Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 381 How to Make Friends

Xiao Wei frowned and asked, "Why does he need so much money? Does it matter how much he borrowed from you?"

Huang Laowu said, "He took three thousand from me and five thousand from Lao Hou. Who knows what he did with it? I've asked him twice, but he won't say. I don't want to press him further. What should I do? We're still working together as friends. If I don't lend him the money, how can we maintain our relationship?"

Xiao Wei said, "Aren't you two together every day? I wonder what he does all day?"

Huang Laowu shook his head and said, "Lao Hou and I guard this place every day. Lao Hei used to come at first, but he hasn't come much in the last two months. He said he had something to do. He only comes to check on things when the dance hall is open at night. We've hired a few more people."

Xiao Wei slowly shook his head and said, "I don't know what to say to you guys. This isn't how you befriend someone. You spent 30,000 or 40,000 yuan in two or three months without even asking him what happened, and then you just lent him money when he asked for it." Shaking his head, Xiao Wei sighed, picked up his knees, and stood up, saying, "Quickly find someone to find out what he's doing. If it's something important, we can give him some more. But what if it's something else?"

Huang Laowu stood up and asked, "What could be wrong?"

Xiao Wei said, "If you can't figure it out, let's just make him gamble. Imagine, if he doesn't have much money to begin with, maybe betting a hundred or two hundred at most, but then he has money in his pocket and starts betting thousands or tens of thousands, and then he loses and runs out of money, and you guys lend him money again, Lao Wu, think about it, is this helping him or harming him? Isn't this just making him sink deeper? Besides, you guys are such good friends and he doesn't tell anyone, what could be a good thing? Is he being tricked by someone? He's going out and showing off to let everyone know he has money in his pocket, right?"

Old Hou also stood up and said, "Damn, that's possible! What should we do then?"

Xiao Wei licked his lips and said, "Go to his house and see if his family knows what he's doing. If his family doesn't know either, I advise you to just give up on him and stop the relationship. Just return the money you invested in the partnership to him. This kind of person is no good, and he might just end up ruining you all."

Let me tell you both, especially you, fifth brother. I agreed to work with you because I thought you were a decent person. But if you continue like Lao Hei, we should just call it quits. Don't waste our time. I don't associate with people like that. Do you know how to make friends? Loyalty. What is loyalty? It's treating others as you would like to be treated, and honesty is the most basic thing, right? You can't cheat or hurt your friends, can you?

Huang Laowu squatted down again: "This is a difficult matter. People invested money in it and have been making money ever since. Can I just tell them to leave? Who can do that? What kind of mess would that make?"

Xiao Wei took a breath, thought for a moment, and asked, "How much money can you two scrape together right now?"

Huang Laowu said, "We were just discussing this, weren't we? If we don't lend it, the total of thirty thousand yuan is..."

Old Hou chuckled a few times and said, "Alright, now it's down to one-tenth." He turned his head and looked towards the grocery store, chewing his cheek as if deep in thought. Xiao Wei laughed and said, "Old Hou, your calculation is wrong. If things really come to a head, your four cases will earn you at least the equivalent of five or six cases now. Don't always think about how little you're taking; you need to calculate how much you'll actually get. How can you do the math like that? You're just making yourself miserable."

Old Hou blinked, thought for a moment, and asked, "Why?"

Xiao Wei said, "Can a billiard hall with six tables have the same influence as a billiard hall with twenty tables? It will be the most prestigious place in the entire Longcheng, understand? The appeal will be different, and naturally, you'll make more money. Plus, with more people, other things will generate revenue. Why should I set up a counter? I can add a small shop inside, selling cigarettes, drinks, and snacks—that's also profit. That will offset a large portion of the labor and electricity costs, which is even more profit. Do the math, isn't that right?"

Huang Laowu picked up a small stone and scribbled it on the ground. After a while, he nodded and said, "Indeed, Xiaowei is right. Let's do it. It'll be better than now. At least if we get two more cases, we'll double our profits. You mean Lao Hou?"

Old Hou asked, "What about Hei Zi?"

Xiao Wei said, "You guys should figure out what's going on with him first. If it's gambling and whoring, then forget it, I don't associate with people like that. Let me tell you, making friends is really important in life, it's no less important than finding a wife. Good friends can help each other with anything, but if you make the wrong friends, you're doomed. Even if he doesn't want to be good to you, he'll drag you down with him. He's only good at taking advantage of you. I can guess what you're thinking now that you've lent him so much money. You all get along well, right?"

After the partnership ends, you know exactly how much money you'll make, so you're not worried about not being able to pay it back, right? But have you calculated that it's only been a few days, and you've already borrowed 8,000? How many months will it take to pay that off? And during that time, he definitely won't borrow from you again, right? Will you lend him more? Right now, you don't have much money. If you each had 100,000 or 200,000 and he lent you 50,000 each, would you lend it to him?

Does this thing even have an end? Believe it or not, no matter how much he lends, if he doesn't lend even once, the friendship is over, and they'll fall out, believe it or not? Because he'll get used to it, and if you don't lend him, it'll be your fault. Understand? Then you two will be the ones filling this hole, haha.

Huang Laowu and Lao Hou exchanged a glance but remained silent. Xiao Wei said, "Alright, you two think it over slowly. I'm not keeping you company."

Huang Laowu asked, "So what do we do now? Even if we move over there, we just won't take him with us? How do we explain that? This thing can't open its mouth."

Xiao Wei walked into the cake shop and said, "Give me the money, right? Do you want to invest without putting in any money? Tell him it's 50,000 each. If you can't come up with the money, I won't do it. Is that okay? I'll cover for you. Let me make this clear from the start: if either of you gets involved in gambling, don't wait for me to say anything, just quit on your own." He then went into the cake shop.

Old Hou watched as Xiao Wei went into the house and asked Huang Laowu, "What should we do?"

Huang Laowu squinted and thought for a moment before saying, "Let's listen to Xiaowei. He's smarter than us, and you can get by without him, right? I think he makes sense. Actually, I didn't really want to lend him money the second time Heizi asked. It's not that I don't consider him a friend; if he really needed money for something at home, we'd help him no matter what. But what is this now? He'll gamble it away and then thank us? He might even hate us later, believe it or not. I guarantee he'll say, 'If you hadn't lent me the money, would I have lost so much?' Then he'll feel justified in taking money from us again."

Old Hou thought for a moment and said, "Alright, I'll go tell his father."

Huang Laowu said, "Let's go together tonight. It'll be better if we go together to discuss this." Lao Hou nodded.

(End of this chapter)