Chapter 141 — Old Buffon's Origins

"Your boss? You're in the game too?" The underling was taken aback. Don't let it be a case of the flood washing over the Dragon King's temple—the biggest taboo in the underworld was infighting. If this really was one of their own, and the big bosses heard about it, there would surely be hell to pay.

Of course, "boss" here did not mean his own boss, but the heavyweight figures above—that is, the several underlings of Baolin and Houlin.

"I wouldn't call myself in the game. My boss is Yang Ce—know him?" Li Dagang said, taking a shot in the dark.

"Yang Ce? Who's that?" The underling was baffled. But there were too many small bosses in the gang to know them all, so he said, "Where's he based?"

The underling did not know him, but the leading thug shuddered all over, frightened out of his wits. He rushed over in two or three strides and gave his underling a kick. "Damn it, if there's no room, we go eat somewhere else! Who do you think you are, showing off?"

The underling went sprawling face-first, not knowing what was going on, when he heard his boss say to Li Dagang with great deference, "Brother, my apologies. My underling doesn't know any better—just wait till I get him home, I'll fix him good. Sorry to disturb your meal. This one's on me—I'll pay the bill."

"That won't be necessary. We haven't finished yet, and we'll be ordering more in a bit," Li Dagang said. He had not expected Yang Cenbin's name to carry such weight—a casual mention, and the matter was settled.

"No, no, I insist." The boss pulled out his wallet, took out five hundred yuan, and handed it to Old Wang, the barbecue stall owner. "I'm paying for these two brothers. Refund the difference or charge more as needed—here's five hundred as a deposit."

"No problem." Old Wang knew the boss and quickly took the five hundred. No matter how much two people ate at a barbecue, they could not put away five hundred yuan worth. And even if they did, Old Wang knew that a man of standing like the leading boss would never welch on the bill.

Lately, the thugs on Songjiang's streets had noticeably become more law-abiding—they paid for their meals and drinks, and there was much less trouble-making. Old Wang, who scraped by at the bottom of society, was fairly well-informed and knew that the underworld in Songjiang had changed. A relatively upright boss had risen to power and had imposed much stricter discipline on his men.

People in business only wanted stability. They did not much care about the monthly protection money—what they feared was these people taking the money and still eating and drinking on the house, which they could not afford.

The current situation gratified them. They paid the protection money of their own accord each month, and these underworld types really did fulfill a protective role. Moreover, they now operated very formally, nominally as security company guards maintaining order in the market.

With these people around, the riffraff in the market who welshed on bills and brawled had quieted down considerably. All things considered, it was the business people who benefited.

Seeing how solicitous the leading boss was, Li Dagang found it hard to decline further. He nodded. "Then I'll thank you."

"No need for thanks—we're all our own people," the leading boss said. "My name is Zhang Penbai. This whole night market area is my turf. If you ever need me, brother, just say the word."

Zhang Penbai had hesitated again and again before telling Li Dagang his name. If Li Dagang spoke ill of him in front of Yang Ce, he would be finished.

Then again, even if he did not tell him, as long as Yang Ce wanted to know, one casual inquiry about whose turf the night market was would reveal his name—which would be even worse. Better to confess outright. Who knew—perhaps through Yang Juehuan's connections he could climb another rung.

And this Zhang Penbai was the very Zhang Penbai from the Immortal Resort back then, who had been fired for ruining Sui Guangqi's good deed.

At the time, Yang Ce and Zhou Yanning's analysis had been correct: Sui Guangqi had directed two of Zhang Penbai's underlings to put on a little show, but he had never expected Zhang Penbai to barge in and botch the whole thing.

In a rage, Sui Guangqi fired Zhang Penbai. In his thirties and out of work, Zhang Penbai had lost his livelihood and had no other skills, so through a friend's introduction he came to Songjiang, attached himself to Baolin, joined the security company, and was assigned to work security at the night market's market management office.

Of course, that was the official title. Zhang Penbai was the captain of the night market security team. In reality he was just a watchman for the joint—only the wording had changed. But though it was only a change of wording, the meaning was entirely different: Zhang Penbai's work had gone from illegal to legal.

And those owners understood well enough what was going on. Ordinary security guards were not what they needed. It was Zhang Penbai and his crew who could swiftly smooth over their troubles when they arose, and only for that were they willing to open their wallets.

Though the work was not as idle as before, it was still not bad. At least the man he now followed was far more formidable than the last.

As for Yang Ce, the culprit behind all this, Zhang Penbai naturally paid him some attention. It was because of him that Zhang Penbai had lost his job, so he had to ask around about Yang Juehuan's background from every angle.

But one day, by sheer chance, Zhang Penbai saw the two bosses, Bao Lin and Hou Lin, both accompanying Yang Juehuan, the three of them laughing and talking together, and at once he abandoned any thought of revenge.

Anyone who could get two bosses to escort him about—how could he be an ordinary man? So Zhang Penbai immediately conceived a desire to forge a connection. After all, there was a small grudge between them; if he could make something of it, it might well become the ladder to his own success.

And it was precisely for this reason that when Zhang Penbai heard Li Dagang's boss was Yang Ce, he dared not be remiss, and hurried over to apologize.

"Brother Bai, my name is Li Dagang. I was Yang's high school classmate, and I ran with him back then too," Li Dagang said.

"Brother Gang, I won't disturb your drinking any longer. We'll talk another day. Oh, right—here's my card. Next time you come drinking here, be sure to call me." Zhang Penbai handed Li Dagang a business card, did not linger, and left with his underlings.

Once they were some distance away, the underling who had eaten dirt finally asked, trembling with fear, "Brother Bai, who is Yang Ce?"

"Fuck." Zhang Penbai slapped the underling again, then said, "Is Brother Yang's name something you call directly? He's a good friend of Brother Bao and Brother Hou."

"Ah! Then haven't I caused trouble?" The underling was no fool; hearing this, he asked anxiously.

"Didn't I just wipe your ass for you? Be sharper from now on, and stop stirring up trouble all the time," Zhang Penbai snorted.

"Thank you, Brother Bai." The underling said gratefully, "I won't dare kick up trouble again."

"Good that you know it. Let's go—find a place to drink and celebrate," Zhang Penbai said.

"Celebrate? Celebrate what?" the underling said, puzzled.

"Idiot. Isn't this a chance too? Maybe through Brother Gang just now I can get to know Brother Yang," Zhang Penbai said. Among those in the underworld, age did not matter—whoever was capable was called brother, so Zhang Penbai, over thirty as he was, felt nothing odd about calling Li Dagang brother.

Over there, meanwhile, Li Dadong was astonished beyond measure. Frowning, he pondered the conversation his cousin had just had with that Zhang Penbai.

Yang Ce—could it be the very Yang Ce he had met today?

"Little brother, this Yang Ce you mentioned—what does he do?" Li Dadong finally could not hold back and asked.