Mrs. Bicao had escorted Su She to a black car. They were driven to an empty apartment in another part of the city.
"Why did you bring me here?"
"It's safer. And you should stay low for the next few days." The older woman’s reply was curt and to the point. She sensed something was off in this case. But she wouldn't ask. She was asked to just bail this man out and that was it. Her job was done.
“Stay here until you’re contacted. Do not do anything stupid. Because I am not sure we can save your ass every time you fuck up.” She nodded at him and left immediately.
 

----
 

"You stupid fuck! I told you to fix that bumper ASAP but you went ahead and got high! How could you get caught with drugs on your person? Have you fucking lost your marbles? I swear to god… " Jin Zixun yelled at Su She, while the latter paid no attention to him.
Instead he looked at the other person in the room.
"Why didn't you answer my calls?"
Qin Su, ever the temptress, only smiled.
"I called someone to save you, didn't I?" She gave him the languid seductive smile that she knew he wouldn't be able to refuse.
"That's because it's within your interest to save me too, wouldn't wanna get indicted for the accident that we were involved in, right?"
Qin Su just shrugged and flicked the ash from her cigarette off.
"Potayto, potahto."
Su She was livid, but he knew he couldn't do anything. Not while he was still in the spotlight.
Jin Zixun had managed to calm down but the end of the couple’s conversation. He nursed his drink while he looked at them.
"I have some news by the way.” Jin Zixun stood up and filled his glass with more alcohol, “I heard from the grapevine that someone tattled on you." He sneered. "And I found out who he is." He drank the alcohol swiftly. "Wanna take care of it?"
Su She wanted to say no. He really did. But he had somehow lost his ability to take any decisions now. His thoughts were all muddled. He scratched at the itch at the back of his neck again and then held his head, wincing in pain. “My head is throbbing. Give me something to take the edge off.”
Jin Zixun shrugged and fetched the packet from inside a pocket hidden inside his jacket.
“Here you go.”
 

-----
 

They waited inside the dark alley, both high on liquid courage and a sniff of the white powder to make them feel invisible. Su She's hands were twitching so bad and all he saw was red after he rewound all that was happening to him. The injustice, the pain of losing to the King, the woman that never liked him back, the accident, everything built up to this pent-up frustration and he needed a release.
Jin Zixun on the other hand, treated this just as one of his amusements. He was just along for the ride. He always got a heady feeling of bullying people. This was what he was good at. Making others feel like trash. He rubbed his hands together in anticipation. He flicked his lighter to light up his cigarette, and blew the smoke to Su She's face.
"The fuck?"
Su She was already teetering on the edge, almost blew up right then and there, when they heard footsteps approaching.
“Shhh… he’s here.” Zixun said, dropping his cigarette and tamping it down with his foot.
They quieted at once and hid in the shadows before suddenly grabbing the one they'd been waiting for and dragged him further away to the darker part of the alley.
 

----
 

He needed to take a break, which was why he found himself outside in the crisp night air. He breathed deeply and then stretched. On a whim he quickly took out his phone and called Xichen and Mingjue. He just wanted to hear their voice before he went back in and turned in for the night.
He had a big show coming up the next day. Xichen and Mingjue were of course invited to the show but his practice schedules were so gruelling that he had not had a chance to meet his lovers in almost a week. It frustrated him but he was still so grateful to have their love and support. He checked his twitter and saw the string of Best of luck messages from the people who had now become his family.
I really am lucky. He thought to himself for the umpteenth time, a smile involuntarily etched on his lips.
The phone rang for a few times but no one picked up. He checked the watch on his wrist and then slapped a hand on his forehead. It was past midnight. They must have already fallen asleep.
He quickly sent out a text telling them he missed them and then walked to the convenience store near his house where Xue Yang also happened to work. He made it a habit to go to that place often now. He had taken a liking to the boy and always bought him and the children candy whenever possible. He smiled as he imagined their excited expressions.
As he entered the store, he looked around for the teen but when he didn’t see him, he shrugged and bought the candy nevertheless. He would give it to them tomorrow after the show. Paying for all that he needed, he walked out and was just about to leave when he heard a pained sound from the dark alley beside the store.
Every sense of his being told him to run the opposite way, but unfortunately, he had the softest heart that sometimes betrayed his instinct. He wondered if it was a small animal that was hurting, or maybe an unfortunate someone. So, against his better judgement he made his way towards the sound.
 

----
 

At first, he didn’t see anything but then his eyes adjusted to the darkness and what he saw made cold sweat run down his spine. Two people were punching and kicking a small figure who had curled himself into a ball trying to protect himself from the onslaught of violence being rained down upon him.
“Hey!” Yao shouted, walking forward on legs that felt like jelly but he still kept going. “HEY! STOP!” He shouted again. As he neared them, he could see their faces and then he stopped short when he recognised one of them.
“Jin Zixun?” He said with disbelief.
Before his brain could comprehend what was going on, his body had already moved forward to shield the prone body on the ground. He looked down and saw it was Xue Yang though he was barely able to recognize the teen who was now sporting a split lip, and numerous bruises on his face and hands. One of his eyes had been swollen shut, most probably due to a punch. Yao leaned down to determine if the teen was breathing and then sighed in relief when he heard the laboured breaths fanning his cheek.
Thank God he’s OK. I can still save him.
He didn’t know where he got the sudden courage from but he stood up and faced the attackers. He didn’t know the other guy so he just turned to his cousin. “Jin Zixun! What do you think you’re doing? Bullying someone was already bad enough and now you’re into beating someone till their last breath? Is this what you have become? SHAME ON YOU!”
For a few minutes no one said anything and then Jin Zixun snapped out of the shock. “Jin Guangyao! Who do you think you’re to talk to me like this? You useless piece of shit. How dare you act all high and mighty when you’re nothing else but a bastard child.”
“I will call the police on you Jin Zixun. I am not going to let you get away with this.”
Yao pulled his phone out to call the authorities when suddenly the phone was snatched away from his hand and thrown to the side where it hit the alley wall and shattered.
Jin Zixun pushed Yao away from the teen and then started kicking him again. “Su She, make sure, this bastard cousin of mine doesn’t run and babble to anyone.”
Yao had to do something to stop those two. He had to draw attention to him so that Jin Zixun stopped hitting the poor teen. “You think that is going to stop me?” He made a turn to run out of the alleyway, when he felt hands on his shoulders trying to grab him. He fought hard.
“Zixun help me!” The man named Su She shouted.
Zixun stopped hitting the figure on the ground and turned towards his cousin. “Jin Guangyao, you think we would let you leave unscathed?”
Yao’s eyes flickered to Xue Yang trying to figure out if the boy was still alive and when he saw his hand move a little, he closed his eyes, praying for someone to show up and save them. But none came. It was late night and the streets were almost empty. He regretted not calling anyone before he blindly ran into the alleyway.
I should have called someone. I should have called the police.
“Listen, I will let this go if you just leave quietly right now. I won’t call the authorities, OK? Just leave! I will make sure; the teen doesn’t say anything either. Please, don’t do anything that you would regret later.” Yao tried his best to de-escalate the situation. He was worried for the boy, worried for himself but more importantly what he saw in Jin Zixun’s eyes scared him.
Zixun walked towards him and the closer he got the crazier he looked. Yao realised there was no reasoning with this man.
“Zixun, you don’t have to do this. Beating me up won’t help your cause. You will just invite more trouble your way.”
“Oh you need to be taught a lesson, bastard.”
Yao closed his eyes, waiting for the punch and when it came he stumbled back. There was another punch and then another. And then he was kicked hard. The force of the kick sent him flying, his body hitting the wall with a thud. His body crumpled on the floor as his eyes saw black and then something warm started trickling down the back of his head. His vision blurred. He saw the two attackers make a run for it.
Ahh… we’re safe. We’re safe. He thought to himself.
After a while a hand held his, he tried turning his head but there was so much pain. So he tried squeezing the other hand reassuringly but he couldn’t move his fingers. He couldn’t. No matter how much he tried, he felt like his body was giving up.
He could hear snippets of what the voice was saying but he couldn’t make any sense of them. It was all jumbled in his brain. He was losing consciousness. He willed himself to stay awake but then all went black.
Cai Ding was walking back home from the convenient store, he had both hands full of groceries, and he was in the middle of a fight with his mother when he heard that suspicious sound from the dark alley behind the dumpster.
He was a man who always took extra precaution in every single thing he did, so when he heard that suspicious sound, he just wanted to run away. But something stopped him.
He really did not want to get involved in whatever was happening behind the alley, but curiosity finally got the better of him, and he tried to take a peek… only to have a heart attack, almost.
The sight was horrendous.
There's a man bleeding to death near the dumpster and the other one curled in the corner, sobbing.
He dropped his groceries and took his phone out to call the ambulance… and the police.
 

----
 

Lan Xichen was still working at his office when he received the call that changed his life. He tightly gripped his phone and paled, closing his eyes to think about the last time they met.
"I'll be right there, Zhuliu."
"I'll send you a car. Don't drive by yourself please."
"Okay. Thanks."
He arrived at his destination 30 minutes later and he looked for Zhuliu straight away. It seemed that he left instruction to the officers outside the perimeter to take him in. Zhuliu met him in the middle and took him a bit farther away from the scene.
"Xichen, what are you doing here? You should be in the hospital."
"I need to be here. I can't help him in the hospital, but I can, here." Xichen's hands were shaking so bad, but he held on.
"Xi… "
"Please."
"Fine. Let me introduce you to the detectives in charge." He grabbed his elbow and walked to a couple of plain clothes detectives that stood near the blood mark on the floor.
"Detective Song, Detective Xiao, meet Counsellor Lan, my friend, and friend of the victim."
Both of the detectives eyed him suspiciously.
"Isn't this a bit unethical, Captain Wen?" Detective Song, the taller one, looked at him hard, eyes unwavering.
"Please, I won't do anything to hinder your jobs… I just… I just… please, just let me in the loop."
They looked at each other, before answering him.
"We will keep you in the loop, counsellor Lan. But for now, will you please just go to the hospital and be with your… friend?" The shorter detective gave him a knowing look.
Xichen finally relented and nodded.
"I will go to the hospital. Thank you… "
He didn't realize that he arrived at the hospital, not until the officer that drove him called him, for a few times obviously, and snapped him out of his dark thoughts. He said his thanks and walked in a daze to the reception desk.
He asked for the stabbing victims that were brought there at the early hours of dawn. Two of them. She told him the room number and as he turned to go there, he heard Ming's voice call out to him.
"Xi… Xi, are you alright? Zhuliu called me and told me to meet you here. He said something happened to A-Yao?"
Xichen held on to Ming's big frame, as if trying to draw power from it.
"They...Zhuliu said that A-Yao and that witness kid, Xue Yang, were found half dead in the alley near Sang's accident. They were beaten within an inch of their lives. And… and Zhuliu said, they may not make it. Not with their wounds."
Ming held Xichen close, and tried to soothe him with a calm voice.
They were waiting for the news about Yao and Xue Yang's condition patiently. Yanli, Qing and Ning came first. Then came Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian, Huaisang and Cheng, bringing coffee for everyone.
"Any news yet?" Yanli asked Mingjue, who just shook his head in response.
"We're still waiting. Zhuliu said that they were brought in unresponsive and it looked bad. The doctors were skeptical, but they said they would try their best." He looked at Xichen, who was being comforted by Wangji. "Xi took it especially hard. He felt that he should have at least offered protection to the kid."
"You mean…?"
"We have our suspicions that this is connected to Sang's hit and run. But we’re not sure until any conclusive evidence is found."
"Jesus, how can they be so cruel?"
Before Ming could answer though, the doctor came and all of them scrambled closer to him.
"Are any of you Mr. Jin Guangyao's family?" He looked around at each of them.