After my divorce at thirty, I developed an intelligence network.

Gong Yuelong stood still, letting Lao Niu hold his arm.

The moonlight shone on his profile, half-lit and half-shadowed, obscuring his expression.

He neither said he would tolerate it nor that he wouldn't.

She just looked at the old man in front of her.

A long time passed, so long that the old ox's panting gradually subsided, leaving only helpless waiting.

Gong Yuelong then very slowly raised his other hand and placed it on the old ox's shoulder.

Then he spoke:

"Can you move your arm?" The voice was gentler than before.

Old Niu tried to lift his right arm, and immediately winced in pain. "Ouch... no, it doesn't feel right, I think I've hurt a tendon..."

"Walk."

"Where are you going?" Old Niu was taken aback.

"The local clinic. Or find a traditional Chinese medicine doctor specializing in bone injuries." Gong Yuelong didn't even turn around. "If we don't figure out where you're hurt, your arm will be swollen like a bun tomorrow."

"No need! Really, no need!" Old Niu said anxiously, "Why waste money like that! I'll just go back and apply a hot towel..."

Gong Yuelong stopped in his tracks. "Brother Niu, is money more important, or will you still be able to wield a shovel in the future?"

Old Niu was speechless, opening his mouth but unable to utter a word.

Gong Yuelong stopped wasting words with him, walked to his pickup truck, opened the door, and said, "Get in."

Old Niu looked at him, bit his bleeding lip, and didn't say anything more. He lowered his head, struggled to open the car door with his left hand, and clumsily moved in.

The car started and drove out of the alley. The car was quiet, with only the low hum of the engine.

After a long while, the old ox, in a hoarse voice, said:

"Brother Gong... I'm not cowardly, I'm genuinely scared. I've heard of Liu Heita's gang; they used to be involved in organized crime and were ruthless."

Zhao Siyan, that smiling tiger, is full of scheming. What...what can we ordinary people do to fight back?

Back in the village, if a landlord's dog bit someone, you had to put on a smiling face and say that your child was being naughty and had startled the landlord's dog... This principle applies everywhere.

"Whoever has the strongest fist and the most connections is the boss. All we...we just want to earn a decent living, why is it so hard?"

His voice carried a sense of weariness and resignation, as if he had been repeatedly battered by life.

Gong Yuelong gripped the steering wheel, his eyes fixed on the road ahead.

He didn't turn around and look at Lao Niu until the car stopped in front of the clinic.

"Brother Niu, the logic you're talking about was set by someone else."

"Go back a few decades, how many of those big bosses and foremen in the city who are now all high and mighty didn't roll out of the mud and crawl out of pits that were even harder than what we are in now?"

They might have crawled between someone's legs and received even worse beatings back then.

"Reason is alive; it is realized through experience."

"Get out of the car and check your arm."

……

……

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Gong Yuelong drove out.

I went directly to the north of the city, to the spontaneously formed labor market behind the highway.

The market was dusty, and the roadside was crowded with people, mostly men in their forties and fifties, but there were also some younger people.

Their eyes were filled with anxiety as they stared at every car that might stop.

The sounds of hawking, haggling, cursing, coughing, and spitting mingled together.

A month ago, he was also one of them. He had to come before dawn to grab a spot, have to be mindful of other people's attitudes, and argue until his lips were worn out over whether it was 150 or 180 yuan a day.

If you're lucky, you'll have work to do; if you're unlucky, you'll be wasting your whole day squatting.

He drove slowly past the edge of the crowd.

He didn't get out of the car; he simply rolled down the window, lit a cigarette, and calmly scanned the familiar yet unfamiliar faces.

Someone recognized him, and their eyes flashed with surprise, envy, or something else. They wanted to say hello, but seemed to feel that there was a barrier between them, so they didn't dare to go forward.

A dirty pickup truck pulled up, and several men got out.

The one in the lead was burly with a thick waist and a face full of fat. He walked with his toes pointing slightly outwards. This was Liu Heita.

The guy next to him, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and talking to someone with his head down, is Zhao Siyan.

The two of them had obviously also seen Gong Yuelong.

Liu Heita paused, narrowed his eyes, and looked over.

Zhao Si's gaze lingered on Gong Yuelong for a moment, then swept over his somewhat worn car, and a smirk appeared on his lips.

Gong Yuelong also saw them.

His gaze swept across the area indifferently, he took a drag of his cigarette, and the smoke he exhaled blurred his vision.

Then, he turned his face away and looked into the market, seemingly searching for someone he knew.

Liu Heita was taken aback by his dismissive attitude, then his face darkened, he seemed to mutter something in his throat, and took half a step forward.

Zhao Siyan reached out and gently stopped him, shook his head, still wearing that unfathomable smile on his face, and whispered something.

Liu Heita spat, "See that? Four-eyes, I told you this kid's a coward!"

Our men took care of his men and smashed his car. When he saw us today, he didn't dare utter a single word, and he didn't even dare to look us in the eye!

He puts on a show of being all high and mighty, but deep down he's still that stray dog ​​burdened with millions in debt!

Zhao Si's eyes were narrowed, revealing no emotion. "Hei Ta, don't speak too definitively. Didn't he also go to see Jiang Yan? They seemed to be having a lively chat."

Liu Heita scoffed, "Hot my foot! Bah! A gigolo!"

Zhao Si's tone was calm: "If you're going to be a kept man, you need to have the skills to be one."

Jiang Yan is not a woman who can be fooled by her looks alone.

She was able to let him get close and even pass him messages; there must be something about this kid that we don't know about.

Liu Heita scoffed, "The secret? I think it's just his skill in bed! Didn't you see the way he acted just now?"

They clearly saw us, but pretended not to. What else is that but being a coward?

If they really had guts, they should have come up and challenged us back then!

I think he's all show and no substance, all bark and no bite! He's just relying on his connection with Jiang Yan to put on a show and fool those ignorant fools like Lao Niu.

Zhao Siyan tapped his fingers lightly on the edge of the car window, ignoring Liu Heita's vulgar remark, and instead seemed lost in thought:

"He came to the labor market today... He doesn't seem like he's completely unprepared. It's more like... he's weighing something."

Liu Heita waved his hand dismissively, his face full of impatience. "What are you talking about! I think he's just here to admit defeat!"

Look at our formidable presence, weigh your own capabilities, and you'll be scared back!

Four-Eyes, you're overthinking things. I've seen plenty of these down-on-their-luck individuals who've fallen from grace, burdened with debt, and trying to turn their lives around!

At first, they were all gritting their teeth, acting like they had some great power, but when they actually met their match, their true colors immediately came out! His performance today was a perfect example of showing his true colors!

The more he talked, the more he felt he understood Gong Yuelong.

"If you ask me, what we did before was already too lenient. We should have been even more ruthless and just burned his dilapidated yard down! Let's see if he can still pretend to be dead then!"