This man’s eyes were filled with nothing but rage, clearly indicating he was not aligned with the two men who had blocked Li Zhonglou earlier.
Xu Duowen, the fat man who had obstructed Li Zhonglou’s path, gritted his teeth and said, “I don’t care who you are. If you’ve offended someone from Qingniao, deal with it yourself. Don’t drag us into this!”
Li Zhonglou frowned, “What do you mean by dragging you into this?”
At that moment, an employee stepped forward and said, “What do we mean? Because of the two of you, we can’t even do our jobs properly. If this continues, the manager’s salary and bonuses will be affected!”
“Exactly, I haven’t even paid my credit card bill from last month yet. With this happening today, all my attendance bonuses will be gone.”
“The concert tickets I wanted will be sold out next month.”
“What do concert tickets have to do with anything?”
“Don’t you need to pay to buy tickets?”
The crowd chattered away, and the more Li Zhonglou listened, the angrier he became.
Finally, unable to contain himself, he roared, “Enough!”
The crowd froze.
Li Zhonglou scanned them all, his fists clenched.
“My store manager is still upstairs, his fate unknown, and you’re here talking to me about money?”
Li Zhonglou directly took out a bank card from his pocket, which contained the payment Feng Jie had given him, and threw it at the fat man Xu Duowen’s face.
“The money here is enough to compensate all your losses. If there’s nothing else, get out!”
Xu Duowen, holding the bank card, felt as though he had been insulted. He retorted, “What do you mean by this? Is being rich a big deal?”
In fact, it wasn’t just him; the employees behind him hadn't spoken out of a desire for money, but rather as a form of complaint. After all, the current situation was clearly caused by Li Zhonglou and the other person who had just left.
Their mood for the entire day was ruined, so a few complaints were normal, weren't they?
However, they had overlooked one point: for them, it only affected their mood and led to complaints, but for Li Zhonglou and Qiu Yuan, it was a matter of life and death!
Furthermore, it wasn’t as if he wanted this to happen, nor was it intentional. Li Zhonglou didn’t even know he had provoked anyone from Qingniao.
He grabbed Xu Duowen by the collar, staring him dead in the eye.
“If you don’t want money, what do you want? My life? Believe me, I’ll kill you all right now!”
“You!”
Xu Duowen was clearly startled. They had heard all sorts of threats in this day and age, but threats of murder were rare, and there was a high probability of them being carried out!
Li Zhonglou released the fat man and growled, “If you don’t want to die, get out of my way!”
Everyone instinctively took a step back.
Seeing that a path had been cleared, Li Zhonglou continued to hurry upstairs. As he passed, he couldn’t help but grumble, “A bunch of opportunistic scoundrels!”
After Li Zhonglou went upstairs, Xu Duowen finally reacted.
“Damn it, he was insulting us just now?”
Xu Duowen’s resentment had not subsided; he had only succumbed to Li Zhonglou’s imposing aura and dared not express it further.
At this moment, another employee suddenly spoke, “Actually, we were a bit out of line. Who wants to offend Qingniao? Their survival is uncertain, and we’re here haggling over petty cash…”
Li Zhonglou was in a hurry, and the bank card was still in Xu Duowen’s hand.
Hearing his employee’s words, Xu Duowen finally realized. That’s right, the other party’s life was uncertain, and they were still here blocking him and demanding accountability. He deserved to be scolded.
The more Xu Duowen thought about it, the more guilty he felt.
“Alas, forget it. If he’s alright, I’ll apologize later.”
Xu Duowen held the bank card, his mood complex for a moment.
Was he short of money? Were his employees truly short of money?
That was a difficult question to answer, but one thing was certain: everyone present earned at least double the salary of their peers elsewhere!
This was the unique system of Fu Man Lou. Half of the income from each store was used to be shared equally with the employees as a commission.
This way, even a mere waiter would work with great enthusiasm, as it was directly related to their income.
Therefore, if they really talked about money, as long as they spent it normally, they wouldn't be short of it. Yet, they had just brought up money with Li Zhonglou, and now the bank card was in their possession.
Xu Duowen finally put the card into his pocket carefully, having already figured out how he would apologize.
As long as he is not in the wrong, I will definitely satisfy you!
We at Fu Man Lou never let guests leave without feeling satisfied!
Meanwhile, in a private room on the top floor of Fu Man Lou.
Facing a group of Qingniao’s thugs, Qiu Yuan remained calm.
Confronting him was a young man, around twenty years old, sitting opposite Qiu Yuan with a playful expression, fiddling with a string of beads.
“I didn’t expect you to be one of Sister Feng’s people, but so what?”
Qiu Yuan’s brow furrowed tightly. His boss was being referred to as “Sister Feng” by someone who looked like they hadn’t even grown out of infancy. If it weren’t for the disparity in their status, he would have already made a move based on that sentence alone!
Unfortunately, in terms of status, Sister Feng was indeed inferior to this young master of Qingniao.
Although they belonged to different gangs, their status could be compared. Despite his young age, in matters of importance, only the Four Lords could keep him in check!
Therefore, Qiu Yuan had no intention of making a move. He wasn't here to reclaim face for Wan He and the others.
He was here to resolve Li Zhonglou’s situation.
“Young Master Qing, our Qing Gang and Qingniao have never had major conflicts. Do we really need to hand over people for something so serious?”
The young man’s expression darkened.
“No need to be so serious? What the hell do you know! In short, if you don’t hand over the person today, don’t talk about you; even if Sister Feng came, I wouldn’t let you off easily!”
“If you disagree, let’s start a war. It’s chaotic enough in Shangjing, I don’t care.”
The young man clearly stated his stance, but this situation was not good.
Really start a fight?
That was definitely impossible. Even if Qiu Yuan didn’t know Li Zhonglou’s status with Sister Feng, he understood that with the current man’s status, if the matter was escalated.
Ultimately, it was highly likely that even Sister Feng would have to compromise and hand over the person. The higher-ups of the two gangs would never go to war over someone who wasn’t even a close confidant!
Unless Li Zhonglou’s status could match that of the man in front of him.
Thinking of this, Qiu Yuan realized that this path was not viable. He could only change his approach and ask, “Then how did my subordinate offend Young Master Qing?”
The young man suddenly looked up.
“You want to be a mediator?”
Qiu Yuan nodded earnestly.
The young man suddenly chuckled, “From what I know, the guy you’re protecting has only been here for a day or two, right?”
Qiu Yuan nodded, “Yes.”
“However, even if it’s half a day, or half a minute, as long as they are my people, I naturally have this responsibility.”
Qiu Yuan’s expression was serious, not like he was just saying empty words.
“Interesting, I didn’t expect the Qing Gang to have such talent here. Why don’t you come work for me? I’ll give you double the benefits the Qing Gang offers!”