Love on the Turquoise Land

Sent to Xi'an by my own blow?

Xiong Hei took a moment to process this. His fists were heavy, swinging like sledgehammers, and over the years, many had tasted their impact.

"Last night's guy?"

Could it really be such a coincidence? Xiong Hei was both surprised and a little smug: when he didn't strike, nothing happened, but when he did, he took down the Mad Blade?

Lin Xirou's voice in his earpiece was firm: "Impossible."

Xiong Hei raised his gun: "Trying to fool me? Believe me, I can make you symmetrical."

Jiang Baichuan had passed the initial wave of pain that had him rolling on the ground and entered another extreme: lying still as a corpse, as if absolute stillness could pause the agony.

He murmured weakly, "It's true... Mad Blades usually act with the Rabid Dog. Last night, they were together. The blind one was Xing Shen, and the other was Nie... Nie the Second..."

His voice trailed off until there was no sound left.

Xiong Hei nudged his chin with his foot and reported to Lin Xirou, "The old man's willpower's gone. Passed out from the pain."

Lin Xirou didn't respond.

Xiong Hei shared his thoughts: "Lin-jie, I think he might be telling the truth. They say wealth doesn't last three generations, and founding emperors end with useless descendants. The Turbaned Army might've been formidable in ancient times, but now... Rabid Dog? More like a crippled mutt. Almost got run over by my car last night..."

He felt a pang of regret: if Yan Tuo hadn't interfered last night, forcing him to leave, he could've taken out both the Mad Blade and the Rabid Dog in one go.

Lin Xirou pondered, "It just seems too coincidental."

But from what they'd seen so far, these so-called descendants of the Turbaned Army were hardly a threat.

Xiong Hei went on, "No coincidence, no story. Who'd have thought that blind guy was the Rabid Dog? Damn, did the family run out of heirs? Couldn't find someone with all limbs intact?"

Lin Xirou snapped, "Don't spout nonsense if you don't understand. Each of the five senses takes up a person's energy. Gain and loss—when one sense is lost, the others sharpen. It's no surprise the Rabid Dog is blind. If any of you had a scent, he'd have sniffed it out long ago."

Xiong Hei sulked, then asked, "So... Lin-jie, what do we do with these people? Seven or eight of them. Tying them all up seems like overkill."

Though he'd committed plenty of crimes over the years, they'd always been one or two at a time, sporadic. Handling seven or eight at once was uncharted territory.

Lin Xirou said, "Take them all to the farm first. Separate them and question them one by one. I need to see this Jiang Baichuan. Clean up the place, gather their belongings—especially their phones. And leave two men behind to see if anyone else shows up."

After hanging up, Xiong Hei felt triumphant, invigorated.

He looked around, feeling like he'd forgotten something, then remembered: "Where's the blind guy? Still not caught? What a bunch of useless trash!"

Yan Tuo was asleep when a sudden commotion outside woke him—doors slamming, footsteps everywhere, someone screaming in pain, and Xiong Hei's angry shouts: "Shut up! We've got a doctor here! Lü Xian, if you keep yelling, I'll sew your mouth shut!"

He quickly threw on his coat and stepped out.There were quite a few people outside, and the voice shouting indeed belonged to Xiong Hei. Standing with his hands on his hips, he was cursing loudly toward the operating room. Lü Xian had apparently just woken up and was hurriedly changing into surgical scrubs.

Through the gaps between people, the figure lying on the operating table looked familiar—it was one of Xiong Hei's subordinates. The gauze pressed against his waist was already soaked through with blood.

Xiong Hei continued his tirade: "Should've gone to the temple more often to pray, huh? Bad luck got you? A guy with two good eyes, taken down by a blind man's gunshot!"

The operating room door soon closed.

Yan Tuo walked over with a smile: "Brother Xiong, what blind man?"

Only then did Xiong Hei notice him: "Oh, you're back? Hey, tell me, where'd you disappear to before?"

As he spoke, he plopped down onto the large sofa and barked at the remaining people: "Those who should be sleeping, get the hell out! All this pacing around is giving me a headache!"

The others headed toward the opposite side—the large dormitory. Lü Xian's area was more professional, stocked with medicines and medical equipment. They were used to coming and going quickly to avoid being in the way.

Yan Tuo took a seat on the single sofa nearby and casually lifted his jacket collar, intending to show his injuries first: "Well, I was—"

Xiong Hei called out to the slowest of the group: "Hey, go grab a few beers. Any cold dishes in the fridge? Bring a couple plates."

Yan Tuo lowered his hand.

Strange. Xiong Hei had been out on business tonight, and one of his men was injured—why was he in such high spirits?

He decided to set aside his own matter for now: "Brother Xiong, everything went smoothly today?"

Xiong Hei beamed: "Of course."

Leaning closer, he added: "Yan Tuo, this time we really settled the score for you..."

He made a sweeping gesture with his hand: "Wiped them all out in one go."

Yan Tuo's heart skipped a beat, but he feigned confusion: "Who?"

Xiong Hei frowned: "Don't tell me you're that clueless—Banya's gang."

Yan Tuo pulled his jacket tighter and sank deeper into the sofa: "Yeah right. Probably just knocked out a few small fries and now you're claiming the whole pot's empty."

In his good mood and with actual results to back him up, Xiong Hei didn't take offense. Instead, he gloated: "Let me just say this—their leader, that old man Jiang? Hah, I personally blew half his foot off."

Yan Tuo let out an "oh": "Wiped out, men, women, and children included?"

Xiong Hei waved a hand: "Didn't see any women. You thinking of that Que Cha? Nah, she wasn't there this time. Pfft, what can women even accomplish?"

Yan Tuo smirked: "Want to say that to Aunt Lin's face?"

Xiong Hei was momentarily speechless.

Just then, the beer and cold dishes arrived. Xiong Hei snapped apart a pair of disposable chopsticks and shoveled a large portion into his mouth.

Yan Tuo watched his chewing mouth intently: Whether it was Aunt Lin or Xiong Hei and the others, they drank and ate meat just like ordinary people. So what exactly did "omnivorous" mean?

As he pondered, Xiong Hei looked up at him: "So what happened to you earlier?"

His prepared story wouldn't work now—improvising on the spot was truly challenging. Yan Tuo leaned forward to grab a beer, forcefully popping the tab: "Me..."

His thoughts suddenly turned to Nie Jiuluo—she could spin lies effortlessly. In his entire life, he'd never met someone who lied so naturally and seamlessly.

He stalled with meaningless details: "I was heading east at the time, originally planning to hail a cab. Who knew drivers in the countryside wouldn't accept rides..."

Xiong Hei nodded vigorously between mouthfuls: "Yeah, cities have more cabs, easier to get one. Countryside's no good. Hey, eat something."Yan Tuo: "I was just walking along, trying things out, not paying much attention to the roadside. Suddenly, two people jumped out and knocked me down."

Xiong Hei paused his chopsticks: "Banya's men?"

"I thought so too, figured they were lying in ambush. I panicked a bit, and since I wasn’t prepared at first, I took a few hits. I barely managed to find an opening to run, but they chased me relentlessly and even called two more accomplices. I hid in a corner and called you."

Xiong Hei nodded: "No wonder you sounded so out of breath at the time."

"Who knew before I could finish the call, those guys caught up? Afraid they’d hear the noise, I had to hang up. I could’ve stayed hidden, but I messed up—I forgot to mute my phone. When you called back, they heard it and found me."

Xiong Hei’s mouth fell open slightly. He hadn’t realized he was partly to blame—true, he had called over a dozen times in a row...

"I don’t have eyes in the back of my head. How was I supposed to know you were in that kind of situation?"

Yan Tuo waved it off magnanimously: "It’s fine, Brother Xiong. We’re all on the same side. Though afterward, I did get stabbed..."

He lifted the hem of his jacket to show Xiong Hei the scratch on his lower right abdomen. It wasn’t deep, just a thin wound that looked like a knife graze: "Luckily, it only broke the skin—nothing serious. After that, it was just a fight. Those guys weren’t much, but there were too many of them. I took them down and ran. Honestly, I had another thought at the time: I figured they were Banya’s men and wanted to tail them back to their hideout. Would’ve been a nice bonus."

At this point, he tilted his head back and took a couple of swigs of beer.

So far, the story held up—no obvious holes.

Xiong Hei said, "You should’ve told me..."

Yan Tuo set down the beer can and wiped his mouth: "Lost my phone. Those guys took it."

Ah, that explained it. Xiong Hei suddenly understood why the last call had connected but gone silent, and why the phone had shut off completely afterward.

He asked, "So, they weren’t Banya’s men in the end?"

"Turned out they weren’t—just some thugs looking to rob people. You think I’d let them off? The rest got complicated, so I won’t go into details. There were four of them in total, and I made sure each one got what they deserved. My phone got messed up too, so I had it repaired..."

He pulled out his phone from his jacket: "See? They even gave me this hideous case."

Xiong Hei was speechless. Finally, he pointed at the still-closed operating room door: "Once he’s better, you two should go pray or something. What kind of luck is this? One mess after another!"

Yan Tuo gave a bitter smile: "Let’s not talk about it. Brother Xiong, if Aunt Lin asks, just say I ran into some trouble and my phone broke—delayed me. If she asks me, I’ll say the same. No need to go into details; makes me look useless."

He tapped the bottom of his beer can on the counter and raised it in a toast to Xiong Hei: "Congrats, Brother Xiong. I didn’t accomplish much, but your big breakthrough... Oh, right, you said you blew half of Jiang’s foot off—with a gun? Did Lü Xian have to handle that?"

Xiong Hei sneered: "Handle it? He doesn’t deserve it. Let it rot."

Nie Jiuluo always kept her phone on silent at night.But that night, in the middle of her sleep, she was abruptly awakened by the incessant flickering light from her phone screen. When she opened her eyes, she was dazed and half-convinced she was still dreaming.

She grabbed her phone—it was an entirely unfamiliar number. The call had automatically disconnected after going unanswered for too long.

Scrolling back, she saw the same number had already called over twenty times.

Just as she was puzzling over it, another round of screen flashes began.

Nie Jiuluo hesitated before finally answering: "Hello?"

The voice on the other end was a man with a heavy accent: "You wait, hold on a sec."

Nie Jiuluo was baffled: "Huh?"

The next second, the voice changed—it was Xing Shen: "A'Luo?"

...

Forty-five minutes later, around 2 a.m., Nie Jiuluo hurriedly hailed a taxi and arrived at her destination through the gradually lightening snow.

It was a private lumber mill on the outskirts of the city. Normally, no factory would be operating at this hour, but small private workshops had more flexibility. With a large order urgently needing delivery before year-end, the machines were still running nonstop in the dead of night.

Nie Jiuluo crossed the cluttered yard and entered the noisy, rudimentary workshop. The air was thick with the scent of wood and floating wood shavings. The night-shift workers eyed her curiously, and one of them pointed further inside, indicating she should go deeper.

As she walked inward, a lump suddenly rose from a pile of discarded wood scraps beside her and called out: "A'Luo."

Nie Jiuluo jumped, momentarily thinking a log had come to life. But when she focused, her heart churned with indescribable emotions.

It was indeed Xing Shen—no sunglasses, his face pale with a bluish tint, lips purple, wearing only one slipper, and wrapped in a filthy, patternless blanket, likely lent by a sympathetic worker who pitied him for the cold.

Nie Jiuluo approached him: "What's going on?"

Amid the relentless roar of machinery, Xing Shen recounted what had happened earlier.

After landing, he noticed lights and instinctively bolted into the darkness. In his haste, he glanced back and saw Jiang Baichuan being forcibly dragged inside through the window.

"Anyway, I couldn’t save him. Better one of us gets away than none."

He sprinted as fast as he could, while Mazha was even faster, darting like a wild cat skimming the ground.

Soon, pursuers with flashlights appeared behind them. Xing Shen, who didn’t rely on light, was far more agile. During the chase, the pursuers fired two shots, but between the darkness and their unsteady aim while running, neither bullet came close to hitting him.

When they reached the outskirts near the road, Xing Shen heard an approaching vehicle and made a split-second decision. He dropped to the ground, took aim at one of the pursuers, and fired.

The man fell instantly, caught off guard. The other two were stunned and immediately hit the dirt. Seizing the opportunity, Xing Shen scrambled up and dashed toward the road, intending to flag down the vehicle—though getting Mazha onboard would be tricky.

Luck was on his side. It was a pickup truck hauling lumber, and because the planks were too long, the tailgate was down. Xing Shen mustered all his strength, grabbed the edge, and vaulted into the truck bed. Almost simultaneously, Mazha also leaped in.The driver noticed something but thought someone was trying to hitch a ride, so instead of stopping, he floored the accelerator and sped away wildly. By the time his pursuers caught up, the road was already pitch black and completely empty.

Just like that, he was taken all the way to the lumber factory.

Hearing this, Nie Jiuluo instinctively glanced around: "Where's Mazha?"

Xing Shen knew what she was worried about: "Don’t worry. When we entered the lumber factory, I had it get off and hide outside. It won’t startle anyone."

After a pause, he added, "We escaped in such a hurry that I didn’t bring anything. Luckily, I remembered your number, so I borrowed a worker’s phone and had him keep dialing for me. The blanket was also borrowed from him—the same one who pointed the way for you... If it’s convenient, could you transfer him a hundred or two as a token of thanks?"

Nie Jiuluo gave a hum of acknowledgment. "What about Jiang Shu and the others? How are they?"

Xing Shen shook his head. "No idea. They might’ve been captured, or they might’ve turned the tables—though the latter’s less likely."

Nie Jiuluo pulled out her phone.

Xing Shen guessed her thoughts: "If you’re thinking of messaging Jiang Shu, I’d advise against it. His phone might not be in his hands anymore."

Nie Jiuluo said, "I know what I’m doing."

She opened the self-destructing messages app.

The chat with "Natou" was empty—one of the perks of self-destructing messages was that she remained invisible in Jiang Baichuan’s phone.

After a moment’s thought, she searched online for a photo of a scantily clad, flirtatious hostess and sent it over, then typed: Year-end special! One-time 1,800, overnight 5,000. When will you visit again, boss?

Natou read it instantly but didn’t reply.

Nie Jiuluo stared at the screen for a few seconds before saying, "The phone really is in someone else’s hands."

After a pause, she asked, "Where’s the location? We should at least go check the situation."

Xing Shen warned her, "They have numbers and guns."

Nie Jiuluo repeated, "I know what I’m doing."

She first went to thank the person who had helped Xing Shen make the call. When she returned, she was carrying two flat, square canisters in each hand.

Xing Shen asked, "What’s that?"

Nie Jiuluo answered, "Gasoline."