The courtyard house, without the script of Sha Zhu.

Chapter 96 Negotiation and Extortion, Learning the Truth

After all, Cao Wei wouldn't have been certain without the steel mill uniform, but now that he had it, he was certain.

Within the compound, only a few trusted apprentices could be ordered around by Liu Haizhong to do this kind of thankless and dangerous thing that offended people.

Others are not to be ordered around; after all, the steel rolling mill is a stable job.

No one would be willing to take such a risk, but Liu Haizhong was able to train these apprentices because he treated them well enough and they were loyal, so such a probability was possible.

To everyone's surprise, the person in the lead, who was Liu Haizhong's apprentice, shook his head.

Seemingly noticing his own clothes, he gritted his teeth and spoke.

"That's not necessarily true. Although you guessed our identities correctly, you could never know who's behind us."

"Oh, then I'll use a name that you might recognize: Liu Haizhong."

The moment the words left his mouth, the three of them couldn't help but widen their eyes, and one of them couldn't help but subconsciously ask a question in return.

"Impossible, how could you—"

Halfway through his sentence, he seemed to realize he had let something slip and quickly covered his mouth.

This attempt to cover up the truth only helped Cao Wei confirm his so-called conjecture, which still had a sliver of lingering doubt.

The other two also gave the person who let the slip a look of disappointment.

The leader seemed to realize something, gritted his teeth, and continued.

"This matter is not as simple as you imagine, or as purely about revenge."

Upon hearing this, Cao Wei seemed to have his interest piqued.

But soon, after realizing what day it was, his face couldn't help but darken.

Today is the day to select the so-called administrators.

At that moment, it seemed that these people finally understood their reasons for attacking them.

It's nothing more than Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong wanting to become administrators, but if I were there, I naturally wouldn't let these beasts have their way, so they deliberately knocked me unconscious and held me back.

These two were able to become administrators while I was away. After all, these past few days, thanks to their generosity—one giving me rice, the other an egg—these beasts had been coaxed into submission.

In this situation, it's natural to give these two beasts some face.

If we add to that our absence, then it's practically a done deal if these two want to become the so-called "elders of the compound."

Realizing this, Cao Wei had to admit that he had underestimated the ability of these beasts to cause trouble, and he took another deep breath.

Cao Wei simply took out paper and pen from his pocket.

Looking at his three apprentices with bangs in front of him, he threatened in a deep voice.

"If you don't want to lose your job, you'd better sign an IOU."

Upon hearing this, the three men's expressions turned extremely grim.

Right now, they can't win a fight, and if they don't sign this IOU, what if the other side really gets angry and kills their beloved dog?

What's the point of being alive then?

Three million is practically all the savings of an ordinary family.

In this day and age, not every family has the same wealth as those beasts.

At this moment, the leader of the three disciples gritted his teeth, looked at Cao Wei, and made his request.

"Since you've guessed so much, but we can't come up with the money right now, how about this? There's something else you don't know about this matter. We'll tell you, and you won't have to pay us the money, how about that? Anyway, you've already beaten us up."

Cao Wei couldn't help but sneer at the man's haggling.

"What do you think I'll do if you don't tell me now?"

At this crucial juncture, it suddenly seemed as if someone was passing by outside the alley.

As if giving the three a glimmer of hope, they instinctively got up and tried to run away.

Cao Wei immediately picked up the stick beside him and, with lightning speed, struck it three times.

The three of them clutched their legs, which were throbbing with excruciating pain, and howled in agony once more.

At this moment, Cao Wei's eyes narrowed slightly, as if he too was caught in a dilemma.

It's afternoon now, and the number of people leaving get off work in the alley is gradually increasing.

If someone happens to pass by, then there will only be one option left: to bring these people into the space and kill them.

Cao Wei considered himself a very merciful person. These people, frankly, only wanted to knock him unconscious; they only had the guts to do so. To kill indiscriminately under such circumstances—what difference was there between him and any so-called assassin?

After taking a deep breath, Cao Wei stared at the leader and finally stated his conditions.

"One million per person, that's on the condition that you tell everything you know."

The hope that the leader had just seen gradually faded, but he couldn't help but have some ulterior motives, because people had just passed by outside the alley. But at this moment, Cao Wei's cold voice rang out again.

"You can guess whether my skills are enough to turn you into three eunuchs in the new China before you are discovered."

Thinking of Cao Wei's movements just now, which were so fast they almost left afterimages.

Indeed, one cannot use normal human thinking to guess or judge the other party's abilities.

Finally, after gritting his teeth, the leader spoke again.

"Besides Liu Haizhong, Yi Zhonghai was also the one who asked us to take action."

As for why these three disciples knew about Yi Zhonghai, it was naturally because of Liu Haizhong's boastful personality.

Besides, these were his apprentices, and he was the one who found them. If Yi Zhonghai wanted to share the credit with him, he should at least pay some money. So, the reward of 20,000 yuan per person was paid by Yi Zhonghai after gritting his teeth.

It was this boasting that gave the three of them enough knowledge to have the confidence to negotiate with Cao Wei.

Upon hearing this, Cao Wei clenched his fists, making a cracking sound, and his eyes filled with murderous intent.

It gives the impression of someone who actually killed people before the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Considering the other person's youthful face, the three of them were immediately stunned.

Fear even showed on their faces. Was this the ordinary cook their master had described as just a little stronger?

After taking a deep breath, Cao Wei gradually returned to normal. After having these people sign IOUs, he watched them leave.

As Cao Wei pushed his bicycle back towards the courtyard house, he thought of the two people and couldn't help but mutter to himself.

"You old beasts, you've really been living too comfortably—"

Inside the courtyard house, with Cao Wei not present.

The "hat-wearing king" first pretended to hold a preliminary selection, and finally voted for Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong.

And they even deliberately put on a hypocritical statement, saying that no one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes. Since the two were chosen by the public, even though they made mistakes before, we can't just focus on those mistakes and other such nonsense.

Thus, the two beasts finally ascended to the so-called administrator positions. Upon assuming their posts, they immediately sought out Xu Fugui and began their discussion.

"Old Xu, calling someone 'administrator' sounds a bit too formal. How about we just call him 'Grandpa'?"