Chapter 4

Zhang Xianyang shook his head. The face before him looked vaguely familiar, but he could not remember who the man was.

"Where's my dad?"

The lobby manager did not notice anything unusual about Zhang Xianyang and continued smiling broadly. "The boss is on the fourth floor, handling some serious business with several gang elders. Why don't you have some fun in the VIP area on the third floor first, Third Young Master? You can go up to the fourth floor later."

Zhang Xianyang knew that the manager's "serious business" was most likely the matter of "dealing with" the garment factory owner. That was exactly why he had come. He immediately shook his head. "I have serious business with my dad too. I'm going up to the fourth floor now."

The lobby manager looked troubled. Nearly everyone in their line of work knew about Third Young Master Zhang's "cowardly reputation" for fainting at the sight of blood. Yet what was happening on the fourth floor was clearly going to involve some bloodshed. He wanted to persuade Zhang Xianyang otherwise, but did not know how to put it tactfully.

The moment Zhang Xianyang saw the manager's expression, he guessed what he was thinking. He immediately said, "Take me to the fourth floor. I need to see my dad."

The displeasure and impatience in his words reached the lobby manager loud and clear. The manager sighed helplessly, beckoned to a security guard standing by the wall, and instructed, "Take Third Young Master to the fourth floor."

The guard nodded and led Zhang Xianyang to the elevators. He pressed the button for him, then told the receptionist inside, "Third Young Master is going to the fourth floor."

The elevator attendant, dressed in a white shirt and a black miniskirt, gave Zhang Xianyang a surprised look but said nothing.

The elevator rose all the way to the fourth floor. With a ding, the doors opened to reveal a long corridor carpeted in red, with golden marble tiles set into the ceiling and walls on either side. Crystal chandeliers hung overhead, making the place look extravagantly luxurious and decadent. Frantic, agonized male screams drifted out from within, mixed with laughter, curses, and the sound of people playing mahjong.

The two young men guarding the elevator had already been informed over the intercom that Zhang Xianyang was coming up. They did not know why the Third Young Master, who rarely came to the casino, had suddenly appeared, but they respectfully led him to Office Number One, where the big shots were gathered. Two bodyguards in black stood outside the door as well, and both of them visibly froze when they saw Zhang Xianyang in his school uniform.

One of them turned and went into the office. No one knew what he said, but the room immediately fell silent. About ten minutes later, the bodyguard came back out and told Zhang Xianyang that he could enter.

Zhang Xianyang entered the office with his backpack on. His clean designer sneakers sank into the thick carpet, which felt strangely damp and sticky beneath his feet. A heavy scent of jasmine perfume filled the air, yet it could not mask the faint smell of blood. Several thugs in black suits stood against the wall, as proper as waiters outside. When they noticed Zhang Xianyang looking them over, they even tried to put on innocent, friendly smiles. To most people, though, those smiles were no different from a demon's threat.

A mahjong table stood by the window, where four elderly men of elder rank were trying their best to look relaxed as they played. If not for the few drops of blood still staining one of the table legs, the effect might have been more convincing.

Half-reclining on a European-style sofa in the center of the office was a middle-aged man wearing a floral shirt and boxer shorts. He looked spirited, even refined enough to be described as handsome, but the deep scar running from the corner of his eye to his cheekbone made him seem somewhat ferocious. He was tall and powerfully built, one leg bent with his foot resting on the small coffee table before him. His entire body radiated a bloodthirsty, ruthless aura, like a fierce tiger crouched in the grass and watching its prey. He was Zhang Linmo, the current head of the Old District Zhang Family's underworld faction, known as Black Tiger. He was also Zhang Xianyang's maternal uncle, though until Zhang Xianyang turned sixteen, he had always called him Dad.

Because of a promise he had made to his younger sister years ago, this man had kept his nephew by his side and raised him as his own son, loving him as if he were his flesh and blood. In the end, he had lost his family and his life because of that worthless nephew, dying in a hail of bullets.

Every mistake had begun with Zhang Xianyang. Since he had been reborn, he had to do everything he could to repay his sins.

Seeing Zhang Xianyang enter and stand there silently, the man beckoned him over and asked, "Why did you come here today? Don't tell me someone bullied you?"

Zhang Xianyang looked at his uncle, still so lively and full of vigor, and a flicker passed through his eyes. He shook his head. "Who would dare bully me in the Old District? Dad, you're worrying for nothing."

The elders playing mahjong also got up and came over, each of them smiling as they asked, "What made our Third Boy come to the casino? If you're bored, come to your Fourth Uncle Gao's nightclub. It's much more fun than this place."

The others shoved Gao Yunsheng and said, "Don't lead the kid astray. Our Third Boy is a good little student who's going to college. How can he go somewhere like a nightclub?"

Zhang Xianyang obediently greeted the gang's four elders, then lowered his head and said to Zhang Linmo, "I heard at school that the garment factory owner who owed us money had been caught, so I came over."

Zhang Linmo frowned almost imperceptibly and asked in a low voice, "Why are you concerned about that?"

Zhang Xianyang smiled. "I think the clothes lately are too old-fashioned, and I don't like them. Even designer brands are all the same styles everyone wears, nothing special. So I thought about finding a garment factory to make clothes specifically for me. It could earn me some pocket money too. Then I happened to hear about this, so I came to take a look."

Third Young Master Zhang had cared about dressing up since he was little. He loved looking pretty like a peacock, and everyone in the Old District knew it. So no one found Zhang Xianyang's words strange. Gao Yunsheng merely said with a smile, "Our Third Boy has more and more ideas these days. Designer clothes aren't good enough for you anymore—you want to design and wear your own? Do you even know how to design clothes?"

Zhang Xianyang looked at Gao Yunsheng and smiled. "I'll design clothes for Fourth Uncle Gao and all the gang elders too. When the time comes, everyone has to remember to wear them."

Gao Yunsheng imagined himself wearing clothes made by Zhang Xianyang, and his expression became noticeably worse.

Zhang Xianyang looked around, then knowingly asked, "Why don't I see the garment factory owner? I heard someone screaming just now. I wonder if it was him."

Zhang Linmo gave Zhang Xianyang a helpless look and signaled to a thug leaning against the wall. The thug turned and entered the inner room. A few minutes later, he came back out carrying a drenched man in one hand. Zhang Xianyang noticed that the half-conscious man was covered in wounds. The reason he was soaked was probably because someone had washed the blood off him.

Feeling Zhang Linmo's thoughtful consideration, Zhang Xianyang curled his lips into a touched smile.

The thug tossed the indebted garment factory owner onto the floor like a lump of mud. After waking up again, the man scrambled and crawled to Zhang Linmo's feet, clutching at his pant leg as he begged, "Boss, please give me a few more days. I'll definitely repay the money."

Zhang Linmo kicked the garment factory owner away, picked up an apple from the coffee table, and took a bite. He spoke indistinctly around the mouthful. "It's not unheard of for someone to be unable to repay a loan shark debt. We could sit down and discuss having you pay off part of the interest first. But you actually dared to run after owing money... Did you think the Old District Zhang Family's reputation was made of clay? According to gang rules, you should be chopped into eight pieces and sent to the organ market as a warning to others..."

The garment factory owner's face changed drastically. He knelt on the floor and repeatedly kowtowed. "Please, Boss, give me one more chance. I'll never dare run again. Spare my life, Boss. We've been neighbors for over thirty years. I have elderly parents above me and a wife and children below me. Nothing can happen to me."

Zhang Linmo waved a hand, cutting off the garment factory owner's pleas, and continued, "But my son happens to need a tailor to make clothes... Consider yourself lucky!"

Under the garment factory owner's hopeful gaze, Zhang Linmo bent down and patted his face. "Follow my son properly. Your life belongs to him now."

The garment factory owner only knew that he would not have to die. He immediately kowtowed in gratitude and thanks. Zhang Linmo looked at him with some disgust and warned, "According to the contract, your garment factory belongs to me now. I'll send people over tomorrow to collect the debt. Don't try any tricks. If the people I send find even one screw missing..."

Zhang Linmo looked over the garment factory owner's already broken leg and said fiercely, "My son's tailor can still work with only his hands."

Still shaken but relieved, the garment factory owner shook his head violently. "No, no. I absolutely won't dare try anything."

Zhang Linmo despised the garment factory owner's groveling, spineless manner. He waved a hand, signaling for his men to drag him away first. Before Zhang Linmo could say anything, Zhang Xianyang patted his chest and promised, "Don't worry, Dad. Once my garment factory makes money, I'll definitely make up for the gang's losses."

Zhang Linmo waved him off without concern and comforted him, "Even if we cut him up and sold his organs, we'd only get a little over a million. Just treat it as an advance on your allowance. The gang isn't short on that bit of money."

Zhang Xianyang knew that though Zhang Linmo said that, he would definitely pay out of his own pocket afterward to cover the shortfall of over a million, so the rest of the gang would have nothing to say. He could not yet change Zhang Linmo's or the other elders' way of thinking, so he could only promise again, "I'll definitely make money this time."

Author's note: Zhang Xianyang is working hard on the path of wearing sheep's clothing~~

Chapter 4

After smoothly settling the matter with the garment factory owner, Zhang Linmo held a small meeting with several gang elders and the casino manager regarding the methods used to assess loan amounts and the various mistakes in monitoring borrowers. During the meeting, he did not forget to instruct his men to bring some food to Zhang Xianyang, who was idling around with nothing to do. They absolutely could not let Little Third Zhang, who was still growing, go hungry. By around eight that evening, the meeting had come to a temporary end, and Zhang Linmo put an arm around Zhang Xianyang's shoulders and drove home with him.

The sedan drove from West Street Casino toward the Old District Zhang Family Compound. The closer they got, the more open and empty the surroundings became. Unlike the city center, with its forest of skyscrapers, blazing lights, and unmistakably modern atmosphere, the heart of the Old District Zhang Family Compound still retained its pre-founding-era antique charm. Worn little courtyards with gray brick walls and black-tiled roofs could be seen everywhere, along with small Western-style buildings constructed during the Republican Era. The most modern things there were the dozens of residential compounds that the Old District Zhang Family had led its affiliated gangs in funding more than twenty years ago. Most of the buildings were only six stories high, with conservative layouts of roughly one hundred square meters, all housing for gang members' families.

This was the Old District Zhang Family Compound, the Old Zhang Family's base of operations for nearly a century. Ten meters underground lay the Old District Zhang Family's most famous escape tunnels. Like a spiderweb, they spread throughout the entire Old District, serving as the Old Zhang Family's final and strongest safeguard for survival.

In his previous life, the Capital Li Family and the Capital Zhang Family had spent ten years laying a trap, deceiving Zhang Xianyang into revealing the details of the tunnels. This caused the entire Old District Zhang Family to collapse and vanish into nothing. In this life, even if it cost him his life, Zhang Xianyang would protect the Old Zhang Family.

Zhang Linmo, seated beside Zhang Xianyang, had been watching his unusually quiet son. Seeing the thoughtful look on Zhang Xianyang's face, Zhang Linmo asked in a deep voice, "What are you thinking about? You've been much calmer lately."

Zhang Xianyang came back to himself and replied, "I was just thinking that compared with the city center, the Old District really is rather run-down."

Disapproval was written clearly across Zhang Linmo's face. He immediately thought of how people from the city government had recently approached him about demolishing and redeveloping the Old District. In Zhang Linmo's view, someone in the city clearly had ill intentions and wanted to use this opportunity to meddle with the Old Zhang Family's power. And now Zhang Xianyang was saying the same thing...