stjorthotic Chapter 55 Viewing the Peach Blossoms, Judging Positions
Chapter 55 Viewing the Peach Blossoms, Judging Positions
Talking to smart people is that simple.
Li Yicheng guessed Lin Yuanshan's plan after only hearing Xu Neng recount the events over the phone.
He even offered some advice to this young man who knew how to eat brains.
As for the afternoon tea date three months from now, it was just a small promise he made.
The agreement you, Lin Yuanshan, reached with the Huanghe Plastic Shixiawei Branch Factory is not for a period of three months.
This time, if you stir up trouble, you might still achieve something.
I, Li Yicheng, have squeezed out a little time to meet you, my junior, as an opportunity for you to leverage this momentum to make your mark.
But if things go wrong, then naturally I won't have time to have tea with you.
……
While Lin Yuanshan was running over to Xu Neng's place, his colleagues outside were stirring up a storm of stockpiling plastic waste.
During the day, the incident was confined to the Kowloon area.
By nightfall, even the scrap collectors in the countryside knew that there was a plastics company in Sham Shui Po named Lam Yuen Shan who bought plastic waste at high prices!
Nothing was said that night, until the next morning.
Lin Yuanshan left the walled city early and did not continue to disturb Xu Neng. Instead, he instructed Tie Tou to bring a rickshaw to the Shek Kip Mei Tak stall.
Today is the 26th day of the eighth lunar month. Lin Yuanshan and Wu Shih-hao have arranged to go to Fat Lao-kun's birthday banquet together at noon. During the banquet, Brother Hao will arrange an opportunity to help introduce them to Sham Shui Po Detective Lei Luo.
Baitian Street, the fifth house from the left in the sloping wooden house complex.
The last time I visited Wu Shih-hao's lottery stall, it was around noon. There were only two henchmen, idly guarding the door.
When I came here today, it was the time when the neighbors in the wooden shack area, the housewives and uncles, were getting up and leaving early in the morning.
Looking out from afar, Lin Yuanshan and his companion saw a scene even more bustling than a vegetable market.
Last time, we used wooden door panels, which blocked the entrance to a stall that could only accommodate two people.
Now, all the door panels have been removed, and four benches have been used to set up a counter for counting the number of people buying lottery tickets.
On the counter, there was a thick sheet of paper, yellowed from being soaked in oil.
Lin Yuanshan had Tie Tou clear the way and squeezed to the front. The paper had thirty-six flower patterns with four characters written in each corner: "Wealth," "Nobility," "Plum Blossom," and "Orchid."
The remaining patterns are all over the place, ranging from fish, shrimp, and crabs to gods and Buddhas. They are all unrelated and aim to be confusing and dazzling!
Wu Shih-hao, wearing a faded white vest, stared with his triangular eyes and kept shouting "Pu Ling Mu" to calm the chaotic scene.
Four-Eyes Wen sat to his left, with a blue cloth-covered register open in front of him. He held a pen in his right hand. When someone came to buy lottery tickets, Big Chicken was in charge of collecting money and reporting the expenses, while he was in charge of keeping the "big account" and issuing receipts.
For example, when Lin Yuanshan and his companion came over, a laborer dressed in shorts made up his mind, took out 2 yuan, pointed to the character "梅" (plum) in the lower left corner and said: "Brother Hao, I'll buy '梅' (plum), 2 yuan."
Big Chicken reached out and took the money, checked it, threw it into the iron box in front of Wu Shih-hao, and shouted loudly, "Mei! Two dollars, count them all."
Without even lifting his eyelids, Si Yanwen read it aloud to himself: "Mei, 2 yuan."
At the same time, he used a fountain pen to write on a small receipt, about two fingers wide and three inches long, cut from white paper: 1963.10.13, Mei, two yuan, No. 113.
After finishing writing, Four-Eyes Wen grabbed the small round wooden stamp next to him and stamped it with a thud—[Hao Ji].
That wasn't the end of it. Next, Si Yanwen opened the blue cloth tent.
He glanced up at the laborers placing their bets and wrote down the following from the 113 column in the ledger: Mei, two yuan, a laborer with a flat nose.
After completing all the formalities, Si Yanwen handed the receipt to the person who placed the bet.
The other party carefully put it away, squeezed out of the crowd, and strode away.
In this ancient era, without computer registration or chat tools, there was no way to save betting records.
The operation of the lottery ticketing system is indeed that complicated.
At this moment, Wu Shih-hao had already noticed Lin Yuan-shan approaching.
Wu Shih-hao called over Sha-lao Wu to take his place and keep order, then beckoned to Lin Yuan-shan and turned to walk into the stall.
Tie Tou didn't go. He and Sha Lao Wu had drunk together before and got along well. Now, Wu called him over to help him glare and keep order.
Lower the curtain to block out the noise from outside.
Wu Shih-hao told Lin Yuan-shan to sit wherever he wanted, and then took off a white towel and wiped the sweat off his body haphazardly: "Is this the first time you've seen someone buy lottery tickets?"
Haha, Yuan, don't underestimate a single order that costs two or three yuan, or even four or five cents.
My stall operates daily, opening from 6 to 10 a.m. and drawing lots from 6 to 8 p.m.
Rain or shine, we'll continue operating even during holidays. I might temporarily suspend one or two sessions unless there's a police raid or a demand from the miscellaneous departments for a large-scale operation.
Moreover, many of our large clients contact us privately to place their bets.
Our group was able to establish a foothold in Hong Kong precisely because of this opportunity!
Lin Yuanshan smiled and said, "It's because you guys are tough enough! Otherwise, this place that makes money hand over fist every day would be the envy of many."
"Definitely!" Wu Shih-hao changed into a floral shirt. The weather had gotten warmer these past few days, so a leather jacket was no longer suitable.
Applying hair oil in front of the mirror, Wu Shih-hao began shaving his beard: "When we first opened, we had six matches with Seven Days Tongren."
See this scar on my forehead?
"That's what I got from that fight with that bastard, Jin Ya Qiang."
With practiced ease, Hao Ge shaved off his beard and turned to look at Lin Yuanshan: "Actually, it's right for you to choose the right path."
At least, you don't have to live a life of constant danger.
Although I'm protecting you, anyone who wants to mess with you will have to get over me first.
But the world is a dangerous place, and you can't always be on guard. If something were to happen to me, I wouldn't be able to face my uncle.
As he spoke, he walked to the desk, bent down, and pulled out a box wrapped in red cloth from under the desk.
Walking back to sit down next to Lin Yuanshan, Wu Shihao opened the red cloth, revealing a golden peach covered with glass: "How is it? This is the birthday gift I prepared for Uncle Kun. It's made of pure gold, one tael and two ounces, and was made at Xie Ruilin Gold Shop."
Including labor costs and the base cover, it cost me 1700 yuan!
Lin Yuanshan roughly estimated that the golden peach was about 8 centimeters tall and about 5 centimeters wide.
It's definitely not solid!
It's more than just this weight.
Given Wu Shih-hao's position alongside Fat Kun, giving a gift of this caliber would seem rather meager.
However, considering Wu Shih-hao's current status as the fourth member of the Water Room, he is far superior to his fellow disciples of the same generation.
"Great! Of course, great!"
The golden peach symbolizes good fortune and is also impressive.
"It will definitely make us look good when we put it on the gift table later." Lin Yuanshan knew what was going on, and while he praised him, he had already guessed from the birthday gifts that Wu Shih-hao would attend the birthday banquet as an ordinary clerk.
Simply put, Fat Kun both wants to use Hao Ge and is wary of him.
He refused to assign him a position, and even the position of a trusted confidant that Brother Hao should have received was not officially acknowledged by that fat man.