Lu Yuan wrapped his cotton coat tightly around himself and looked at the cave in the Xishan District.
"Have these guys still not realized it? They're so slow to catch on."
Before even entering the cave, we could hear a noisy commotion coming from inside.
"Come on! Place your bets now, place your bets now!"
"Damn it, I'm going to win back all the money I lost today, or I'll really have nothing to eat."
"Alright, Chen Laosan, with your luck, you think you can turn things around here? Don't even dream about it. I'll bet on a chicken."
"..."
Standing at the entrance of the doorway, with not even a single guard in sight, Lu Yuan felt a surge of anger.
"These ignorant fools still have the mind to gamble. Don't they know that gambling is prohibited in the camp? They dare to gamble openly like this. They don't take me seriously at all."
Gritting his teeth, Lu Yuan decided to leave, but then he saw several people trembling in a corner of the cave, squatting there doing the most menial jobs.
"Fine, I'll just give them a heads-up this time. If they have any more problems in the future, I won't be responsible anymore."
So he walked in quietly and saw a few people in the corner still shoveling dirt from the ground.
He gently patted an old man on the back, and the man immediately trembled and turned around.
Upon seeing that it was Lu Yuan who entered, the other party was about to speak when Lu Yuan stopped him.
"Why are you all busy here, while they're running a gambling den?"
The old man sighed and pointed shakily to the small hole next to him.
"Let's talk there. If they find out I'm not working properly, they'll definitely beat me up again."
Lu Yuan was taken aback. In the dim light of the fire, he saw several whip marks on the old man's arm.
"Did they do this?" Lu Yuan grabbed the old man's arm and said in a deep voice.
The old man nodded helplessly.
"Yes, ever since the family split up, these guys have never treated us like human beings. Every day we have to work here like animals. If we don't do something right, we get beaten up. And they even steal our food."
"Those damned bastards, how dare they do this!" Lu Yuan said through gritted teeth.
The old man gently wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand.
"Boss Lu, I'm not begging you to let me leave here. I have a son who is over ten years old. He has been ill for many years and is now bedridden. Please have mercy and let him move to your East District. I'm willing to die, but please have mercy and save him."
Lu Yuan felt very bad. After hearing what the old man said, he quickly stopped the old man from kneeling down.
"I already know about this. Don't worry, the statistical results may be slightly different. I will arrange for someone to investigate in detail later. The cold wave is coming soon, so you should quickly organize your manpower and try to get the fire going."
The old man opened his mouth, a hint of fear showing in his eyes.
"They...they might not allow it."
"It's alright, I'll go and talk to them. You've been helping me count how many other people like you haven't been able to work properly due to health reasons. I'll try to find a way to bring you over."
Upon hearing Lu Yuan's words, Laozi was so excited that he was about to kneel down again, but Lu Yuan quickly stopped him once more.
"Old man, don't make this public yet. Just do it secretly for now, and I'll find a way to get you out of here later."
The old man nodded and was about to leave when he heard a loud shout coming from afar.
"Damn it, is it so hard for you guys to do some work? This is such a small piece of land, and you've been working on it for hours and still haven't finished. And what about Old Wang? Where did he go?"
No one paid any attention to the man; they just bowed their backs and lowered their heads, not daring to speak. Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, the man felt that his authority had been challenged, so he pulled out a leather whip from behind him and lashed it directly at the men.
"Fine, you don't even obey my orders. Today I'm going to teach you a lesson and show you what it means to obey orders."
As he spoke, the man raised the leather whip in his hand to strike, but before he could swing it down, he felt as if his hand was being clamped by iron clamps.
"who?"
The other person turned around and looked behind him, only to see Lu Yuan standing behind him with a face full of anger. Then Lu Yuan raised his hand and slapped the other person across the face.
"You bastards, this is my territory, and I'm still the leader of this place. How dare you use torture on your own? Who gave you that right?"
As he spoke, Lu Yuan kicked the other person to the ground.
The noise immediately attracted the attention of those gambling.
A bald man with a shiny bald head walked up to Lu Yuan with a smirk in his eyes.
"Who do we have here? It's Boss Lu. What brings you here?"
"Hmph, Baldy, I'm still in charge of this camp. I posted the rules here back then: no gambling on the spot, no arbitrary use of torture. Have you forgotten all that?"
The bald man said calmly.
"Oh, what did you think I was talking about? Just opening a casino? You seem to have misunderstood. This isn't a casino, it's just for casual fun. What, is Boss Lu interested in playing a game? Come on, you guys make room for Boss Lu."
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