Chapter Fifty-Eight: Encounter with an Elderly Gentleman

He and Da Zhuang’s business had only just begun to show promise. If he agreed to Guo Xiaohua’s proposal at this moment, Fang Yuan would seem untrustworthy, a man without integrity.

“If you’re worried about your restaurant, which has just started to pick up, I’ll have a word with Brother Nan later. We’ll make sure our friends take good care of your business,” Guo Xiaohua said.

For them, helping a small restaurant was child’s play.

“Master, you can’t rely on a little restaurant for your whole life. That Brother Nan is quite interesting—we could give it a try,” Chong Chong urged Fang Yuan. It wasn’t that Chong Chong thought running a restaurant was bad, but rather that Fang Yuan’s ambitions didn’t lie there.

In truth, Fang Yuan was rather curious about Brother Nan. During their last transaction, Fang Yuan had seen it with his own eyes: something so small could be sold for a whole crate of money…

If it were possible, Fang Yuan truly wanted to see what kind of thing could be worth so much.

Seeing Fang Yuan still hesitant, Guo Xiaohua wasn’t in a hurry.

Fang Yuan didn’t give an immediate answer; instead, he said he’d go back and think it over carefully. Since they’d been drinking, none of them could drive, so in the end, each took a cab home.

For several days, Fang Yuan hadn’t had the chance to get into a fight, and when he finally did, it was with a lunatic.

He hadn’t noticed it before, but now, with night fallen, Fang Yuan felt as if his body was crawling with ants—an unbearable, maddening itch.

The driver saw Fang Yuan twisting and squirming in the back seat, and thought he must be ill, glancing back at him in alarm again and again.

“Sir, are you… are you alright? Should I take you to the hospital?” The driver was a kind-hearted uncle, and seeing Fang Yuan’s face flushed and his body writhing in pain, he grew genuinely concerned.

“Master, are you okay? It’s because you didn’t get to spar with anyone today. If it’s really unbearable… maybe you should just get out, pick someone who rubs you the wrong way, and hit them a few times, just to take the edge off?” Chong Chong suggested, knowing it was an awful thing to say, but watching Fang Yuan suffer so, it would rather someone else be uncomfortable than see Fang Yuan in such pain.

“Chong Chong, how many times have I told you? That’s not right. If you’re going to follow me, don’t say things like that again,” Fang Yuan replied weakly.

Every joint in his body felt as if it were being eaten away by ants. It was as though he’d been thrown into a giant anthill, and he was the object of their ravenous attack—painful and itchy, and scratching did nothing to help.

“Or… maybe we could talk to this uncle driving?” Chong Chong ventured timidly.

The driver in front looked to be in his forties, with a sturdy build. Chong Chong didn’t mean to be malicious, but it was genuinely worried that if things went on like this, Fang Yuan’s body might give out.

Hearing Chong Chong’s idea, Fang Yuan grew a little angry. This uncle was just showing concern—how could he even consider doing something to him?

In the end, Fang Yuan’s senses started to blur, the world before his eyes growing hazy.

“Uncle…”

After a long time, Fang Yuan, who’d been sitting in the back, finally came to. He looked full of energy now.

The driver heard him and glanced back. “You’re awake? You looked so miserable earlier I was really worried. We’re almost at the hospital now.”

Seeing Fang Yuan’s vigor, the driver was surprised. Just moments ago he had been in agony; now he seemed perfectly fine.

“Thank you, Uncle, but that won’t be necessary. I just drank a little too fast and my stomach felt off,” Fang Yuan explained.

He’d been about to get out of the car, but the driver’s words filled him with a sudden warmth.

“Uncle, have you ever wronged anyone, or has anyone wronged you?” Fang Yuan asked out of the blue.

The driver was stunned by the unexpected question and just stared at him with a strange expression. Fang Yuan quickly explained, “It’s like this, Uncle: I’m someone who stands up for justice. Luckily, you didn’t throw me out of the car earlier—otherwise, things could have gotten dangerous. I’m the type who repays kindness. If you ever need my help, just say the word. No matter what kind of villain you’re dealing with, I can handle it for you,” Fang Yuan declared earnestly.

Normally, such words would make people angry—maybe even earn him a beating. But the uncle didn’t seem upset; in fact, he looked quite moved.

Yet, after glancing at Fang Yuan’s build, the uncle couldn’t help but shake his head and sigh. “Ah, young man, I appreciate your kind intentions. It’s getting late. Let me take you home,” he said, turning the car towards Fang Yuan’s original destination.

“Don’t say that, Uncle. I mean it. Why did you sigh just now?” Fang Yuan pressed, unwilling to let the matter drop. From the uncle’s sigh, he could tell the man really did have some trouble.

Fighting needed a reason; he wasn’t the type to hit people without cause. But if someone was bullying others, he could rightfully step in as a champion of justice.

Hearing the uncle’s helpless sigh, Fang Yuan couldn’t let this chance slip by. If he didn’t get some practice in, who knew what strange symptoms might arise.

“It’s nothing, but I suppose I can tell you about it,” the uncle replied. There was still a way to go before they reached their destination, and chatting would help pass the time.

As it turned out, the uncle really had run into a tricky situation lately. Driving a taxi meant being on the road all day, and after a while, traffic accidents were inevitable.

But the uncle was an experienced driver, careful and steady. Yet just yesterday, at a quiet intersection, he’d run into a scam artist faking injury.

The surveillance camera at that intersection wasn’t working, and, as an experienced driver, he knew his car didn’t have a dash cam either. With another passenger waiting, the uncle just wanted to give the scammer two hundred yuan and be done with it. But the man refused, demanding two thousand, or else he’d insist on going to the hospital—and they even had witnesses claiming they saw the uncle’s car hit the young man.

So, it was clearly a gang working together.

The uncle had just started his shift and hadn’t earned anything yet, with only about five hundred yuan on him, much of it in small bills. They took the money and made him write an IOU, telling him to bring the rest by that evening.

Not wanting to worry his family, the uncle hadn’t told his wife. He’d gone out early that morning, driving all day, and finally scraped together the remaining fifteen hundred yuan. Once he dropped Fang Yuan off, he planned to deliver the money, or else they’d go after his family for it.