“Hey—it’s nothing. I used to love playing soccer, right? Three years ago, I was playing and accidentally broke a bone. It just left some lasting problems!”
Cheng Yi sat down, forced a smile, and said as if he didn’t care at all, “It’s fine. I can walk and jump. It doesn’t affect my daily life at all!”
Jiang Tian lowered his head and took a sip of tea, saying nothing.
Cheng Yi wasn’t telling the truth. There had to be something hidden behind this.
But since Cheng Yi wasn’t saying, Jiang Tian couldn’t very well push him. When the time was right, he would ask him properly.
Qing’er had noticed the abnormality too.
But since Jiang Tian wasn’t asking, naturally she wouldn’t either. She obediently poured tea for Jiang Tian and the others.
“Is this your wife?” Cheng Yi held the cup with both hands and thanked her repeatedly.
Jiang Tian nodded.
“So virtuous! Jiang Tian, you’re really blessed!” Cheng Yi praised.
“Cheng Yi, let me tell you, this place is mine now. Tonight, let’s drink until we drop! Aren’t you the god of wine? I’m definitely going to drink you under the table today!”
Zhen Shuai had noticed nothing at all. He put on the airs of a big boss, ordering people around left and right, calling for drinks and dishes, majestic and showing off, utterly pleased with himself.
“Zhen Shuai, you’ve done well for yourself! I heard Emperor International has several chain stores. Must be worth over a hundred million!”
Cheng Yi praised him, but Jiang Tian noticed his gaze was very calm. He thought to himself that Cheng Yi’s background was probably not simple. What exactly was his story?
“Jiang Tian, I’m really sorry. You got married in Linzhou and I didn’t even know. Let me give you a red envelope!”
Cheng Yi quickly pulled a stack of cash from his wallet, wrapped it in red paper, and handed it to Zhao Xueqing with an apologetic smile. “Sister-in-law, you must accept it. It’s just a little token of my feelings!”
“Jiang Tian, this…” Qing’er hesitated.
“It’s Boss’s heartfelt wish. Just accept it,” Jiang Tian nodded, and only then did Qing’er take the red envelope.
Tan Guangxu smiled and said, “Cheng Yi, you’re quite generous. One red envelope equals half a year of my salary!”
“No, I’m not doing well…” Cheng Yi smiled. It wasn’t modesty—there was actually a bit of bitterness in it.
Then he laughed heartily again and said, “But no matter how hard things get for me, when you guys got married, I’d give ten thousand each!”
Jiang Tian said quietly, “Back then, Boss’s family was going through the hardest times. Auntie was the only one earning money to support the family. One time, her stall was even smashed up by the urban management. Cheng Yi swore back then that he would definitely become someone above others, a rich man. And when any of us got married, he would give a whole jin of gift money…”
Jiang Tian looked at him deeply and said, “Back then, Boss Cheng really was full of heroic spirit!”
“Ah, young and reckless!”
Cheng Yi smiled bitterly and said, “I calculated it. A jin of hundred-yuan bills is about forty-eight thousand! I can’t afford to give that now!”
“Forget it. Even if you gave four million eight hundred thousand, in front of Jiang Tian it’d still be a light drizzle!”
The food started arriving. Zhen Shuai opened a bottle of thirty-year-aged Moutai, poured drinks for everyone, and said with a grin, “Now Jiang Tian is amazing—the young master of the Medicine King Group! The Medicine King Group is now worth tens of millions!”
“Zhen Shuai!” Tan Guangxu glared at him.
Obviously, Cheng Yi didn’t seem to be doing too well. The speaker might not mean anything by it, but the listener might take it to heart and get hurt.
“Jiang Tian, congratulations!”
Cheng Yi raised his glass and smiled, “I’m afraid you can now stand on equal footing with the Nie, Sun, and Chen families!”
The two clinked glasses and downed them in one go.
Jiang Tian noticed that even now, Cheng Yi showed no sign of shock. There was only blessing.
“Bah! What the hell are the Nie and Sun families?”
Zhen Shuai spat fiercely, speaking with disdain, “The Nie, Sun, and Chen families were all taken down by Jiang Tian! That Sun Hao was directly killed by Jiang Tian! It was just… so satisfying!”
His grudge against Sun Hao still hadn’t completely dissipated even now.
Hearing this, Cheng Yi’s expression changed drastically. The hand holding his wine glass trembled slightly, spilling some of the drink.
He pondered for a moment, then said in a low voice, “Jiang Tian, be careful. The forces behind these three great families are not to be trifled with!”
“What forces?” Jiang Tian said with keen interest.
“Do you know about the East Ocean Cherry Blossom Society?” A trace of terror appeared on Cheng Yi’s face as he spoke softly.
“Cheng Yi, since you know about the Cherry Blossom Society, who exactly are you?”
Jiang Tian was very curious inside, but he showed nothing on his face and only shook his head.
“The Cherry Blossom Society… is ultimately too far away. Do you know about the East Ocean Yakuza organization, the Yamaguchi-gumi?” Cheng Yi said with a frown.
“Who doesn’t know that? It’s been in movies—the Yamaguchi-gumi, the Mafia, all that stuff…” Zhen Shuai said with a drunken grin.
“In the East Ocean, even the Yamaguchi-gumi is under the Cherry Blossom Society’s rule!” Deep fear appeared on Cheng Yi’s face as he said with a frown.
“How do you know all this?” Jiang Tian asked with keen interest.
“This… I heard people talking about it at a barbecue stall!” Cheng Yi seemed embarrassed as he smiled.
“Haha, Cheng Yi, you Northeasterners just love to brag. The Yamaguchi-gumi is already so powerful—how could there be a Cherry Blossom Society even stronger than them! You’re so good at making things up, why don’t you go write web novels? Like ‘There’s Rice in the Vat’!” Zhen Shuai slapped his leg and laughed loudly.
Cheng Yi smiled awkwardly, then said, “Jiang Tian, I’ll call you later and tell you!”
At this point, Tan Guangxu asked, “Cheng Yi, you left Jinling so many years ago. How have you been? Is Auntie doing well?”
“My mom has already passed away…”
A trace of grief appeared on Cheng Yi’s face, but he immediately masked it with a pretend smile and said, “She died from a cerebral infarction. It wasn’t painful. She went peacefully!”
“Cheng Yi, our condolences!” Tan Guangxu said with some sorrow.
Zhen Shuai quickly raised his glass and said, “Drink, drink! We brothers rarely get together. Let’s not talk about unhappy things!”
Everyone drank for a while longer. Jiang Tian said lightly, “Cheng Yi, what about you? What are you doing?”
“My mom left me some money. Enough for me to eat, drink, and have fun for a while. I just travel and climb mountains everywhere. Very free and easy!” Cheng Yi smiled as if very pleased with himself.
Jiang Tian didn’t want to ask any more.
One could say that tonight, aside from those few sentences about the Cherry Blossom Society, Cheng Yi hadn’t said a single true word.
Soon, it was ten o’clock at night.
Cheng Yi checked the time on his phone and smiled, “Alright, let’s call it a night. I need to go!”
“What’s so funny? Full service—eating, drinking, whoring, gambling, all included. There are still two more items!”
Zhen Shuai was drunk and bleary-eyed, refusing to let it go.
Jiang Tian coughed, and he got a fright. He quickly said, “Sister-in-law, I let my mouth run. No whoring, no gambling, all legitimate massage! Jiang Tian isn’t allowed to play, and Cheng Yi, you’re not allowed to leave!”
“I really have to go!” Cheng Yi insisted.
“Stay at my place. I’ve got a presidential suite!” Zhen Shuai laughed.
“No need. I booked a presidential suite at the Sheraton. I’ll come find you guys again tomorrow!” Cheng Yi shook hands with everyone one by one and quickly walked out.
“To Wushan!”
At the entrance of Emperor International, Cheng Yi refused everyone’s offer to see him off. He stopped a taxi and said softly to the driver.
“Wushan?”
Jiang Tian raised an eyebrow. Wushan was a barren mountain. Didn’t he say he’d booked some big hotel?
“Okay!” The driver nodded. Cheng Yi was about to get in, but Jiang Tian grabbed him.
He tossed the driver a hundred yuan and said, “Master, sorry to delay your business. You can go first!”
“What’s wrong?” Cheng Yi looked at Jiang Tian in surprise.
Jiang Tian didn’t speak. Instead, he pulled him back into Emperor International and into an empty private room.
Jiang Tian didn’t let Qing’er and the others come in either. He directly grabbed a bottle of red wine from the liquor cabinet, poured Cheng Yi a full glass, poured himself one too, then stared hard at Cheng Yi. His voice was slightly cold as he said, word by word, “Cheng Yi, if you consider me a brother, then tell me—how exactly did your leg get broken!”
“It’s nothing, nothing. Second Brother, you’re overthinking it…”
Cheng Yi pretended to be relaxed and said, “There was a car accident. It got amputated. I was afraid you guys would feel bad, so I didn’t say!”
Jiang Tian downed his glass in one gulp and smashed it to the ground with a crash. He said coldly, “You really don’t consider me a brother. Fine. You really are something!”
“I…”
Cheng Yi opened his mouth to speak, his expression shifting again and again. Then he sat down on the sofa, utterly dejected, clutching his hair with both hands. His face full of misery, he said, “Second Brother, it’s not that I don’t want to tell you. I don’t want you guys to worry. I’m also afraid—afraid of bringing trouble on you!”
“Cheng Yi, trust me. I can definitely help you!”
Jiang Tian sat down, poured himself another glass, and downed it in one gulp.
“Help me?”
Cheng Yi took a sip of wine and smiled bitterly. “Jiang Tian, no one in this world can help me. I’ve already accepted my fate!”
“Your leg was cut off by a master with a blade. You’re actually not traveling—you’re running for your life.”
Jiang Tian said coldly, “And you’re so afraid that you don’t even dare stay in a hotel. You can only camp out in the wilderness, right?”
“Second Brother, you’ve matured…” Cheng Yi smiled, and finally told Jiang Tian everything.
Cheng Yi really did come from a martial arts family in the Northeast, just as Jiang Tian had guessed. The family wasn’t very powerful, but they ran a martial arts school, took in students, and also did some shipping and foreign trade business. The family had assets worth several billion.
The Cheng family had several heirloom gemstones. Rumor had it they could rapidly increase a martial artist’s cultivation. But Cheng Yi’s father, Cheng Ming, discovered that this was actually not true at all.
These stones had no spiritual energy whatsoever. He spent ten years and found nothing unusual about them, so he gradually forgot about the matter and lived a peaceful life, keeping to himself.
The trouble happened when Cheng Yi was ten years old. Several strong members of the East Ocean Yamaguchi-gumi suddenly broke into the Cheng home, wanting to buy them for a huge sum.
Cheng Ming flatly refused. Although he couldn’t see what was so powerful about these so-called gemstones, they were still ancestral heirlooms. No matter how much money the other side offered, Cheng Ming was unwilling to sell them.
The other side didn’t waste words and immediately attacked. The Yamaguchi-gumi captured several members of the Cheng family and threatened Cheng Ming.
Helpless, Cheng Ming had no choice but to hand over a few of the gemstones. But the East Ocean Yamaguchi-gumi experts seemed not to know how to use these gemstones either. They assumed the Cheng family had given them fakes and came to harass them every few days.
Cheng Ming was only at the peak of the Iron Body stage and was no match for the Yamaguchi-gumi at all. With no other choice, he could only leave the Northeast and hide under a false name, drifting from place to place across the country.
Back then, Cheng Yi had suddenly rented a place in the Qixia County government family compound precisely to avoid the Yamaguchi-gumi’s pursuit.
When he graduated from university, Cheng Yi suddenly left Jinling and returned to his hometown in the Northeast because the Yamaguchi-gumi had once again captured the fleeing Cheng Ming.
After more than ten years of diligent study and hard training, Cheng Yi had reached the Iron Body cultivation level by then, and his mother had also reached the inner energy level. He thought he could fight the other side and rescue his father.
But who would have expected that this time the other side had brought experts from the Cherry Blossom Society. Cheng Yi was no match at all. In the wilderness suburbs, his mother was first raped and then killed, his father was beaten into serious injury, and Cheng Yi himself had one of his legs cut off.
