Chapter 40: Hongle Won't Fight

Chen Mo took out a packet of cash from the lounge and placed it in front of Fei Zai Hui.

"Ah Hui, this is for Sister Mei. Take it back for me."

"Mo Ge, what's this?" Fei Zai Hui didn't understand what it meant and didn't dare take it.

"Just hold onto it. Give it to Sister Mei when you get back—she'll understand."

Chen Mo had borrowed men from Thirteen Sister, and she had sent Fei Zai Hui over without a second word, never mentioning anything about payment.

But Chen Mo couldn't fail to show his appreciation, so he took five hundred thousand for Thirteen Sister.

After all, Fei Zai Hui and his men had come out for a clash. Even though they hadn't done much fighting last night and suffered no casualties, they still needed to be paid bonuses.

He couldn't very well have Thirteen Sister supply both the men and the money.

This five hundred thousand was enough for Thirteen Sister to pay bonuses to her hundred-plus men, with some left over.

"Chen Mo, what about my share?"

Da Fei immediately understood what Chen Mo meant by giving Fei Zai Hui the money, and at once asked about his own share.

"You won't be shortchanged!" Chen Mo said in exasperation. "Help me guard for three days first. When you leave, I'll pay you in full all at once."

It wasn't that Chen Mo didn't want to pay Da Fei—he just didn't have much cash on hand right now.

After paying the men their family support and medical fees, he estimated he'd need to hand out several million.

There might still be fighting in the next few days, so he needed to keep some money in reserve for emergencies.

Anyway, Da Fei's money wasn't urgent—paying him in a few days would make no difference.

"Fine. You've got three streets in your hands now anyway—no worry about you not being able to pay."

Da Fei said indifferently and went back to picking his nose, making Chen Mo feel a wave of disgust.

"Damn it, can you stop picking your nose? You're supposed to be a big brother—this is disgusting!"

Chen Mo couldn't help giving Da Fei a piece of his mind.

"What's the big deal? It's only natural!" Da Fei said, completely unconcerned.

Chen Mo was so exasperated he was practically speechless.

"Your 'natural' is a bit too much—you can't be 'natural' all day long!

I'm warning you—if you dare wipe your boogers on my sofa, I won't pay you your money!"

"Fine, fine—I won't pick it here, alright? I'll go pick it outside!"

With that, he got up and went downstairs.

Seeing Da Fei leave, Chen Mo said nothing more and continued the meeting.

"Now that our territory has grown, we'll need more manpower going forward. Keep recruiting these next few days—fill up to seven hundred men first."

Chen Mo thought for a moment, then added, "Also, keep an eye out these next few days. If any of your subordinates have made significant contributions and have strong abilities, you can recommend them to me. With several hundred men, it's hard to manage with just you few alone."

"Understood, Mo Ge!" Several of them nodded in reply.

At the same time, the three Dragon Heads of Hongle's Chang Yi and Chang Le were also holding a meeting together.

However, the atmosphere among them was far heavier than at Chen Mo's place.

"Hua Zhi, what's wrong with your men? It's one thing that they didn't dare charge in themselves, but they actually incited the younger brothers to flee."

Piao Ge immediately opened fire on Hua Zhi.

Hua Zhi retorted indignantly, "What do you mean my men didn't dare charge? Didn't your subordinate Shen Deng also keep hiding in the back the whole time? Your own men are useless—don't go throwing the blame around. Which of my younger brothers isn't a top-notch fighter!"

"That's right, Piao Ge. You made the mistake yourself—don't blame others. Didn't you say Great Prosperity wouldn't get involved with Chen Mo? Why were there so many Great Prosperity reinforcements last night?"

Big Boss Pan also demanded of Piao Ge.

They had only made their move because they knew Chen Mo had no reinforcements, yet the moment the fighting started, Great Prosperity's support arrived.

Without those reinforcements, it would have been hard to say who would have won or lost last night.

Last night three Triad Societies joined forces against Chen Mo and ended up suffering a crushing defeat—it was utterly humiliating to talk about.

None of them wanted to bear the responsibility for the defeat, so they could only shift the blame onto each other's subordinates.

In the end, the three of them argued back and forth, each one furious, yet they couldn't reach any conclusion.

The one who finally stepped in to mediate was unexpectedly Uncle Kun, who had previously had almost no presence in Hongle.

"Bosses, there's no point in you keeping arguing now. You'd be better off thinking about what to do next!"

Uncle Kun had originally been an invisible hall master in Hongle, but now he had become Hongle's most powerful hall master, and even his speaking voice had unconsciously grown louder.

It was nothing short of dramatic.

"What do you mean what to do—of course we keep fighting!" Piao Ge said angrily.

"You say fight and we fight? What are you going to fight with?" Hua Zhi said sarcastically.

"How many men do you even have left under you!

Let me make this clear—I'm not fighting anymore. If you want to fight, fine—pay up first, and I'll provide the men!"

Hua Zhi was deeply regretful now.

The jobs he used to do were all pay-for-hire work. If his subordinates were killed or injured, not only did he not have to pay compensation, he could even skim a cut from the family support funds.

But after last night's battle, quite a few of his younger brothers were killed or injured. Not only did he not make any money, he had to pay a lot out of his own pocket.

He now deeply regretted listening to Big Boss Pan's words and giving in to greed.

If he hadn't coveted Chen Mo's bar, he wouldn't have done something so stupid.

"I'm not fighting either! My men took heavy casualties last night—I don't have anyone available for the time being!"

Big Boss Pan didn't really have no men left—he just didn't want to fight anymore.

The price of taking Nüren Jie was simply too high. Better to cut his losses now while they were still small and give up.

If he gave up now, he'd lose some money at most. If he kept fighting, he might even lose Dianqi Jie.

"You two..." Piao Ge was so angry at the two of them that he didn't know what to say.

Right now, of the three Triad Societies present, he had suffered the greatest losses.

Both streets in Wang Jiao were completely lost; the other territories, though not small, could hardly compare to Wang Jiao in income.

Hongle's monthly income was estimated to drop by half from now on.

If Chen Mo had known that these three Triad Societies gave up so easily, he would certainly have said: "There's a reason sunset societies are sunset societies."

On the other side, Jiang Tiansheng had also received the news.

"What useless trash—all three Triad Societies are a bunch of useless trash!"

Jiang Tiansheng was cursing loudly.

Upon learning that Chen Mo had not only survived the siege of three Triad Societies but had also seized back a Laundry Street, Jiang Tiansheng was so furious he smashed two cups in a row.

"Ah Yao, tell me, how should I deal with this Chen Mo? Thirteen Sister and her people are getting too strong now."

Having vented his emotions, Jiang Tiansheng turned to ask Chen Yao beside him.

"How about having him hand over his territories to the Triad Society? Or raising the cut from his territories?"

Chen Yao didn't think it through much and casually offered Jiang Tiansheng two ideas.

Jiang Tiansheng looked at Chen Yao with the eyes of someone looking at an idiot.

Chen Yao seemed to realize only then that he had given a lousy idea and hurriedly said, "Oh, that would easily cause a falling out—not appropriate, ha!"

After a moment's thought, he added, "How about finding a way to sow discord between Thirteen Sister and Chen Mo?"

"How do you sow discord?" Jiang Tiansheng had completely calmed down now and pressed with a frown.

"I haven't figured that out yet, but give me some time and I'll definitely think of something," Chen Yao assured him.

"Forget it, now's not the time to deal with them. The most pressing matter right now is dealing with Jingkun first."

Jiang Tiansheng didn't let Chen Yao continue and instead brought up the matter of Jingkun.

"How much evidence do we have of Jingkun moving powder?"

"We already have Jingkun's pickup times and locations, but we still haven't found his powder stash."

"Alright, hurry up and get on it. Once we find his powder stash, our plan can begin."

Hearing Chen Yao's answer, Jiang Tiansheng nodded in satisfaction.

"Understood, Mr. Jiang."

After speaking, Chen Yao left Jiang Tiansheng's home.

Stepping out of Jiang Tiansheng's villa, Chen Yao let out a long breath.

Working alongside Jiang Tiansheng was simply exhausting.

Not only could his strength not exceed Jiang Tiansheng's, but his intellect couldn't surpass him either—forcing him to hide his cleverness in front of Jiang Tiansheng and play the fool from time to time, all to highlight Jiang Tiansheng's brilliance.

Otherwise, Jiang Tiansheng wouldn't feel at ease.