Chapter 2 No Bracelet
But now.
I let go of Xu Xin.
When Mu Qing's expression eased, I seized his gun and pressed it hard against his forehead.
"Get this straight. I rule The Docks. What I say and what I do are the Rules."
The words landed, and the men around us saw how it was going and gathered in.
"If that gun of yours goes off, my people can chop you two to pieces and bury you with me."
Mu Qing's face sank as he lowered the gun.
But Xu Xin squeezed out and blocked him behind her, staring at me stubbornly.
"Mu Qing started this with you. Why do you get to bully people, while he's just a small fry?
"He's way stronger than you. You wait and see. He will make you get out of The Docks.
"When that time comes, our family of three will step on your grave and live happily ever after!"
Mu Qing's face changed. He hurried to cover her mouth.
I let out a scoff and lifted my hand.
My men bound the struggling pair tightly and dragged them to The Docks.
A whip with fine needles cracked hard across Mu Qing.
Skin split. Flesh tore open.
Before two strikes were done, his face had gone deathly pale.
I looked down at him from above.
"You take punishment every day just to keep Xu Xin here.
"But she ignores your safety and comes to provoke me. You really think she has you in her heart?"
Mu Qing stayed on his knees. He smiled weakly.
"It doesn't matter. I only want to live up to my own heart."
The whole place went silent.
Even my men cast looks of pity and respect toward Mu Qing.
My lips stuck together. I couldn't say a word.
After all, back then...
Mu Qing had been taken by the Rival Gang to threaten me.
He had been cut several times, bleeding nonstop, a blade still held to his neck.
The Rival Gang mocked me for hesitating between The Docks and Mu Qing, and they tried to turn him.
He had been just as weak as he was now. The corner of his mouth lifted. His gaze was clear as he looked at me.
"My heart is plain to see, and my feelings have never changed."
His love really was something he could prove through action.
Even if it was an act, I believed he had truly been moved.
So I badly wanted to ask "why."
But my pride would not allow it.
Xu Xin cried herself hoarse.
She bit one of my men hard, broke free, and threw herself onto Mu Qing to take a lash for him.
The pain nearly knocked her out.
She lifted Mu Qing's face with reddened eyes.
"Even if I die, I will die with you!"
She looked at me with hate.
"You'd better kill us both today. Otherwise Mu Qing will never let you go!"
My eyes went red with anger too.
"Fine. Then I'll grant you that. Do it."
"What is this fuss now?"
The voice came from an old man with a knife scar, his face full of displeasure.
I knew him. He had been under my Parents.
When I was little he had even come to my house for meals.
After my Parents died, he washed his hands of it.
"Uncle Qin?"
I froze for a second, then stepped forward, glad.
"What brings you..."
Before I finished, a slap I never saw coming left a red mark on my face.
"Is this how you run The Docks?
"You didn't learn a bit of your Parents' kindness and generosity. You really disappoint me.
"If I had known your temper was this violent, I never should have let you take over The Docks!"
I hadn't quite processed it.
Suddenly more than ten people rushed out and surrounded us.
My men's faces looked ugly as they handed me a phone.
A file was spreading across The Docks.
There was the torment of Mu Qing over this period.
There was me sending a pregnant Xu Xin into the sea.
And a clipped recording:
"The Docks Rules. Do not harm the old, the weak, women and children."
"I rule The Docks. My word is the Rules."
The crowd was furious.
Mu Qing was helped to his feet.
He calmly handed me a new Split Agreement.
Nine for him. One for me.
"If following you means I can't protect Xu Xin, then we can only be enemies.
"Haigu, I didn't want this. You forced me."
I finally remembered what my Parents had said about him—"scheming."
He had once used that scheming to help me stand firm.
Now he had aimed that scheming at me.
"I'll give you one day to find Xu Xin's Bracelet.
"Otherwise every one of your people will have their hands and feet chopped off and be sunk into the sea."
I stared at him, unable to believe it.
"Haigu, save us!"
Several of the men present panicked, faces ashen, and dropped to their knees with a thud before me.
"We still have wives and kids! We followed you from the very start!"
I clenched the Split Agreement tight in my palm and looked deeply at Mu Qing.
"This is your final choice?"
Xu Xin walked out from behind him, her eyes full of satisfaction.
She covered the wound at the corner of her mouth and let out a little cry.
Mu Qing didn't look at me. Right in front of me, he kissed her wound.
"It's fine. It will be over soon."
"I understand."
I turned and walked toward the boat.
"Does Haigu know what the Bracelet looks like?"
Xu Xin smiled as she came close, her voice lowered.
"I'll tell you the truth. There was never any Bracelet.
"Mu Qing might not touch you, but your people are destined to die in pieces because of you.
"Guess why he insists on driving you out of The Docks? After all, if you found out he already knew the Truth of how your Parents died, you would definitely go insane, right? Uh!"
I seized her throat with one hand and used all the strength in my body.
"What did you say?"
A scream came from behind me.
The man wearing the Gold Bullet clutched his waist as blood kept spilling out.
Mu Qing held a gun, his face dark.
"Let go of Xu Xin, or the next shot is his head."
"Mu Qing, how dare you!"
I threw Xu Xin aside and ran to hold the man up, my eyes scarlet as I shouted.
"Call a doctor!"
Not a single person moved.
Tears poured from me. I grabbed Mu Qing's leg.
"I'm begging you. Save him! He really will die!"
Mu Qing paused.
Xu Xin covered her neck and coughed twice.
His face went cold again.
"This is all your fault. You couldn't tolerate Xu Xin.
"You'd better go find the Bracelet fast. He gets treatment when you find it."
My eyes went wide. I suddenly laughed, sharp and mocking.
"Right. It's all my fault.
"I believed you really loved me, and you brought another woman back.
"I believed you were really loyal to me, and you had already schemed for my The Docks with someone else.
"I believed we had lived and died together for so many years, and it turns out my pain came from you all along!"
Mu Qing's breathing turned rapid. He yanked my collar and forced me to look straight at him.
"What did you find out? Speak!"
The next instant, a bullet grazed his cheek.
People closed in from all sides.
The doctor who had been held back finally rushed over and treated the man's wound.
The tightness in my chest let go. I shook off Mu Qing's hand and stood up.
"I don't know anything."
"But it looks like you know a lot. In that case, a lot of things should be settled properly."
I glanced at Xu Xin, whose face had sunk, and spoke slowly.
"Right, little spy?"