Chapter 3: Ways of Making Money

  As for Yin Le, Heizi had long forgotten about it. Heizi wouldn't dwell on past things. The three years in the army had matured him and made him think more before acting. His current goal was to accumulate his own strength, having many friends and many paths. As long as they didn't conflict with his goals, anyone could be his friend.

  Hei Zi took two steps forward and stood in front of Yin Le, saying: "What's wrong, old classmate, don't you recognize me?"

  Yin Le saw Hei Zi's smiling face and also smiled, stretching out his hand to say: "Old classmate, it's been more than three years since we last met, I almost didn't recognize you."

  Old classmates wanted to meet and of course had to sit down, Hei Zi wanted to understand the situation, Yin Le wanted to please Hei Zi, and soon they chose a small restaurant and walked in.

  Yin Le poured wine for Hei Zi, and they listened to Hei Zi talk about his situation in the army. After a few cups of wine, the atmosphere became more harmonious. Hei Zi asked: "Yin Le, what's making the most money now?"

  Yin Le said without thinking: "The opening is a kind of violent profit."

  Yin Le didn't get into college and was also thinking of ways to make money. Many of the social hooligans he knew were gamblers, so it was only natural that he thought of opening a casino.

  Hei Zi is now interested in everything and says with a smile: "Yin Le, tell me, I don't understand this."

  Yin Le had just graduated from school and didn't know much about opening a casino either. Most of what he knew was heard from several gambler friends.

  There are several ways to make money from opening a casino, one of which is to collect protection fees and land occupation fees. Since underground casinos are illegal, gamblers all hope for safety, so the people who open the casino are responsible for thinking of ways to protect their safety, and they earn protection fees by protecting their safety.

  Another is the money from selling cigarettes, wine and food in the casino. The gamblers in the casino are so engrossed in their games that they don't even have time to eat, and the food that costs one yuan outside becomes five or ten yuan here, while two or three yuan worth of cigarettes all become ten yuan, with several times the profit.

  The third aspect is usury, also known as loan sharking. The risk of doing this is very high. If you don't have the ability to collect debts, it's better not to do it at all. Otherwise, once the money is lent out, it will be difficult to get back. Often, when gamblers are desperate and have lost everything, they can resort to anything, making it hard to collect debts from them.

  Hei Zi thought for a moment after listening to Yin Le's words and said, "Alright, this will do. Now we don't have any capital, it's hard to do anything without money. We'll start with this first, and once we've earned some money, we can consider doing something else."

  At the wine table, several people quickly discussed and divided their tasks in detail. Zhuo Xiaofei was responsible for finding a place to start, Yin Le knew gamblers and was responsible for finding them, Yin Le's two younger brothers were responsible for buying tools and also bought two boxes of instant noodles and a few packs of cigarettes.

  Hei Zi's task was both the most arduous and the easiest, this game would be hosted by him, he didn't need to do anything, when the game started, he just needed to be present at the scene.

  Since he beat up Ouyang Qiang, his name has been echoing loudly in the town. Although everyone knew that he had joined the army and the local police were under pressure from their superiors to send someone to bring him back, unexpectedly, when they arrived at the army unit, they said there was no such person. Later on, news of Hei Zi's meritorious service came back, and for a first-class national hero, the few small policemen from the local police station didn't dare cause any more trouble.

  They decided to start, and the four of them got busy. After Hei Zi and Zhu Xiao Fei returned, Zhu Xiao Fei began looking for a place. Considering it was too dangerous to open in town, he thought it would be safer to bring people to the countryside. As long as they controlled a few road intersections, if police appeared, they could get news quickly and escape relatively easily.

  Of course, this place cannot be too far from the town, otherwise transportation is inconvenient, fewer people come, and the initial income is less.

  Two days later, Zhu Xiaofei rented a house in the village closest to the town. The village was three miles away from the town. The house had its own gate and yard, and the rent was 30 yuan per month. He paid the landlord half a year's rent at once, which made the landlord very happy. After reminding him of many things to pay attention to, he handed over the key to him.

  After Xiaofei and Heizi found a place, they came to the town to find Yin Le. Within two days, Yin Le contacted more than a dozen gamblers, who were scattered all over the place, some of whom were often caught and became familiar faces at the police station.

  "Is it safe locally?" Yin Le asked.

  "Hei Zi smiled and said: 'Of course it's safe. We'll take them there when we start, but before that, let's not tell them the location. Nobody should have discovered it.'"

  Hei Zi had been a scout for over a year and even went to the battlefield for a few days during the last round of the South Xinjiang campaign. It was too easy for him to do this kind of thing, Hei Zi insisted on coming back before retiring, otherwise he would have become a volunteer soldier long ago.

  After the four of them discussed and decided on a time, everything else was left to Hei Zi's arrangement. Upon hearing Hei Zi's plan, Xiao Fei excitedly said: "Lao Wu, these three years in the army weren't wasted after all! Your arrangement is flawless, it seems we're going to get rich!"

  "Hei Zi nodded and said: 'The opening is very profitable, but we can't keep doing it for too long, or else we'll be caught sooner or later.'"

  Yin Le also admired Hei greatly, smiling as he said: "Hei ge, with you around what is there to fear? You think things through so thoroughly, no one can catch us."

  Hei Zi has many ideas, but at the beginning, it was just to make a fortune. Now he is penniless and can't do anything without funding. He can only take risks and try to earn some money first, otherwise, there won't even be enough startup capital.

  There are some things that Hei Zi can't tell Yin Le for now, he can only use Yin Le to start the game, as for what to do next and whether to let Yin Le participate, he hasn't decided yet.

  It usually starts at night, and Hei Zi followed this convention. This rented small courtyard was prepared by Hei Zi as a residence for him and Zhu Xiao Fei. Zhu Xiao Fei's home is too far from the town, it's not convenient to come once, he wants to live near the town.

  The first time the bureau was set up here was just to make it convenient for me to get to know these gamblers, as for where to set up the bureau in the future, it has not been decided yet, in short, the place where the bureau is set up must be changed frequently, Heizi will never be stupid enough to always stay in one place.

  The sky gradually darkened, and Hei Zi and Zhu Xiao Fei arrived at the rented farmhouse first. The vegetables in the yard had been harvested, leaving it empty and desolate. An apricot tree also began to shed its leaves, and as they walked into the yard, their footsteps rustled on the dry leaves.

  Pushing open the wooden door is a hall, in the center of the house is a small kang table and several small stools, and there are also more than ten small stools piled up in the corner of the wall near the door.

  On both sides of the main house are two rooms of equal size, each with a kang (heated bed platform), which takes up half of the room. The remaining half of the room has a stove and several wooden cabinets, which were left by the landlord for their use, but are now used by Hei Zi and Zhu Xiao Fei to store instant noodles and liquor.

  There were also several small kang tables on the kang, with a thermos and cups on the stove, and a large water tank next to the stove. Water was often stored here, although tap water had been installed, every household still used water tanks to store water.

  Hei Zi and Zhu Xiao Fei came in and started using the prepared blankets to block the windows. The gamblers were very loud when they were excited, and they didn't want to be heard by passersby and reported. As for the neighbors, they had already been taken care of a few days ago. The villagers were very simple-minded, and as long as you brought some gifts and visited them to build relationships, it was easy to become their friends, and they wouldn't interfere with whatever you did afterwards.