Chapter 70: It’s Finally Here

A few days later, not long after Xiao Ran arrived at the company, he heard loud noises outside. He exchanged a glance with Wei Dongling and they went outside together. Upon seeing the situation, Xiao Ran realized that what he had been worried about had finally happened.

The scene was chaotic. Security guards arrived but hesitated to get too close to those men. Xiao Ran glanced at Wei Dongling again, shook his head, then nodded—both of them smiled. They had thought of the same thing: such security guards were useless and needed to be replaced. That was the meaning of shaking the head first and then nodding.

Pushing aside the onlooking company employees, he stepped forward. Seeing that even the boss and general manager were involved, the employees quickly called out to them. Just by looking at the attire of the three troublemakers, it was clear they were complete scoundrels. One of them, a burly man with a prominent scar on his face, glared fiercely at Xiao Ran and Wei Dongling. “Are you the people in charge here? Great, I’m here to collect protection money!”

Xiao Ran sneered. Don’t think just because he seemed indifferent he couldn’t be ruthless. Having wandered the world alone, he had seen everything. If he didn’t have any tactics, he wouldn’t have survived.

In fact, Xiao Ran had already been considering this issue. These days, gangs were extremely rampant, far less restrained than in the 1990s. Especially after seeing the Chinese government’s tactics in the 1980s and 1990s, those gangs either retreated in fear or left the criminal world altogether and tried to reform.

But it wasn’t the 1990s anymore, and Xiao Ran still had to face all this. In truth, ever since he decided to take this path—or rather, since he wanted to enter any industry other than being a civil servant in Hong Kong—he knew he would have to deal with gangs. He was well-prepared for this. He had thought that gangs would come to collect protection money soon after the company opened. It was only after asking Liang Kun that he learned that gangs with insufficient strength generally wouldn’t dare target large companies. Also, companies usually waited the first three months to see if they had any influence before gangs came to demand protection money.

Xiao Ran smiled coldly, ignoring the three fierce-looking men as if they were invisible. He pointed at the two security guards and said rudely, “You can leave. Shadow Company doesn’t need unmanly security guards like you.”

The two security guards immediately paled. The employees, seeing Xiao Ran act so mercilessly by dealing with “internal enemies” right away, felt fear. After kicking the two security guards away, Xiao Ran glanced at Wei Dongling with a hint of laughter in his eyes. With such a lineup, they still dared to come collect protection money?

“You…” Xiao Ran stared coldly at the scarred leader and pointed at him. “Which gang do you belong to?”

The scarred man was momentarily stunned by Xiao Ran’s use of gang terminology. He wondered, Could this company have connections? Why didn’t the boss tell me? Though he thought this, his tone became much more polite. “We’re from Lianshengying. I wonder which gang you belong to?”

“Damn you!” Xiao Ran’s eyes narrowed suddenly as he blurted out the classic curse from Zhou Xingchi’s works: “What kind of person are you to come here demanding protection money? Go back and ask your boss to negotiate—otherwise, you won’t get a single penny!”
“Well…” The scarred man hesitated for a moment, thinking of using force, but seeing Xiao Ran turn away with extreme arrogance, not even glancing at him, he grew worried that the company might indeed have strong backing. Gritting his teeth, he said, “Okay, I’ll go back and ask my boss to negotiate!” He waved and left with two of his subordinates.
Once back in the office, Xiao Ran felt a surge of guilt. Those guys had sharp marks on their upper clothes, clearly carrying weapons. If he hadn’t intimidated them right from the start, a fight might have broken out!
“Aran, handling this like this doesn’t seem right!” Wei Dongling looked worried. Since hiring Liang Kun, he had learned quite a bit about the underworld and understood how troublesome Xiao Ran’s bluffing could be. “If their boss really shows up, we’re in trouble…”
Xiao Ran was well aware of this. After quick thinking, he suddenly remembered Xiang Qiang. “I know! Do you remember Xiang Qiang I mentioned a few days ago? He’s the brother of the leader of Xin Yi An. I think he might be able to help us!”
“Wait!” Wei Dongling stopped him as he reached for the phone. “Why should he help us? Don’t forget, he’s also part of the underworld—he must understand the rules!”
That’s true! Why should Xiang Qiang help him? Xiao Ran asked himself and immediately came up with an answer he certainly didn’t want to see. But if he were to give up so easily, he wouldn’t be himself. After thinking for a moment, he came up with a plan and said through gritted teeth, “Pay them. Since we have to pay anyway, why not let Xin Yi An take it?”
Besides that, Xiao Ran had another idea. No matter how much the money was, if Xin Yi An agreed, it might lead to conflict with Lian Shengying, which could only benefit him. With that in mind, he dialed the number. After going through the secretary, Xiang Qiang finally answered.
“Brother Qiang, I’m in trouble now. Could you help me?” Xiao Ran tried to calm himself down and spoke calmly into the phone, “Lian Shengying sent people to demand protection money. Instead of giving it to them, I think it’s better to give it to Xin Yi An. If you agree, I’ll give all the protection money to Xin Yi An from now on!”
Xiang Qiang remained silent on the other end for a long time, likely weighing the benefits for Xin Yi An. After a while, he sighed, “Aran, I can’t help you. Your company is in Lian Shengying’s territory. If Xin Yi An takes your money, it means crossing boundaries. Right now, Xin Yi An is the biggest gang, and other gangs are already eyeing them. Crossing boundaries could bring serious trouble!”
Even though Xiang Qiang couldn’t fathom Xiao Ran’s ulterior motives, Xiao Ran gradually grew disheartened. Wei Dongling could tell from Xiao Ran’s expression that things had gone wrong and sighed deeply, “Forget it. We’ll just pay on time!”

Pay money? Xiao Ran sneered inwardly—this was absolutely a humiliation for him. But given the current situation, it seemed there was no other way to resolve this matter except by paying. This time, Xiao Ran didn’t grit his teeth; instead, he vowed firmly in his heart to bring the underworld under control.

“By the way, the Hong Kong Film Industry Association is about to be established, and the government wants all film company owners in Hong Kong to attend a meeting in a week,” Wei Dongling said, clearly troubled. Everyone would be troubled by the issue of extorting protection money from the underworld. “Should we go?”

The establishment of an industry association? Xiao Ran immediately realized what was going on and said repeatedly, “Go, of course we should! We’ll go together!” As soon as he said that, he realized Wei Dongling was asking just to distract him—otherwise, why ask Xiao Ran?

Scarface returned to the nightclub with his underlings, empty-handed. This was one of their hideouts. As soon as they told their boss, Mountain Cat, about what had happened, Mountain Cat, a middle-aged man with short hair, thought for a moment in confusion, muttering, “There’s no reason for this. Could this guy have some other background we haven’t discovered?”

“Brother Cat, do you think we should just let it go?” Scarface, already convinced from Xiao Ran’s domineering attitude earlier that he must have some backing, tried to persuade him, “Otherwise, it might get tricky!”

“You say just let it go? Am I the boss or are you?” Mountain Cat quickly figured it out. Several real big shots in the underworld were involved in the film business, and it was likely Xiao Ran knew one of them. With that in mind, he hesitated. As far as he knew, Lianying also had big shots in the film business, and if they got offended, he’d be in trouble.

Incidentally, Lianshengying was a branch of Lianying. Although it was largely independent, Lianying still had significant influence. There were rules in the underworld: if someone was capable and wanted to operate on their own, the leader would allow them to start their own gang and use the gang’s name—of course, with one or two extra characters added to show distinction. The “Sheng” character in Lianshengying was meant to highlight that difference.

“Actually, we don’t need to get involved with companies like Phantom!” Scarface didn’t give up and continued, “Why does the higher-ups insist we collect 200,000 in protection money every month? Other companies usually only pay 50,000 at most.”

“What do you know? I heard some rumors about that Phantom’s boss…” Mountain Cat couldn’t remember Xiao Ran’s name and looked at Scarface. Scarface reminded him, and then Mountain Cat continued, “Xiao Ran offended a big shot, someone who has a close relationship with our boss at Lianshengying, that’s why they want to teach him a lesson!”

Scarface looked as if he’d just figured it out. Guys like him certainly didn’t deserve to know anything. Mountain Cat was still a high-ranking member of Lianshengying, so he did know a few things. After thinking it over, Mountain Cat made a decision: “You guys go and thoroughly investigate this kid’s background. I’ll meet him in person tomorrow!”

Xiao Ran naturally had no idea who was playing tricks on him behind his back; he didn’t even know that all of this was deliberately orchestrated. That night, Xiao Ran spent some time with Fang Ruoxin before mentioning the situation to Fang Ruohai. After thinking for a while, Fang Ruohai came up with a straightforward proposal: “If they want money, give it to them! If they ask for 100,000, give them 1 million. I don’t believe money can’t buy them off!”
Xiao Ran smiled bitterly several times. If he were wealthy enough, he could surely do as Fang Ruohai suggested. If 1 million wasn’t enough, he’d give 10 million— he just didn’t believe he couldn’t buy off those gangsters. But the problem was that he was so poor that, aside from money—no, aside from his underwear and Mirage Company, he had nothing left.
There was still quite a bit of money in the company’s accounts, but that was for the company’s development. How could he give it to gangsters? Besides, Xiao Ran didn’t approve of using money to bribe people. He believed that to have any influence in the gang world, one had to control a faction within it in order to truly eliminate threats from the underworld.
The next morning, while Xiao Ran was learning how to handle company affairs from Wei Dongling, Mountain Cat, Scar, and another thug showed up. Having decided to pay, Xiao Ran faced these vampires with calmness.
Mountain Cat sat down properly on a chair before glancing at Xiao Ran and Wei Dongling. Arrogantly, he asked, “Who’s in charge here?”
Xiao Ran felt an urge to laugh in exasperation. Scar, who had met both him and Wei Dongling, must have told this self-proclaimed Mountain Cat who was in charge. If he still asked such a question, it meant he was either stupid or guilty.
“What do you want to talk about? Talk to me!” Xiao Ran calmly met Mountain Cat’s gaze. He believed that the aura mentioned in novels was a manifestation of a person’s psychology and thoughts, conveyed through the eyes to exert pressure on the other party—a good strategy for negotiations, he thought.
*****
Novel title: Towards Strength
Real name: Xiang Huaqiang
Occupation: Movie company owner and gang leader
Xiang Huaqiang’s father retreated to Hong Kong after failing militarily in the mainland, where he founded the largest gang in Hong Kong, Sun Yee On. The Xiang family had thirteen sons, with Xiang Huaqiang being the tenth. His seventh brother, Xiang Huasheng, and younger brother Xiang Huabo were all in the entertainment industry. In his early years, Xiang Huaqiang was an action star before becoming the famous Dragon Five. The Yongsheng Company he founded rose to prominence in the 1990s, and later he established China Star. He served as the consultant for the movie “The Underworld.”
Works: “The God of Gamblers”