"Betray you? Hahahaha!" A Xiang laughed wildly. "Liu Chuanfu, so you do know I've followed you for thirty years."
"Thirty years ago, we were apprentices together. The boss didn't like you, and it was only because I pleaded for you that you had anything to eat."
"That year, you said you weren't getting enough to eat, but you didn't dare ask for your wages. I was the one who stole the boss's money and took you away."
"Later, we scraped a living in Shanghai. You got lucky, caught Boss Qi's eye, and made a fortune. You amassed hundreds of thousands, but what about me? Did you ever think about me? You got the meat because you had the ability, but you couldn't even leave me a mouthful of broth."
"Thirty years. I spent thirty years being your dog, and I couldn't even get a decent future out of it."
"I ran errands for you every day, arranged the troupes, watched over the theatre. Which of your shipments wasn't I handling?"
"All these years, people called you boss, but what did they call me? A brothel lackey."
"They treated me like some brothel attendant. What, am I supposed to thank you?"
"So this is what you've thought of me all these thirty years." Old Knife Handle's voice was strained. "A Xiang, don't forget."
"Who handed Zhengjian Theatre and all these channels over to you to manage?"
"Apart from the money, I gave you everything."
"Without Shengping Theatre, would you be in any position to call those famous performers your brothers? Who would give you a second glance?"
Holy shit. Chen Fan visibly froze when he heard that.
That's Old Knife Handle for you. I couldn't come up with shit like that even if I were trying to pick a fight.
He gave A Xiang everything except the money. In other words, you do all the work, and I keep the money.
Isn't this the same manipulative crap company bosses feed their employees? "I'm giving you an opportunity to develop your abilities."
"Without the company as your platform, you're nothing but trash out there."
"Brother, work hard, and next year I'll get you a sister-in-law..."
Yet after hearing Old Knife Handle's words, A Xiang actually hesitated.
Tsk, tsk, tsk. No wonder this old bastard spent thirty years as a beast of burden. His brain can't even change gears.
"Sixth Master, you really are a joker. If everyone isn't fighting and killing for money, what are they doing it for? Fun?"
Chen Fan scoffed. "You actually have the nerve to say you gave Brother Xiang everything? So he's just a beast of burden you don't have to pay?"
"Even a real beast of burden needs some feed every now and then. You give him nothing at all. So Brother Xiang has to pay out of his own pocket to work for you?"
"You really treat your own brother like he's Japanese."
At those words, the confusion in A Xiang's eyes instantly cleared.
"Liu Chuanfu, Young Master Chen is right. I've run around for you all these years, giving it everything I had, and I haven't gained a single thing. What, am I supposed to thank you for giving me an opportunity?"
Old Knife Handle turned to Chen Fan and demanded angrily, "Chen Fan, what exactly do you want?"
Chen Fan spread his hands. "Isn't it obvious? Your life, of course."
Old Knife Handle remained defiant. "My life? I still have all these men. Even if I die, I'll take you down with me."
Chen Fan shook his head. "All these men? Sixth Master, I told you your old eyes were failing. Brother Xiang is already holding a knife on you, and you still think these men are yours?"
"Open your eyes and take a good look. Whose men are they?"
As he finished speaking, another figure emerged from behind the crowd. The moment Old Knife Handle saw him, his heart turned to ashes.
It was none other than Chen Fan's brother, Cao Bin.
Cao Bin said with a hint of mockery, "Sixth Master, you really are something, taking my men for yours."
"Brothers, let Sixth Master see what you're carrying at your waists."
Laughing and joking, the men pulled out the objects tucked into their waistbands. They were all cargo hooks, ropes, and the like.
They had looked bulky, but they were really nothing useful.
By now, Old Knife Handle's face had turned purple.
He turned to A Xiang. His throat rattled several times before he managed to force out a few words. "A Xiang, it's not too late to stop."
"I... I won't hold this against you. I'll give you money. However much you want, I'll give it all to you."
"Don't forget, we've been brothers for thirty years..."
"Turn back? Why should I turn back?" A Xiang sneered. "Do you still expect me to take a few silver dollars a month?"
"What's that money enough for? Buying toilet paper?"
"Liu Chuanfu, your biggest problem isn't that you're too ruthless. It's that you want everything for yourself."
"You know you can't make all the money yourself, but every time you give anyone a share, you have to go over the accounts three times first."
"Even Master Kong knew to fear not scarcity, but inequality. Yet you don't understand?"
"You've fattened yourself into a Buddha and worked the people beneath you into hungry ghosts. But you should know that hungry ghosts bite too."
"To tell you the truth, Young Master Chen has already promised me that once you're dealt with, Shengping Theatre will be mine."
"Liu Chuanfu, you wouldn't want that empire of yours going to outsiders, would you? Why not leave it to me instead..."
Old Knife Handle opened his mouth, then suddenly felt a chill seep out from between his bones.
He looked at A Xiang's familiar yet unfamiliar face, then at Chen Fan. Suddenly, he could no longer say a word...
Chen Fan looked at Old Knife Handle and said slowly, "Sixth Master, it's about time. Brother Xiang, send Sixth Master on his way."
"Oh, Sixth Master, I knew you'd be lonely traveling alone, so I specially found someone to keep you company."
"Boss Jin has already gone ahead. She's waiting for you on the road to the underworld."
"Tomorrow, all of Shanghai will hear that the owner of Shengping Theatre eloped with a famous Kunqu performer."
"Sixth Master, not everyone is fortunate enough to enjoy a tale of a gifted scholar and a beautiful lady like this."
"Oh, right. I seem to remember I still owe you money. You probably won't have any use for money from the living world anymore. I'll burn what I owe you on the seventh day after your death. Do it..."
At the command, A Xiang slit Old Knife Handle's throat without hesitation.
Old Knife Handle was dead, but his death did not cause the enormous stir one might have imagined. Instead, the story Chen Fan attached to him drew more interest than his disappearance itself.
All of Shanghai was saying that the owner of Shengping Theatre had become involved with Jin Xiangyu, the famous Kunqu performer who had come from Jinling to perform in Shanghai.
To spend the rest of his life with the woman he loved, Old Knife Handle had willingly abandoned his vast holdings and risked public condemnation to elope with Jin Xiangyu.
Some said they had gone to Nanyang and planned to live there.
Others said they had gone to Hong Kong Island, where Old Knife Handle had even bought her a villa in the Mid-Levels.
That was where Hong Kong Island's wealthy lived.
The most outrageous version was that they had died for love because society would not tolerate their romance.
But exactly how had they violated public order and good morals? In this day and age, a man could marry several wives.
Old Knife Handle was part of the theatrical world too. Whichever way you looked at it, they were in the same line of work.
In short, more and more rumors of this sort spread. No one cared what the people involved thought. They were merely devising an impossible ending according to their own ideas.
Of course, anyone with even a little sense could tell something was wrong.
Chen Fan also knew that stories like these could only fool ordinary people on the streets and give them something to enjoy.
His real headache now was Rui Qingrong.
The man was Boss Du's confidant and one of Shanghai's most powerful gang leaders.
With the few men he currently had, Chen Fan really was in no position to match strength with Rui Qingrong...
So what should his next move be...
[Recommending a new book by an author with over ten thousand subscribers... Qin Feng had to win votes in a bizarre little war-torn country to earn rewards... until one day, Qin Feng inadvertently raised his gun and discovered that his approval rating was shooting up. Suddenly, he understood what "democracy" meant. A tense, thrilling tale of rival warlords and hardcore modern warfare.]
"Why run for office without firepower?"