Chapter 66: The New Town!

Lately, Uncle Ben was in a thoroughly foul mood!
He ought to have been ecstatic, really.
Heh,
he had accidentally hooked up with a third-rate starlet boasting a killer figure and flawless skin, and they were right in the middle of their honeymoon.
...Yet trouble cropped up everywhere, and every single trouble involved Liu Haizhu, dragging Uncle Ben in to clean up the mess!
This monkey simply refused to give anyone peace of mind!
...
In the car on the way back,
Liu Haizhu vaguely probed Haozi about the backgrounds of the six men he had brought along.
Guo Minghao offered a mysterious smile and kept his lips sealed.
...
As night fell,
Liu Haizhu brought the Yingsi sisters back to the apartment.
After taking a shower,
this rascal began to hesitate, sitting nervously in the living room while smoking a cigarette.
His eyes, betraying his will, kept straying toward the ajar bedroom door.
...Should he go in, or the hell not?
Right at that moment,
"Get in here!"
A sweet yet chilling voice drifted out from the room. Overjoyed, the rascal grabbed his crotch and scuttled inside with a goofy grin.
...
On the bed,
the familiar warmth enveloped them.
Yingsi leaned against his chest and whispered softly, "Brother Zhu, I heard that down south on the mainland, husbands beat their wives, while up north, wives beat their husbands.
So tell me, Brother Zhu, where is your home?"
"My home... Hahaha..."
Liu Haizhu never had much brainpower to begin with. Faced with this ultimate trap question, he could do nothing but flash a silly smile.
Yingsi giggled. "Such a dork!"
...
"Creeeak!"
The door swung open.
Startled, Liu Haizhu bolted upright, only to be struck dumb a second later.
Little Niuniu, looking adorable as ever, hugged her sleeping-bag bear and strolled sluggishly to the bedside.
Without missing a beat,
she climbed right onto the bed and wedged herself between the two of them.
Little Niuniu shoved the sleeping-bag bear into her sister's arms, turned around to hug Liu Haizhu, and mumbled, "Brother-in-law, there's a big rat in my room, and I'm scared."
Unable to laugh or cry, Liu Haizhu patted her back gently. "Don't be scared, don't be scared. I'm here."
"Mm-hmm."
Luo Xiaoni rubbed her little head against his chest and whispered, "Brother-in-law, tell me a story. Whenever Daddy was around, he used to put me to sleep with stories."
Hearing this, Liu Haizhu felt a sting in his nose. The large hand comforting her froze mid-air, unable to come down.
He slowly turned to look at Yingsi, only to find the young woman's eyes reddening as well.
Liu Haizhu forced a grin through gritted teeth and gently patted little Niuniu. "You've got it pretty good already. When Brother-in-law was a little boy, life was so bitter—no toys, no pocket money, just stuck freezing on the mountains day in and day out."
Luo Niuniu widened her eyes in astonishment. "Wow, the mountains? What's up in the mountains?"
Liu Haizhu shrugged indifferently. "What could be there? Mountains, trees, flowers, grass, that's about it!"
"Huh?" The little girl tilted her head in confusion. "Then what did you do every day, Brother-in-law?"
"Me?" Liu Haizhu pondered for a moment before answering, "Every day I fought with tigers, big grey wolves, and giant pythons..."
"Wa-ga-ga!"
Delighted, little Niuniu clapped her hands and snuggled closer. "Brother-in-law is the strongest! So, are the giant pythons strong?"
"That thing," Liu Haizhu recalled, smacking his lips, "tasted amazing..."
Seeing the two of them like this, Yingsi reached out to rest her hand on them, listening quietly with a faint, gentle smile on her face.
...
Tuen Mun, behind Queen's Bar.
The crisscrossing alleys were crammed with rows of storefronts.
In every shop glowing with pink neon lights, at least seven or eight women stood outside.
They lightly lifted the hems of their dresses, waving incessantly to solicit customers.
...
In the dark alleys,
one could frequently spot wasted "opium fiends" sniffing their running noses, sweeping their hollow gazes across the street.
Inside those enclosed rooms behind dim, yellowish lights, the cramped spaces were thick with heavy smoke.
In the room,
under the glaring light bulbs, gamblers stared with dead focus at the dealer's dice cup, terrified to even blink!
As the saying goes:
Life and death are ordained by fate, wealth and honor are up to heaven—you've gotta roll the dice to win!
...
In the tenement building behind the bar's courtyard,
Guo Minghao, Broken-Finger Song, Yang Peng, Le Yizai—virtually everyone had gathered here.
...
This building had three floors with six rooms on each, and the main hall was divided by makeshift scaffolds, appearing extremely crude.
Struggling to scrape by? Down here, nobody cared about that. Everyone sat or stood in silence, listening intently to the voice of a single man in the center of the room.
Le Yizai spoke up: "Tuen Mun is divided into six districts: the New Town, Lambda, Tai Lam Chung, Siu Lam, So Kwun Wat, Lung Kwu Tan, and Lan Kwok Tsui.
Right now, the most troublesome is the New Town, which belongs to the Big Boss. Wo Shing Sit occupies Lambda, and Lung Kwu Tan is held by the Big Circle Gang for smuggling. As for Lan Kwok Tsui, it borders Fat Boy黎's territory in North Point, and he won't give it up!"
"As for Siu Lam, it used to be Brother Chi-wai's turf, but he pulled out after Boss Haizhu conquered Tuen Mun," Broken-Finger Song added.
...
"So you're saying,"
Old Wan glanced at Big Song, "Tuen Mun belongs to us on the surface, but in reality, all four major triads have turfs here. Is that the right way to understand it?"
*Swish!*
Every gaze in the room snapped toward Broken-Finger Song!
"That's right!"
Broken-Finger Song nodded in response. He swept his gaze across the room once more—a bunch of punks, talking about major triad affairs?!
Did they all think they were Boss Haizhu or something???
...
Big Song pulled out a cigarette case and flicked a lighter to spark one up.
Old Wan smiled warmly at Guo Minghao and chuckled, "This is getting interesting. I haven't even figured out how to touch the bird's nest and shark fin on their tables yet,
and these bastards are already eyeing the pickled turnips in my bowl?"
Turning his head to Guo Minghao, Old Wan asked calmly, "...Xiao Hao, what do you think we should do about this?"
Guo Minghao frowned. "Among these four major triads, who is the strongest?"
Le Yizai looked at Brother Song and, seeing his unsightly expression, spoke up. "That's definitely the Big Boss. He has the most desperate desperadoes under his command."
Guo Minghao declared: "We hit the New Town!"
*Swish!*
He stood up and issued the order: "We strike tonight!"
*Clatter!*
The six men who had accompanied him rose expressionlessly and fell in line behind him.
Old Wan pointed at Broken-Finger Song and instructed, "You make the arrangements." Then, turning to Le Yizai with a smile, he said, "You stay here, uncle and nephew like us can have some fun."
...
After the crowd dispersed,
the lighting in the room grew somewhat ambiguous.
Blushing and clutching his crotch, Le Yizai broke out in a cold sweat. "Grand-uncle, having 'fun'... um, what does that mean exactly? How are we going to have fun?"
...
Three cars
pulled out of Queen's Bar one after another, speeding toward the New Town.
Tonight,
Guo Minghao, fresh off the boat, would lead his six brothers to officially make their presence known, starting with the New Town!
...
Speaking of the New Town, one cannot avoid mentioning the Big Boss—what on earth did he actually do for a living?
The answer, of course, was gambling and underground bare-knuckle boxing.
His main stronghold was the Kowloon Walled City, and in the northern corner of the Walled City sat seven large fighting rings, controlled by the Walled City Boxing Ring Brokerage Company.
The Big Boss was the supreme boss of this company.
Every weekend,
Hongkong's expatriates, wealthy young heirs, rich widows, and kingpins from all walks of life would bring their private bodyguards to this venue.
To them, money was perhaps nothing more than a number.
The sound of flesh colliding, blood splashing on the spot, this sensory thrill combined with the addictive rush of gambling—
that was the exclusive joy belonging solely to the rich!
Of course, inside the ring,
many low-ranking triad soldiers, Four-Nine members, and even Red Poles would temporarily step up to fight a few matches when driven mad by poverty.
After all, winning meant taking home twenty percent of the total betting profits, not to mention extra tips tossed by infatuated wealthy women.
Perhaps,
if they caught the eye of some wealthy boss or high-society socialite, they could fundamentally alter the trajectory of their lives.
Naturally,
if they lost, well, they lost.
And the vast majority of fighters who lost ended up dead on the canvas!