Blank Charge

The music in the bar was deafening, and the people on the dance floor were restless.

Jin Zhou was also dancing in the middle of the dance floor when his back suddenly bumped into someone. He turned around to see an old acquaintance, Lan Lan.

“Jin Zhou,” Lan Lan recognized Jin Zhou and turned to dance closely with him, “Don’t you care about your wife anymore?”

“Wife?” Jin Zhou had long forgotten about Yang Shi Yu as he danced, but he quickly realized who Lan Lan was referring to. “No need to worry about him.”

At that moment, Yang Shi Yu was probably still working overtime at home. It’s not that Jin Zhou didn’t care about him, but rather that Yang Shi Yu had no say in Jin Zhou’s actions.

“But many people are inviting him for drinks,” Lan Lan said, spinning around and then nestling into Jin Zhou’s arms.

“Drinks?” Jin Zhou frowned and stopped dancing, “What kind of drinks?”

“Look,” Lan Lan pointed with his chin towards the bar, “Someone is being attentive to your wife.”

Jin Zhou followed Lan Lan’s gaze and saw a man in a white shirt sitting at the bar. He had casually unbuttoned a couple of buttons, revealing his slender neck and collarbone. He lazily wore his gold-rimmed glasses on his nose, and a chain dangled freely on his white shirt.

“Your wife seems popular,” Lan Lan continued, unaware that Jin Zhou had frozen in place, “I couldn’t even tell it was him cause he wore all black last time.”

Amongst the crowd of “monsters and demons,” Yang Shi Yu was not just popular, he was like a heavenly fairy descended on earth.

Jin Zhou’s anger surged to his head like a blazing flame. He swiftly pushed through the crowd and positioned himself behind Yang Shi Yu.

“Let’s have a chat, it won’t cost you anything,” the person on Yang Shi Yu’s right playfully tried to engage him in conversation.

“Chat my ass! Get lost!” Jin Zhou rudely shooed the person away, and Yang Shi Yu turned his head to glance at Jin Zhou before casually shifting his gaze away.

“And you,” Jin Zhou snatched the cigarette from the person on Yang Shi Yu’s left and stubbed it out in the ashtray, “Find another place to smoke!”

Instantly, the area around Yang Shi Yu quieted down. Jin Zhou looked at him with fury and asked, “What are you doing here?”

Wearing gold-rimmed glasses, a symbol of his status as a judge, how could he wear them in a place like this?

It … was truly maddening!

“chilling,” Yang Shi Yu faced the direction of the bartender, not bothering to look at Jin Zhou.

At that moment, the bartender handed him a cocktail and gestured towards the private room on the second floor, saying to Yang Shi Yu, “It’s reserved for you.”

Without waiting for Yang Shi Yu to turn around, Jin Zhou grabbed the highball glass and angrily downed its contents.

“chilling?” Jin Zhou slammed the glass down and confronted him, “Is your work done? Did you finish writing the verdict? Did you review the case file? Yet you’re here to chill?”

“What about you?” Yang Shi Yu finally turned his head to look at Jin Zhou, “Is your trial preparation done?”

Uh…

Hearing that, Jin Zhou instantly cooled down, as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over him. He quickly changed the subject, “You should go back home right now. This isn’t the place for you.”

“I don’t care,” Yang Shi Yu said.

Jin Zhou suddenly felt a sense of familiarity with his words. Upon closer thought, weren’t those the lines he had said to Yang Shi Yu? Even the tone was the same.

He angrily grabbed Yang Shi Yu’s wrist, intending to leave. “Come with me.”

However, Yang Shi Yu easily pulled his wrist back. “I’m not going.”

“You…” Jin Zhou couldn’t move him with words or force. Every person passing by the bar was casting a glance at Yang Shi Yu, and Jin Zhou felt as if his precious treasure had been taken away by others.

Impatiently, he asked, “What will it take for you to leave?”

Yang Shi Yu leisurely said, “Come with me.”

“I haven’t been here long,” Jin Zhou was only halfway through his drink and dance. Naturally, he didn’t want to leave and wore an unwilling expression. “I’ll send you back, and then I’ll come back.”

Yang Shi Yu didn’t respond and suddenly shifted his gaze to Jin Zhou’s side, slightly curving his lips.

Following Yang Shi Yu’s line of sight, Jin Zhou saw a beautiful woman passing by him, waving her fingers and greeting Yang Shi Yu.

“Why the hell are you smiling?” Jin Zhou was infuriated and frustrated. The last time Yang Shi Yu smiled at him was nine years ago, and now he was smiling at a random person?

“Are you coming or not?” Yang Shi Yu withdrew his gaze, looking at Jin Zhou indifferently.

Five minutes later, in the bar parking lot……

Jin Zhou sat in the passenger seat of Yang Shi Yu’s car, asking unhappily, “You didn’t even drink. Why did you come to the bar?”

“No time,” Yang Shi Yu replied casually and started driving home.

As they left the busy city center, the flashing neon lights on the streets gradually disappeared, and the towering buildings on both sides turned into short, old houses.

After calming down, Jin Zhou realized something was amiss and looked at Yang Shi Yu, asking, “You didn’t come to the bar for me, did you?”

Yang Shi Yu’s work couldn’t possibly be finished so quickly. Even if he wanted to chill, based on his usual habits, he would at most buy a couple of cans of beer from a convenience store. Why would he specifically come to the bar?

Moreover, that bar was so far from the old neighborhood.

“You care about me so much?” Jin Zhou’s mood suddenly improved, so much that he felt light-hearted. “Let me tell you, you still don’t understand. You are cut out for being a wife.”

Yang Shi Yu glanced at Jin Zhou.

“Between a brother and a wife, who is more important?” Jin Zhou asked himself and answered, “Of course, it’s the brother.”

“I was just having a couple of drinks with my brothers, and you suddenly called me back.” Jin Zhou patted his left palm with the back of his right hand, giving a heartfelt lesson. “Look at you, so posessive.”

“Do you want a beating?” Yang Shi Yu asked coldly.

Jin Zhou touched his nose and kept silence.

To go back home from the busy city center to the old neighborhood, they needed to pass through a municipal park.

Next to the municipal park was a railway, large and noisy. Usually, few people came to that park for a walk, it was late at night, so after Yang Shi Yu’s car entered the park, they didn’t see a single person.

“Look at these streetlights, no one bothers to fix them when they’re broken,” Jin Zhou said, “do they not care?”

As soon as he finished speaking, the rearview mirror on the driver’s side flickered. Jin Zhou was familiar with that situation; it meant that the car behind them had switched to high beams.

He turned his head to complain, but at that moment, the car behind them suddenly accelerated, overtook from the left side, and abruptly stopped in front, directly blocking Yang Shi Yu’s car.

The stop almost caused Jin Zhou to hit the windshield. His body bounced back onto the seat, and just as he was about to see what was happening ahead, he saw four masked men getting out of the car in front, each holding a baseball bat.

“What’s this…?” Jin Zhou hadn’t reacted yet when one of them walked up to the front of Yang Shi Yu’s car and smashed the windshield with a baseball bat.

The windshield immediately dented, with cracks appearing.

Jin Zhou instinctively raised his arm to protect his forehead, and on the other side, Yang Shi Yu had already unfastened his seatbelt and turned over to protect his head.

“What’s going on?” Jin Zhou frowned and glared at the people outside the window.

The four men were smashing and hitting Yang Shi Yu’s car windows with baseball bats, as if venting their anger, not leaving a single intact piece of glass.

Smashing the windows wasn’t enough; the four men jumped onto the hood and roof of the car, stomping down fiercely.

Jin Zhou couldn’t bear this rage. He immediately unfastened his seatbelt and tried to open the car door, but Yang Shi Yu promptly held him back.

“Don’t go out,” Yang Shi Yu said, “They don’t seem to want to hurt anyone.”

Jin Zhou also noticed that, but the fire in his heart couldn’t be quelled. “Damn it, let me find out who they are. Watch me beat them to death!”

Seeing Yang Shi Yu frown, Jin Zhou immediately realized that Judge Yang didn’t like him swearing, so he softened his tone and said, “It’s really strange. I haven’t offended anyone recently, have I?”

“It may not be about you,” Yang Shi Yu looked outside, but the glass was completely shattered, and he couldn’t see the situation outside clearly, “Some released prisoners might come to seek revenge on me.”

Jin Zhou was completely stunned.

Since those people took out the baseball bats, he had always thought the incident was related to him. But hearing Yang Shi Yu’s words, he realized that being a judge he was even more likely to make enemies than him. Moreover, the people who had enmity with a judge were real criminals.

Compared to that, it was highly unlikely that he was the target. Firstly, he hadn’t made enemies recently. Secondly, he often took that route home and never encountered any trouble. Thirdly, he was in Yang Shi Yu’s car, so even if someone wanted to cause him trouble, damaging someone else’s car was pointless.

Jin Zhou suddenly remembered a news story he had seen before. A person met their homeroom teacher on the road and couldn’t help but give them a slap. Perhaps the people in the preceding car were similar. They happened to see Yang Shi Yu at the bar and impulsively decided to teach him a lesson.

It wasn’t convenient to do it in the busy city center, so when Yang Shi Yu’s car reached the empty municipal park, they chose to act there.

“Damn it,” Jin Zhou couldn’t help but curse again, 

About ten minutes later, the people drove away, leaving behind a car in ruins.

Jin Zhou got out of the car and noted down the license plate number of the preceding car. Looking at the footprints all over Yang Shiyu’s car, he was so angry that he almost went to confront the car’s owner.

He took out a pack of cigarettes, intending to smoke one to calm down, but when he remembered that Yang Shi Yu was beside him, he put the cigarette pack back.

Meanwhile, Yang Shi Yu had promptly called the police and came to Jin Zhou’s side, asking, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Jin Zhou still had anger in his heart, “Do you go through this kind of thing often?”

“Not frequently,” Yang Shiyu checked around the car when he saw that Jin Zhou was fine, “Maybe once or twice a year.”

“That’s still often,” Jin Zhou said irritably, “I take back what I said earlier.”

“What did you say?” Yang Shiyu asked casually.

“Between brothers and a wife,” Jin Zhou, rarely serious, “the wife is more important.”