Chapter 17: The Ambition of Yellow Tiger

"You don't know, but there is a rule in Black Skin Bar: no taking bribes or fighting on the premises. Especially for the bar's own staff. If you break it, you get a hand chopped off. This has been the rule for a long time, established even before Sister Ling was around. This is also why Black Skin Bar is always packed—it's relatively safe, plus Brother Yellow keeps order, and everyone in the underworld gives Sister Ling face!" the bald man explained to me.

Only then did I understand that things were so serious. No wonder the bald man was scared to the point of kneeling and begging for mercy; after all, losing a hand is no small matter.

The bald man took me to a private room and knocked gently on the door. An impatient voice came from inside: "Damn it, who is it!"

This voice belonged to none other than Yellow Tiger. Yellow Tiger's voice was quite distinctive, so I recognized it immediately.

Just as the bald man was about to say something, I spoke up first: "Brother Yellow, it's me, Yang Yun. You told me to come after we were at the Lihuang KTV!"

The door opened at that moment. The person who opened it was a woman. She had a great figure and wasn't bad-looking either, appearing to be in her thirties. She was very alluring, and although she lacked Sister Ling's aura and temperament, she had her own unique charm.

Yellow Tiger was sitting on the sofa, looking old and weary, as if he had been waiting for someone for a long time.

After opening the door, the woman left without lingering. Yellow Tiger looked at the bald man behind me and signaled with his eyes. The bald man understood and quickly left as well.

After I entered the room, it was just Yellow Tiger and me. Yellow Tiger picked up the red wine on the table, poured himself a glass, and was about to pour another. Seeing this, I was startled and quickly grabbed the bottle: "Brother Yellow, let me do it!"

Yellow Tiger didn't refuse. I held the red wine; looking at the brand, it didn't seem cheap. I had seen wealthy people order it back at the KTV.

"No need to look, the wine isn't expensive, just over ten thousand a bottle," Yellow Tiger said, picking up his glass and sipping it lightly.

Yellow Tiger's words almost made me drop the bottle. I quickly gripped it tight. After all, this was wine worth over ten thousand yuan a bottle; if I smashed it, I really couldn't afford to pay for it. However, it was clear that Yellow Tiger was quite well-off to open a bottle of ten-thousand-yuan wine just like that.

"Do you know why I asked you to come?" Yellow Tiger sipped the red wine lightly and smiled.

I shook my head, feeling at a loss. I had thought of many possibilities, but I really didn't know why Yellow Tiger would look for me.

"I think you're quite interesting. To be able to get Sister Ling to help you so much, you must have something going for you," Yellow Tiger said, gesturing for me to sit down.

"No, Sister Ling probably just helped me because she felt sorry for me!" I had thought of many reasons why Sister Ling helped me, but other than this, I couldn't think of any others.

"You're wrong. Yu Manling is not the kind of kind-hearted person who would help others. On the contrary, she is cold-blooded, ruthless, and decisive. Zhang Longtao might not know Yu Manling very well, but I know her very well. If you can gain her favor, you must have extraordinary qualities. Besides, I saw that you had a lot of courage that day; you have guts, which suits my taste, so I wanted to talk to you!"

I looked at Yellow Tiger in confusion. Yellow Tiger actually said Sister Ling was cold-blooded and ruthless, which I found completely baffling. Usually, Sister Ling treated me and the KTV staff quite well. Where did this "cold-blooded and ruthless" come from? However, after thinking about it, and recalling Sister Ling's attitude toward the bald man earlier, it was indeed possible. This only made me even more curious about Sister Ling.

"I'm not in a position to tell you much about Sister Ling's affairs. If you have time, ask her yourself. Do you know? Actually, I know about the incident a few days ago when you, your little girlfriend, and Wang Li were on my turf, and I also know about what happened in the bar today!" Yellow Tiger leaned back on the sofa, looking at me comfortably to see my reaction.

I was indeed very surprised. I didn't expect Yellow Tiger to have such influence; he actually knew about all these things. I had originally thought he was just a gang leader, but now it seemed it wasn't that simple.

"Oh, Brother Yellow is quite concerned about my affairs!" I didn't react much, just smiled slightly.

"What? Don't you want to ask why I didn't come to save you? Since I knew your situation at the time, I could have definitely sent people to save you!"

"Brother Yellow, you're joking. First of all, you had no reason to save me; saving me would have brought you no benefit or value. I didn't expect you to save me. I have no friendship with you, and we even had a conflict back then. I was already thanking the heavens that you didn't kick me while I was down!"

Yellow Tiger gave me an approving look and said, "You're right. I naturally have my own considerations. I have to see if you are worth my investment. Although you are currently highly regarded by Sister Ling, I haven't seen any value in you. In fact, you're not even as good as Wang Li!"

Hearing the name Wang Li, I paused for a moment, then thought about it carefully in my mind and looked at Yellow Tiger in surprise: "Is Wang Li one of your men?"

Yellow Tiger smiled disdainfully and said, "I don't trust a turncoat like him. If he can betray Zhang Longtao today, he can betray me tomorrow. So, naturally, I need to find someone more reliable. I saw that you had more backbone and guts that day!"

"Aren't you afraid that I will betray you just like Wang Li?"

"You won't. I believe in my judgment, and I believe even more in Sister Ling's judgment. I know you want to go back to school, right? That's not a problem, but why should I help you?"

Yellow Tiger's point was very clear. He could help me get back into school, but I could naturally hear his requirement: I had to join him. But this "joining him" wasn't just working directly under him; I had to make a name for myself first to be qualified for his help.

"You want Nanjie?" I'm naturally not stupid; I roughly guessed his intention. I just didn't expect Yellow Tiger's ambition to be so great.

"Communicating with smart people is comfortable. You're right, I do have that intention. But Zhang Longtao is not that easy to bully, so I need someone on the inside to work with me!" Yellow Tiger took out a cigarette, tossed one to me, lit his own, and looked at me, waiting for my answer.

"When the time comes, as long as we take Nanjie, I can let you replace Zhang Longtao's position. What do you think?"

Seeing that I didn't speak, Yellow Tiger continued to say to me. ===== CHAPTER 18 =====