Chapter 135: Protection Fee

While eating, they saw five fierce-looking strong men with crocodiles tattooed on their arms walking over. The leader, who sported a handlebar mustache, said viciously to the old man selling wontons, "Old Zhou Laotou, time to pay the protection fee."

Zhou Laotou felt a pang of heartache, but he still took fifty copper coins from his money pouch and handed them to the handlebar-mustached man with a forced smile, saying, "My lords, I had them ready for you long ago."

"You're a sensible one." The handlebar-mustached strong man counted the copper coins, then swaggered off with his subordinates toward the next stall.

Meng Yifan frowned. This large bowl of wontons only sold for two wen. After deducting costs, Zhou Laotou only earned about one wen per bowl. This meant he had to sell fifty bowls just to pay the Crocodile Gang's protection fee. This protection fee was set a bit too high.

Zhou Laotou paid the protection fee with practiced ease; it was obvious that these bastards from the Crocodile Gang came to collect protection fees every single day.

For a wonton stall like this, if business was good, he could sell seventy or eighty bowls a day. After paying the protection fee, Zhou Laotou could still earn twenty or thirty wen, barely enough for the grandfather and granddaughter to live on.

If business was average, the money earned in a day might only be enough to pay the protection fee. Working from dawn till dusk for a whole day would be all for nothing.

Meng Yifan was currently supporting one thousand soldiers, and the expenses were high. He was also preparing to arrange for tax collection, but with the Three Great Gangs exploiting the common people, if Meng Yifan were to collect taxes as well, the people would surely be in utter misery.

"Before collecting taxes, I must take down the Three Great Gangs." Meng Yifan made up his mind.

Meng Yifan and Meng Dayong continued eating their wontons. Unexpectedly, after the handlebar-mustached strong man finished collecting protection fees on the main street, he turned back and said to Zhou Laotou, "King Meng is occupying Luolong County, so we all have to send him gifts. Each stall must pay two hundred wen as a gift fee."

"This... this..." Zhou Laotou's wrinkled old face was as twisted as a bitter melon. His was a small-scale business, and he couldn't save much money. Under normal circumstances, after deducting essential expenses, they would work busily for a month and barely manage to save two hundred wen. Now, being asked to pay an additional two hundred wen put him in a truly difficult position.

Seeing Zhou Laotou dawdling and not bringing out the money, the handlebar-mustached strong man became instantly displeased. He stepped forward, circulated his True Qi, and slammed a palm onto the table. The solid wood table was smashed to pieces, and the four diners eating there were splattered all over with wonton broth.

The Crocodile Gang had a notorious reputation; the four diners dared to be angry but dared not speak, and could only slink away.

"Zhou Laotou, don't be ungrateful. Hurry up and bring the money out, or else I'll smash your entire wonton stall," the handlebar-mustached strong man said coldly.

Zhou Laotou didn't want to provoke the Crocodile Gang either, so he could only plead in a low, humble voice, "My lords, this is a small-scale business. I only have eighty wen on me right now. I'll give it all to you. Could you allow me to do business for one more day and give you the money tomorrow?"

The handlebar-mustached strong man was very dissatisfied and was just about to continue smashing the stall when he suddenly noticed Zhou Laotou's granddaughter, who was sixteen years old, youthful and beautiful, with a delicate figure and quite a bit of charm. His eyes rolled, and he laughed, "That's fine, but your granddaughter must come with us. Bring the money to me tonight, and you can take your granddaughter back."

Zhou Laotou's granddaughter, Zhou Rong, was terrified and turned pale, hurriedly hiding behind her grandfather. This handlebar-mustached strong man was named Xiong Dajiao; he was a First Grade Intermediate Martial Artist and a minor leader in the Crocodile Gang.

Xiong Dajiao was a notorious hoodlum and a well-known lecher. He had defiled the innocence of many young maidens. If Zhou Rong went with him, it would be like a lamb entering a wolf's den, and her life would be ruined.

Once, after Xiong Dajiao defiled a girl, the girl had a strong character and threw herself into a well to commit suicide. The girl's father couldn't swallow the injustice and went to the county office to file a complaint, but even the County Magistrate could do nothing about the Three Great Gangs, who were as close as brothers. He could only drive the old father away on the pretext of having no evidence.

That very night, the old father hanged himself at home. Many people said it was Xiong Dajiao who personally strangled the man and then hung him from the rafters.

From then on, no ordinary commoner dared to provoke Xiong Dajiao again. Even if they were bullied, they could only swallow their anger and dared not resist.

"No, no, my granddaughter is still young. Master Xiong, please show mercy. I won't set up the stall today; I'll go home right now and scrape the money together for you." Zhou Laotou didn't even want his wonton stall anymore; he grabbed his granddaughter and prepared to leave.

"Want to leave? It's too late. Since you set up your stall on our Crocodile Gang's territory today, you must pay the protection fee and the gift fee. If you don't pay today, neither of you can leave." Xiong Dajiao snorted coldly, and the several strong men behind him stepped forward, surrounding the grandfather and granddaughter.

Nearby residents gathered around. Everyone sympathized with Zhou Laotou and his granddaughter, but the Crocodile Gang had many experts and were ruthless; offending them never ended well. Although the surrounding crowd couldn't bear to watch, they dared not stand up for the two.

Meng Yifan was furious. This Crocodile Gang was truly shameless. Not only were they collecting fees indiscriminately, but they were actually using his name to collect gift money. Wasn't this ruining his, Meng Yifan's, reputation?

Meng Yifan controlled the Luolong County Great Seal and longed for everyone in the county to pledge their loyalty to him, so that he could mobilize more Spiritual Power from his subjects to launch more powerful spiritual attacks.

Meng Yifan had been trying to find ways to win people's hearts, and he detested the Crocodile Gang's actions of ruining his reputation.

Xiong Dajiao lecherously grabbed Zhou Rong's delicate little hand and laughed, "Hehe, little beauty, come with me."

Zhou Rong was terrified and burst into tears, saying, "Let go of me! Grandfather, save me!"

Zhou Laotou panicked and rushed over to save his granddaughter, but he was firmly restrained by the other strong men. He was just an ordinary person, old and frail, and could not break free from the obstruction of the several strong men. He could only shout loudly, "Xiong Dajiao, let go of my granddaughter! Heavens, is there no justice left?"

Xiong Dajiao said triumphantly, "Justice? In this Luolong County, we, the Crocodile Gang, are the justice."

"What a toad trying to swallow Heaven—what a big mouth you have," a clear, bright voice came.

Xiong Dajiao was stunned for a moment, then flew into a rage and cursed, "Which little bastard doesn't want to live, daring to challenge our Crocodile Gang?"

Meng Yifan pushed through the crowd and walked in front of Xiong Dajiao. When the crowd saw that Meng Yifan was just a young lad with red lips and white teeth, they all thought he was a young man who didn't know the immensity of Heaven and Earth, and figured this youth would likely suffer soon.

"You little brat, you're quite handsome yourself. I'll spare you for your insolence just now, but you'll have to come with this little girl and keep me company. Hehe, a golden boy and a jade girl—you two both look quite good."

Xiong Dajiao's eyes lit up when he saw Meng Yifan. As a lecher who was hungry for anything, he played with both men and women, and compared to women, he preferred playing with young, handsome boys.