Black Flag Army

Young woman Lan Jinping

The boss of Nankou Cotton Mill was named Li Jinfa, a man in his forties with a thin face, wearing a melon-shaped hat and a long robe. When he saw Di Xiong coming in, he quickly stood up and saluted with his fists clasped.

Di Xiong smiled and said, "I'm sorry to have kept Boss Li waiting for so long."

A pretty girl in a red cheongsam brought two cups of fragrant tea and four plates of snacks to the table. There was a small black mole on the left corner of the girl's mouth. Her name was Chen Xianglian, and she was one of the eight waitresses hired by Di Xiong. Di Xiong believed that the restaurant could attract more customers by using waitresses to serve tea and dishes than male waiters. This was indeed the case. Since other restaurants had not yet used waitresses, the Weili Hotel had increased its business by at least 30% after using waitresses. In addition, Di Xiong adopted some practices of later restaurants, such as free tasting for new customers and coupons for old customers, so the business was naturally better. Although Zhang Heilian and his friends were still waiters, they became foremen and security guards, and their monthly salary also increased to five silver dollars. These girls were recruited from refugees from other places in the shantytowns. They did not have to sell themselves, and they also had a monthly salary of five silver dollars, which made their parents very happy. If Di Xiong had not recruited them, they would most likely have been sold to brothels. Chen Xianglian was sold to a brothel and was negotiating the price when she was found and rescued by Wu Chunlei.

Boss Li said, "Brother Di, you are too polite. It is my honor to do business with a young man like Boss Di! Your restaurant has only been open for more than a month, but the business is so prosperous that it has surpassed all other restaurants on the street. I heard that those restaurant owners were resentful and hired some beggars and ruffians to cause trouble. As a result, they were beaten by a few employees of your restaurant and fled in all directions. There are actually hidden dragons and crouching tigers among the employees of your restaurant! I was a little worried about buying a textile factory, but now I see that your men are so powerful, I feel relieved."

Di Xiong said, "Boss Li, you are too kind. We just dealt with a few petty thieves. I've heard of a folk song circulating among the common people: There are five major gangs in Beijing. The 'Green Dragon' is the first gang, the 'Ghost Shadow' is as fierce as a jackal, the most vicious is the 'Flying Knife Gang', the 'Lightning' is as fast as a beam of light, and the 'White Eagle' is even more rampant. The military, police and military police are busy doing nothing, and the common people are suffering. If any of the five major gangs comes to deal with us, we will not be able to deal with it, not to mention that two of the gangs are backed by foreigners."

Boss Li said: "The capital city is indeed a dangerous place, and it is not easy to survive. Fortunately, the textile factory we want to buy is in Nankou Town outside the city, so there is no such risk."

Di Xiong said, "There is also a gang called Beilang Gang in Nankou Town, but it is just a second-rate gang. I have a way to deal with them. Please tell me about the situation of the textile factory, Boss Li!"

Boss Li said, "The boss of this textile factory is named Feng. All the machines in the factory are new-style textile machines purchased from Britain. The factory is worth 20,000 yuan. The business was very good, with a profit of several thousand yuan a year. But during the mutiny in the first month of the lunar year, the factory was robbed of some money by the soldiers. The machines were not lost, but several textile workers were beaten by the soldiers, and many other women workers were scared away. Boss Feng has no backers in the local area, and he is afraid that this kind of thing will happen again in the future, so he wants to sell the factory at a low price, only 12,000 yuan. We bargained with him, and 10,000 yuan should be enough. Now I only have 4,000 yuan on hand."

Di Xiong smiled and said, "If I put in 6,000 yuan, wouldn't I become a major shareholder?"

Boss Li said with a smile, "Brother Di is more capable than me, so he should have more shares. You should also be the chairman. I just need to follow behind and have some soup. I also have to run the spinning mill, so you will be in charge of the textile mill in the future. I only recommend my brother Li Jingcai to be the deputy director of the factory."

Di Xiong raised his teacup and said, "Since Boss Li trusts me so much, I will offer a cup of tea to Boss Li. I hope we can have a pleasant cooperation in the future."

The two people's teacups clinked together, making a crisp sound.

When Wu Chunlei appeared in the hotel lobby wearing a brand new blue security uniform, he attracted the admiration of several waitresses. One waitress laughed and said, "Today I discovered that Brother Lei is not only good at martial arts, but also very handsome!"

Wu Chunlei recognized her as Chen Xianglian and said with a smile, "Since you think I'm pretty, I'd like to invite you to watch a play tonight. It's performed by the famous actor Liu Xikui. You won't refuse, will you?"

Chen Xianglian smiled and said, "It's my honor, why should I refuse?"

Chen Xianglian has known Wu Chunlei for a long time. Her parents used to run a wonton stall. When Wu Chunlei was in the Flying Eagle Gang, he was poor and only ordered half a bowl of wontons every time he came to her stall. When Chen Xianglian was helping there, she would secretly give him a few more wontons. Later, her father got involved in gambling and owed a lot of debts to the casino. He disappeared without a trace. The casino thugs smashed her stall and wanted to sell her to a brothel to pay off the debt. It was Wu Chunlei who borrowed money from Di Xiong to help her family pay off the gambling debts.

Wu Chunlei was just about to make a few more jokes with Chen Xianglian when he suddenly saw Lan Jinping walk into the hotel from the gate. Lan Jinping had an oval face, almond-shaped eyes, a young woman's hairstyle, golden hairpins and earrings, and a snow-white fox fur robe. She looked like a noble lady. Next to her was a young girl in a light blue school uniform, and behind her were two burly men with box guns, who looked like bodyguards.

Wu Chunlei hurriedly stepped forward and greeted her: "Isn't this Sister Lan? Long time no see, do you still remember me? I am Wu Chunlei!"

Lan Jinping was originally a small soldier of the Flying Eagle Gang and had a good relationship with Bai Xiuling and Wu Chunlei. Unable to bear the bullying of Boss Zhang, she reported the crimes committed by the Flying Eagle Gang to the police. As a result, due to collusion between the police and the gangsters, she fell into the hands of Boss Zhang again. If it were not for Bai Xiuling and Wu Chunlei's pleading for her, she would have been beaten to death. In the end, she was sold to a brothel.

Lan Jinping was also very surprised and asked, "Chun Lei! Why are you working as a clerk here? Are you not in the Flying Eagle Gang anymore? How is Xiu Ling now?"

Wu Chunlei said, "Sister Bai also works here. If she knew you were here, she would be very happy. This is not the place to talk. I will take you to the private room upstairs to sit down and talk slowly. Private room number three is empty." He asked a waitress to call Bai Xiuling.

Bai Xiuling was wearing a pink fur coat and was keeping accounts in the back office. Due to the huge increase in the hotel's business, Di Xiong adopted the later debit and credit accounting method. It was too busy for Wu alone to handle the accounts, so Di Xiong asked Bai Xiuling to assist him with some accounting. Of course, Bai Xiuling had more to do. Di Xiong subscribed to all the newspapers in Beijing, but he had no time to read them. Bai Xiuling was responsible for selecting important information from these newspapers and reporting them to him. When she heard that Lan Jinping was coming, Bai Xiuling hurriedly trotted all the way. After entering the No. 3 box, she hugged Lan Jinping and was so excited that she shed tears.

Bai Xiuling said, "Ever since Sister Lan was sold to that place, I have been worried about you. After eradicating the Flying Eagle Gang, I asked Brother Di to help find out your whereabouts and rescue you. I didn't expect that you had already escaped from the tiger's mouth."

Lan Jinping said, "I was tortured in Fengyuelou brothel for more than a year. Later, I met General Lu, who took a fancy to me. He spent 5,000 yuan to redeem me and made me his seventh concubine. Only then did I escape from the sea of ​​suffering."

Bai Xiuling asked, "Which General Lu?"

Lan Jinping said, "It was Lu Jianzhang, who used to be the director of the Military and Political Law Enforcement Department and is now the commander of the Left Route Reserve Army. When he was the director of the Law Enforcement Department, he was nicknamed 'Lu the Butcher' because he arrested and killed so many revolutionaries and royalists in the investigation of the assassination of Yuan Shikai. "

Bai Xiuling said, "So it's him! Brother Di mentioned him before, saying that he likes to appoint people based on personal connections, and only uses people from Mengcheng who can speak Mengcheng dialect and have foreign swords. Among his five battalion commanders, there is one named Feng Jishan who is very good at training soldiers, and the other four battalion commanders are incompetent guys."

Lan Jinping smiled and said, "Tell me about your situation. I heard from Wu Chunlei that you are very close to the boss of the Xihe Gang. He praised this Boss Di very much. Is this guy really that powerful? The eradication of the Flying Eagle Gang was all his credit?"

Bai Xiuling said, "He is the most upright gangster boss I have ever seen. He does not eat, drink, gamble, or smoke. He only likes to read books and newspapers and play chess. He is not only smart, capable, and loyal, but also well-educated and concerned about the country and the people. He hopes that one day he can lead the army to recover the lost northern territories of the Qing Dynasty and let the people live a happy life. Just for this reason, we follow him wholeheartedly."

Lan Jinping smiled and said, "You speak so highly of him, but I'm afraid it's a bit exaggerated. But looking at your clothes and complexion, compared with your previous appearance in the Flying Eagle Gang, it is indeed a world of difference. I really want to meet this amazing Boss Di. Is he in the hotel?"

The girl in the light blue school uniform also said, "I want to meet him, too. I've never seen a gangster boss before!"

Lan Jinping introduced the girl in blue to Bai Xiuling: "This is my sister Jinchun, who studies at Jingxi Girls' Middle School. She bought breakfast at your restaurant and said it was delicious. She heard that the banquets at your restaurant taste even better, so she pestered me to bring her to a banquet. Otherwise, she wouldn't have seen you today."

Bai Xiuling said, "We have three chefs in our restaurant now, but they are not the best cooks. The one with the best cooking skills is Brother Di. How about this, I'll ask Brother Di to cook a table of dishes for you to taste."

Lan Jinping was surprised and said, "Isn't it too much to ask the Xihe Gang boss to cook for us personally?"

Bai Xiuling smiled and said, "It's okay. He's a very easy person to talk to. I just need to ask him and he will agree."

Di Xiong asked the kitchen to prepare a table of sumptuous food and wine and sent it to Box No. 1. He was about to have dinner with Boss Li when Bai Xiuling came in and told him her request. Di Xiong refused at first, but could not bear her repeated requests, so he had to ask Shopkeeper Wu to have a drink with Boss Li. He tied an apron and went to the kitchen. Of course, Di Xiong could not cook a table of dishes. He only cooked a pot of pickled fish, a pot of duck soup and a mutton hot pot. He asked the chef to cook the other dishes. The Lan sisters were already very happy with their meal and their stomachs were about to burst.