Chapter 69: The Hotel Room with a Toilet

  Taihu Gang is the largest gang in Suzhou City.

  Taihu Gang was originally a group of fishermen who united to fight against mountain bandits and oppressive government soldiers, and gradually grew into the largest gang.

  Many people in Taihu Gang are local villagers. Some of them, along with their families and relatives, were all drawn into the gang.

  The forest is big and there are bad birds in it.

  Tai Lake Gang has too many members, and the simple protection fees and fishing rights are no longer enough to meet the growing demands of its members. As a result, they also rob some merchant ships from time to time and engage in other illegal activities.

  Because the old nest of Taihu Gang is on an island in the center of Taihu, and they have some measure in doing things, robbing property but rarely killing people, the government also turns a blind eye, pretending not to see.

  The Taihu Gang is said to have a membership of 5,000 people. In reality, the actual number is almost 4,000 people. Of course, among these 4,000 people, many are old, weak, sick or disabled. There is also a larger portion that consists of villagers from surrounding areas who were pulled in by relatives to make up the numbers and avoid being bullied by the Taihu Gang.

  Song Kai and Zhou Ce sat facing each other.

  Zhou Ce shook his head, "It's not that simple. The overall combat power of Taihu Gang is naturally very low, but you've ignored one problem - they were originally a group of fishermen who came together. Take Shi Haopeng for example, his kung fu skills are poor and he's uneducated, but he's extremely good in the water. Song Lang, if you want to defeat Taihu Gang with one blow, it won't be easy."

  Song Kai listened to Zhou Ce's analysis and said, "You're saying that on water, we are no match for them."

  "Even if they are their opponents, the loss will be great. The consolation money for each soldier is very expensive, and the price of each dead warrior is even more expensive. I just don't want to waste these on Taihu Bang," Zhou Ce said with a bitter smile.

  "What brought them ashore?" Song Kai asked.

  "As long as they are on land, they are certainly not opponents, those people are just some sturdy men, with no fighting power," Zhou Ce smiled softly, "but wanting to lure them ashore is not easy, there are also a few clever ones among them."

  Song Kai stood up, "Brother Zhou, these things are now left to you to handle, I won't have a headache anymore. Old Xue has handed over the matter of military pay to me, and I need to do something with this tea garden. The Taihu gang is on that side, it's too inconvenient, they must be cleared out."

  Zhou Ce thought for a moment and said: "Alright then, I'll take care of it. The matter of military rations is important, Song Lang you go attend to your own matters."

  Song Kai left, and suddenly felt a sense of regret in his heart. Having power is good, with just one sentence, you can decide the fate of a gang, but behind this power, there is also pressure.

  The next day, Song Kai brought Nie Lingdang, Qingniang Ji Rufeng and others back to Suzhou City.

  At the same time, around Taihu Lake, 100 soldiers were quietly ambushing. These people were some of the city guards and a part of Zhou Ce's elite troops. Tang Yingxiong was among them, but Zhou Ce had hidden their identities, saying they were temporarily recruited soldiers.

  The Taohu Gang had a large number of people, but their combat strength was indeed poor. After being lured ashore by Zhou Ce's tactics, they were defeated and fled in disarray on the mountains around Lake Tai, abandoning their armor and helmets, then retreated to a small island on Lake Tai, never to set foot on land again.

  As a result, Zhou Ce was at a loss for what to do. He requisitioned fifty small boats, but unfortunately, they couldn't even get close. Not to mention the barbed wire and boat-blocking ropes set up around the islands by the Taihu Gang, just talking about the combat power on the water surface, his soldiers were far outnumbered by the fishermen of the Taihu Gang. The fishermen of the Taihu Gang held fishing spears and could hold their breath for two minutes underwater, swimming hundreds of meters to destroy the small boats, which was really too easy.

  Zhou Ce couldn't bear to let his subordinates go to their deaths, so he stayed on the shore, planning to starve the remaining Taohu Gang members to death.

  Song Kai returned to Suzhou City once again.

  Entering the Red Dust Inn, Nie Rong felt that the entire inn was renovated, and when he walked to the backyard, he found that during his absence, a two-story brick building had been built in the backyard of the inn.

  "This... this must have cost a fortune to build," Nie Lingdang gazed at the two-story small building in front of her, murmuring with a tinge of heartache.

  Song Kai said with his hands behind his back, "After some minor renovations, our inn can open for business. Let's go inside and take a look. I plan to set the price at one guan per night. With twenty rooms, if half of them are occupied, we'll make ten guans in profit every day."

  "Every night one yuan, you think there's treasure in your room?" Nie Zhongtang pouted, just about to enter, when Ah Fu rushed out of a room in a hurry.

  "Big Brother! Big Brother you've finally come back, I thought the old slave was going to die!" Ah Fu ran over and grabbed onto Song Kai's sleeve, tears streaming down his face.

  Song Kai patted Ah Fu's back.

  It was a while before Ah Fu finally rubbed his nose and smiled at Nie Zhongtang, saying: "Miss Zhongtang, you're back too, it's great that you're back, it's great that you're back..."

  Before he had finished speaking, a figure came running down from upstairs at great speed.

  "Niangzi is back too? My dear Niangzi, you don't know, I thought you were dead all this time, and I was so heartbroken! Oh, Niangzi!" The figure ran while shouting loudly, it was Zhao Tieshan.

  Zhao Tieshan saw Nie Zhongtang's appearance seemed even more beautiful, and his heart was stirred. He opened his arms and hugged her, "Wife, you're not dead, it's really great, too great... Ah!"

  Zhao Tieshan had not yet finished expressing his emotions, and before his arm could even touch Nie Lingdang's body, he was already kicked flying by Ji Rufeng behind Nie.

  Ji scolded Song Kai with a glare, "This rascal, what kind of people are in this inn? No respect for elders or youngers."

  Zhao Tieshan fell to the ground, but he wasn't hurt. He glared at Ji Rufeng, "I... didn't count just now, I saw that Nie's wife was off guard, you wait, wait, I'll go get my meteorite iron knife..."

  Nie Ling sighed and said, "Seasoned Grandfather, don't be angry. Chef Zhao isn't a bad person either. I'll go take a look at these guest rooms first."

  After entering the room, Nie Lingdang looked around and found that there was nothing special about it, but the area was much smaller. However, inside, there were wooden beds, tables and chairs, dressing tables, etc., which seemed a bit crowded.

  But thinking about it, the Red Dust Inn's backyard originally had ten rooms, five upstairs and five downstairs. After renovation, there are now ten rooms upstairs and ten rooms downstairs, so naturally each room will be smaller.

  "Huh? How is there still a small room?" Nie Zhong looked at the door beside him, muttering, "The room area is already very small, and you're making an even smaller room, what a waste."

  Song Kai smiled and said, "This small room is where the essence lies, go take a look."

  Nie Ling Tong pushed open the door, inside there was a long wooden bucket, behind the bucket was a curtain, and behind the curtain was a circular pit. In addition, there were emerald green bamboo tubes inlaid on the wall.

  "What is... this thing?" Nie Ling's interest was indeed piqued.

  "The wooden tub for bathing is over there, and the toilet is on that side," Song Kai pointed out.

  "What! In the room, like a toilet!" Nie Lingdang exclaimed in surprise, then her face turned red, this topic was too indecent after all. She turned her head, stared at Song Kai, and then stretched out her small hand to pinch his arm hard, "You've read books until you're stupid!"

  Song Kai waved his hand and said, "Why can't I? Look at this, what is it?"

  Song Kai pointed at the bamboo tube on the wall.

  "Isn't it just bamboo? Why hang these bamboos on the wall?" Nie Ling Tong hummed and asked.

  "Look, this one just needs to pull out the wooden plug..." Song Kai walked over and pulled out the plug. The clear water flowed out with a gurgling sound, which could flow into the toilet hole or into the bathtub.

  "Water?" Nie Ling Tong was startled, then looked at the bamboo tube and suddenly understood. "I know! The big pillar in the middle of the courtyard has water on it, right?"

  Song Kai nodded and pointed to the toilet, saying: "Now you understand, right? After using the restroom, use clean water to flush away all the filth. There's a large septic tank behind the inn, so it's fine like that. If you think it's not elegant enough, you can cover the hole with a lid. As for this wooden bucket, in winter, cool water is supplied throughout the day, and hot water is supplied at fixed times. Look, these two bamboo tubes, one flows cool water and the other flows hot water. In winter, when taking a bath, you can add water at any time, how convenient."

  Nie Ling's mouth was a bit unbelievable, and then she turned her head, stretched out her hand and rubbed Song Kai's hair heavily.

  "As expected, you're clever," Nie Lingdang chuckled with a smile, "Great, I'll be staying here tonight!"

  Song Kai saw Nie Qing's smiling face and felt a little moved, he quickly turned his head, not daring to look more. "To be honest, there's nothing surprising about it, just for convenience. As for the water on the water tower, I happen to fetch water every morning, just consider it as exercise."

  Nie Lingdang nodded with a smile, "Song Kai, now I believe this room is worth 10,000 yuan per night!"