Chapter 1: The Entanglement of Fate and Enmity, Haicheng's Solitude

  It's often said that "those who are close to vermilion become red, and those who are close to ink become black." But in this case, it's a strange thing indeed. Li Huqiu followed Hao Duanzi and learned all sorts of evil ways, but he didn't pick up on his bad habits. This is really not worth mentioning. The key people here are Song Lao San, Yan Zi, and Old Miao who sells tea eggs. While Li Huqiu was getting close to the black-hearted Hao Duanzi, there were always kind and good-natured people like Yan Zi and Old Miao around him. Song Lao San played the biggest role - although he's been busy being a foreman for the past two years and hasn't had much contact with Li Huqiu, he used to teach him a lot of principles and recommend many interesting books. When Li Huqiu read these books, he couldn't understand most of the words, but he could roughly grasp the ideas. For example, Jia Baoyu's gentle and refined nature, Wei Xiaobao's roguishness, and Hu Yizhi's foolish devotion.

  One day in December 1991, 14-year-old Li Huqiu had just returned from a run outside. He quickly removed the lead blocks and sandbags from his body and took out several flying knives to practice his eyesight in the courtyard. The old cripple glared at Li Huqiu with venomous eyes from inside the house, feeling that the day of revenge was becoming increasingly distant, even though he had secretly recovered his skills, but Li Huqiu's rapid progress and age advantage would inevitably widen the distance between them.

  10:30 at Haicheng North Station.

  The leader of the gangsters at North Station, 'Big Flagpole', was standing with his hands in his sleeves, sunbathing beside the train station's main gate. Liu Diankun, the instructor from the railway police station, came over to them wearing a tilted hat. "Just now, an important passenger came to the police station and reported that something had been lost. I'm giving you ten minutes to find it back. The thing is a small wooden box. Remember, don't dare to peek inside, no matter what's in there, or else you'll be dead without even knowing how."

  In the police station, Chu Lie, who was worried about the case, paced back and forth in the duty room. At just 21 years old, Chu Lie was the youngest detective in the Ministry of Public Security's special task force, and this time he had come to supervise the case of the "Northeast Tiger" gang, a notorious group of thieves that the ministry had decided to take down. But unexpectedly, as soon as he arrived in Haicheng, the thief had turned the tables on him, and what was even more unacceptable was that until now, he still couldn't remember when the thief had made his move, using skills and sensitivity that allowed him to steal his bag without Chu Lie being aware of it at all - an unbelievable thing.

  Li Huqiu carried a black plastic woven bag, sauntering to the front of Old Miao's tea egg stall. He pulled out a 10-yuan bill from his pocket and tossed it into Old Miao's money box without saying a word. He directly took two tea eggs and ate them in three or four bites, not even peeling off the skin. Then he reached behind Old Miao's tea egg stall and grabbed a large teapot, gulping down a big mouthful of jasmine tea. "You've got another traveler's package?" Old Miao asked, pointing at the black plastic woven bag in Li Huqiu's hand.

  "What's the point of not taking the package? There's still a daughter at home, I'd like to do some business that can make a living, but look at me, who would hire me? You just sell your tea eggs, I'm Li Huqiu, a thief with a code of honor, even if I steal, I'm a chivalrous thief, just like Chu Liuxiang." After saying this, he didn't want the money that Lao Miao gave him, and he picked up his black woven bag and left.

  There was a female thief among the people at the big flagpole called "Dai Dou Er" (a type of police three-wheeled motorcycle). She had a face that was not worth mentioning, with big eyes, a melon-shaped face, high nose bridge, small mouth, and skin as white as snow. Li Hu Qiu didn't take a close look, but from afar, she seemed to be surrounded by a white glow. As she walked in, the pungent smell of cheap cosmetics made Li Hu Qiu lazy to look at her. Just after leaving Lao Miao's tea egg stall, Li Hu Qiu smelled that familiar scent again, which was well-known among all the small thieves on Ha City Road. Raising his head, "Dai Dou Er" looked down with a hint of arrogance: "Little kid, I'm asking you something, did you go to North Station to work today?"

  Li Huqiu took a step back, this stuffy fragrance was comparable to the anesthetic, Li Huqiu worried that if he inhaled again, he would be knocked out. This woman was a 'posterior brain sticker' (a kind of knockout drug). "Hey, isn't this 'Dui'er' sister? What brings you to our southern station for a stroll?"

  "Cut the nonsense, just say if you've gone or not. A real man admits it straightforwardly once he's done it."

  Li Huqiu burst out laughing, revealing a row of neat white teeth, shining brightly. He said: "If you weren't to smear such a thick layer of heavy makeup on your face like wallpaper paste, you'd be a beautiful person. But this layer of heavy makeup has ruined it and affects men's mood when appreciating you."

  "Little rascal!" she scolded him with a mouthful of water, "You're just a small kid, what do you know about beauty?"

  "Beauty is the information from visual, auditory and sensory experiences that makes the perceiver feel comfortable from the heart. To be honest, sister, you look pretty good, it's just that your thick white face is brushed with ??????"

  "Can't you not use this brush?" 'Diao Dou Er' interrupted Li Hu Qiu's lofty speech, but in his heart he couldn't help but ponder, the young whippersnapper is actually quite reasonable, spending all day guarding at South Station reading books isn't a waste after all.

  "Sister, if there's nothing else, I'll be off. I'm in charge of the south station, and I'm the only one who can eat five meals a day. Do I need to go to your north station to work?!" Li Huqiu walked away with a swagger. Tie Douer reacted and hadn't even seen if there was a small wooden box in Li Huqiu's black canvas bag, so he quickly led two people to chase after him.

  Li Huqiu walked away quickly, but soon disappeared from view. When the "Dui Dou" and his men caught up, they found themselves at a fork in the road with a public toilet on the side, emitting a foul odor. The "Dui Dou" ordered two of her underlings to check the men's restroom while she herself rushed into the women's restroom. Li Huqiu stood on top of a nearby civilian house, watching as the "Dui Dou" entered the women's restroom, followed closely by three old customers. The mantis stalks the cicada, and the oriole waits behind; Li Huqiu knew without thinking that she had encountered a case of "black eating black".

  "Great skill, sis! From Beizhan over here, on the 19th Road, you've stolen four bags in total. No need to say more, hand them over!" The big man who was leading the way grabbed 'Dui Dou's' neck as she turned around and came out of the toilet, pinning her against the wall corner. It looked like he was squeezing very hard, 'Dui Dou' couldn't even make a sound.

  The thick and heavy accent of Shen City, one sentence made the "Diao Dou Er" military heart stabilized. Black eating black, it's good that it's not "Lei Zi". There are still two brothers on my side of the men's toilet, I'm not afraid of them even if we really fight, the 19-year-old female thief "Diao Dou Er" has long been a veteran of the rivers and lakes, although she is a woman, when it comes to real fighting, not only does she have the spirit of a heroine who doesn't let men bully her, but also dares to shave off the eyebrows of those who get in her way.

  Another man had long since noticed that 'Diao Dou Er' was quite attractive, and his appreciation level was far inferior to Li Hu Qiu's. He basically belonged to the type who thought anyone with a good appearance was great. In his eyes, 'Diao Dou Er' was no less charming than a national beauty. The young man stretched out his hand and touched 'Diao Dou Er's face, saying: "She's really beautiful, big brother, let's just take turns with this chick and then kill her off cleanly, there aren't many people around at this hour anyway." As soon as he finished speaking, his paw-like hand was already reaching for 'Diao Dou Er's chest.

  "What the f**k is wrong with you? You don't even have any decency! You may not know that there's honor among thieves, but at least you should know that walls have ears. Didn't you see her bring two people with her just now?" The big brother cursed. "I don't know how Old Five and Old Six are doing, they're the ones holding the guns, supposedly nothing can go wrong."

  Li Huqiu, standing on the rooftop, had already found the answer for him. The two little thieves who came with "Diao Dou'er" were now being tied up by two young men who followed them in, and were currently practicing swallowing socks with their mouths empty. Including their own, a total of four people swallowed the socks. The little thieves lived a life of hunger and fullness, and didn't even have time to wash their socks. The situation was similar for the two robbers. The feeling of having the four socks stuffed into their mouths was not pleasant at all. Li Huqiu watched as the two thieves' eyes widened in disgust, their mouths being stuffed like a python swallowing its prey.

  Lao Wu and Lao Liu finished their work, clapped their hands to signal the other side. The big brother in charge of the women's toilet smiled complacently: "Old sister, now we can talk about your purse and your problem. No need to say anything, just cooperate a bit, let us have a good time, spare your life, otherwise today will drown you in the cesspit."

  This son of a bitch, what he said is even more disgusting. Li Huqiu couldn't bear it anymore, stood on the roof and shook his hand, throwing a flying knife. It was nailed to the wrist of the leading big man who stretched out his hand. The big man felt pain and loosened his grip. 'Diao Dou Er' took advantage of the situation and ran out while crouching down. The small-sized husband who had been busy arranging things for her earlier stretched out his hand to block her way. Li Huqiu shook his hand again, throwing another flying knife, which landed right in the palm of this small-sized man's hand. 'Diao Dou Er' took advantage of the moment when he was withdrawing his hand in pain and ran out of the women's restroom. As soon as she reached the door, she heard a gunshot. It turned out that Lao Wu and Lao Liu had come over from the men's restroom and discovered Li Huqiu throwing flying knives on the roof. They raised their hands and fired a shot. The sound of the gun coincided with the arrival of the flying knife! At the moment when Li Huqiu jumped down from the roof, the flying knife he threw out was slightly off target, stabbing into the cheek of Lao Wu, who had fired the shot.

  "Diandou'er" was also in a hurry at this moment, and she couldn't afford to be afraid. She ran desperately forward. Li Huqiu stuck his head out of a door and shouted to her, "Run over here!"

  Li Huqiu pulled her by the hand and ran wildly, 'Dui Er' who had always boasted about his physical strength was exhausted. Li Huqiu only stopped in front of a large black gate, sitting at the entrance to rest for a while.

  "It's all right, this area is quite chaotic, and outsiders who come in will have to turn back. They won't be able to catch up with us. Besides, there was a gunshot earlier, so it must have startled Lei Zi. These few old customers might not make it out of here." Li Huqiu's small hand was still holding onto 'Dui'er's soft and fluffy hand, as he tilted his head to look towards the alley entrance while comforting her.

  "Li Dui'er" didn't hastily withdraw her hand, but instead tilted her head to size up the boy beside her. This was still her first time seriously looking at Li Huqiu. The little guy had white teeth and red lips, with clear eyebrows and eyes, his face clean unlike most unattended young rascals. When he smiled, his upper and lower rows of teeth were neat and white, and his breath even carried a faint hint of toothpaste fragrance.

  "Big sister?????"

  Li Huqiu hesitated, wanting to say something but feeling embarrassed. "Dui'er" asked straightforwardly: "Do you have something on your mind? Considering you saved my life, I'll agree to any condition you set."