Chapter Nineteenth: Wu Laohei

  Wu Laohei's casino is indeed a model of diligence, as it is bustling with people even at dawn, just after breakfast. Some people have been here since early morning, while others have not left all night and are still full of energy, either having won big or trying to recoup their losses.

  When Song Qing arrived at the scene, his first glance fell on Ding Kui, and then he saw the three men standing behind him who were clearly not good people. He nodded in satisfaction. For this kind of thing, honest and reliable people are useless; only those born with a violent nature are suitable.

  After greeting Director Ding, he searched again and this time saw Ma Cheng and Luo Xiaobei, as well as the two children who followed them. Luo Xiaobei's face was clearly filled with shame, and she walked over with a dejected expression: "Sir, I'm useless. Those six didn't dare to come over, only the four of us came!"

  "Four is enough, those who don't have the guts to come will only cause trouble and won't be of any help." Song Qing smiled indifferently and said to the other two kids: "Li Sanlang, Sun Jin, I usually think you two are quite laid-back, but it turns out you're pretty capable in this kind of thing!"

  Li Sanlang sneered and gritted his teeth, saying: "Sir, my family is too poor with many mouths to feed, I just want to make some money to spend, even if it costs me my life!"

  "What about you? Your family isn't poor, is it?" Song Qing turned his gaze to Sun Jin, who smiled and said: "My family has been farming for generations, but when it comes to me, I want to make something of myself. Our superiors have told us before that as military households, if we want to achieve anything, we must be willing to fight and kill, so here I am."

  "Alright, it's just the four of you now, follow me!" Song Qing said, leading the four younger ones to join forces with Ding Kui's group. After gathering together, they took a look at the terrain and said: "Old Ding will lead your three brothers in ambush outside, if there's any movement inside later on, the people outside will definitely come in to support, when that happens, take down one or two of them ruthlessly, and intimidate the others, these eight dogs are left for you all, everything inside is handed over to me and these four younger ones, do you all understand?"

  Ding Kui furrowed his brow and said: "There are quite a few people inside, and I've heard that there are experts. Can you handle it with these four kids?"

  "Don't worry, they can hold their own," Song Qing said as he glanced at Luo Xiaobei and the others. The four children also straightened their backs, afraid that Ding Kui and the other adults would look down on them.

  Fortunately, Song Qing's reputation was great, and with him there, Ding Kui and others were also at ease. After exchanging a few words, Ding Kui led the people into a nearby breakfast shop, while Song Qing took Luo Xiaobei and others to Wu Laohei's gambling den. After entering, they didn't head forward, but instead looked around at the people inside the gambling den.

  He chose to come over early in the morning mainly because people were just waking up, their minds not fully clear, or they hadn't slept all night and were even more sluggish. Coming over at this time was more cost-effective than any other time. At first, he had also considered coming over at night, but after careful consideration, he thought it wasn't a good idea. After all, this wasn't just anywhere; the casino was extremely lively at night, with people almost in a frenzied state. Coming over then would mean the opponent's fighting strength wouldn't be low at all, and there was even the possibility of the gamblers ganging up on them.

  It would be a whole different story if he came early, Song Qing's eyes scanned around and only saw two thugs, as well as a big man who had just walked out from inside. If he wasn't mistaken, this person should be Wu Laohei, the boss of the gambling den. As for the other thugs, they were either still sleeping or just waking up and hadn't shaken off their drowsiness yet, and wouldn't be able to come out and form a fighting force in a short period of time. As long as his side was well-controlled, there shouldn't be any problems today.

  In the blink of an eye, Wu Laohei had already made a round in the casino, sending one of his henchmen to buy breakfast, and sat down at a table in the back, humming some little tune. Song Qing came today with a big gun and a short knife, and the four kids were all armed too. Although no one would think anyone dared to make trouble here, their outfit was still somewhat eye-catching. Without delay, they used the tip of the gun to push aside several gamblers and walked towards Wu Laohei in big strides.

  "Are you Wu Laohei?" Before Wu Laohei could react, Song Qing had already sat down across from him with a smile on his face. He took his time to size up Wu Laohei before slowly saying: "From today onwards, I'll be taking care of this gambling den. Every ten days, give me 20% of the profits as protection money. If anything happens here, like someone coming to cause trouble, you can come find me and I'll take care of it for you. That's what I'm here for. What do you think?"

  Wu Laohei was stunned, or rather, he didn't react at all. He had been running a gambling den in the Wei camp for many years, and it wasn't that no one had ever come to cause trouble before. Even some military officers from the Wei camp had tried to take him down, but he had managed to fend them off with his cunning. After a long time, everyone knew not to mess with him, and no one dared to bother him again. Who would have thought that on this bright morning, a foolish-looking man would show up at his doorstep, saying he wanted Wu Laohei to call him "master" and claiming that from now on, he would be in charge of him?

  That's not all, the most important thing is that this guy actually said that if someone makes trouble, they can find him or something. You don't even open your dog eyes to take a good look, who else besides you, this blind fool, dares to come over and make trouble?

  Under the interweaving of various emotions, Wu Laohei did something very artistic. He slapped himself hard on the face and shook his head desperately for half a day, finally confirming that he was not dreaming. His pent-up anger suddenly erupted, and just as he was about to stand up and shout, he found himself surrounded. Although it was only four half-grown children surrounding him, these children were holding long guns, and their eyes sparkled with a murderous aura, making Wu Laohei feel somewhat chilled to the bone. He subconsciously swallowed his saliva.

  This is an era where people are eating each other, the increasingly cold weather, and the continuous years of poor harvests have made everyone appear more brutal than in peaceful times. Although Luo Xiaobei and others were just children, there was no law in the Ming dynasty that said children couldn't kill people. Just looking at their eyes, which seemed to want to devour people, Wu Laohei, as a property owner, felt his body trembling uncontrollably. Fortunately, he was also a well-known figure in the underworld and managed to hold back from making a fool of himself. With a fierce tone, he said: "Brother, what gang are you from? What kind of thug are you? I'm Wu Laohei, a respectable person, this gambling den has been untouched for years, don't you fear death?"

  "I wasn't thinking of dying, I just came here to make some money and live a good life, drink wine and eat meat. Who would have thought of death?" Song Qing's words were cut off as he suddenly grabbed the gambler who had been sneaking up behind him, intending to launch a surprise attack, and slammed him onto the table. He pulled out a short knife and stabbed downwards, hitting the man's hand, causing him to let out a blood-curdling scream. The commotion startled all the gamblers in the den, and they suddenly realized that this seemingly safe and trouble-free place had been invaded by an unusual group of people. Everyone dropped their games and protected their money, while curiously staring at the scene of the incident.

  Under the gaze of the crowd, Song Qing knocked down the bleeding man with a few punches and looked around at the crowd before turning his eyes back to Wu Laohei, speaking wildly: "Right, let me introduce myself, my name is Song Qing, have you all heard of it?"

  A new week, continue to seek recommendations and collections, thank you everyone!