Chapter 25

“We came today to talk nice first, fight later. Hope you’ll cooperate.”

Cao Yang didn’t want to pay. He didn’t take the two men seriously, but if he refused, they’d trash the place—then what?

He glanced at Li Yan. She gave a small nod.

Six thousand a month was a lot, but given their current income, they could scrape it together.

“Well? You paying or not? Say something.” Shanying pressed.

Before Cao Yang could speak, Li Yan cut in. “We’ll pay, big brother, we’ll pay.”

Shanying grinned at her. “See? You’re smart. Not like this kid here, got a rebellious streak.”

Cao Yang shot him a look but stayed silent.

Li Yan smiled. “Big brother, we’re all fellow countrymen. Of course we’ll pay. It’s just—we just opened. Right now we don’t have that much on hand. Could you give us ten days, half a month?”

“Ten, fifteen days? You kidding me?” Shanying’s face darkened. “I’ll give you one day. I’ll be back same time tomorrow. If you don’t have the money, shut down your shop.”

He scribbled a phone number on a slip of paper and handed it to Li Yan. “Here’s my number. Call me if you need anything. We don’t take money for nothing.”

Then he smirked lewdly. “You can also call when you’re feeling lonely.”

Li Yan forced a laugh, nodding quickly as she tugged on Cao Yang’s arm, afraid he’d lash out.

Shanying left satisfied. Cao Yang just sat on the counter, silent.

Li Yan nudged him. “Don’t be angry. Six thousand is six thousand, we’ll make it back in a few days anyway.”

“I hate this feeling,” Cao Yang muttered. He despised being threatened.

“Oh, come on, endure it. If you don’t pay, they’ll cause trouble. Sure, you can fight—but they’ve got endless people. Take down the small fry, the big ones show up. It never ends, and it wrecks our business.”

“I’ll just find this Tiexiong and talk to him directly. If that doesn’t work, I’ll kill him, won’t that solve it?”

“Don’t do anything crazy. Just swallow it and it’ll pass.” She soothed him like a child.

“Eh…” Cao Yang sighed. “But right now we don’t even have six thousand.”

Li Yan pulled three thousand from her bag—yesterday’s take, meant for the bank. Now it would have to cover protection fees.

There was still over a thousand in the counter. They were short another thousand, but with today’s business, they could probably make it up if they stayed open late.

Just then, Lei Dian came down from upstairs and asked what was going on.

Cao Yang brushed it off and gave him a rundown.

Lei Dian shook his head. “You can’t pay that. They’re bluffing you.”

“What do you mean?” Both Cao Yang and Li Yan looked at him.

“The slot machines here have always been under the Sichuan gang. The Hunan gang doesn’t usually get involved. If you pay them today, tomorrow the Sichuan gang will show up.”

Right then, three fierce-looking men stormed in.

“Who’s the boss?!” one of them bellowed.

The other two went straight to the slot machines, yanked out the power cords, and drove the customers away.

“What the hell are you doing?” Li Yan snapped. Losing customers was losing money.

“We’re Sichuan gang. Who the hell let you run machines here?”

The man glared. “Since it’s your first time, we’ll just take your machines. If you dare set them up again, we’ll break your legs!”

He flicked his eyes at his underlings—they started hauling the machines.

“Don’t you dare!” Li Yan shielded the machines. “How much protection money do you want?”

She thought they were here to extort, too. But they didn’t mention money.

Because all the machines in this area were theirs. They never let outsiders run them, so there was no such thing as paying protection.

“Get lost, bitch!” They shoved Li Yan aside and kept moving the machines.

Bang!

“Ahhh—!” A scream. One thug’s hand was smashed by a glass soda bottle, fingers bent, bones shattered.

Cao Yang had struck. The Hunan gang at least had talked. These guys barged in and grabbed machines—how could he let that slide?

“Motherf—! Looking for death!” The other two roared, pulling butterfly knives and lunging at him.

Li Yan screamed in terror. Lei Dian grabbed a stool and swung it at one man’s head.

Cao Yang, calm as ever, twisted the wrist of one attacker, forcing him to drop the knife.

Lei Dian seized the chance, scooped up the blade, and stabbed the man he’d hit earlier—twice.

The white blade went in, the red blade came out. The man clutched his stomach and collapsed, blood gushing across the floor.

Li Yan shrieked again. Cao Yang kicked the remaining two several times and threw all three out of the shop.

They staggered up, glaring. They wanted to spit out threats, but swallowed the words—hard talk wouldn’t scare these two.

They carried their bleeding man away, but the vicious look they shot back promised they’d return soon.

“Let’s get out of here!” Li Yan, pale with fright, tried to drag Cao Yang to run.

But Cao Yang sat in a kiddie ride, lit a cigarette, and puffed leisurely.

“Come on!” Li Yan urged.

“Where to?” he asked.

“Hide for a while!”

“Hide? Then what about the shop? Your investment? You still want to get rich or not?”

“At this point you’re still thinking about money? Staying alive is what matters!”

“You hide. Once I take care of this, you can come back.”

“They’ve got numbers. How are you gonna handle that?”

“If I can’t, I’ll go to Nightingale Club and talk to their boss.”

Li Yan tried to protest, but Cao Yang waved her off.

He turned to Lei Dian, grinning. “Not bad—didn’t think you’d dare stab a guy.”

Lei Dian chuckled. “I’m running anyway. What’s there to be afraid of?”

“Where you headed?”

“Back to Sichuan. Lay low for a while, wait until things cool down.”

Cao Yang nodded. “Then you’d better go now—later you might not get out.”

Lei Dian shook his head. “Not now. I can’t just leave you behind.”

Cao Yang blinked, surprised, then smirked. “Weren’t you the one who said loyalty didn’t matter?”

“You got it wrong. Loyalty depends on who it’s with. You treat me fair, I’ll treat you fair. If you don’t, I won’t. You saved me once—I’ll never forget.”

Cao Yang patted his shoulder. “I appreciate it. But you’d better go. If it comes down to it, I can run. But if you’re with me, I can’t. You’ll hold me back.”

Lei Dian thought it over. It made sense, but still felt wrong. He opened his mouth to say something, then shut it again.

“What is it?” Cao Yang asked.

Lei Dian hesitated. “I’ve got no money. Can I borrow some for travel?”

Cao Yang chuckled. “How much?”

He went to the counter to grab cash—but found it empty. Li Yan had stashed it all in her bag.

“A thousand.”

“Hand me the bag,” Cao Yang said to Li Yan.

She clutched it tight, refusing.

He grabbed for it.

She bit her lip, stubbornly holding on.

Lei Dian stood awkwardly to the side.

“Give it!” Cao Yang yanked hard, tearing the strap clean off.

He counted out two thousand and handed it to Lei Dian.

“Here.”

Lei Dian accepted it, gave Cao Yang a long look, then turned to Li Yan. “Sister-in-law, don’t be like this. I swear I’ll pay it back.”

Li Yan ignored him, staring straight at Cao Yang, her wide eyes brimming with tears, ready to spill at any second.