HISTORY3: Trapped | Novel

Chapter One

Chen Wen Hao holds on tightly to the rusty handles of the cart and pushes it towards the exit of the alley, while Tang Guo Dong himself holds onto two concrete slabs walking behind him, until they stop at the corner where Chen Wen Hao first pulled him to hide in the alley.

"Don't think too little of me. Next time I'll have my own son too, and that's when it's your turn to return me the red packet money."

"It's a deal."

"It's a deal."

Both men's gazes meet, and in their eyes, what is reflected is the deep trust they have for their best brother.

Just then, the gangsters from before return to the spot where they first lost Tang Guo Dong and Chen Wen Hao — their loud voices gradually get louder and louder as they approach the dark alley.

"They're here."

"Let's go!"

Suddenly, the cart emerges from its hiding spot in the alley, slamming right into the men running right in the same direction. Before any of them can yell for and warn their counterparts, they're knocked out with the concrete slabs Tang Guo Dong is holding, following right behind the cart. More of them follow, and both Tang Guo Dong and Chen Wen Hao, armed with the slabs and fruit knives taken from the defeated gangsters respectively, begin to fight.

Twenty-eight years ago

"I'm leaving Xing Tian Meng in your hands."

Tang Guo Dong leaves a gun, a few booklets and a stash of keys on the desk.

"That won't do. You're Xing Tian Meng's leader. If you go to prison, this gang will be dismantled and we'll have wasted our hard work these past few years," Chen Wen Hao protests with a somber expression, trying to stop the man before him about to head to the police station and turn himself in.

"But if we don't hand one person over, Si He Hui is not going to let this go."

They beat up and injured the oldest son of Si He Hui's boss, and this was no small matter. He was already prepared to sit in prison for a few years.

"You're right," Chen Wen Hao says, "So, I'll go."

Tang Guo Dong stares at the man before him, wide-eyed and stunned. "But I planned that, and it was me who did it, it has nothing to do with you!"

"No! It was me who did everything. You're the one who doesn't know anything."

Chen Wen Hao pats at his good friend's chest, then helps Tang Guo Dong to adjust his slanted tie.

He smiles. "Don't worry. I can take a beating better than you can, and I'm more suited for life inside."

"Wen Hao..."

"But you have to promise me something, you have to help me take care of Li Zhen... and," the smile hanging on his lips morphed into something bitter, filled with guilt, and he opens his mouth to speak again, "Help me keep this from her, I don't want to see her cry."

"I promise you."

Their voices hoarse, as they make a promise from a man to another man.

Half a year later | Meeting Room in Prison

Tang Guo Dong, clad in a suit, quietly sits in the meeting room of the prison, the space separated by a wall of glass, until the door on the other side opens, and in walks Chen Wen Hao, who's dressed in a white t-shirt and shorts in black. Both men pick up their black receivers, but the man who's already served a few months of his sentence in jail is scrutinising Tang Guo Dong's every move coldly.