"Kid, you're trying to extort money from Brother Li, I think you're tired of living!"
Chen Gang suddenly pulled out a machete and placed it directly on Chen Jianghe's neck.
The cold blade could cut Chen Jianghe's neck at any moment, but Chen Jianghe remained motionless, as if he hadn't even noticed the knife at his throat.
"Chen Jianghe, your dad is dead. Do you think we wouldn't dare to touch you?"
Shao Wan stared at Chen Jianghe. She hadn't expected Chen Jianghe to have the guts to come to Yonggui Game Hall to demand money from Li Jindi.
It seemed that after a few years of "further education" in prison, Chen Jianghe had changed quite a bit.
But this kid was as stupid as his father.
"You really wouldn't dare to touch me!"
Chen Jianghe spoke calmly, without the slightest fear.
"Interesting. Then tell me, why do you think I wouldn't dare to touch you?"
Li Jindi lit a cigarette, took a deep puff, and looked at Chen Jianghe with interest. "If you can convince me, I'll give you the money you want. If you can't, you can go down and join Chen Zhiming!"
"Brother, why waste words with him? Just cripple him!"
Chen Gang said impatiently.
"Gang Zi, don't be so impulsive!"
Shao Wan glared at him, scolding.
Chen Gang sneered silently, a hint of defiance flashing in his eyes. He was Li Jindi's subordinate, not Shao Wan's.
"Across the street, my friend is waiting there. If I don't come out later, he'll call the police!"
Chen Jianghe casually pointed to the opposite side.
"Is that so?"
Li Jindi glanced at Chen Gang. Chen Gang waved his hand, and two of his underlings immediately went downstairs, out the door to look for Zhang Peng. Zhang Peng, seeing the bad situation, turned and ran.
The two thugs went over, and he ran. The two thugs left, and he came back.
His strategy was: when the enemy advances, I retreat; when the enemy retreats, I advance.
"That's it?"
Li Jindi shook his head. These young people nowadays were truly naive.
"That's definitely not enough. An Jianguo, do you know him?" Chen Jianghe sneered, pulling out the yellowed photograph. On the photo were two people: one was his father, Chen Zhiming, and the other was An Jianguo.
An Jianguo, Deputy Director of the Pingjiang DistrictPublic Security Branch Bureau.
"What, trying to pressure me with An Jianguo? Does An Jianguo even know who you are?"
Li Jindi's expression turned cold, his face somewhat unsightly.
How could people in their line of work not deal with the Public Security Bureau?
"An Jianguo is my father's comrade-in-arms, a life-and-death friendship. If you don't believe me, ask Shao Wan. My dad took Shao Wan to eat with An Jianguo. If you really have the ability to kill me here, then just see if your game hall can stay open!"
Chen Jianghe said coldly.
Chen Gang's face changed, and he involuntarily recoiled, moving the knife a bit farther away. These underworld figures feared those in uniform the most.
In this day and age, those in uniform could easily destroy them.
Li Jindi looked at Shao Wan, who frowned and nodded slightly.
Years ago, she had indeed gone with Chen Zhiming to eat with An Jianguo. At that time, An Jianguo was not yet a Deputy Director.
"Jianghe, you've grown up!"
Li Jindi gave Chen Jianghe a deep look, smiling meaningfully, "You've brought up An Jianguo, so I'll give you this face. How much money do you want?"
"Two hundred thousand!"
Chen Jianghe was not at all surprised by this outcome. He knew when he came that he would definitely get the money today.
An Jianguo was one reason, Zhang Peng outside was another, and another reason was that Li Jindidefinitely didn't want Yonggui Game Hall to close.
If Li Jindi really killed Chen Jianghe here, whether An Jianguo bothered Li Jindi or not, the game hall would have to close for a period of time.
The game hall had daily revenue of several thousand, so closing for a week would be tens of thousands.
Li Jindi would definitely not be willing to throw away that money.
As for two hundred thousand, Li Jindi certainly wouldn't give it, but there was no harm in trying to ask for it.
"Two hundred thousand is no small sum. How about this: I'll give you twenty thousand as a deposit first, and the remaining one hundred eighty thousand, I'll give you once I've gathered it. What do you think?"
A hint of gloom flashed in Li Jindi's eyes, then instantly he put on a different expression, saying with a chuckle.
"Alright, but you have to give me the remaining one hundred eighty thousand within a week!"
Chen Jianghe nodded calmly, but his heart grew wary.
If Li Jindi hadn't agreed to give so much money, then they could have negotiated.
Since Li Jindi agreed to give so much money, it wasn't about giving money, but about getting rid of him. In this day and age, a human life wasn't even worth one hundred eighty thousand.
Breaking hands and feet only cost a few thousand.
"Shao Wan, get him the money!"
Li Jindi raised his hand and pointed to Shao Wan. Shao Wan turned and went behind the desk, opened a small box, took out two thick stacks of hundred-yuan bills from the box, put them into a kraft paper bag, and handed it to Chen Jianghe.
"Director Li, thanks!"
Chen Jianghe took the money and turned to leave.
"Kid, take the money and scram! If I ever see you again, you're in for it!"
Chen Gang felt he hadn't played a role and shoved Chen Jianghe hard, annoyed.
Chen Jianghe turned and gave Chen Gang a deep look, then took the money and left the game hall, taking Zhang Peng with him.
"Are you really scared of this kid?"
Shao Wan watched Chen Jianghe's retreating back from upstairs, saying to Li Jindi with dissatisfaction, "This kid has changed a lot; he's not the naive fool he used to be. We killed his dad, so he definitely won't let it go. You shouldn't have let him leave just now. You don't really think this kid can get An Jianguo to act, do you?"
"When Chen Zhiming died, we didn't even hear about An Jianguo making inquiries or investigating, let alone this kid!"
Li Jindi snuffed out his cigarette, his gaze dark, "This kid has some guts. Keeping him around will definitely be a problem. Even if we don't kill him, we have to cripple him!"
"But we're open for business now, and making too much of a fuss will affect business!"
"I don't want this kid to affect our business!"
"Tell Gang Zi to send someone to cripple that kid and get the money back!"
"Understood!" Shao Wan nodded and turned to find Chen Gang.
"Jianghe, did you really get the money?"
Zhang Peng followed Chen Jianghe through twists and turns until they reached a deserted place. The two finally stopped.
Zhang Peng looked at the money in Chen Jianghe's hand, breathing heavily.
This was twenty thousand yuan! He had never seen so much money in his life.
In those days, a bowl of noodles cost one yuan, a bowl of wontons with meat cost one and a half yuan, a jin of pork cost five yuan, and a fresh-faced girl in the alley only needed fifty to one hundred yuan to give them a brief taste of love.
There was even a saying in Pengcheng about "ten-thousand-yuan households."
Twenty thousand yuan was a huge sum in this era.
"Li Jindi wants to use this money to stabilize me. We need to use this money to find ourselves a backer!" Chen Jianghe pulled out two hundred-yuan bills and handed them to Zhang Peng. "Without a backer, we are rootless drifters, street punks, our lives worthless!"
"The big bosses on the street, the uniformed cops, any one of them can ruin us completely!"