Courtyard House: A Start with Black Gold Swallowing 100,000 Silver Dollars

The moment the word "security guard" left his lips, the two men in black suits at the door turned around in unison, their eyes fixed on him like nails—just waiting for the girl's command to come and grab him.

Fat Biao's Adam's apple bobbed, and he finally admitted defeat.

Then let's settle for second best—let this girl pass on a message for him.

"Alright, alright... Actually, I'm here to deliver a message for someone." He forced a smile, then suddenly lowered his voice, taking on the tone of a seasoned Wan Chai veteran, "Hey pretty lady, listen up—the Wan Chai boss, Brother Chicken, asked me to deliver a message to your company's owner."

"Your boss broke the rules of the game by poaching key personnel from Boss Liu's Hongda Company, who was under Brother Ji's protection, with high salaries. Brother Ji ordered your boss to personally visit and apologize, and to compensate Boss Liu for his losses at full price—otherwise, otherwise..."

At this point, Fatty Biao's tongue got tied, and he swallowed the words back, afraid that He Liansheng's underlings guarding the door would hear him. His eyes darted around, and he quickly changed his tone to one that was soft but firm: "Otherwise, it would be like slapping Brother Chicken in the face."

"It's that simple."

As soon as he finished speaking, he turned around and scurried towards the stairwell, not daring to press the elevator button. He scurried down the stairs as if a ghost were chasing him.

The receptionist stared at his retreating figure, her brows furrowed, and immediately grabbed the phone to call the general manager's office.

She had heard of the notorious "Chicken Brother of Wan Chai" before, and knew immediately that this was a hot potato, so she dared not delay for even a moment.

In the manager's office.

Xu Meijing, dressed in a neatly tailored women's suit, frowned deeply as soon as she put down the receiver. She sighed softly and shook her head inwardly: "I've only been in office for a few days, and trouble has already come knocking on my door?" She immediately asked her secretary to go to the break room and call Wu Xiaogou, who was flipping through the newspaper.

Wu Xiaogou is responsible for picking up and dropping off Xu Meijing and Li Guoping from get off work.

After knocking and entering the house, he stood ramrod straight and spoke respectfully, "Aunt Xu, you wanted to see me?"

"From now on, call me Manager Xu at the company."

Her tone was calm, yet carried an uncompromising weight.

"Yes, yes, Manager Xu."

She then repeated Fei Biao's words verbatim.

After listening, Wu Xiaogou simply nodded slightly: "Understood, Manager Xu. It's a small matter; I'll clean it up within two days."

Xu Meijing raised an eyebrow slightly, somewhat surprised: "Little dog, how do you plan to 'clean up' this?"

"Please don't think I'm being rash with these words," he said, laying the groundwork before adding slowly, "The solution is quite straightforward—"

"Find Boss Liu, then find Brother Chicken, kill him, and sink him into the sea."

"Huh?!" Xu Meijing blurted out, completely stunned. She had thought it would be at most a warning or pressure, but she never expected that a simple message would end in such a bloody manner.

This is too outrageous!

"Aren't you afraid the police will come knocking and arrest you, and you'll end up in jail?"

She instinctively pressed for an answer.

"Don't worry, Manager Xu. In Hong Kong, capsized boats and floating corpses at the docks are common occurrences. The police are too busy collecting bodies to have time to investigate who committed the crime."

"Besides, if someone really follows the trail and comes looking for us, someone else will step forward to take responsibility. The easiest way to deal with anyone who poses a threat to us is to shut them up completely." He wore a humble smile, but his words were like icicles piercing the heart.

"Is this... a rule of the Hong Kong underworld, or Mr. Li's intention?"

Xu Meijing's face darkened, and her tone betrayed a hint of unease.

She thought to herself: This place is even wilder than the inland areas, there's no law at all!

"Both sides."

Seeing that her expression was off, Wu Xiaogou gave a vague reply.

In reality, according to the old-fashioned rules of Hong Kong, minor disputes are best resolved by settling things over – meeting at a teahouse, talking things out, offering apologies and compensation, and shaking hands to end the matter. But Wu Xiaogou and his gang refused to take this route; they went straight for the kill.

It's not just "a little" unruly, it's a complete table-flipping.

Moreover, this dispute was trivial to begin with, and to kill and dispose of a body over such a trivial matter is simply too ruthless.

But they still insisted on doing so—simply because Li Wenguo protected Xu Meijing too closely, not allowing the slightest disturbance.

"Manager Xu, you just need to focus on running the company well. If you encounter any difficult situations or troublesome people, just let us know, and we'll smooth things over for you. When Master Li established Heliansheng, it was precisely to have them back the company up, shield it from harm, and clear obstacles—otherwise, what would be the point of having these people?"

"Don't you think so?"

His tone was gentle, but his words subtly conveyed a message: From now on, you don't need to ask about these kinds of things in detail, nor do you need to see them. Just leave them to us cleanly and efficiently.

"Okay, I understand."

Xu Meijing understood the implied meaning, nodded, and didn't ask any further questions.

soon.

Wu Xiaogou quickly notified Xiao Jie and Yu Tou, ordering them to each take their men and remove the two thorns in Wan Chai: Brother Chicken, the person in charge, and Boss Liu of Hongda Company.

Xiao Jie only ordered ten henchmen and headed straight for Wan Chai.

Wan Chai sits right in the middle of the north bank of the Xiangjiang River. In its early years, it was a rice paddy pond. Later, as the population grew, it was filled in and turned into a bustling neighborhood. It will only become more prosperous in the future.

Especially after the Cross-Harbour Tunnel from Causeway Bay to Hung Hom opened in the 1970s, and Gloucester Road, the waterfront promenade, opened to traffic, Wan Chai immediately became the vital artery connecting Hong Kong to Kowloon, and also the crossroads linking the east and west ends of Hong Kong.

In other words, this place is destined to be a gold mine.

Li Wenguo had his eye on this land for a long time—once he and Liansheng had recruited over a thousand men, he would immediately rush over and plant his flag; once the flagpole was firmly in place, nightclubs would spring up one after another, spreading across Wan Chai.

Then came Causeway Bay, Happy Valley, Tai Hang... it spread like wildfire.

Xiao Jie's men immediately pinned down Chicken Brother's subordinate and beat him with fists and kicks. The kid's bones went weak, and he immediately revealed the truth: Chicken Brother goes to Sister Bo's massage parlor on Johnston Road every night without fail to relax his muscles and joints.

Chicken Bro's neck was as thick as an iron pillar, and his head was square and stiff. In his youth, he specialized in slaughtering chickens, which is why he was given this nickname in the underworld.

Constantly bending over to chop chicken necks has left me with chronic shoulder and neck problems. My shoulders and the back of my neck ache terribly every few days, and I have to rely on nightly massages to keep going.

Xiao Jie and his men waited downstairs for their prey.

Second floor, Sister Bo's massage parlor.

Just hearing the name gives off an indescribable and elusive feeling.

"Brother Chicken, the Yellow River Industry incident is backed by He Liansheng. They didn't even lift a finger to respond to our threatening letters."

Fatty stood ramrod straight, reporting to the masseuse, but his eyes were glued to the glimpse of cleavage that slipped out of her neckline as she bent over to massage him; his round eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets.

"And a winning streak?"

"That's a bit tricky."

Chicken Bro buried his face in the pillow, his voice muffled.

As the head of the triad, he was not afraid of the newly emerging Wo Luen Shing at all. What he feared was that the other party was entrenched in the Central and Western District. If he really led people to provoke trouble in other districts, before he could even throw a punch, the police sirens would be sounding first, and arresting him for "unlawful assembly" would be more than enough. It would be a huge loss for him.

He was also wondering to himself: This was very strange to Lian Sheng. He didn't collect protection money, didn't set up gambling scams, and was too lazy to even extort money. He just made a living from a few nightclubs.

But he had hundreds of henchmen working there, and every month they had to be paid, fed, and supported their families. All of that required money. He had even been to nightclubs in Wan Chai, where the monthly income from a single establishment was barely enough to support a hundred men.

So the club will starve? Just throw money at people?

Having been neighbors for so long, Brother Chicken really couldn't figure out how these people thought.

He naturally didn't know that He Liansheng was just a security guard in Li Wenguo's company. He didn't need to keep accounts himself; all the money came from the head office.

"Then...Brother Chicken, what should we do?"

Fei Biao asked tentatively.

"In this way, it's enough for Mr. Liu to come out and 'negotiate' with Mr. Wen San, the person in charge of the Lien Sheng Group, just to go through the motions and show Mr. Liu that we've done our best."

"Chicken Bro said lazily."

To put it bluntly, it's a trivial matter. He would never fight to the death over such a trivial thing; even if he wanted to, he might not be able to—he was just putting on a show for Boss Liu after receiving payment for his tea. Otherwise, he wouldn't even bother with it.

"Okay!"

Fei Biao readily agreed.

After Chicken Bro finished his last massage and had the massage girl serve him again, he finally strolled out feeling refreshed.

"Brother Chicken, my neck has been really stiff lately, I need to loosen it up, so I won't be able to go back with you."

Fatty had been eyeing that girl for a long time—her waist was so thin you could snap it in half, and her breasts were bulging; he had long wanted to taste her.

Brother Ji gave him a sideways glance: "Don't touch Xiao Bo."

Xiao Bo Mei is the one who just massaged his back.

"Understood, Brother Chicken!"

Fatty agreed readily, but inwardly he sneered: Little Bo isn't your sugar daddy, so why should you take over her territory? If she only did business with you, she would have starved to death eight hundred times over.

"Brother Jie, Brother Chicken is down!"

The henchman in the driver's seat lowered his voice and shouted.

"Drive, follow them."

Soon, two old, peeling vans screeched to a halt at the top of the stairs. The doors slammed open, and seven or eight men filed out—each with a fierce glare, the dark muzzles of their guns all aimed at Brother Chicken and his ashen-faced henchmen behind him.

Chicken Bro, who was smoking a cigarette and sitting with his legs crossed, froze on the spot, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets. He had never encountered such a scene before, his mind went blank for a moment, and he didn't even notice that his cigarette had fallen.

"Brother Chicken, come over here, our boss wants to have a talk with you."

A man in a gray jacket stepped forward and grabbed his arm with a force as strong as an iron clamp.

With the gun barrel right in front of him, Chicken Brother's Adam's apple bobbed, and he didn't dare utter a single harsh word.

The two vehicles roared away, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Only a group of underlings remained, looking at each other blankly, their palms sweaty.

"Boss... he's been kidnapped?! What, what do we do?!"

One of the underlings was chattering and could barely speak coherently.

"Yeah... what do we do?!"

The other one was also flustered and kept wringing his hands.

"Hey! Brother Biao is still upstairs!"

Before the words were even finished, a group of people rushed into the stairwell.

Upstairs, Fatty had just finished unbuckling his belt when the door was suddenly flung open with a bang...

"Um... which deity wants to see me?"

On the bread cart, Chicken Bro took a few deep breaths and forced himself to ask.

To avoid alerting anyone and disrupting Lian Sheng's plans, Xiao Jie and his team were all dressed casually—T-shirts and jeans—without a trace of their black suits.

You'll understand when you get there.

Xiao Jie didn't even turn his head to the side; his voice was as cold as ice.

Arresting a street thug leader? For a veteran like him, who came from a secret service background and specialized in monitoring Japanese and puppet regime agents, it was as easy as picking up a chicken; he wouldn't even bother to lift his eyelids.

It was even easier than taking down an enemy liaison station back then.

Chicken Bro had no choice but to grit his teeth and endure it, but his heart was pounding: he had never seen thugs who kidnapped people actually carry guns, and for a moment he really thought he was going to die. The "big boss" behind them was probably a ruthless person who would eat people alive.

But he didn't even consider the possibility that it was He Liansheng—he didn't collect protection money, rob, cheat, or lend money at exorbitant interest rates, so what would he be doing carrying a gun? Using it as a fire poker?

The car wound its way up the mountain and finally stopped at the edge of a steep cliff.

A matching bread truck was already waiting quietly.