Emerging from the Longxin Hotel, Song Jianhao finally opened his mobile phone. Text message reminders kept ringing, all of them missed calls from Sixi. He knew there must be an urgent matter and quickly returned the call.
"Brother Hao, you finally called. Something big happened, we're being chased."
Sixi's complaining voice came through the phone.
Song Jianhao was greatly shocked. "Being chased? By whom? What happened?"
"We went to Cao Family Mountain today to collect money from Cao Wu. Cao Wu actually refused to acknowledge the debt, saying you'd 'shot his cotton' [a slang term implying a betrayal or loss of money]. Then he called over a dozen people to surround us. He even pulled out a handgun and forced me to hand over the IOU."
"Damn that Cao Wu! Too arrogant! Does he really think I, Song Jianhao, am a pushover? I'll settle with him later. Quickly tell me, are you guys injured?"
Song Jianhao couldn't show weakness in front of Xiao Wu. He had to maintain his image as a local boss in Xinhe, even though he knew he couldn't afford to provoke Cao Wu or his boss at the moment.
"We're not injured. Let me finish. Just as Cao Wu was about to make a move on us, Xiao Yang suddenly counterattacked. He not only snatched his gun but also shattered both of his kneecaps and subdued all his men."
"Holy cow, Yang Jian is that fierce? What happened next? How did it end?"
"We didn't know how to resolve it at the time. Later, Yang Jian called Sister Feng to mediate. Cao Wu agreed to settle privately and return the owed money and interest, as long as we didn't call the police and he wouldn't pursue Yang Jian for the injuries."
Song Jianhao breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good. So who's chasing you?"
"As soon as we got back to Chengguan, Sister Feng told us to leave, saying that Cao Wu had lost face with his boss and would definitely send people to chase us. We were targeted the moment we left the hotel. Several cars were chasing us. We had no choice but to flee towards Huangchuan. We've just gotten onto the Hanhuang Expressway and don't know if anyone is still blocking us in Jiangcheng."
"It's good you got out. Don't worry, I'll bring people to meet you at the Hanhuang Expressway exit right now."
Song Jianhao hung up the phone and explained the situation to Xiao Wu, intending to enlist his help in the rendezvous. Xiao Wu was a ruthless character and had a gun.
"Old Song, I didn't expect your brothers to be so capable. Let's go, I'll go with you to see for myself."
Although Xiao Wu was younger than Song Jianhao, he didn't call him Brother Hao. This was because in prison, Xiao Wu had always been the one looking out for Song Jianhao, essentially being his boss.
Song Jianmin chimed in, "Mr. Wu, Yang Jian is my classmate. He's been practicing his family's martial arts since childhood. Later, in high school, he trained in Sanda with his sports teacher. He's not only skilled but also has strong psychological fortitude and a very stubborn temper."
"Yang Jian also took down two cops a while back," Song Jianhao added at an opportune moment.
"Wow, then this Yang Jian is quite a talent, Old Song. If we want to establish ourselves here, we need to recruit brothers like him. You must keep him close and utilize him."
Xiao Wu had developed a strong interest in Yang Jian, whom he hadn't even met yet.
Song Jianhao smiled and said nothing, getting into his Nissan sedan and heading straight for the Hanhuang Expressway.
It was a close call, but Sixi and the others took a detour for nearly two hours before reaching the Jiangcheng expressway exit. They didn't spot any suspicious vehicles, and Song Jianhao's car was already waiting there.
To help them recover from the shock, Song Jianhao took them to a high-end restaurant for a meal and introduced them to Xiao Wu.
"Brother Hao, for this debt collection, only Teacher Hu's twenty thousand is outstanding. Everything else has been collected. I'll transfer the money to you at the bank later."
After ordering, Sixi began reporting the accounts to Song Jianhao.
"Good. You've worked hard. How were the interest payments? Enough to cover your expenses?"
"Yes, Teacher Hu paid over seven hundred, Sister Feng gave eighteen hundred, Boss Huang gave two thousand, Liu Fengtian collected two thousand, and Cao Wu gave ten thousand."
"Mm, you guys can split this money. But it's quite surprising that Liu Fengtian could repay the money."
Sixi paused for a moment and said, "Oh, I forgot to mention, Yang Jian fronted Liu Fengtian ten thousand. It turns out Liu Fengtian's uncle is Yang Jian's boss. This situation is a bit awkward."
"Is that so? Little Yang is quite loyal. Ten thousand yuan is not a small sum for you."
Song Jianhao looked at Yang Jian with even more respect.
Yang Jian sighed, "There's no other way. I was planning to take on engineering projects from the boss. Brother Hao, with such a major incident, we can't go back for a while. Have you sorted things out on your end?"
"I was off my phone today negotiating with the local bosses. We've reached an agreement, and our venue can open the day after tomorrow. Don't worry, as long as our business is good, it won't be worse than your engineering projects."
Xiao Wu spoke up at this point. "Brother, opening a venue is just one of our businesses. When the time is right, I'll monopolize the construction industry in the Xunsi River area. It's not difficult for you to do engineering work."
"Thank you, Brother Xiao Wu."
Yang Jian didn't know Xiao Wu's background and thought he was a bit arrogant. Monopolizing the construction industry of a whole district was not something ordinary people could achieve.
After a satisfying meal, Sixi went with Song Jianhao to the bank to transfer money. Yang Jian followed Song Jianmin to an old residential area, a place on the outskirts of town, mostly consisting of two- and three-story buildings, with a few single-story houses with red tiles.
Song Jianhao had rented a two-story detached house in this area called Qidui, which served as accommodation for the gambling company members. Besides the two brothers, four other young men had already moved in, and Yang Jian knew them.
Four people shared a room. Yang Jian was assigned a bed next to Song Jianmin's. The other two beds were for Biaobiao and Liangliang. Bedding, toiletries, and other daily necessities were all provided, and the arrangements were quite complete.
As soon as he had unpacked his luggage and settled into his bed, Song Jianmin called Yang Jian to the second floor, where Song Jianhao had already returned.
"Little Yang, you made the biggest contribution to this debt collection. Take this five thousand yuan."
Song Jianhao handed him a wad of cash.
"No need, Brother Hao. Brother Four just transferred four thousand yuan to me, which is already the most among the four of us."
Yang Jian had received the bank notification ten minutes earlier.
"Take it. I promised that if Cao Wu's money could be recovered, I would give you a separate reward. This is what you deserve. If it weren't for you, Cao Wu wouldn't have returned this money at all."
Yang Jian didn't refuse and accepted the cash. He then asked, "Brother Hao, I've made such a big enemy of Cao Wu now. There might be more trouble in the future. Will he try to harass my family?"
Song Jianhao shook his head. "Little Yang, you can rest assured about this. I will handle Cao Wu. We'll settle this in the underworld. He won't bother your family. That's the rule of the streets. Besides, you were acting on my behalf this time. He's really targeting me."
Hearing this, Yang Jian finally felt relieved. His biggest fear was that Cao Wu would send people to harass his family.