Chapter 59
If it weren’t for Old Lai’s over-the-top nouveau riche outfit, the way he and Wan Shengbang stood side by side made them look like a pair of long-lost twin brothers.
Wan Shengbang wasn’t too pleased that Old Lai had shown up personally with his people to interfere. His expression shifted slightly as he spoke, “Brother Lai, the gambling table has its rules, and so does the racetrack. You should know that.”
Old Lai replied cheerfully, “I don’t know any rules. All I know is that I’ve only got this one unlucky son, and I’m counting on him to take care of me in my old age. I can’t afford to let things get sour between us.”
Wan Shengbang patted Old Lai on the shoulder with a forced smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I’ll let you win a few big hands at the gambling table next time. But for today’s matter, take my advice and stay out of it. There are big players involved behind the scenes, neither of us can afford to mess with.”
That would’ve been fine if he hadn’t said it, but the moment he did, Old Lai’s competitive fire was instantly lit, and he immediately retorted, “What big players can’t I handle? Back in the day when I ran the streets of Tonggang with my brothers, you lot acted like scared little grandsons in front of me. Anyone who dares put on airs in front of this great-grandfather, I’ll make sure they crawl back on their knees.”
Then, with a quick change in tone, he added, “Of course, my brothers aren’t in that line of work anymore, but they’ve all moved on to shine in various respectable professions…”
He waved his hand as he spoke and Jiang Mu followed his gesture to look behind him. While she could understand the bus and dump truck drivers, the auntie with the pink F0 sedan, its headlights adorned with fake eyelashes, truly baffled her.
Old Lai continued, “But if anyone dares to mess with me, Old Lai, all I have to do is make a single call, and I guarantee they won’t be able to take a single step in Tonggang.”
At that moment, He Zhang stepped out from behind Wan Shengbang, a cigarette between his fingers, and said, “Uncle Lai, don’t talk too big. This ain’t your era anymore.”
Old Lai slowly shifted his gaze to He Zhang’s face, a hint of amusement lingering in his eyes. “Is that so?”
But the moment the words left his mouth, all traces of that amusement vanished. In one swift motion, he snatched the cigarette from He Zhang’s fingers and crushed it out on his forehead. A piercing scream erupted from He Zhang as the crowd of young car enthusiasts around them turned ghostly pale.
He Zhang, writhing in pain, raised his fist but Old Lai didn’t even flinch. Instead, he sneered, “Go on, hit me. I’d love to see how bold you really are.”
In a flash, a swarm of construction workers leaped down from behind the dump truck. In the blink of an eye, a dense crowd of men stood behind Old Lai, each one holding a brick in his hand. He Zhang’s wrist trembled slightly, and that raised fist never came down.
Wan Shengbang reached out and pressed He Zhang’s arm back down, then he turned to San Lai with a composed expression and said, “Didn’t you say you were delivering food? Where’s the food?”
Jiang Mu broke into a cold sweat. But San Lai actually opened his car door, pulled a neatly wrapped lunch box from the back seat, popped it open, and proudly brought it over to Wan Shengbang. “Uncle Wan, want to try my homemade meatballs? No joke. My cooking’s good enough to open a restaurant. Come on, give it a taste. They’re savory, juicy, packed with flavor!”
With exaggerated enthusiasm, he tried to coax Wan Shengbang into taking a bite. Jiang Mu stared, stunned, at the magically produced lunchbox. Wan Shengbang waved him off impatiently. “I’ve already eaten. Keep it for yourself.”
San Lai cheerfully closed the lid on the lunchbox. Wan Shengbang shot a glance at one of his lackeys, who immediately moved the car aside to clear the way. Jiang Mu saw this and tried her best not to show her anxiety. She returned to the passenger seat, and San Lai had already gotten back behind the wheel. As the car drove through the opening and into the mountains, San Lai glanced sideways at Old Lai. Old Lai adjusted his gold LV belt and gave an almost imperceptible nod.
Only after passing this stretch did they truly enter the mountain road. Jiang Mu asked in surprise, “I thought you were just bluffing. Where’d the food actually come from?”
San Lai replied with a perfectly serious face, “Do I look like the kind of person who bluffs?”
“…You kinda do.”
“I packed it before leaving. Who knows how late this would go? What if I can’t order takeout and I get so hungry my heart starts to panic? If you want, I’ll share two meatballs with you later.”
“…No need to be that generous.”
Jiang Mu turned her gaze to the window. The deeper they drove into the mountain, the louder and clearer the sounds of engines echoing from earlier became. She checked the time on her phone. They’d been delayed too long arguing with Wan Shengbang. There were only about ten minutes left until the race started.
She quickly urged San Lai, “Can you go any faster? I’m afraid we won’t make it in time.”
San Lai’s expression grew more serious than she’d ever seen. Across the opposite mountain road, the headlights of numerous sports cars were already visible. Jiang Mu pointed outside and asked, “Is it over there?”
San Lai spared a quick glance and stepped harder on the gas. “Should be.”
But just as they were about to drive up the mountain road, another large crowd appeared ahead, completely blocking the way. San Lai cursed outright, “Damn! Layers on layers… What is this, a damn boss level in a video game?”
Before he even finished speaking, the car had come to a stop when a hot girl in an ultra-short skirt ran up to them and said to San Lai, “Hey handsome, if you’re here to watch the race, you gotta park here. You can’t go any farther.”
San Lai replied, “My buddy’s in the race. I’m here to give him something.”
The girl smiled and said, “The race is about to start. No more people allowed in.”
San Lai and Jiang Mu exchanged a look, and then both got out of the car. In front of them was a chaotic swarm of young people and several Bose speakers were blasting pounding EDM across the whole mountain road, neon lights and glowsticks flew through the air, and crowds of youth holding beers twisted their bodies to the heavy beat. It was a full-on pre-race rave. Forget driving through, even squeezing past on foot seemed impossible.
Sweat dripped constantly from Jiang Mu’s forehead, but her eyes burned with determination. She lifted her foot and charged straight into the crowd. Behind her, San Lai shouted in alarm, but amid the chaos, Jiang Mu was quickly swallowed by the writhing crowd. She shoved forward with all her strength, being jostled on all sides, surrounded by flashing neon and deafening music but in that moment, she had only one thought: There’s no time. Find Jin Chao. I must find Jin Chao.
Suddenly, a hand yanked her arm hard, pulling her out of the crowd. Before she could steady herself, she looked up and saw the wild-eyed Jin Fengzi. He stared at her in shock and asked, “What are you doing here? Did you come alone?”
Just as Jiang Mu turned to answer, San Lai squeezed through the crowd behind her, cursing, “Damn, my clothes are about to get ripped off! These people have lost their minds!”
Jin Fengzi, however, asked urgently, “Where did you guys come from?”
San Lai looked puzzled. “Why?”
The noise around them was too loud, so Jin Fengzi shouted, “I asked where did you come from? Did you see Tie Gongji return to the garage?”
San Lai, seeing the serious look on Jin Fengzi’s face, froze for a second before replying, “No. Wasn’t Tie Gongji with Youjiu? We were at the garage all afternoon, never saw him.”
Jin Fengzi’s face suddenly tensed. “Sh*t. Sh*t, sh*t. The car might have a problem. We have to find Youjiu now.”
San Lai shouted back, “Hell, I want to find him too! What are we supposed to do, blow these people up?!”
Jin Fengzi turned to glance at Wan Qing, who stood high on a stone ledge among a group of people. His expression was grim. “Not sure if Xiao Qingshe will be willing to help…”
Jiang Mu glanced down at her phone again. There was no time left.
She turned to both San Lai and Jin Fengzi and said, “You two go get the car. I’ll talk to her.”
Before they could react, she shoved past a burly guy blocking her path, her body surging with an almost terrifying burst of energy as she charged straight toward Wan Qing like a bullet.
Wan Qing, who had been casually smoking and chatting with her crew, was visibly startled when she suddenly saw Jiang Mu appear in this place. She frowned and looked down at Jiang Mu’s panting figure, warning coldly, “This isn’t a place for good girls. Go back.”
But Jiang Mu climbed up onto the high stone in one swift motion, standing firmly in front of her. Her eyes were filled with determination, though her voice trembled uncontrollably as she said, “We need to get to him. Help us through.”
Wan Qing took a lazy drag from her cigarette, then slowly exhaled the smoke right into Jiang Mu’s face, a mocking smirk on her lips. “Are we friends now?”
The men around them chuckled with scorn, but Jiang Mu paid them no mind. She stepped in closer, her chest rising and falling rapidly, her eyes glazed with a sheen of anxious tears. Beneath that moisture burned a frightening red. The ferocity in her gaze made Wan Qing’s brows draw together slightly.
“If you don’t want something to happen to him, help us get through.”
The cigarette between Wan Qing’s fingers paused midair, her expression tightening slightly. Yet she replied indifferently, “He’s the one who told me to get lost.”
Jiang Mu’s voice, trembling with an edge she’d never used before, cut through, “And why do you think he told you to leave? Wasn’t it enough that your father used you to ruin him once already? You know exactly how he was forced to where he is now. You don’t have to help us unless you don’t care whether he lives.”
Ash crumbled from Wan Qing’s cigarette. Her gaze sharpened, locked firmly on Jiang Mu. But Jiang Mu didn’t flinch, couldn’t flinch. In that moment, she let go of all her pride, her dignity, her defiance. Her fists clenched tightly at her sides as she lowered her head and whispered, voice breaking, “Consider this… me begging you.”
Two minutes later, the chaotic crowd was completely pushed aside by Wan Qing’s crew, forcibly clearing a narrow path just wide enough for a car to pass through. Jiang Mu jumped into the car, and San Lai drove straight onto the track.
As soon as they got in, San Lai cursed angrily, “There better not be anyone else blocking the way! Old Wan really wasted our damn time!”
Jin Fengzi immediately asked, “What Old Wan? Boss Wan is here?”
“Who else? You think we were stuck at the foot of the mountain all that time for fun?”
Jin Fengzi slapped his thigh. “Something’s wrong, something’s really wrong, San Lai. Boss Wan never shows up at the race scene!”
San Lai’s expression turned tense. “If you’ve got something to say, say it!”
“Wan Boss isn’t here to win the race today. He’s here to destroy Youjiu! Switch with me, I’m driving!”
The two of them quickly switched seats. Jin Fengzi took the wheel, and as soon as he stepped on the gas, the car roared forward. Just then, a loud bang rang out from the opposite mountain, the race’s starting signal.
All three in the car froze in shock. Jiang Mu’s limbs went cold, her voice barely recognizable as she trembled, repeating, “What do we do? It started… What do we do?”
Jin Fengzi snapped out of it first and floored the gas pedal again, never even thinking of stopping. The car surged ahead, chasing after the race cars that had already stormed past the starting line. San Lai sat rigidly, his brows tightly furrowed, eyes fixed on the streaks of headlights flashing through the mountain curves.
The car screeched to a halt. Jin Fengzi slammed his fist against the door, voice rough with frustration, “We can’t catch up.”
Jiang Mu threw open the door and ran straight to the edge of the cliff. Below, one race car after another weaved through the mountain road, chasing each other down at incredible speed. The headlights stretched into ghostly streaks of light, slicing through the black mountains like blades. Her heart pounded violently in her chest, overwhelming fear tearing at her like a wild beast.
But then, she saw that car. That familiar black GTR, cutting into the curve with unstoppable force, pulling straight into second place. Jin Fengzi saw it too and shouted, “That’s Youjiu’s car!”
Jiang Mu didn’t dare blink. Her eyes locked onto it, and she bit her lip so hard it filled her mouth with the taste of blood, snapping her back to her senses. She grabbed San Lai’s arm. “The signal flares, the night pearls, are they still in your trunk?”
San Lai nodded. “In the back.”
“Give them to me. Now.”
The two rushed to the trunk and pulled out the night pearl flares. Jiang Mu’s hands trembled uncontrollably. When she took the lighter from Jin Fengzi, she could barely hold it steady. Her mind had only one command left: Light the flares. Light them all.
As the colored flare burst from the tube, Jiang Mu raised her arm high above her shoulder. She had no idea if Jin Chao could see it. But this was her only chance. She needed him to notice—notice the light from the night pearls. But one flare was too weak. The brilliant color flashed briefly into the sky, then quickly burned out.
Jiang Mu turned back to San Lai and Jin Fengzi and said, “Light them with me. All of them.”
She scrambled up onto a steep cliff edge in one breath. San Lai shouted from below, “Get down! It’s dangerous!”
Beneath her feet was a sheer abyss. Jin Chao’s life hung by a thread. Jiang Mu no longer knew what danger meant. She only knew that at this moment, her life was tethered to his. She grabbed all the night pearl flares from San Lai and Jin Fengzi and raised them high above her head like a beacon.
In an instant, seven or eight night pearls erupted into the sky like bursts of color across the night. Sparks rained down like burning chrysanthemums, their glow reflecting in Jiang Mu’s desperate eyes. She was gambling on a one percent chance. Just one glance, she thought. If Jin Chao saw it, if he just saw, he’d know she was here. That she was warning him, in the only way she could.
She saw that black war machine vanish from her field of vision, only to come roaring out from the next curve, overtaking the lead car. She saw Jin Chao’s GTR tearing ahead through the shadows of the night. She could almost hear the screech of tires echoing off the mountainside. She saw the ghost-like black car suddenly slow on a straightaway, its wheels beginning to drift sideways. She saw the vehicle, which should have turned cleanly into a series of tight corners, spiral out of control, hurtling straight toward the cliffside wall…
Jiang Mu’s hands went slack. The last of the night pearls slipped from her grip and tumbled into the ravine below. In the next second, a fire erupted, a blinding light seared into Jiang Mu’s pupils as a shockwave swept up the mountainside. The cars behind had already braked, one after another, stopping far from the cliff.
A thunderous boom shook the heavens and the earth. The explosion tore through the night, lighting up the entire valley.
Jiang Mu felt her soul unraveling. Her body tilted forward, only to be yanked back just in time by San Lai.