Xu Fatty glanced at Song Heping and said, "It's his wife's call."
After saying that, he hurriedly answered and started listening.
There was a pause, and then Xu Fatty began comforting Lao Gao's wife, "Sister-in-law, don't panic, why didn't you call the police?"
Listening for a while longer, Xu Fatty finally said, "I'll think of sothing."
Then, he hung up the phone.
Song Heping saw the look on his face wasn't good and quickly asked, "What happened?"
Xu Fatty said, "Lao Gao has been taken."
"Taken?" Song Heping asked, "By the court?"
Xu Fatty shook his head, "No, by so folks in society, An City's big shot, Brother Dabiao."
"Brother Dabiao?" Song Heping suddenly understood, "A thug, right?"
Xu Fatty nodded, "The city's biggest loan shark. Lao Gao's wife said he was detained in his company at noon. The police say it's an economic dispute and won't get involved..."
Song Heping said, "Let's go, take a look at Lao Gao's company."
Even though Song Heping knew that what the loan sharks were doing was illegal, that it was a case of unlawful detention.
But sotis, when it cos to economic disputes, things can get complicated.
Since he planned on letting Lao Gao take on the project, he might as well see things through to the end and help him out. He had to find out what was going on.
"Us, go?" Xu Fatty was clearly scared, "Brother Dabiao's people are not easy to ss with..."
"Who said anything about fighting?" Song Heping said, "We're going to reason with them. We can't just push people to a dead end, can we? Don't worry, I'll go see them. You just need to give a ride over."
"Okay!"
Xu Fatty clenched his teeth and turned to push out his Suzuki 125.
"Put on your helt. Let's go, hold on tight, I ride pretty wild!"
Song Heping chuckled inside.
Xu Fatty probably had no idea how "wild" special forces motorcycle training could get.
It took them an hour and a half to travel the few dozen kiloters from the county to the city.
Lao Gao's company was on Riverside Road in the developnt zone. The developnt area was new; most of the land there was still vacant and partly under construction, which made the place seem sowhat deserted.
Upon reaching the company's entrance, they saw a Crown 3.0 and a Sealion minivan parked at the door from a distance.
Xu Fatty quickly parked the bike.
"I'm not going over there. Look, there are people at the door."
Song Heping took a look at Lao Gao's company.
It was actually part of a newly constructed villa area. Lao Gao's company had presumably bought or leased one of the buildings for office use, a three-story structure of about four hundred square ters.
At the entrance stood two young n in jeans and suit jackets but wearing black long-sleeved T-shirts underneath. One had a tuft of hair dyed yellow at the front, and the other was bald. They clearly weren't good news.
Song Heping said, "Wait here for ; I'll go in by myself."
"Be careful."
With Xu Fatty's anxious words ringing in his ears, Song Heping walked straight toward the company's gate.
The two small-ti thugs were startled at first when they saw Song Heping, and only when he approached did they stop him.
"Who are you looking for?"
"Looking for Brother Dabiao."
Song Heping smiled and pointed upstairs, "My friend Lao Gao has been taken by your boss."
To soone who had seen life and death, thugs like them seed as harmless as kindergarten kids to Song Heping.
Even though the two tried to look ferocious, they didn't impose any presence in Song Heping's eyes.
Instead, the thugs started to feel that sothing was off.
Normally, any local who knew of Brother Dabiao would be trembling with fear. Yet the man in front of them, while dressed very ordinarily, just felt wrong standing there.
The one with the yellow hair felt as if there was a sharp knife pressed against his throat. He wanted to blow up, but feared that any sudden move might slash open his throat.
"Cough cough—"
Finally, he coughed twice and said, "Did Lao Gao send you to deliver the money?"
Song Heping nodded, "Sothing like that."
"You motherfucker, if it's yes, then say yes. If it's no, then say no. What do you an 'sothing like that'?"
The bald one was slightly tougher, feeling like if he didn't swear, he couldn't show off his strength.
"Don't fucking act all tough here. Did you bring the money or not?"
Song Heping spread his hands, "How can I know how much Lao Gao owes your Brother Dabiao? How could I bring it?"
"You didn't bring the money, what are you here for then? To deliver Lao Gao's coffin?!"
Seeing that Song Heping was not intimidated at all, the bald thug's wickedness rose to the edge of his courage, and he wanted to kick Song Heping.
But his feet seed unable to lift, let alone kick out.
Yellow Hair, beside him, sensed sothing was off and said to Baldy, "Should we ask Brother Dabiao if he can go up?"
Yellow Hair thought that might be a solution and glared at Song Heping, "Wait here for !"
With that, he turned and went upstairs.
Before long, Yellow Hair reappeared at the door.
"Brother Dabiao calls you up!"
Song Heping followed Yellow Hair all the way inside.
The company was empty, deserted. He walked through the first-floor office area, up the stairs to the third floor, and stopped in front of the largest room at the end of the corridor.
Yellow Hair shouted into the room, "Boss, I've brought the kid."
"Let him in."
A voice that sounded like it had been smoked through with cigarettes ca from inside, coarse and hoarse, as if the vocal cords were damaged.
Walking into the office, Song Heping faced a large executive chair; behind it on the wall hung a picture of an Eagle spreading its wings, with a few large characters written alongside it—"Soaring Ambitions."
Sitting on the executive chair was a person, and another was kneeling in front of the desk.
The person on the chair was round-waisted and broad-shouldered, wearing a black suit and black shirt without a tie, and his hair was cropped so short it couldn't be shorter, making his head resemble a hairy winter lon.
A large face that appeared to be in his forties was naturally flushed with the redness of rosacea, which from a traditional Chinese dicine perspective, indicated a fiery temper—often such people are impulsive, prone to anger, and combative.
The person kneeling on the ground had a thin build, with not a few white hairs on his combed-over hair and was wearing glasses. He was bowing deeply as he knelt, like a cat whose spine had been broken.
On closer inspection, Song Heping realized the kneeling man was Lao Gao, and beneath his knees were white porcelain shards.
It looked like soone had intentionally shattered a teacup for him to kneel on, torturing him...
Lao Gao, upon seeing Song Heping, was initially baffled and failed to recognize him.
Later, when he did recognize him, it was as if he were caught in a dream.
He had never expected that the one to co would be Song Heping!
Seeing Lao Gao's surprised expression, Brother Dabiao sitting in the executive chair sensed sothing was amiss.
"How so? A long-awaited reunion?"
Song Heping smiled and had to admit that Brother Dabiao, despite his rough exterior, was sharp-witted.
Being an experienced mber of the underworld society, those capable of being a boss undoubtedly had so tricks up their sleeve.
Song Heping went straight to Lao Gao without asking anyone and helped him up.
Lao Gao was afraid to stand, but with Song Heping's support, he was lifted as easily as a chick.
"CNM! What are you doing!"
"MLGB, who told you to get up!?"
"Looking for death, huh?"
The gangsters standing nearby suddenly started croaking like awakened frogs, and Song Heping felt as if he'd fallen into a frog pit.
However, he had no intention of taking these hoodlums seriously.
Frankly speaking, there were a total of eight people in the office.
In such a confined space, everywhere could serve as a weapon—for instance, the fountain pens on the desk could be used as knives, or the wooden paperweights could be grabbed and smacked over soone's head, knocking them out cold, not to ntion the decorative flagpole with its two tal rods as lethal weapons.
The question was whether Song Heping wanted to cause trouble.
If not, whether these people could survive was debatable.
In his eyes, the n around him were the epito of incompetence.
Yet, Brother Dabiao noticed the problem.
Song Heping's calmness exceeded his expectations.
"Shut up, all of you, be quiet!"
The room fell silent, like the master had stepped in and all the barking dogs suddenly fell mute.
Song Heping asked Lao Gao, "How much do you owe them?"
Lao Gao's head drooped, "One million, and with interest, a total of one million eight hundred thousand..."
Before he could finish, Brother Dabiao across the room cut him off, "Lao Gao, you got your numbers wrong. It's not one million eight hundred thousand, it's two million five hundred thousand!"
At this, Lao Gao suddenly lifted his head, his voice trembling, "Brother Dabiao, we agreed on one million eight hundred thousand, principal and interest included!"
With his legs crossed, Brother Dabiao replied with a smile, "That was two days ago. When the deadline passed two days ago, our rule is that each day overdue adds ten percent more to the sum. Today is the third day, and although it's not yet over, according to our rule, it counts."
He spoke casually, as if not talking about RMB, but Joss Paper.
"Brother Dabiao, my debt note doesn't say that..."
"It's the rule, understand?!"
Brother Dabiao still bore a triumphant look, utterly confident in his hold over Lao Gao.
Song Heping said, "Here's what we'll do. I don't have two million five hundred thousand, but one million eight hundred thousand will be fully paid tomorrow. We can't withdraw such a large sum from the bank right now, but tomorrow we can go to the bank and transfer the funds directly."
Brother Dabiao was montarily taken aback, then his expression darkened, "Then don't leave, stay here. No talk if you can't produce the money."
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