Why so polite?

Xu Fei successfully caught the attention of the two members of the thief gang standing in front of the hospital gate.

"Is that the kid we're looking for?"

"He looks a lot like the one in the photo."

"Let's go over and ask."

Just as the two were about to walk toward Xu Fei, Xu Fei turned around and walked in the opposite direction.

"Hey!"

Seeing that Xu Fei was leaving, the two hurriedly quickened their paces and chased directly after him.

Hearing the shout from behind, Xu Fei knew that they had grown suspicious, so he switched from walking to running.

The men behind him saw this, which only confirmed their suspicions even more.

Xu Fei had already planned his route beforehand. It was a path he was quite familiar with, leading straight to the temporary labor market.

Just as he was about to reach the labor market, a voice called out from an alley by the side of the road:

"Comrade Xu Fei."

That shout immediately put Xu Fei's mind at ease. He happily looked at the two young men standing at the entrance of the alley.

Xu Fei glanced back at the people chasing him. He intentionally slowed his pace a bit, and right as they were about to catch up, he crossed the road.

By the time he ran up to the two young men, his two pursuers had arrived right behind him.

"Why the fuck are you running?"

The two men were panting heavily, out of breath. One of them pointed directly at Xu Fei and asked, "Is your last name Xu?"

Xu Fei then turned around to face them.

"That's right, my last name is Xu."

Hearing this, the two men exchanged a glance, a smile forming at the corners of their mouths.

"Great! Brother, we're going to win the top credit tonight!"

"You said it."

Smiling, both men pulled pig-slaughtering knives out from their waistbands.

"Damn it, Lao-Xu, if you behave obediently today, our brothers won't touch you. Just come with us."

Xu Fei was certainly no fool. If he went with these two, the outcome could be easily imagined.

"And if I don't?"

"Not going?"

One of them brandished the pig-slaughtering knife in front of him and said, "See this? This knife was prepared just for you."

At this moment, Xu Fei glanced at the two young men standing at the alley entrance.

"You heard them. Most of their people are at the hospital right now, and these two are just keeping watch at the door. I'm in great danger."

The two young men nodded.

"What do you two do?"

Seeing the two young men walking over, one of the thieves simply waved a hand dismissively.

"This has nothing to do with you two, get lost, understand? Don't wait until blood splatters on you and you start crying and screaming like babies—nobody's going to comfort you."

He laughed as he looked at his accomplice, and both of them burst into loud laughter.

However, in Xu Fei's eyes, their behavior was even more ridiculous than that of clowns.

Laugh away, Xu Fei muttered to himself. You'll get what's coming to you in a moment.

The two guards walked up to the thieves.

"Damn it, did you not understand what I said? Get lost, far away, understand?"

The thief pointed his knife directly at one of the young men as he spoke.

Right at that moment, the two young men swiftly drew pistols from their holsters. The dark, pitch-black muzzles were aimed right at the heads of the two thieves.

"Big brother, w-what is this?"

"A gun!"

"Little brother, stop joking around, we... we were just walking by."

"Shut up!" one of the young men barked sternly.

The two thieves instantly stopped talking. They stared with wide-open eyes at the gun muzzles right in front of them.

"Comrade Xu Fei, please come with us."

The two young men said to Xu Fei while handcuffing the two thieves.

"Huh?" Xu Fei looked at them, puzzled. "Where to?"

"Your matter is no longer something the two of us can handle. Now we need to take you to see the senior leader."

"Ah?! That's great!"

Xu Fei had been waiting precisely for those words.

Following the two young men, they first took the thieves by car to a nearby police substation, and then the two drove Xu Fei toward the outskirts of the city.

Lazi Mountain. It was the only rocky mountain near the provincial capital. The mountain wasn't very high. However, right at the foot of the mountain stood a sizable estate.

The courtyard was enclosed by red brick walls standing a full three meters high. If one didn't know people lived here, most people would mistake it for a prison.

The car stopped before a large iron gate.

Two beeps of the horn sounded. A palm-sized small door set into the large iron gate swung open, and a pair of eyes flashed from within. After verifying the car's license plate, the large iron gate slowly opened.

The car then drove into the courtyard.

Inside the courtyard, compared to the grim and strict atmosphere outside, it was entirely different. It looked much like a farmhouse courtyard. A two-story Western-style villa was built against the side of the mountain. The open ground in front of the building was actually partitioned into several garden plots, filled with growing crops: cucumbers, bitter melons, eggplants, tomatoes, and some plots planted solely with fruit trees. Apple and pear trees were the most numerous, alongside cherry and peach trees. The vast courtyard was completely filled with these plants.

Xu Fei got out of the car. The two young men led him straight past the garden plots toward the small villa.

It was already the latter half of the night. The villa was pitch black, except for a light shining from a room in the corner; all the other rooms had their lights turned off.

Xu Fei was led into that illuminated room, which turned out to be a reception parlor.

"Comrade Xu Fei, please rest here for a moment. We'll go check if the senior leader is awake."

"Alright."

Xu Fei nodded and sat down on the sofa. He glanced at the clock hanging on the wall: 3:30 AM. There was still an hour before dawn. Having tossed and turned all night, Xu Fei was quite tired. He leaned back against the sofa and actually dozed off.

After an unknown length of time, Xu Fei felt as though someone was watching him.

"Who?!"

He woke up with a start from his dream. When he saw that the person sitting beside him was an elderly man, his eyes widened slightly.

"You're... you're that old gentleman."

The elderly man sitting next to him was none other than the one Xu Fei had helped a few days prior.

"Xu Fei, hello."

"You... you're the senior leader?!"

Xu Fei suddenly realized that all the events of the past few days must have been orchestrated behind the scenes by this old gentleman. He hastily stood up and bowed deeply at a ninety-degree angle to the old man.

"Get up, look at you, why are you being so formal with me?" The old man hurriedly waved his hand with a smile. "Sit, sit down."

Xu Fei promptly sat back down beside the old man.

"Elder, may I ask your honorable surname?"

"Me? My surname is Zhu."

"Zhu?!"

Xu Fei suddenly seemed to remember something. That's right! He recalled Liu Erpang telling him once: in this provincial capital, you can afford to provoke ruffians and local bullies, but there is one surname you must never, ever mess with—and that is the Zhu family.

"Hahaha... What's wrong? Is the surname Zhu that terrifying?" The old man asked, pointing at Xu Fei's expression of utter shock.

"No, no, I just can't believe that Elder Zhu would take such good care of me."

"You have yourself to thank for that. It's your character that attracted me. Old man Zhu values a daring and responsible young man like you above all else!"