Special District 9 Chapter 142: Leaving Without Burden

Two hours later.

In a restaurant in Jiangzhou, Coco took a sip of white wine and she blinked her large eyes at Qin Yu, asking, “What’s wrong? Is the food I’m treating you not good enough for you? What’s with that bitter look on your face?”

The red-faced Qin Yu gulped down a cup of wine before replying softly, “That old man doesn’t have long left.”

Coco was stunned. “Ma Lao-er’s uncle?”

“Yeah.” Qin Yu nodded.

Sitting by the side, Old Cat sighed deeply and he drowned himself with liquor.

Coco had never heard of Old Ma, but she had heard some things about him. So, she didn’t try to pull the mood through with a joke. She simply remarked quietly, “Perhaps this is also a form of liberation.”

“Let’s drink.” Qin Yu poured himself another cup of wine while gesturing clumsily.

The three of them clinked their wine glasses together. It should have been a joyous farewell banquet, but the mood suddenly felt inexplicably heavy.

The dinner lasted till late at night. After Coco footed the bill, Qin Yu took a glance at his watch and said, “Help me make some arrangements. I’ll be leaving for Fengbei tonight.”

Old Cat was stunned, “You going to…?”

“I’ll bring him back to Songjiang in Lao-er’s stead,” Qin Yu said concisely.

“Should I tell Lao-er then?” Old Cat asked.

“Yeah, we need to tell him eventually anyway. There’s no point hiding it.”

“Un,” Old Cat nodded.

Coco listened to the conversation between the two of them before taking her phone out and walking to one side to make arrangements.

A few minutes later, the three of them walked out of the restaurant together.

Coco turned to Qin Yu and said, “I haven’t told you all this while, but there are people in the family who oppose our partnership. They feel that you have gone too far messing with Prosperous Dragon, so partnering with you could very well land us in a pit where we’ll never be able to escape from.”

The slightly drunk Qin Yu, who smelled as if someone had doused him in alcohol, replied, “I thought so too.”

“Don’t put me in a spot,” Coco advised in a roundabout manner. “I have my older brothers and elders on top of me.”

“I’ll do my best to get things done properly,” Qin Yu promised solemnly.

“Very well,” Coco said as she stretched her fair hand forth. “I wish you a safe journey ahead, and I pray that there’ll be fewer bumps in our partnership ahead.”

Qin Yu shook Coco’s hand firmly before glancing at the car that was driving over. All of a sudden, he said, “Ah, I nearly forgot. I have a present for you.”

Coco was surprised. “A present?”

“Wait a moment.” Qin Yu walked down the stairs and pulled the car door open. From the back seat of the car, he took out a small bag before returning back to Coco’s side.

“What is it?”

“I realized that you have a habit of wearing scarves, so I got someone to get you one from Fengbei,” Qin Yu replied. “I’m a poor bloke—which you should have already known by now—who can’t afford to get you anything luxurious. So, I can only express my gratitude to you by getting you something you might like.”

Coco opened the elaborately designed bag and took out a pink fur scarf from inside. Her eyes widened a little from surprise before she smiled, “How unexpected! I thought that you’re the kind of guy who spends your day in bars drinking alcohol and boasting about your heroic exploits, but you’re more meticulous than I thought!”

“You have helped us on two occasions now. I know I haven’t said anything at all, but I have been keeping count in my heart,” Qin Yu said with a slightly reddened face. “I don’t have any particular intention behind this. I just want to thank you for everything all this while.”

Coco blinked her mischievous eyes and suddenly asked, “Oh? What other intention could you possibly have by this? I’m quite curious to know what you mean by that.”

“… Ah well, I hope that you like the scarf. I’ll be leaving then.” Qin Yu turned around and headed to his car.

An amused smile formed on Coco’s red lips as she took the pink scarf out from its bag and examined it closely. “Tsk tsk, the aesthetics of a ‘straight man’ sure is a little… indescribable.”

Seeing how Qin Yu was snatching away his targets one after another, Old Cat made a disgruntled jab, “You philanderer!”

After Qin Yu got in the car, he waved at Coco and shouted, “See you all, my sisters!”

“I like this scarf. Be glad, you have won a sliver of acknowledgment from this lady!” Coco wrapped the scarf around her neck as she waved back with a twinkling smile.

“Let’s go, bro will accompany you out of Jiangzhou!” Old Cat saw that Coco was unlikely to bother with him, so he got onto the car with Qin Yu.

…

Songjiang.

In a rundown ‘meat store’ located beside Residence 88, a prostitute in her fifties or sixties was chatting idly with a teenager.

“Bucktooth, are you still a virgin?” a woman dressed quite seductively asked out of sheer boredom.

Bucktooth was a guy who didn’t shy away from social settings, not to mention that he had often dropped by this store recently. So, he replied with utterly no shame at all, “Does stroking counts?”

“Of course not!” the woman replied with a glint in her eyes. “Why don’t you get some money for your lil’ dad? This sis will do you a favor so that you can finally graduate from your virgindom.”

“Sis, you shouldn’t tease me!” Bucktooth replied as he swept the floor. “You’re going to unleash the inner beast within me.”

“Hahaha!” the woman covered her mouth as she burst into laughter. “This child sure is an interesting one!”

Peng!

It was at this moment that a commotion sounded from above. Bucktooth looked toward the second floor and saw Xiangxiang’s mother—also the lady boss of this ‘meat store’—kicked on the stairs between the first and second floor.

“Are you out of your mind?!” the lady boss grabbed her head as she hollered furiously.

“What’s wrong with getting some money from you?” A man with streaks of fat hanging from his face staggered down the stairs with drunk footsteps. “If not for me looking after this place, your store would have been shut down by someone else by now!”

The lady boss gritted her teeth as she stared at the man furiously, but she dared not to say a word.

“You unfeeling slut!” The man buttoned up his trousers as he fumbled to the doorway, intending to leave the store.

It was at this moment that Xiangxiang, who was standing at the front counter, howled with tears in her eyes, “How dare you hit my mum? I’ll kill you!”

The man shot a glance at Xiangxiang and spat in disdain, “It was a waste of money to have raised you!”

After saying his piece, the man left the store.

Bucktooth shot a glance at his departing silhouette before rushing into the store to support the lady boss back to her feet. “Auntie Xu, are you alright?”

“That bastard is not a human! He’s a beast, a beast…!” the lady boss shouted furiously from where she was standing.

Bucktooth appeased her a little before he rushed down the stairs over to Xiangxiang’s side and comforted her, “Don’t worry, lass… Auntie is fine…”

…

Two days later.

The scorching sun rose from the east, casting rays of light through the windows of the prison corridors, dyeing it a beautiful shade of golden.

Old Ma got up and washed his face. It was then that he heard someone shouting for him from outside, “Ma Bo’xing! Stand by your doorway and wait for your sentence!”

Those words caused the prisoners from the other cells to slowly rise to their feet as well.

“Do what you need to, there’s no need to worry about me.” Old Ma looked at them and smiled calmly. “I’m grateful to the care you have shown me for the past three months.”

Everyone stared at Old Ma silently, not saying a word at all.

A screeching sound echoed as the rusty metal cell gate was opened. The prison guard looked at Old Ma and asked, “Anything you want to say?”

“What’s there to say? It’s going to be mealtime soon,” Old Ma said as he lowered his posture and walked out of his cell. “Let’s go.”

The prison guard slowly walked Old Ma across this corridor dyed in golden, toward the outside.

Several seconds later, shouts suddenly sounded from all around the prison.

“Old Ma, have a good trip!”

“Bro, you must live a better life next time!”

“…!”

Old Ma didn’t turn around to look at them. He continued walking forward with his body upright.

An hour later, in a barren land somewhere in Fengbei, three resounding gunshots echoed.

He was gone. He died in the midst of a frosty land, beneath the warm morning glow.

…

A day later.

Qin Yu retrieved Old Ma’s ashes from the cremation site of Fengbei’s First Prison before returning to Songjiang alone.

---

‘Straight man’

I couldn’t find any equivalent in English, but basically, it’s kind of a sarcastic/teasing term that fits into the stereotype of a masculine male. It’s somewhat similar to ‘male chauvinist’, but a little less extreme.
For example, straight men could have certain perceptions of women, such as assuming that they would like red and pink, they are weaker in general and needs to be protected, so on and so forth.