Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 115 First Move
Not far from the Mona Lisa Restaurant.

A yellow minivan was parked by the roadside. Inside the driver's seat sat a thin, dark-skinned man with a rat tattooed on the back of his neck. He had a cigarette without a filter in his mouth and blew a smoke ring.

The man in the passenger seat, with a small braid, was also puffing on his cigarette, muttering, "This guy's pretty capable, delivering vegetables to pretty good places. I've only ever eaten at Quanjude, never been to any other places."

The tattooed man, his nose running from the cold, kept sniffling: "Brother Braid, we're pretty much done here, why don't we go back?" He hadn't even earned his share of the money for the day's wedding, and he'd just been aimlessly following the truck.

"Can't you blow your nose, you bastard? This is something Brother Liu ordered us to do. If you delay Brother Liu's important business, you'll be sorry." Xiao Bian cursed, and seeing the green Jiefang truck start, he threw the half-smoked cigarette butt out of the window: "Rat, hurry up and chase after it, don't lose it. Otherwise, we won't be able to explain to Master Liu."

"Don't worry, I'm not good at fighting, but I'm great at driving." Mouse gave a thumbs up, looking smug.

"Stop bragging about yourself! Hurry up and catch up with him," Xiao Bian urged.

The minivan started up and followed behind the Jiefang truck. Xiao Bian reminded him from behind, "Mouse, slow down, don't get too close."

With a cigarette dangling from his mouth, Haozi didn't hesitate to speak, "Don't worry, I understand. Don't follow too closely, as long as we don't get lost, we'll make sure they don't notice us."

"Good lad, that's right. Don't keep thinking about that measly fare. Once this is over, you'll get your share of the benefits."

"Brother Braid, what's the point of following these vegetable growers? What did they do to offend Master Liu?"

“These vegetable growers are from out of town. They’re selling vegetables at high prices on Master Liu’s turf without even greeting him. Don’t you think they don’t know the rules? Shouldn’t we teach them a lesson?”

"Brother Braid is right, people need to know the rules. When I was young, I didn't know the rules either, and I suffered a lot because of it."

Xiao Bian glared at him: "How old are you? Trying to act all mature in front of me!"

As they were talking, the green light turned red, the yellow van stopped, and the Jiefang truck drove past the intersection.

"Hey, stop talking and drive carefully, or you'll get lost!"

"Let's wait for another round. Running a red light now would be more conspicuous," Mouse said, pulling out another cigarette and putting it in his mouth. "Don't worry, Brother Braid, we can keep up."

The light turned green, and the mouse stepped on the gas and sped off, chasing after the truck in front.

Xiao Bian stared intently at the truck in the distance: "Hey, it's turning, it's going into Guanghua Road!"

The yellow van was stopped at the intersection by a red light again. The man with the braided hair snapped, "Are you even capable? Didn't you claim to be the best driver around here? I knew you were just bragging!"

Mouse's face turned bright red. The light turned green, and he stepped on the gas and turned onto Guanghua Road. After driving for a while, he saw a Jiefang truck parked on the side of the road.

"This is the car!"

The van was parked not far away. Xiao Bian didn't see anyone get out of the truck or carry vegetables, so he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.

Mouse looked around: "Brother Braid, there are two restaurants around here, one of which has really authentic meat pies with door nails. It's almost noon, have they gone to eat?"

Xiao Bian shoved Haozi: "Get out of the car and take a look."

The mouse got off the truck, looked into the truck bed but saw no one, then glanced into the driver's cab but saw no one there either.

He circled the car, and seeing that the passenger door wasn't closed properly, he smiled and waved to the man with the braid in the van behind.

Xiao Bian got out of the van and saw Haozi crawl into the passenger seat of the truck: "Damn, how did this thing get in?" Xiao Bian jogged over.

Mouse grinned at him, waving a few foreign exchange certificates in his hand: "Brother Braid, look what this is."

Xiao Bian's eyes widened, a bad feeling creeping over her.

The next moment, he suddenly heard footsteps, quickly turned his head, and saw three people rushing towards him with wooden sticks.

Xiao Bian was startled and quickly reached into his pocket, pulling out a black dagger. But before he could draw it from its sheath, the leader swung a wooden stick at him.

"Bang!" The wooden stick struck his wrist, causing him to cry out in pain, "Ah!" and the dagger fell from his hand.

Three wooden sticks were used to beat Xiao Bian, who cried out in pain. She protected her head but not her legs and turned to run away.

Li Zhe tripped him with a sweeping kick, then swung the wooden stick in his hand and beat him mercilessly. The boy with the braid cried out in pain, "Damn it, stop hitting me!"

Iron rods are powerful and can easily kill people, while wooden sticks don't have as many drawbacks.

"You dare to swear!" Li Zhe retaliated even more fiercely, striking Zhao Tiezhu's cheek with the stick. Zhao Tiezhu then kicked Xiao Bian several times.

Liang Weiguo hit the rat's legs a few times with a wooden stick, then grabbed its ankle, yanked it off, and smashed it over its head, yelling, "You dare touch my car? You're asking for trouble..."

The small mouse was no match for the club and quickly covered its head with its hands. The stick struck its arms and shoulders, making it howl in pain, "Stop hitting me! I give up! Stop hitting me!"

Half an hour later, Xiao Bian and Haozi were taken to Jianguomen Police Station with their hands tied behind their backs.

Li Zhe first went into the lobby and found Bai Xiaoyan, who was on duty: "Officer Bai, are you busy?"

Bai Xiaoyan looked up in surprise: "Mr. Li, what brings you here?"

"We caught two thieves and brought them here." "Wow, did you learn this from Aunt Wang?" Bai Xiaoyan was both amused and exasperated.

“I can’t compare to Aunt Wang. She acted bravely and righteously, and set a good example. I was the one who got robbed.” Li Zhe waved his hand and continued, “We were delivering vegetables to a restaurant today and stopped by the roadside for a meal. We had just stopped the car when we saw two people loitering around it. In the blink of an eye, one of them climbed into the driver’s seat and stole several hundred foreign exchange certificates and more than a thousand yuan from us.”

"Wow, that's a lot of money. Take me to see it." Bai Xiaoyan got up and walked out.

Li Zhe asked in a low voice, "Is Director Wei here?"

"Wei is in the first office on the second floor. I'll take you up there in a bit." Bai Xiaoyan walked into the lobby and saw two thieves with their hands tied behind their backs.

Seeing that the two men had been beaten black and blue, Bai Xiaoyan frowned: "You did this?"

Li Zhe looked terrified: "Officer Bai, they had knives on them, we were acting in self-defense."

Xiao Bian retorted, "Officer Bai, don't listen to his nonsense! They attacked first! I drew the knife to defend myself, and it was knocked away before I could even draw it. They deliberately beat me!"

Mouse said angrily, "That's right! Those three bastards were really ruthless, they almost beat me to death! My legs hurt so much I can't stand up." After saying that, Mouse sat down on the ground in the police station.

Bai Xiaoyan recognized the two men and said, "Well, they're probably repeat offenders." She told her colleague, "Lock them up first, check their identities, and confiscate their tools."

He then gestured for Li Zhe to follow him upstairs.

Upon reaching the second floor, Bai Xiaoyan knocked on the door of the director's office and came out after only a few words: "Director Wei invites you in; I'm going downstairs to take care of something."

"Thank you for your hard work, Officer Bai." Li Zhe pushed open the office door and greeted Chief Wei with a smile as he entered, "Chief Wei."

"No outsiders call me Uncle Wei." Director Wei gestured to the chair opposite him: "Sit down and tell me what happened."

Li Zhe truthfully recounted, "Today, while delivering goods, we went to several places and noticed a yellow minivan following us. Not knowing anything about them, we didn't dare to proceed and parked on the side of the road. Unexpectedly, two people got out of the minivan, crawled into our car, and stole something. We caught them and brought them here."

"You said the same thing when you came in?"

Li Zhe laughed and said, "No way, I said the car door wasn't closed properly when we stopped to eat, and those two sneaked in to steal things."

"You're quite clever, buddy," Director Wei chuckled. "Do you know who they are?"

"There's this guy with the braid who's a thug at the Chongwenmen vegetable market. He used to collect protection money from us when we parked there. I heard his boss is called 'Cleaver Liu,' the local thug leader. I haven't been to the market for a while, and I haven't seen Cleaver Liu since."

"Cleaver Liu." Director Wei laughed, took out a pack of Daqianmen cigarettes, took one for himself, and threw it in front of Li Zhe: "This guy is probably eyeing your vegetables."

Li Zhe also took a cigarette, lit one for Director Wei first, and then lit his own. "You know him?"

“It’s an old relationship. I was the one who sent him to the juvenile detention center when he was fourteen and he attacked someone with a knife. He’s learned his lesson these past few years and isn’t as impulsive as he was when he was young.” Director Wei paused. “Zhezi, the key to this matter is dealing with Knife Liu. What are your thoughts?”

"I'll listen to you. I just want to sell vegetables peacefully, as long as he doesn't cause me any trouble."

"That's easy, just leave it to me."

Li Zhe tentatively asked, "Should we give him some benefits?"

Wei snorted: "He's not worthy?"

No. 7 Hutong, Suzhou.

Ji Hongbin, dressed neatly, picked up his black briefcase and prepared to leave. Tan Jingya came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron: "Where are you going?"

"I'm going out to take care of some business, I'll be right back." Ji Hongbin hung his briefcase on the handlebars.

In the past, she wouldn't have asked so many questions, but ever since she heard the old lady and Ji Hongbin say that they were going abroad, Tan Jingya felt uneasy: "Is there something that Master can't even tell me?"

Ji Hongbin glanced at the north room and lowered his voice: "The old lady gave me gold bars and told me to exchange them for cash."

"This old lady has gold bars?" Tan Jingya looked surprised.

"Hey! What do you mean there are gold bars? My old lady is quite capable; there are many things you don't know."

Tan Jingya asked, "Why not just keep the gold at home? Why convert it into cash? I still have a few hundred yuan for household expenses, and our family isn't short of money right now."

"What do you know? Gold won't grow back into gold if you keep it at home, but money can make money. Alright, I'm going out now, we'll talk again when I get back." Ji Hongbin pushed his bicycle and headed out.

Tan Jingya quickly stopped her: "It's too dangerous to go alone. Why don't you ask Zhou Yongqiang to go with you?"

Ji Hongbin's expression changed instantly, his eyes widening: "Don't mention that good-for-nothing to me! If he hadn't poisoned my tea with drugs, our family wouldn't have lost money!"

Tan Jingya was still worried: "How about I go with you?"

"What can a woman like you do? Stay home and behave yourself!" Ji Hongbin shook off Tan Jingya's hand, pushed his bicycle, and went out the door.

(End of this chapter)