Chapter 51: The Troublemaker

After Shi Hu and Jiang Ermei finished their numerous phone calls, just as they were about to pack up and close shop, Xue Gang and Yiyi finally pretended to browse and each bought a piece of clothing.

Xue Gang handed Shi Hu a cigarette. "Brother, what kind of lucrative business is this? Judging from what I overheard on your call just now, it sounds quite tempting!"

Shi Hu grinned broadly. "Haha, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of cosmic proportions, but it's a pity you're not in business, otherwise I could bring you in."

"Don't say that! Hearing you talk about it just now got my blood boiling. I don't know how to do it yet, but I can learn."

"Do you have the capital? Doing business requires capital, otherwise everything goes down the drain."

"Of course I do. At my age, I've managed to save up ten or twenty thousand."

Shi Hu froze for a moment, took a careful look at the man, and then waved his hand dismissively. "Down the drain. In our line of work, you need to be smooth-talking and eloquent. Look at you—stiff and stern, you'd scare people away. You're simply not cut out for business. Business requires you to smile at the very least, keeping a smile on your face for everyone you meet."

"Big brother, do you think I know how to smile?" Yiyi, standing beside him, flashed a sweet smile.

This made Shi Hu's heart skip a beat, thinking to himself that this young lady was truly stunning.

Before Shi Hu could say anything, Jiang Ermei walked over, glanced at the two of them, and said, "Go pack up the stall. I'll have a word with this big brother and sister."

"If you want to follow us and make money, it's not entirely out of the question. Newcomers just need to listen and follow instructions, and there's a good chance you'll make money.

"If you two are truly sincere, bring ten thousand yuan tomorrow morning and gather at the Dongping District. Someone from the company will give a lecture there, teaching you hands-on how to run promotions and make a fortune.

"In the evening, you'll need to come back to this stall to observe actual operations so you can witness it with your own eyes. If you're interested after that, the money will serve as your deposit. If not, we'll refund it in full!"

Xue Gang was overjoyed. He hadn't expected to infiltrate the criminal organization's interior so easily, and he quickly agreed, "No problem. Where in Dongping should we gather tomorrow?"

"How are you planning to get there? If you don't have a car, just come right here, and we'll drive you."

Xue Gang glanced at the truck parked by the roadside, nodded quickly, and agreed.

After the two of them left, Shi Hu asked doubtfully, "Is money really that worthless these days? He was asked to hand over ten thousand yuan, and he agreed just like that?"

Jiang Ermei smugly replied, "It's probably because he thinks this lady has some charm and wants to flirt with me."

After a chuckle, she scolded him, "Why are you driving people away when they're willing to do it? Never mind whether they're new or old, or whether they have a smile on their faces. Beat the grass to scare the rabbit; swing the pole regardless of whether there are dates or not. If they manage to sell anything, we make two yuan per piece. Even if they can't sell a thing, the company's return policy acts as our safety net anyway. We won't lose out either way."

"Right, right, right!" Shi Hu nodded hurriedly.

"Tomorrow when I see Lu Fan, I'll hand over this ten thousand yuan and purchase ten thousand yuan worth of stock through him first. That way, it can serve as a role model for the others. Earlier, I called that shrew Niu and Li Hulu, and they didn't believe it for a second—almost drove me to death with anger."

"Same here. My throat went hoarse from talking, and they're still half-skeptical. Still, at least they all agreed to come over and take a look tomorrow. Let Lu Fan explain it to them, neither of us is good at explaining."

Jiang Ermei nodded, looking entirely confident. "Don't you worry. As long as they see this scene tomorrow night, they'll end up fighting tooth and nail to grab the market share. Let's not sleep tonight; let's stay up and figure out how to divide up the various local markets."

"Okay!"

Xue Gang and Yiyi returned to their team and immediately called the bureau chief to apply for ten thousand yuan in operational funds, followed by requests for standard-issue firearms and a voice recorder.

Because Yiyi had discovered the case, and considering they were dealing with common fraudsters with a low risk factor, Xue Gang didn't request backup from the rest of the team. Primarily, he wanted Yiyi to claim the credit for this case first.

When a disciple achieves merit, the master naturally shares in the reflected glory.

...

Tonight was destined to be a sleepless one for many.

After Ding Maocai was taken away by his four creditors, he was put up in an apartment owned by Gu Jianjun in the Dongping District.

They had spent half the afternoon at the Industrial and Commercial Bureau, trying to get the paperwork processed as quickly as possible.

They had already slipped red envelopes to the director and the handling clerk, both of whom promised not to drag their feet and to handle it as an exceptional case.

However, Ding Maocai lacked even the most basic official company seal, making the paperwork stall completely.

Official seals, financial ledgers, and corporate legal representative seals all featured anti-counterfeiting measures and could not be carved arbitrarily. They had no choice but to report the previous seal as lost, invalidate the old set, and then take the documents issued by the Industrial and Commercial Bureau to an authorized seal-carving unit under the police station to have new ones made.

The entire afternoon was spent just replacing a single set of seals. By the time they returned to the Industrial and Commercial Bureau, the staff had already knocked off work before the official closing time.

The four creditors discussed the matter and decided that one person should stay with Ding Maocai each day; there was no need for all of them to huddle together every single day.

Tonight, it was Liu Yulong's turn to stay with Ding Maocai, and the two of them prepared some alcohol with dinner.

Having transferred away the factory he had poured half a lifetime of hard work into, Ding Maocai had been in a daze all day long, feeling like a marionette on strings. But once he started drinking, his mind suddenly became exceptionally clear.

He retraced the entire process from Lu Fan's very first appearance to the final signing of the contract, only to uncover a host of suspicious details.

When Lu Fan first appeared, he was accompanying the daughter of Liu Yue'e from the village to deliver fake collars. At that time, Ding Maocai was arguing with Zhu Xiaoman, and Lu Fan must have overheard that his factory was weighed down by heavy debts.

Then, Lu Fan offered to take a small batch of stock off his hands—a suggestion that struck right at the deepest desire in his heart.

He had run all over the place trying to sell the goods without success, so hearing someone show up looking to take inventory naturally filled him with joy.

Then he stepped step by step into the other party's trap.

First, the other party lured him with the promise of ten thousand pieces. Then, taking advantage of his absence, someone came to the factory mid-way, and immediately everything descended into chaos.

Zhu Xiaoman fled, the workers went on strike, and suppliers swarmed in demanding payments. All of this was simply too much of a coincidence.

Even more coincidental was how Lu Fan timed his arrival back at the office precisely to casually drop the information that he could sell goods in massive quantities.

This led him and his creditors to believe they had finally grasped a straw to save their lives. Then, after the boy went back to "consult his uncle," his true fangs were bared, and he demanded the factory itself.

That phone call was made to Gu Jianjun. The two of them must have plotted beforehand, after which Gu Jianjun and the others took turns persuading him—persuading him for twenty-four bloody hours straight, not letting him close his eyes for a single second, harsher than an interrogation in a police holding cell.

In a haze, he agreed, and just like that, the factory was gone.

Ding Maocai even began to suspect that these creditors had deliberately set a trap for him.

Otherwise, how could a wet-behind-the-ears kid like Lu Fan orchestrate such a seamless trap?

Yet it didn't quite look like a setup either; the kid looked young, but every word, every gesture, and even his gaze were utterly spot-on, looking nothing like someone putting on an act.

As Ding Maocai pondered deeply, a flash of light suddenly exploded in his mind.

That woman—wasn't she his uncle's wife? Wasn't she Liu Yue'e from the village?

She was the birth mother of the young girl Lu Fan had brought along.

When his clothing factory first opened, Liu Yue'e had even applied for a job there. It was only because he was too impatient and uttered a few flirtatious remarks in front of her that she got scared away.

He had regretted it for the longest time.

Later on, learning that Liu Yue'e's family was struggling financially, he had the female workers at the textile factory spread the word that his clothing factory was distributing odd jobs with flexible hours and high commissions.

Sure enough, she came. But after staking out the place several times, he never succeeded in catching her alone.

Whenever she picked up goods, she would always check whether he was in the factory; she never stepped inside if he was present.

It wasn't until he hooked up with Zhu Xiaoman that he gradually let go of his obsession with Liu Yue'e.

Today, when Liu Yue'e came in to sign the papers, that little bastard Lu Fan hadn't let her step inside at all—she signed them right at the doorway. His brain had been completely blank at the time, and he had merely glanced at her briefly; otherwise, he surely would have recognized her.

Realizing that this whole thing was a scheme engineered by Lu Fan, Ding Maocai was consumed by raging fury.

His first impulse was to renege on the deal. But the contracts were already signed, backed by four creditors as guarantors, so backing out was clearly impossible.

Besides, that little bastard had specifically set a condition that full payment would only be disbursed after the ownership transfer was complete. Wasn't that deliberately meant to keep these four creditors watching him closely to prevent him from figuring it out and causing trouble?

The more Ding Maocai thought about it, the angrier he grew, though his face betrayed none of his inner turmoil.

He raised his wine glass and said to Liu Yulong, "For days now, I haven't had a single good night's sleep. Brother, let's finish this bottle together tonight and get a sound sleep afterwards."

Liu Yulong also raised his glass. "Brother, to be honest, joining them to pressure you this time was really uncalled for. Let me apologize to you first.

"Back when my clothing factory was first established, you were the one who gave me my first batch of orders, which allowed the factory to slowly survive. Even recently, when you received that foreign trade order, you didn't forget about your brother here. This time, you owed me fifty thousand, yet I still teamed up with Old Gu and the others to corner you. I really feel rather guilty."

Ding Maocai replied, "It's all in the past, why bring that up? By the way, there's something else I want to ask you. Yesterday when Old Gu called you all over, did he tell you to persuade me into signing that contract?"

Liu Yulong looked awkward. "There was indeed something like that. But since things have already come to this, don't dwell on it too much. Old Gu was right—right now, we need to cut through the mess with a sharp knife and sort out the debts. It's for the best for everyone. Come, let's drink, your younger brother proposes a toast to you."

The two of them exchanged toasts. Combined with Liu Yulong's own sense of guilt, he quickly became drunk.

Ding Maocai drank half, spilled a quarter, and spat out the rest, hardly consuming any real alcohol. After calling out twice and seeing no response from the other man, he picked up the motorcycle keys from the table, fished a few dozen yuan out of Liu Yulong's pocket, and headed straight to a gas station to fill a drum with gasoline.

Then, he mounted the motorcycle and sped directly toward the clothing factory.

He was going to burn that factory down to the ground.

He had already figured out his alibi: he would stubbornly insist that the factory still belonged to him; burning his own property was nobody else's business.

Ding Maocai was afraid Lu Fan might be staying at the factory overnight. The kid was built like a brick wall, and he was no match for him in a fight.

Therefore, he parked the motorcycle right where it was closest to the warehouse.

He piled a few stones together and stepped on them to climb up. He knew every nook and cranny of this factory inside and out, even knowing which sections of the broken glass shards on top of the walls had been worn down.

He placed the gasoline drum on top of the wall first, then struggled to climb up inch by inch, pitching black as it was, not daring to turn on his flashlight.

After hesitating for a moment, he gritted his teeth and leaped directly down.

Just as he was about to search for the gasoline drum, a sudden rush of wind sounded overhead. *Bang!* A hard club struck him squarely on the forehead.

Immediately afterward, he felt several clubs raining down on his head and body, pummeling him with blows as dense as raindrops.

"Hehe, this old lady's been waiting for you for a long time!"

"Son of a bitch, refusing to sleep at night and coming here to cause trouble, eh!"

"Hahaha, sisters, bring the rope over! A thousand yuan is in the bag."

"Where's the flashlight? Who brought it? Let's take a look at who this bastard is first!"

"So hateful! He's come to torment us several times tonight, throwing stones into the factory again and again, and running off right after!"

"We finally caught him!"

"Look everyone, what's this? He even brought gasoline."

"Hurry up and call the factory manager."

Unable to bear the pain, Ding Maocai shielded his head and shouted, "Stop hitting me! Stop hitting me! I'm your manager!"

Then, a high-powered flashlight beam shone directly into his face, and someone used a stick to pry his hands away.

The light went out again, and someone remarked, "Can't see clearly, beat him a bit more!"

...

When Lu Fan woke up, he began practicing his boxing in the courtyard.

Having been reborn, he had no entertainment to speak of, and his daily routine was exceptionally disciplined.

He would practice boxing for a while in the evening, exhaust all his strength, and fall asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

Before sunrise in the morning, he would wake up.

Upon waking, he would practice boxing to build strength.

In just a few short days, he could feel that his physical strength had increased by leaps and bounds compared to when he first arrived.

Doing twenty push-ups used to leave both his arms flapping limply like windmills; now, he could knock out twenty and still have plenty of energy to spare.

As soon as he got up, Liu Yue'e and Bailu got up as well.

Though their home wasn't large, chores were everywhere—mending clothes, sweeping, washing laundry, wiping down tables and benches, and cooking. The two women always managed to find suitable tasks.

In any case, they could never sit still.

After living together for a few days—especially after weathering the events of the night before yesterday and yesterday—the two of them grew much more relaxed around him.

This morning, while he was practicing martial arts in the courtyard, the two of them didn't even avoid him when going to the outhouse.

Though a curtain hung over the doorway, the sounds inside were crystal clear.

Lu Fan had half a mind to step away, but then he thought: what if his stepping away suddenly made things awkward for them?

To spare others the awkwardness, he could only endure the awkwardness himself.

From time to time, the two women would pause from their chores to watch him practice.

Whenever he hit total exhaustion during push-ups, he had a habit of hyping himself up with chants: "Heh-yo, heh-yo, heh-yo..."

When his arms refused to obey and flailed randomly, Liu Yue'e would collapse into helpless laughter on her small wooden stool, and Bailu would collapse right along with her.

When Lu Fan finished his push-ups and lay flat on the ground to catch his breath, the two of them would still be giggling.

He asked, "Is it that funny? You two were doing the same thing last night. If you've got what it takes, let each of you do ten push-ups, and I'll admit you're tough."

"I just did two sets myself, twenty-five per set!"

"Right, right, right, you're amazing, neither of us mother and daughter can even do five!" Liu Yue'e waved her hand, still laughing.

"If you can't do them, you should watch closely. Can't you see I'm making progress every single day?"

Annoyed by their laughter, Lu Fan couldn't help saying, "All those chores you two were doing just now were entirely optional. Bailu, the house is already spotless, what are you sweeping with that broom for? Tomorrow, you're joining me for a workout."

"And you, Auntie, if you're going to wake up this early, you might as well join in and stretch too. Anyway, you've already quit your job at the clothing factory and have nothing else on your hands; you can't just keep fattening yourself up!"

Suddenly, the front gate was pounded heavily, and a voice shouted, "Manager! Manager! Are you in there? Something terrible has happened, we've caught a thief in the factory!"

...

(Author's note: This segment didn't lend itself well to being split, so I've combined it into a double-sized chapter! Thank you all for the various votes today, it pushed the new book rankings way up. Thank you.)