Chapter 49

Harbor City was still lively at night, but Su Fuling really wasn't used to going out after dark. She was exasperated with her uncle—out on house calls late at night just to make money. Who knew what dangers he might run into along the way.

A Si sat in the car trying to reassure Su Fuling not to worry. He also told the Henchman, who could drive, to step on it.

'Dr. Su, don't worry. With our Brother Shan handling things, it'll be fine. If worse comes to worst, we'll call the boys out.'

Su Fuling: '...That won't be necessary.' She was just bringing her uncle home, not going to a fight.

The driver was fast enough to intercept Su Jueming right in front of the Pier.

Su Jueming's car was forced to stop. Someone got out, cursing, 'Which deadbeat dares to block our car? Don't you know who I, Skinny Monkey, work for?'

A Si got out and shot back, 'Do you know who I am? I work for Brother Shan from Yau Ma Tei!'

'I'm a Henchman for Brother Bao from Tsim Sha Tsui!' the man shouted.

Then both of them froze—turns out they were from the same family. Both were in the Sifang Association, just different branches, serving different bosses.

But their faces darkened at the same time, because everyone in the Sifang Association knew that Chen Shan and Huang Bao were sworn enemies, so naturally their underlings couldn't be chummy either.

'Yau Ma Tei, what do you want blocking our car?' Skinny Monkey snapped.

'Looking for someone. Did you grab a doctor? Let him go—he's one of Brother Shan's men,' A Si bluffed.

Skinny Monkey immediately yelled, 'Who grabbed anyone? That's a doctor we hired. Move aside—we're in a hurry.' He checked his watch, afraid of messing up something important.

Seeing that the two knew each other, Su Fuling got out of her car, walked over to the other car, and pulled open the door. 'Uncle.'

Su Jueming had been nervous about being stopped late at night. Hearing Su Fuling's voice made his heart jump. He saw her standing outside the car and thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. 'How did you follow me?'

He scrambled out of the car and saw the car next to Su Fuling's, then A Si still arguing with the other guy.

Su Jueming felt like he might faint. His honest, law-abiding niece—how did she know gangsters? In such a short time, how had they met? That deadbeat hadn't tricked his niece, had he!

In an instant, Su Jueming imagined all sorts of terrible things: his niece being deceived by a gangster, never getting into university, never becoming a real doctor, her bright future ruined, spending her whole life suffering for some thug...

'Uncle, why did you run off so fast without waiting for me?' Su Fuling, unaware of her uncle's inner turmoil, complained. 'If I'd come with you, I'd feel better.'

'Feel better about what? How did you end up with gangsters?' Su Jueming said angrily, but he didn't dare speak loudly—he just pulled Su Fuling aside and muttered.

'...He's my patient. I couldn't catch up to you, and I happened to run into them, so I asked them to help find you.'

Su Jueming let out a huge sigh of relief, but he was still furious. 'You've got some nerve! Do you know what kind of people they are? A girl like you actually got into a gangster's car!'

Su Fuling was about to make an excuse when Skinny Monkey, who had been arguing with A Si, ran over. 'Hey, why are you out? Get back in. Don't hold us up.'

He spotted Su Fuling, his eyes lighting up. Then he looked at A Si's pathetic demeanor and thought it was a case of a flower stuck in cow dung.

'Hey, pretty girl, want to join my crew? I'm a Henchman for Brother Bao from Tsim Sha Tsui.'

Su Jueming panicked. 'No way! She's my niece—she's a doctor!'

Su Fuling looked at her uncle. She never expected that he, like her, had gangster clients.

'A doctor?' Skinny Monkey was even happier. 'A doctor's perfect. We need a lot of doctors today. Come with us.'

Su Jueming felt like he might faint. The thing he dreaded most was happening. If A-Ling got involved in this, his grandfather would haunt him in his dreams and beat him.

A Si ran over. 'You deadbeat, shut your mouth. Dr. Su is a friend of Brother Shan. Show some respect.'

'Oh, so she knows a big boss.' Skinny Monkey immediately shut up. You could poach a low-level thug, but you couldn't touch someone connected to a boss. 'Fine, we're in a hurry. No time to chat with you.'

With that, he started shoving Su Jueming back into the car.

Su Fuling grabbed Su Jueming. 'Wait—where are you going?'

She could see that this Henchman of Huang Bao's was also a target. Putting that together with his identity and the fact that her uncle was about to get hurt, she knew this wasn't a simple house call.

A Si, who often ran with gangs, naturally understood the situation. 'Is there going to be a turf war? Looks like a big one?'

'Can't say. Move aside.' Skinny Monkey was genuinely anxious. They were heading to crash someone else's territory, and he was worried someone might get badly hurt, so they needed to bring a doctor along for on-the-spot treatment.

Su Fuling quickly said to Su Jueming, 'Uncle, don't go. You'll get hurt.'

Su Jueming said guiltily, 'It's fine. I'm just doing behind-the-scenes work. I'll hide in the back and treat people.'

Su Fuling didn't believe him. Even Li Liang got slashed just going out to eat and running into a brawl. 'If a fight breaks out, no one can guarantee safety. It's too dangerous. Come home with me.'

Skinny Monkey was displeased. 'Go home? No way. It's settled. If you back out and mess up Brother Bao's business, I'll make sure your shop can't stay open.'

A Si said, 'Does Tsim Sha Tsui think it can boss Yau Ma Tei around?'

'The underworld has its rules. If you break them, even Brother Shan's word won't help,' Skinny Monkey said, not backing down.

Su Jueming was scared too, but he didn't dare refuse. And if he didn't go this time, he'd lose all future underworld business. 'A-Ling, be good. Go back now. I'll come home when I'm done.'

'No, I won't let you go. Uncle, you really will get hurt.' Su Fuling grabbed Su Jueming's arm and wouldn't let go. 'Uncle, I don't want you to end up like Dad.'

Hearing that, Su Jueming was stunned. Looking at Su Fuling's worried eyes, his heart softened. He wondered if chasing money and making his family worry like this was really wrong. 'Well... well...'

He looked at Skinny Monkey. 'How about...'

'Want to back out? That's disrespecting Brother Bao!'

Skinny Monkey felt it wasn't just about the job anymore—if he let the guy go and Brother Bao found out he'd been intercepted by Yau Ma Tei, he'd be in deep trouble. He couldn't lose to a rival.

Skinny Monkey immediately blew his whistle. The sharp sound was obvious in the dead of night at the Pier.

A Si: '...We're screwed.'

Soon, a bunch of gangsters ran out from all directions.

Su Fuling swept her gaze over them—all mission targets.

These were the guys heading to the turf war. They surrounded them, and when they heard that Yau Ma Tei had come to steal their man, they started shouting, telling A Si and his crew to get lost.

A Si sidled up to Su Fuling. 'Dr. Su, a wise man knows when to retreat. Let's wait for Brother Shan to bring his men.'

Su Fuling felt like everything today was an eye-opener. Her uncle had suddenly gotten caught up in a gang war, and now they were surrounded.

She knew some self-defense, but she wasn't delusional.

She glanced at her watch. 'Twenty-five minutes left.' She decided not to waste time and let go of Su Jueming's arm.

'Uncle, don't worry. I'll find you later,' she whispered to him.

Su Jueming was so nervous he could barely stand, but he forced a weak smile. 'Don't worry. I'm just treating people. You go back now.'

With that, he got back into the car.

Seeing his side win, Skinny Monkey whistled smugly at A Si, but he didn't cause any more trouble. After all, they were all in the same association—fighting your own was against the rules. And these were the big boss's men, so he couldn't touch them. The group cheered and drove off.

A Si, seeing them leave, got his bravado back. 'Pfft. They just had numbers. Let them come to Yau Ma Tei someday—we'll show them!'

Su Fuling said, 'A Si, is there a phone nearby? I need to make a call.'

A Si quickly said, 'Yeah!' Once in the car, he added, 'We should call Brother Shan and have him bring more guys to teach them a lesson.'

Su Fuling certainly wasn't going to call Chen Shan. Things were already chaotic enough—if Chen Shan brought his men for a turf war, a bunch of people would get hurt. Just thinking about it gave her a headache. She didn't want anyone fighting over her. As for who to call... the police, of course.

At the phone booth, Su Fuling hurriedly called Wang Sihua's office. It was late, but since they were catching a murderer today, maybe he was still working overtime. After all, this guy had stayed up all night investigating before. In this place, Su Fuling figured calling a familiar cop was fastest. If that didn't work, she'd dial the emergency number.

Luckily, the phone was picked up quickly—by a female officer. Su Fuling said she was looking for Wang Sihua. The officer, thinking it was family, went to get him.

At that moment, Wang Sihua was watching his colleagues interrogate Bao Youliang.

They had worked through the night yesterday and all day today, and sure enough, they'd found a lot of clues.

They discovered that Bao Youliang's wife had gone to buy medicine on the night of the incident. The pharmacy owner remembered clearly, but when he later ran into Bao Youliang, the man denied ever being injured.

That, of course, made things even more suspicious.

Based on experience, the police also investigated financial and personal conflicts. They learned that Bao Youliang had been trying to get the victim to sell the house and buy one in another area, but the victim refused—the house held memories of their family of three, and he never wanted to move out.

Once the investigation was on the right track, the clues became clearer. Knowing the motive and the suspect, they followed the trail and successfully found the stolen goods that Bao Youliang had sold off—items taken from the victim during the robbery. Every net has a hole. Back then, Bao Youliang didn't actually need to take those things—he had inheritance rights anyway—but to make it look like a robbery-homicide, he had taken the victim's belongings. Over the years, he'd sold them off one by one.

Although he tried to argue that those items had been given to him by his father before the incident, two of them were identified by the victim's daughter as things that were supposed to be passed down to her.

With solid evidence, he was arrested.

Wang Sihua had completed the arrest, but he still had to wait for the interrogation results.

He sat outside the interrogation room, watching Bao Youliang through the glass. This was the first case he'd solved, the first murderer he'd caught. But he couldn't feel happy about it, because he hadn't solved it on his own merit—he'd relied on Dr. Su...

As a materialist, Wang Sihua felt his brain couldn't keep up. 'Did Dr. Su really figure it out just from a "physical exam"?'

'Ahua, phone call. Someone named Su.'

Hearing that, Wang Sihua immediately stood up and went to answer. 'Dr. Su?'

'Inspector Wang, you finally picked up.'

'Are you asking about the murderer? I did it...' Wang Sihua started to say he'd kept his promise.

Su Fuling said, 'No, I wanted to ask—do you guys handle gang turf wars? My uncle went on a house call and got caught up in one. I just saw that a lot of those gangsters are going to get hurt today.'

Hearing this, Wang Sihua was taken aback. 'I'll send people over right away.'

What Wang Sihua didn't say was that usually, for gang turf wars, they waited until the fighting was over to clean up. After all, those gangsters were always causing trouble—let them fight among themselves. But he couldn't say that in front of Dr. Su. And now that a civilian was involved, they couldn't just ignore it.