Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Xiao Luo did not expect Sun Yu to be so bull-headed. Unable to convince her otherwise, he decided to accept the IOU slip for the moment and placed it in his wallet.
He surreptitiously sized up the girl beside him. She had some gentle curves, and she gave off a youthful, lively vibe. The handbag hooked on her shoulder was not branded, but it suited her style. Overall, he felt pretty good about this girl.
Sun Yu was also secretly observing him. For a man, he had an attractive profile, handsome and charismatic. His eyes were worthy of special mention, as they were deep and dark as the night sky. One could easily get lost in them. At the same time, she was genuinely intrigued by Xiao Luo. To think he could turn a hundred thousand dollars into more than two million! She was unable to grasp the full depths of his ability and felt like he was shrouded in mystery.
“Brother Xiao Luo, at the casino, how did you know what numbers the dice would land on?” she asked curiously.
Xiao Luo brushed off the question, remarking, “I just got lucky.”
“So, if I stick with Brother Xiao Luo long enough, will your luck rub off on me too?” Sun Yu laughed as her eyes sparkled.
“I guess so,” Xiao Luo replied.
The pair looked at each other, breaking into laughter.
Half an hour later, they had arrived at a residential area dedicated to providing rental housing to workers.
Most of the apartments had been built by individual private developers, and the overall layout of the buildings was not great and gave off the impression of being messy. The structures were packed tightly together, and various types of telephone and internet cables crisscrossed the area. It was not a pleasant environment to live in.
“This is my place.”
Sun Yu turned to face Xiao Luo, feeling warmth in her heart.
“Mm, you should go up. It’s getting late. I should be heading back, too,” Xiao Luo said.
Stretching out her hand, Sun Yu said, “Brother Xiao Luo, give me your phone.”
Xiao Luo had a favorable opinion of her, so he took out his phone and placed it in her hand.
Sun Yu lowered her head, using Xiao Luo’s phone to call her own number. Then she hung up, passed the phone back to Xiao Luo, and saved Xiao Luo’s contact in her own phone. Smiling sweetly, she said, “Okay, now we have a way to contact each other.”
“Then, I’ll see you again,” Xiao Luo said with a light smile.
Sun Yu nodded then nagged him, “Be careful on the road. Drive slowly.”
Xiao Luo replied with a soft, almost imperceptible sound, then turned to depart.
Sun Yu waited where they’d parted and only entered her apartment building when Xiao Luo was out of sight. She was brimming with happiness and joy like she had just returned from a date with her boyfriend. While making her way back to her apartment, she paused to think. Then, she took out her phone and saved Xiao Luo’s number under the name ‘Big Creditor.’
…
Having left Sun Yu’s neighborhood, Xiao Luo called Zhang Dashan and asked him to drive over and pick him up.
Just then, a group of seven to eight men approached, looking like trouble. They were holding sticks and clubs while wearing vicious expressions, and they moved to surround Xiao Luo. Xiao Luo recognized them as the men from before, the ones who worked for the casino and had beaten up Sun Yu’s uncle.
“Do you need anything?” Xiao Luo asked quietly.
“Kid, you’re quite something to win more than ten times your initial bet in less than half an hour,” growled a man sporting an undercut hairstyle with a scar on his forehead. “Our manager is not happy, and he asked us boys to make you bleed a little. The lesson to be learned here is to mind your own damn business, or there is a price to be paid.”
Xiao Luo’s eyes narrowed as he replied with a small sigh, “I’m in a good mood right now, and I don’t want to fight. If you guys leave now, I won’t cause you any trouble.”
Hearing these threats, the men were shocked into stillness for a split second before bursting out laughing.
“Brother Bao, it looks like this guy has some screws loose. He’s a nutcase, saying that he won’t cause us trouble,” said another man to the first one with the undercut.
“Hahaha!” the rest of the guys bellowed in laughter.
The man with the undercut also laughed along with them before his face suddenly darkened. He threw the cigarette he was smoking down to the ground and ordered fiercely, “Get him!”
The other men steeled their expressions as they raised up metal pipes and wooden sticks, preparing to advance on Xiao Luo.
“Godammit! I can’t stand watching you city folk. You guys have no balls, ganging up on someone like this.”
A rugged voice boomed suddenly, stopping the men in their tracks.
Xiao Luo looked toward the source of the voice and saw five savage-looking men sauntering over leisurely. They were all over 5’9″, and only the man at the front was slightly shorter, around 5’7″. The man’s build did not look particularly strong. He was kind of like the character Lu Xiaobu from the TV show ‘iPartment.’ Even so, he seemed to be the leader of the other four. He was wearing a large gold chain that was just visible under his open shirt collar.
The man with the undercut saw the imposing mannerisms of the five newcomers, and decided to act cautiously, asking, “Brother, what group are you with? This is Dragon Gang business, so don’t come looking for trouble!”
Dragon Gang?
Xiao Luo knit his eyebrows, feeling like he had heard this name before. Thinking for a while, the memories came to him. If he was not mistaken, the crime syndicate that had been trafficking child beggars before had also identified themselves as members of the Dragon Gang.
“Pa!”
The man wearing the heavy gold chain raised his hand and delivered a tight slap to the face of the man with the undercut.
It was a solid slap, not watered down in the slightest, and the sound it made was crisp. The blow stunned the man with the undercut, as it had come so suddenly, without forewarning, and he’d been completely unprepared. Nobody could have expected the man with the heavy gold chain to suddenly resort to violence.
Xiao Luo raised his eyebrows with a slight grin and thought to himself: This should be interesting!
Then, the man with the heavy gold chain yelled out loudly, “I don’t care what gang you are from. Dragon Gang, Horse Gang, I’ve never even heard of it. And what do you mean ‘don’t look for trouble’? We may be from the countryside, but that doesn’t mean you can scare us away with your bullsh*t.”
The man with the undercut shook his head, regaining his senses. His face burned hotly with pain, and he was practically shooting fire from his eyes. “You dare hit me, a*shole?”
“Heh! So what if I hit you? I hit you because I acknowledge you. I hit you because you deserved to be hit. I hit you because you spied on the Widow Wang from the neighboring village while she was taking…a…bath…” the man with the gold chain began to explain straightforwardly, but his voice trailed off as he went on. He realized that something was wrong. He had gone off topic and started talking about his own village affairs. He scratched his head, then spat angrily, “Godamnit! Why did I start talking about the Widow Wang?”
“Brother Feng, you were the one peeking at the Widow Wang while she was bathing.”
“That’s right, Brother Feng, so why are you exposing your own shameful behavior?”
“It’s a good thing that these people don’t know us, or that would have been so embarrassing.”
Four of his companions laughed as they made fun of him.
The man with the heavy gold chain went red in the face. Clearing his throat, he announced loudly, “Bullsh*t. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. So what if I spied on Widow Wang in the bath? When I was young, I bathed together in the nude with Honghong and even touched her privates. And you know me! When have I ever lied to you guys?”
“Brother Feng, you’re too awesome. I admire you!”
“No wonder Honghong was looking at you differently when we left the village to start our new lives. You two have had a special relationship ever since you were young!”
“I can only describe my Brother Feng with one word: awesome. Hahaha!”
The four men looked at the man with the heavy gold chain with unending adoration. They gave him two thumbs up as they praised him.