Chapter 359: Coercion Business
The old man guarding the abandoned factory suddenly realized something and said, “I know you. What’s your name again? Err, Guo…”
"Guo Sen!"
Nodding, the old man then grabbed the money and asked, “Right, right. It’s Guo Sen. But what did you come here for? You’re giving me so much money, what’s this for?”
“Gramps, we want to rent the factory. We’ll start a business after renovating this place. You should be able to contact the owner, right? Can you call him now? If he agrees, we can pay him tonight as well.”
The old man hesitated for a moment while looking at the stack of money in his hand. He eventually nodded and said, “Alright. Wait a minute, I’ll give him a call.”
A few minutes later, the old man returned and cheerfully said, “I just made the call. The Boss is immediately coming after hearing that you want to rent the factory. Anyhow, are you going to wait here? Or…”
“We’ll have a look at it first, gramps. You don’t mind, do you? Anyways, only after we see the condition of the workshop will we be able to discuss about renting.”
“Good. I’ll take you there!” The old man said happily.
The workshop was small in size, more or less the size of a regular soccer field. From the old gatekeeper, Tang Xiu knew that this factory produced home textiles in the past. Since the owner managed the factory poorly, it eventually led to heavy debt and bankruptcy.
After wandering around for a while, the factory’s owner then arrived.
“Do you want to rent this factory?” The factory owner looked at Tang Xiu and the others as he asked curiously.
“We’ve just seen the condition of the factory. It’s not bad. But may I ask how much is the rent?” asked Tang Xiu.
The factory owner asked in reply, “What business are you preparing to do?”
“A clothing business.” Said Tang Xiu.
The factory owner suddenly understood and then said with a smile, “The leasing would be at least five million for a year. My factory is quite large, and a year rent should be around eight million. However, since I’m rather anxious to rent it, I’ll ask six million a year. If you agree, let’s sign the contract. But if you don’t, I can’t give you any more leverage.”
Tang Xiu put out a number of fingers and said, “Five million! If you agree, I’ll rent it. And if you don’t, I’ll go somewhere else. To be honest, I’ve seen some other abandoned factories before coming here.”
The factory owner startled. He furrowed his brows and hesitated for a moment before saying, “Five and a half million! I can’t agree to less than this. If you don’t want it, perhaps there will be someone else coming tomorrow.”
After a moment of silence, Tang Xiu then slowly said, “Five and a half million is rather unacceptable, to be honest. But I’ll agree to it if you can meet my two conditions.”
The factory owner quickly asked, "What conditions? Tell me!”
“The first condition is that we can’t make a 100% decision before renting the factory.” Tang Xiu said, “Hence, I can give you a 500 thousand deposit first. If by a month later we don’t rent your factory, the deposit is yours. If we rent it, then we’ll pay you another five million, and then we’ll sign the contract.”
After contemplating for a moment and finding nothing bad, the factory owner then said, “I agree. But you have to pay me today.”
“No problem.” Tang Xiu nodded and said, “I can transfer it to you online.”
“Then tell me the second condition.” Said the factory owner.
“Well, to be honest, we come from the north.” Tang Xiu forced a smile. “We’ve been staying in a hotel for more than a week, and the hygiene is rather bad. So we want to temporarily stay in the factory.”
“With the deposit, this factory is temporarily rented to you,” the factory owner smilingly said. “Anyhow, it’s fine if you want to stay here! But the place is dirty and messy, so you need to clean it up.”
"No problem!" Tang Xiu nodded.
Immediately after, Tang Xiu transferred 500 thousand yuan through online banking to the factory owner’s account. The latter looked satisfied and then left. Tang Xiu then s.h.i.+fted his eyes to the old gatekeeper as he then smiled and said, “Gramps, can I ask how much is your monthly salary?”
“2,500 yuan.” Said the old man smilingly.
“Gramps, I’ll give you ten thousand yuan for you not stay here this month.” Said Tang Xiu, “You too know that since we want to stay here and start business later, we must find some young and strong men as security guards.”
“I understand.” The old man hesitated upon hearing it and said, “Managing a business is not easy, but that ten thousand yuan…”
“Gramps, please don’t refuse it.” Tang Xiu said smilingly, “Consider it as our compensation. If we do really rent the factory, I’ll invite you back.”
“Alright then!” The old man nodded his head.
When Tang Xiu took out his wallet, he then asked Xue Jie some cash. After collecting ten thousand yuan, he then gave it to the old man and sent him off.
Guo Sen, who followed alongside him, whispered, “Mr. Tang, isn’t it too much money for a month’s rent? Actually, I have a few ways to give some benefits to the factory owner, so that he will lend the site to us for some time.”
“I suppose you were talking about the place we saw on the way here, right? Anyhow, that place is really good and there are several large factories around. Coupled with tons of people shuttling on the street, this makes this place a good place.”
“Then, what shall we do next? What do you need me to do?” Asked Guo Sen after hearing it.
“Take me to see Hei Long.” Said Tang Xiu.
“Why do you want to see him?” Guo Sen was surprised and said, “That guy is a bad news. Deceitful, domineering, greedy... It will be quite troublesome coming in contact with him.”
Troublesome?
Tang Xiu grinned, “I wouldn’t see him if he was a good man! Anyways, let’s go. You should know where he is, yes?”
“Hei Long usually stays in his bar at night. I’ll take you there,” said Guo Sen.
Black Dragon Bar.
When the two cars parked on the street nearby the bar, Tang Xiu said, “Auntie Xue, stay here and wait for me! I gotta solve this hidden danger so we can station our men in this place.”
“You’re going to…” Xue Jie was startled.
“No. I won’t kill him.” Tang Xiu shook his head and said, “I want him to work for me.”
“Is his background and ident.i.ty clean?” Xue Jie hesitated.
Tang Xiu turned his gaze to Guo Sen.
“Hei Long is like a fish in the water in this chaotic place.” Guo Sen promptly said, “It’s because he can stake it all to play hard and has been exploiting it over twenty years to elevate himself. He’s kind of the undisputed gang leader here.”
Tang Xiu nodded upon hearing it. Accompanied by Guo Sen and Shao Qiang, he got off the car and walked toward Black Dragon Bar, the other person brought by Guo Sen staying in the car.
The Black Dragon Bar was quite lively at night, with deafening metal music that faintly hurt one’s eardrums. Aside from a numerous crowd dancing crazily from side to side in the bar, there were also many people in the seats huddling with girls.
“Well, isn’t it Brother Guo? What wind blew you here today?”
A young man with earrings and yellow-dyed hair giddily greeted them.
“Take me to Hei Long.” Said Guo Sen loudly, “I wanna talk about some business with him.”
The youth was startled for a moment, as he then looked at Tang Xiu and Shao Qiang. He then waved his arms and shouted, “Come with me! Brother Long is playing inside!”
Inside the bar were more than ten boxes.
In one of the largest boxes, Hei Long was hugging a pretty girl he just hooked up with, holding a microphone and singing. The pretty girl picked up pieces of fruit once in a while and stuffed it into Hei Long’s mouth. On the other sofa, his two right-hand men were also embracing a woman each and drinking wine.
“Big Brother Long, Guo Sen wants to see you. He said he wants to talk about some business!”
The yellow-haired youth pushed the door open and came in as he approached Hei Long and spoke to his ear.
Hei Long was stunned and asked in wonder, “Guo Sen? Who the heck is he?”
“He’s the owner of Jingying Internet Café, Big Brother Long!” Said the yellow-haired youth.
Hei Long frowned as a trace of dread flashed from his eyes. He had a dealing with Guo Sen more than a year ago when his underlings demanded protection money from Jingying Internet Café. The result was that Guo Sen’s little brother acted and beat them up. Later on, he and Guo Sen met in private and had a fight. He took dozens of his brothers, yet Guo Sen and his little brother beat them up miserably. Were it not because he finally put out his gun, Guo Sen would perhaps not lower his head.
After that incident, however, Guo Sen took out a sum of money and they solved the ridge between them. But they didn’t interfere with each other from thenceforth.
Hei Long patted the pretty girl and spoke loudly, “Go out and play. I’ll look for you after I’m done with business.”
“Okay!”
The three girls stood and walked outside.
Shortly after, Tang Xiu, Guo Sen and Shao Qiang entered the box. They saw a man sitting on the sofa with one leg atop the other, a cigarette on his mouth and a body full of black dragon tattoos. Tang Xiu then said with a pale smile, “You’re Hei Long?”
After glancing at Tang Xiu, Hei Long’s eyes then fell on Guo Sen, dully saying, “Guo Sen, is this your little brother? Does he not understand the custom or something?”
Guo Sen stepped back and stood behind Tang Xiu, keeping silent.
Hei Long stared blankly for a moment upon seeing that. He looked at Guo Sen and sized up Tang Xiu as he nodded and said, “I got it. It turns out that you’re the master. So, Brother, what’s your distinguished name? Are you also one of the mobsters?”
Tang Xiu waved to the other two big men on the sofa. After receiving a hint from Hei Long to stand up, Tang Xiu walked to the sofa in front and sat down. He then took out a cigarette and lit it up. After having a puff, he said, “I’m Tang Xiu. You don’t need to bother whether I’m a hoodlum or not. I got a business deal for you. If you’re interested, everybody’s happy. If not, I’ll leave immediately.”
Hei Long squinted his eyes and asked, “What business deal?”