stonecrandall Page 4
Page 4
Xu Lang, who was dozing in the back row, opened his eyes when he heard Meng Renhui's voice and looked around. They had already arrived at the entrance of the Mahjong God Hall.
This mahjong parlor is one of Uncle Hai's businesses. It has a pretty good location, and the surrounding neighbors often come here to play cards.
Although gambling is prohibited on Hong Kong Island, licensed mahjong parlors are exempt and are considered legally operating entertainment venues.
The main revenue of a mahjong parlor comes from taking a cut from the customers' winnings. Above each mahjong table hangs a basin, which is commonly known as a "commission bag." The "commission" is the money earned from taking a cut.
Each mahjong parlor has a different commission rate, ranging from 5% to 10%. This means that if a winner wins 100 in a hand, they have to put 5 to 10 chips into the commission bag.
When business is good, Uncle Hai can earn quite a bit a day just by pumping water.
When Xu Lang entered the mahjong parlor with the money, Uncle Hai had already been sitting at the mahjong table with two other mahjong players, drinking tea and chatting, waiting for him for quite a while.
"Sorry, Uncle Hai, there was a bit of traffic on the way, so I'm a little late!"
"It's alright!" Uncle Hai said with a smile. "Don't you usually dislike playing mahjong? Why are you interested in playing a couple of rounds with this old man today?"
"I heard that you are an expert in this field, Uncle Hai, so I came here specifically to learn from you!" Xu Lang said with a double meaning, "Uncle Hai, I am eager to improve, and I hope you can give me some guidance!"
Uncle Hai, a seasoned veteran, naturally picked up on the subtext in his words at a glance, and said meaningfully, "Everyone wants to make progress; it just depends on how much effort you're willing to put in!"
"I may not have much else, but I'm incredibly hardworking!"
"Haha, that's good. Come on, let me teach you how to play mahjong!"
They were playing Hong Kong Island Mahjong, which uses 144 tiles, including four tiles each of the suits from one to nine of Wan, one to nine of Tong, and one to nine of Tiao, plus four tiles each of the suits of East, South, West, North, Center, White Dragon, and Green Dragon, as well as eight flower tiles: Plum Blossom, Orchid, Chrysanthemum, Bamboo, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.
The first round of the entire mahjong game is called the "East Wind East Round". After the East Wind East Round ends, it becomes the "East Wind South Round", and so on up to the "East Wind West Round" and "East Wind North Round". These four rounds are collectively called the "East Round".
After the East Circle ends, it is called the "South Circle". The names of the circles are "South Wind East Circle", "South Wind South Circle", "South Wind West Circle" and "South Wind North Circle", and so on for the West Circle and North Circle.
One round is counted as playing all four wind positions (east, south, west, and north).
Although Uncle Hai enjoys playing cards, he is quite old and rather overweight, so he can't sit still for too long. Therefore, they agreed at the beginning of the game to play only one round.
This also tests Xu Lang's ability. If we exclude consecutive wins, there are sixteen hands in a round, which can be finished in less than an hour if you're fast.
In this round, Xu Lang precisely delivered the performance he wanted to "improve" into Uncle Hai's pocket.
If it were anything else, Xu Lang might not be so confident, but when it comes to mahjong, he's absolutely invincible.
In his past life, when he was with clients, he often played these kinds of tricks at the card table, so this requirement was no pressure for him at all.
An hour later, at the end of the last round, Xu Lang handed the last few thousand-yuan bills from the five hundred thousand yuan he had brought to Uncle Hai.
"Your card skills are pretty good, kid!" Uncle Hai said, raising an eyebrow.
"I wouldn't dare, I was just showing off my limited skills before an expert!" Xu Lang said humbly. "Uncle Hai, what do the gangs say about the territory over there in Porcupine?"
"Since you cleaned up the gang's mess, as a reward, you should rightfully take over his territory." Uncle Hai said with a smile, "I'll discuss this with the boss; you can go and take it over!"
"Thank you, Uncle Hai!"
After leaving the mahjong parlor, as soon as he got into the car, Meng Renhui couldn't help but complain to him, "Boss, that old guy is too greedy! You even castrated the porcupine for him, and that old guy still wants 500,000 from you before he'll agree to anything!"
"It's precisely because I stood up for him that I only had to give him 500,000; otherwise, that amount wouldn't be enough to get him to agree!" Xu Lang sneered. "Alright, when we get back, you take the brothers to take over Porcupine's territory, and bring Li Hao along too, so he can broaden his horizons..."
After Porcupine died last night, the territory was in complete chaos. When Xu Lang's underlings came to take over, they didn't dare to resist at all, since those underlings didn't have the backing of Hung Hing.
Xu Lang's underlings took over the Porcupine territory with minimal effort.
Unlike Xu Lang, Porcupine mainly runs underground casinos. In Tin Shui Wai, he owns a total of seven or eight underground casinos of various sizes.
When Meng Renhui and Li Hao returned, Xu Lang was smoking and looking through the accounts in his office.
Upon seeing them enter, he casually stubbed out his cigarette and asked them, "How's the takeover of the porcupine side going?"
"We've taken over the entire territory, and our underlings even found five million in cash at the porcupine's lair..."
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Chapter Eight: Chui Shui Da and Thirteen Sister (First Update)
Looking at the five million in cash on the table, Xu Lang got up from his boss's chair and immediately pulled out one million and pushed it in front of Meng Renhui.
"Ah Hui, take this million and split it with Ah Hao and the other brothers!"
With that, Xu Lang casually sat back down.
As the saying goes, "Wealth gathers, people scatter." You can't skimp on the money that needs to be spent. The brothers are out here risking their lives for you to make money. If you don't have money, who's going to risk their lives for you?
When you're risking your life for someone, you keep calling them "brothers," but when it comes to spending money, your men will definitely have other ideas. In the end, you might lose both your men and your money!
In the underworld, ruthlessness alone is not enough; you also need to use money to win people's hearts. The more brothers you have, the more big things you can do and the more money you can make!
"Thanks, boss!"
Meng Renhui immediately put away the one million and called Li Hao, the fifth brother of the toad, to go out and divide the money.
Since we're going to split the money, we should be quick about it. If we keep fussing over it, people who don't know better might think we can't afford to pay!
Before long, the originally noisy first floor became very lively, and you could hear words like "Thank you, boss" from time to time.
Those who received the money were all very happy and couldn't wait to go out with Xu Lang and pull off another heist!
Some of these people were seasoned veterans; who wouldn't like having such a straightforward and generous boss like Xu Lang?
Hearing the sounds outside, Xu Lang smiled but remained silent.
This is exactly the effect he wanted!
If you pay me generously, my brothers will work hard and do their best. In the end, I'll have plenty of money.
Afterwards, Xu Lang put the remaining money into the safe behind him and then lay down on the boss's chair to rest.
Boom boom boom!
About an hour later, there was a knock on the office door.
Xu Lang slowly woke up and let his underlings in.
"Big brother, Chui Shui Da comes over and says he wants to see you!"
The younger brother asked respectfully.
"Bring him in!"
Xu Lang put away his listless expression and sat up straight.
Not long after, Chui Shui Da arrived at Xu Lang's office, led by his underling.
Chui Shui Da walked in slowly, first glancing at Meng Ren Hui, who was peeling fruit on the sofa next to him.
He nodded with a smile and said, "Ah Hui!"
Meng Renhui nodded slightly, without saying anything.
Then, Chui Shui Da's gaze fell on the other Toad Old Five, Li Hao. Since he hadn't seen him before, he just chuckled and nodded slightly, then called out to Xu Lang, who was sitting in the boss's chair, "Ah Lang~"
Hearing Chui Shui Da address him like that, Xu Lang frowned.
To be honest, there's a reason why Chui Shui Da is still a nobody after all these years!
But he didn't show it on the spot, and just asked with a smile, "Uncle Da, is there something you need from me?"
Upon hearing this, Chui Shui Da hurriedly pulled out three thousand yuan from his pocket, bowing and scraping as he said, "This is the interest on the money I owe you, so I'll pay you back first!"
Xu Lang's Qiangheng Company is a loan company, and Chui Shui Da borrowed money from it.
Chui Shui Da pushed the money in front of Xu Lang, who casually took it and jokingly said, "Wow, did the sun rise in the west today?"
"Uncle Da, you're such a busy person, how did you remember to pay me back?"
Chui Shui Da had borrowed a sum of money from him, but it wasn't much. Xu Lang wasn't in a hurry to get the other party to pay it back. Unexpectedly, the other party took the initiative to pay it back, which was quite a rare thing!
"Hey Hey……"
Hearing Xu Lang's teasing, Chui Shui Da didn't care at all, and rubbed his hands together with a smile, saying, "Brother Lang, I'd like to borrow another ten thousand yuan from you!"
He then said smugly, "Tonight in Tuen Mun, there's a boxing match between Tung Sing and Hung Hing. I've got inside information, and I'm going to bet on it and make a fortune. Not only will I forget about the money I owe you, but I'll also give you a share of the profits. What do you say?"
"..."
Seeing Chui Shui Da's boastful manner, Xu Lang was actually speechless.
Inside information?
If you had some inside information, would you still need to borrow money from all over the place every day?
Xu Lang pointed to the sign next to him and said, "Uncle Da, do you know how to pronounce these words?"
"A 'powerful finance company' means both powerful and arrogant! You just paid me three thousand yuan in interest, and now you want to borrow ten thousand yuan from me? That's just trying to get something for nothing!"
As he spoke, Xu Lang got up, took 10,000 yuan from the shelf next to him, and threw it in front of Chui Shui Da.
"Uncle Da, I only lent you the money because I thought you were a good person. This is a one-time thing, please don't do it again!"
"Ah Lang, you're the best!"
When Chui Shui Da received the ten thousand yuan, he held it in his hands, very happy, but his appearance left Xu Lang speechless.
Ten thousand yuan was nothing to Xu Lang, so he lent it to him, but he had to express his gratitude.
You should know that, according to the memories of the previous body, the previous body accidentally learned that Chui Shui Da was an undercover agent in the police force, and a long-time undercover agent at that. Before Xu Lang transmigrated, he had watched several detective films starring Chui Shui Da. He never expected that he would be an undercover agent here. Wow!
Although Chui Shui Tat has now switched from Tung Sing to Hung Hing, he still occasionally provides him with information about cops and the underworld, so the two can be considered to be cooperating to some extent.
Maybe this 10,000 yuan could save my life. After all, having more friends means having more options!
Not long after, Chui Shui Da left happily.
Before Xu Lang could even get comfortable in his office again, two more women walked in.
One is the tomboyish Thirteen Sister, and the other is the pure and beautiful Arun.
"Brother Lang~"
Upon seeing Xu Lang, Thirteen Sister and Arun nodded and greeted him together.
Seeing the two of them, Xu Lang laughed and said, "What's going on? Your dad just left here, and you're here already? You two really are a family! Haha..."
Upon hearing this, Thirteen Sister immediately understood what was going on. She frowned and said, "Brother Lang, you know what's wrong with my dad. He must have borrowed money to gamble. Don't lend him any more money in the future!"
Thirteen Sister, of course, had no idea that the gambler father she mentioned was an undercover police officer; otherwise, she would have been greatly surprised.