Chapter 25: Don’t Go Home Anymore

“This way, the public will become more familiar with you—there will be gains, but also some losses.”

Chen Hao didn’t say much more, but both Ruonan and Jiewen understood clearly in their hearts.

Becoming the spokespeople for the convenience store meant openly acknowledging their relationship with Chen Hao. This would bring them more attention and support, but it could also attract some hostility.

Back when they chose to follow Chen Hao, they had already anticipated this.

Every choice in life comes with pros and cons—the key is figuring out which side matters more.

As things stood, the benefits clearly outweighed the risks. Especially now that Chen Hao had said he wanted them to take on promotional duties for the convenience store.

Seeing that it was getting late—and that the two girls’ arms were sore from massaging—Chen Hao waved his hand to signal the end of their meeting and said:

“That’s all for today. Go get some rest, and come find me tomorrow at the Jiashang Human Resources office.”

“Before you leave, remember to pick up some wine from A-Liang at the bar.”

This time, Jiewen didn’t object. She apologized to Ruonan, then left Chen Hao’s office.

---

Ruonan felt a bit disappointed—nothing happened tonight that went beyond the bounds of friendship.

Even though Chen Hao had promised not to do anything against their will, she hadn’t even found a chance to express how she truly felt.

Still, she thought to herself, The opportunity will come. Let’s see how it plays out.

The two of them left the office together and went to find the bartender, A-Liang, who started chatting with them about Chen Hao.

As a loyal employee of the new boss, it was only natural for him to know his superior’s preferences—especially the updates about the convenience store.

That included news that Hongxing members would enjoy a 50% discount at the store.

Hearing that, both Ruonan and Jiewen were too stunned to speak. Such generosity was rare—Chen Hao really did seem like someone who wasn’t stingy with his money.

Ruonan, worried, clung to Jiewen and said, “The boss is being too extravagant. Tomorrow, let’s talk to him together and try to convince him otherwise!”

Jiewen nodded in full agreement.

Then, A-Liang respectfully handed them two bottles of Lafite red wine, specially packed by Hao-ge, and warmly addressed the two women as sister-in-law.

Jiewen blushed slightly upon hearing the title but didn’t object—she simply accepted the wine.
Ruonan, on the other hand, smiled and praised A-Liang for being sharp-eyed.

“You’re quite clever, this kid,” she said with a laugh.

A-Liang nodded and bowed enthusiastically. “Take care, sister-in-laws!”

The other underlings chimed in, all addressing them as sister-in-law.

Surrounded by the chorus of that title, the two women felt like they were walking on clouds—light-footed, almost like fairies soaring freely.

As he watched them leave with the Lafite wine in hand, A-Liang revealed a satisfied smile.

To make this work and spread word about Chen Hao’s convenience store, he had deliberately circulated the news about these two newcomers—after all, they were the boss’s women. Among the brothers, calling them sister-in-law was only natural.

Letting the boss’s women manage things was a win-win. No one wanted to watch their big brother’s money go to waste.

---

As they left the bar, Jiewen whispered:

“Isn’t this kind of bad? What if the boss gets mad at us?”

Ruonan rolled her eyes. “When they called us sister-in-law back then, why didn’t you stop them?”

How could Jiewen possibly not want to stop it? Of course Ruonan knew what she was thinking — it was unspoken between them.

Ruonan lightly patted Jiewen’s perky butt, causing Jiewen to yelp:

“Ah! What are you doing? Don’t joke around like that here!”

Ruonan chuckled, savoring the moment, and thought to herself that her sister’s figure wasn’t bad at all — almost comparable to her own.

She continued with a grin:

“Alright, I know you’ve got a thing for the boss too, so stop pretending.”

“No matter how we compete, we’re still sisters. Better to keep the fat water from flowing into outsiders’ fields.”
(a saying meaning: better to keep the benefit within the family than let it go to outsiders)

“Let’s just figure out what to do tomorrow — how to get the boss to really notice us!”

Hearing this, the cheerful smile on Jiewen’s face instantly faded into gloom.

—

Late at night, when everything was quiet, Chen Hao returned home and a system notification rang in his ears:

[Ding! Today’s income: HKD 1,374,500 (including 10x critical bonus), automatically deposited to your bank account.]

[Total assets: increased from HKD 2.929 million to HKD 16.674 million.]

Chen Hao was stunned.

He had expected a decent income today, but not something this outrageous.

Thinking it through, it did make sense: each restock at the convenience store cost around HKD 100,000, and because the Hung Hing members were selling everything at half price, the actual sales revenue was about HKD 50,000 each time.

After four rounds of large-scale restocking, such a massive return wasn’t all that surprising.

Normally, a convenience store pulling in HKD 5,000 a day in turnover would already be considered doing well.

But today, thanks to the half-off sales and the unexpected “help” from Liang Kun and Ba Bi — who originally came to cause trouble but ended up boosting sales — things exploded.

Chen Hao couldn’t help but wonder: what would it look like if one day Liang Kun and Ba Bi realized that instead of bankrupting him, they were actually making him richer?

In his mind, Chen Hao could already picture their furious expressions.

—

Sai Wan.

Early morning.

Bucky was still asleep when he was suddenly jolted awake by frantic knocking and sobbing outside his door.

Half-asleep, he opened it to see his old flame, Cuilian, standing there with tears streaming down her face.

“Brother Ji, you… you’ve got to help my brother!” she sobbed.

“He was beaten badly. He’s in the hospital now — critical condition.”

“If anything happens to him, I don’t want to live either…”

She choked with emotion, thinking of her younger brother Fei Biu, whose limbs were now maimed, barely able to speak.

Bucky sighed helplessly.

He knew Fei Biu all too well — that guy had been relying on his sister Cuilian’s relationship with him, using Bucky’s name to cause chaos around Sai Wan, damaging the Hung Hing name.

People may have spared Fei Biu out of respect for Bucky, but Bucky knew full well that this punk had narrowly escaped death several times already.

Fei Biu, to his credit, had a bit of street smarts. He knew that beyond Sai Wan, his name didn’t carry much weight, so he only dared to act recklessly within that turf.

Whoever took him down this time was probably doing society a favor.

Still, Fei Biu was Cuilian’s real brother.

Years ago, Cuilian was his “white moonlight” — the woman who made him a man.

But fate was cruel. Her father disapproved of his poverty and forced her to marry a wealthy old man.

After the old man died, they got back together, but it didn’t last long.

Now that Cuilian had aged and lost her charm, she no longer attracted him. Their rekindled romance was merely to fill the void of the past. But she clung to him like a shadow, and he was tired of it.

Feeling irritable, Bucky waved his hand:

“Alright, go home first. Let me find out what happened.”

Cuilian was unwilling: “Brother Ji, that’s my real brother!”

“I know you’ve never liked him, but for the sake of our past… could you help him out? Get revenge for him?”

At that, Bucky flared up and shouted:

“If he weren’t your brother, I would’ve taken him down myself a long time ago!”

“He’s been parading around under my name, bullying people — almost made me a laughingstock!”

Seeing Bucky so angry, Cuilian didn’t dare argue anymore and quietly left.

She knew clearly — Bucky no longer had any interest in a woman like her, who was already past her prime.

Once, she had married an old rich man. After he died, his children tried to force her to leave with nothing.

Fortunately, Bucky had become a major figure in Hung Hing by then. Using his influence, Cuilian managed to get a share of the inheritance.

From then on, she realized: as a powerless woman, the only way to survive in the Hong Kong underworld was to cling tightly to someone like Bucky.

Even if he was now colder to her, she couldn’t afford to let him go.

After sending Cuilian off, Bucky returned to his base, annoyed and distracted.

As he entered, he saw Brother Qiang busy working.

He waved him over.

“Ah Qiang, come here.”

Brother Qiang responded with a smile and walked over.

“Ah Qiang, help me look into what happened to Fei Biu last night.”

Bucky asked immediately.

Brother Qiang didn’t move right away — a troubled look appeared on his face.

Seeing his hesitation, Bucky felt confused and pressed:

“What’s the delay?”

After a moment of hesitation, Brother Qiang replied, “Brother Ji, I already know what happened.”

Bucky’s eyes lit up and he asked urgently, “Speak — who was the one who did society a favor and cleaned him up?”