"Brother Lei, Brother Yu, you’re here."
Seeing the two of them, Liu Hanjun got up, walked over, and stood behind them.
"Bringing so many people again... by the looks of it, you really don’t want me to stay in business," Lin Jiang said unhurriedly.
"We’ll talk about our business in a minute."
Zhang Tianlei looked at all the cooks and servers in the noodle shop.
"Put your phones away. If I see a single one of you take one out, don’t blame me for what happens next."
Zhang Tianlei was well aware that this was an era of public opinion.
If anyone recorded this and posted it online, it would bring him a world of trouble.
So after coming in, he first scanned the noodle shop and relaxed a bit when he saw there were no outsiders.
"Han Jun, go unplug the shop’s security cameras. I’m going to have a good long talk with him."
"Got it, Brother Lei."
Moving quickly, Liu Hanjun and a few of his men unplugged all the power cords for the noodle shop’s security cameras.
"Brother Jiang, they’re going too far," one of the other cooks in the shop said, unable to watch any longer.
"Don’t worry about it. Just let them do their thing for now."
"Got it."
Seeing Lin Jiang back down, the Zhang Brothers’ confidence swelled. Now they didn’t have to hold back.
"What’s the meaning of this? This is just blatant bullying."
"So what if we’re fucking bullying you!"
Zhang Tianyu stepped forward and shoved Lin Jiang, pointing at him and saying:
"You wanted to play gangster with us, right? Come on, let’s see who’s the tough guy here."
As he spoke, Zhang Tianlei shoved the computer on the counter over, saying arrogantly:
"You sent all those people to cause trouble at our billiards hall, and you really thought we’d be scared of you? You think we’ve been in this game for years for nothing?"
"I don’t know what you’re talking about. But, I do know why you’re here."
As he spoke, Lin Jiang walked back to the counter.
"Counting the cash I’ve taken in these past few days, it’s not even sixty thousand yuan in total. It’s all yours. Just don’t come looking for trouble with me anymore."
Zhang Tianyu reached for the money, but Zhang Tianlei stopped him.
"Be careful. Make him write a note saying this money is a voluntary gift."
"You’re right, big bro. You think of everything."
"Fine, I’ll write it now."
Lin Jiang returned to the counter, took out a pen and paper, and wrote a note stating it was a voluntary gift.
"Go ahead and take the money," Zhang Tianlei said.
No one in the noodle shop was recording, the security cameras were disabled, and he had even written a note declaring it a gift. There was no reason not to take the money now.
Zhang Tianyu took the money and, out of habit, bounced the stack in his hand.
"I’m telling you, even though you’ve paid up, you still have to agree to our terms. Either let us buy in as partners or let us franchise."
"Fine. I’ll write up an authorization for you now. Then you can open a branch wherever you want."
"If you were going to be this cooperative, you should have just done it from the start."
Lin Jiang went back to the counter again and began writing the authorization with a serious look on his face.
"Brother Jiang, are you really going to give them an authorization?" Li Yuanyuan asked nervously.
"Write my ass. I’m just messing with them."
"What do we do now? I feel like they’re about to get violent. If it comes to it, we should call the police," Li Yuanyuan said in a low voice.
"No need. The police will be here on their own soon enough."
"Huh?"
"You guys just sit back and enjoy the show. Don’t worry about any of this."
"Okay."
The Zhang Brothers sat down at an empty table nearby, and Zhang Tianlei lit a cigarette.
"Good thing I was thorough and had Han Jun unplug the cameras. Otherwise, we really would’ve fallen into his trap."
"The older the ginger, the spicier it is. You’re amazing, Brother Lei," Liu Hanjun said, flattering him.
"Once we get his authorization, we can open our own shop. The money will just flow right into our pockets."
"That’s for sure, haha..."
SCREEECH—
"Nobody move!"
Just as the two brothers were feeling smug, the shop door was suddenly thrown open, and a shout made them jump.
They turned to see that the people who came in were police officers!
The two brothers exchanged a look, neither of them panicked.
They figured Lin Jiang must have been the one to call the police.
But without any evidence, even the police couldn’t do anything to them.
"You two have some nerve, bringing this many people here. Come with us!" a police officer said with a stern expression.
"Officer, we haven’t done anything. Where would we be going with you?" Zhang Tianlei wasn’t flustered at all; he even chuckled.
"Collecting protection money and trying to force a franchise deal, and you have the nerve to say you haven’t done anything?"
The two brothers glanced at each other, their hearts involuntarily starting to race.
"We didn’t collect any protection money. He gave us this money as a voluntary gift. That should be legal, right?" Zhang Tianlei said calmly.
"Do you really think you’re so clever?"
The officer looked gravely at Zhang Tianlei. "We know your every move. The evidence is conclusive. Arguing is useless now."
Both brothers were completely baffled. Not knowing what was going on, they subconsciously looked toward Lin Jiang.
They saw Lin Jiang holding up his phone, facing the Zhang Brothers, and saying with a smile:
"So sorry. Unplugging the cameras was useless. I’m a livestreamer."
"Livestream..."
Their minds went blank, and their legs gave out from under them.
They never would have imagined that he had secretly hidden another phone and livestreamed the entire scene!
"Now you two should understand what’s going on. Operating as a gang, suspected of blackmail and extortion. Come with us."
"Wait!"
Lin Jiang stopped the police officer.
"Officer, they just smashed my computer. It’s connected to the cash register. I’m guessing he was definitely trying to rob me," Lin Jiang said.
"Also, they drove here. I suspect he was driving drunk."
"We will investigate that," the officer said.
"You’ll have to come with us too. We need your cooperation on this matter."
"You got it."
Lin Jiang gave Li Yuanyuan a few instructions, then left with the police.
On the way to the police station, he sent a message to Yang Tao.
With things handled to this extent, this part of the affair was over. They could call it a day.
At the same time, a game notification appeared.
[Elite Mob Defeated: Reward Baji Fist (Beginner), 100,000 cash]
Lin Jiang smiled.
The appearance of the game notification meant that this matter was truly settled, with no further complications.
By the time Lin Jiang returned, it was already past five in the evening. Other than the smashed computer, the noodle shop was unaffected and business hadn’t been interrupted.
"Brother Jiang, is everything taken care of?"
Seeing Lin Jiang return, Yang Tao, Li Yuanyuan, and the others came forward to ask.
"They’ll be put away for a few years. You don’t have to worry about them anymore."
"What goes around, comes around," Li Yuanyuan said.
"It’s mainly because Brother Jiang is on another level. Those two idiots got played for fools," Yan Ming said.
"By the way, Sister Lin came by this afternoon. She found out what happened at the shop and was really worried about you. She’s waiting for you downstairs."
That afternoon, Xu Lin had come to a shop nearby and wanted to drop by the noodle shop for a meal as well. When she found Lin Jiang wasn’t there, she learned the whole story from Li Yuanyuan.
She immediately sent Lin Jiang a message and was only relieved after hearing that everything was fine.
"I know. She messaged me this afternoon."
After giving a few more instructions, Lin Jiang went downstairs and found Xu Lin.
"You must have been worried waiting."
"With something this big happening, how could I not be worried?" Xu Lin said.
"It’s all taken care of, right? What’s the sentence?"
"I don’t know the specifics of the sentence, but either way, they won’t be getting out anytime soon." Lin Jiang glanced at his watch.
"It’s getting late, don’t you have to go pick up your kid? You don’t have to worry about me."
"My mom missed him, so she went and picked Xuanxuan up."
"I just thought of something."
"What is it?"
"I have a cat at my place that can do a backflip. Wanna come see it?"

Comments

Loading...