Chapter Thirty-Six: Forced Confession
"Hmph" "Hmph" These black-clad men were straightforward, using the daggers in their hands to greet Sotaro's two attendants. In the blink of an eye, before the attendants could even pull out the handguns from their waists, they fell to the ground with their throats bleeding profusely. Sotaro's legs went weak, and the living room was filled with the stench of blood. The men holding knives turned their heads to look at Sotaro, who had fallen to the ground, their eyes clearly indicating that they already considered him their next target.
"Yang, Mr. Yang, what are you doing? We can't do business anymore, but don't ruin the relationship, okay?" Seeing a group of men in black surrounding him, Xiao Cilang retreated to the wall and began speaking softly to Zhao Zhi, trying to persuade him to spare his life.
"My surname isn't Yang, is it?" Zhao Zhi changed his previous elegant demeanor, lifted one leg and put it on the chair, with one hand on his waist and the other thumb pointing at his own nose, with a mischievous grin he said: "I'm Yun Fei, the famous bandit roaming the Hebei region. My brothers didn't come here for nothing, how can we leave empty-handed? You think you can just let me go with just a few words? How can I survive in the Jianghu then?"
"These 50,000 taels are all yours, they're yours." As soon as Xiao Cilang heard Zhao Zhi's words, he knew there was a way out and quickly scrambled to his feet, carrying the two trunks filled with taels in front of Zhao Zhi. "You dare to use my things to buy your life? You have a big enough nerve?" Zhao Zhi pretended to be very angry, shaking his head, and immediately a man in black came forward, grabbing Xiao Cilang's collar, with a bloody dagger flashing back and forth in front of Xiao Cilang's eyes, as if ready to strike.
"I have money, I'll give you money to buy your own life" Xiao Cilang was terrified and waved his hands wildly. As a short man, he was being held by the tall black-clothed men, his feet couldn't even touch the ground. His pale face from being choked by the collar, combined with his current expression, made Zhao Zhi want to laugh. Luo Ying, who had poor self-control, was already hiding behind one of the black-clothed men, laughing so hard she was bent at the waist. This Master Zhao really has skills, he almost scared this annoying little devil to death.
With great effort, Zhao Zhi suppressed his smile and still managed to put on a fierce expression as he stared at the shaken Xiao Cilang. "So, how much money can you give me? Speak up!" In order to prevent Xiao Cilang from seeing through his intentions, Zhao Zhi even roughly stuck his finger in his ear, completely embodying the image of a mountain bandit. As for Xiao Cilang's money, Zhao Zhi could cheat or rob him, but he couldn't kill this Japanese man. Killing Xiao Cilang wasn't a big deal, but this old fellow had deep connections with the Japanese gendarmerie, and Zhao Zhi was afraid that killing Xiao Cilang would provoke the Japanese gendarmerie to go on a rampage in the city, ultimately harming the ordinary people.
"My store still has 200,000 yuan, and the antiques in the store are also yours to take. Can you spare my life?" Just as the dagger was about to pierce his chest, Xiao Cilang was still thinking of keeping the gold bars worth 5 million yuan in his store. He was indeed a man who valued money over his own life. His thoughts were not wrong, but he had not expected that Zhao Zhi's men had already noticed his recent movements, and the boxes sent to the store had been discovered by Zhao Zhi. Although they did not know what was inside, when they saw the cars and strongmen delivering the boxes, Zhao Zhi had already guessed that the boxes must contain the money for buying the bronze tripod.
Zhao Zhi took out his pocket watch and looked at the time, it was already past 6 o'clock in the afternoon. At this time, Mo Lun and Meng San had long left the city of Beiping to wait outside. Now there were only two hours before the city gate closed, and Zhao Zhi had to get the 500,000 yuan and leave the city within these two hours. It seemed that time was still pressing.
"Let's go then, go to your store and get the money. As long as I can get the money, I'll let you off," Zhao Zhi said with a wave of his hand, leading the way out of the living room. The group of black-clad men surrounded Xiao Cilang and followed behind Zhao Zhi.
The servants and stewards in this mansion had long been dismissed by Zhao Zhi, leaving only the thugs and rascals brought by Yu Dazhi. These people were all desperate fugitives who would do anything for money. The fugitives, dazed by the large sums of silver coins scattered by Zhao Zhi, had become completely obedient to him. As long as they completed this transaction, Zhao Zhi promised to give each person 1000 taels and even take them to the south to continue making a fortune. With great rewards comes bravery, after receiving the 200 taels prepaid by Zhao Zhi in advance, the fugitives became even more frenzied, with the idea of following Zhao Zhi to make a living.
Zhao Zhi drove himself, with Luo Ying sitting in the passenger seat. Xiao Cilang was squeezed between two burly men in black clothes in the back row. Xiao Cilang's body type was horizontally developed, but the two big men on either side of him were like iron towers, squeezing him tightly in the middle without any room to move. Fortunately, Xiao Cilang's shop was not far from Wu Ye's mansion, and Zhao Zhi drove very steadily; otherwise, Xiao Cilang would have been squeezed to death by those two iron towers.
A group of tall, dark-clad men rushed in, packing the small shop to capacity. Several Japanese merchants who were examining antiques were pushed out. The Japanese merchants, seeing the group's swaggering attitude, didn't dare say much and simply muttered a few curses under their breath before hastily leaving.
"Mr. Xiaojun, bring out your money!" Zhao Zhishu sat in a taishi chair, with his legs crossed, directing the black-clad men to follow Xiaojun and take the money. These black-clad men were all thugs from Beijing's 49th city, they didn't have any other skills, but when it came to looting and fighting, they were absolutely experts. With a few swift moves, they had cleared out all the valuable items from Xiaojun's store, and the boxes filled with goods were scattered all over the hall.
Zhao Zhi walked around the hall with his hands behind his back, opening each box to take a look. He couldn't help but furrow his brow as he realized that the few trunks the person tailing him had mentioned were not among them. Little Jiro, who was drenched in sweat, was brought back and saw that all the valuable items in the hall were gone. A pang of sadness rose up in Little Jiro's heart. However, thinking about the gold bars hidden under the lotus pot in the courtyard, Little Jiro couldn't help but reveal a hint of a smile on his lips. As long as he could keep his life and the 500,000 yuan worth of gold bars safe, he still had hope for a comeback.
Zhao Zhi walked up to Xiao Cilang with a smile, suddenly and unexpectedly stuffed a rag into Xiao Cilang's mouth, and gave him a knee strike. Zhao Zhi had used all his strength in that one move, causing Xiao Cilang to feel such pain that his nose and eyes were streaming with tears, and he was bent over like a shrimp, trembling all over. "Where are the rest of your suitcases hidden? Hand them over, and I'll let you go. Otherwise, I'll get my brothers to bury you alive." Zhao Zhi's words made Xiao Cilang stop shaking in his pain, and he turned his head to stare at Zhao Zhi in disbelief, unable to figure out how Zhao Zhi had known about the suitcases no matter how hard he thought.
