The night was dark and windy, a night of bloody battles.
After exiting the doors of Baoli, Cheng Minglang, Han Jinlun, the dark sentinels of Ruichi, and myself, all of us let out a collective sigh of relief.
At this moment, after expelling the accumulated breath in my chest, I could no longer stand and stumbled to the roadside.
Just as Cheng Minglang was fumbling to help me up again, Luo Qiwen stopped her bright red BMW X6 by the roadside.
"Do you want to get in my car and go to the hospital?"
After weakly waving my hand, I said directly to Luo Qiwen, "I hope you can keep your word this time!"
Upon hearing this, Luo Qiwen's expression faltered slightly.
With the engine revving, she rolled down her car window and said coldly, "If time were rewound to before the founding of the country, no one would have needed an ambulance tonight. All of you... would have been at the bottom of Wenzhou Port long ago!"
Before her words had even finished, Luo Qiwen drove her X6 away.
I knew in my heart that she was telling the truth.
It wasn't a major problem for those who ran casinos to kill one or two people.
But the situation tonight was clearly different.
Tonight was unlike last time. If Luo Qiwen had truly intended to annihilate us, she would have had to silence everyone on my side, including Gu Chunlai.
The sudden disappearance of so many people without explanation, even a powerful figure like Luo Qiwen's boss, Yu Youwei, who could cover the sky with one hand, wouldn't be able to protect her!
This was precisely why tonight, at Baoli's establishment, there were only ruthless individuals, not desperate fugitives.
Luo Qiwen's original intention was undoubtedly to use me to kill one and warn a hundred, to make an example of me.
But she never expected that I would actually be fearless of death and use a life-for-life gamble to break this deadly predicament!
Now that the situation was resolved, as long as Yu Youwei honored the bet, the matters between Ruichi and Baoli would be completely settled.
Similarly, as long as Yu Youwei shut down the casino, tonight's events would also be thoroughly concluded!
However, I always felt that Yu Youwei, who had painstakingly orchestrated Luo Qiwen to repeatedly provoke Ruichi's establishment, would he be someone who would easily keep his promise?
Moreover, behind this dog of his, stood the undisputed overlord of Wenzhou's underground casinos – Ying Baolin.
As the old saying goes, when you beat a dog, you must consider its owner.
This time, I had severely slapped Ying Baolin's face, and there was no reason for him to let it go easily.
After this storm, a larger tsunami was bound to be waiting for me...
However, before I could ponder further, my vision suddenly went black, and I could no longer support myself, collapsing to the ground with a thud.
...
When I woke up again, I found myself in my rented room.
The bedside table was cluttered with various items, such as gauze for bandaging, iodine for disinfection, antibiotics to prevent infection, and antipyretics, a whole pile of medicine.
Not only that, my blood-soaked clothes had been changed, and I was clean and refreshed all over.
Even my wounds were neatly bandaged.
Just by looking at the bandages, I knew it wasn't the work of Cheng Minglang or Han Jinlun.
At that moment, Xu Peiyu walked in from outside, holding a bowl of Chinese medicine with a strong aroma.
The moment she saw me awake, Xu Peiyu's face lit up with excitement and joy, and she quickly said, "It's about time, Chen Xiang! You're finally awake!"
"Last night, after Cheng Minglang and the others brought you back from the small clinic, you had a high fever and were talking nonsense. It was truly terrifying!"
"Talking nonsense?" I asked, confused.
Hearing this, Xu Peiyu nodded in agreement, "Yes! You kept shouting things like 'Uncle Tuo, I will definitely avenge you' almost continuously throughout the night!"
"Who is Uncle Tuo? Is he your uncle? What happened to him?"
Upon hearing this, I replied with a touch of sadness, "Uncle Tuo was my master."
"He was beaten to death!"
Xu Peiyu was slightly taken aback, then quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, I, I... I didn't know!"
Shaking my head, I replied, "It's okay."
Xu Qing probably thought I didn't want to talk about it and didn't ask further.
Seeing my troubled expression, Xu Peiyu picked up the bowl in her hand, preparing to feed me the medicine.
At this, I struggled to sit up in bed and said with a wry smile, "Sister Peiyu, I'm not that delicate. I can do it myself."
Hearing my words, Xu Peiyu didn't respond verbally but shook her head slightly, extended the spoon filled with medicine, and brought it to my lips.
Honestly, this was the first time in my life I had been cared for by a woman.
At such close proximity, I felt awkward and unsure of what to do.
Just then...
"Open your mouth!"
Although her voice was firm, Xu Peiyu's movements were gentle.
Scooping a full spoonful of medicine, Xu Peiyu first brought it to her own lips and blew on it gently. Once she felt it was just right, she signaled me to open my mouth.
There was no choice. I had to obediently open my mouth wide like a younger brother.
Good medicine tastes bitter but helps recovery.
The medicine was so bitter that when I swallowed it, I almost couldn't help but spit it out.
But it was precisely this movement of lowering my head that allowed me to glimpse a different kind of scenery, forcing me to swallow the medicine.
"Mountains look like ridges from afar, but like peaks from the side; they are different depending on whether you view them from near or far, high or low!"
At such close range, every time Xu Peiyu leaned forward, a dazzling white glimpse of her chest would be revealed.
As if noticing my unusual gaze, Xu Peiyu, after blushing slightly, not only didn't retract but intentionally or unintentionally increased the downward angle.
"Tolerance is greatness!"
I swear to heaven, I really wasn't looking on purpose!
But I couldn't pretend to be a gentleman and drink the medicine with my eyes closed, could I?
After all, I wasn't a saint. And movies and TV shows always say that men are... naturally inclined!
In short, the process of drinking the medicine was so intimate, so intimate that I completely forgot the bitter taste of the medicine.
It took about ten minutes to drink the bowl of medicine...
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
The moment the knock sounded, I looked up to see Luo Qiwen, carrying various high-end nutritional supplements and some external wound medicine.
Upon seeing Luo Qiwen, my face immediately fell.
How did this woman find me?
This was the most crucial question in my mind.
Seeing Luo Qiwen's arrival, Xu Peiyu was first taken aback, then stood up and walked towards the door with the bowl.
"You guys talk."