Chapter 21

“Hehe, I recognize this gun—it’s an AK47!” said Sanyan, holding an automatic rifle. Everyone picked it up to take a closer look. AK47s were usually only seen on TV, so holding one in person was quite exciting. One guy muttered to himself, “Why does this gun look a bit different from those in movies?!” Hearing this, everyone agreed it did seem a bit different.

Sanyan smiled and said, “You know what? The guns in movies aren’t real—they’re just imitations. What we’re holding now is a real AK47!” He then fiddled with the rifle, clearly fond of it.

One guy asked Xie Wendong, “Brother Dong, we can use the guns, but what about the rocket launchers and landmines?”

Xie Wendong thought for a moment before saying, “We can’t take those out yet. If the Tigers Gang sees them, we’re all in trouble. Put the guns back; we’ll try to sell them elsewhere later.”

Hearing this, everyone reluctantly put the guns back into the boxes. Li Shuang whispered, “Brother Dong, we should at least keep a few for our own use!” Xie Wendong nodded and said, “If we do keep any, it will be for later. For now, everyone can only use knives, and the shotguns also need to be put away.”

Li Shuang seemed unwilling and asked, “Why? Can’t we even use shotguns?”

Sanyan glared at him and said, “You’re really stupid, Lao Fei. Don’t you remember we just used shotguns to kill the Tigers Gang members? If they see us with shotguns, they’ll suspect us!”

Li Shuang finally understood and nodded, saying loudly, “Actually, I knew that. I was just asking on behalf of the brothers in the gang!” Before he could finish speaking, Sanyan kicked him.

Everyone put all the guns back into the boxes and sealed them again. Looking at the four large boxes, Xie Wendong thought, “It’s not good to leave them in the billiard hall—there are too many people around, and it might lead to leaks.” He asked Sanyan, “Brother Zhang, do you have a safer place? Leaving them with Xin Xin isn’t ideal.”

Sanyan replied, “How about my place? It’s my rented house; usually no one goes there, and if anyone does, it’s just my own brothers.”

Xie Wendong thought for a while before agreeing. Then he said to everyone, “Alright, nothing else to worry about now. Those who are tired can go home, and those who aren’t can go to Guiwei. Food and drinks will be covered by the gang.”

The crowd cheered, bid farewell to Xie Wendong, and rushed toward Guiwei. The key members of the gang stayed behind; they knew Xie Wendong still had something to say. Sure enough, after everyone left, Xie Wendong said to them, “Everyone must take good care of your subordinates. We need to stay low-key for now and observe how things develop, keeping a close eye on every move of the Tiger Gang. Qiangzi, I’m leaving this task to you!”
Gao Qiang replied hesitantly, “I can fight, but I’m not used to doing ‘detective work’ yet!” His words made everyone laugh.
Xie Wendong then turned to Zhang Yanjiang and said, “Yanjiang, you did great today and made a significant contribution. Brother Zhang, I’ll give Yanjiang 3,000 yuan as a reward, and 2,000 yuan each for the others.” Before Zhang Yanjiang could speak, Xie Wendong waved his hand to stop him and continued, “The gang doesn’t have much money right now, so this is already the maximum we can offer. Once the gang grows stronger, I promise every brother will be able to live well. I won’t say much more—I hope everyone will devote themselves wholeheartedly to the gang to lay a solid foundation for its future development!”
Sanyan and the others stood up together and said in unison, “We swear to follow Brother Dong to the death!”
Xie Wendong smiled at them, satisfied with the reaction. Without a sense of unity, a gang would collapse even without external attacks. Xie Wendong understood that although his brothers joined the Wendong Gang because of him, that didn’t mean they could always work for the gang voluntarily. Money might not buy friendship or prestige, but sometimes it could strengthen them. Xie Wendong himself didn’t consider money very important—he hadn’t taken a single penny from the gang. This made every brother admire him even more.
It was then that Xie Wendong remembered there was still a black leather bag. He asked Sanyan, “Where’s that black leather bag?”
Sanyan smiled and said, “I hid it. Since it’s a transaction, the contents of the bag should be worth as much as these weapons!” With that, he went into the back room and took out the bag from under the pool table. Everyone thought Sanyan was incredibly fast—no one saw how he hid the bag under the pool table.
Sanyan placed the bag on the table. Seeing Xie Wendong nod, he picked up a screwdriver and lifted the combination lock. When he opened the bag, what appeared before their eyes were stacks of brand-new 100-yuan bills. Everyone’s eyes widened in shock—they had never seen so much money in their lives.
Li Shuang rubbed his eyes and said, “Good heavens! How much is this?! It looks so shiny—I can’t see clearly! My eyes are blurry!”

Sanyan picked up a stack and looked at Xie Wendong, saying, “Brother Dong, one stack is worth about ten thousand!”
Xie Wendong said, “Pour out the money and count how much there is!”
Sanyan poured all the money from the leather bag onto the table and started counting it in stacks. After counting the last stack, he said to Xie Wendong, “Brother Dong, there are 300 stacks in total, which means three million in all!”
Everyone remained silent for a while. After all, they were not old, and seeing three million right in front of them left them stunned. Xie Wendong was the first to recover. He pulled Sanyan aside and said, “Brother Zhang, early tomorrow morning, take Qiangzi and Haoran and deposit all this money in the bank. But don’t deposit it all in one bank—spread it out. It’s best not to put more than two hundred thousand in any one bank.”
Sanyan nodded. “Brother Dong, I understand!”
Xie Wendong said to everyone, “It’s best not to tell the other brothers about this money for now. Let’s use it as our capital. We don’t need to rush to sell the four boxes of weapons either. Things will definitely be very tight right now; if word gets out, it’ll cause trouble!”
Everyone nodded. Xie Wendong checked his watch—it was almost eight o’clock. He asked, “Does anyone have any other suggestions?” They looked at each other and said in unison, “Brother Dong, nothing else!” “Good! That’s it for today. Everyone is tired—go back and rest!”
As everyone left Xinxin, Sanyan stayed behind. He said to them, “I’ll sleep here at Xinxin with these three million tonight. I’ll go to the bank early tomorrow morning!” Li Shuang was upset and called Sanyan a money-grubber. In the end, Sanyan kicked him out of Xinxin.
Xie Wendong went home and lay in bed, unable to calm down for a long time. What had happened today excited him greatly. He had stolen a batch of weapons from the Tiger Gang without anyone knowing, and he even got three million as well. Xie Wendong had been worried about not having enough capital, but now, suddenly having three million made it feel like a dream. He silently planned his next steps—he should contact Ma Wu first. If he could get in touch, he would have a source for drugs.
The next day, at noon, Xie Wendong went to Xinxin. Sanyan wasn’t there; there were three underlings and a few customers inside. Xie Wendong greeted them and went into the inner room. He picked up the phone and dialed the number on the business card given to him by Sister Shui. Nervous, he wondered if the number was still valid. After twenty seconds, someone answered on the other end. “Hello! Who are you looking for?”
Xie Wendong took a deep breath to calm himself down and said, “Hello! I’m trying to reach Ma Wu.” “I’m sorry, you’ve dialed the wrong number. There’s no such person here.” With that, the other party hung up.

Xie Wendong cleared his throat and said, “It’s better if you don’t hang up yet. I’m a friend, not a police officer. I called to make a deal with Ma Wu—a big deal! If you hang up now, you’ll miss a chance to make money.” The other party clearly hesitated for a moment. After a while, the voice on the other end changed. “Hello, friend. I’m Ma Wu. What kind of deal do you want to make with me?”
Xie Wendong said bluntly, “I want heroin. A lot of it!” “Brother, I think there’s a misunderstanding. I’ve stopped doing this kind of business long ago!”
Xie Wendong smiled inwardly. Ma Wu was scared after being beaten by the police and was very cautious. So he decided to play the game of leading them on and said, “If that’s the case, I won’t bother you. There are many people in this business. I can find someone else! But a friend named Sister Shui asked me to contact you!” After saying that, Xie Wendong pretended to be about to hang up.
An urgent voice came from the other end, “Wait! Is the Sister Shui you’re talking about that Sister Shui?” “The boss of that criminal gang!”
“Oh, I see! How about we meet and talk properly? Since you’re Sister Shui’s friend, you’re also my friend. Even though I’m not doing business anymore, we can still be friends!”
Xie Wendong snorted inwardly. From what Sister Shui had said, she wasn’t very close to Ma Wu either. It was uncertain whether Ma Wu even remembered her. By saying this, Ma Wu just wanted to meet him to see if he was a police undercover agent. Thinking this, Xie Wendong went along with it and said, “Alright then! Tell me the time and place!” This was exactly what the other party wanted. They immediately replied, “How about this? Come to County H tomorrow at 5 p.m. to the biggest ‘Baima’ dance hall in the county. What do you think?”
Xie Wendong was secretly pleased but didn’t show it. “Alright then. You’d better be on time. I don’t have the patience to wait!”
The other party said, “We’re always on time. By the way, how many people will be coming?” Xie Wendong thought for a moment and said, “Just me.”
“What kind of clothes will you wear? So we won’t fail to recognize you!” “Hehe! I’ll wear beige casual clothes. And I’ll bring a book!”
“What’s your brother’s name?” “Xie Wendong!”
“Alright, that’s settled. See you tomorrow!” “Okay, see you tomorrow!”
Xie Wendong hung up the phone and smiled slightly. Things had started, and the rest wouldn’t be difficult. In high spirits, he walked to school. As soon as he entered the classroom, Li Shuang ran over. “Brother Dong, Sister Yu came to look for you just now. It seems there’s something important!”

Xie Wendong uttered an “Oh,” thinking to himself what else could that girl want from him—other than eating or watching movies! Still, he felt a bit pleased. Shaking his head, he sat down.

Li Shuang asked, “What? Brother Dong, aren’t you going to see her?”

Xie Wendong replied, “Ma Wu has gotten in touch. I’ll go there tomorrow afternoon. I need to calm down and think through my strategy for tomorrow first.”

“Ah? Ma Wu has gotten in touch? That’s great!” Li Shuang knew how booming the drug business was; it seemed the gang had finally come to make big money. After being excited for a while, Li Shuang added, “But it seems Sister Yu is in a hurry to see you! Could something have happened?”

Sighing, Xie Wendong stood up and said, “Alright, I’ll go see Xiao Yu now!” With that, he left the classroom. He went to Gao Huiyu’s classroom door and asked a student to help call her out. When the student saw it was Xie Wendong, he happily ran into the classroom.

Soon, Gao Huiyu came out of the classroom. As soon as she saw Xie Wendong, she asked loudly, “Hey! Where have you been these past few days? I’ve tried to find you several times, but you weren’t there. To be honest, have you found a girlfriend?”

Xie Wendong felt dizzy and said in a low voice, “I’ve been busy with gang affairs these past few days. It’s been chaotic since we were just established, and there are many things I need to take care of!”

Gao Huiyu was secretly pleased but said aloud, “Hmph, who would believe your nonsense! Maybe you’ve been off messing around somewhere!” As she spoke, she leaned closer to Xie Wendong, scaring him so much that he thought his arm might suffer again.

Xie Wendong laughed and said, “How could that be? Xiao Yu, is this all you wanted to ask me?”

Gao Huiyu’s face turned red. She spat and said, “Want to come to my house to play today? I’ve learned how to cook a dish these past few days. I’ll make it for you to try! My sister and brother both said my cooking is delicious.”

Xie Wendong replied, “Okay, if there’s nothing else, I’ll definitely go. I’m looking forward to trying Xiao Yu’s skills, haha!!”

Gao Huiyu laughed and said, “You must come! Don’t be a jerk! If you don’t come, you’re such a jerk!”

Xie Wendong rolled his eyes and pretended to give a military salute. “Yes, ma’am!” His antics made Gao Huiyu giggle.

There was nothing to talk about during the day. Around 6 p.m., Xie Wendong left his home and took a ride to Gao Huiyu’s house, feeling a bit nervous. Going to Gao Huiyu’s house meant he might run into her brother, a legendary figure in J City’s underworld—the leader of the Qing Gang, Gao Zhen! Although nervous, Xie Wendong was more excited.

In less than ten minutes, Xie Wendong arrived at Gao Huiyu’s home, where she welcomed him in. Xie Wendong glanced around and nodded in approval. Gao Huiyu’s house was a multi-story building with three floors in total. It was rare to find someone in City J who could afford such a house. The living room was exquisitely decorated; in Xie Wendong’s eyes, it was on par with a palace, even though he had never been to one.