398 Retiremen (1/2)
Master Eight had left the underworld a long time ago, but it did not mean that he could escape from the industry's influence. He did not mind when strangers came to pay him homage, trying to befriend him. After all, more friends equaled to more connections. He did not mind it when old friends passed by to jokingly persuade him to return to the lifestyle, claiming that he had not lost his skill to old age. He could still take that as a compliment.
Bur what was with this man who suddenly showed up one day at his door, crying to him and asking for help?
On the surface, Master Eight smiled kindly and gently, but internally, he was deeply alarmed by this man's presence.
According to the rules of the underworld, people would not normally go and disturb those who publicly claimed their retirement. Histories and debts would be paid before that. The latest everything had to be settled was during the retirement ceremony. But if one insisted on hounding the person after their retirement, then that would have broken the underworld's rules.
Similarly, once anyone entered retirement, they swore not to get involved no matter what happened in the future and stayed away from the conflict. Not only would they put down the history from the past, no matter what happened in the future, people could not go and pull those who had retired into the muddy water unless, of course, the person willingly come out from their retirement.
So, the issue that troubled Master Eight now was, who was this fella who did not know the simplest of rules? His face was definitely thick to have the audacity to ask him to come out from retirement.
Master Eight held a cute toddler in one hand, feeding him fruit pudding with patience while listening to the man cry about the difficulty Master Five was in with tears and snot running down his face.
”Master Five is afraid of the news getting out, so he only dared send me to you two days after meeting your people,” the person cried. ”The bunch of foreigners are cruel and have eyes everywhere. We do not dare report them to the police because we're scared that they have their people in the force as well. It's hard to get help from people from the same walk of life too.
”As you know, once too many people get involved, the overall standard will get affected. Some of them can be bought by money and could turn on us at any moment, but if there's not enough people, we won't amount to much. Only with your help, Master Eight, can our Master Five have a chance of survival. Initially, Master Five thought against disturbing you since you've retired, but now that we know that you have accepted another case, considering your history with Master Five, you have to help us, Master Eight.”
Master Eight nodded lightly and absent-mindedly as he cooed to the child who had gotten tired of the pudding. He patted the child's back for a very long time before he got the child's eyelids to close halfway. Just as the child was about to fall asleep, the man reached a high point of his story, and his voice naturally took a rise in pitch. Instantly, he jolted the child awake, and the latter started to cry the house down.
Master Eight was about to lose his cool. With a twitch on his lips, he glared at the man, turned around, and stood up. ”You wait here.”
Then, he cradled the child as he carried him to the bedroom. Soon, the sound of rattles and Master Eight singing a lullaby came from the bedroom. The man was stunned by this change of attitude. His original emotion of sadness and indignation turned into a laughable mood. He wanted to stretch his neck to look into the room, but he did not dare to, so he sat there quietly as he tried his best to wipe out the corrupted image that he had formed of Master Eight as the latter's singing continued to come out from the room…Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click visiting.
Half an hour later, the sound from the bedroom finally dwindled. The man waited patiently for a while longer before he saw Master Eight came out of the bedroom looking like a smiling Buddha, as he closed the door behind him.
The man opened his mouth to say something, but Master Eight's finger quickly went to his lips to shush the man. Then, his finger pointed at the study behind him. The man stood up with a nod. Following Master Eight, he sneaked into the study like a thief.
…
”Master Five…” Master Eight's fingers tapped on the table rhythmically. He closed his eyes to think. ”If I'm not mistaken, he should have retired as well. He took his people and went into hiding at who knows where. Even though the people from our line of work give me face and bequeathed me a title, I actually don't have much history with Master Five. So, why did it cross your mind to come find me?”