Born and bred in Beijing, there is usually no trouble getting a job and living a quiet life even if the salary is not much, most people get by like this every day without many complaints.
But this only applies to people who either, have some connections outside and are not afraid of offending anyone or people who stay low-key all their life in fear of provoking anyone who may be powerful enough to bring them down.
My name is Han Xue Wei and I do not exist in neither of those two groups.
I am someone who already 'offended' a powerful person many years ago, and now in order to avoid more trouble, I am what others perceive as a socially awkward man, in other words, an 'outcast' and a 'loner', but this is not the real me, nobody ever saw the real me.
I have been pretending for a eight years just so I can live a quiet life. This happened ever since I found out that if I excel at something, these people will do everything to destroy what I've built.
Even now, if not for the fact that I haven't had a haircut and a proper meal in a few years, I would be a pretty stunning guy, and no, I am not a narcissist! I was always very good looking but fate decided that this handsomeness is too striking for people to see, and it would be a crime if I showed my fluffy brown hair and ocean blue eyes here in China, where most people have dark features, because... and I don't mean to brag, however I've seen accidents happen when I showed off my full potential hehe.
I have always been very intelligent, and even though i do not have a photographic memory, if I try harder to remember something, it will stay in my mind for a long time.
And now, I'm sitting in the house that my parents have left for me in the suburbs of Beijing before they died in a car crash. With my good looks, awesome figure and high intelligence, I should have been a very successful man right now, but here I am, in an old, dilapidated, mouldy house in which I have been living for 8 years already, with no heating, rice or hot water, thinking where everything went wrong with my life.
As I was reflecting on my miserable life, I heard the sound of cars and motorcycles, so I looked out of the window and very soon I began cussing out loud.
"Ah, shit...they came here to visit me again huh.." I smiled wryly at myself.
These people who came for a 'visit' are from a biker gang employed by Huanan Real Estate group. Huanan is one of the top 50 largest real estate agencies in the whole world, and they want this land that I am living on, but there is a catch! They only want to pay me one-third of what I'm supposed to receive for selling this apartment.
Like I would agree to this kind of fucking scam!
"Do they think I'm Virgin Mary?!" I asked myself.
They are all very shrewd businessmen who have enough support from other powers in Beijing which makes them feel no fear when they need to get their hand a little dirty and hire a gang to clean up after them. After all, the land I have is worth 2 Million RMB because of its scenic location.
I would have sold it for this amount if not for the fact that I can't rent a house anywhere since I'm always being suppressed by my 'family'.
I hear them talk as the noise from their machines outside of my window ceases.
"Mr. Haaaaaaaaaan! Open up and invite us inside your humble abode! Don't let Brother Leng wait in this scorching weather"
"Yeah, we don't want Big Brother Leng to get a heatstroke so open up you fucker" Shouts one of the younger members.
Brother Leng, their leader then shouts and kicks the younger member away
"You bastard! Are yer sayin yer bro is as weak as a chick? Are yer lookin down on me?"
"Big Brother! Boss! Shifu! I didn't mean it like that, I was only worried about you, please spare me!" Says the younger member as he kneels and kowtows to his boss, crying and looking pitfull.
"Alright, alright, considering that we have no bad blood between us, this laozi will overlook how you nearly embarrassed me in public!"
They start walking towards my house in a group of around 15 people, all dressed in leather clothes with tattoos on different parts of their bodies.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Open up Mr. Han we came to give you your money for this land"
And here they are...
I already gave up trying to stand up against injustice many years ago.
I was once framed for beating up a kid from my class until he became a vegetable and was expelled out of high school, or when someone accused me of cheating on my college entrance examinations that I prepared for, by myself in hopes of a better future, or when I had to quit my job since someone reported me for sexually harassing my colleagues in a bar I worked in... I couldn't even put up a fight when I realised that the 5 Million RMB my parents left for me were used by my Uncle to raise his political power by giving out bribes.
This House however, is now the only thing I have left under my name, the only thing that reminds me of my parents...
I have decided that I will absolutely not give up this house! I don't care about the money, I will fight with my life on the line if needed just to stay in this house!
Determined, I get up from my bed, walk towards the noise and open the door to my apartment "Brother Leng, long time no see, please come in" I try to smile but it probably looks like a grimace when I set my eyes on the boss of the gang.
He truly deserves the title 'Bear King' with his 2 metres long, oval shaped and muscular body. His arms which have tattoos everywhere are so muscular that it isn't hard to see his veins.
'It looks like steroid overdose!' I think to myself but dare not to say it out loud.
And although I am not afraid of them since I'm already used to this kind of treatment and my mentality has been adjusted many times, I still can't help but wince a bit when I see him and feel the threatening aura he gives off.
"Pleas sit down brother, I'm sorry but there is only hot water, I don't have any tea to accommodate you with since I was caught unprepared with your sudden visit"
Again, I shiver a bit to look like a scared cat when I sit down in front of him, in order to deceive them so that they don't make my life even worse when I'm already living like a beggar.
"Good, good, I like it when you're humble, so this laozi will forgive you this time, haha!"
Brother Leng jokes and then look around my house like he is inspecting it and then I see him taking out a knife from his boot, while staring at me seriously.
"But, Xiao Wei..." Brother Leng grins at me and says "Today I came to talk proper business."
I immediately showed him a scared response by shaking my hands uncontrollably and when he notices it, he leans on my sofa in a comfortable position and looks back at me in the eye.
"You see, my bosses are actually getting a tad impatient with you, you know"
"They all say that you're too selfish when it comes to business since you're not happy with the price we gave you. You know that we're buying this land in order to make a profit! And yet, youre still unhappy with us! Tell me what should we do, Xiao Wei? Hmm?"
I instantly understood, that this is the last straw that I can catch. I can sell them this house with the price they are offering and live a poor but peaceful life, away from these gangsters for good, but if I stay, things will definitely get ugly.
But...
'Bullshit!' I though to myself. 'This is obviously daylight roberry! If it was any other person selling the house, these bastards would have given them the original price, they only do this because they know the ins and outs of me being suppressed by everyone and they also want to profit from this! '
I was cursing all their eight generations in my head right now, however on the outside I showed them a very flustered look as the words spilled out of my mouth.
"I.. I'm sorry Brother Leng, I wo..won't sell the..the house to your boss." I stutter on purpose to show them how hard this conversation is, looking as pitiful as possible, wishing that they can get out of my house as fast as possible so that I can disinfect it right away.
"This i..is th...the only thing I...I have that reminds me of my parents, and I don't wish to see it being destroyed." I say and look into his eyes with mew found 'courage'
I am already determined to do anything for this house, I don't want my parents to think of me as a failure.
"..."
"Ahahaha...wh..haha..at..haha..did..you..hahaaha...say?"
"hahaha"
"this poor bastard is really courageous, right Brother Leng? Hahahaha"
"Courageous, courageous, to oppose Big Brother Leng, this man simply doesn't fear death hahaha!"
After hearing what I said, all the gangsters started laughing and I could basically see that in their eyes, I must have something wrong with my brain.
I honestly just wanted to smash their heads against the wall, but dared not to show any displeasure on the outside, in my mind however, I was roaring like a mad dog at them.
'excuse me you bastards, but this brother here has an IQ higher than all of you put together so shut your mouth!'
Right then, Brother Leng stood up from the sofa, looked me in the eyes and said "Man, you really are stupid aren't you? To tell you the truth, our bosses said that if this deal doesn't go through, they will personally chop our hands of you know? Since I value my hands so much, I don't have many options on how to deal with you."
"Boys, let's get to work, we will have to dirty our hands a little bit" Said Brother Leng as he ordered his followers around and smiled at me eerily.
All the gang members started to move towards me, I quickly took the little coffee table, threw it at them, and ran as fast as I could.
I was a few steps away from the door when I felt wind behind my back and quickly dodged the oncoming attack, I turned around, and saw that it was the youngest member who was kneeling before Brother Long like a fool not that long ago, that is now swinging a metal pipe at my head.
His eyes were bloodshot and this was the moment I realised that he won't give up until he smashes his weapon against my head.
It is either him, or me, I didn't have time to dodge so I could only block it with my arms.
"Ouch!" I felt like my arms were burning and my bones were shattered into small pieces.
I was too focused on the pain in my arms that I failed to avoid another on of his attacks, he swung his pipe at my head and all I could see was him, smiling happily like a child that received the best birthday gift, and my body fell on the floor.
"Bang!" I fell on the floor. All I could feel was my burning arms and the tingling sensation on my head.
It was in this moment that I realised how naive I was towards society. I now know that I am a total disappointment, since I had so many good qualities that I could have used to reach the peak in my life, but with my personality I have missed these chances, and instead of revenge, I chose to forgive, which drove me further down.
I realised that now and I regret staying with my aunt's family since all of my suffering started with them.
As I lay down and slowly close my eyes, I began to think about all the things I regret and how different it would be If I made other choices in my life.
The first thing I regret is going back to live with my aunt and her family. I always knew that she hated my mother and I because she was also in love with my father, but he chose my mother instead. I knew all this but still chose to go with them because I wanted to fell the warmth of a family again. However this did not happened no matter what I did.
I regret being naive and obedient, thinking that if I do all the house chores, cooking and shopping, if I do well on an exam or win a competition, participate in sports, I will win their love and they will praise me for being a lovely child.
I regret the fact that I stopped learning in middle school when I realised that this family won't accept me no matter what I do. If I never stopped learning, then maybe I would still be the teacher's favourite student, and maybe someone would believe me that I did not beat anyone up, and I would still be able to finish high school and have my reputation intact...
I regret forgiving my family and letting them take over my expenses together with my bankbook and inheritance.
I also regret being so happy that they were all looking at me like i was the loveliest thing in the world and telling them where I will be attending my college entrance examinations.
I now know that what they were looking at was not me, but how lovely it was that I had no idea that they are planning to ruin my future again.
The only thing I don't regret in my life is dying because of protecting the thing I love... Mother, Father I hope you're not completely disappointed in me...