WHF Ch 1 – “I sell aphrodisiacs.”

He had indeed met this person before, two years ago, on a sweltering Sunday in the middle of summer. He was driving south from Jilin to a small city in Liaoning to pick up inventory. Along the way, he accepted a favor for an acquaintance and agreed to give a ride to two young people from the small city. Yu Tianbai felt that he sometimes liked to meddle in other people’s business, but not to an excessive degree. As soon as the two got into the car, his intuition told him something was about to happen. Sure enough, less than a hundred meters down the road, with one of them smoking and the other whistling in the breeze, the car was hijacked.

The one who hijacked the car was the handsome guy who had just punched him. Back then, the handsome guy wasn’t yet a handsome guy; he was a defiant yellow-haired kidmodern-day punk with a stubborn streak in his eyes. Without a word, he climbed into the car, exuding the air of a landlord.

Having been in business for so many years, Yu Tianbai firmly believed in not causing trouble on someone else’s turf. Listening to the yellow-haired punk and the two others in the car throw around terms like “Master,” “disciple,” “territory,” or “the underworld,” he decided to follow their instructions and head back to the city.

But at the same time, Yu Tianbai liked to meddle in other people’s business. So, he chose to do the two young people in the car a small favor. Right before the car fully started, he opened the passenger door and kicked the yellow-haired punk out.

At the time, he confidently believed that such an arrogant, conceited, and naive little thief would never cross paths with him again. That is, until today, when the yellow-haired punk, now transformed with a new identity, made a stunning appearance in a place Yu Tianbai could never have imagined.

Alright, before getting punched, it was quite stunning.

The tissue in his hand seemed to be soaked through. Yu Tianbai tilted his head back, letting the blood flow back, and ran his tongue over his teeth. None were loose. He wrinkled his nose; the bridge wasn’t broken either.

It seemed the handsome guy had gone easy on him.

The tissue was provided by a young security guard. When Yu Tianbai, spitting blood foam, got out of the car, it was the guard who stepped in to intervene. Now, the victim himself was sitting at the foot of the security booth, watching the yellow-haired punk pound on the intercom equipment at the gate.

As mentioned earlier, Yu Tianbai was somewhat prone to meddling, but he wasn’t so good-tempered as to take a beating without fighting back. He hadn’t fought back yet for two main reasons. First, he had just realized this wasn’t a gated community but a standalone villa. Second, the young master of this urban paradise, the yellow-haired punk currently hammering the intercom, was almost certainly the so-called “apprentice” who had privately messaged him on the city forum.

This was the person he had been waiting for for an hour. The hour itself wasn’t a big deal, but the real issue was that they were going to be stuck together for the next two months.

Wearing only a fleece shirt in the spring breeze was a bit chilly. Yu Tianbai felt the blood trickle down his throat. A few meters away, at the grand, imposing gate, the intercom finally connected.

“Hello… hello?” The voice sounded like a man well into middle age, perhaps even older.

“Dad,” the yellow-haired punk cut straight to the point, “that job I told you about, I’m heading out for a few days.”

There was a pause on the other end. Yu Tianbai could imagine the man squinting over his reading glasses, scrolling through his phone. But his experience ended there, as he had never lived in a standalone villa in the city center. According to his guess, what would likely happen next was a procession of maids or butlers coming out, handing over travel funds and personal items, then bowing in unison while saying something auspicious like, “Young master, have a safe journey.”

But the man on the other end shattered his imagination with a single sentence:

“Then go, and stay safe.”

The yellow-haired punk seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, lowering the hand that had been propped against the wall. But the intercom crackled again.

“Wait, this person you mentioned, is he reliable? He’s not a scammer, is he?”

The question was directed toward Yu Tianbai, but the punk didn’t turn around. He slowly gave his answer: “I know him.”

He was talking about Yu Tianbai but didn’t even glance back? Yu Tianbai didn’t like that. He pulled the tissue away and raised his voice: “Just a fleeting acquaintance!”

The yellow-haired punk immediately slammed his palm next to the intercom, the metal reverberating with a loud clang. He whipped his head around to glare at Yu Tianbai. This was the second time their eyes had met since reuniting.

Besides being arrogant and disliking the smell of smoke, the third thing Yu Tianbai remembered about him was his light-colored eyes. Seeing them again, they were still striking.

At the same time, the young security guard in the booth let out a long exhale, sounding even more like a cow in a field, specifically one plowing muddy ground in early spring.

“You know each other? That’s fine, then,” the man behind the intercom said, likely adjusting his reading glasses. “We’ll talk about the rest when you get back.”

The young master seemed to want to say something more to the person on the intercom, but the device cut off cleanly.

Yu Tianbai’s laughter broke the silence. He stood up; his nose had stopped bleeding. He turned to the security guard and asked, “Who do you believe, him or me?”

The guard had been showing signs of hyperventilation since earlier, and now he finally spoke, his voice thick with a pure Central Plains accent: “Big brother, it’s my first day on the job. Please, spare me.”

His voice was so loud that it startled a few crows in the backyard, their caws echoing as they took flight.

“Hey, you!” The yellow-haired punk looked over from beside his F8, pointing at Yu Tianbai with his chin. “Don’t litter on the ground.”

With that, he bent down to grab something from the car and then gestured at Yu Tianbai with his chin again.

“Resume. Want to take a look?”

A resume? He’d prepared it that thoroughly?

“Sure, let’s see it,” Yu Tianbai said, never one to turn down an offer.

He balled up the blood-soaked tissue and tossed it into the luxurious trash bin at the gate, then strode toward the van. Though, honestly, he would have preferred to conduct the interview in the Ferrari.

The resume the young master handed over was even more formal than Yu Tianbai had expected: transparent folder, color-printed, and probably with a portfolio attached at the back. The van’s heater was still on, and Yu Tianbai focused solely on the photo.

In the one-inch photo, the young master sported the same yellow-haired look, likely taken recently. His hair was styled, and against the blue background, his features stood out sharply—clear brows, pointed ears. Calling him elf-like might be giving him too much credit, so let’s say he resembled a big yellow dog.

“Alright,” Yu Tianbai said, glancing up at the name. “I have two questions for you.”

Xiu Ma.

Right, that was the kid’s name. Xiu Ma. Two years ago, during the carjacking, Yu Tianbai had heard him say it and thought it was some kind of English transliteration.

“First question,” he said, flipping the resume face-down on the center console. “Can you push a car?”

Xiu Ma frowned at the way Yu Tianbai treated his resume like trash but answered, “Who can’t push a car?”

“Great, fantastic,” Yu Tianbai said, his tone devoid of any genuine praise. “Second question: Can you handle hardship?”

The question sounded like a formality. He didn’t believe a young master who showed up in a seven-figure car could endure hardship. Yu Tianbai tilted his head, resting his hand on the steering wheel. Xiu Ma’s light brown eyes studied him for a moment before he gave a silent nod.

“That’s it, then,” Yu Tianbai said, looking away. “Welcome to working for a boss with little pay and a lot of trouble.”

The heater hummed loudly. Yu Tianbai sniffed; there was still a faint smell of blood.

“That’s all?” the young master asked, predictably starting to question.

“That’s all. What else were you expecting?” Yu Tianbai said, rubbing his sore nose bridge. “Want me to ask about your thoughts and feelings on punching me the moment we met?”

The young master roared:

“You left me on the side of the road, and it took me five hours to get back to the city in nearly forty-degree August heat. One punch was letting you off easy, wasn’t it?”

Yu Tianbai hadn’t expected the kid to be so quick with his words. The outburst seemed to rattle the metal frame of the car. Yu Tianbai closed his right eye, the one closer to the passenger seat, for two seconds and actually felt the kid had a point.

“I’ll keep that debt in mind,” Yu Tianbai said, half-opening his eyes and touching his ear. The guy on his right didn’t respond.

The car fell silent.

It was as if they had unloaded all the words they hadn’t said in the two years since they last saw each other. Thinking about it, they didn’t seem like sworn enemies meeting by chance but rather old friends reuniting after a long separation. The thought gave Yu Tianbai a shiver of disgust. He was tempted to lean out and start chatting with the security guard again, but instead of picking on an honest guy, he decided to take one more jab at the young master:

“If you really don’t want to do this, you can still walk away now.”

But the comeback came lightning-fast:

“When did I ever say I didn’t want to do it?”

Yu Tianbai knew Xiu Ma was glaring at him again, so he turned to look out the window instead.

If you ignored the menacing monster lurking behind you, the scenery here was actually quite nice. The gloomy sky of an old industrial city couldn’t diminish the elegance of the architecture. Being born in a place like this, life must be free of worries, right?

Looking at it that way, and then thinking about his own likely decades of rootless wandering and slim hopes for familial joy, Yu Tianbai wanted to pull out his Seven Star Blueberry Burst cigarette and light it.

“So why did you choose to go out and work?” he asked, his thumb brushing near his mouth as he deliberately softened his tone. “Your dad can’t afford to support you anymore?”

Okay, he hadn’t softened it entirely.

The car seat shifted backward. Yu Tianbai knew Xiu Ma was crossing his arms and leaning back. After a brief sigh, the yellow-haired punk’s bravado actually faded first.

“To ward off bad luck for the family business. My dad had someone read the fortune.”

As expected, it was the way rich people talked. Yu Tianbai turned to look at him. Xiu Ma’s brows were still furrowed, his face angled toward him.

“What’s your family’s business that it needs money laundering?” The words slipped out, and Yu Tianbai realized he might have been a bit too harsh. “If I can ask.”

But the answer came straightforwardly: “Funeral services.”

No offense intended, but that industry really rakes it in. With nothing else to say, Yu Tianbai glanced silently at the lighter on the center console.

“Wait,” another question popped up. “Why would my business help ward off your bad luck?”

“Aren’t you in the medicine business?” Xiu Ma’s face snapped back toward him.

This was why Yu Tianbai sometimes really disliked young, handsome guys. His eyes were dazzled by that face again.

Come to think of it, he had heard that life-saving professions could cancel out some bad karma in the underworld. But that kind of life-saving and his own probably only shared the “saving” part.

“I do sell medicine, but it’s probably not the kind you’re thinking of,” he said. For someone who had always been sharp-tongued, he was oddly at a loss for words in that moment.

In the bright sunlight after the spring snow, the gray van sat innocently across from the villa’s grand gate, on the opposite side of the young master’s luxury car. On the van’s side, in bold red-outlined yellow letters, were three words: “Stand Up Fast.”

“I sell aphrodisiacs.”

This time, no one screamed, but the crows in the courtyard still cawed noisily for a bit.

“Not just aphrodisiacs. I also sell adult novelties—contraceptives, sexy lingerie, realistic toys. Samples are in the back. If you want to see, I can grab them for you.”

His sharp-tongued confidence finally returned, but as he explained, he watched Xiu Ma’s hand slowly rise to his forehead.

At this point, no amount of explanation from Yu Tianbai could shake off the image of a fake-drug kingpin. He even felt a bit sorry for the young master, since he really hadn’t been clear enough in his “apprentice recruitment” post.

The silent roar in the car lingered for a while before Yu Tianbai picked up the conversation again:

“You still going?”

Xiu Ma lowered his hand, his answer as resolute as ever:

“Going. Definitely going.”

What could make a second-generation rich kid leave a city-center mansion to follow a broke boss to the countryside and endure hardship? Yu Tianbai finally pulled out the cigarette. Maybe it was some profound desire to understand the world’s suffering. He didn’t get it, and he didn’t want to.

When he grabbed the lighter and turned, he saw the young master still sitting in the passenger seat.

“What are you spacing out for? Hurry up and pack your stuff.”

Yu Tianbai’s voice dragged when he was annoyed, especially when looking at this kid sitting there with his arms crossed, acting unfazed. He wished he could use his Beijing accent to smoke him out.

“Already packed,” Xiu Ma replied, as simple and direct as ever, gesturing with his chin toward the back seat.

On the empty second-row seat was a dark-patterned suitcase. It was a bit more low-key than his car, and Yu Tianbai hadn’t even noticed it when he brought it in.

“That’s all your luggage?” he said, throwing in a jab.

Xiu Ma was still frowning at him, or rather, his brows hadn’t relaxed since they met. “This isn’t the Stone Age. If I’m missing something, can’t I buy it on the way?”

The logic actually made Yu Tianbai agree a little, leaving him with no comeback.

“Buckle your seatbelt, young master,” he said instead, opting for a reminder. The prince couldn’t get hurt.

Xiu Ma was surprisingly obedient, turning to find the seatbelt buckle, clicking it into place, and then looking up to ask:

“What did you call me?”

Yu Tianbai paused mid-lighting his cigarette, giving him a smile that wasn’t exactly warm or familial.

“And can you not smoke in the car?” Xiu Ma said, his fingers hooked around the seatbelt. His hands, Yu Tianbai noted, were actually pretty nice too.

Once again, Yu Tianbai answered with a smile, then promptly lit the cigarette, blowing the first puff right into Xiu Ma’s face.

The guy in the passenger seat immediately shrank back a foot, dodging the smoke just like he had two years ago.

“If you want to make it back from this road, you’d better listen to me,” Yu Tianbai said, tossing the lighter back into the storage box and looking at him with the cigarette between his fingers. “Every part of you, top to bottom.”

His gaze didn’t waver, but Xiu Ma’s eyes flickered for a moment. Yu Tianbai propped his head up with the hand holding the cigarette, waiting for a response.

“Are you trying to settle the score for that punch?” The car’s engine had started, and the humming of the seat made Xiu Ma feel like his Adam’s apple was vibrating.

Yu Tianbai laughed again. His laugh was peculiar—boisterous enough, but it didn’t draw people into the merriment. It was like he was watching from the sidelines.

“No rush. We’ll settle it slowly.”

As he finished speaking, he clicked his own seatbelt into place.