Chapter 268 - 166: You’re So Useless
At first, Chen Haisheng tried to pretend he hadn’t noticed. But when Lin Daohang shot him a glare, he looked back with an expression of utter despair.
He took a deep breath, rose from his chair, and walked over to Li Wei.
At twenty-four, he was a full six years older than Li Wei.
Having clawed his way up from the bottom rungs of Chinatown, he carried the heavy air of a belligerent, devil-may-care street brawler. He had always lived by the creed that might makes right.
But now—
With a heavy THUD, his knees slammed stiffly onto the hardwood floor.
He then bent forward, his back arching like a bow, and slammed his forehead hard against the floor with a muffled, yet distinct, crack.
"Mr. Li," Chen Haisheng said, his forehead still pressed to the floor as he knelt. "You saved my life at Brooklyn Hospital. This morning, in the ring, you held nothing back in teaching me. Your immense kindness is beyond words. From this day forward, just say the word, Mr. Li. Whether you need me to run an errand or take a bullet, I, Chen Haisheng, won’t even bat an eye."
"You foolish boy," Lin Daohang said, glancing at Li Wei before his expression darkened. He scolded, "A man of Mr. Li’s stature has no need for a punk like you to take a bullet for him! Are you even worthy? Get up! Stop making a fool of yourself in front of Mr. Li."
With that, he sidled up to Li Wei, a placating smile on his face. "My apologies, Mr. Li. Hai Sheng is just a kid who doesn’t know any better. But his heart is in the right place, and he means no harm. Please don’t hold it against him."
Looking at Chen Haisheng, still kneeling on the floor, and Lin Daohang, with his fawning smile, Li Wei found he could no longer lift his chopsticks.
He set down his chopsticks, glanced from Chen Haisheng to Lin Daohang, and paused for a moment.
"How about this," he said. "I really don’t need an assistant or a driver—"
The light in Lin Daohang’s eyes completely faded.
"—but," Li Wei added, changing his tune, "my sister might need a driver."
Chen Haisheng lifted his head.
"My sister is starting at a private high school in Manhattan soon. The school claims to support equality and oppose bullying," Li Wei said, shaking his head, "but I don’t believe a word of their bullshit announcements. You can drive for Lily. Take her to and from school, provide a bit of a presence. It’ll put my mind at ease."
The light returned to Lin Daohang’s eyes. He quickly said to Chen Haisheng, "What are you spacing out for? Thank Mr. Li!"
"Oh, right," Chen Haisheng said, as if waking from a dream. He scrambled up from the floor and bowed to Li Wei. "Thank you, Mr. Li Wei."
"Let’s be clear first," Li Wei said, picking his chopsticks up again. "I’m not paying you a salary."
"That won’t be necessary, not at all," Lin Daohang interjected. "It’s Hai Sheng’s good fortune to be able to stay by Miss Lily’s side and learn from you, Mr. Li Wei."
The rest of the meal was enjoyed by all. Lin Daohang, thoroughly drunk, was helped into Chen Haisheng’s car.
Night fell quietly. The neon lights of New York began to flicker on, one after another, across the streets of Flushing, drawing a sharp line between the city’s glamour and the clamor of its underbelly.
The spacious Lexus LX600 drove smoothly over the bridge toward Manhattan. The cabin was utterly silent, save for the dull thumps of the tires rolling over the expansion joints.
Chen Haisheng gripped the steering wheel with both hands, his knuckles white. The headlights of oncoming cars periodically swept across his face.
He stole a glance at Lin Daohang, who was passed out drunk in the back seat, then quickly wiped his eyes, instantly composing his face as if nothing had happened.
"What’s wrong? Feeling resentful?" Lin Daohang lowered the window slightly, letting the cool night air vent the smell of liquor from the car. His voice was flat as he broke the silence. "You haven’t said a word since the second half of dinner. You’ve been quiet as a stone."
"No, Uncle Lin." Chen Haisheng kept his eyes fixed on the road. "It was what had to be done."
"Hah," Lin Daohang scoffed. "You’re about to snap the steering wheel in half, yet you say it’s what had to be done. You might not say it, but I’ll bet you hate my guts right now, don’t you?"
"I wouldn’t dare," Chen Haisheng said at once.
"Even the great Han Xin had to endure the humiliation of crawling between a man’s legs. Of your generation, you’re the most capable," Lin Daohang said calmly. "I can’t carry this burden forever. The future of Chinatown, the survival of the Chinese people in New York... that will all fall to you one day."
Chen Haisheng said nothing, simply continuing to drive.
A man does not kneel easily. And what’s more, Lin Daohang had instructed him before dinner that if Li Wei refused, he was to get on his knees and kowtow.
"Mr. Li’s future potential is limitless. Both sides of the law already respect him," Lin Daohang continued, not expecting a reply. "I have a feeling that right now, he’s a hidden dragon in the deep. We can still get a word in with him. But in the future, when he’s a dragon soaring through the heavens, people of our station might not even be able to find his front door."
"And don’t think I’m just saying this," he said, glancing at Chen Haisheng’s reddened eyes. "You must be thinking that I, the man who watched you grow up, just threw you under the bus, forcing you to kneel and kowtow to a boy younger than you. You’re resentful, I know."
"I’m not resentful," Chen Haisheng said stiffly. "I know it was for the good of Chinatown and the Chamber of Commerce."
Early the next morning, Chen Haisheng arrived at Battery City Park. After passing through multiple layers of security, he made his way to the underground garage and stood beside Li Wei’s Cadillac Escalade, waiting for Lily to come down.
He was dressed in a black suit that, while not expensive, was impeccably pressed. He stood beside the full-sized Cadillac Escalade like an iron statue.
To avoid looking like a hired goon ready for a street brawl, he had even gotten his messy hair trimmed at a barbershop and put on a pair of non-prescription, black-framed glasses to conceal the hostility in his gaze.
A short while later, the elevator doors opened. A little blonde, blue-eyed girl carrying a backpack walked out, with Li Wei following behind her.
"Good morning, Brother Chen," the little girl greeted politely. She was highly adaptable; Li Wei had clearly told her about the driver ahead of time.
"Good morning, Miss Lily." Chen Haisheng quickly pulled open the heavy car door.
Despite his reluctance, he kept Lin Daohang’s words and Li Wei’s help firmly in mind, determined to fulfill his duties as a driver and bodyguard to the best of his ability.
"She’s in your hands," Li Wei said, handing the car keys to Chen Haisheng. "After her school day is over, head back to the martial arts hall in Flushing and keep practicing."
「A few days passed uneventfully.」
Chen Haisheng hadn’t given up on the New York Golden Gloves tournament, which was two weeks away. He hadn’t given up on his dream.
Every day, aside from driving Lily to and from school, he spent nearly all his remaining time at the boxing gym in Flushing, replaying Li Wei’s lessons in his mind and getting his ass handed to him by the man himself.
But Chen Haisheng gladly endured it.
A three-hour, one-sided beating from Li Wei was more productive than a month of training on his own. He also had a strange feeling that his overall condition was better when he was with Li Wei; he could absorb more of his teachings.
But this education came at a cost. The price for correcting his deeply ingrained, faulty muscle memory was the searing ache that tore through his entire body and the unavoidable cuts and bruises from their sparring sessions.
That Friday afternoon, Chen Haisheng was scheduled to pick up Lily at 3:30 as usual and take her to a high-end private club on Long Island for her golf lesson.
He had just finished a high-intensity sparring session at the gym around noon, and a heavy kick to his left side had left a large, swollen, bluish-purple bruise over his ribs.
To ensure it wouldn’t affect his driving in the afternoon or his training later that night, he got into the driver’s seat of the Escalade half an hour early, just before 3:00. Lifting his shirt, he poured a small bottle of traditional Chinese liniment, prescribed by an old doctor in Chinatown, into his palm. Gritting his teeth, he began to vigorously rub the liquid into the injury to break up the bruising.
At 3:30 sharp, Lily pulled open the back door and got in.
The moment the door shut, the recycled air from the AC began to blow. Lily instinctively furrowed her brow and her small nose twitched as she sniffed twice.
"Uncle Chen..." the little girl began hesitantly. "There’s a strange smell in the car. Do you smell it?"
Chen Haisheng’s hands, gripping the steering wheel, suddenly went rigid.
In the rearview mirror, he could see the look of discomfort on Lily’s face.
A wave of embarrassment, stronger than any he had ever felt, hit him like a club, striking a brutal blow to the proud, untamable heart of a twenty-four-year-old man.
"Sorry, Miss Lily," he explained, his voice hollow as a cold sweat broke out on his brow. "I’m a little injured... I used some herbal medicine. The smell is a bit strong. I’ll be more careful next time."
"Oh, I see." Lily blinked, looking at Chen Haisheng’s tense back. She didn’t show any sign of disgust.
She just gave a small nod, then turned to look out the window, saying nothing more.
But somehow, her lack of reaction made Chen Haisheng feel even more mortified.
Li Wei was a full six years younger than him but had already made a name for himself in the United States of America. Meanwhile, he, at twenty-four, had been knocked out in an amateur boxing match and was now reduced to kowtowing for a chauffeur’s job—a job where he couldn’t even apply his medicine without causing a scene.
He wasn’t even good enough to be the driver for the eighteen-year-old star himself.
’Fuck, Chen Haisheng, you’re so damn useless,’ he told himself.
The next morning, Chen Haisheng was waiting by the car as usual.
Lily was wearing a beautiful, British-style school uniform. She walked up to the car but didn’t get in right away. Instead, she rummaged through a small side pocket of her backpack and held out a small object.
"Brother Chen, this is for you."
Chen Haisheng froze for a second, then took it instinctively.
The tube was printed with German words he didn’t recognize. It looked like some kind of medical-grade sports gel.
"This is a medical gel my brother’s team gives out. He’s never used it, though," Lily said earnestly, her backpack still on. "They say it absorbs quickly and doesn’t really have a scent."
"It must hurt to be injured," she said. "I hope you feel better soon."
Chen Haisheng stood frozen, clutching the cold metal tube of gel. He could feel the blood rush to his face, making the tips of his ears burn.
’How pathetic,’ he thought. ’Being pitied by a little girl.’
From that day on, no matter how brutally he was beaten at the gym, no matter how badly his muscles tore, Chen Haisheng gritted his teeth and bore the pain. He never used the liniment again.
...
Just as Lin Daohang had predicted, the news that Chen Haisheng had become the driver for Li Wei’s sister quickly spread through half of New York’s underworld.