Chapter 404

The next morning, all the Leaders of Prosperity received the notice, telling them to go to the main hall for a meeting.

Tianhong saw everyone present and said, "Brothers, you all know my Big Brother's recent situation; Prosperity Mountain cannot be left unattended, so he asked me to hold the fort, thus I cannot sit as the dragon head—I will step down voluntarily."

"Now everyone can vote to elect the dragon head; whoever wants this position can nominate themselves now."

Those on good terms with Li Xin all got the word, so no one caused trouble.

The Prince said more directly, "Before the dragon head steps down, let me handle a small matter: I will relinquish my Leader position in Tsim Sha Tsui and recommend the Ghost King to take over."

The Boxing Champion Tai raised his hand and said, "I likewise recommend the Tiger King to take over Yau Ma Tei."

Tianhong glanced at the Leaders' faces and asked, "What do you all think? Any objections?"

"None!"

As Tianhong's appointed straight man, Jingkun said, "The Ghost King and Tiger King have done well over the past year; taking over Tsim Sha Tsui and Yau Ma Tei will pose no problem."

"Mm! Good, since that's settled, let's proceed with the dragon head election—begin."

As soon as Tianhong finished speaking, Big D raised his hand and said, "I vote for Jingkun; he has deep seniority in Prosperity, great contributions, is a stand-up guy, always lends a hand when someone's in trouble—he'll make a fine dragon head."

Yesterday his own brother A Xin had already pointed him toward a bright future; now the Prosperity dragon head holds no allure for him.

Later, becoming a logistics tycoon would be even more impressive than being the Prosperity dragon head.

He had already settled on a name for himself: Shunfeng Express.

Since trying VCD and tasting its profits, Han Bin has paid less attention to the arms trade, focusing wholeheartedly on legitimate work with Li Xin.

He also raised his hand and said, "Jingkun is fine—I choose him."

Xiaoyan and Konglong saw Han Bin raise his hand, then raised theirs too, reasoning that Han Bin is smarter than them, so following his lead can't be wrong.

Dafei's underwear business has expanded overseas; now when people see him they call him Xu Zong, which sounds much better than "Big Brother Dafei"!

"I also choose Jingkun—after all he often reads my magazine, boosting my income considerably; as dragon head he'll certainly be fine."

Since Li Xin set the example, these Leaders no longer care much about gang affairs; they all dream of going legit.

Even Guan Tang's Ah Chao now works as Li Xin's assistant; this year he's been eating well, moved into a villa, and swapped his car for a Bentley.

Especially since he and Jingkun grew up together, there's no reason not to support him.

"I choose Jingkun."

Whenever other gangs change leadership, it's amid bloodshed; only Prosperity is the exception, aside from a slight hiccup when Jiang Tian Sheng took over as dragon head.

With Tianhong and Jingkun, it can be said there were no ripples at all.

Jingkun clasped his hands to the crowd: "Thanks, brothers, for your support; my ascent won't change anything—we'll carry on as before."

"I will relinquish the Mong Kok Leader position, but I currently lack sufficient talent under me, so I'd like to transfer Wan Chai Fei Quan over to take charge—what do you think, Longlong?"

Longlong glanced at Tianhong, saw him nod, then said, "No problem, Jingkun—you're in charge."

That day's news spread through the jianghu, making Mr. Xiao Xu's eyes turn red with envy as he muttered to himself: How come Prosperity's Leaders aren't like Xinji's?

If Xinji had such law-abiding Leaders, his old man would have been fished out of Stanley long ago!

Mr. Xiao Xu now hates the chief instructor to the extreme.

He gritted his teeth silently, hoping never to give him a chance, otherwise he'd beat that old thing to death.

At this age, why won't he just die?!

Hesheng Sheng's chaos is even more worrying, because Hesheng Sheng also needs a leadership change.

Those old-timers jump up and down, yet still couldn't bring down the airplane.

Having completed his term satisfactorily, he's just waiting for a smooth retirement; you could say this airplane guy lacks brains, but he's very rule-abiding.

He never thought about serving another term!

Cha Guoling and Hesheng Sheng's Tuodi.

The chaos was discussing with the airplane who could take over.

"Leader, I think we should let Dàtou take this term; he's done well in Kowloon City this past year—what do you say?"

The airplane pondered, then nodded: "We can only pick Dàtou! Others either lack seniority or aren't suitable."

"My Big Brother and the Heibao of Tai Po aren't qualified for this seat, let alone Guaisen—he's become a thoroughgoing gambler; any day debt collectors could hack him to death!"

"Master Su also won't do; by the time he finishes speaking, the firefight outside will already be over!"

Now Hesheng Sheng is like an old lady celebrating New Year—each year worse than the last.

Since Big D switched sides, A Le has played himself to death; Hesheng Sheng truly has no one worth mentioning.

Those aspiring to make a name in the jianghu have even less interest in Hesheng Sheng; what can a sunset gang amount to?

Picking the tallest among the short, so far we can only push forward the rule‑knowing Dàtou to the Leader position.

"Well, there's a bright side—at least he follows the rules and won't lay hands on these uncles and aunts of ours," Cha Si thought.

"No choice—given Hesheng Sheng's present state, Cha Si can only console himself with the Ah Q spirit; otherwise what else can we do?"

The annual Changhong Grand Assembly began, with all gang dragon heads gathering at Youqiji Restaurant.

Jingkun sat at the head table's main seat, looking at his tablemate Dàtou—this ill fortune, damn it! Does Hesheng Sheng have nobody left?

How could they push such a waste up here?

The camel eyed Dàtou and thought the same; sitting with such a person made him feel embarrassed too.

He muttered to Jingkun beside him: "A Kun, let's split Hesheng Sheng between our two gangs—looking at this guy is annoying!"

Jingkun spread his hands and whispered: "I'd like to as well, but you know Prosperity's situation now—we can't expand."

"Just bear with it; endure a little and it'll pass."

Dàtou felt like sitting on pins and needles, sensing the table's jianghu bigwigs didn't welcome him, like an orange with garlic stuck in it—he always felt like an outsider!

Mr. Xiao Xu, wearing glasses, glanced at Dàtou and found it even harder to accept; as a top‑law graduate, he had to sit beside this dimwit—agonizing!

Today's Changhong auction ended quickly; the head table bigwigs didn't even bid, just wanted to wrap up.

In the end, Changhong was taken by Longcheng Bang's Xin Yi for eighteen thousand eight hundred.

Holding the Long Rainbow, Xin Yi felt somewhat amused and exasperated; he was just casting a brick, never expecting those people to be unwilling to toss away jade.

After the auction ended, Jing Kun patted Xin Yi's shoulder and said, "Rest easy holding it; this Long Rainbow in your hand, no one dares to have ulterior motives, after all, A Xin's signboard is tough enough."

Xin Yi clasped his fists and said, "Brother Kun, no need to call me Brother Xin; our Dragon City Gang has nothing else but fighting ability—whoever wants to cause trouble also needs to see if his teeth are tough enough."

Jing Kun gave Xin Yi a thumbs-up and laughed, "A Xin's brothers are all truly brave; come find me for tea in the future."

"Okay, Brother Kun!"

The Twelfth Young Master came up to Xin Yi's side and asked, "What are you chatting with Jing Kun about?"

Xin Yi put his arm around the Twelfth Young Master's shoulder and said, "Jing Kun said Brother Xin's brothers are all truly brave, not a single softbone among them."

The Twelfth Young Master agreed: "Exactly! Brother Xin's brothers are indeed tough."

Xin Yi teased, "Is the Hall Master of the Hall of Posture being a bit shameless? When praising others, he doesn't forget to include himself."