Lin Huai asked, “You have any ideas?”
Captain Wang smiled and said, “No, but I can work with you. I have my men mixed within Gong Zhenglong’s henchmen as spies. Gong Zhenglong is the most recent Red Cane out of the four. He is also someone with a fiery temper and offended many people including his own henchmen. Thus through certain means, I managed to slip in a few spies to his group of henchmen. I felt that getting close to Thunder God is a huge challenge but we could start from Gong Zhenglong.”
Lin Huai finally understood why Captain Wang offered help. Turns out he wants accomplishment and be rewarded for it.
Lin Huai smiled as he was satisfied with how things were going as well and said, “Sure!”
Captain Wang said, “I will arrange the information regarding Gong Zhenglong tomorrow. Then I will email it to you. What’s your email address?”
Lin Huai informed Captain Wang his e-mail address and shortly after, they hung up the phone.
Lin Huai placed his phone aside and lay on his bed. He grinned and murmured to himself. “Sure. Captain Wang wants to rise his ranks and make money whereas I want to eliminate my enemies. We can make use of each other and work well together…”
Captain Wang might not be a kind person but at least he wanted a rise in his ranks urgently. Thus, it would be a good thing as he would want to actively deal with the underworld so Lin Huai kept his comments to himself.
As Lin Huai was lying in bed, all of a sudden the fragrant smell of food drifted into the room. Li Liner knocked on the door and with a smile, she said, “Brother Huai, it’s time to eat.”
“Alright!” Lin Huai smiled as he turned around and sat back up before walking out of the room.
The next day, Lin Huai went to the arcade and began to sell off the arcade machines. Lin Huai had about eighty henchmen and although they were all rather poor students, at the very least their family members still had connections with people here and there. Thus, they managed to get somebody who was interested in a short period of time. Lin Huai also set a reasonable price and the buyer did not try to bargain for a ridiculously cheap price. With that, the negotiations ended very quickly and they completed the transaction right there and then.
The arcade machines were finally sold and it generated quite a bit of revenue of around twenty thousand. In addition to the eight hundred and twenty thousand reclaimed yesterday, the total amount they had was eighty hundred and forty thousand. Later in the evening, Lin Huai ordered Chu Wenxing and his men to gather the protection fees of the remaining shop lots with the same advance payments of six months. Technically the protection fees submitted were supposed to be on a monthly basis as that would also put the shop owners at ease. However, since the advance payment of six months were collected from most of the shops, it would have to work the same for the remaining shops. Otherwise, the other shop owners would be unhappy about the unfair treatment given.
At night, Chu Wenxing returned with more than ten of his men and walked in happily while clinging onto a bag.
He glanced across the arcade and now that the arcade machines were sold, everyone had nothing much to do. Some played poker while the rest of them drank. Chu Wenxing scolded, “Don’t get drunk and even if you do, don’t make a mess out of this place.” Then he strolled upstairs to look for Lin Huai.
Chu Wenxing knocked on Lin Huai’s door and after walking in, he flung the bag to the desk and grinned. “Brother Huai, how much do you think we managed to collect?”
Out of curiosity, Lin Huai asked, “How much?”
“Around five hundred thousand.”
Lin Huai was shocked. He looked at the bag that was filled with cash and knew Chu Wenxing was not lying. We only managed to gather around eight hundred thousand from two thirds of the shops so by right the remaining one third should add up to about four hundred thousand. Why is there an extra hundred thousand?
Lin Huai sternly said, “Chu Wenxing, did you collect the protection fees based on standard rate? We are not allowed to increase the rate of the protection fees just like that. We have to make sure the shop owners remain respectful and fearful of us.”
Chu Wenxing laughed and said, “Brother Huai, how could you say that? Of course I wouldn’t do something like that.”
“Then how did the extra cash come about?”
“That’s because the remaining shops were practically all nightclubs. Most of them are pubs with prostitutes so these were the places that were the most chaotic. They generated the most revenue, and their shops needed protection the most as well due to people constantly making trouble there. Thus, these shops handed the most protection fees out of all the shops.”
“No wonder.” Lin Huai heaved a sigh of relief. Deep down, he was delighted as well. Six months of protection fees add up to about a million which was sufficient to cover the living expenses of his men and support their living. This street that Thunder God gave to me is not as bad as it seems.
Of course Lin Huai was still not satisfied. His men needed more than the constant salary every month as he still needed to pay for the medical bills whenever someone got into a fight and was injured. Similarly, he was responsible for bailing his men out whenever they were arrested. The good thing was that, based on his relationship with Captain Wang, he was able to cut down on expenses regarding bailing people out. However, if fights occurred regularly, the medical bills alone would be a rather hefty sum. That was the main reason why those pubs were willing to pay a higher amount of protection fees.
Nonetheless, Lin Huai stared at the heavy-looking bag and with a smile, said, “Not bad, not bad, you all have worked hard. At least now, we have enough to cover for our renovation costs.”
Chu Wenxing smiled and said, “Brother Huai, I never thought that it would be so exciting to be a gangster in the underworld!”
Lin Huai was stunned. He hesitated before saying in a stern voice, “The things we are doing right now would never be sustainable. Chu Wenxing, you have to remember, being in fights and killing people is never the way to go. No matter how capable you are, you would get older. By then, you would not be as courageous, brave and strong as the youngsters. What are you going to do then? That’s why in order to have a sustainable future, you have to convert your income streams into a legitimate and legal business.”
That was the exit plan planned out by Lin Huai. The only reason he brought so many people with him into the underworld was because he had no other choice. Even if Lin Huai chose not to bring them along, they would eventually step foot onto such a path. However, Lin Huai’s ultimate goal was to eradicate gangsters in this world which was why he had to come up with a plan for them to get involved in legitimate businesses once Thunder God was eliminated. Lin Huai would then be able to leave once all of them have settled down.
At that time, Lin Huai knew nobody could predict the future; even the most well planned person would not be able to as they might not be able to achieve what they had planned.
Chu Wenxing nodded muddle-headedly and said, “I understand that, we have to rebrand ourselves…”
Lin Huai sighed and said, “We are not just rebranding ourselves, eventually we have to convert everything into legitimate businesses.”
Chu Wenxing was still confused but Lin Huai could not be bothered. Although they were in the underworld economy, they were also working with the police and their undercover agents. After the battle, Lin Huai planned on utilizing the capital he accumulated to help pave a bright future ahead for them.
Over the next few days, Lin Huai looked for renovation companies and, eventually, the work to convert the arcade into a bar began in an orderly fashion. Lin Huai focused on things he needed to do while anxiously waiting for orders from Thunder God. Since Thunder God cracked his head to rope me in, he must have been extremely impatient and wanted to lay a hand on the other two forces. However, a couple of days went by and no action had been taken. Deep down, Lin Huai was very anxious.
However, Lin Huai managed to receive all the information regarding Gong Zhenglong. He was a man with a fiery temper and was not intellectually gifted. He was probably the easiest Red Cane to deal with which explained why he was being played like a fiddle.
In the meantime, Lin Huai had no plans on dealing with him. After all, he had only been Thunder God’s follower for a short time. Thus, if he eliminated one of Thunder God’s Red Cane, Thunder God would be suspicious of his behaviour and be wary of him. That way it would make it harder to deal with Thunder God.
Lin Huai had eighty three henchmen. Except for Chu Wenxing and Dao Zi, all eighty one of them were given a mission; amongst them, ten people were left behind in the construction site as the subordinates and were given a salary. The remaining 70 over people were sent away on missions and were in charge of safety in the various shops; they were given salary too.
Throughout the month, everyone received their base salary of three thousand. That meant a total expenses of two hundred and eighty thousand. That was when Lin Huai finally felt that the protection fee he first thought was too much was in fact insufficient. Along with the renovation costs, more than half of the money, including the amount that Thunder God gave to him, had been used up.
When Lin Huai was free, he would wonder to himself, how can I make more money? Looks like the only thing I can do is wait for the bar to be opened.
Since he would worry when he was free, Lin Huai tried his best to keep himself occupied in the upcoming month. Therefore, in the coming one month, he returned to Yulan college almost on a daily basis to attend classes. Wei Qimian was elated and their relationship grew much stronger. However, the only exception was they had no intimate contact as a couple which was far lacking in comparison with Li Qianqian. Every weekend, Lin Huai would drop by Li Qianqian’s house and spend the next two days there.
Another 2 weeks went by and eventually the renovation was done. The next step was to clear up the formaldehyde. During this period, Li Liner had been working for a month whereas Lin Huai would relax at home and watch television. On this day, Li Liner returned early and she walked in while holding two baskets of groceries. With a bright smile, she happily said, “Brother Huai, I received my salary today. Thus, I increased the amount of groceries bought so that I can whip up a couple of nice dishes.”
“Oh, no wonder your home so early. Won’t your supervision scold you?”
Li Liner happily replied, “Didn’t you realize that I came home late the past few nights? I’ve been working overtime these past few days so that I could reward myself with a half-day leave today.”
Lin Huai glanced at the clock and said, “Oh yeah, it’s still 1pm in the afternoon and you are back exceptionally early. I was planning to head to the supermarket in a while so that I could get some groceries and make you dinner.”
Today was a weekend and Lin Huai planned on visiting Li Qianqian at work. However, Li Liner instructed him to stay put at home and as it turned out, today was the day she received her salary. Lin Huai was genuinely happy for her when he saw the bright smile on Li Liner’s face.