Chapter 560 — Trouble at Kang Xiaobo's Home

"Young Master Bing was at it with three girls till the middle of the night. He's not up yet," Li Cihua said offhandedly. Zhong Fabai counted as one of their own now, so Cihua felt no need to watch his words.

"Heh heh, Young Master Bing is a real marvel! That kind of stamina—we can only look on and sigh!" Zhong Fabai stuck up a thumb, slipping in the flattery without batting an eye.

"Naturally. Who do you take Young Master Bing for?" Li Cihua smiled faintly. "Brother Zhong, have you come to him about something?"

"My business needn't trouble Young Master Bing. Having Brother Cihua speak for me is more than enough!" Zhong Fabai laid on the flattery.

"Tell me what it is, then." Li Cihua did not let the flattery puff him up; he went straight to the point.

"Brother Cihua, this time Gu Pengzhan bullied me right over my head. You have to stand up for me!" Zhong Fabai sat down on the sofa facing Li Cihua, his voice sharp and stern. "I count as one of Young Master Bing's men now, more or less. As the saying goes, even to beat a dog you must first ask its master. He has simply gone too far!"

"Oh? What has Gu Pengzhan done?" Li Cihua asked mildly.

"My son Zhong Yongliang was only courting his daughter Gu Mengyao, and the man had him seized and a kidney cut out! Isn't that too savage of Gu Pengzhan? He has not the slightest regard for Brother Cihua or Young Master Bing!" Zhong Fabai said, quivering with indignation.

"Wait—what did you say? A kidney cut out?" Li Cihua was taken aback. Any other matter might plausibly be laid at Gu Pengzhan's door, but cutting out a kidney was a bit too outlandish. And the moment Zhong Fabai mentioned a kidney, Li Cihua thought of someone else entirely. "You're certain it was Gu Pengzhan?"

"Well... there is no proof yet, but it must be him!" Zhong Fabai wailed. "My son told me the man who cut out his kidney warned him to stay far away from Gu Pengzhan from then on, or he would take his life! It has to be Gu Pengzhan's doing!"

"I see..." Li Cihua nodded. "All right, go on home for now. Once Young Master Bing is up, I'll talk it over with him and see how we handle it."

Li Cihua was a smooth man; he would never make Zhong Fabai any outright promise, even if Zhong Fabai was one of their own now.

"Brother Cihua, you can't just wash your hands of it—Gu Pengzhan has gone too far this time!" Seeing that Li Cihua's manner was neither warm nor cold, and that he had committed himself neither way, Zhong Fabai grew anxious. If Li Cihua would not take it up, then to go head-to-head with Gu Pengzhan on his own would be certain defeat.

"I understand. If this truly was done at Gu Pengzhan's bidding, Young Master Bing will certainly stand up for you," Li Cihua said mildly, though the implication was that if it had nothing to do with Gu Pengzhan, then nothing could be done. Young Master Bing had long been hungering after the Gu family fortune; even without this business of Zhong Fabai's, he meant to move against Gu Pengzhan sooner or later. So at a moment like this, why not hand out a favor that cost him nothing?

"All right. Then I'll go home and wait for good news from Young Master Bing and Brother Cihua!" Zhong Fabai knew that saying more now was useless; everything would have to wait until Young Master Bing woke up.

Something great had lately befallen the Kang household. Someone had come to the family teahouse.

Kang Xiaobo had wanted to find Wei Zhao, but Wei Zhao had gone to Yanjing, and whether he had returned, Kang Xiaobo had no way of knowing. He did not care to disturb Wei Zhao either, so he had no choice but to grit his teeth and handle it himself.

Kang Xiaobo's father was an educated man who had always done business honestly, and his business had done rather well. So though the Kang family was no great fortune, they lived in comfortable prosperity. And then all that quiet was shattered.

From the day, a month ago, when another teahouse and leisure club opened across from the Kang family's teahouse, the Kang teahouse had not known a single day of peace.

The Kang teahouse had stood for many years and was an old name in these parts, so it drew no small crowd, while the new place naturally had far fewer guests. Its owner, Zhang Baji, therefore got some crooked ideas into his head and brought in thugs from the underworld to harass the Kang teahouse day in and day out, until it could do no more business.

Old brand or not, the Kang teahouse could not withstand a pack of red-haired, green-haired, yellow-haired louts hollering back and forth inside every day. A teahouse is meant to be a place of quiet refinement, and most who came were couples and men of business. With these thugs in there playing cards and gambling, who could bear it?

Yet strangely enough, though these thugs made an uproar in the teahouse, they did nothing else. Even if Father Kang wanted to call the police, there was no way to touch them! They were customers, and they had come to drink tea—only that a single pot of tea lasted them the whole day!

As for the card playing, the teahouse did provide free chess and card tables in the first place; it was merely that these men played too fiercely and raised their voices a little. Put plainly, they were consumers. Never mind how they behaved; they had paid their money to spend here.

So Father Kang knew perfectly well he had offended someone, and yet he had no temper to show for it. Watching the teahouse's takings dwindle day by day, there was nothing he could do. The money these petty thugs spent on tea did not even cover the daily expenses.

He held on for a month, but Father Kang truly could hold on no longer. He wanted to change the situation—yet what he had not expected was that the other side would come knocking at his door. And Zhang Baji did not come alone; with him came a man of real consequence in Songshan City.

Father Kang had heard this big man's name as well. Seeing him arrive together with Zhang Baji, he understood at once what had been behind everything at his teahouse.

"President Kang, you and I are in the same trade. We've never met, but I have long admired your name!" Zhang Baji greeted Father Kang warmly the moment he stepped inside. "Come, let me introduce a friend. This is President Zou of Tiandi Entertainment Company, and this is his eldest son, Zou Ruoguang, who is the man in our North District underworld. If you're ever in trouble, President Kang, you can go to him! Solid connections!"

With that, Zhang Baji raised his thumb, and Father Kang could not help but frown. Was this not a threat laid bare? Yet in the face of such people, Father Kang had not the least temper. He was no child; he knew the rules of society. These men had power, and they were openly bullying him. What could he possibly do about it?

"President Zou, President Zhang, might I ask what brings the two of you here—to drink tea, or to compare notes on business?" Angry as he was, Father Kang knew these were men he could not afford to offend, so he spoke with neither servility nor defiance.

"Fuck you, you deserve to die! What do you mean, 'the two of you'? Am I not standing right here? Or are you saying I'm not a person?" Zou Tiandi and Zhang Baji said nothing; it was Zou Ruoguang at the side who blew up first. He slammed the table and began cursing Father Kang, the blow shaking a whole set of Jingdezhen porcelain off the table to shatter on the floor.

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