tiger Gate and were brothers with many of the gang members?"

Liu Da anxiously reminded from the side. This was the first time Officer Chu had sought them out on his own, and they could not afford to drop the ball.

For Liu Da, he was both fearful of and eager to be valued by Officer Chu. Thinking of the gangs they had previously joined, how had they vanished?

All the gang leaders and vice gang leaders had talked about planting their flag in Xiazhen Town, but after he relayed this information to Officer Chu, those people disappeared.

It was utterly terrifying upon careful reflection.

"I remember now, yesterday I was following the big brother... not you big brother, the big brother in the gang... to collect protection money. The big brother was in a sour mood, and after some probing, I found out he had been scolded by the Vice Sect Leader who was in a really bad mood."

Yesterday, in a bad mood...

"I asked why the Vice Sect Leader was in a bad mood, the big brother didn't go into details, only mentioned that one of the Vice Sect Leader's sworn brothers was beaten up. At the time, I even intentionally asked since no one in our gang seemed to be injured, and the big brother said that the Vice Sect Leader's sworn brother wasn't from our gang... but from the constabulary..."

"That's all I know, when I asked further, the big brother stopped entertaining my questions."

Chu Ning squinted his eyes slightly, yesterday, someone from the constabulary, was beaten...

Putting these pieces of information together, the answer was almost screaming out.

Zhang Tao, Zheng Yangjie.

"Old Liao must have guessed it too, that's why he deliberately changed the topic with me. He probably didn't want to involve me."

Chu Ning understood inside that Old Liao had been implicated by him.

Old Liao had made arrangements with Zhang Tao on his behalf. Zhang Tao bore a grudge against him, and by association, resented Old Liao too, even likely considering that Chu Ning and Old Liao had colluded to set him up.

Against Chu Ning, neither Zhang Tao nor Zheng Yangjie dared to make a move, but Old Liao, a constable with no backing...

They had first taken out their anger on Old Liao.

"Jiang Laodi, well done. Think harder about the places Zheng Yangjie frequently visits."

Chu Ning gave an encouraging look to Jiang Laodi. The man was mean-spirited and vengeful, biding his time when outmatched, but striking surely if he could.

PS: A 4,000-word update, I asked the editor about the paid subscriptions, it was 500 the day before yesterday, and yesterday's count wasn't out yet, the editor says passing grade is a thousand, dear rich and beautiful Wu Yanzus, don't foster the book, once we reach a thousand subscriptions I'll update more, likewise for a hundred monthly tickets, I don't have much else, but lots of drafts.