Stop Being a Black Lotus, Okay? - Chapter 9

In the afternoon, Lu Min’s car pulled up at the school gate exactly on time. He was there to pick up Ying Yulian, yet the boy did not appear. He checked his watch and scanned the entrance. The after-school rush was pouring out; students in uniform moved in small groups, their laughter and chatter washing over the street like a tide.

Lu Min searched the crowd, capturing every familiar silhouette: light blue uniform, dark backpack, and a slender frame. There was no sign of him.

Time ticked by, and the flow of people thinned. Only a few children waiting for parents and a few teachers remained. Lu Min’s brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. He pushed the car door open and walked straight to the security booth. The security guard recognized him as the young entrepreneur who had recently been in the news and stood up immediately.

“Mr. Lu.”

“Has Ying Yulian come out?”

The guard checked his records. “Ying Yulian from Class 10-2? He left the school at 5:50 PM. A man came to pick him up and said he was the boy’s uncle and that there was an emergency.”

Lu Min’s gaze turned cold instantly. “A man? What did he look like?”

“In his forties or fifties, quite thin, and dressed a bit, well, scruffy. But his eyes were very similar to those of student Ying,” the guard recalled. “Student Ying struggled with him at first and seemed unwilling to go, but he soon followed him into a car quite submissively. So, I did not intervene. They turned right at the gate and headed toward the Old Town district.”

Lu Min turned and left without a word. Similar eyes? He did not need to think to know who it was.

He returned to his car but did not start the engine immediately. Instead, he made a call. When the call connected, his voice was as cold as ice. “Find someone for me: Ying Guiquan, the biological father of Ying Yulian. I want all his recent travel records, and I want them now.”

He hung up, turned the steering wheel with one hand, and expertly maneuvered the car toward the Old Town. The setting sun dyed the road blood-red, and the rearview mirror reflected his tense face and bottomless eyes.

The Old Town was a slum area scheduled for demolition, filled with narrow alleys that were as complex as a maze. Lu Min could not drive his car inside, so he parked at the entrance and got out. The alley was filled with the smell of rotting food and cheap cigarettes. A few thugs squatting in the corner looked up, their eyes flickering when they saw him.

Lu Min walked forward with silent steps. He stopped in front of a thug with dyed yellow hair. His voice was not loud, but it made the surrounding air feel frozen. “Have you seen a boy in a school uniform? About this high, very thin, with a white shirt and a blue sweater.”

The man trembled, his eyes wandering. “No, I did not see him.”

Lu Min reached into his jacket pocket, not to grab him, but to pull out several large red bills. He unfolded them before the man’s eyes. “How about now?”

The man took the money and licked his finger as he counted it. “Over there, the scrap yard at the very end. Old Man Ying brought a student over there just now.”

Lu Min turned away. The scrap yard was at the deepest part of the alley, a makeshift shack built of scrap metal and wooden boards. The door was slightly ajar, and the sound of arguing and breaking objects drifted from inside.

Lu Min kicked the door open. It hit the wall with a loud bang. In the dim light, he saw Ying Yulian. The boy was tied up in the corner with his wrists behind his back. Red marks circled his wrists, and several buttons on his shirt had been torn off, revealing a pale collarbone marked with bright red bruises. There was a fresh bruise on his forehead, and his lip was split and bleeding, making his lips look even more vivid. He looked like a fallen spirit.

He was not crying. He was staring at the man in front of him with a fierce, predatory look that Lu Min had never seen before.

The man, Ying Guiquan, held an empty liquor bottle and reeked of alcohol. “I am your father! I raised you, so what if I want some money? Your lover looks rich enough. He is in the newspapers every day; tell him to bring money to ransom you!”

“He is not a lover,” Ying Yulian’s voice was raspy but exceptionally clear. “He is my guardian.”

“Guardian? Ha!” Ying Guiquan spat. “I am not dead yet! It is not up to others to guard you. If you do not give me money today, I will—”

He did not finish his sentence because Lu Min had already moved. The man did not even see how Lu Min reached him. There was a blur before his eyes, a sharp pain in his wrist, and the bottle flew out of his hand, smashing against the wall into pieces. In the next second, he was overturned by a massive force, and his back slammed heavily against a metal shelf filled with scrap.

Lu Min did not even look at him. He walked straight to the corner, knelt on one knee, and began to untie the rope around Ying Yulian’s wrists. His movements were fast, but his fingers paused almost imperceptibly when he felt the deep marks on the boy’s skin.

“Brother,” Ying Yulian’s voice was trembling, but not from fear.

“Do not speak.” Lu Min untied the rope and helped the boy up, carefully checking the injuries on his face. “Can you walk?”

Ying Yulian nodded vigorously. Lu Min took off his jacket and draped it over the boy. The jacket was large and almost swallowed him whole, leaving only a pale, bruised face visible.

“Let us go home,” Lu Min said, putting an arm around his shoulder to lead him away.

Just then, the raspy laughter of Ying Guiquan came from behind them. “Go? Where are you going?”

Lu Min stopped and slowly turned around. Four men had blocked the entrance of the scrap yard. They were in their twenties and thirties, wearing dirty work clothes and holding steel pipes and wooden clubs. The leader had a scarred face and grinned to reveal a mouthful of yellow teeth.

“Old Man Ying, is this the rich lover you mentioned?” The man with the scar looked Lu Min up and down. “I can settle my previous grudge with him right now as well.”

Ying Guiquan crawled up from the floor and wiped the blood from his mouth with a poisonous look. “That is him! Knock him down and take the boy back. I want this rich brat to pay for his release!”

Lu Min did not say a word. He moved Ying Yulian behind him and calmly scanned the four men. “Ying Yulian,” he whispered, “stay behind me. Count to ten, then run out. Do not look back.”

Ying Yulian gripped his shirt tightly and shook his head.

“Listen to me,” Lu Min’s tone was beyond dispute.

The man with the scar could not wait any longer and lunged forward with a steel pipe. Lu Min dodged to the side, grabbed the man’s wrist, and twisted it. The pipe fell to the floor with a clang. His movements were so fast they left only a shadow.

Seeing this, the other three men pounced together. Lu Min protected Ying Yulian completely, blocking, punching, and kicking. Every move was precise and brutal, using the practical style of police combat. A pipe slammed into his raised arm with a dull thud, but he did not even flinch. He snatched the pipe and struck his opponent’s ribs.

There was a scream as two men fell. Only one man and the scarred leader, who was getting back up, remained. Lu Min’s breathing was still steady, but Ying Yulian saw fine beads of sweat on his forehead. The arm that had taken the blow was trembling slightly.

“Brother, I will not leave you behind,” the boy said with a sob in his voice.

“What number are you on?” Lu Min asked, his voice still calm.

Ying Yulian could not speak. The man with the scar spat out some blood and looked fierce. He suddenly pulled a switchblade from his waist. The blade flicked open, gleaming in the dim light. “You can fight, can you? I will show you—”

He did not finish because Lu Min had moved first. He stepped forward, faking a move with his left hand while his right hand went for the man’s wrist in a standard disarming maneuver. The man fell for the bait and swung the knife toward Lu Min’s left side.

But at that exact moment, a change occurred. The man who had been huddled in the corner had picked up a piece of a broken bottle and lunged from Lu Min’s blind spot. The glass shard gleamed as it aimed directly for Lu Min’s back.