Chapter 73#
That murmur, dreamy like a sleep-talker’s whisper, fell beside Nie Xu’s neck, causing his steps to pause briefly.
Nie Xu lowered his gaze to the child in his arms, carefully tracing over his features, searching for any resemblance to the child in his memory.
The child he remembered had been filthy from the explosion, looking like a little tabby cat, except for a pair of big round eyes—black and white, clear as day—with baby fat still lingering on his chin.
Nie Xu had assumed he was some shipworker’s child aboard the Qiming.
The boat pulled ashore into a vast reed marsh.
It wasn’t fully light yet.
The reeds stood nearly half a person high, their plumes not yet fully white, carrying that greenish-yellow tinge of late summer. The horizon shifted from grey-blue to pale lavender, a thin wash of orange-red spreading up from the water’s surface.
“Brother.” The child tugged at his sleeve, calling him that, very quietly.
Nie Xu heard himself speak for the first time that entire night, his voice hoarse as he replied: “Where’s your home? I’ll take you back.”
The child seemed like he was about to cry but held it in, and gave an address.
Nie Xu acknowledged it with a grunt, turned for one last look at the distant lights and torches along the coast, and the plume of smoke rising over the far sea. Then, without looking back, he plunged headfirst into the reeds with the child.
Stumbling through uneven ground, the child fell several times, his short-sleeved shirt and shorts getting so dirty they were unrecognizable.
The child was a chatterbox.
He kept muttering to himself the whole way, as if trying to coax Nie Xu into talking, or perhaps cheering himself on.
He said he needed to go back to find his mother.
He repeated this over and over again.
Nie Xu said, “I don’t have a mother anymore.”
The child fell silent, but just gripped his hand tighter.
They made it back to the city around noon.
Nie Xu couldn’t find the address the child had given. He wasn’t sure if the child was simply too young and had gotten it wrong, but the entire city was talking about the maritime disaster at Qianlong Bay.
The explosion had been an accident. The storm had been too severe.
There were even rumors that the Nie family had been punished by heaven for doing unlawful things.
Countless ordinary family members surged toward the area, some even parading through the streets, shouting loudly that they wanted justice from the Nie family. The grief, the seething fury wrapped around countless lives, the senseless venting, the bewilderment of suddenly losing loved ones—all of it pointed at the Nie family of that time.
From a radio broadcast in a roadside shop, Ji Yansong—then still relatively young in the Ji family—spoke in a calm, measured voice: “Regarding the tragedy that has befallen the Nie family, I express my deepest condolences on behalf of the entire industry and the chamber of commerce, as well as personally. Our cooperation with the Nie family spans many years, and we trust in the Nie family’s character. Regardless of what the subsequent investigation reveals, the Ji Corporation hereby pledges—”
Passersby on the road murmured, “It’s not easy for the Ji family to step forward at a time like this.”
“I heard the young couple at the head of the Nie family both perished in this disaster. The Nie family was one of the local old shipping families—who could have predicted such an end.”
“Sigh, I heard people from the Nie family’s main household have already run off with the money…”
Nie Xu grabbed the child’s hand and ran toward the main household.
In truth, those who had run off with the money were merely servants from the household.
When the old butler saw him, he was first stunned, then his eyes reddened in an instant.
He crouched down, choking back tears: “You’re alive… Thank goodness you’re alive. I thought you’d already… with your parents…”
By then, Nie Xu was already half-grown. His parents’ lifelong shadows had left deep marks upon him. There was much he didn’t understand, couldn’t figure out, refused to believe. But there was also much he understood.
He knew what kind of people his parents were.
Having witnessed firsthand the so-called “storm” at Qianlong Bay.
He could tell what was false and what was genuine.
From the moment he woke on the boat to that very moment, the only thing he’d done was raise his sleeve to wipe his eyes in front of the old butler.
Outside the door, many people were pounding on it.
“I’ll go out and speak to them!” That was Nie Xu, not yet twelve years old.
The old butler grabbed him and said, “Young master, don’t go, don’t go. There are so many people out there who want to tear the Nie family apart with their bare hands. You can’t go. Hurry and leave—go as far as you can. It’s best that no one knows your surname is Nie. Your parents’ greatest wish was simply for you to live safely and in good health.”
Nie Xu was silent, saying nothing.
“Brother.” The child tilted his face up to look at him again.
Nie Xu lowered his gaze to meet his eyes.
He realized the fury and emotions flooding his chest had been so overwhelming that he’d nearly forgotten—the child looked to be only about five years old.
He didn’t even know when he’d lost his shoes.
He had run barefoot all the way like this, following him, running back home.
A place that could no longer be called a home—nothing but a wrecked, ruined husk.
That spark of human warmth re-injected itself into his chest. Nie Xu bent down and scooped the child up, wiping the mud from his face. The more he wiped, the dirtier it got, until only a small patch of clean skin on the chin was revealed—clearly the skin of someone pampered and sheltered, raised in comfort.
Just as a flicker of doubt crossed Nie Xu’s mind, the old butler took the child from him.
He urged him: “Young master, hurry. I know where to find this child’s family. The nanny who usually cares for you is from Zhoulung—her hometown. I’ve already told her to leave in advance. Go hide there for a while. We can talk again once the heat has died down.”
Nie Xu opened his mouth.
The old butler pushed him: “Go.”
“And you?” Nie Xu already had a vague answer in his heart, but he asked anyway.
The old butler smiled without regret: “Our family has served the Nie family since my father’s father’s time. Young master, I’m old now. I have no regrets in this life. It’s just a pile of old bones—don’t worry about me.”
Seeing that Nie Xu wouldn’t move.
The old butler smiled helplessly: “Young master, remember this—your life is long. You can’t be too soft-hearted. Not to anyone.”
Nie Xu was ultimately chased out by the old butler.
Just as he stepped over the back door threshold.
From behind came a voice choked with tears: “Brother!”
Nie Xu turned around.
The old butler gestured with his hand for him to hurry and leave, telling him not to worry.
Nie Xu nodded, his gaze falling on the child’s face.
“Once you find your mother, live well.”
The image of an old man and a young child standing at the back door of the family residence—that was Nie Xu’s last memory of the home he had lived in for nearly twelve years.
Nie Xu did not go to Zhoulung.
He lingered in the Qianlong Bay district for nearly a whole month.
By then, the entire shipping market of Fanzhou, with the Nie family’s downfall, had plunged into a leaderless chaos of division. Large and small fleets, along with various dock factions, frequently erupted into violent conflicts.
Xilemen, as the most powerful local force, had a reach that was extraordinarily vast.
They were someone no faction could afford to offend.
Nie Xu embedded himself in a gang called Qingzhou. Back then, there were plenty of teens and young men in their teens and twenties trying to make a living on boats. The gang leader noticed that despite his young age, Nie Xu was well-versed in all manner of affairs and treated him with extra regard.
The advantage of being at the very bottom: no one cared where you came from or what your name was.
The disadvantage: you got used to seeing all the filth and rot.
He rose to prominence there quickly.
This young man, full of menace, who often went half a day without saying a word, but who could pin down the boss of a Xilemen branch chapter and slice him down in a single stroke—so terrifying the man wet himself—was soon brought to the gang leader’s side.
This marked the true beginning of his own network, the first foundations of his web of connections.
Half a year later.
The Ji Corporation seized the upper hand in its internal power struggle, winning the largest trade center project in Fanzhou, and surged to prominence.
At the lower level, the endless days of brawling and killing gave way to a clear consolidation of power.
The Qingzhou gang absorbed no fewer than a dozen fleets, large and small. While their methods weren’t as filthy as Xilemen’s, they had grown capable enough to stand on equal footing with them.
It was around this time that Ji Yansong came looking for him.
The Ji family had no real pedigree to speak of—their ancestors had been fishermen. By Ji Yansong’s generation, most were still people from the bottom. It was only a matter of time before word of Nie Xu’s existence reached Ji Yansong’s ears.
“Ah Xu.” A stretched Lincoln pulled up at the alley’s entrance. Ji Yansong, not yet sixty, wore an expression of heartache and joy at finding the child of an old acquaintance. “You were right here in Fanzhou—why wouldn’t you come to us? How can I face your parents down in the ground?”
By then, Nie Xu had grown enormously. Compared to half a year earlier, he looked like a completely different person.
His skin had been darkened by the sun, and his hair was cut very short.
His frame, already showing the beginnings of a young man’s build, was honed to a lean, hard-edged sharpness from day after day of sweat and training.
He sat with one knee bent on top of the wall.
Below, whether older or younger than him, everyone called him Xu Ge.
Someone laughed: “Xu Ge, you’re something else—you actually know this rich old man?”
“What’s your relationship with him?”
Ji Yansong held himself very low, stepping forward: “Gentlemen, as long as Ah Xu is willing, from now on I’ll be his godfather.”
This remark was met with a burst of mockery.
“In this day and age, someone still wants to take on godsons, hahaha.”
“Old man, our Xu Ge could carve his way through the entire Qianlong Bay—who dares provoke him. Life not comfortable enough for you? Want someone to be your son? You’d better prove you’ve got the ability.”
“That’s right.”
Nie Xu braced his hands and jumped down from the wall.
He brushed past, about to leave.
Ji Yansong grabbed him: “Ah Xu, you’re still so young—you can’t rot yourself away in a place like this.”
He added: “I know you’re hurting more than anyone over what happened to your parents. But no matter how well you do in a place like this, there’s no real future in it. How about this—take your time thinking about becoming my godson. The Ji family is planning to cultivate a batch of our own people, sending them abroad for formal training. As for the gang here, I guarantee the Ji family will offer you the highest terms of cooperation. What do you say?”
Nie Xu looked at the hand gripping his arm, and finally spoke: “Cooperation? I thought the Ji family wanted control of the gang.”
“Child, what are you saying?” Ji Yansong patted his back and sighed. “How about this—I know your father taught you plenty of real skills. Just do it as a favor to me, all right?”
This display of humbling himself and lowering his station was performed to devastating effect.
As though he were truly willing to bend over backwards to save an old friend’s child from hardship, inventing an excuse just to help.
Nie Xu agreed.
The Ji family selected a group of trainees. Nie Xu was among them—and singled out as special.
This was Ji Yansong’s “special treatment”—it made it known that Nie Xu was different from the ordinary candidates. He was Ji Yansong’s designated, sole connection to the Ji family.
Targeted looks, odd stares, malicious exclusion—among a group of half-grown teenagers, these could become the sharpest blades.
Nie Xu rarely thought about that child.
He couldn’t be bothered to deal with the petty schemes around him—schemes he already considered beneath contempt.
Nie Xu never expected he would see that child again.
The Ji family’s illegitimate son had been kidnapped by Xilemen.
He and Lu Li—ranked second among the candidates—were dispatched together on the rescue. It was a test, and also because their youth wouldn’t raise the kidnappers’ suspicions.
But Nie Xu knew Ji Yansong actually intended to use Xilemen to eliminate him along the way.
He couldn’t make a move at Qianlong Bay.
He needed a reason that looked more airtight.
In the mountains at night, you could hear wolves howling and insects chirping.
Nie Xu split off from Lu Li and discovered signs of human activity in a ravine.
He leaned his back against a large tree.
He heard a flurry of footsteps snapping branches, flashlight beams swinging wildly.
“Goddammit! How are you watching him? How could you let him get away?!”
“That little bastard was too clever—he told me his stomach hurt, so I was afraid it was some acute illness. The two minutes I stepped out of the tent to get someone, and when I came back he was gone!”
“Hurry up and find him!”
“Is everything okay?” someone among them said. “We still have the other one in our hands.”
The man speaking had a temper like a wildfire: “I searched the other one—there’s nothing on him! It’s definitely on the one who ran. I’m telling you all—we can kill the hostage for ransom, but if the item is lost, none of us will fucking survive!”
Only after the group had walked far away did Nie Xu emerge from behind the tree.
The night wind rustled the leaves above his head.
Nie Xu had questions, but he had no intention of meddling. He hadn’t come to rescue anyone.
Suddenly—
Crack.
A branch stirred near the left slope.
Nie Xu drew the dagger at his waist and lunged. In the darkness, he caught sight of a small dark shape huddled under the root of a large tree on the slope below.
“Who is it!” Nie Xu pressed in low.
The moment he got close, he sensed something wrong.
In that one second of hesitation, the dark shape lunged at him.
“Brother.” That same familiar address.
The voice even trembled with fear.
Nie Xu’s entire body went rigid. That moment of disbelief allowed the warm small body to press against him, arms wrapping around his neck.
After a brief daze, Nie Xu yanked the person off, confirming he hadn’t mistaken the identity.
Eyes blazing, he gritted through clenched teeth: “The fuck are you doing here?”