Chapter 173

Xie Wendong widened his eyes in excitement and said, “I think I won the jackpot!” With that, he rushed back to his room, hopping along the way. If anyone who knew him saw him like this now, their eyes would probably pop out—there was not a trace of the domineering aura he usually had.

Under his parents’ astonished gazes, Xie Wendong returned to his room, closed the door tightly, and quickly pulled out his phone to call Li Shuang. Li Shuang had also managed to stay by the TV on time. As soon as the jackpot numbers were announced, he ordered his men to start searching. Finding the winning ticket among millions of lottery tickets wasn’t easy at all. Dozens of people searched frantically, Li Shuang’s fat face covered in sweat as he shouted, “Who has a ticket starting with 08?”

One person shouted, “Brother Shuang, my pile starts with 08!” “Great!” Li Shuang rushed over and asked everyone to search this pile again for a ticket with 12 as the second digit. After a while of hard work, they finally found the jackpot ticket. Holding it, Li Shuang wiped the sweat from his face and murmured, “This is five million!”

At that moment, the phone rang. Li Shuang checked the caller ID and saw it was Xie Wendong. Without answering, he grabbed the ticket and ran outside. The place where Li Shuang watched TV was the small supermarket right downstairs at Xie Wendong’s house. Someone was already waiting outside. Li Shuang looked up at the window of Xie Wendong’s room, handed the ticket to that person, patted his shoulder, and said, “Brother, it’s up to you now!”

The man grabbed a rope tied down from the rooftop, smiled, took the ticket, and stretched out three fingers toward Li Shuang. He was a member of Xue Sha, highly skilled and trained like the special forces unit led by Jiang Sen. Jiang Sen was originally a scout, and strictly speaking, scouts are part of the special forces—climbing walls was nothing to them. The man rubbed his hands, tucked the ticket into his chest, bent his legs slightly, exerted force suddenly, leaped up, grabbed the rope, and pushed off the wall with more force, rising another half meter. Xie Wendong’s house was on the sixth floor, but he was agile as a cat and climbed up in just a few jumps. Xie Wendong had already opened the window, smiling as he gave the man a thumbs up. Then he took the ticket, checked it, and said cheerfully, “Brother, thank you. I’ll treat you to a meal sometime!”

When he saw Xie Wendong—wearing a tank top and shorts, looking like a typical homebody—with a tone of voice completely different from usual, and even offering to treat him to a meal… this was hardly the idol he admired as the leader of the Wendong Gang. In a moment of impulse, he let out a strange cry, leaned back, and released the rope. Instantly, the man disappeared before Xie Wendong’s eyes and fell downward.

This actually scared Xie Wendong. He quickly leaned over the window to look down. Just as the man was about to hit the ground, he reacted and grabbed the rope, avoiding a brutal impact with the ground, though it still made him break into a cold sweat. Li Shuang, watching from below, was terrified and shouted angrily, “You brat, what kind of trick are you playing?”

Relieved to see he was unharmed, Xie Wendong went to the mirror, shook his head with a wry smile, and thought to himself, Am I really that scary now, or have I always been too unfriendly?! Indeed, Xie Wendong was usually unfriendly, even somewhat detached from reality. Although he needed to eat and could get injured, in the eyes of the Wendong Gang members, he was a god—omnipotent, ruthless, killing demons when faced with them and killing Buddhas when faced with Buddhas.

At that moment, his mother knocked on his door and asked, “Wendong, what are you doing in your room? What was that noise just now?”

“Ah! Nothing, I’m coming!” Xie Wendong replied before stepping out of his room. Not knowing how an ordinary person would react to suddenly winning five million, he jumped a few times on the spot to show his excitement. His face turned red as he waved the lottery ticket in the air and shouted, “Mom and Dad, I really won five million!”

Xie Yuanzhi took it skeptically, looked down, and saw that it indeed matched the numbers shown on TV. His mouth trembled with excitement, and he spoke in broken sentences, unable to believe it. “Son, you really won five million!”

His mother also came over and asked, “These numbers are the same as those on TV.” Xie Yuanzhi said excitedly, “Exactly the same. Let’s call and check right now!” “Right, right, let’s call first. We don’t want to get our hopes up only to be disappointed!” His mother was even more excited. The couple picked up the phone but then realized they didn’t know the lottery center’s phone number. But it didn’t matter; they started calling their relatives and friends who liked to buy lottery tickets to ask.

Seeing his parents’ excited expressions, Xie Wendong felt greatly relieved. Two hundred million worth of money turned into five million, which, in his eyes, was worth it! How could their happy smiles be measured in money? After confirming the news, the couple was extremely excited—an ordinary family had suddenly become millionaires. How could they not be thrilled?

Three days later, Xie Yuanzhi and his wife took Xie Wendong to quietly collect the prize money, without telling any friends or relatives. After all, it’s traditional for Chinese people not to show off their wealth! On the way home, Xie Wendong asked his parents, “Now that we have money, should we buy a bigger house to live more comfortably?”

Xie Yuanzhi replied meaningfully, “Although we have money, we can’t spend it recklessly. We need to save it for when you get married and for any unexpected expenses. Besides, buying a house suddenly would arouse suspicion. Let’s talk about it when you get married.”

Unwilling to give up, Xie Wendong said, “Then at least we should buy some new appliances and furniture! And a car, so my dad doesn’t have to ride a bicycle everywhere.” He inwardly sighed that his father’s means of transportation was still inferior to those who were secretly protecting him. Before Xie Yuanzhi could speak, his mother shook her head firmly, “All the appliances and furniture at home are still usable. There’s no need to replace them. Besides, your father is already old—why would he drive a car?” Xie Wendong helplessly said, “Nothing works. At least we can buy some good food, right?”

His parents shook their heads together and said, “Let’s talk about it in a while.”

Sighing, Xie Wendong shook his head, thinking that after putting in so much effort and spending two hundred million, his parents’ lives hadn’t improved much.

After staying at home for half a month, and since it was already August when schools usually started, he couldn’t stay any longer. Before leaving, his mother gave him five thousand yuan to keep for emergencies. Xie Wendong didn’t want to accept it—five thousand yuan wasn’t much to him—but he couldn’t bear to refuse his mother’s kindness. He nodded, put the money in his pocket, and left home reluctantly, returning to City H with Li Shuang. In the car, Li Shuang asked him, “So? Are your uncles and aunts overjoyed?”

Xie Wendong shook his head and sighed, “Life is still the same. Nothing has improved. Sigh! This isn’t what I wanted.”

Li Shuang comforted him, “People are used to ordinary lives. Suddenly having money, it’s hard for anyone to adjust right away. I think things will get better in time.” Xie Wendong smiled and nodded, then said, “I hope so!” Suddenly, as if remembering something, he leaned forward and asked, “Xiao Shuang, are there many people who have lost their jobs these days?”

Li Shuang nodded and said, “Not many, but actually a lot! But Dongge, why do you ask this?” Xie Wendong patted his shoulder with a mysterious smile on his face and nodded silently.

Without exchanging words, they made it back to City H in just over four hours. As soon as Xie Wendong arrived, he asked Li Shuang to notify all the senior members of the gang to gather at the villa for a meeting.

All the gang leaders and their most trusted subordinates were present. Dozens of people, sitting or standing, filled the villa’s hall, making it seem extremely small. Xie Wendong sat in the center, chatting with Sanyan sitting beside him, and said, “The gang is growing. It seems we’ll need to expand this villa too!”

“Haha!” Sanyan laughed and said, “Dongge, I don’t think we need to expand it. After all, it’s given to us by others. One day I’ll find someone to build a new luxury villa. It wouldn’t be right for the Wen Dong Gang’s headquarters to be in a place left by others.”

Xie Wendong chuckled and joked, “Don’t let the old man hear this, or he’ll definitely not spare you. Despite his age, if it really comes to a fight, Zhangge might not be his match.” Sanyan also laughed and nodded, “Just by seeing Dongge’s sword skills, I can tell how formidable Old Man Jin is.”

As the two talked, almost everyone had arrived. At least forty or fifty people were there, many of whom Xie Wendong didn’t know or had never met before. Shaking his head, he said loudly, “I’ve only been away for a few months, yet the gang has changed so quickly.” Then he stood up, walked back and forth in the center of the hall, and said, “There are many here I don’t know, but that doesn’t matter. As long as you know me is enough. My name is Xie Wendong. Since you’ve joined the Wen Dong Gang, you must obey me and be responsible to me. I don’t want any disloyal people among you, no discordant situations, and no unpleasant noises. I hope in the days to come, you’ll work with me to take the gang to new heights. One last thing—I’m not stingy. The gang will never treat those who work hard unfairly. Of course, many say I have sharp eyes, and those with evil intentions will never escape my notice! I hope none of you are such people!” Xie Wendong’s gaze was like a knife, sweeping over everyone’s faces, causing them to lower their heads, too afraid to meet his piercing stare.

After a while, seeing the atmosphere grow dull, Sanyan started clapping. The others, as if waking from a dream, followed suit. Seeing this, Xie Wendong shook his head and smiled.

After sitting back down, the newly added officials began to stand up one by one to introduce themselves, and Xie Wendong memorized each of them. After a while, he rested his chin in his hand and pondered for a moment before slowly saying, “It’s good that the gang is expanding quickly, but management must be systematic, with clear divisions of labor. I plan to establish a new branch within the gang specifically responsible for controlling other provinces. Yanjiang, what’s your opinion?”
Zhang Yanjiang could be considered Xie Wendong’s strategist—clever and far-sighted. After thinking for a while, he nodded and said, “This would indeed make the gang more organized. However, I wonder if this new branch wouldn’t have too much power.” He was right. Xie Wendong’s influence was gradually spreading across the three eastern provinces, and this new branch would indirectly control the other two provinces. Moreover, with such a large scale, even the headquarters would be hard to control. This was also something Xie Wendong had considered. Nodding, he said, “Indeed. But for the better development of the gang, this new branch still needs to be established. Who do you think should be the leader?” With that, Xie Wendong looked around.
Zhang Yanjiang, who headed the Enforcement Branch, naturally wouldn’t take on the role. Li Shuang and Gao Qiang lacked the ambition. He Haoran, the leader of the Leopard Branch, though interested, always felt he had shifted from being an enemy of Xie Wendong to one of his allies, so he usually wouldn’t take the initiative to ask for anything. Liu Bo, the leader of the Black Wolf Branch, came from the countryside and was already very satisfied with his current position. His comrade, Jiang Sen, who was in charge of Blood Killing, wasn’t there, and even if he were, Liu Bo wouldn’t compete—no position in the gang suited him better than that of head of Blood Killing. San Yan also remained silent. He often heard people say that the Dragon Branch was the strongest, and its reputation even surpassed Xie Wendong’s. To avoid suspicion, San Yan chose to stay out of the picture.
Since none of the branch leaders spoke, the others dared not say much. They couldn’t rashly hope for such a high position. Among the crowd, Chen Baicheng regretted it the most. On the day Xie Wendong returned, he was told directly that a new branch was being established, and the leader hadn’t been chosen yet. Xie Wendong asked if he was interested. At the time, he thought Xie Wendong was testing him and didn’t dare agree. To his surprise, it turned out to be true. Now, he was probably regretting it to the core.