According to tradition, before a spar began, the fighters first had to "declare" their weapons. Regardless of whether the weapon was an "open blade" or a "hidden arrow," once it was declared, a meter-long blade and an embroidery needle could both be used.

But if everyone had come to a silent agreement to use bare fists and feet, and you suddenly pulled out a hidden blade and stabbed the other person halfway through the fight, then you were despicable and shameless. Rules no longer applied, and you were just one of those petty hoodlums.

...Gan Qing, the path she walked was probably that of the petty hoodlums.

No one saw how she leaped up from the ground. A blurred second and she was already between the bald man and the disabled man. Her elbow collided with the disabled er-shixiong's wrist; at the same time, there was a flash of light between her fingers, like there was something like a small blade between them. Together with a cutting wind, it sliced towards the bald man's pinky.

Her movements were exceedingly cunning and extremely swift.

A person's wrist had a meridian point and it was even more impossible for the bald man to catch the edged weapon with his bare hands. Both men trembled in unison and both stepped back to dodge. Gan Qing's elbow bumped lightly against the disabled man's fingertips; the "blade" between her fingers also slashed empty air.

At that moment, two men finally realised that something was not right. It turned out that it was only her movements that were frightening. Her elbow was limp and didn't have any strength at all. A clinking sound came from between her fingers—her fingers didn't have a brass knuckle or a blade, it was a key!

Right then, like she was doing magic, the key in Gan Qing's hand disappeared. She took out a small spray from somewhere and before the kidnappers realised what was going on, she sprayed them all over their faces.

The disabled man and the bald man were in a state of high alert. Their fists were already spaced out and their eyes were opened wider than usual, and they ended up being completely soaked by the pepper spray.

In that moment, the anguished screams from the two kidnappers seemed to want to bring down the sky.

Gan Qing deftly pressed down on Liu Zhongqi's neck and bent down, slipping away from under the bald man's randomly waving arms… Her posture was rather like the legendary "Eighteen Rolls on the Ground"; it didn't have the dignity of a master at all.

Following that, the police who had rushed here took the chance to swarm up and took the band of kidnappers under their control.

Liu Zhongqi hadn't yet regained his wits from that frightening life-or-death experience. He stood there in a daze. Gan Qing waved a hand in front of him. "Hey, you okay?"

She hadn't yet kept the pepper spray in her hand. A little of its might still remained. Liu Zhongqi sneezed. "A-Achoo!"

He sneezed five of six times in succession, tears and snot dripping to the ground, his eye nearly popping out of their sockets from the force. His dignity was entirely gone. Hence—if the pot was broken it might as well be smashed to bits—he hiccuped twice and, right before everyone's eyes, opened his mouth and wailed.

No one celebrated his birthday with him, tomorrow was the start of school, he was kidnapped twice in a day, and he was nearly strangled to death by a scary bald man… Of all these shitty incidents, was any of them not worth a good cry?

There were too many reasons that were worthy of crying, and too little opportunities to cry. There was never enough to go around.

Luckily, these incidents gathered together and all happened today.

Yu Lanchuan strode over to him. At first, he was vacillating between "give him a good smacking" and "Gege was wrong, muah," and his face darkened and brightened in turns. In the end, Liu Zhongqi's bawling shocked him into stumbling. Standing a meter away, he didn't dare go near. He exchanged looks with Gan Qing who was beside him.

There were a lot of questions he wanted to ask Gan Qing. How did you know that Grandpa Yang is from Beggars' Sect?

How did you find this group of people faster than Beggars' Sect and the police?

Did you know from the start that it was done by these people?

Why is it that a girl who looks like a bamboo pole dares to come face this band of kidnappers on her own?

Who on earth are you?

But right next to them was a foolish younger brother whose mouth was wide open, wailing like a toad. It was really not the time for questions. All Yu Lanchuan could do was nod at Gan Qing and, together with her, look at Liu Zhongqi at a loss.

The police cars brought the entire group back, the crowd watching on the sidelines also went back to their mahjong tables. This event started with a shocking bang but the ending that was a bit of a comical farce settled into the dust just like that.

When Yu Yan came to Yu Lanchuan's home, the sky was already nearly dark.

"Where's your brother?"

"Asleep." Yu Lanchuan poured him a glass of Coke and pointed at the tightly closed bedroom door. "He didn't sleep for an entire night yesterday."

"This unlucky kid. Forget it, let me tell you roughly what the situation is." Yu Yan sat down. Starting from the bald man tailing Gan Qing and being dealt with by her, to the whole story of him kidnapping Liu Zhongqi in a fit of anger, Yu Yan explained everything from head to tail. "Actually, it was a mistake at the start. Later on, evil intentions developed at the hint of riches and they wanted 500,000 from you… Ai, I think this year is just not their lucky year. The way they picked their victim—do you look like you have 500,000?"

Yu Lanchuan could not even produce 50,000 and his heart felt very bleak.

Yu Yan said, "But this time, you have to thank that lady from the accessories shop. At that time, if she wasn't quick-witted and hadn't brought along her homemade pepper spray, your younger brother would be lying in the hospital right now."

If pepper sprays were really so effective, would there be so many crimes where the strong bullied the weak?

Yu Lanchuan rolled his eyes at Yu Yan and thought, Why don't you try spraying some yourself?

To defeat two experts with half a bottle of pepper spray, one must have very good eyesight and their movement extremely quick. It was definitely not something that could be achieved by "just trying one's luck."

Gan Qing… That Gan Qing must be keeping a secret. But since she didn't want to reveal it herself and had also just helped him, Yu Lanchuan didn't feel right to say too much in front of others. Hence, he diverted the conversation and asked, "What do they want the money for?"

"They said it's to pay their shifu's son's medical fees." Yu Yan sighed. "These three brothers were brought up by their shifu. Their shifu got into a car accident a few years ago and died, leaving behind his child and his wife… The way they address each other really has a jianghu style, things like 'Da-shixiong' and 'Shiniang.' They originally opened a boxing gym in their hometown but a small town like theirs didn't have many students. In their spare time, these people would just muddle along and collect some filial payments or protection fee, stuff like that. They were originally doing pretty well. Later on, Da-shixiong fell seriously ill and couldn't be treated over there. They had no choice but to gather about 200,000 to come to Yanning. It sounds like a big amount but, you know how it is—at the hospital, money is just paper."

Yu Lanchuan's brows knitted together, his face cold. "They don't have money and yet they don't look for proper jobs. Did they continue to collect protection fees in Yanning?"

"You can say that." Yu Yan ran a hand through his hair. "Zheng Lin, the disabled one, had fought in those very hyped-up cage fighting matches when he was young to get money. Ai, basically, they were underground matches. Other people deceived him, saying that it could increase his reputation very quickly and bolster his status. In the future, he could enter a good club and fight in professional matches. Zheng Lin isn't very educated. He listened to other people exaggerate about how wonderful it is, and believed them."

Yu Lanchuan crossed his legs and tsk-ed impatiently.

"He can be considered to be rather skillful. At the start, he kept winning. Tiger this and dragon that, he had plenty of nicknames flying around, hyping him up until he got carried away. In the end, there was one time when he got sabotaged. That time, they had him fight with someone twice his weight. They had agreed beforehand that to make the match more exciting, he must first purposely take some hits and pretend to fall to the ground. Then, he was to strike back at the moment of crisis. They had spoken to the opponent too and the opponent was to just pretend to hit him, and wouldn't use serious force."

"When it was time for the actual match, the opponent gave him a signal and Zheng Lin prepared to pretend to fall. Who would have guessed that the opponent didn't follow the agreement. He gave him a direct high kick, kicking him senseless. Then, it was a round of violent hits, nearly killing him in the ring. When he was brought down, he was covered in blood and from then on, one of his legs couldn't really be used. Later on, the three brothers went to take revenge. The other party called the police and all three of them were left with a criminal record."

Yu Lanchuan, "..."

"You've seen what the three of them look like. Their entire bodies give off an air of the underworld. Especially that scarred-face one, just his looks is enough to scare people." Yu Yan sighed. "When going through safety checks, other people can pass right through but these three would be pulled aside and examined for five minutes. When going for job interviews, they would always be asked to show proof that they have no criminal record… Most likely, they have already kind of given up on things getting better."

The two of them didn't say anything for a long while.

In the glass cup, tiny bubbles emerged in the carbonated drink, floating up and down.

Yu Lanchuan felt that the main point of this story was "There are imbeciles every year, and especially more of them this year." The story didn't invite sympathy at all but for some unknown reason, listening to the end very easily evoked his own worries.

The packaging for Liu Zhongqi's new phone hadn't yet been thrown out. On this matter, the two brothers had a tacit agreement not to breathe a single word to their parents. For Liu Zhongqi, it was shameful; for Yu Lanchuan, he had no way to explain his deficiency as a guardian. Hence, there was naturally no way for him to claim the expense of buying a new phone.

Getting a new pair of glasses was also not much cheaper than getting the phone. Fortunately, his degree was not high and he could make do for a couple of days first. He would count the days and wait for his salary and quarterly bonus…

That's right, rumour had it that the quarterly bonus this time didn't look good.

Yu Yan drank the iced drink. "Be honest, Master Lan. Have you ever had a time when you came close to taking the wrong step?"

Yu Lanchuan lifted his eyes to glance at him. He was not wearing his glasses now and the "clothing" part of his "wolf in sheep's clothing" manner was gone. In the eyes of the police officer, he looked like someone currently taking the wrong step.

Just when Yu Yan thought that he was going to be the recipient of a "Get lost," Yu Lanchuan said, "I have."

Yu Yan nearly slid off the sofa.

"I… A few days ago, I asked my dad for a statement of voluntary renunciation of inheritance." Yu Lanchuan finally spoke after remaining silent for a while. "The will my granduncle left behind has never been notarised and there are no other copies. The envelope the will is contained in has my name written on it. My dad gave me full power to handle things and didn't even look at it."

As for what was written in the will, only Heaven, Earth and the dead knew. The remaining matters depended entirely on Yu Lanchuan's conscience.

Yu Yan's mouth fell open.

"His renunciation statement just arrived." Yu Lanchuan looked down at his own fingers resting on his knees. "My grandparents' death certificates have also been officially stamped."

Yu Yan said, "Which is to say…"

Yu Lanchuan smiled at him, his meaning unclear. "Which is to say, only a paper shredder lies between me and 8.5 million."

Yu Yan swallowed. He realised that his police instinct was not wrong—this young man was taking a wrong step right now!

But there was no way he could be an armchair critic because if they swapped places… Forget it, they didn't have to swap places. A neighbourhood police officer who earned a few thousand yuan a month could not imagine it.

To Yu Lanchuan, without this sum of money, he was a debtor with a thirty-year loan, a house loan slave whose days were dark and hopeless, someone who wouldn't dare resign recklessly even if the sky were to fall down.

With this sum of money, he could immediately repay his house loan in full. With his income, as long as he didn't fall into vice, gambling or drugs, he could indulge himself all day in the future. He could resign anytime he wanted to; he could change careers anytime he wanted to; he could go on an impulse vacation any time he wanted to.

Everyone despised those who betrayed their conscience and lived a life of luxury. But this was not "luxury"; this was freedom.

How many "thirty years old" would a person have in their entire life?

Yu Yan grew up with him and knew that Yu Lanchuan's motto during his chuuni period was "Without freedom, I would rather have death."

"Master Lan…"

Before he could speak, Yu Lanchuan's phone rang. Old Master Yang was calling.