Chapter 27: Ten Yuan Leisure

  Hua Bao is an old hand, having been to prison and sold pirated discs. He has seen all sorts of people in society and can tell what's real or not. What Liu Handong said, every word is true.

  The Iron Slag Street shootout, a friend from the police station told him about it. It was an old cop named Ma Guoqing and a young man living in a rental house who joined forces to fight against eight hitmen. There were both long and short firearms, dozens of shots were fired, and there were bullet shells all over the ground. Six people died on the spot, mostly with a single shot to the head.

  At that time, Hua Bao had the intention to get to know this Jiangnan Meng Long, maybe one day he could use him. However, that person didn't return home and was directly taken into custody. There were also rumors on the street that Gu Changjun, the brothers of the Shifeng Group, both died, the group's office building was smashed, and a Dobermann Pinscher dog was killed. These are all true stories, no one dares to take them upon themselves because provoking the Shifeng Group is a dead end.

  This little guy in front of me, it can be seen that his skills are not bad. Hua Bao's personal bodyguard and driver Gengzi is a martial arts athlete from the sports school. He was kicked by him with one knee cap and couldn't get up for half a day, which can explain the problem.

  There's also this guy from the dog meat restaurant, who is as strong as his name suggests, like a mountain cannon. He's been a hoodlum since he was young and knows who to bully and who not to bully. This kind of roughneck with a simple mind will definitely dare to use a knife to kill someone when pushed to the limit.

  The most important thing is that I have no conflict of interest with these two people, and for the sake of not losing face to my younger brother-in-law, I would rather die than fight with others, after all, Flower Leopard has been a veteran for decades, not so foolish.

  These thoughts flashed through Hua Bao's mind in an instant, and he had already made up his mind.

  "You really believed it, haha, brother was just joking with you. This matter is Zhao Yu Feng's fault, I'm apologizing to you on his behalf." Huabao picked up the cigarette box and handed out two sticks.

  Liu Handong saw an opportunity and took it, lit a cigarette with Leopard's lighter and took a puff, saying: "So how do we settle this matter?"

  Hua Bao said: "The broken tables, chairs and stools, I'll let Zhao Yu Feng compensate you. If this kid dares to make trouble again, call me, I'll immediately, directly, and personally go over there and break his legs."

  He walked over and scolded his younger brother-in-law: "Damn it, stop causing trouble for me."

  Zhao Yufeng was very sensible and immediately apologized: "Big brother, I was wrong, sorry."

  Hua Bao said: "You think just admitting you're wrong is enough? Apologizing isn't going to cut it! You broke someone's stuff, you have to pay for it!"

  Zhao Yufeng said: "I'll pay for it."

  Suddenly, Shan Pao and Zhao Yu Feng's mobile phones rang at the same time. Both of them took out their phones to answer the calls.

  "The store has caught fire and the arsonist has been caught." Shan Pao said, he had been prepared for this, but the store was still burned down.

  Zhao Yufeng held his mobile phone and looked at Hua Biao with a pleading expression: "Xiaoliang was caught by the police."

  Hua Bao has been a sly old fox for many years, and immediately guessed what had happened. Xiao Shu found someone to set fire to the dog meat restaurant. This kid is not capable of accomplishing anything but is good at causing trouble, it's simply infuriating!

  "Damn it!" The leopard rushed up and kicked him, picked up the handbag on the table and said: "Let's go, to the scene."

  Liu Handong and Shan Pao exchanged a glance, the valuable items in the store had been moved away, and the gas cylinder had also been taken outside, so the loss would not be too great. Neither of them spoke, their faces stern as they followed Hua Bao downstairs, got into the car and sped off towards Tiehua Street.

  Upon arrival, the fire had been extinguished. Fire trucks and police cars were at the scene. Sun Jikai and Sun Jiatao held fire extinguishers and large brooms, beaming with pride. A large crowd of onlookers surrounded them, pointing and whispering to each other.

  A BMW 5 series stopped by the roadside, and Hua Bao got out of the car. He first looked for the team leader, today's police officer on duty was Hu Tiejun, deputy director of the Hua Huo Police Station, who had known Hua Bao for over a decade.

  "What's going on, Hu Suo." Hua Bao handed over a cigarette first.

  "The crowd reported that they caught an arsonist, take a look and see if it's your man?" Hu Tiejun didn't take the cigarette, it wouldn't be good to influence in public.

  The flower leopard took a glance and saw that the person sitting in the car with a bruised nose and swollen face was actually one of Zhao Yu's subordinates, caught red-handed.

  "This isn't Old Wang's second son, is it? How could he possibly be an arsonist? They must have made a mistake." said Hua Bao.

  Hu Tiejun's face was expressionless: "Take me back to the station first."

  The flower leopard has a number in mind, because this kind of thing and dealing with the police station is not once or twice. He took a look, the dog meat shop didn't lose much, just burning some tables, chairs, benches, and the door sign fell off. All in all, it won't exceed 10,000 yuan. As long as you're willing to spend money, you can settle it down, making big things small and small things nothing.

  The leopard cat took out 10,000 yuan in cash from the bag and handed it directly to Mountain Cannon: "Brother, I'm sorry, this matter is my fault, I didn't take good care of you, all losses I'll be responsible for, this is the money to calm down, don't worry about the store decoration."

  The mountain artillery didn't stand on ceremony and received 10,000 yuan.

  Hua Bao said: "Those two kids are your younger brothers, help out." He whispered a few words in Shan Pao's ear, and Shan Pao nodded: "Good."

  "Thanks, brother." The flower leopard came over and shook hands with Liu Handong, "It's late today, I'll arrange it for tomorrow."

  Liu Handong nodded and didn't say anything.

  The mountain artillery spoke with the two younger brothers-in-law for a few sentences, and the two were unhappy. The mountain artillery blew their beard and stared, and the two finally let out their breath and nodded.

  The fire truck left the scene first, and the police car also left, taking away Sun Jikai and his brother.

  Hua Bao and others left, before getting on the car, Hua Bao still kicked Zhao Yu Feng.

  The street gradually returned to calm, and the onlookers dispersed.

  "What did Hua Bao just say to you?" Liu Handong asked.

  "He told us, his younger uncles, not to tell the truth to the police, that the arsonist was only twenty years old and didn't want him to go to prison."

  "You promised."

  "Isn't that enough?" Mountain cannon suddenly became excited, slapping the 10,000 yuan in his hand and saying: "Let's go, let's eat barbecue!"

  It was already eleven o'clock at night, and the barbecue stall was booming. Shanpao went to the ice cabinet and ordered a bunch of meat skewers, lamb balls, lamb whips, and lamb waist, two large cups of draft beer, sat down at the small table, drinking and eating, feeling extremely delightful.

  His sister-in-law Xiaoyue called, and Shanpao dismissed her with a few words, saying: "Today's matter was all thanks to you, brother. In the future, if there's anything, just say the word 'knife mountain fire sea'!"

  Liu Handong raised his wine glass: "Nothing else to say, let's drink!"

  As soon as the mood relaxed, the wine went down quickly. The beer was poured down like cold water, and smoking and drinking were inseparable. Shan Pao took out a pack of Sichuan cigarettes, and the two of them puffed out clouds of smoke. Soon the beer was finished, and Shan Pao asked the boss to bring over a bottle of white wine, saying that beer wasn't satisfying enough, let's have something stronger.

  Soon, a bottle of white wine was also finished. The mountain artillery glanced at the distant red lanterns and said: "Brother, let my wife stay in your house, we'll find a place to make do for tonight."

  Liu Handong said: "Okay, you arrange it. Just find a random bath center and sleep in the lobby for one night."

  The mountain cannon laughed: "Big brother, you scolded me again. You helped me so much, can I let you sleep in the bathhouse? Come on, let's go get a massage first."

  Liu Handong hesitated: "It's not good."

  "Great, you'll know when you get there, regular massage."

  After settling the bill, the two walked on the night road of Tiegu Street. Ordinary shops were all closed and boarded up, leaving only the signs of "Husband and Wife Health" and "Ten Yuan Leisure" shining with ambiguous red lights.

  The mountain cannon familiarly pushed open the door of a 10-yuan leisure small hair salon, and two old ladies wearing black tight one-step skirts were watching Zhen Huan's biography while smoking. Hearing someone coming in, they quickly got up to greet: "Brother is here, sit down."

  "Where's Mei?" Shan Pao asked.

  "Here comes, here comes." A woman came from behind and said with a smile: "Hey, isn't this Butcher Lao? You haven't been here for a couple of weeks, have you found another favorite place?"

  Mountain cannon way: "Don't talk nonsense, I am a decent person, that thing, at night there is no place to live, borrow your place to sleep for one night."

  Mei sister took out a Sichuan cigarette from her sleeve and lit it, saying: "Your wife kicked you out? Not only borrowing a place to stay, but also borrowing other things?"

  The other two old women threw flirtatious glances at Liu Handong, playing with their hair and striking poses.

  Shan Pao Dao said: "Come here, I have something to tell you." He pulled Mei Jie aside, raised his eyebrows and winked at her for a while.

  "Alright, you can stay for a night, do you want an extra quilt?"

  Shan Pao Dao said: "Add fur, first serve my big brother well."

  Mei Jie went into the backyard and came out after a minute, beckoning Liu Handong with a hook of her hand: "Handsome guy, come here."

  Liu Handong took a look at the mountain artillery, this array he wasn't unfamiliar with, in the troops he hadn't spent less than half a night running outside, but this place no matter how you looked at it didn't seem clean.

  "Let's just make do with this for one night, anyway there's nowhere else to go."

  Mei pulled Liu Handong to the back, this was also a self-built rental house for villagers, the front facing the street was the facade, and the back separated by a courtyard was the girls' bedroom, Mei pushed Liu Handong into one of the rooms.

  The room was simply furnished, with only a bed, table and chairs. It was very clean. On the wall was a poster of Jay Chou. A 17 or 18 year old girl stood timidly by the bed, her head lowered, not daring to look at Liu Handong.

  Liu Handong felt a bit awkward, he knew what was going on, Shan Pao had arranged for someone to accompany him in bed as a way of thanking him.

  "Big brother, wash up, I've washed," said the girl beside him, with a basin of water on the stool next to her, probably containing disinfectant or something similar, which had some smell, used for washing before doing business.

  "The water is clean, I didn't use this basin." The girl saw Liu Handong not moving and said another sentence.

  Liu Handong sized her up, the girl was very thin, with no figure to speak of, hanging her head, and could see her long eyelashes trembling.

  "What's your name?" Liu Handong asked.

  "Alley." The girl's voice was very low and somewhat husky.

  "How was it written?" Liu Handong asked.

  "Lotus in the stream of Huanxi."

  "Huh?"

  "That's the name of the tune."

  "What's your surname?" Liu Handong was puzzled, a hair salon girl actually knew the title of the poem "Huan Xi Sha".

  "Blue, blue blue."

  "Blue Creek, what a beautiful name. Can you recite the words of Washing Creek Sand?" Liu Handong moved a chair to sit down.

  "Which one would you like to hear, Yan Shu's or Su Shi's ci?" The girl's voice seemed a bit calmer.

  "I prefer Xin Qiji, how about you?"

  "Song of Washing Brook. On the way to Changshan, I encountered a sudden rain shower, in the northern fields, the water is deep and frequent, in the western creek, the rice has already been harvested, beyond the wall, wine is being brewed with fish scales, suddenly there's a slight coolness, where did the rain come from? Without leaving any shadow, the fleeting clouds are gone, the sound of selling melons passes by the bamboo village."

  The girl's voice is melodious and clear, with a good grasp of tones. When reciting words, it seems like she suddenly changed into another person, like a high school girl reciting texts in class, or a well-behaved daughter holding the 300 Songs of the Tang Dynasty in front of her father.

  The sound of Mountain Cannon and Mei Jie's slapping came from next door, Hu Xi picked up the basin again and said with a blush: "Big brother, do you want me to help you wash?"