Chapter 10

Ye Ji’an felt something was off.

So, the old flame meets again, and the eyes are particularly red?

All the information accumulated in the past, along with what he had seen and heard recently, confirmed a suspicion: the blonde young man named Roman in front of him was Liang Xiao’s troublesome ex.

He was still smoking, staring at Liang Xiao. When he finally spoke, his voice was surprisingly hoarse, slow and measured, as he uttered a few phrases in Russian. Ye Ji’an had heard quite a bit of it these past few days, but his understanding was still limited to “hello,” “thank you,” and “how much,” so he couldn’t comprehend what was being said.

Liang Xiao put his hands in his pockets and insisted on speaking in English. He even smiled, “How much do you hate me? Isn’t waking you up at midnight every day enough?”

Roman kicked a snow chunk on the ground and replied in Russian.

Liang Xiao continued, “I know you’ve been following me these past few days. It was my colleague who was alone, not me. You must be disappointed.”

Roman’s expression instantly soured. He fell silent and simply squatted down. Ye Ji’an’s temples throbbed; he had just pressed the emergency alert and quickly scrolled through his memory. If he operated correctly, his phone in his pocket should have started recording by now. Although he couldn’t dare to act recklessly, recording the sound was better than nothing. If things escalated, having evidence would be beneficial for him.

Yet, Liang Xiao showed no signs of fear. He walked a few steps closer to Roman, right next to the group still bullying Lao Chen. “You’ve been out of prison for a year, right? I thought I would never have to see you again.”

Roman jumped up immediately. “I told you, Shawn, I will definitely come back for you, and I will find you.”

This time he finally spoke in English, and surprisingly, without a Slavic accent. Ye Ji’an finally understood. He suspected that Liang Xiao insisted on not speaking Russian just to turn Roman around so that he could understand too. A warmth surged in his heart as he silently counted the time. In the city he lived in, it took at most ten minutes for the police to arrive after an alert, usually five minutes to wrap things up, but he couldn’t gauge the situation here.

Liang Xiao said coldly, “Yes, you found me. So what do you plan to do now?”

Roman attempted to embrace him. “Let’s go back to New York.”

Liang Xiao immediately sidestepped, “Not a chance.”

Roman’s hand froze in mid-air, lonely and cold under the harsh light from the alley, “I have a new permanent residency now, a different identity. It doesn’t matter.”

Liang Xiao replied indifferently, “Then you can go back by yourself.”

For some reason, whether it was the cold air or something else, Roman’s eyes, ears, and nose all turned red. His exposed elbows and neck were also flushed as he panted, glaring at Liang Xiao, as if every cell in his body was screaming in anguish. In the dim light reflected off the snow, there was a fragile, haunting beauty.

“I want to say…” He paused, then switched back to Russian. Ye Ji’an picked out a few keywords and understood enough, having researched it beforehand.

Among them was the meaning of “I love you.”

Liang Xiao remained unfazed, only pausing for a moment. “This is between you and me,” he said, “let my colleague go.”

Roman tossed away his cigarette butt, the small red ember quickly disappearing into the snow, “And then you and I can have a chat?”

Liang Xiao did not deny it.

Roman gestured, and the arms holding Lao Chen immediately withdrew. Lao Chen stumbled and fell to the ground, but Liang Xiao caught him. “Apologize.” He remained calm, looking at the group of thugs.

No one responded.

“Apologize to him!” Liang Xiao’s voice was neither loud nor soft, but his chin lifted, as if looking down on them.

The thugs glanced at Roman’s expression and then lined up, bowing in unison, mumbling something unintelligible. Liang Xiao patted Lao Chen’s shoulder and suddenly turned back, “Senior, quickly take Deputy Director Chen back.”

Ye Ji’an had already quietly set his phone down, the device buried in the snow, the camera aimed at Roman, capturing most of the conversation. He just hoped the phone would last a while longer, not shut down too quickly from the cold, and not get accidentally crushed.

“I’ll carry him back to the street; it will be safe in three minutes at most,” he said quickly, “You estimate the time and come find us soon.”

For safety, he not only spoke in Chinese but also in Nanjing dialect. Fortunately, he had previously taken the time to teach Liang Xiao the dialect during their lunch breaks. The young man learned quickly and earnestly, so there was no issue with internal communication.

Liang Xiao handed Lao Chen over to him. “Okay.”

“Don’t go with him.” Ye Ji’an steadied Lao Chen on his back. “No heroics.”

Roman observed from the side, coughing a couple of times.

“Don’t worry, Senior, it’s just a ghost making a fuss.” Liang Xiao’s Nanjing dialect was not very standard, but he smiled warmly, so warm that it overshadowed his usual cunning.

Despite Ye Ji’an’s long-standing habit of jogging for fitness, carrying a two-hundred-pound man through ankle-deep snow was still somewhat strenuous. As he reached the intersection, he saw his little translator, hurriedly leading two bar security guards behind him, quickly handing over the person. He shouted for them to hurry back with him. Although the translator was drunk and not as articulate as usual, she was still translating diligently. The security guards, however, remained indifferent, shrugging and saying something, their flashlight beams wavering.

“They’re not going to deal with Roman,” the translator explained.

Ye Ji’an’s mind was on the verge of losing clarity. So that wild boy was still a local bully? Three minutes had long passed. Even if Liang Xiao moved as slowly as the lizard he kept, he shouldn’t be completely out of sight by now. Just moments ago, his mind was filled with thoughts of Liang Xiao, that smile. Now, seeing that he couldn’t rely on anyone, that smile rampaged in his mind, threatening to take over his entire world. The translator shouted behind him, but Ye Ji’an couldn’t care less. He turned and ran back the way he came, his socks soaked in his pointed shoes, his shirt under his coat damp, his lungs filled with cold air like needles, and his teeth began to chatter.

It wasn’t just because an accident on a business trip would cost him his year-end bonus, forcing him to scrimp and save through the entire Spring Festival, nor was it because a supervisor who failed to protect his subordinates deserved to be fired. Ye Ji’an simply felt a pure fear. It was different from the anxiety brought on by a mortgage; he was just afraid, similar to how he feared that the gardenias he planted would be uprooted by his brother’s cat. He was afraid Liang Xiao would be beaten up like Lao Chen or taken away, never to be contacted again. He was even more afraid that Liang Xiao would be forced back into a painful memory he didn’t want to revisit.

As he closed the distance, he suddenly heard a cacophony of sounds, one after another, the sound of a brawl.

After all, before Ye Ji’an became a humble office worker, he had gone through a rebellious youth, feeling lonely and unhappy, harboring resentment, and once idolizing brute force. He had been a troublemaker, not only causing trouble in bars but also getting caught up in a large brawl at the Workers’ Stadium over a terrible soccer match. Throughout high school and even college, there had been plenty of opportunities for fights. After being a good person for so many years, he could still tell from dozens of meters away whether it was a game or a fight.

Sure enough, the group of thugs had already moved deep into the alley. From a distance, Ye Ji’an saw a pile of figures in the dim light, one bare-armed person lying in the snow—probably Roman—while Liang Xiao was on top of him, the two grappling. Liang Xiao was mainly throwing punches, landing blow after blow on Roman’s face, while Roman was choking him and kicking his back. Seven or eight thugs shouted strange slogans, pulling him up and away, but he remained silent and steadfast, wedged tightly against Roman, as if all that mattered was the fight.

But ultimately, the odds were against him. Ye Ji’an ran a few steps closer, seeing the chaotic snow flying around more clearly. He felt that Liang Xiao’s tall and slender frame was unsteady, at any moment he could be lifted and tossed aside. So, Ye Ji’an joined the brawl, taking off his heavy Burberry coat, feeling as if he had transformed back into the twenty-something version of himself who could only afford Uniqlo or even Semir.

Suddenly, a skilled fighter charged in, shocking everyone. The two thugs desperately holding Liang Xiao were pulled away and kicked to the ground. A few thugs instinctively backed away from him, and even Roman reflexively loosened his grip on Liang Xiao’s neck. But the most shocked was Liang Xiao himself. He looked up, his naturally upturned, smiling eyes now glinting with cold light, his bloodied face revealing a murderous expression, “What are you doing back here!”

Ye Ji’an twisted the arm of a red-haired thug trying to get up and choke him. In that fleeting moment of chaotic stability, rough snowflakes flew into his face. He looked at Liang Xiao’s anger and at the shirt that had lost two buttons, which he had helped iron just the night before. If he remembered correctly, it was custom-made, with the initials “Shawn.L.” embroidered in cursive on the cuffs. Now, this high-end garment was tattered and hanging on the stubborn young man, looking somewhat ridiculous yet also endearing.

Ye Ji’an suddenly smiled, and it was just a fleeting moment. He knew he didn’t have time to think too much. “Hey, Comrade Xiao Liang, that’s not the attitude a comrade should have!”