Chapter 2 The Day After I Stopped Running The day after I stopped running...
At night, Wenchan sleeps alone in her own room.
She lay in bed for a long time, unable to fall asleep. Just as she was tossing and turning, there was a knock on the door.
Wen Chan stood up, a pair of scissors in her hand. "Who?"
"I'll open the door." Chen Bozheng's voice was flat, even somewhat impatient.
Wen Chan hesitated for a moment, then hid the scissors behind her back and shuffled over in her slippers. Although the other party was her nominal husband and the original owner of this body had never had a real relationship with him, she still had to be careful.
When the door opened, Chen Bo came in with wet hair and shirtless, and placed a stack of mosquito coils on the table. "There are a lot of mosquitoes, light them yourself."
Wen Chan was taken aback, looking at the coils of mosquito coils on the table, genuinely surprised that the other person had been so thoughtful. "Thank you..."
"You helped us just now, it's only right." Chen Bo turned to look at Wen Chan. "About that man, you really don't know where he is?"
Wen Chan was both amused and exasperated. "Believe me, if I knew where he was, I would definitely tell you."
Chen Bo scoffed, his disbelief clearly evident.
He pulled a ten-yuan note from his pocket and threw it on the table: "I won't have time to feed you tomorrow, so figure it out yourself. I'll leave Fatty here to keep you company."
Wen Chan loosened her grip on the scissors, feeling much less annoyed. "Well, I'll go with you guys. More people means more wisdom, right?"
"Do you have that thing?" Chen Bo asked in return.
Wen Chan: "..."
Calm down, calm down.
Hitting someone is illegal. Besides, this man is so tall and muscular, you'd definitely be at a disadvantage if you fought him.
Wen Chan took a deep breath, suppressing her anger, and gave a sweet smile. "What if?"
Chen Bo glanced at her, walked over, and said indifferently, "Hard to say."
He closed the door.
Wen Chan was so angry that she almost jumped up from the ground instantly.
Is this bastard here tonight to drive her crazy?
What do you mean by "hard to say"?
She wished she could pull out her Harvard finance degree from her past life and show it to this bastard!
"Brother Zheng, what should we do about tomorrow?" Although Lin Qingfeng was smart and the only one among them to get into university, he was still young and inevitably worried when faced with this kind of situation.
Chen Bo took off his shoes. "That Boss Ye likes to play cards with people. If someone beats him, he'll negotiate with them. Let's try playing cards with him tomorrow."
"Really?" Lin Qingfeng said happily, "If we're talking about playing cards, then you're the best player among us."
"Now you can rest assured, go to sleep early, it's not a big deal." Chen Bo joked, and everyone laughed and went to bed.
After a long day of running around, they were all exhausted. They fell asleep almost immediately after lying down on the bed, with snoring, teeth grinding, and sleep talking filling the air.
Moonlight streamed in through the window, making the room very hot. Occasionally, a breeze would blow in from outside. Chen Bo was fanning himself with a palm leaf fan, but his face was not as relaxed as it had been earlier.
Boss Ye was known for his love of playing cards, and he was also known for being a skilled card player.
It is said that some people lost all their payments for goods by playing cards with him.
Chen Bo rubbed his temples, and the jade pendant hanging around his neck fell off. He put it back, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.
"You son of a bitch, Chen Bozheng, are you trying to scare me?!"
Old Song, who should have been soundly asleep in bed, came down from the guesthouse in slippers, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, cursing under his breath.
The receptionist at the guesthouse was reading a romance novel by Qiong Yao. Hearing the noise, she looked up and asked, "What do you want?"
Old Song pointed to the phone next to him, "Make a phone call."
The older woman said, "Two cents a minute."
Old Song took out fifty cents and handed it over, then made a phone call. He leaned against the front desk, standing on one leg, rubbing his left foot with his right. Once the call connected, his expression changed instantly, and he greeted the caller with a fawning smile: "Boss, it's me."
"Yes, the job was done, that bastard ran away, it's just a pity about that money..."
The older sister lifted her eyelids when she heard the word "money".
Old Song noticed this, turned his back to the microphone, and whispered, "Chen Bozheng is still denying it to the death. Don't worry, they'll have to admit it sooner or later."
The sky was bright.
A red sun gradually rose in the east at an unstoppable speed.
Voices could be heard coming from the courtyard. Chen Bozheng's voice was calm and composed, neither hurried nor slow.
Wen Chan had met many big shots in her past life, and Chen Bozheng's temperament was very similar to theirs—unperturbed even when Mount Tai collapsed before him.
No wonder he can become a big shot.
"Go get the bowls and chopsticks," Chen Bo instructed the fat man.
The fat man went into the kitchen with a smile to get the bowls and chopsticks. When he saw Wen Chan come out, he greeted her, "Sister-in-law, you're up. Hurry up and brush your teeth and wash your face. Get ready for breakfast. We have barley and lean pork rice noodle soup for breakfast today."
Wen Chan agreed and went to brush her teeth and wash her face, her eyes constantly scanning Chen Bozheng, unsure if he was the one she was thinking of.
"What are you looking at? Is my face covered in flowers?" Chen Bo pulled a stool over with his foot, glanced at her, and said.
Wen Chan's lips twitched as she pulled out a chair and sat down. "You guys are going so early in the morning?"
The fat man was in charge of serving rice noodles to everyone. He said to Wen Chan, "Sister-in-law, you don't know, the garment factory starts work at six or seven o'clock, but there are too many people picking up goods, so we have to go early, otherwise we don't know when we'll get there."
"You really don't plan to take me with you?" Wen Chan asked tentatively. "I promise I won't cause you any trouble."
Chen Bo was holding a bowl in his hand, slurping rice noodles with his head down, "Eat."
His attitude was firm, and Wen Chan knew that there was no point in saying anything more, so she simply lowered her head and ate her rice noodles. To be honest, the barley and lean pork rice noodle soup tasted pretty good. The soup was very sweet and the lean pork was made from pork tendon, which was fresh and had a good texture, with a hint of milky aroma.
Wen Chan has a small appetite; she was full after eating just one bowl.
She watched from the sidelines. Each of the four men had a bigger appetite than the last. Despite being fat, the fat man ate the least of the men. The monk's appetite was not surprising, but Chen Bozheng actually ate four bowls, each bowl about the size of two bowls of rice noodles.
Wen Chan looked at his stomach and wondered where the food he had eaten had gone.
Chen Bo frowned slightly as she stared at him, then took a tissue to wipe his mouth. "What are you looking at?"
"Can't I look at you?" Wen Chan retorted. "A grown man like you, are you afraid of being looked at by a woman like me? Are you shy?"
"Cough cough cough."
The fat man was slurping his soup when he heard this and choked, coughing incessantly.
Lin Qingfeng hurriedly protected his bowl of rice noodles, saying with disgust, "Fatty, how disgusting are you? Go away and cough somewhere else."
Chen Bo handed a few sheets of paper to the fat man, pointed at Wen Chan, and said, "You're something else."
The three of them left shortly after finishing their meal.
The fat man, on the other hand, happily took on the tasks of washing dishes and sweeping the floor.
"She seems a little different."
The monk and Chen Bozheng didn't have a car, so they took a bus to the garment factory. The bus was full of people. The monk couldn't grab a handrail, but he wasn't worried. He just stood on the bus as if he were rooted to the spot.
As Chen Bo was looking out the window, pondering what to do about today's events, he heard the monk speak for the second time and then realized, "You mean her?"
The monk hummed in agreement.
Chen Bo smirked. "What's so different? It's just a pair of eyes, a nose, and a mouth."
The monk shook his head. "It's different."
Lin Qingfeng was speechless. "Monk, you're being sarcastic with your own buddy. You're called Monk, but you're not really a monk."
The monk remained calm and said, "I feel she can help us."
Chen Bozheng frowned slightly. Among his brothers, Chen Bozheng trusted Monk the most. Monk was not well-educated, but he was very reliable and had a very accurate intuition.
Chen Bozheng dropped out of school after junior high and started out as a hoodlum. In the 1980s, Beijing was teeming with hooligans and thugs. There were too many people who couldn't find jobs or go to school, the public security was poor, and there were too few police officers. It was inevitable that hooligans and thugs would form gangs. Chen Bozheng was young, not from a privileged family, and not from a working-class family, but he still stood out and was therefore often targeted by thugs.
Many times they escaped danger thanks to the monk's intuition.
After thinking it over and over again, Chen Bo shook his head: "Forget it. That sickly girl is frail and was terribly frightened yesterday. If something happens to her today, how am I supposed to explain it to her dead brother?"
The monk fell silent.
Hongxia Garment Factory is a medium-sized garment factory in Shenzhen with more than 300 workers. They operate on a 24-hour shift system and can produce tens of thousands of garments a day. They mainly engage in export trade, but also do domestic sales.
Mr. Ye, the owner of the garment factory, is an extraordinary person. What's extraordinary is that he's a gambler. It's said that Mr. Ye made his first pot of gold by gambling, earning 30,000 yuan in one night. If that's the case, then he's just an ordinary gambler.
But he used his first pot of gold to open a garment factory, and then the country strongly supported exports, which led to many orders from the United States and Japan. As a result, his business grew bigger and bigger.
Chen Bozheng roughly estimated that the garment factory's annual net profit was no less than one million.
Otherwise, how could Mr. Ye afford a Mercedes-Benz?
In those days, the comprehensive import tariff on automobiles in China was 180-220%, especially for luxury cars. A luxury car that cost tens of thousands of dollars abroad would cost more than a million dollars when imported into China.
Not only are they expensive, but due to their limited quantity, you need connections and influence to buy one.
The clattering of mahjong tiles echoed throughout the room.
When Chen Bozheng and his two companions entered the entertainment room, they were choked by the smell of smoke that greeted them.
Boss Ye was playing cards with a few people, a cigar between his fingers, while deftly arranging the cards with the other.
The secretary said to Chen Bozheng and the others, "Please wait here for a moment. Our boss Ye will call you after he finishes this round of cards."
Boss Ye waved to Chen Bozheng and the others, speaking in thick Cantonese-accented Mandarin: "Handsome guys, wait a minute, I'll finish this game quickly."
His fellow card players immediately burst into laughter. "Boss Ye, you're quite the talker. Does that mean you're guaranteed to win this round?"
"I wouldn't dare say that, I might lose very quickly, hahaha." Boss Ye laughed heartily, adjusted his belt, and had a cigar in his mouth.
Those who are out in the world and doing business rarely don't know how to play cards.
After all, when it comes to food, drink, and entertainment, you need to cater to the guests' preferences.
Chen Bozheng and the others all know how to play cards, but Chen Bozheng is the best at it. However, he doesn't have a gambling hobby, and when he plays cards, he's mostly just playing along with others.
Because he spends a lot of time observing, he has a very keen eye for observation.
He soon discovered that the three men playing cards with Boss Ye were in cahoots and cheating.
These three people are very fast; they exchange cards in the blink of an eye. If you're not an expert, even if you're told they're exchanging cards, you won't be able to catch them when they make their move.
In the first round, Boss Ye lost, losing 10,000 yuan.
Lin Qingfeng said in a low voice, "Brother Zheng, Boss Ye doesn't seem to be all that great."
Chen Bo made a gesture for silence.
Boss Ye chuckled, "I'm not that great, just alright, handsome. This is only the first round. Maybe I'll win back my losses in the second round."
Lin Qingfeng touched his nose.
Chen Bo stood up to apologize, but Boss Ye waved his hand and said, "Relax, relax, I'm not that petty. Winning is winning, and losing is losing. If you can't even do that, what's the point of playing cards? You're destined to lose."
Chen Bozheng couldn't help but think more highly of Boss Ye.
However, in the second round, Boss Ye still lost, this time losing 30,000 yuan.
Both the monk and Lin Qingfeng were breathing heavily. In less than half an hour, they had lost 40,000 yuan.
This is not a good thing for Mr. Ye, but it may not be a bad thing for them.
What they wanted wasn't to win, but for Boss Ye to give them a chance to receive the goods first and pay later.
"With so many guests, you didn't even ask your secretary to greet them." A rather plump woman dressed in rich clothes brought in several people with a bowl of sweet soup. "Handsome gentlemen, please don't be shy, have some sweet soup. It's sweet potato soup, homemade, and delicious."
"Thank you, boss lady." Chen Bo stood up, took the money, and handed it to Lin Qingfeng and the others.
The proprietress smiled and said, "Oh my, so many handsome guys have come today! Are you married yet?"
Mr. Ye said irritably, "Wife, you still have your husband working hard here!"
The proprietress brought over the sweet soup and placed it aside. "Eat it yourself. Do you expect me to feed you while you're playing cards? How's it going this afternoon?"
Boss Ye wasn't angry at all, "I lost forty thousand yuan."
"Then you'll have to work hard!" the proprietress said with a smile, greeted everyone, and went out.
Lin Qingfeng and the others were stunned.
Back in Beijing, if a man loses this much money outside, even if his wife doesn't say anything, she'll still give him a hard time.
How come this proprietress has such a good temper?
"Ouch, another win! A triple kill in one go! Sorry, Mr. Ye, this round will cost you a lot of money."
The three men pushed the cards aside in unison and said to Boss Ye with smiles.
Chen Bozheng did a rough calculation and concluded that, based on the way Taiwanese mahjong is played, Boss Ye lost at least 200,000 yuan in this round!
Chen Bozheng's eyes darkened.
"No rush, let's play one more round." Boss Ye was still smiling. The group of people exchanged glances, all somewhat tempted. "Alright, let's play one more round then. This is the last round. We're doing this for your own good, so you don't lose everything today."
Boss Ye laughed heartily.
However, as soon as the game started, Boss Ye kept calling for wins, and not only did he call for wins, he also kept secretly calling for wins.
The three of them immediately looked a little off.
If Boss Ye wins this round, not only will they recover their investment, but they'll also owe tens of thousands more.
"Oh my god, my luck has turned around! Could it be that I'm going to win by self-draw?"
As Mr. Ye spoke, he reached out to touch the cards.
Just then, the person to his right suddenly seemed to accidentally push the card down. Fortunately, the card didn't flip over. The person quickly picked up the card and handed it to Boss Ye, saying, "Boss Ye, I'm sorry."
"Don't be shy."
A smile flashed across Boss Ye's face. He rubbed the tiles with his thumb and slammed them on the table. "Self-draw, all four of a kind, four concealed kongs, and a winning hand on the last tile of the last round. It's worth 360 points. Thank you so much. I never expected that I could still win by self-draw when there were already two 1-bamboo tiles on the table. This hand is truly amazing."
He picked up the calculator. "360, that's 780,000..."
Lin Qingfeng and the monk were both dumbfounded.
I've seen people get a perfect hand in cards before, but I've never seen anything this outrageous.
"You son of a bitch, you cheated!" The group immediately became enraged, overturned the table, and stood up.
Boss Ye slammed the calculator aside. "Cheating! You bunch of bastards were having so much fun swapping cards right under my nose. What did I say? You cheated, I'll play with you. 360 points, how about that? Enjoy it? Men, drag them out and beat them up. Damn it, do you really think I'm stupid?!"
Several security guards rushed in immediately. Chen Bo could see them clearly; each of them had a black star gun on their waist.
The three gamblers were dragged out, and Boss Ye called people in to clean up. He smiled at Chen Bozheng and said, "Sorry, you handsome gentlemen came to discuss business. I made a fool of myself earlier. Although I love gambling, there are principles to it. I hate cheating the most, so I was just joking with them."
"Mr. Ye, you're too kind."
Chen Bo was looking at Boss Ye, his palms sweating profusely.
He knew that this Boss Ye was definitely not a kind person.
A note from the author:
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It is advised not to gamble, whether with acquaintances or strangers.
There are so many ways to cheat. I once played cards with a friend during Chinese New Year. We didn't play for money, and she won every round. We didn't notice at first, but later she told us that she was cheating. She even slowed down the game to show us how she switched and hid the cards, but we still couldn't see it.
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