Chapter Twenty-Four Buying a Car

  After dinner, Wu Mei hurriedly left alone, looking very mysterious. It's not good for Hei Zi to ask what a girl is doing at home.

  Once I get the money, I'll go find Hao Kun and first return the 15,000 yuan that Liang Zi owes him.

  Hao Kun and a few other hoodlums opened a gambling den in the iron mine's dormitory, a semi-bungalow with the wall in the middle knocked down, the house was about 15 or 16 square meters. The owner of this household also built another small room in the yard, connected to the big room, making the house look bigger.

  Huan returned the money with Hei Zi and Zhu Xiao Fei, Da Kui. After dark, Yin Le brought two brothers back to the village to help Er Cheng open the door. Hei Zi was worried that something might happen and Er Cheng couldn't handle it.

  Three people knocked on the door and followed a mixed breed into the yard. The yard was quiet, and it didn't seem like anyone was home.

  They only realized after entering the house that the gamblers who were playing had all stopped when they heard someone coming in, it was very dangerous to start a game in town, and one would easily get caught if not careful.

  The man who opened the door walked in and went straight to Hao Kun, saying a few words in a low voice. Hao Kun smiled and walked over to Hei Zi and the others.

  Hei Zi took a glance around the room, inside and outside there were four sets of Pai Gow being played, and two sets of people squatting on the ground playing Deuces Wild. Most of the gamblers knew each other, it seemed like the stakes weren't too high in this game, he wondered how Liang Zi could owe them so much money.

  "Hei Zi smiled and said: 'Sorry to disturb everyone, please continue. I came to find Hao Kun to return the money for Liang Zi.'"

  Everyone in the house knew that Liang Zi owed usury, and Hao Kun was chasing Liang Zi for money. What they didn't expect was that Hei Zi came to pay off Liang Zi's debt. Liang Zi and Hei Zi didn't have any special relationship either. The gamblers were all curious about this matter.

  Hao Kun walked over and wished Xiao Fei a happy birthday, then pulled out the money and counted out 15,000 yuan, handing it to him and saying: "Here's 15,000. Count it yourself. This settles the account with Liang Zi. Don't bother looking for him again."

  Hao Kun took the money and wanted to say something, but he didn't say it. Hei Zi and Zhu Xiao Fei both looked at him with gloomy faces. He knew that if he still wanted 30,000 yuan, the three of them would have to smash this place today.

  Hao Kun finished counting the money and packed it up, saying reluctantly: "Alright, let's just leave it at that."

  The three of them didn't leave immediately after paying the money. They walked around the house, watching the gamblers play. The guy who was hung up by Da Gui in the afternoon was also there. As the three of them walked around, he kept stealing glances at them, worried that Da Gui would find trouble with him.

  When the three of them left, this kid couldn't bear it anymore. He stood up and told his deskmate that he was going to the restroom, but instead followed them out onto the street. As soon as they were outside, he said to Blackie: "Blackie, I'm sorry. I'll definitely scrape together the remaining money and send it over within two days."

  Hei Zi patted his shoulder and said, "This afternoon Da Gui went a bit too far, brother will give you an apology, as long as you still come to my place often, I'll treat you like a real brother, the money owed won't be rushed, taking a few more days is fine."

  He didn't say any extra words, but Xiao Hei understood that if he didn't go to Hei's place to play, the consequences would be severe.

  "Hei ge, tomorrow I'll go to your place, today you see all these have arrived."

  "It's nothing, just take care of it yourself, we brothers will get along and discuss if there's anything." Hei Zi spoke with a very generous tone.

  Hei Zi finished speaking and took Xiao Fei and Da Gui away, the guy who was hung by Da Gui stood on the street and saw them off. Later, when Hei Zi opened his casino, this guy became a regular customer, and he would always show up whenever there was a new game.

  Back to the house by the sandy river, someone has already started playing. Today there are fewer people, so they set up one table. Yin Le and his two brothers have nothing to do, so they got a deck of cards and started playing. Lu Xiangzi didn't play, he was sitting in the corner with Er Cheng.

  Seeing Hei Zi and his men coming in, Lu Mang hastily stood up to greet them: "Hei Ge, you're looking for me with something?"

  Lu Mangzi was nervous, he knew how much money he owed, if it were elsewhere, the debt would have been urged to be paid back long ago. Hei Zi had never asked for it before, but today Hei Zi came looking for him, and he knew he must pay back the money.

  "Hei Zi pointed at the stool and said: 'Sit down, there's something I want to talk to you about.'"

  "Black brother, I will pay back the money as soon as possible, it's just that I don't have any money on hand right now, can you give me a few more days?"

  Hei Zi nodded and said, "Xiao Lu, this money will have to be repaid sooner or later. You need to think of a way, you see how many brothers I have waiting to eat, and the longer it takes to repay the more interest there is. If we drag it out for too long, I'm afraid you really won't be able to pay it back."

  Lu Mangzi also knew his situation, with a monthly salary of over 500 yuan, even if he didn't eat or drink, it would take several years to pay off the debt, unless his parents and sisters back home lent him money, otherwise he wouldn't be able to repay it.

  "Hei Ge, I'll be going back to my hometown in a few days to ask my dad for money. Can the interest not increase for these few days?" Lu Xiangzi made his request.

  Hei Zi burst out laughing. This was exactly what he had been waiting for: "No interest, no problem, but you have to bring people here often. If you can't bring anyone, then don't blame us brothers."

  Lu Xiangzi was delighted when he heard this and said without hesitation: "Hei Ge, don't worry, I'll definitely bring people over."

  Hei Zi stood up, patted Lu Mangzi's shoulder and said: "Alright, go have fun, we'll talk about the money you owe later. I think your parents will have to pay it back too, then we'll figure something out."

  Hei Zi and Zhu Xiao Fei watched for a while before getting sleepy, so they went back to sleep early. The next day, the two of them came to Liang Zi's house, gave him the remaining money, signed an agreement, and then went to the county city to handle the transfer procedures at the transportation and traffic management departments. Since Liang Zi was still short 2,000 yuan, they negotiated to settle the payment at the beginning of next month.

  Two days later, Hei Zi asked Da Kui to give the two thousand yuan he owed to Liang Zi.

  After more than a dozen days, Heizi brought Zhu Xiaofei and Da Kui to pick up Liangzi's two cars. They sent the two cars to the repair factory for maintenance. The driver and ticket seller were still the same as before, with only Da Kui following along.

  In the mid-1990s, the long-distance transportation market was very chaotic. There were many cars running from county towns to small towns, and in addition to a few state-owned passenger transport companies, there were also a large number of private cars operating. In order to compete for passengers, all the cars did not give way to each other, and fights often broke out.

  Hei Zi knew about these things, but he didn't take them to heart. Running a passenger transport business isn't the main thing now; making quick money is still in casinos. If running a passenger transport business was easy to make money, Liang Zi wouldn't have sold his car.

  Hei Zi told Da Kui not to cause trouble and just run away, as long as they didn't lose money it was fine.

  Dà Kuí listened to Hei Zi's words and at first, he just sat in the car doing nothing. Later on, he discovered that the parking location and time had a great impact on whether they could pick up passengers or not. Therefore, Dà Kuí instructed the driver to choose good parking spots.

  The drivers of these two cars have been driving buses for many years and are very familiar with this route. They told Daqi that some of the people who drive on this road are not easy to mess with, and if they don't stop at the designated places, they will definitely get into a fight. During their break, they also told Daqi which car owners were the most ruthless on this route, and warned him to be careful as they were all tough guys.

  These several rascals of sports cars are all familiar with Da Gui, they are indeed not easy to mess with, but with Hei Zi around, there's nothing to fear. Now that Hei Zi has handed this matter over to himself, he must do a good job in order not to disappoint Hei Zi's trust in him.