Translator: Lionwwang Editor: Lionwwang
When I see Papa 8 again, he doesn’t say much words, just throws a pile of banknotes and some documents to me.
“This is a bank account with enough money to buy a car and a house.” He looks at me and says, “Enjoy it for a while. You can also spend the money freely. How to spend just up to yourself.”
I think for a moment and say: “Papa 8, I want to live here, still in my old room.”
He’s a little unexpected, but a trace of slightest unexpected is just flashing through his eyes, and then he simply nods his head to show that is OK.
Silo is surprised to see me back. When I come in from outside, he’s lying under the chassis of a car to repair with a wrench in his hand. I go there to kick him lightly, and he’s immediately rolling out, staring and just ready to scold. But as soon as he sees me, his face is showing a surprise expression: “You are back?”
Then he’s jumping up from the ground with a loud cry, and his face is full of excitement: “You’ve made it done?”
“Yes!” I nod. Anyway, all the people here are Papa 8’s men, and they all know that I come back means what. They’re looking at me with some envy in their eyes.
“Come on! Let’s have a cup of drink together.” I pull him over. Silo is very excited. He asks for the leave with the leader and then coming out with me.
But instead of taking him out, I take him all the way back to the room we live. I’ve actually come back once and put a bag on the table with several bottles of liquors in it. Although I don’t know much English, but I used to work in the nightclub, so I do know the brand and variety of wine.
The cash in Papa 8’s envelope for me was almost all used to buy these expensive alcohols. The bag lying on the table is big and heavy.
Silo is pulled in by me. He seems to be a little surprise, staring at the bottles on the table and taking a long breath: “Why do you buy so much drinks back? Damn! They’re all good wine. Have you already made a big fortune?”
I’m just looking at him and smiling, without saying anything.
“Actually, we can just go out to have a drink. I know there’s a small bar nearby, and it’s not expensive.”
Then I sigh softly and say slowly in a low voice: “Silo, I’d better go out less recently.”
He understands immediately. After hesitating for a moment, he’s tentatively asking: “You… Are you doing business for Papa 8 now?”
I nod, then go to take out the LP, open the record player, set up the speaker, push the window open and start playing at maximum volume to the street outside the window.
I take a bottle of Royal Salute, sitting down on the floor, open the bottle cap, take a big sip first. Then I take a long breath, close my eyes, listen to the music all over the room quietly.
Silo sees something strange about my mood, and he is sitting down beside me with a bottle too.
“What’s wrong? Did things go wrong?”
“Very well.” I turn to look at him and suddenly laughing, “Siro, have you ever killed anyone?”
He’s obviously surprised.
“No!” But then he immediately has a little more complexity on his face, “But I’m sure I’ll kill somebody in the future! It is inevitable to do things for him in the future.”
I laugh: “Your mental preparation is better than mine.”
Instead of laughing with me, this time, Silo is looking at me and whispering: “Little 5, when you are back this time, you seem to be a little different.”
Different? That’s for sure. I say to myself in my heart.
The next few days. I just stay in the garage. I go on washing the cars and go to the underground gym to fight with the other brothers.
A lot of things have happened outside these days. Several big and small leaders of Vancouver’s local gangs have been killed, one of them is Sand Snake.
Everyone knows in their hearts that this is all done by our men. Young brothers are very excited. They go back to watch the “Battle report” on TV every day.
In fact, the next day I’ve seen the news on TV about the killing of Sand Snake. The police’s definition was gangster hatred. His case file in the police station was more than a foot thick, and he was the first to die, then a series of gang leaders were killed. The Vancouver police are burned on fire to death.
The killing of Sand Snake was just the beginning, and was later masked by mass gangster hatred later.
My mood has returned to calm, even when I saw the news about Sand Snake on TV, the expression on my face hasn’t any difference.
The whole Vancouver gangs are in the state of extreme nervousness. They are all panicking.
I’m shocked with the strengths Papa 8 has shown. Almost at the same time that Sand Snake was killed, only within two or three days, so many local gang leaders were killed, and then there were several shooting cases in Chinatown!
There are obviously some fierce battles between the two parties. Not only the pistols, but also AK47 and grenade guns appear in the fight. As the police is intensified their pressure, they are beginning to clean up the underground world frequently.
Such a repression has a little effect at first, and both sides had a slight quagmire for some time. But two days later, Vancouver had its biggest explosion in a decade.
At a wharf, a private yard warehouse. which belongs to Vietnamese exploded. When the explosion happened, I didn’t know what was stocking in the warehouse, which caused a continuous fire. A total of six warehouses covering an area of thousands of square meters were burned down. The fire from the explosion can be seen clearly even standing a kilometer away!
Later the Vietnamese begin to action too!
I’m really shocked!
Don’t know how many people are under Papa 8’s command, but we have fought with Vietnamese and other local gangs for several times in the next period, and each side has its own losses. We even got the upper hand!
Such a large-scale and intensive series of cases make the police station once full of the suspects.
I don’t know where Papa 8 hides so many gunmen and weapons. These men appeared suddenly in a few days and disappeared after a few fierce battles.
Sometimes I see the short videos on TV news taken by pedestrians or cameras. The masked men with weapons in their hands, were fighting in streets and alleys with local gangs and Vietnamese. Afterwards, they drifted away, well-trained, absolutely not like ordinary underworld people!
The problem is I don’t know where these people came from! Silo and other brothers don’t know either. Because according to what we know, most of Papa 8’s men are working in the car wash shops and garages. But those people on videos are moving forward and backward with guns, obviously fighting vigorous and well-organized. They came and went away suddenly, as if they were marvellous soldiers.
The police arrested many people, but none of the mysterious soldiers was caught.
Finally, after the storm has passed, both parties stop fighting. Papa 8 hasn’t been in our garage these days. I even see some suspicious guys at the intersection outside. I suspect that some of these people are the policemen. But slowly, we do not care about them anymore.
The disappearance of Papa 8 has lasted several days! These days, many young people in the garage are all hot blood boiling. Eventually, more than a week later, a turnaround happens!
The news spread outside is that both sides have suffered great losses. As a result, the local gangs were forced to make concessions. So, the two sides start a new round of negotiation.
At last, the outside world becomes calm, and the Vietnamese seem to be calming down too. I don’t know whether everything will be flat or there will be a bigger storm after this calm.
During this period, the brothers in the garage are restricted access. Even the most basic necessities of life are to send some people out to purchase at regular intervals, while others are required not to go out.
One day, Silo and I and two other brothers drive a pickup truck to a big supermarket two blocks away from the garage. It’s our turn to go shopping today. After staying in the garage for so many days, this is my first time to go out. The gang conflicts outside have been reduced a lot these days.
We buy enough food and daily necessities. After getting on, I sit in the back row. Today’s driver is Silo.
As we are driving through a block, Silo is suddenly shouting in an exciting and tense voice: “There’s a car has been following us for quite a while!”
The other two brothers and I immediately turn around and see a big SUV behind us. It has speeded up to overtake us. This SUV has a bigger body than our pickup. After overtaking, they start flashing their taillights and slowing down, as if to signal us to stop.