Chapter 129

The car stopped downstairs at the Dashang Hotel. Zhao Jianlong and Huo Xing were no strangers to this place, and they were also very familiar with the hotel's owner. They never expected that the person who wanted to see them would actually be staying here.

However, thinking about it, it made sense. The Dashang Hotel was already second to none in Jiangzhou; there simply wasn't a better place to be found.

The two got out of the car but didn't rush into the hotel. Instead, they paused for a moment. After the car drove away, they glanced at the license plate—it was a Beijing plate—which left them deeply shaken. The trace of worry in their hearts grew a few degrees heavier.

They entered the hotel, went up, and arrived in front of Room 508. Han Long knocked on the door.

"Come in!" a low voice came from inside.

Han Long pushed the door open and walked in. Zhao Jianlong and Huo Xing stepped forward to follow, but just then, they heard a "bang" as Han Long closed the door, and the two nearly had their noses smashed by it.

"..."

The two cursed fiercely in their hearts, but there was nothing they could do.

Soon, the door opened again, and Han Long said, "Come in."

Zhao Jianlong and Huo Xing entered the room and saw two people sitting on the sofa. One was relatively young, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth and a lazy demeanor. However, judging by his attire, he was likely either wealthy or powerful.

The other was older; although he was wearing pajamas, his bearing was extraordinary, faintly giving them a sense of invisible pressure.

Tong Huaiyu also sized the two up and pointed to the opposite sofa. "Sit!"

Since they were already here, the two didn't think too much about it. They sat down quite readily, then didn't speak, just waiting quietly.

"My name is Tong Huaiyu!" He didn't waste words either. "You shouldn't be strangers to the person named Zhou Andong, right?"

The two men's hearts skipped a beat, thumping violently. Their bodies tensed up, and they looked around nervously, preparing to bolt if things went south.

Tong Huaiyu chuckled. "Don't be nervous. I'm not Zhou Andong's friend, but his enemy."

Zhao Jianlong and Huo Xing exchanged a glance, their nervous emotions relaxing. Immediately after, another question popped into their minds. A person like this should be completely unrelated to Zhou Andong—how could they have become enemies?

If it weren't for Jiang Yuping, they wouldn't have had any intersection with Zhou Andong, let alone a grudge; after all, the two sides were not on the same level, not people from the same world.

Tong Huaiyu picked up a cigarette and lit one. "Because my identity is rather special, I cannot take action personally, so I found you. The enemy of an enemy is a friend, right?"

Huo Xing frowned and said, "Mr. Tong, we are just ordinary business people, law-abiding, and we will absolutely not do anything illegal."

"Hehehe..." Tong Huaiyu chuckled lightly. In his eyes, Zhou Andong was a bumpkin, and Zhao Jianlong and Huo Xing were no better; at best, they were just country landlords with a bit of money.

"Your game hall was sealed, and now there are three scoundrels lying in the hospital. Have you sent the 600,000?"

Zhao Jianlong and Huo Xing were shocked; it seemed the other party had already investigated them thoroughly.

Tong Huaiyu smoked his cigarette leisurely. "Rest assured, I am also a law-abiding person; I won't make you take a knife to kill anyone."

Zhao Jianlong said, "Then what do you mean?"

Tong Huaiyu smiled. "Who says that to kill someone, you have to stab them with a knife? That's too bloody, lacks technical content, and makes it very easy for people to catch you. I, Tong Huaiyu, would never do such a stupid thing."

Zhao Jianlong's spirits lifted. "Tell me!"

More than an hour later, Zhao Jianlong and Huo Xing walked out of the hotel, then turned back to take a look.

"Killing without seeing blood; this person is too terrifying," Huo Xing said in a low voice.

Zhao Jianlong, however, was very excited. "Finally, I can vent the pent-up anger in my heart."

Huo Xing said, "Let's go to the bank to withdraw the money first and plug the mouths of those three scoundrels."

Heyu Province, Anhui City, Guanji County.

A man with a weathered face and a desolate expression was walking aimlessly down the street. His hair was messy, and the beard on his chin seemed to have not been cleaned for a long time. The whole person looked like he had no spirit at all.

The county town was not big; it didn't even take an hour to walk from east to west. This man had already been walking for more than two hours. When he passed the only shopping mall in the county for the third time, he heard someone shouting at the newsstand at the intersection.

"Contemporary, Reader, Sprout, People's Literature, October, Harvest, Writer's Digest have arrived."

The man's footsteps paused. He touched his pocket, gave a self-deprecating smile, and continued walking forward. But after walking a few steps, he stopped again and turned his head to look at the newsstand. At this time, several people were already gathered around. He hesitated again and again, and finally gritted his teeth and walked over quickly.

"Eh, Short Story Literature Competition?"

As soon as the man approached, he heard a young man holding a People's Literature magazine say this.

"Hmm?" Another girl said pleasantly, "Reader also has a submission notice. The first prize is a lot of bonus money, and the second prize is 30,000."

Another young man said, "Jiangzhou Yugong Wine Cup Short Story Literature Competition. What kind of wine is this Jiangzhou Yugong Wine?"

At this time, the newsstand owner said, "You don't even know about Jiangzhou Yugong Wine? This wine is good; it tastes better than Maoye, and you can't buy it even if you have money."

The young man smiled and said, "Boss, if you can't buy it, how do you know it tastes good?"

"I can't buy it, but others can. I've had the fortune to drink a cup." The owner had a look of reminiscence. "The taste is soft, sweet, and it doesn't go to your head."

The young man didn't know what he was thinking of; he paid the money, took a copy of Reader, and left. Then he entered the mall, found the tobacco and alcohol counter, and asked.

"Comrade, do you have Jiangzhou Yugong Wine?"

The salesperson was lowering her head to knit a sweater. Hearing the young man's words, she lifted her eyelids. "No stock for now."

The young man was not surprised and continued to ask, "When will there be stock?"

The salesperson said, "Hard to say, maybe forty days, maybe two months."

"So long?" The young man couldn't believe it.

The salesperson said, "So long; it's already good if you can get the goods."

The young man continued to ask, "How much is a bottle?"

The salesperson said, "The regular one is eight, the premium one is 198, but I don't know if there is stock for the premium one; that's hard to say."

The young man said, "Alright, I'll come back then."

The salesperson said, "The time I said isn't very accurate either. When you come, it might already be sold out. So if you really want to buy it, you can pay a deposit first, but there's no guarantee for the premium one."

The young man said, "Does this wine sell so well?"

"Of course!" The salesperson said, "On the tenth day of the first lunar month, we used connections to get three tons of goods, and it was snapped up in two days."

"Is that so!" The young man said somewhat absent-mindedly, "I'll go look elsewhere."

Watching the young man leave in a hurry, the salesperson rolled her eyes and muttered something.

The young man was named Meng Weihua. His parents were both leaders in public institutions, his family was well-off, he had a stable job, and he had just gotten married not long ago.

But after the old man spoke in the south, his heart flew away. He prepared to resign and go into business, but he didn't know what to do. Now the opportunity had come, and he prepared to go to Jiangzhou in person, wanting to negotiate the general agency for Jiangzhou Yugong Wine in Heyu Province.