Chapter Ninety-Two: Seeking the Culprit

The taxi fares in Tear River were very reasonable: the flag-down rate was five yuan, and after the first three kilometers, it was one yuan per kilometer.

After paying the fare, Kang Ning arrived at the hospital where Luo Ming had been staying. Only after asking around did he learn that Luo Ming had discharged himself after just ten days.

At Kang Ning’s polite request, the young female doctor in the inpatient ward gladly helped him look up Luo Ming’s home address, and in the end even smiled warmly and said, “Come by when you have time!”

Luo Ming’s home was in a cluttered little alley. One glance was enough to tell anyone that the old houses in this area belonged to a slum. When he reached the middle of the alley, Kang Ning looked up at the house number, pushed open a half-closed wooden door, and walked in.

“Who are you looking for?”

A man in his fifties eyed Kang Ning warily, slowly edging toward a wooden staff leaning beside the side room.

Kang Ning smiled faintly. “I’m looking for Luo Ming, Uncle. Don’t worry, I’m his friend. My name is Wu Xiaohua.”

Only then did the thin, dark man stop moving. In a suspicious tone, he asked, “Why have I never seen you before, and never heard my son mention your name?”

Kang Ning was just about to explain when Luo Ming’s voice came from the side room. “Dad, I know who it is. It’s the big brother who saved me. Hurry and invite him in!”

Hearing this, the thin man immediately strode forward and grabbed Kang Ning’s hand. “Oh, oh, look at me, what was I thinking? I thought the enemies had come again. I don’t even know how to thank you. Come on, come on, sit inside!”

Kang Ning followed Old Luo into the room thick with the smell of disinfectant and saw Luo Ming sitting up against a heavy quilt on the bed. His left leg was in a cast, and the right hand, shortened by one segment, was wrapped in yellow gauze. His gaunt face was terribly pale, but that handsome face and familiar smile had not changed.

Seeing that he was in good spirits, Kang Ning stepped forward, carefully examined his injuries, glanced at the various medicines on the table, and picked up the crumpled medical chart to look through it.

Old Luo, deeply embarrassed, brought over a chair, wiped it again and again, and urged Kang Ning to sit.

Kang Ning thanked him and sat down. After asking in detail about Luo Ming’s condition and the doctor’s instructions, he said, “Wait half an hour for me,” and left under the puzzled gazes of father and son.

Half an hour later, Kang Ning returned, sat down in the room, and pointed to the two bulging plastic bags he had brought back, one large and one small. “Uncle Luo, the large bag is Chinese medicine, ten doses in all. If you trust me, boil one dose a day in a clay pot with an opening of at least eighteen centimeters. Use three kilograms of water for each dose and simmer it down to about one kilogram. Wash Luo Ming’s wound once every eight hours, and in ten days the wound on his hand should probably heal. As for the wound on his leg, once Luo Ming knocks off the cast and removes the steel pins inside, I’ll come back to look at it. If I’m not around, just use the prescription inside to get the medicine, and treat it the same way.”

“Trust you, trust you! Why wouldn’t I trust you?” Old Luo said excitedly. “I heard from the hospital doctors that your treatment was extremely precise and thorough, and the broken bones were set so perfectly. That director even said it was hard to imagine how you managed to do it so well without any X-ray analysis.”

Kang Ning waved it off politely, then pointed to the small packet on the table and said to Luo Ming, “I bought some medicine based on your condition. The instructions are written on the paper inside. Starting tomorrow, stop taking all other medicines and use only the ones I brought. You should recover a bit faster that way.”

Luo Ming nodded gratefully. “Brother Hua, why are you so good to me?”

“Because I need a favor from you,” Kang Ning said directly, stating his purpose.

Seeing that his son and Kang Ning seemed to have things to discuss, Old Luo tactfully excused himself and closed the door behind him. Only then did Kang Ning quietly raise his questions one by one. Luo Ming answered everything he knew, holding nothing back. Half an hour later, Kang Ning stood up and reminded him, “Rest well and recover. I hope you never saw me at all, not even your father. Understand?”

At first Luo Ming stared at Kang Ning in surprise for a long moment. Then, understanding his meaning, he nodded hard and said, “I understand, Brother Hua. Don’t worry. Also, once my leg heals, I’m moving to live with my uncle in Hanzhong. I never want to stay in this heartbreaking place again.”

Kang Ning nodded, took the five thousand yuan he had just received from his trouser pocket, and laid it on the table. Without looking back, he strode away, leaving Luo Ming sitting on the bed like a broken statue, two lines of grateful tears on his face.

At half past midnight, a battered green jeep with Chongqing plates pulled slowly to a stop in the shadows beside a road in the Dongxing district of Jiangbei. From the vehicle stepped a tall man with disheveled hair and worn work clothes. After shutting the door, he walked unhurriedly straight toward a restaurant specializing in local mutton dishes thirty meters away on the opposite side of the street.

Aside from his upright build, the man was no different from any factory worker one might see anywhere in Tear River. Even his accent, tone, and manner of speech matched the clothes on his back and the rough leather work shoes on his feet almost perfectly. This man was Kang Ning.

This was a shop that stayed open day and night. Every night, around eleven or twelve, it would draw a fairly fixed stream of customers. Most of the men and women who appeared at midnight or even in the small hours were people accustomed to nightlife. Many of the ladies and gentlemen employed in the booming service industry also came here after midnight to replenish the energy spent in vigorous activity. So although the place was small and in a less-than-ideal location, and though it had never been decorated at all, many still preferred to come.

Kang Ning ordered a bowl of mutton soup, two baked flatbreads, and two bottles of beer, then found a corner with a wall behind him and sat down. Lowering his head, he ate slowly, looking every bit the harmless, ordinary laborer, while his ears listened to the crude banter and laughter of the men and women around him. He knew his target had not yet appeared, so he continued to savor the delicious food with calm ease.

Just as Kang Ning was silently twisting off the cap of his second bottle of beer with a thumb, a white Toyota twelve-seat van parked arrogantly beneath the awning at the shop entrance, blocking almost the entire doorway.

The moment the door opened, four swaggering men got out one after another. Together they walked to the only round table in the center and stood there, sizing up a young couple seated around it with obvious interest.

The middle-aged owner saw that something was wrong and hurried over, but the young man at the table was still slapped hard twice across the face by one of the four, a yellow-haired punk.

The girl hurried to shield her boyfriend and pleaded loudly, “Sorry, Sixth Brother, we didn’t know you were coming. We’ll leave right now, right now.”

Supporting her boyfriend, whose mouth was full of blood, the girl hastily tried to leave. But when she passed a lean man, he ruthlessly pinched her breast, and hearing the girl’s scream, the four burst into loud, obscene laughter. Only after the girl and her boyfriend fled in humiliation did the four finally sit down casually. One of them, with a square, black face, shot the boss a cold look and said, “What are you standing there gaping at, you son of a bitch? Move. Same as always.”

“Right, right, coming right up!”

In less than two minutes, four jin of braised mutton and two cases of beer were brought to the table, along with five cold dishes such as dressed fish mint and dry-fried shredded potatoes. The four ate heartily as if no one else were there. The dozens of customers at the seven or eight square tables nearby all dared not speak loudly. Whenever they accidentally met the eyes of any of the four, they forced flattering smiles onto their faces. It was clear that everyone was deeply wary and afraid.

Kang Ning recognized at a glance the man in the center, the one who had not uttered a word until now. The azure dragon tattoo on his neck stood out unmistakably.

A sharp glint flashed in Kang Ning’s eyes and vanished at once. He slowly stood, walked calmly to the front of the shop, settled the bill, and left without a word.