233 takes over Huaqing Pool

  Liu Ziguang smiled and said to Zhuo Li: "Don't worry, you can rest for a few days first. When Xiaobei is discharged from the hospital, you two can hand over."

  Zhuo Li suddenly said: "What's the handover? It's not a government agency, I'm very familiar with Huqingchi. I don't need you to explain it to me, and I don't need to rest. Working in the factory security department is boring every day. I think I'll go to work now, start work early and get paid early."

  Liu Ziguang said, "In the past, the venue of Huqingchi was managed by Xiaobei on my behalf. He has his own gang, if you want to go, you'll be going alone, think it through carefully, in case something happens, you must be able to handle the situation."

  Zhuo Li pulled up his sweat-soaked shirt, revealing his robust arm muscles, and patted it red, saying: "Four Eyes, don't worry, I'm Xiao Bei's senior brother. Among the six brothers, my boxing skills are the best. I'm almost thirty years old now, so I understand some things about society too. Just relax."

  "That's good, finish eating and I'll take you over." Liu Ziguang nodded in satisfaction.

  "I'm not eating anymore, who still has the appetite to eat?" Zhuo Li pushed the table and stood up. After drinking more than a dozen bottles of beer, he didn't even sway, looking like he was very sober. He rummaged through his pocket for half a day before finally pulling out a 50-yuan bill and some small change, saying: "Today, no one is allowed to fight with me over the bill."

  Next to him, a classmate muttered to himself, "You just ate those few pieces of braised pork belly and now you're saying you'll treat us? You've got some nerve!" But Liu Ziguang understood his old classmate's difficulties - with only 600 yuan a month, these fifty or so yuan were probably all the money he could spare.

  Liu Ziguang made a gesture with his eyes, and Mao Hai took over Zhuo's money, pretending to count it with disdain, saying: "Just right!"

  Zhuo Li waved his hand: "No need to look for it, what's left is just a tip."

  The boy put the pen holder on his ear and walked away with disdain, ignoring him.

  "Zhuo Li go to the bathroom again." Liu Ziguang advised kindly.

  "Don't worry about me!" Zhuo Li waved his hand grandly.

  ……

  Liu Ziguang introduced Zhuo Li to the manager at Huaqingchi, saying he was his friend. The manager naturally didn't say anything else, what he valued was Liu's strength, and it didn't matter who specifically took care of things here. However, the technicians in the large hall downstairs all rushed to tell each other that "the stud" had arrived again, scaring them so much that they pushed each other around, none of them willing to take on the task.

  But Zhuo Li has a clear idea in his mind that he used to come here for leisure and could do whatever he wanted, but now he is here to watch the scene, so he must be serious.

  Liu Ziguang handed over a few sentences and left. Zhuo Li took over the walkie-talkie, and officially started work. The manager had prepared a room for him on the fourth floor, where he could be on night shift at night.

  The boss of Huqing Pool, surnamed Li, had been imprisoned for ten years and was released. After his release, a few friends raised some money to take over the bathhouse of Chen Guang Machinery Factory. They renovated it casually, with boilers and pipes readily available, and recruited several technicians to start the bathing center. At first, business was good, but after places like Jinbi Huihuang opened on Binjiang Avenue, Huqing Pool's business declined sharply and could only receive low-end customers. The level of technicians also failed to keep up, forming a vicious cycle that caused business to plummet. As a result, even the income from watching the scene was only a few thousand yuan. In fact, Manager Li had already intended to retire and planned to close down after this year.

  Five thousand yuan is already a lot for Zhuo Li. He has an intercom on his waist and wears an earpiece, looking very busy as he strolls around the bath center, occasionally teasing passing technicians with a couple of sly smiles, which makes him feel not too good.

  Two nights later, at one o'clock in the morning, the technicians who had finished their shift came out of the Huaqingchi entrance, yawning and getting into taxis to leave. Some went back to sleep, while others went to the night market to eat hot pot. At this time, four customers with a strong smell of alcohol walked into the bath center.

  Four guys with a clear non-local accent were shouting loudly in the lobby, reeking of alcohol. The front desk didn't say anything; when you open for business, you have to deal with all sorts of customers, and they've seen plenty of drunks like these.

  Four people changed into slippers, took towels and went downstairs to take a quick bath before heading up to the rest area. As soon as they opened their mouths, they wanted double flying with two technicians serving each person. However, the technicians had already gone off duty, leaving only two on duty, so they could only ask the team leader to come first and then call others back.

  Less than five minutes after entering the package room, something went wrong. The technician rushed out of the room and said he was not going to do it anymore. The customer also ran out wearing sauna clothes, furious and wanting to complain. Generally speaking, this kind of thing is common and can't be considered a big deal. Usually, coordinating with each other and changing people would solve the problem, but this time it's different. Four customers were very aggressive and started fighting, beating up the girls until they were bleeding and couldn't stop them.

  Zhuo Li heard the news and came to persuade them with good words, but the four outsiders were even more arrogant and clamored to demolish Huaqing Pool. The guests resting in the hall all got up to watch the excitement, and the technicians and service staff surrounded their injured colleague, glaring at the four men with anger.

  The manager quickly called Liu Ziguang, who was sleeping at home. After hearing the news, he only said one sentence: "Let Zhuo Li handle it."

  The manager almost cried. Those four outsiders were obviously tough guys with a case on their bodies. How could that laid-off worker possibly handle it? Suddenly, there was a loud rumbling sound from behind. Turning back to look, Zhuo Li patted his palms and said, "It's all right now."

  Four tall guests were all lying under the stairs foaming at the mouth.

  The manager held the phone with his mouth agape, unaware that this unassuming laid-off worker sent by Old Liu to keep an eye on him was actually the legitimate heir and master of the local Bajiquan.

  Afterwards, Zhuo Li didn't bother Liu Ziguang and instead called his colleague in the security department. They drove a 212 Jeep over that night, took the four men wearing bathrobes to the air raid shelter under the factory, and intimidated them by saying they would bury them alive. The four big men were so scared that they cried and kowtowed nonstop, begging for mercy. The next day, the four men with bruised faces and noses came to Huacai Pool again, apologized to the injured technician, and compensated for the damaged staircase, table, chairs, and other losses.

  Zhuo Li pointed at their noses and said fiercely: "Remember, don't treat the massage girls as humans. I don't care about other places, but all the technicians in this Huaqingchi area are my sisters. Whoever dares to bully them will die with me! Did you hear that?!"

  The four of them were no longer seen with yesterday's arrogance. Zhuo Li waved his hand: "Take your clothes and get out."

  Four people hugged their clothes and rushed to the back of Zhuo Li, where a round of applause erupted. The technicians all rushed up and lifted him up, tearing off his clothes with seven hands and eight feet, laughing and carrying Zhuo Li into the package room. He covered his vital parts and pretended to be terrified, shouting loudly: "Sisters, what are you doing?"

  The manager lit a cigarette and walked away with a smile, no matter how they made trouble.

  After this incident, the business of Huqingchi suddenly improved miraculously. The girls from various venues in Jiangbei City came to join forces with the bath center. The most important thing about such a place is that it's always changing and fresh, coming and going, just those few familiar faces won't bring back repeat customers. With more massage ladies, there are also more guests. Manager Li was delighted at the sight and intentionally pulled Zhuo Li over to join in.

  However, Zhuo Li is Liu Ziguang's person. Manager Li didn't dare to act rashly and first called Liu Ziguang to greet him. Liu Ziguang was very easy-going and said that Zhuo Li was just his old classmate, not his subordinate. He said "You can use him if you want, as long as he is willing."

  Then Manager Li talked to Zhuo Li and raised his salary to 8,000 yuan, promoting him as the hall manager in charge of those service staff and security guards. Zhuo Li was also a righteous person who found several colleagues from the Security Department to work part-time at nightclubs, earning around 1,000 yuan per month, and gradually having his own little brothers under him.

  That evening, Huaqing Pool welcomed a group of special guests. Liu Ziguang brought Bei Xiaoshuai, who had just been discharged from the hospital, to a welcome banquet at the Peace Hotel that afternoon, which lasted until 6 pm. Then they went to the underground passage to have some barbecue and beer, which was a surprise party. They played until 10 pm before arriving at Huaqing Pool to wash away their fatigue.

  Manager Li brought Zhuo Li to personally welcome everyone. Everyone noticed that there was a very obvious scar on Zhuo Li's face, which was shocking and frightening. However, he didn't mention it, and neither did anyone else ask about it. After all, in the underworld, stabbing people and being stabbed are common occurrences.

  Under Zhuo's command, a large number of beautiful women lined up in a row, allowing Bei Xiaoshuai to choose. Bei Xiaoshuai's eyes widened and his mouth opened, saying: "Wow, I haven't been here for a few days and it's completely changed! The quality of these ladies is simply no less than the Golden Phoenix Pavilion!"

  Manager Li smiled and said: "Those are all personally received by Ali himself, how can their living standards be different?"

  Everyone watched as the successor of Zhuo Li Ba Ji Quan smiled humbly: "It's all just doing what one should do." Without seeing the envy and anger in other people's eyes.

  "Damn it! All these young ladies have been tried one by one, it's simply an abuse of power for personal gain!" Be Xiao Shuai cursed viciously under his breath.

  "Sixth Master Brother recommends jobs eighteen and eighty-eight for you, absolutely top-notch, guaranteed to make you linger and forget to leave." Zhuo Li whispered into Bei Xiao Shuai's ear.

  "Go, go, go. I don't need what you've tried." Bei Xiaoshuai pushed Zhuo Li upstairs with a bad attitude. After arriving upstairs, he called out to the leader in a low voice and said: "Help me call rooms 18 and 88 up, I'll try my luck too."

  Liu Ziguang and Zhuo Li sat on the sand chatting in the second-floor rest room.

  "What's with the wound on your face? Who did it? Do you want me to find someone to help you get revenge?" Liu Ziguang asked.

  " Forget it, this place is gone." Zhuo Li smiled and carefully touched the wound on his face with his hand, making a hissing sound, apparently quite painful.

  "Who can beat you up and make you lose your temper?"

  "Who else could it be? My old man heard that I was laid off and working at Huaqing Pool, so he scolded me, calling me a 'big teapot'. I retorted with two sentences, saying now people laugh at poverty but not prostitution, what's the big deal about watching a scene? The old man got angry and wanted to kill me to uphold family dignity. The wound on my face was inflicted by his cavalry knife. I know he held back, his skill could cut off the hair on top of tofu, if he really wanted to kill me, half of my head would have flown off."

  Zhuo Li smiled wryly and lit another cigarette. Now his smoking grade has also gone up, no longer the 4.5 yuan Hongmei, but the 45 yuan hard-box Zhonghua.

  "What are you going to do then?" Liu Ziguang asked.

  "What else can I do? I'd rather die than live that half-dead, miserable life in the factory again. Now there's only one way out - to walk until it's dark." Zhuo Li took a deep drag on his cigarette and turned to look at Liu Ziguang, whose eyes shone brightly in the darkness like the lit end of the cigarette.

  "Photon, thank you!"

  Liu Ziguang noticed that Zhuo Li didn't call him "Four Eyes" this time.

  Going out