The next morning, Mo Chuan rubbed his sore waist, changed into a black hoodie, and went out wearing glasses and a mask.
Abe Haruko was put into the lantern by him to prevent any unexpected situations, although she was very unwilling.
Mo Chuan strolled along the street, looking at the unique red cypress trees lining Shengjing Avenue, the barbecue stalls cleaning up the mess, the cold noodle stalls slowly pushing out their carts, and various bathhouses. He carefully savored the city's landscape, so different from Jibei.
After a while, he arrived at a cold noodle stall and said, "Auntie, one grilled cold noodle, please."
"Okay, do you like spicy, young man?"
"A little," Mo Chuan said, taking out his phone and asking the auntie, "Could you help me see where this place is?"
Upon seeing the address in Mo Chuan's hand, the auntie almost dropped her spatula. With a worried expression, she said, "Young man, you don't look like a bad person. Listen to Auntie, the Dashuai Bathhouse is not a place for you!"
"Why?"
"Yeah, why?!"
A sudden voice interrupted Mo Chuan's conversation with the auntie. Mo Chuan turned to see a bald man wearing sunglasses and a thick gold chain, leading two thugs, approaching the stall with an arrogant gait.
The auntie's face turned pale, and she quickly bowed and scraped to the bald man at the front, "Brother Four, why are you here? Three grilled cold noodles again, with extra spice for one? I'll make them right away!"
"Li Rongxia, stop all this uselessness. Tell me, why can't we enter the Dashuai Bathhouse?" As he spoke, Brother Four took out a watermelon knife and chopped it on the cutting board, "If you can't explain, you won't be setting up your stall here today. You'll be lying in the hospital instead."
"Oh, Brother Four, Brother Four, please don't! I just thought this young man didn't look like he had money, so I was afraid he'd go there, gamble away his money, and rack up a tab, which would ruin your business."
The auntie smiled obsequiously, "How could your big business have such an embarrassing incident? It's so disgraceful. Please be magnanimous and overlook my momentary lapse in speech, okay?"
Brother Four let out a cold laugh, glanced at Mo Chuan sideways, shook his head, picked up the watermelon knife, and said, "You know what's good for you." He then spat and turned to leave the stall.
As the three figures gradually walked away, the auntie clutched her chest and sighed. While lowering her head to continue making the grilled cold noodles, she said, "Young man, did you see that? They're all bad people. If you go to a place like that, you'll definitely suffer..." Finishing, she looked up to hand out the grilled cold noodles, "Yours is ready, six yuan... Huh!? Where did he go?"
Mo Chuan followed the bald man and his two thugs to a melon stall and watched their actions from a distance.
One of the thugs said to Brother Four, "Brother Four, it's here. The owner of this melon stall is new. We need to put him in his place!"
"You don't need to tell me," the bald man spat down and walked forward to the melon stall.
"Buddy, how much is this melon per pound?"
The owner glanced at the bald man, noticed the watermelon knife at his waist, frowned, and said, "One yuan per pound."
"What's up." The bald man smiled and patted his head, "Is the melon rind made of gold, or are the melon seeds made of gold?"
The owner took a puff of his cigarette and frowned, "It's not expensive. Look around, where can you find melons this cheap now? These are greenhouse melons that need to be dealt with. If you think it's expensive, I think it's expensive too."
"Alright, then pick one for me."
The owner nodded and turned to pick a melon. The bald man signaled with his head, and the two thugs slowly walked over.
The owner picked a melon, patted it, and brought it over, saying, "How about this one?"
"Hmm?" The bald man turned around and scanned it, "Is this melon ripe?"
"Hahaha..." The owner laughed, "I'm just a fruit vendor, would I sell you an unripe melon?" After speaking, the owner lowered his head to adjust the scale.
The bald man said with a serious expression, "I'm just asking if this melon is ripe?"
The owner looked up, saw the bald man and the thugs behind him, and his face darkened. He said, "Are you deliberately looking for trouble?"
"Hehehe..."
"Do you want it or not?"
"If this melon is ripe, I'll definitely take it."
As he spoke, the bald man walked next to the owner and tapped the melon rind with his finger, "What if it's not ripe?"
At an angle where the owner couldn't see, the bald man placed a magnet at the bottom of the scale pan.
The owner pointed at the melon, "Hey, if it's not ripe, I'll eat it myself. Satisfied?"
After finishing, the owner looked at the scale and said, "15 pounds, 15 yuan." But his tone was a little hesitant because he didn't remember bringing in any watermelons around fifteen pounds today.
"This isn't even 15 pounds," the bald man chuckled, pointing at the scale, "Your scale is broken."
The owner became anxious and said, "Are you deliberately looking for trouble?"
The owner took the melon off the scale, pointed at it, and said, "Do you want it or not!"
The bald man let out a cold laugh, flipped the scale pan over, and said, "What is this?" Then he tapped the magnet and said, "Playing games with me?"
"Also," the bald man picked up the watermelon knife and said, "You said, if this melon is unripe, you'll swallow it yourself."
"What do you guys want!?" The owner stood up, speaking angrily.
"What do we want..." the bald man chuckled, "Do you know who is in charge of this area?"
Before his words were finished, the bald man swung the knife down, "Your grandpa, me!"
Clang!
Instead of the expected splashing of blood, a grappling hook shot through the space between them and caught on a nearby rolling shutter door. The watermelon knife landed precisely on the chain.
The bald man narrowed his eyes, turned his head, and saw Mo Chuan.
"Hehehehehe..." The bald man put away his watermelon knife, turned to face Mo Chuan, reached out, and patted Mo Chuan's face, "Ask anyone on Shengjing Avenue, and they'll tell you who's the boss. You're quite the do-gooder, aren't you?"
Before he finished speaking, he picked up the knife again and shouted, "Want to be a hero, huh?! Wake up!"
Clang.
Another crisp sound of metal colliding.
But this time, Mo Chuan didn't use a chain to block. Instead, he let the bald man cut directly.
The bald man's tiger's mouth went numb. It felt as if he hadn't been attacking a person, but a large truck. He looked at Mo Chuan with disbelief, his lips moving slightly as if he wanted to say something.
Mo Chuan reached out, patted the bald man's face, and said with a crooked smile, "You don't even have the strength to hit someone. How dare you call yourself a gangster?"
Then Mo Chuan pulled the chain, and the grappling hook retracted. With Mo Chuan's manipulation, the hook wrapped around the bald man's neck and slowly tightened.
"Brother Four!" The two thugs hurried forward, but the bald man, feeling the chain tighten, said, "Don't come over!"
Then, the bald man said coldly, "What do you want?"