Chapter 37: Re-encountering Liu Cuie

  Upon entering the house, it's clear that once the large iron gate is closed, it becomes a completely isolated world. The second floor has been specially equipped with soundproof walls, so even if it gets very noisy inside, outsiders won't be able to hear much of anything, and it won't disturb the neighbors nearby. The location is also very secluded, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. Wang Kai has done a great job setting this place up, clearly putting in a lot of thought and effort.

  There were several young people in the house, all of whom were under twenty years old. After Wang Kai invited Wang Haodong into the house, he gathered them together and introduced them.

  Wang Hao Dong, since he was going to join the partnership, naturally also wanted to understand the situation of the personnel. He listened carefully for a while and roughly knew the people here, except for Wang Kai, there were Liu Lele who was injured, Wang Dahai, and the uninjured Wang Haoqiang and Biaozi. In addition, there were several others who were seriously injured and had not come here, but were still in the hospital or at home recovering from their injuries.

  Wang Kai's men, totaling around ten, seemed to Wang Haodong to have quantity but extremely poor quality. Their skills could be described as mediocre at best. He alone could take them all down.

  Among these people, there were a few who had been brought by Liu Lele to deal with Wang Haodong before, and they had met him before. When they saw him arrive, they all showed great respect for him, apparently in awe of his skills. With Wang Kai's introduction, they knew he was here to fight alongside them, and would become a comrade-in-arms later on. They quickly became chatty and laughed together, appearing very enthusiastic.

  Wang Kai opened the show last night, and the first day of business was normal. However, his men were ambushed by the enemy early this morning, suffering heavy casualties and low morale. Wang Haodong could see that some people occasionally showed a look of fear in their eyes.

  The venue will open at 8 o'clock, now it's already 5 o'clock, everyone has two hours to eat, and then they have to come back, clean up the venue, and wait for the arrival of guests.

  Wang Kai wants to start the game, and he must have a source of customers. This doesn't require Wang Haodong to worry about it, as he has already prepared for it. Earlier, he sent someone to bring over a batch of customers. Tonight, there will be a gathering of bosses from several towns who come here to play Pai Gow.

  Wang Kai had just started out and didn't have the ability or connections to invite a regular croupier, so they didn't open the game themselves, only providing the venue. When guests came here, they still had to protect them well and not let the police come and raid the place. Also, the game didn't play with big stakes, just symbolically collecting an entrance fee.

  Wang Kai temporarily set the entrance fee at 100 yuan per person. Players who win more than 10,000 yuan will be charged an additional 500 yuan, and those who exceed 100,000 yuan will be charged a commission of 5,000 yuan. In addition, Wang Kai also prepared a sum of money to provide loan-sharking services for players in need.

  According to the underworld rules, nine out of thirteen returns, that is to say, when a guest borrows 10,000 yuan, the venue only gives him 9,000 yuan. When returning the money, the guest has to return 13,000 yuan, which is a typical high-interest loan, so it's called usury.

  Everyone who could make it had arrived, and the group went to eat at a restaurant 500 meters away. The owner was Wang Dahai's paternal uncle. Wang Dahai was only 22 years old this year, tall and thin, with an often cold and sinister aura on his face, clearly a ruthless person. As for how he did things, Wang Haodong had just arrived and didn't know yet, so he would have to observe several times before making any judgments.

  At night there was something important, and maybe even a bar fight to face, so when everyone ate dinner, each person only drank two bottles of beer, and didn't drink any white wine, lest they mess things up.

  At dinner, Wang Kai pulled Wang Haodong to his side, one of the main seats, while others sat at the lower end, which already showed his identity. Others also got news about Wang Haodong from Wang Kai, so there was no surprise on their faces.

  "Something's up tonight, everyone needs to be careful, after we finish drinking beer, let's head back and get ready."

  Wang Kai raised his cup and shouted: "Today, Hao Dong brothers join the partnership. From now on, we are a family, born to die together, good brothers who can entrust each other with their backs without any worries. Whatever grudges we had before, let's forget them as if nothing happened. Come on, everyone raise your cups and toast together to welcome Hao Dong brother's arrival."

  As soon as Wang Kai finished speaking, everyone raised their glasses, clinked them together, and downed the beer in one gulp.

  Everyone only had two bottles of beer, the wine was not much, so there was no need to toast, after everyone drank happily and finished eating, they sat for a while after dinner, and after the sun went down, they left the restaurant together and returned directly to the venue to make preparations.

  Back to the scene, Wang Kai directed his men to start working. The scene was actually clean, but because it was a business making money, providing a place for gamblers and charging fees, they had to serve the customers well, so they cleaned again, almost to the point of being spotless.

  After the cleanup, Wang Kai had someone clean up the gambling equipment, the old-fashioned mahjong tiles and cards, all washed with clean water, then two people used dry absorbent white cloths to wipe them down, then used an electric fan to blow them dry, and finally wiped them down twice more with new clean white cloths before putting them away in a box.

  After they finished, Wang Kai gathered them together, took out a pile of machetes and clubs, and let them choose their weapons. Wang Hao Dong also had to choose, after all, if the enemy came to smash the scene, they would need to fight, and having weapons or not made a big difference.

  Wang Haodong thought he wasn't a super master, so he chose a handy dagger.

  Additionally, Wang Haodong also had a steel rod several dozen centimeters long with a sharpened tip, similar to a javelin, which could be used as a hidden weapon for both close and distant combat, and when paired with the sharp dagger, it was more than sufficient.

  His stomach was bloated, Wang Haodong wanted to go to the toilet, and after asking Wang Haoqiang, he learned that the bathroom here would not be renovated for several days. Because in this town, there is no sewage system, even if a bathroom is built, it's just a long pipe that discharges waste into other places.

  So if you want to go to the toilet, you have to go to the public toilet outside the big yard. There are special people there who are responsible for cleaning up at regular intervals. People nearby basically all go there.

  As soon as Wang Haodong walked out of the gate, he saw a toilet 20 meters southeast and ran over quickly.

  After finishing the convenient matter, Wang Haodong walked back and forth, but saw a familiar woman, who was the beautiful big-breasted beauty Liu Cuie whom he had met when inquiring about Wang Kai's background at Wang Xin's store.

  Liu Cuie rode a motorcycle from west to east, saw Wang Haodong and recognized him, smiled at him, suddenly her car stopped, but the chain broke.

  The car slid for over two meters before Liu Cuie lightly squeezed the brakes, bringing it to a stop. She got out and checked it, furrowing her brow.

  Wang Haodong took a big step forward, smiled and said: "Beauty, where are you going?"

  "I was playing basketball just now, I'm all sweaty, and now I'm riding my bike to cool off."

  Liu Cuilian smiled and said, taking out a pair of gloves from the trunk of the car, putting them on, squatting down to pick up the broken chain, and sighing: "The chain was just repaired yesterday, but it broke again today. It looks like I need to replace it with a new one."

  Wang Haodong often saw female basketball enthusiasts playing in the city, but since coming to this rural area, he had never seen one before. Liu Cuie was the first, and thinking about it, this woman with an LV handbag and wearing an office professional suit, was infinitely beautiful and charming, guessing that she was also one of the most stylish women in Lin Yuan Town.

  "Your Yamaha motorcycle looks new, how did it break down so quickly?"

  Wang Haodong stood beside her, she squatted down, looking down on her, could see her fair skin, enough to make any man's heart flutter.

  "I don't know either. I just bought it two months ago and haven't ridden it much, maybe there's a quality problem." Liu Cuie stood up as she spoke, saying: "I'll push it over to change the chain."

  "Do you need help?"

  Liu Cuilian tried pushing it a bit and frowned, saying: "Riding the car doesn't feel heavy, but pushing the car is so heavy."

  "Then I'll help you."

  Wang Haodong and Wang Kai were on their way here this afternoon when they saw a motorcycle repair shop by the side of the road, which is not far from here, less than 500 meters away. There's nothing much to do now, so I can spare some time to help out.

  "That's too much thanks," said Liu Cuie, handing the car over to Wang Haodong.

  Wang Haodong pushed the motorcycle and walked west with Liu Cuie, on the way, he asked her about her background in a roundabout way, "What do you do? You look quite leisurely."

  Liu Cuilian smiled and said: "Unemployed vagrants can afford to be idle."

  She didn't tell the truth, however. Wang Haodong and she had only met twice and weren't familiar with each other yet. Breaking the ice, he asked casually: "It's great that people can be idle, unlike me, I'm a busybody, always rushing around but getting nothing done."

  "What do you do?" Liu Cuie asked Wang Haodong with some interest.

  Wang Haodong also didn't have a stable job recently, and it was hard for him to answer her question, so he said: "I do everything, huh."

  "So you're still an all-around talent."

  "I'm not worthy of that, at least I don't know how to fix motorcycles."

  As they chatted, the two arrived at the repair shop. Liu Cuie chatted with the young man in the store for a few words and handed over the bike to him for repair. Then she went to the nearby store, bought three bottles of water, gave one to Wang Haodong, one to the repair boy, and opened one herself, taking a few gulps.

  As he watched her drink water, the movement of her red lips, Wang Haodong's heart was filled with a burning passion. If only he could kiss those red lips, how refreshing that would be!

  Many things, once learned are not difficult, but when they become difficult, they can't be done. It's like repairing a motorcycle, Wang Haodong won't know how to do it and thinks it's very hard. But in the hands of a professional, it can be fixed in just a few minutes. The young man replaced the chain and the bike was no longer a problem.

  Wang Haodong thought to himself that he couldn't repair motorcycles, but when it came to fighting, ten young mechanics wouldn't be his match. Ordinary people can't be all-around talents, and learning something requires spending time and effort.

  Liu Cuie thanked Wang Haodong a few words and said: "I'm going home, goodbye."

  "Goodbye." Wang Haodong smiled and nodded, and after she rode away on her bicycle, he thought to himself, "If you wore a leather jacket, black sunglasses, and rode a heavy motorcycle, wow, that would be even cooler."

  It's getting late, Wang Haodong drank water while taking big strides eastward.

  Arriving at the courtyard, Wang Kai asked: "Hao Dong, where have you been?"

  "Went to the bathroom." Wang Haodong responded with a few words, looked at his phone, and it was already 7 o'clock. It was almost completely dark outside, and he asked, "They'll be here soon, right?"

  "It's almost time, just half an hour left." Wang Kai said, taking out his phone and dialing a number. "Monkey, is the guest confirmed to arrive?"

  "Yes, Brother Kai."

  "Be quick, and let me know if there's any situation." Wang Kai hung up the phone and said to Wang Haodong: "Houzi is my classmate, help me contact the customer."

  Wang Hao Dong nodded and went back to the house with Wang Kai, sitting in the living room on the first floor, quietly waiting, occasionally chatting a few words, the atmosphere was very relaxed.

  About half an hour later, a van came over. The driver inside was short and thin, less than 1.7 meters tall, with dark skin and facial features that were quite three-dimensional, just like the monkey Wang Kai mentioned earlier. He had a Wuling van himself, specifically for taking guests to play in the yard.

  The car door opened, and six middle-aged men came out one after another. Wang Haodong thought there were only six people, but unexpectedly, a woman in her thirties got out last, with a cigarette in her mouth, dressed in a very provocative manner, with a very flirtatious attitude.