Chapter 159: He Was Heartless, So Don’t Blame Him For Being Ruthless
After storming out of Little Deer Cuisine, Master Luo and Master Zhu parted ways at the second alley.
Master Luo hailed a rickshaw and went to a small Western-style house. After ringing the doorbell and identifying himself, a small door opened, and he folded his umbrella and went inside.
As soon as he entered the living room, Master Luo started to complain.
"I can’t do this job! That little wench gets a bit of success and now she’s so arrogant she doesn’t respect anyone. She even said my cooking was terrible! If it weren’t for her age, I’d have slapped her silly!"
In truth, he didn’t dare. Standing right next to Shen Lu was Wang Daguo, a man built like a brick shithouse. He looked like his punches would hurt, so Master Luo had to suppress any thought of getting physical.
Boss Jin, a cigar clamped between his teeth, twitched his handlebar mustache. "So, you’re saying you didn’t get the job?"
"...No." Master Luo’s bluster suddenly deflated. He added, trying to save face, "The guy named Zhu didn’t get hired either."
Boss Jin took a puff of his cigar and exhaled a large cloud of smoke. "Fine, I get it. You can go home for now."
"Boss Jin, what about my gambling debt?" Master Luo’s posture became deferential. "Even though the job wasn’t a success, it wasn’t my fault. It should at least count for something, right?"
"Haha." Boss Jin laughed twice, completely devoid of emotion and full of mockery. "Old Luo, do you really want to pay off your gambling debt?"
"Of course I do."
With all the compounding interest, the debt had already snowballed into a massive sum.
Master Luo dreamed of paying it off. Otherwise, with such a heavy burden on his shoulders, he didn’t even dare to make big bets, afraid it would only make things worse.
"I told you before, your daughter is quite something. Send her to me, and not only will your debt be cleared, but I’ll also give you 50,000 Star Coins. Think it over."
Master Luo’s face instantly turned deathly pale.
He had married young. His daughter had just come of age this year, still in the bloom of her youth.
It wasn’t the first time Boss Jin had shown interest in his daughter. He had mentioned it back when the gambling debt hit six figures.
At the time, he hadn’t taken it seriously. Using one’s wife or daughter to pay off debts was a common tactic in casinos, but Master Luo considered himself to have some principles; he couldn’t do something like that.
But now Boss Jin had brought it up again, which meant he wasn’t just talking—he was serious.
’There’s no way I’m giving my daughter to Boss Jin to pay off my debt.’
Anyone could guess what a young girl would face in Boss Jin’s hands. He loved to gamble, but he still considered his family very important.
"My daughter is still young... Boss Jin, I’ll find a way to get the money. Just give me a little more time."
Boss Jin’s smile slowly faded. "Find a way? What way is that?"
"I-I can get a job. You know, I used to be the head chef at the Upper City Hotel. I could easily find a job anywhere and command a salary of over ten thousand Star Coins."
"Are you really trying to fool me like I’m an idiot? You think I don’t know how you got fired?" Boss Jin sneered with contempt. "Old Luo, it’s one thing to lie to yourself, but you want to lie to me, too?"
Master Luo’s knees gave out, and he fell to his knees before Boss Jin.
Back when he became the head chef in the kitchens of the Ruixing Hotel, he got arrogant. That was also when he developed his gambling addiction and started down a path of no return.
First, he gambled away his entire salary, then the family’s savings, and finally, even their house was gone.
To scrape together gambling money, he abused his authority, substituting cheap ingredients for good ones and taking kickbacks. The scheme was quickly exposed. Not only was he thrown out of the Ruixing Hotel, but he also got a brutal beating.
He had no money for treatment after the beating, so not only did his knife skills deteriorate, but his cooking prowess also suffered.
Any remotely famous restaurant wouldn’t hire a chef with such a stained reputation, and he himself looked down on smaller shops, scorning their low wages.
With his ambition so far outstripping his ability, he sank even deeper into gambling. Now, his debt had quadrupled, reaching a sum he could never hope to repay.
"Boss Jin, I swear I’ll complete the task you gave me! Just give me one more chance!" Master Luo was groveling in the dust. ’I’m a piece of shit. If I die, I die, but my daughter is innocent. How can I just stand by and watch her sink into the mire?’
"Hmph. You already tried, and she didn’t even give you the time of day."
"I have an apprentice! He can definitely do it! I’ll go find him today! Boss Jin, I guarantee you, in less than half a month, I’ll find out everything you want to know!"
Boss Jin stared at Master Luo expressionlessly for a moment, then nodded slightly. "I’ll give you one last chance. If you fail again, don’t blame me for what happens next."
Master Luo left, trembling with fear and relief. The assistant standing behind Boss Jin said, "Boss, you really trust him just like that?"
"I’m just playing along."
"If you wanted to get rid of that Little Deer Cuisine place, you could do it in minutes. There’s no need for all these convoluted schemes."
"You’ve never had the food at Little Deer Cuisine, have you?" Boss Jin asked.
The assistant shook his head. He was usually very busy and got by on a bottle of nutrient liquid most of the time. He simply didn’t have the time or the inclination to eat a proper meal.
"The food at Little Deer Cuisine is excellent. You could say it’s the best on all of Gold Street, maybe even in the entire Lower City District. Of course, the taste isn’t the most important thing. It’s that her food has a special effect."
"What kind of special effect can food have?"
"It can soothe the Spiritual Sea." The study doors suddenly opened, and Jin San walked out. He had simply shaved off all the hair that Xue Can had burned, leaving him with a bald head that made him look even more vicious.
The assistant nodded at Jin San. "Third Brother."
Boss Jin tapped the ash from his cigar and gestured for Jin San to sit. "You’ve been recovering for a while. Your injuries should be mostly healed by now, right?"
"Yeah."
"I told you a long time ago, a Mercenary Corps is no place for you. I told you to come back and help me sooner, but you wouldn’t listen. Said you were definitely going to become a commander..."
"It’s all in the past, why bring it up?" Jin San impatiently cut his brother off. "Big Brother, as long as we can find out where that little bitch gets her ingredients, we can dominate the entire Imperial City, maybe even negotiate with the Royal Family. I’m only telling you this. You’d better act fast before someone else beats you to it."
Boss Jin chuckled good-naturedly. "What’s the rush? You said it yourself. That restaurant isn’t just protected by people from the Gale Mercenary Corps; it also has the Bai Family backing it. If we can’t make any headway, neither can anyone else."
"Of course I’m in a rush!" Jin San’s fists clenched tightly. "I’m in a rush to make that bastard Xue Can kneel before me and beg for mercy!"
If it weren’t for this, he never would have come to his big brother for help.
He had sworn he would make a name for himself, only to be kicked out in disgrace. What kind of self-respecting man could swallow that humiliation?
Jin San had originally thought about joining another Mercenary Corps to make a living, but without exception, he was rejected by all of them. Some of them went silent the moment they heard his name.
This had to be Xue Can’s doing.
It was a low blow. All he did was say a few words about that girl, Shen Lu, but it was like he’d stepped on Xue Can’s tail. Not only did Xue Can attack him and kick him out of the corps, but he also ruined his reputation in the mercenary world.
’He showed no mercy, so he can’t blame me for being ruthless in return.’
’Xue Can, one day you’ll regret everything you’ve done!’