Wooing my Bodyguard Wife

[WARNING FOR GORE]

Nan Yao let out a blood-curdling scream of pain, but Tai Cheng was more worried about the blood splatter that formed on his T-shirt.

He sighed; now his wife was going to scold him for dirtying his clothes unnecessarily. Now she would have to waste baking soda and lemon juice on him!

"Shush you," he scolded Nan Yao, patting his head while he convulsed on the floor. "If you want the pain to stop, you should be an obedient child and let me know why you're here. This restaurant is my life's work, what have I done to deserve such treatment? Please enlighten an old uncle first!"

Unfortunately, Nan Yao was in no condition to respond in human language. All Tai Cheng could hear were the wordless whimpers of pain, so he turned to Feng Yi, who was at least still conscious enough.

"Since your friend can't answer, you shall do it for him." Tai Cheng said, pointing his knife straight at him, the casual amusement of earlier vanishing in a flash.

In the moonlight, the silver of the blade was coated with fresh red blood that dripped steadily from the tip, dotting the pavement.

On that very same pavement, Feng Yi could only tremble in fear as he gazed up at this uncle with barely concealed horror. He wanted to sob and cry for his mother. Who was this man?

"Talk, or your friend won't survive the morning." Tai Cheng said. In fact, that was a generous estimate. With a wound this deep, perhaps even a few hours would be difficult.

"I… I…"

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way." Tai Cheng continued, grabbing Nan Yao's limp hand from the pavement and twisting it painfully behind his back, so he could keep hold of it. His shoulder joint cracked ominously, and Feng Yi paled further.

"Your friend has ten fingertips, five on each hand. For every minute you delay, he'd lose one tip. Once I'm done with his fingers, I'll move on to yours." Tai Cheng said calmly, purposely holding his knife to that man's pinky finger. "I hope your friend is insured."

"Don't… don't say anything… Sir…wouldn't want…" Nan Yao gasped out weakly.

"So there is still at least one person unaccounted for," Tai Cheng said, narrowing his eyes. None of the three he disposed of were smart enough to be the leader. "Where is your leader?"

"I'm not telling you!" Feng Yi exclaimed as all the hair on his body began standing up. This old man was sharp! But he felt increased bravado seeing Nan Yao resist so much pain. If his teammate could endure this much, how could Feng Yi give in so easily?

"Then I'll ask him instead," Tai Cheng shrugged, and sliced off the fingertip in one quick motion, as though he was chopping off spring onion roots before cooking them. Said fingertip fell to the pavement, right in front of Feng Yi's face that had gone slack with pure horror. His eyes widened, and he could only point a shaky finger at Tai Cheng.

"Murderer… you killed him…" Feng Yi tried to crawl away, but the glint in Tai Cheng's eyes rooted his limbs to the pavement, as though he had fallen on wet cement instead of concrete, and he couldn't get up. Cold sweat began to form, and his body shook with a sudden chill brought about by the night wind.

Tai Cheng smiled encouragingly, as though Feng Yi was his child that just fell down by accident while learning to walk.

"Nonsense, he's perfectly alive for now. If he dies, the blame is put on you for wasting precious time and causing him to lose more blood," He explained reassuringly. "So unless you want to be responsible for the death of your friend here, you should be a good boy and give me what I want."

Feng Yi shuddered, his teeth chattering in fear. In contrast to that man's warm gentle tone, his eyes were deadly cold.

"I… I … we…"

"Yes? Please speak up." Tai Cheng said, lifting Nan Yao's hand to Feng Yi's eyes, so that he could watch the bleeding stump more carefully. Since Nan Yao's heart was still beating, there was still blood oozing from the wound. "Or do you want him to lose another fingertip?"

Feng Yi's eyes bulged out at the gory sight - no amount of slasher films could have prepared him for real life. His stomach turned, and he quickly slumped to the side, puking his last meal on the floor.  He internally despaired - at this rate, he was going to die a hungry ghost!

"Oops." Tai Cheng said, hurriedly putting the man's hand down as the smell of vomit soon filled the air. This must have been too much for that poor kid! He had to remind himself that this new generation wasn't as hardened as he was when he was their age.

"Sorry for scaring you, but I really need to know. You did try to burn down my restaurant."

Feng Yi wiped the bile from his lips after he dry-heaved, his eyes wet with tears.

"You promise? You'll save him? Save us?"

"Yes," Tai Cheng said. "Now tell me, is this your entire team? How many members do you have?"

"...No, Feng Yi whimpered, too exhausted to even shake his head. "There are… seven of us in total."

"Then where are the other four?" Tai Cheng asked, gripping his knife so tightly his knuckles turned white. He didn't like the sound of this!

"At your house... We're supposed to kidnap Sun Jingwei and his wife, while burning down your restaurant." Feng Yi could only let out a cry of dismay when he saw Tai Cheng's eyes darken.

The very air around him changed, and when the old man got up, his hand on the knife, Feng Xi instinctively begged for forgiveness.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I don't know anything else please don't hurt me you promised me please don't - "