Hualian AU ~ 4. At the Green Ghost Lair

Part 3

The gathering was huge, with everyone wearing similar army jackets and bandanas; apparently their leader, The Green Ghost, was fussy about the dress code. Thinking of Qi Rong as anyone's leader made Xie Lian shake his head in disbelief, thinking of how he used to be back in the day.

Burn barrels everywhere made the place stinky and smoky, and that loud hip hop being played on bad quality speakers gave the place a proper hellish feel. Hua Cheng, Xie Lian and Lang Qianqiu walked around the crowd; it looked more like a social gathering with most of them drinking beer or sharing spliffs.

Hua Cheng walked confidently, probably being guided by PC Xiaxian Yue via a wireless earpiece. Xie Lian breathed in deeply, gathering his courage, and walked quickly close to him, tugging on his sleeve lightly. Hua Cheng looked at him and blinked slowly, as if acknowledging his presence.

At the very end of the warehouse there was a "vip" area, if they could call it like that; some guys were sitting down on old moulded sofas and crude barbecues were being prepared, with only second-rate meat and sausages. Hua Cheng signalled to Xia Lian and Lang Qianqiu to stay behind, and walked in with big strides to the man in the middle. It was Qi Rong.

Qi Rong was wearing green Nike tracksuits and dirty Nike Air trainers; he had greasy-looking ginger hair and a big tattoo over his neck. Xie Lian tried to match that man he was looking at to the boy he knew, always getting in trouble, but somehow charismatic enough to drag others with him.

"So, do I have the honour of meeting The Green Ghost himself?", Hua Cheng asked sarcastically, stopping in front of him and crossing his arms.

"Who the fuck are you?", Qi Rong asked, spitting a butt spliff on the side.

"I came to ask how An Le died", Hua Cheng replied simply. His confrontational stance made Qi Rong and his mates around him wary, maybe thinking he had a gun or something.

"An Le? Who the fuck is An Le?", he asked, and after a moment he added, "An Le from Yong'An? That guy?"

"Your memory is good, so you only make OTHERS smoke that brain melting shit then", Hua Cheng said.

Qi Rong got up slowly, and said in an annoyed tone, "Who are you again? Why you're fucking asking about An Le? A blast from the past are you?" and gave a hysterical laughter. His mates laughed too.

"A blast about to go off on your face", Hua Cheng hissed, and stepped closer. Xie Liang grabbed Lang Qianqiu's sleeve and moved closer too, ready to join any brawl should Qi Rong attack Hua Cheng.

He didn't. He gave Hua Cheng a once-over, and hissed back, "You must be his brother then. I remember he had a dumb little brother".

Lang Qianqiu's body tensed, and Xie Lian grabbed his sleeve tighter.

"I heard his brother was looking for me. I sent some guys to stir trouble in Ghost City last night, teach him a lesson. You're the one that went nuts right?" and laughed noisily again. Hua Cheng just stayed silent, leading Qi Rong to think he touched a nerve.

Sure enough, he carried on boasting, "Listen, An Le was just a stupid boy I knew, who was fucking weak, and died. So? You went nuts, bet you're fucking weak too". He laughed again with his mates.

Hearing such words and seeing that general laughter at his dead brother's expense, Lang Qianqiu couldn't hold back any longer. He shrugged Xie Lian off and stepped forward in a rage, his face red, shouting, "WHO ARE YOU CALLING FUCKING WEAK? THIS IS MY BROTHER YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT, YOU GREEN GHOST PIECE OF SHIT!"

Now Qi Rong was surprised, and looking at Lang Qianqiu, he squinted his eyes, recognising him, and said, "So YOU're the brother. Who are you then? His boyfriend?", he asked Hua Cheng. Hua Cheng didn't react; Lang Qianqiu, still in his rage, proceeded to confront Qi Rong,

"You take it back what you said about my brother. He wasn't weak. He was dragged into drugs by shitty bastards like you!", he said.

Qi Rong made a mock outraged face, looking around for comic effect; his mates laughed noisily, howled, and some were even throwing a few empty beer cans at Lang Qianqiu. He stood still, never taking his eyes off Qi Rong, and then stepped forward.

Qi Rong said, "Boy, I must say you got some nerve there, to come here in my lair and face me like that. But you know what? I don't give a shit he died", he said, looking around to his mates. Then he looked back at Lang Qianqiu and said, "He died because he was weak, he couldn't hold back, end of story".

Lang Qianqiu jumped ahead to punch Qi Rong in a mad fury; Hua Cheng grabbed Qi Rong, and Xie Lian also jumped forward to hold Lang Qianqiu. Qi Rong tried to shake himself off Hua Cheng's hold; his mates stepped in, and Hua Cheng twisted Qi Rong's arm behind his back and he yelped with a painful face.

He screamed, "Ok ok ok stop it, fucking stop it!!! I'll tell you about An Le, I'll tell everything."

Hua Cheng eased his hold, and Qi Rong repeated,"I'll tell you everything".

Thanks for reading! The next parts are coming soon so watch this space! 😉