Chapter 91: Two Golden-Red Peonies Were Tattooed on Her Shoulders

After a while, Gu Xiaolei and Wang Qiang exchanged contact information, then took Huang Mao and the injured Dong Xiaowu to the hospital.

Not long after they left, more than twenty people came rushing up from downstairs one after another, all crowding to the counter and demanding machines so they could play. It was obvious that Gu Xiaolei had given them instructions before going down.

Since they had driven away his business earlier, Wang Qiang showed no courtesy. He pulled Zhu Xiaofeng over and registered each of them one by one.

After more than ten minutes of busy work, Wang Qiang looked up and saw that Shi Hailong was still leaning against the counter and had not left.

"Free now, Brother Qiang?" Shi Hailong asked with a smile.

Respect is mutual; Wang Qiang had always been that way. He replied, "You can just call me Xiao Wang, or Qiangzi."

Shi Hailong was clearly trying to curry favor as he said, "All right, Xiao Wang. Could we find a quiet place and talk for a bit?"

Though he did not know what the other man wanted to say, Wang Qiang still gave Zhu Xiaofeng a quick instruction, then stepped out from behind the counter and walked out with Shi Hailong.

At the stairwell, Shi Hailong took out a pack of cigarettes and offered one. Wang Qiang declined, so he put one in his own mouth, fumbled for a lighter, and said, "What happened today really was not right. I am sorry."

Wang Qiang waved it off. "It's been settled. No problem."

"That may be true, but I still feel bad about it." Shi Hailong struck the lighter, lit the cigarette, took a drag, and said with narrowed eyes, "How about this: tonight I'll arrange a table and host a make-up banquet. You absolutely have to come."

Wang Qiang knew exactly what he was worth. Besides, he could more or less guess why Shi Hailong wanted to throw this banquet. It was nothing more than because of the "important figure" behind him. But in truth, Wang Qiang had no such big backer. Moreover, he did not want to get tangled up with people from the underworld, so he declined politely. "I still have something on tonight. Maybe next time."

Shi Hailong's eyes rolled. "When will you be free?"

Wang Qiang was a little speechless. He could tell the man had understood what he meant, yet he still would not give up. So he said bluntly, "Do you have something you want to ask me?"

Having been seen through, Shi Hailong gave an awkward laugh, holding the cigarette between his fingers as he thought for a moment. "There is something. Last time I went to dinner with my boss, I heard people talking about how the higher-ups might be planning some sort of major move soon. But it was only hearsay, and nobody knew the details. I know you are a man with remarkable connections, Xiao Wang, so I wanted to ask whether you have heard anything. After all, you run an arcade. If the higher-ups really do make a big move, the arcade will definitely be affected."

Flattery and probing in one breath, while openly admitting that he wanted to know the news.

To be honest, Wang Qiang found it a little amusing. He did not care much for men from the underworld, and even knowing that a harsh crackdown would come before long, he could not be bothered to say anything. He spread his hands. "I really do not know."

Shi Hailong showed a disappointed look. "All right." Then he added, "I'll leave you my number later. If anything happens with the arcade, just call me."

Wang Qiang hesitated for a moment. Yes, he now had Liu Guiyi's number, and he believed she would come if he called. But recalling the bloody scene earlier, he felt a chill run down his spine.

Still, running an arcade meant he could not avoid trouble forever.

Old Zhu could not possibly be there all the time. If something like today happened again, what then?

He thought for a moment. "All right."

...

After they finished talking, Wang Qiang returned to the arcade. Shi Hailong had already gone over to say something to Xiao Jian and the others, but they were too far away to hear clearly.

Zhu Xiaofeng suddenly said, "Uncle Wang."

"Mm?" Wang Qiang looked over.

Zhu Xiaofeng leaned close to his ear in a mysterious manner and whispered, "Just now, when you and Director Liu went downstairs, I heard them say that Director Liu is from the Green Gang. They also mentioned something about the Fifth Lord of the Red Banner. I did not catch it all. That was about it."

The Green Gang?

The Fifth Lord of the Red Banner?

At the mention of it, Wang Qiang's heart gave a jolt. He did not know much about the Green Gang, but that did not stop him from learning a few things later from news reports online. The Green Gang in the country was not the kind of gangster society people imagined; on the contrary, it had long since gone fully legitimate, with only certain special divisions still retaining the old name.

As for the Red Banner, it was a chief officer within the Green Gang's Outer Eight Halls. Among the thirty-six branch offices and half-offices, he ranked fifth, a major functionary in charge of external affairs. He could impeach the elders of the Inner Eight Halls, restrain the brothers of the Outer Eight Halls, and had the privilege of summoning the brothers by command. It was easy to imagine how high Liu Guiyi's status must be within the Green Gang.

Wang Qiang had already vaguely guessed what position the Crown Prince held. Most likely he was either a hall master or a deputy mountain lord, and the Crown Prince's father need not even be mentioned: he was certainly the mountain lord. In other words, the dragon head. The hall master, by contrast, was the chief officer in the Inner Eight Halls responsible for all affairs. Apart from those two positions, no one else had the authority to directly oversee the Red Banner.

No wonder she had two golden-red peonies tattooed on her shoulders.

No wonder she had been able to snap Dong Xiaowu's arm so effortlessly.

It turned out that Liu Guiyi was the single most formidable fighter in the entire Green Gang. In the past, the Green Gang often did not even establish a Red Banner, because the Red Banner represented the whole organization. If the Red Banner were crushed, it meant the entire gang had been crushed. One could imagine how strong the Fifth Lord of the Red Banner had to be.

Wang Qiang suddenly found it all very strange. A woman who looked so delicate, and yet she was the strongest fighter of them all?

Just then, Shi Hailong's voice sounded by his ear. "Xiao Wang."

"Hm?" Wang Qiang looked up.

Shi Hailong said, "I still have something to take care of, so I'll be leaving first. I'll leave those boys Xiao Jian and the others to you. If they do not behave, remember to call me."

"Goodbye." Wang Qiang waved.

Shi Hailong left in a hurry.

Then Xiao Jian, Xiao Wen, and seven or eight others came over to the counter with swollen faces.

Using the same form of address as before, Wang Qiang said, "Brother Jian..."

"No, no." Xiao Jian shook both hands quickly and said with a bitter smile, "Just call me Xiao Jian."

He looked extremely awkward. Earlier, he had always thought Wang Qiang had no backing, which was why he had gone to collect protection money. He had never imagined that not only did the other man have backing, his connections were terrifyingly hard. As he spoke, he pulled a hundred-yuan note, already warm from being held in his pocket, and said, "Brother Qiang, what happened earlier was my fault. Please take the money back."

Wang Qiang and Zhu Xiaofeng exchanged a smile. It was his money to begin with, so there was no reason not to take it back. He simply picked it up and put it back in the drawer.

"Um, we want to play a while on the machines," Xiao Jian said. In truth, his face hurt so much he was in no mood to play at all. It was only because Brother Hailong had instructed them that he had to do it.

Wang Qiang did not stand on ceremony with them. He picked up a pen and the notebook for recording time. "How long?"

"Two hours each for now," Xiao Jian said.

Counting them up, there were eight people in all. Wang Qiang nodded. "Using standard cards, it's twenty-four yuan for two people per machine. Using intelligence cards, it's forty-eight yuan per person per machine. Which do you want?"

Recalling what Brother Hailong had said earlier, Xiao Jian answered without hesitation, "Intelligence cards."

As he spoke, he took out the five hundred yuan in "gaming funds" that Hailong had just stuffed into their bag, then pulled out a crisp blue hundred-yuan note and handed it over.

Collect the money.

Make change.

Wang Qiang took eight intelligence cards, turned on the machines for each of the eight people one by one, and reminded them not to delete any saved data inside because others would still be coming to play later; they should create their own new save files.

After everything was done, he returned to the counter.

Rubbing his stomach, Zhu Xiaofeng said, "I'm starving."

Wang Qiang smiled. "Sit tight. I'll go buy lunch downstairs."

"No need, no need, I'll go." Zhu Xiaofeng took five yuan from the drawer, stretched, and walked downstairs.

That left Wang Qiang alone at the counter, lost in thought.

Business had been driven away today, and it would probably take some time to recover. Otherwise, he would not have accepted the Green Dragon Gang and the Hailong Circle people coming here to play games. After all, it was those people who had driven away his business, so he had to recover some of the account.

Truthfully, apart from the part where Dong Xiaowu had been beaten terribly, Wang Qiang was fairly satisfied with everything else.

For example, opening an arcade meant there was a seventy or eighty percent chance of encountering protection-money shakedowns. If not Xiao Jian from the Hailong Circle, then perhaps Xiao Long from the Sea Tiger Circle. Now that the Green Dragon Gang and the Hailong Circle people were all playing here, at the very least it would keep other circles from coming to make trouble. As for once business recovered, Old Zhu should be back by then, and he would not need to worry about this aspect.

As he was thinking, two young men ran in from outside, both wearing white T-shirts.

One had a close-cropped crew cut, while the other had a gleaming bald head.

The crew-cut man knocked on the counter. "Are you the boss here?"

Wang Qiang answered with a smile. "Yes. Want to play? Standard cards are one and a half yuan per person per hour. Intelligence cards are..."

"Enough. We're not here to play games," the bald man interrupted bluntly.

Wang Qiang understood at once and immediately felt amused. Earlier he had been thinking that encountering people who wanted protection money was unavoidable when opening an arcade. And now two more had come?

"We're from the Old Zhang Circle. We just happened to pass by and saw an arcade here, so we came up to have a look." The crew-cut man tapped the counter. "Here's the deal: you pay me one hundred and fifty yuan a month. If anything happens here in the future, just report my older brother Ming's name, and I guarantee it will all be settled."

The bald man gestured toward Wang Qiang, indicating that he should hand over the money. They were no strangers to this kind of thing; they felt no psychological burden at all. Generally speaking, every area had several small circles. It was understood that each store would have its protection money collected by everyone together, so the asking price would not be too high. For instance, Xiao Jian had only collected one hundred yuan earlier. They would not make the merchant unable to keep the business going. A steady stream was the goal.

If it had been an hour earlier, Wang Qiang might have endured it and handed over one hundred and fifty yuan to appease the small fry. But the bosses of the Green Dragon Gang and the Hailong Circle had just promised to protect him. Why should he spend extra money?

So after the crew-cut man finished speaking, Wang Qiang called out toward the inside, "Someone wants to collect protection money from me."

The bald man and the crew-cut man had not yet figured out what was going on.

Suddenly, twenty or thirty people stood up together with a thud, all of them surrounding the pair with fierce, predatory looks.

Taking the lead, a burly man from the Green Dragon Gang tilted an ear toward the two from the Old Zhang Circle and asked, "What do you think you're doing? Trying to shake us down?"