Chapter Text
Nan Heng's thoughts had strayed from work a while ago, but instead of picturing something like a nice, relaxed evening or a summer holiday, he was mentally stuck worrying about his father’s upcoming birthday and the stupid event he was planning. From experience, it was safe to assume that he would find a way to publicly mortify his eldest son in front of the whole family and business partners again, or punish him for whatever he could spontaneously think of. It was his favourite hobby, and somehow, he never ran out of inspiration in this field.
Among these anxious ruminations, Nan Heng even imagined his father growling at him loudly and resentfully, and it was so vivid that he startled and finally woke up from his daydream, realising that he was still in the office, slouching in his chair with terrible posture that was causing him back pain. His screen must have gone into sleep mode a while ago; it was already half past eight and dark outside.
The growling, however, was real. Its source was Fu Gui, who, hands rubbing over his complaining stomach, looked at him both apologetically for disturbing and reproachfully for not considering that Fu Gui was a hard-working man and therefore needed at least one, better four proper meals a day to function.
There was no valid reason for staying in this long tonight; Nan Heng had bit of a guilty conscience about it, because daydreaming or staring at blank walls he could do at home without keeping back Fu Gui. He sat up, trying to look somewhat dignified, and revived his computer.
“The report won’t come in today, I suppose” he said, seeing that exact report in his emails quite clearly. It came to his mind that he had forgotten to get out one of the dozens of meals his mother had stuffed his freezer with yesterday, so there was nothing to eat except some dry bread and overripe bananas. He had an idea of how to make up for the delay. Meeting Fu Gui’s hopeful eyes, he declared that they could call it a day and should go grab a bite.
“Yes, sir!” Fu Gui beamed; it was really easy to make him happy. They decided on trying a new takeaway a few streets from the police station that was rumoured to have grumpy staff and excellent dumplings.
As soon as they were there, Fu Gui rushed out to get them a sample, as he called it, and Nan Heng proceeded to look for a free parking space for it was pretty crowded at this time of the day. He found one at the corner to a backstreet. To make sure he wouldn’t get blocked, he put the siren on the car roof and went to meet Fu Gui.
He was just a few steps away from his car, and maybe because the image of his father growling at him had lastingly disturbed him, or maybe just because he was actually hungry too and therefore had a delayed reaction, he noticed too late that someone came running around the corner at an impressive speed, crossing his exact path. Neither of them could react in time, and the person crashed into him unchecked, almost knocking him over if it hadn't been for Nan Heng's quick lunge backwards. The impact hurt quite a bit; they instinctively grabbed each other’s arms for balance and managed to not fall down ungracefully.
“Oh, so sorry,” the person huffed, removing their face from his chest and already about to sprint off without even looking up, “gotta dash, if you don’t mind.”
They immediately tried to escape his grip, but Nan Heng didn’t let go. That voice sounded familiar, and he wanted at least an explanation for this incident. “You’ll have to answer for the speed violation, at least,” he joked, taking a closer look and seeing a pair of wide, fearful eyes staring back at him.
“You?” What a weird coincidence. It was the young man they had interrogated about half a year ago about an online theft, but had to let him go due to lack of evidence.
“Ah, for god’s sake, why am I always so out of luck,” Shangguan He whined, “let me go, alright? I can deal with maybe three of these monkeys, but not with a whole tribe!”
Monkeys? What did he mean? Checking the street he came from, Nan Heng saw a bunch of bulky thugs in the reflection in a shops window; they were not very fast, but determinedly coming closer.
In the meantime, seeing his boss seemingly wrestling with someone, Fu Gui had come running and almost let his precious dinner drop now as he started gesturing at Shangguan He, who, desperately trying to escape, wailed “Let me gooooo!” non-stop.
“Wait, wait, isn’t that…?”
“Yeah, it’s him.” Instead of letting him leave, Nan Heng dragged Shangguan He over to the car, opened the door and shoved him inside, despite his protest, down into the small space between seat and backrest. “Duck and be quiet, you can thank me later.”
When the thugs finally appeared, they saw no Shangguan He, but pedestrians as well as Nan Heng and Fu Gui, casually leaning against the car, enjoying dumplings and discussing the newest episode of a drama they had just made up from scratch.
“Hey,” one of the monkeys shouted at them despite being close, “have you just seen a guy running like a madman? Where did he go?”
Nan Heng shrugged. “This quarter is full of law firms and medical practices, there is always someone running like a madman here. You have to provide more details.”
“Aren’t you funny?” The guy took a fighting stance, puffing himself up. “It was some pretty boy.”
“Let me ask you something.” Nan Heng slowly put his remaining dumplings on the roof, stood tall and looked sternly down on him. “Do I come across as someone who would notice a ‘pretty boy’?” Why the hell was Fu Gui side-eyeing him?
Whether it was the expression on Nan Heng’s face, his icy voice, the now revealed police siren on the car or the small part of his gun holster showing as he had moved, the other stood down. “No offence, master,” he said, greeting with a tap on his head, and they went off to the left, still in no particular hurry.
“What is it?” asked Nan Heng irritated as Fu Gui kept looking at him as soon as they were out of hearing distance.
“Oh, nothing, sir, but after you said this just now, I remembered that I have never seen you with or even talk about a woman, so I wondered-“
What was he even babbling about? Ridiculous. “Wondered what?!”
“Nothing, nothing, haha, I’m just joking.” Fu Gui laughed nervously, made himself smaller, just in case, and stuffed his face with more dumplings to keep himself from imprudently saying any more nonsense.
“Good.”
Fu Gui shrank a little more and changed the subject. “I wonder what the little rascal did to these guys? They looked like triad members to me.”
“They did indeed. Let’s find out.” The thugs were out of sight - time to talk to the ‘pretty boy’. They mentally prepared themselves for more whining and crying, and Fu Gui opened the door with suitable cautiousness, only to find the car quiet and empty, and the door opposite standing ajar. Quickly, they checked around the vehicle, and under it, overviewed the square, but nothing. How did he even escape, did he crawl like a bug? There was a mall on the other side of the street, and at the end of it was a bus station, if Nan Heng remembered correctly. In any case, Shangguan He had taken a great risk. Either he was desperate to get out of this situation quickly, no matter what, or he needed to be somewhere else and had no intention to talk to the police about it.
“That’s unbelievable!” Fu Gui was fuming. „Do you want to question him about that?”
Nan Heng shook his head. “Not officially. I mean, he didn’t actually do anything wrong; accidentally crashing into me isn’t illegal. But still… I’d like to know what this was about and how he got involved with the triads.” The fact that those guys had moved so leisurely could mean that they knew where Shangguan He lived. Maybe that was why he’d been so keen to sneak away under their noses. “Okay, let’s do this. Call the office and get his address, and we’ll take a look.”
The house, an older building, nothing fancy, but clean and well maintained, wasn’t far, just a ten-minute drive, but it turned out that they were a little too late. An elderly neighbour peeked out as they rang the doorbell repeatedly. “He just left in a hurry, five minutes ago,” she told them after they showed her their identifications, “said he’d be away for a while. He’s not in trouble, is he? Such a nice young man, he always helps me with the groceries when the lift is broken.”
Seriously? He was a grandmas man? “Don’t worry, ma’am,” Nan Heng reassured her, trying to look a bit less intimidating than usual, “we just need his statement about a minor incident. We’ll call his mobile then.”
“Ah, then you can tell him that I’ve finished ironing his shirts if he needs them, I forgot earlier.”
That sounded more like it, charming an old lady and trick her into volunteering in doing his chores. Remembering the interrogations back then, Shangguan He had proved to be a smooth talker, not at all the smarmy kind, but more like in an offensively self-assured, yet funny way that made it hard to get mad at him. And though he was indeed very charming if he wanted to, that did not help him with the triads.
They hadn’t noticed any signs of a break-in or anything suspicious at the front door, so they went to check the back door that led to a slightly run-down inner yard, with smelly trash bins, and lots of tools, brooms and a rake left lying about. A few small stains at the doorstep that looked like dried blood and a broken pot plant suggested a fight. Had the thugs caught him here? But if they had, Shangguan He would have shouted the house down and someone would have called the police, Nan Heng was sure of it, so he maybe escaped last minute another time, or this here wasn’t related at all.
“He’s slippery as an eel, isn’t he. I wonder where he went.” Fu Gui scratched his head. “What now, sir?”
“We’ll wait until tomorrow to call him, and let’s hope he has still the same phone number, I don’t want to bother with searching for him,” Nan Heng decided. It was not like he was worried or something. “I’ll give you a ride home.”
*
Due to the huge amount of dumplings he had eaten, Nan Heng took the stairs to his apartment at the 9th floor to get some exercise, three steps at a time. Pleased with himself and a little out of breath, he then stood dumbfounded when he saw a lost-looking figure sitting in front of his door, leaning against the wall, hugging a huge bag and staring into the void.
He would not ask Shangguan He how he came to know his address, assuming he wouldn’t get a proper answer anyway (or one he liked) and just make himself look like a fool, but he quickly checked all his pockets for a bug and found nothing.
When he noticed Nan Heng approaching, Shangguan He stood up quickly and had the decency to look a little awkward, while holding the bag in front of him as a buffer. He had a small injury on his eyebrow, but looked unharmed otherwise.
Nan Heng sighed and crossed his arms. “What are you doing here?”
“Err… You said I can thank you later? So: thank you.”
“Yeah, I said that, but didn’t mean it literally, you know? Absolutely no need to come here. But you’re welcome.” A pause followed. Nan Heng wouldn’t help him to get out what he actually wanted.
“Um,” now Shangguan He was scrunching his nose, and, ineloquent compared to the interrogation, he then just blurted it out: “Can I crash here? Just a few days?”
Well, that was not what Nan Heng had expected. “I don’t have an Airbnb nor do I do guests,” he replied coldly and snatched Shangguan He’s arm, “but assuming this is about those guys from earlier, I can put you in protective custody.”
“Ah- hrmph.”
Thwarting Shangguan He getting noisy again, Nan Heng put his free hand over his mouth to silence him. “Shh. I’m kidding. Be quiet.” And when Shangguan He nodded, he removed his hand slowly, typed the code to open the door and shoved him inside.
“Shoes off,” Nan Heng commanded, “and put your jacket here.” He had only two hooks in the small vestibule, so he took his other coat to stow it in the closet.
Shangguan He plodded behind him with his bag and took a look around. There was not much to see; one room with a basic kitchen unit, a dining aera and a living area with sofa, shelves and a side table. Besides the bathroom leading off the hallway, there was only a small bedroom. The highlight of this apartment was definitely the view from the floor-to-ceiling windows and the spacious balcony.
“You don’t have a guest room?”
“No, like I said, I don’t usually have guests. You’ll have to make do with the sofa. It’s more comfortable than it looks.” Nan Heng gestured him to sit at the table, handed him a first aid kit and went to make tea. While the water was boiling, he watched his freeloader carefully tending to the wound, and then checking his face and fixing his hair until he was content with it.
“Your neighbour sends word that she has finished ironing your shirts.” Nan Heng put the teacups on the table and amused himself with Shangguan He’s stunned reaction.
“You were at my house?”
“We were, and missed you by a few minutes. And we also noticed a bit of blood at the back door. But considering your wound,” Nan Heng pointed at the micro patch, “it wasn’t yours.”
“No. They had a man to intercept me at home, but I gave him a bloody nose.”
Who would have guessed. “I thought that you had screamed at him until his ears bled. Anyway, and then you didn’t know where to go and ended up here of all places?”
Shangguan He pulled a grimace. “I wouldn’t have considered it if I hadn’t run into you earlier. But since you helped me once…”
“And you think I’m that kind that I wouldn’t investigate your involvement with the triads?” This was actually very entertaining. Nan Heng wondered if anything he’d get to hear was true.
“Oh dear, you already know that.” Shangguan He groaned. “I swear it’s – not like that.” He gulped down his still too hot tea and cussed the innocent beverage. “I didn’t mean to have anything to do with them, and when I realized that they are mob, it was too late.”
“What exactly was too late?”
“It wasn’t just business anymore. Their boss has taken a liking in me.”
Plagued by a sudden cough attack, Nan Heng spit his tea back into the cup, for the first time in his life. “Sorry, what?”, he wheezed.
Leaning over, Shangguan He made the most pitiful face. “Everyone thinks that good looks are an advantage, but I’m telling you, they’re not. Look at me! Not even a veteran mob boss can resist me. It is a curse to be as handsome as I am! I’m doomed!”
Nan Heng took his time to recover from this, if it was possible at all. He must be pulling his leg?! But Shangguan He didn’t crack up at all, didn't show even the tiniest smirk, he just sat there and waited for him to acknowledge the hardships of his existence.
“Is that so?” Nan Heng uttered when he got his voice back. “I wouldn’t know.”
This little bastard had the nerve to confirm that he indeed wouldn’t know, and then he groaned again, all miserable due to the burden of his beauty. But he wouldn’t be let off the hook this easily.
“Still, there must be a story why the mob wanted to work with you in the first place,” Nan Heng said, and noticed Shangguan He's expression shift towards discomfort. "I was wondering if that case from half a year ago is somehow related?"
Sitting up straight and smiling sweetly and politely - probably his default for charming older ladies -, Shangguan He said: “Why, not at all,” as if that would explain anything.
“I see, I see. I suggest we get some sleep now.” It was late already, and since this young man was a tough nut to crack, Nan Heng was going to postpone further interrogations. They’d need a few rounds of talking until he’d get to the bottom of this all, and as a little revenge, he’d let Shangguan He simmer a bit, wondering if he’d been convincing and would get away with this nonsense.
Nan Heng brought a cushion and a blanket. “If you’re hungry, there’s some dry bread over there, and those black things are bananas. I don’t recommend them.”
“I thought you were rich,” Shangguan He pouted. “And then you live in this box and have no food.” With his finger, he tested the sofa which seemed more appealing to him.
“Disappointing, right? I always think the same thing when I get home.” With that, he left his ‘guest’ to himself; he surely wouldn’t mention the stuffed freezer. After brushing his teeth and taking a quick shower, he found Shangguan He already asleep, curled up under the blanket, his feet and arm hanging over the side table.
And while Nan Heng made himself comfortable in his soft and cosy bed, he noticed that his head was spinning like a merry-go-round. Also, there were few questions he had to keep in mind: What kind of idiotic day had this been? How had Shangguan He ended up with the mob? And was he really such a beauty that he could enchant a boss who was never short of pretty underlings? Nan Heng would have to take a closer look at him to find out if this could be true.