Tang Ping had originally considered working three shifts in eight-hour shifts, but Li Qiang and Song Lili felt that the working hours were too short. Anyway, they didn't have much to do, and working in an internet cafe wasn't tiring.

Tang Ping had no choice but to agree. He would just keep doing it this way for now and give them a raise; it would be the same thing.

Li Hui and Jiang Jun manage the two audio-visual stores, and business is pretty good, with a stable daily income of over a thousand yuan. Tang Ping is so lazy that he doesn't even bother going to the stores anymore. Li Hui will bring the money over after get off work in the evening.

Tang Ping's internet cafe is under renovation, and Gao Qiqiang's mobile phone shop has also opened.

When Gao Qiqiang sent a flower basket to his own audio-visual store opening last time, Tang Ping reciprocated by having Li Qiang order more than a dozen banners to support Gao Qiqiang.

Opening a PHS (Personal Handyphone System) store is not cheap. Just purchasing goods and getting in touch with the telecommunications bureau are considerable expenses. Others may not know where Gao Qiqiang's money came from, but Tang Ping knows perfectly well.

A few days ago, Bai Jinhan's heir, Xu Lei, was electrocuted while fishing. The big boss, Xu Jiang, was furious and summoned all his underlings, saying, "Talking nonsense is useless. Let others take heart!"

Xu Jiang's outburst shook the entire capital, and rumors spread like wildfire that he was searching for enemies to avenge his son!

Tang Ping had naturally heard about these things, but he turned a deaf ear to them, focusing only on making money.

Unfortunately, he wanted to make money quietly, but someone wouldn't allow it.

That day, Tang Ping was handling the procedures for obtaining an internet cafe business license when he suddenly received a call from Li Qiang, who said that the internet cafe's renovation site had been vandalized and the workers had all fled in fear.

The internet cafe was almost finished with renovations when this happened.

Tang Ping was in a bad mood. After completing the formalities, he rushed to Lovers' Street, where Li Qiang and Song Lili were both.

The internet cafe is under renovation, and Tang Ping has been having the two of them take turns keeping an eye on it these past two days. Their roles are twofold: first, to prepare food and drinks for the workers, and second, to point out any areas where the renovations are not up to standard.

Unexpectedly, when Li Qiang went to buy fast food at noon, a group of people rushed in, smashed everything in sight, beat up the workers, and declared that anyone who dared to help Tang Ping with renovations in the future would be beaten every time they saw them.

Tang Ping looked at the mess on the ground. The newly installed glass door was smashed to pieces, and the latex paint on the walls was also smeared all over the place.

All of this costs money.

"Brother Ping, what should we do?" Li Qiang clenched his fists, feeling very angry.

Smashing an internet cafe is tantamount to taking away his livelihood.

Tang Ping quickly calmed down and said, "Lili, take the workers to the hospital. We'll cover all the medical expenses. Also, each of the injured workers will receive a compensation of 300 yuan. They will continue to be paid their wages while they are hospitalized."

"Okay, cousin."

Song Lili nodded and quickly went to call the renovation workers: "Uncles, come with me, I'll take you to the hospital. Don't worry about the money, the boss has taken care of it."

With Tang Ping's words, the workers stopped complaining and happily followed Song Lili away.

Li Qiang couldn't contain himself and said, "Brother Ping, just say the word. I'll gather the men and kill that bastard."

"What are you doing? Do you even know who they are?" Tang Ping glared at him and said.

Li Qiang exclaimed excitedly, "Bald Yong, it must be him! I heard that he came out yesterday, and today our internet cafe was smashed up. What a coincidence!"

Even without him saying it, Tang Ping probably already knew that it was Bald Yong who did it.

He didn't have any enemies. When he ran a fish stall, he didn't offend anyone. The only enemy he had was this bald man, Yong, because of the competition from the video store.

Tang Ping shook his head and said, "Don't panic. Violence is not the only way to solve the problem. Let's shut down the internet cafe for now. Also, have Ahui, Jiang Jun, and the audio-visual store close temporarily to prevent further losses."

"Brother Ping, what about Bald Yong?"

“I naturally have ways to deal with him.”

With the internet cafe undergoing renovations and two audio-visual stores closing down, every day was a huge loss for Tang Ping.

But there's no other way; without dealing with Bald Yong, the shop can't stay open.

Tang Ping was really having a headache dealing with this kind of thug. It wasn't worth it to fight him openly, and he couldn't just resort to violence to solve every problem. Otherwise, wouldn't he end up becoming a gangster himself?

Remembering that Wu Kun had greeted him before and said that he could contact him if he needed anything, Tang Ping was about to go find him when, unexpectedly, Wu Kun had already brought several people over.

Upon meeting, Wu Kun said, "Boss Tang, I just heard that your internet cafe was vandalized. Don't worry, I'll handle this and give you a satisfactory answer."

Tang Ping handed out cigarettes to everyone, saying, "I was just having a headache. Now that you say that, I feel relieved. You know, we're in business, and what we fear most is trouble."

"Fine, you'll have to wait for my news. Daring to cause trouble on my turf is simply courting death!"

Wu Kun was very angry. After saying goodbye, he hurriedly left with his men.

Clearly, Tang Ping had just rented the shop when someone started causing trouble, which made him lose face.

With Wu Kun's intervention, Tang Ping felt a little more at ease. The internet cafe renovation was halted, and the audio-visual store couldn't open either, so he simply went home to rest.

That evening, Wu Kun sent word that things were getting a bit complicated.

Bald Yong was a reckless man who didn't reason at all. He insisted that Tang Ping had first squeezed out his video store's business and then robbed it while he was in jail.

Cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents.

This time, Bald Yong is really going to clash with Tang Ping. Even Wu Kun's intervention is useless because Bald Yong is backed by Tang Xiaolong and Tang Xiaohu, who are also market administrators and have a group of local bullies under their command. No one can intimidate anyone else.

Wu Kun's suggestion is to negotiate at midnight tonight. He has already arranged to meet with Tang Xiaolong and Tang Xiaohu. There shouldn't be any major problems, as long as both sides can reach an agreement.

He told Tang Ping to go with him, assuring him that safety was not an issue.

But Tang Ping always felt something was wrong.

"Brother Ping, should we call a few more brothers? I know quite a few thugs, as long as they pay for the travel expenses," Li Qiang asked.

“Who are you calling? We’re legitimate business people, not gangsters. With all that travel expenses, we could buy a few more computers. Besides, isn’t Wu Kun here? It’ll just be you, Ahui, and me going over tonight.”

Tang Ping shook his head, then said, "Lili, don't tell my mom, she'll worry again."

"Oh, cousin, you have to be careful."

Song Lili said.

Around 10 p.m., Tang Ping pushed the car out, ready to set off.

Suddenly, Gao Qiqiang walked over, pulled Tang Ping to a corner, and whispered, "Ping, are you going to negotiate tonight? Don't go, listen to me."

"What's wrong?" Tang Ping asked.