Chapter 32

Liu Bo chuckled and said, “It’s fine. What’s this little injury? When I was in the army, I got much worse injuries and never even went to the hospital!”
Xie Wendong secretly admired him, thinking that this man was not only loyal but also a tough guy. He said, “How about this? Why don’t you all come to my place and become friends?”
Liu Bo readily agreed. Xie Wendong and the others hailed a taxi. After getting in, only Li Shuang remained outside, chatting animatedly with three girls. Xie Wendong shouted, “Li Shuang, get in the car!” Hearing his call, Li Shuang reluctantly came over.
Xie Wendong said with a smile, “You’ve really made it!” “I…”
They chatted in the car. Xie Wendong learned that the tall young man was named Liu Bo and his companion was Jiang Sen. Both were veterans who lived in the same village. After leaving the army, due to lack of money and connections, they hadn’t been able to find jobs. These past few days, Liu Bo and Jiang Sen could no longer stand staying at home, so they decided to come to City J to try their luck. After searching for three days, they still hadn’t found a suitable job. Feeling down, they went to Dongsheng to drink and relieve their sorrow, only to encounter this incident. Having both been soldiers, Liu Bo and Jiang Sen couldn’t stand the behavior of those hooligans and stepped in to save the three girls.
Li Shuang and Liu Bo got along well; both had straightforward personalities, and they chatted about various things while in the car. Xie Wendong listened quietly, having his own plans in mind. The taxi soon arrived at Guiwei, and the four got out and entered the disco.
Xie Wendong led them into a private room and asked one of his associates to briefly treat Liu Bo’s wound. Soon, a waiter from Guiwei brought drinks. Xie Wendong asked, “Liu Bo, how much longer do you plan to stay in City J?”
Liu Bo sighed and said, “How much longer can I stay? I can’t find a job, and the money we brought has run out. I thought I could find a job in City J to earn some money to support my family, but it seems I’ll have to go back and farm!”
Li Shuang disagreed loudly, saying, “A real man should strive when he’s young. When else will you strive if not now? Brother Liu, saying that is really unambitious!”
Liu Bo poured himself a glass of wine from the table, drank it in one gulp, and shook his head, saying, “I want to strive too, but I don’t know anyone here. Even working as a waiter in a restaurant requires a local household registration. What am I supposed to do? If I don’t go back to farm, I’ll starve to death here!”

Li Shuang patted Liu Bo’s shoulder after hearing this, feeling sympathy for him, then turned to look at Xie Wendong. Xie Wendong understood what he meant, and he himself indeed wanted to win over these two. He said to Liu Bo, “Liu Bo, if you don’t mind, stay and work for me! I need talents like you!”
Liu Bo was momentarily stunned. “Work for you? As a subordinate to a student?” While listening to Xie Wendong and Zhang Hong talk, Liu Bo had learned what kind of organization the Wendong Club was—seemingly a quite large gang—but no matter how he looked at it, Xie Wendong still seemed like a student.
Li Shuang laughed heartily and pointed at Xie Wendong, saying, “This is the leader of our Wendong Club. It’s not easy to be his subordinate!”
Liu Bo looked at Xie Wendong in surprise. “You’re the leader of a gang? I didn’t see that at all!”
Xie Wendong chuckled and said, “I like your character, and you also have great skills. Growing crops in the countryside would waste them. Although the Wendong Club is part of the underworld, I truly hope you’ll join me in building something great. As Xiao Shuang said, a man’s value lies in his determination. Even if we fail, it’s better than living an ordinary life. At least when you’re old, you won’t regret it because you truly tried!”
Liu Bo stared at Xie Wendong, speechless, unable to believe such words could come from a young man. Jiang Sen, who was standing by, suddenly stood up and said to Xie Wendong, “Brother, what you said earlier is right! I’m willing to join you in building something great!”
Xie Wendong smiled and nodded, looking at Liu Bo. After a while, Liu Bo asked, “So how much can I earn in a month?”
Li Shuang laughed loudly and said, “At least this much!” Then he raised three fingers.
“Three hundred? It’s a bit low, but it’s way better than farming! Alright, I’ll work for you from now on!” Liu Bo said loudly after taking another sip of alcohol and standing up.
Xie Wendong also stood up, shook hands with Liu Bo and Jiang Sen, and said, “Great! On behalf of the Wendong Club, I welcome you both. But there’s one thing you got wrong—it’s not three hundred, it’s three thousand!”
“Three thousand?” Liu Bo and Jiang Sen exchanged glances. Three thousand a month? That was fast! More than what they could earn from farming in a year. Xie Wendong and Li Shuang laughed at their surprised expressions.
Then, Xie Wendong explained the basics of the Wendong Club to them, and only then did Liu Bo and the others gain some understanding of it. They were both surprised—never expecting the Wendong Club to be so powerful. No wonder Zhang Hong’s gang at the Dongsheng Dance Hall had been so polite to Xie Wendong.
After finishing his explanation, Xie Wendong asked the two, “How much do you know about firearms?”

The two exchanged smiles, and Liu Bo said, “I won’t talk about other things, but when it comes to knowledge of firearms, I’m the best in the entire company.” Jiang Sen nodded and said, “Liu Bo isn’t exaggerating—he really knows a lot about guns!”
Xie Wendong was pleased to hear this and said, “I’ll take you to see some guns in a bit. Help me identify them!”
At the mention of guns, Liu Bo was overjoyed. He hadn’t touched a gun since leaving the army, and as someone who loved guns, hearing that Xie Wendong had guns made him impatient. Rubbing his hands together, he said, “Boss, let me see the guns now! No need to wait!”
Seeing his eagerness, Li Shuang laughed and said, “Brother Dong, I’ll go get one for Brother Liu to see!”
Xie Wendong nodded, and Li Shuang rushed out. He was also anxious, but it was because he wanted to know if the gun bought from the Qing Gang was a defective one. Soon, Li Shuang returned with the gun wrapped in cloth and handed it to Liu Bo. After taking it, Liu Bo glanced at it and said, “This is an AK47. Nothing special about it!”
Li Shuang quickly asked, “What do you think of the quality of this gun?”
Liu Bo examined it carefully and said, “It’s okay. If I’m not mistaken, it was made in Russia!”
Hearing this, Li Shuang let out a sigh of relief and said to Xie Wendong, “Brother Dong, it seems the Qing Gang didn’t deceive us. Haha!”
Xie Wendong shook his head. He hadn’t even thought that the Qing Gang would deceive him over such a trivial matter. It was just Sanyan and Li Shuang who were being overly cautious. At that moment, the door to the private room opened, and Sanyan, Zhang Yanjiang, and He Haoran came in. Seeing Liu Bo with a bandage on his head, Sanyan asked curiously, “Brother Dong, who is he…?”
Li Shuang glared at Sanyan and said in a mocking tone, “Brother Sanyan, knock before entering next time. Can’t you see I’m talking with Brother Dong?”
Sanyan was stunned for a moment before saying, “It seems you’ve gotten even more cheeky these days. Come on! Let me teach you a lesson!”
Xie Wendong interrupted their nonsense and pointed at Liu Bo and Jiang Sen, saying, “These two are Liu Bo and Jiang Sen, my newly recruited brothers. From now on, they’re part of our group. Brother Zhang, please take good care of them.”
Sanyan, Zhang Yanjiang, and the others shook hands with Liu Bo and his friends. Since they were all young and now in the same gang, they quickly became close friends. That evening, Xie Wendong specially invited everyone to a meal to welcome them. Almost all the key members of Wendong’s gang were there, except for Gao Qiang, who was too busy to be seen.
Since Liu Bo and the other had served in the army, Xie Wendong asked them to train the gang members. Xie Wendong knew that the strength of a gang depended first on the ability of its leaders and second on the combat skills of its members.

And so, the playground of No.1 Middle School became the training ground for the Wendong Gang. Every morning, all members gathered there. Liu Bo and Jiang Sen served as instructors, using methods similar to those of the military. On the first day, everyone found it exciting—over 500 people stood on the playground full of enthusiasm. Xie Wendong, Sanyan, and others were among them, except for Gao Qiang and his men, who were busy gathering intelligence and did not attend. Liu Bo stepped forward. As Xie Wendong had instructed earlier, all training would be carried out just like in the military, with no leniency. Seeing everyone in position, he shouted, “Count off!” Those in the first row began to count, “1, 2, 3, 4…” After they finished counting, Liu Bo waved his hand and ordered, “Run ten laps around the playground!” Although the playground of No.1 Middle School wasn’t very large, it wasn’t small either—each lap was about 250 meters. After just three laps, Li Shuang collapsed. By the end of five laps, half of the people could no longer run. After ten laps, less than a hundred people could still stand, including Xie Wendong, Sanyan, and He Haoran. Liu Bo shook his head and yelled, “Those who haven’t finished must do 100 push-ups!” A chorus of groans followed. “Those who finished also have to do 100!” After completing the push-ups, they started drill exercises. By the end of the morning, everyone was too exhausted to stand. Li Shuang pulled Xie Wendong aside and said, “This is simply devilish training!” Xie Wendong laughed and said, “I feel fine. Only in this way can the gang members become stronger!” From then on, Liu Bo and Jiang Sen’s training became even stricter, and their methods grew more brutal. Those who failed to complete the training were beaten or scolded, bringing the military-style discipline fully into play. Since Xie Wendong had made it clear in advance that everyone, including himself, had to obey Liu Bo and Jiang Sen during training, everyone feared and resented them. They also earned a well-deserved nickname—“The Devil Duo”! Within three days, Gao Qiang, who had been missing, returned with complete intelligence. Zhu Youpeng’s group from the Five Factions in Shinan had the support of brother gangs and controlled no less than ten venues, with around 350 members. Liu Qing’s group was backed by the Triad, and since the Triad was allied with the Wendong Gang, he was excluded. He Xueyong’s group was supported by the Tigers Gang, with eight venues and about 300 members. Shan Xiaoyun and Zhang Hong had no major gang support but had some smaller, friendly gangs; even together, their strength couldn’t compare to any of the above three groups… Xie Wendong carefully reviewed the intelligence and said to Gao Qiang, “Qiangzi, find everyone and hold a meeting at No.1 Middle School!” The latter nodded in agreement.

Inside the teaching building of No.1 Middle School.
Xie Wendong gathered everyone in the painting room on the third floor. It was quiet and spacious. After reading the intelligence, everyone expressed their opinions. Li Shuang suggested attacking Zhu Youpeng first to eliminate the strongest opponent, making it easier to deal with the rest. Sanyan proposed targeting He Xueyong’s group first, arguing that he had very poor popularity. Gao Qiang said they should attack two weaker ones first before focusing on the stronger ones. After hearing everyone’s opinions, Xie Wendong lowered his head in deep thought, his mind racing as he considered various options.

Half an hour later, Xie Wendong finally spoke up, “We… shall attack He Xueyong first!”
Everyone was taken aback. Although He Xueyong wasn’t the strongest among the five factions, his backing was the strongest. Sanyan said, “Brother Dong, what I said earlier about attacking He Xueyong first was nonsense!” The others nodded in agreement, saying, “Yeah, Brother Dong! He Xueyong has the Tigers Gang as his backers!”
Xie Wendong smiled and said, “As Brother Zhang mentioned, one reason He Xueyong is unpopular is this. The other reason is precisely because he has the Tigers Gang as his backers that I want to attack him first!” Seeing everyone look at him in confusion, Xie Wendong continued, “No matter how strong the Tigers Gang is, it’s still an external force. They’ve caused a stir as soon as they arrived in City J, and many underworld gangs already dislike them. But because of the conflicts between the gangs, they haven’t united to deal with him, allowing him to become so arrogant. To expand his power, He Xueyong has even secretly ingratiated himself with the Tigers Gang. If other gangs find out that someone is siding with him, logically and morally, we should make him our top target!”
Zhang Yanjiang suddenly understood and said, “I get what Brother Dong means. In fact, no matter which of the other four factions we target, it will anger the other gangs. But He Xueyong’s group is different—it won’t only avoid suspicion from other gangs but might even join forces with us! Haha!”
By then, everyone also understood and agreed that attacking He Xueyong first was a good idea.
Xie Wendong said, “Since others don’t know about He Xueyong’s secret collusion with the Tigers Gang, we must ‘help’ him! Everyone go back and tell the brothers in our factions across the city that He Xueyong is colluding with the Tigers Gang and aims to take over the entire southern underworld!”
Everyone agreed in unison. Xie Wendong then said to Liu Bo and the others, “You two continue training the gang members this morning. The moment we get the chance, we’ll take action. Also, select forty brothers with good marksmanship to train with guns this afternoon!”
Liu Bo and the others nodded in agreement.
Gao Qiang, who hadn’t met them before, asked Xie Wendong with a question, “Brother Dong, who are these two?”

Xie Wendong smiled slightly and introduced Gao Qiang. Hearing that Gao Qiang was in charge of covert operations in the gang, Liu Bo said with a laugh, “Since he’s in charge of covert operations, the members under him should be well-trained. In the military, scouts aren’t just ordinary soldiers—they can become deadly assassins at critical moments.”
Gao Qiang asked in surprise, “Become assassins?”
Jiang Sen replied, “That’s right. When given a good opportunity, scouts should be able to single-handedly or in groups assassinate enemy key figures!”
Xie Wendong pondered for a while before saying to Liu Bo, “Do you know how to train scouts?”
Liu Bo shook his head and laughed, “I don’t, but this kid does! Look, he’s a former scout! Haha!”