Chapter 166

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Protagonist:

Lin Hao

The boss hurried over in three steps made into two, his face piled high with smiles, and greeted him enthusiastically: "Yo, Hao Ge, how come you've got time to grace my little shop today? It really brings luster to my humble place! Come, inside please, there's a private room over here, the environment's great."

As he spoke, he personally led Lin Hao and the others inside, chattering nonstop: "Hao Ge, you've got to come patronize us often. I won't boast about anything else, but this hot pot flavor is absolutely authentic Teochew style, guaranteed to satisfy you."

After Lin Hao and the others sat down, the boss was even more warm and attentive. Not only did he nimbly set out their utensils, he also specially ordered the waiter to bring out two plates of top-grade beef from the back kitchen and delivered them personally, saying with a smile: "Hao Ge, these two plates of beef are my shop's signature. Today I'm treating you and the brothers to a taste, don't you turn your nose up at it."

Lin Hao looked at the boss's enthusiastic manner and felt quite comfortable inside. He smiled in reply: "Boss, you're too polite. Then we won't stand on ceremony, haha. Just smelling this aroma tells me your hot pot's definitely the real deal. We're in for a feast tonight."

Having said that, he and the brothers prepared to eat their fill, and by the way also ponder properly how to solve the snack street's congestion problem.

Lin Hao had originally transmigrated from the future, and in his heart he held principles of conduct different from the triad members of this era. He simply couldn't bring himself to do the kind of thing where, relying on having a bit of power, he bullied ordinary common folk.

Looking at how the snack street became impassably congested every evening yet no one managed it, he understood in his heart that to solve this problem, he'd still have to start from the Wo On Lok side.

In this period, the triads' influence was indeed not to be underestimated. They held no small energy in society, and one could even say in certain aspects their influence was not a whit inferior to the police's. After all, the police only maintained order during normal working hours. But once evening came and they got off work, many places fell into a kind of relative "vacuum" of management.

And the triads? Although they showed some restraint during the day, come nightfall, that was their time to "show their skills."

Many triad members were arrogant to the extreme, even shouting slogans like "After 12 o'clock, my word is law."

In Lin Hao's view, this slogan was rather foolish and laughable, yet it also reflected from the side the current social reality: that triad members at night were almost "walking sideways," acting with utter lawlessness, treating many places as their own territory, arbitrarily managing or rather disrupting order.

Lin Hao thought to himself: since the police could maintain the snack street's order well during the day, letting vehicles and pedestrians pass normally, there was no reason the triads couldn't manage it at night.

As long as Wo On Lok was willing to step forward and arrange a few reliable little brothers to slightly maintain traffic order here, stop those snack stalls from arbitrarily occupying the road to do business, and guide the pedestrian flow, this congestion situation should be greatly improved.

However, wanting Wo On Lok to cooperate was also no easy matter.

After finishing dinner, Lin Hao saw the boss's shop had fewer customers now and wasn't so busy. He thought to chat a couple sentences with him to understand the snack street's concrete situation.

Subsequently, Lin Hao had Fei Zai and the other few brothers go back first, while he himself remained in his seat and started chatting with the boss.

Lin Hao first smiled and asked: "Boss, I see this street gets badly jammed every evening. You do business here — with it blocked like this, is business easy to do?"

The boss heard this and sighed helplessly, wiping the table as he said: "Not easy, but we have to do it anyway. What else can we do? We're just small business, relying on this to make a living. The police all get off work at night, nobody comes to manage this thing at all. We can only muddle along like this."

Lin Hao nodded, then asked further: "I heard this street is Wo On Lok's territory. Don't they usually care about the traffic situation? However chaotic the street gets, it affects your business too."

The boss heard this, a bitter smile appeared on his face. He shook his head and said: "Them? Hmph, you still expect those triad members to manage traffic? Stop dreaming! They usually only know to come collect protection fees. Other matters they couldn't care less about. My shop's business is getting harder and harder to do, and every month I still have to pay Wo On Lok's fees on time. The little money I earn is almost not enough to pay the fees. I've been thinking — in another two years I don't want to run this shop anymore. It's really too exhausting."

After bidding farewell to the hot pot shop boss, Lin Hao kept thinking about those two guns in his space. He thought that until now he still hadn't tested their power. Since he was idle anyway, he lifted his feet and walked toward a more secluded place.

Speaking of Yuen Long, there really were quite a few desolate places. He hadn't walked long before Lin Hao arrived at a secluded small grove.

This small grove was quiet all around. Apart from the occasional insect cries, there wasn't any other sound.

Lin Hao first found a hidden corner to relieve himself, let out some water. Then he shouted a few times at the top of his lungs. The sound echoed in the grove. After confirming there really wasn't anyone nearby, he only then took out those two Black Star pistols from his space with peace of mind.

Lin Hao held the guns, and his heart still held some little excitement. After all, this was his first time fiddling with the real thing.

He first tried pulling the trigger in the way he imagined, wanting to fire two shots to test. But unexpectedly, the guns didn't fire at all. They only let out a few dull "click-click" sounds, exceptionally abrupt in this quiet grove.

Lin Hao frowned and began searching through his several lifetimes of memories. But search as he might, those memories simply had no experience of firing a gun whatsoever.

No choice. He could only rely on impressions from watching various films and TV dramas normally, carefully feeling over the gun in his hand, trying to find the problem.

He fiddled for a good while. Lin Hao finally discovered a tiny thing at the gun's hammer. A flash of inspiration struck his mind. He remembered pistols seemed to have a safety catch. This was probably the culprit.

So he carefully fiddled again. Only hearing a light "pa" sound, Lin Hao rejoiced in his heart, thinking the safety should have been successfully disengaged by him.

Just as Lin Hao raised the gun again, preparing to fire two test shots, suddenly, a faint, indistinct sound drifted over.

Lin Hao's heart went "thump" — he secretly thought: bad. In this wild, desolate place, how could there suddenly be people?

He didn't dare be careless. He hurriedly crouched at the waist, moving with light hands and feet, and hid behind a big tree to the side. He poked out half his head and vigilantly looked toward the direction the sound came from.

In a few minutes, he saw a few people walking over slowly from the distance.

Lin Hao fixed his eyes for a look. His brows instantly furrowed. His heart secretly cried: bad luck. It was actually Crow leading two people walking over.

Lin Hao couldn't help but feel suspicious in his heart. What was Crow doing running to this secluded small grove in the middle of the night? He definitely didn't have any good intentions. He himself had better be careful.