“Twelve.....”
Yanzi, looking at the man who claimed to be his cousin, trembled as he watched him pummel Da Ji, then lowered his head in front of Twelve.
“This doesn't involve you guys. Mei Yun, I'll figure something out about your mother. Tomorrow, go to school obediently.”
Twelve nodded to Yanzi before addressing the young girl beside him.
To be fair, Twelve was truly loyal to the people of Temple Street. Although he was a gangster, he grew up on Temple Street and considered everyone there his family. Yanzi and the young girl were like his younger siblings. That's why, on this tiny Temple Street, a single word from Twelve could bring out thousands of people. It wasn't without reason.
Chen Dong had more than a thousand, two thousand people under him, and he had to pay them in real money. Twelve, on the other hand, didn't need to pay. In Temple Street, he was practically surrounded by soldiers.
On his way here, he'd gathered the gist of the situation. Mei Yun's mother was hospitalized with a serious illness, and the medical expenses were 500,000. Not even a poor Temple Street boss like him could come up with 500,000 on the spot, let alone a student like Mei Yun from a single-parent family.
“Thank you, Twelve. I’ll find a way to pay you back.”
Hearing that Twelve had taken care of her mother's medical expenses, Mei Yun burst into tears again. If not for Mao Dun holding her back, she might have knelt down.
“A Bao, what's the deal with your boss? The cops are watching you so closely, you need to lay low. You're making Old Ghost Lu angry too! Hey, hey, hey, A Dong, A Dong, stop, stop! You're going to kill this guy if you keep this up...”
After comforting Mei Yun, Twelve watched Chen Dong still beating the hell out of Da Ji, the long-haired guy. He leaned over to A Bao, wanting to ask what was going on. But when he saw Da Ji, who was being pummeled by Chen Dong, suddenly spew a mouthful of blood, he quickly pulled him away. It was broad daylight. If someone died, the cops weren't going to just sit there. He and Chen Dong were on good terms, and he had just helped their Temple Street people. He couldn't let him get into trouble on Temple Street.
“Don't worry. He won't die. I know my limits. At most, he'll be bedridden for a year or two and become an idiot.”
Chen Dong waved his hand nonchalantly, returning to his seat.
“What exactly is going on? Don't use the excuse of your ‘cousin’ to fool me. Your ‘cousin’ lives opposite my house. I know him better than you do...”
Twelve lowered his voice and asked seriously.
“.........”
Chen Dong looked speechless at “cousin” Yanzi. Was this guy for real? Blindly claiming a relative, and from the house across the street, at that.
“You know, after Uncle Tong went in, he left me with so many brothers. I don't want to be like Uncle Tong, with a big business. The smuggling business these years has been run by ‘Big Mouth Ying,’ that bastard. Now, that bastard has run away. I'm not familiar with this business, I have no connections, you know those five streets in Mong Kok. Unless I refuse to pay the gang, I won't be able to support so many brothers. Old Ghost Lu's gang is right next to me, I can only borrow a couple of streets from him to make a living, for now.”
Seeing the “tell me the truth or I’m going to be angry with you” look on Twelve’s face, Chen Dong could only come up with an excuse that was somewhat plausible. He sighed helplessly, and said, “It can’t be helped.”
After all, he couldn't talk about Deng Bo’s plan to help him and A Bao rise in the ranks.
“..........”
Twelve exchanged glances with his right-hand man, Mao Dun. This guy, you’re not able to support your brothers so you're going to “borrow” a couple of streets from Old Ghost Lu. You’re serious about this “borrowing,” right?
They often went to Mong Kok for a walk, and they knew what was going on with this guy. To be honest, there were indeed quite a few brothers left behind by Old Ghost Tong. Mong Kok, unlike other places, was a special place. Although there were many big and small gangs, most of them were in a relatively peaceful state. Small skirmishes were common, but fights over territory rarely happened. Everyone tacitly maintained a stable balance.
Of course, it was also because none of the gangs were confident they could drive out the other gangs from Mong Kok, and they didn’t want to set off a large-scale gang war just for a few streets. A year ago, this guy took over two streets from the Happy Harmony, breaking that delicate balance, and nearly caused those gangs to stir and almost detonated the powder keg that was Mong Kok. After all, they could fight with the Wo Shing Wo, but couldn't the Hung Hing and Eastern Star fight?
Although the incident was eventually resolved, there was definitely some kind of back-channel negotiation between the bigwigs of these gangs and the cops. Now, this guy was planning to stir things up again. They had a feeling that Mong Kok was about to get restless.
“Handsome East” was not like Old Ghost Tong. Old Ghost Tong was so old. To put it bluntly, he was just taking it easy and wanted to make a few more bucks before he retired. But “Handsome East” was still young and at the peak of his energy. This excuse about supporting his brothers was probably just a smoke screen. The real goal was to go after Old Ghost Lu.
“But you're being watched by the cops now. Are you not afraid of trouble?”
Twelve asked.
Although they felt they had probably guessed the guy's intentions, he'd been under constant surveillance by the cops lately. Every night, cops went to check up on the bar when it opened. They couldn't even operate the casinos and horse racing tracks.
With all of that going on, this guy was actually in the mood to go after Old Ghost Tong.
Twelve really wanted to see how big this guy's heart was.
“You're talking as if I don’t get watched every day when I’m out there mixing it up. If I were worried about getting watched, then I wouldn’t do anything and wouldn’t even eat.”
Chen Dong shrugged nonchalantly. Judging by Twelve and Mao Dun's reaction, he probably guessed they had figured out his goal was to go after Hong Tai. But it didn’t matter. After beating Old Ghost Tong's men into that messed up state today, everyone in Mong Kok would probably know that he was against Hong Tai. Besides, Twelve and Hong Tai didn't have any connections, so he wouldn’t be passing any information to Hong Tai about this.
“.......”
Hearing what Chen Dong said, Twelve had no reply. He couldn’t say anything. He just tried to persuade him because they usually hung out together and he had helped out his Temple Street people today. But if he didn’t listen, or was already prepared, there was nothing he could say. After all, he wasn't his subordinate.
“A Dong, my little brother is just being reckless. Isn’t this going a little too far?”
Just as the group was about to finish their milk tea, Old Ghost Lu finally arrived, followed by a large group of men.
Old Ghost Lu also had his men wait outside, then walked in. He looked at his man Da Ji who had been beaten to a pulp. If it weren't for his flashy clothes, he would have barely recognized him. His face was grim as he sat down next to Chen Dong and Twelve, staring at Chen Dong.
“I say, Old Ghost Lu, I ran into your little brother at 11:35 a.m. and told A Bao to let you know at 12:05 p.m. It’s already 3 p.m. now. What's the deal? You need to call in reinforcements to collect your little brother? Let me see how many people you brought with you…”
Chen Dong didn't answer Old Ghost Lu. Instead, he glanced at his cartoon watch. It was a birthday gift that the original owner’s mother had given him for his third birthday. The original owner had always worn it, and he hadn't taken it off either, because it was a token of the original owner's love for his mother. He then glanced at the door with disdain and said, “...”