novelsite Chapter 59 Conflict
Chapter 59 Conflict
Saturday morning, Berlin's Chinatown
Li Xiaowei needed several specific models of temperature and humidity sensor controllers to improve the automation system of the planting chamber, and these parts could not be bought in ordinary hardware stores. Li Ruijun was worried about his sister going to the chaotic electronics market alone, so he personally drove her there.
Located next to Chinatown in Berlin's Neukölln district, the market is a huge maze converted from warehouses, filled with all sorts of new and old electronic components, industrial controllers, and secondhand instruments. The air is thick with a mixture of solder, dust, and cheap perfume.
"Brother, it should be at stall number 27 in section C, the address Lin Luo'er gave me." Li Xiaowei checked the notes on her phone as she searched among the rows of crowded stalls.
Rajesh Singh, accompanied by three henchmen, was staggering along the narrow streets. They had clearly just emerged from a nearby bar, reeking of cheap vodka and cologne. Rajesh's crimson shirt collar was ripped open, his face flushed, and his eyes glazed and arrogant.
"Boss, the owner of that Cantonese restaurant still refuses to pay protection money..." one of the henchmen said in Hindi.
"You ungrateful bastard!" Rajish cursed in German, then switched back to Hindi, his voice loud enough to be heard throughout the street. "Once I find that Ukrainian bastard and get the Iron Hand bounty, I'll buy this whole street! Then we'll see who dares to disobey!"
His gaze casually swept across the street, then suddenly stopped.
Li Xiaowei was bending down to put a bag of accessories into the trunk, her thin summer shirt outlining the curves of her young body with the movement. Rajish's eyes immediately lit up, a greedy look that was a mixture of alcohol and primal desire, undisguised.
"Hey, look who's here?" Rajish shoved his men aside and staggered over, his German accent thick and coarse. "Boss Li, out shopping with such a pretty little girl?"
Li Ruijun immediately pulled Li Xiaowei behind him, his face darkening: "Rajish, let's keep to ourselves."
"Well water? River water?" Rajish scoffed, his gaze sweeping over Li Xiaowei like sticky tentacles. "Boss Li, your sister's an adult, right? Where we're from, girls her age would be married long ago. You Chinese are just too conservative..."
As he spoke, he actually reached out to touch Li Xiaowei's cheek. His fingers were short and thick, and his fingernails were full of dirt.
"Don't touch her!" Li Ruijun slapped his hand away, the force so strong that Rajish staggered backward.
Rajish steadied himself, a look of embarrassment and anger flashing across his drunken face, but it quickly turned into that nauseating grin: "What's wrong with touching her? In our country, women are meant to be touched by men. On the street, in the car, anywhere is fine! You Chinese are just hypocrites—"
"Shut up!" Li Xiaowei, her face pale with anger, peeked out from behind her brother. "You...you're shameless!"
"Oh, you can swear now?" Rajish's eyes lit up even more. He licked his alcohol-stained lips and said something to his men behind him in Hindi. The Indian men laughed, their eyes also brazenly lingering on Li Xiaowei.
Li Ruijun knew what that meant—in Rajish's hometown in the Indian state of Rajish, sexual violence against women was rampant, with a pitifully low reporting rate, and perpetrators often went unpunished. Rajish had boasted more than once that he could "do whatever he wanted" back home. This deeply ingrained, vile ideology made him completely disrespectful to women.
"Li Ruijun, I heard your sister cooks on the train?" Rajish leaned closer, reeking of alcohol. "It's not safe for a young girl to hang out with a bunch of grown men. I need someone to cook for me, room and board included, high pay... and I can even chat with the boss in the evenings."
His hand reached out again, this time targeting Li Xiaowei's shoulder.
"Fuck your mother!" Li Ruijun completely erupted, punching Rajish in the face.
Rajish was knocked to the ground, blood gushing from his nose. His men immediately surrounded him, but were driven back by a crowbar that Li Ruijun pulled from the car.
Shopkeepers and pedestrians on the street quickly moved away; some secretly took out their phones, but no one dared to call the police. Rajish's notorious reputation in the area was well-known.
Rajish was helped up, wiped the blood from his nose, and his eyes turned venomous: "Li Ruijun, you think you're so tough? You really think I won't dare touch you just because you're with that Chinese kid?"
He pointed at Li Xiaowei, his voice suddenly rising as he roared in German, "I'll remember this girl! Li Xiaowei, right? Working illegally on a train on a student visa! Tomorrow I'll have people follow her, take photos, record videos, and send the solid evidence to the immigration office! Before she's deported, I'll show her what 'feeling at home' really means!"
He used Hindi for the last four words, but the lewd tone made the malice clear to everyone who understood. His men burst into laughter again.
"And you too." Rajesh turned to Li Ruijun, his voice lowered but even more chilling, "Those illegal workers on your construction site, the taxes you evaded... the evidence I've gathered is enough to put you in a German prison for five years. But your sister's matter is negotiable—"
He flashed his blood-stained teeth: "Let her stay with me for three days, just three days. After that, I promise I won't cause you any more trouble, and I'll pretend I didn't see anything about that train. How about that? Pretty good deal, right? Where I'm from, women are just for exchanging favors."
Li Ruijun's hands gripped the spatula so tightly that the veins bulged, but he knew that if he made a move here, he and his sister would never leave this street. There were probably more people in Rajish than just those in front of them.
"Let's go." Li Ruijun took a deep breath, protecting the terrified Li Xiaowei, and retreated step by step.
Rajish cursed a string of profanities in Hindi behind him, then switched to German, his voice echoing through Chinatown: "Run! Let's see how long you can protect her! I've got this chick! I'll make you watch from the sidelines!"
Without looking back, Li Ruijun led his sister quickly through the alley until they got into the car and locked the doors.
Li Xiaowei trembled all over, tears streaming silently down her face: "Brother... he... could he really..."
"No." Li Ruijun's voice was hoarse as he started the car. "I won't let that kind of thing happen."
But his heart sank. Rajish was the kind of person who would do what he said. That deeply ingrained culture of gender-based violence made him feel no psychological barrier to harming women, and even take pride in it.
One hour later, at the Longyuan command center
"Dr. Wang, I need to talk. Just the two of us." Li Ruijun's face was ashen, and his eyes were bloodshot.
After listening to the full account, especially Rajish's sexually suggestive and threatening words, Wang Zhengyang remained silent for a full minute.