[Ruthless yet devoted young marshal seme x wild underworld assassin uke]
[Strong leads, lovers reunited after a breakup, some angst]
Chu Tingxiao clutched an enamel perfume bottle shattered into three pieces and watched the shards cast rainbow light across Tong Yao’s hair. The newly returned young marshal and the dockside boss had only just met when the latter swept his legs out from under him, toppling his suitcase. His custom-made French perfume soaked into the blood on the ground.
“Want compensation?”
Tong Yao stepped on a Green Gang thug’s throat and sneered. “How about I pay you back with a beating?”
Thus began an absurd arrangement in the French Concession. The young marshal, nicknamed “Dragon’s Pearl,” traded five gold bars for a chance to trade blows with the underworld’s demon.
Tong Yao laughed at the foolish, money-flinging son of privilege, never knowing Chu Tingxiao had already committed the strength of his waist to memory for his tactical exercises. When Tong Yao was ambushed by an artillery barrage, Chu Tingxiao even wrapped an arm around his bleeding waist. “Master Tong, remember to bring some wound ointment next time you get into a fight.”
Three years later, inside the newly opened HSBC bank in the foreign concessions, combat boots pinned Black Crow, the number-one assassin on the wanted list, against the corner of a table. Chu Tingxiao ran his fingers over the place where two fingers were missing from his left hand. “Back then, I paid you in gold bars to fight. Now I’m offering my life to bring you back. Is that enough?”
