Chapter 36: You Need Money To Be A Boss
Chen Wujun entered the dog meat restaurant from last time and saw Sha Jiu, Ji Xiang, A Hao, Hua Zai Rong, and Kai Lun sitting around a steaming hot pot.
There were also quite a few henchmen sitting at the surrounding tables, all looking toward him.
“Sister Sha Jiu!”
“Jun Zai, come sit! It’s so late, I’m a bit hungry.” Sha Jiu waved to Chen Wujun.
“Jun Zai, you were so prestigious today! One against more than a dozen, your reputation shot up instantly. Who would dare look down on you from now on?” Ji Xiang was full of enthusiasm.
Chen Wujun sat in an empty seat and placed a bag of money by Sha Jiu’s feet.
“From the casino.”
Then he took bowl and chopsticks from the boss, along with a dish of fermented tofu chili sauce.
“Smells so good, I’m just hungry.”
“Your wrist is injured? I have liniment!” Kai Lun immediately noticed that Chen Wujun’s left hand wasn’t being used much, with his wrist red and swollen.
“Minor thing, I have ointment at home. It’ll be fine after applying some.” Chen Wujun smiled and reached into the hot pot with his chopsticks to fish out dog meat.
He was indeed hungry.
“There won’t be any trouble tonight. Have Cun Bao take men to guard it. Wen Long was caught off guard and couldn’t even organize his men.” Sha Jiu said while eating hot pot.
“Li Dong won’t let it go easily, right?” A Hao said while eating.
“The other guys have mobilized men, but they won’t easily get involved. Otherwise, that Elephant guy would have an opportunity! That guy’s got problems in his head, always fighting to the death.” Sha Jiu didn’t care:
“Wen Long will borrow men to counterattack a few waves. Just hold the line.”
“Cun Bao will take men to guard there tonight. Tomorrow, A Hao and Hua Zai Rong, you two go help too…”
“We’ll discuss merits and rewards after everything settles.”
“Jun Zai, you gained a lot of face this time. Ah Fei and Curry will take men to help you first. These few days, you don’t need to do anything—just bring men and wait for the telephone.”
Chen Wujun nodded; he understood Sha Jiu’s meaning.
This time war broke out, and Ji Xiang, A Hao, Cun Bao, and others all contributed men and effort, spending quite a bit.
Even if Sha Jiu wanted to push him up, his own contribution wasn’t enough to silence the naysayers.
So these days, he still had to bring men and wait. If Wen Long brought men to counterattack, he still had to bring men to support.
This also made Chen Wujun feel more that giving some benefit to pull in Ah Fei and Curry tonight was right.
……
Meanwhile, other nearby henchmen saw Chen Wujun eating at the same table with Sha Jiu, Ji Xiang, A Hao, and others, knowing the boss wanted to push him up.
Some felt he lacked qualifications and seniority. Though no one said it, they couldn’t help feeling jealous.
After finishing hot pot, Chen Wujun greeted Sha Jiu, then had Ah Fei arrange the men, and returned to the dance hall, where there weren’t many guests inside now.
“How did it go? The fight outside was fierce earlier. You weren’t hurt, right? So much blood on you?” A Yue was startled upon seeing Chen Wujun return, spotting bloodstains on him under the dim lights.
But upon checking, it was all someone else’s blood.
“All someone else’s. Let’s go!” Chen Wujun took A Yue back to their place, and upon entering the room, he first hugged A Yue and rolled onto the bed.
Clothes were continuously thrown aside.
Tonight’s fight to the death made his desire burn even stronger.
“Hiss—” Chen Wujun accidentally supported himself with his left hand, immediately feeling intense pain in his wrist.
A Yue pushed his chest to press him down, sat on him, and looked at him with seductive eyes.
……
After a long time, the room quieted down. Chen Wujun lay there resting for a moment before getting up to get the ointment and apply it to his wrist.
The ointment was from the martial arts school, two kinds total: one for external injuries, one for promoting blood circulation and removing stasis—much better than the ointments sold outside.
Moments after applying the ointment, Chen Wujun felt a cool sensation on his wrist, and the pain eased considerably.
Lying on the bed, he began reflecting on everything that happened today.
Scenes of the fight to the death flashed through his mind.
“In the alley, several times triangle step into kneeling step could have dodged the clubs, but without experience, I charged to kill one then retreated, wasting opportunities and stamina…”
“Fight to the death is the best teacher. Next time, I can do better!”
After going over today’s events once, Chen Wujun felt his body recover a bit and began to stir again.
……
The next morning at 5 a.m., Chen Wujun got out of bed, tested his wrist, and felt it was better—at least not as painful as yesterday, and he could do some simple movements.
He first went to the rooftop guard wall and stood in stance training for half an hour.
Then back to their place, he had A Yue go downstairs to buy instant noodles and some beef.
After eating, Chen Wujun took out 4000 bucks and said to A Yue, “Go find a place to live today! Somewhere close by.”
“Not for your dad or younger brother. I might stay there!”
After taking out this money, Chen Wujun had only fourteen thousand left on him, and that was because he’d gotten money from Sha Jiu these two months.
He could only buy two magnetic field crystals, enough for 12 days.
Luckily, there were more opportunities now.
After eating, Chen Wujun went to the martial arts school to practice kung fu.
“Today, besides stance training, just practice footwork. Do you know what’s most important when going out to do things?” Senior Brother Li said slowly while sipping tea.
Clearly, he knew what happened last night.
“What?”
“Running fast! When clashing, be joy in battle, invincible. But if the situation turns bad, run faster than the others!” Senior Brother Li guided patiently.
Chen Wujun felt Senior Brother Li made a lot of sense.
“What kung fu does Senior Sister Sha Jiu use?” Chen Wujun imitated Sha Jiu’s movements from yesterday. Though he’d only seen it once, the turning, spinning, flipping, and twisting were imitated vividly.
“Sister’s using Swimming Dragon Palm.” After watching a few times, Senior Brother Li said, “Pre-battle it’s called turning palm, Eight Trigram Palm, Roaming Eight Trigram Palm. It’s said to have circulated widely, but almost all the important combat content was lost.”
“Later with magnetic field crystals, predecessors sorted out part of Eight Trigram Palm content, added and modified some, and it became Swimming Dragon Palm.”
“Though it retains some pre-battle Eight Trigram Palm style, it’s completely different now.”
“Master told you, kung fu divides into external martial arts and internal martial arts, right? This Swimming Dragon Palm is one of the internal martial arts.”
Chen Wujun memorized everything Senior Brother Li said.
At three in the afternoon, Chen Wujun left the martial arts school and went to the largest gambling den they’d seized yesterday.
The gambling den wasn’t open these few days, half-shut.
After pulling open the door and going in, he saw Curry lying on the gambling table, humming a song.
“Treading gray tracks… all abyss water shadows… I’ve shouldered a body of bitter silhouette and sighs…”
“Brother Jun!”
Several henchmen nearby stood up.
Chen Wujun nodded and walked to the gambling table: “Curry, what song is that?”
He thought it sounded pretty good.
Curry sat up from the gambling table.
“Brother Jun, it’s Gray Track! That movie from a couple months ago, C’est la vie, mon chéri. You didn’t see it? It was a big hit! This song’s from it.”
Though the movie protagonist was just a fringe henchman, the plot really hit home for these jianghu people.
“Didn’t see it!”
“Get me a disc later…” Chen Wujun said.
A couple months ago, he had no money to see movies.
But his place had a secondhand television and secondhand disc player for watching discs, usually to watch recorded police news.
He stayed at the gambling den until evening, then pulled 300 bucks from his pocket and tossed it on the table.
“Buy Four Treasure Rice per head, from Li’s preserved meat! Tell the boss to load up the toppings!”
Spending 300 bucks on a meal still hurt Chen Wujun a bit.
‘To be a boss, not only do what a boss should, but must have money.’
‘Only with money can you be a boss!’
……
Around seven in the evening, Chen Wujun got a call from an unknown number.
“Hello? Hello?”
“Wait!” Signal was bad in the gambling den; Chen Wujun couldn’t hear clearly, so he pulled out the antenna on the telephone.
This time he could hear clearly; the call was from A Hao.
“Jun Zai, bring men to Elder Street, Yong Fa Building here!”
“Right away!” Chen Wujun hung up and swept his gaze around.
“Grab your gear, to Elder Street!”
The henchmen grabbed knives and iron rods.
Chen Wujun had someone hold his knife while he took two steel pipes and taped them to his left arm.
His left wrist wasn’t as painful now, but still couldn’t exert force, so he came up with this method.
Then he took the knife from Curry.
“Go!”
The group filed out of the casino.
