Xiaowu slumped onto the ground powerlessly as the people kept punching him on his face and head. His attackers kept kicking him around like a sack and he looked miserable!

“Don’t hit me! Stop hitting me! I will pay you tomorrow!”

Xiaowu wailed as he begged the men while he cursed in his heart, “Damn it. They are so slow. Why aren’t they helping yet?”

Wang Er and the others spoke in hushed tones and Xiaowu could hear them discussing whether or not to help him.

“Oh god! Are they going to leave me in the lurch?” Xiaowu came up with a good plan, but he did not count on these evil men to stand by and watch him get beaten to death.

Perhaps god heard Xiaowu’s wishes and Wang Er and the others changed their minds and walked over.

“Stop! Why are you beating him?”

Xiaowu glanced at Wang Er thankfully. He was glad he didn’t save Wang Er in vain now that he had finally stepped up to help.

Tingzhu and the others didn’t stop when Wang Er and the others wanted to help. Instead, they kicked Xiaowu viciously a few more times.

“Mind your own business and get out of my way!”

Xiaowu had already shared his analysis of their targets with Tingzhu and the others. Since Wang Er was a proud man, reverse psychology worked and made him want to help Xiaowu.

After all, it would be very unmanly of Wang Er to walk away now that they had yelled at Wang Er.

Li Erfa shouted first.

He was already angry about losing money at the gambling den. Now that Tingzhu had provoked them, he could not help feeling angry.

“Who the hell are you? How can you speak so rudely?”

Tingzhu was just waiting for them to lose their temper. If they remained unmoved, the show could not go on.

“From the looks of it, you have decided to get involved.”

Wang Er didn’t really care about Xiaowu. The moment Xiaowu noticed Wang Er’s hesitance, he looked at Nongying.

Nongying caught Xiaowu’s drift, so he hit Xiaowu’s back with a pole until the pole broke into half altogether.

Xiaowu curled up on the ground and squirmed as he moaned nonstop.

Wang Er couldn’t bear watching. Since Li Erfa was an impulsive man, he had already stepped forward to shove Nongying aside and helped Xiaowu up.

Xiaowu pretended to struggle and acted like he was incapable of standing up.

Ming Zi went over to help Li Erfa support Xiaowu. He inadvertently touched Xiaowu’s arm injury leaving Xiaowu screaming in agony.

Tingzhu couldn’t bear looking. Xiaowu’s acting was simply too fake. Mu Bai had treated Xiaowu’s injuries yesterday and they even deliberately avoided hitting his arm earlier.

Tingzhu was worried he might blow his cover if they did not finish the job quickly since he did not possess Xiaowu’s great acting skills.

Tingzhu pretended to threaten Wang Er and the others, “Since you insist on being a busy body, don’t blame us for being rude.”

Wang Er and the others looked at each other before Wang Er finally talked to Tingzhu, “Have you made a mistake? How could you beat up my friend so badly?”

“A mistake? Your friend here owes our gambling den hundreds of silver taels. I have it all in black and white here! This is no mistake!”

Tingzhu pulled out the fake promissory note they had prepared in advance and tossed it in Wang Er’s hands.

Wang Er held the promissory note and looked at it quickly. Xiaowu quickly said, “It’s true. I owe their gambling den a lot of money.”

“Hear that? I wasn’t lying.” Before Wang Er had the chance to read the promissory note closely, Tingzhu snatched it from him and put it away in his chest. “You lost money at the gambling den but failed to repay your debt. You have a death wish!”

The moment he finished his sentence, Tingzhu acted like he was going to hit Xiaowu again.

Xiaowu was so terrified that he hid behind Li Erfa and said, “You cheated. I usually don’t lose so much money. You offered to lend me money when I lost badly.”

Li Erfa wanted to step forward and beat up Tingzhu and the others when he heard what Xiaowu said.

He knew full well how gambling dens deceived their patrons. After all, he had recently lost a lot of money after getting conned by a gambling den.

Li Erfa trusted Xiaowu even more. After all, they were birds of a feather and had the same interests and were both conned by a gambling den.

Xiaowu noticed the change in Li Erfa’s expression. Xiaowu felt Li Erfa would never have dreamt that he was lying.

Xiaowu had Li Erfa to thank for inspiring him to come up with such a plan.

Tingzhu and the others noticed their expressions and knew Wang Er and Ming Zi didn’t believe them entirely, so they fanned the flames. “If you don’t have the money, just don’t gamble! How can you blame us when you are not a skillful gambler?”

Li Erfa couldn’t help wanting to speak up for Xiaowu, but Wang Er pulled him back and stepped forward.

“I get it. You just want money, right?”

Now that Wang Er was finally willing to help Xiaowu, Tingzhu nodded patiently.

Wang Er turned his head sideways and asked Xiaowu as he helped to hold Xiaowu up, “When do you need to pay your debt?”

Xiaowu didn’t understand what Wang Er was trying to ask, so he was at a loss and didn’t know what to say.

Li Erfa was even more anxious than Xiaowu. He gripped Xiaowu a little tighter as he supported Xiaowu and said, “Wang Er is talking to you! That means he is willing to help you.”

“Huh? Oh, in a day or two…” said Xiaowu meekly before he glanced at Tingzhu.

The moment he saw Tingzhu glaring at him, he pulled his head back and continued stammering to Wang Er, “I-I don’t know if they are willing to…”

“Willing to do what? Don’t you know best how long you have owed us this money for?” retorted Tingzhu before Xiaowu could finish his sentence. “If you can’t pay up, then you can pay with your life and save us the trouble.”

Xiaowu halted and went quiet.

Wang Er was completely calm as he cupped one fist in the other hand and said to Tingzhu confidently, “I am Wang Er and I have a good reputation in the gambling scene. Feel free to ask around.”

“I’ve heard of you before. So what?” Tingzhu greeted Wang Er politely as well in a rather stiff tone.

“Can you do me a favor?” Wang Er was unruffled by Tingzhu’s reaction. He continued talking, “Why don’t you give my friend two days’ grace to repay his debt? In two days, he will pay up in full.”

Tingzhu knew now was the time for him to give in. If he continued making things difficult for Xiaowu, it would work against them.

He stopped harassing them and told Xiaowu to pay off in two days if he wanted his legs to remain intact before leaving with his men.

After Tingzhu left with his men, Wang Er and the others helped Xiaowu inside their quarters.

Xiaowu pretended to lower his head weakly as he secretly studied the compound with the corners of his eyes.

It was a big compound and Xiaowu was taken to the largest room at the center of the house.

The windows were closed and Xiaowu immediately smelled something reeking inside when he was brought into the room. It smelt pungent and felt as though there was days’ worth of unwashed clothing piling inside.

Xiaowu saw a row of messy communal beds with their sheets undone under the dim light. Xiaowu could even see unknown yellow marks on the blankets.

Plump rats ran across the ceiling beam when they entered the room. The rats were simply bold and unafraid of humans.

The place was a complete mess!

Xiaowu thought about the days he spent at the frontier with Chu Yunshen and felt it was no different.

It was normal for the place to be in a mess since it was inhabited by men only.

However, their living condition only served to justify Xiaowu’s suspicions towards them. There was definitely something wrong with Wang Er and the others.

Since burial workers didn’t make a lot of money, it was normal for these burial workers to pool their money and rent communal space to save money.

If they were ordinary burial workers, it was impossible for them to have extra cash to visit brothels and casinos.

Wang Er had already sat Xiaowu down on the bed as he pondered.

Also, there wasn’t even a table in the room.

Xiaowu sat on the bed that stank of sweat, feet odor, and rotting food as he leaned against the pillar weakly. However, he looked absolutely grateful to Wang Er.

“I don’t know how to repay you!”

Wang Er looked at Xiaowu’s down-to-earth face and suddenly went speechless.

Was there anyone as honest as Xiaowu?

Xiaowu certainly appeared down to earth wearing the mask. Wang Er remained suspicious of Xiaowu even after Xiaowu had saved him, but Xiaowu thought about repaying Wang Er regardless of the veracity of Wang Er’s words the moment he heard Wang Er was going to help him.

“Don’t be happy too soon. I only managed to earn you two days’ grace to return the debt. You still have to pay up,” said Wang Er as he deliberately gave Xiaowu a cold look.

Xiaowu acted dumb as he thanked Wang Er once more. “I know, but I still have you to thank.”

Wang Er suddenly felt angry and scolded Xiaowu, “Are you crazy? What do you want? Why are you so good to us?”

Li Erfa was startled by Wang Er’s unanticipated actions and Ming Zi shrank to the side quietly.

“What the hell? Why are you suddenly asking him this? Things were perfectly fine just a moment ago.”

Li Erfa pulled Wang Er’s arm as he looked at Xiaowu apologetically. “Sorry about this. I think he is feeling low today. He isn’t talking about you.”

He turned to mutter to Wang Er, “What’s going on? Didn’t you agree to help him? Why are you talking like this now?”

“I just feel something is wrong with him. Why did we just happen to encounter him out of the blue?”

Xiaowu felt anxious the moment he heard this. For a moment, he felt Wang Er had excellent instincts for suspecting him.

Wang Er was deep in thought when Li Erfa shouted altogether, “Wang Er, what’s gotten into you? The guy saved you. Otherwise, you would be dead by now!”

Wang Er felt indignant. It was true he was indebted to Xiaowu, but he had to be careful considering the nature of their job.

Xiaowu struggled to stand up from the bed when they got into an argument. He even pretended to stumble a few steps before finally steadying himself.

“Don’t get into a fight because of me. I feel really bad about it.”

The moment Li Erfa heard Xiaowu speaking guiltily, he helped him to sit back down onto the bed and promised Xiaowu, “Don’t worry. I know you are an honest man and won’t betray us like those other people.”