"But Ming Ge, you can't tell on me, or I won't come to you next time."
The man called Ming Ge smiled knowingly and quickly opened the wooden door.
"Don't worry, I know the rules of the game. Good luck today!"
"Thank you, Ming Ge."
Hai Yan said, completely disregarding Li Chonglou's feelings, and deliberately snuggled up to him intimately, making him feel uncomfortable all over.
As soon as he entered, a thick smell of smoke hit him, not to mention the shouting. He had already heard it when the man called Ming Ge opened the door.
The space wasn't large, but it was packed with four tables, with at least seven or eight people crowded around each table. Since most of them were heavy smokers, the entire room was shrouded in a faint white mist.
"Give me my money."
Hai Yan willingly let go of Li Chonglou, took the money from his hand, squeezed to a table, and joined the fray.
Watching the excited and eager look on Hai Yan's face, Li Chonglou sighed deeply in his heart.
Hai Yan was neither young nor old, but her current demeanor could seal her fate. There were very few gamblers who ended up well.
However, it wasn't appropriate for him to interfere in such matters. After all, they were strangers. All he could do now was wait for Hai Yan to squander the money and then return to hand over the house to him.
As expected, an hour later, Hai Yan, cursing angrily, left the private gambling den with Li Chonglou.
To Li Chonglou's surprise, after they walked out of the alley, Hai Yan suddenly seemed like a different person. All the emotions on her face disappeared, leaving only a look of calm.
This was until they returned to that house.
At first, Li Chonglou was a little worried that she might renege on their deal or directly turn hostile and demand more money. But Hai Yan didn't say another word to him from beginning to end. After returning to the house, she immediately started packing her belongings.
Li Chonglou watched her move all her things out of the bedroom. After a moment of contemplation, he walked in directly. While she was packing her belongings in the living room, he reached under the bed and took out a document bag that Zhou Tong had hidden there.
"Thank goodness it's still here."
Li Chonglou breathed a sigh of relief, then tucked the document bag against his abdomen and turned to walk out of the room.
"You don't need to pack your things. You can continue to live in this house, but I might need to borrow it for a day or two if I need it."
In fact, this last sentence was said to avoid making the other party feel abrupt. As for the money she lost earlier, Li Chonglou didn't take it to heart.
So, after speaking, he walked out of the house. It wasn't until he reached the main entrance of the rental building outside that Hai Yan chased out from inside.
"Friend, I won't say much more. You must keep my contact information. I'll definitely pay you back when I have money in the future!"
Suddenly stopped by her, Li Chonglou turned to look at the earnest and sincere expression on Hai Yan's face. In the end, he left her his address and said,
"As long as you're alive, there's nothing that can't be solved. Quit gambling, it does you no good."
Regardless of whether Hai Yan could hear him, he had said what he needed to say, so Li Chonglou left the rental house directly.
With the evidence this time, Li Chonglou found the lawyer who had handled the traffic case again. The lawyer immediately indicated that Zhou Tong could be released soon.
Indeed, as he said, after the lawyer submitted the evidence, the person was bailed out the next day.
"Damn it, Brother Li, I thought something had happened to you!"
Meeting again after a long separation, especially after experiencing hardship, Zhou Tong immediately hugged Li Chonglou tightly as soon as he got out. Those around them couldn't help but cast strange glances.
That's how it is these days. Although it was pure brotherhood, the same actions as before had a different flavor. However, Li Chonglou didn't care about these glances because he knew that Zhou Tong's brotherhood towards him was unwavering.
"I'm fine, I just went abroad on some business and now I'm back."
"It's good that you're okay!"
Zhou Tong patted his shoulder, then his expression suddenly changed, and he asked, "Did you get the things?"
"Nonsense, how could you get out if you didn't get them?"
Zhou Tong immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's good that you got them. Shall we go have some fun now?"
Li Chonglou rolled his eyes at him, "You should handle your own affairs first. You've only been bailed out for now."
"That's right."
Zhou Tong nodded. Although he had kept the evidence for his own future, this matter could be big or small. As long as it wasn't truly resolved, it felt like a sword hanging over his head.
After Zhou Tong went to attend to his own matters, Li Chonglou returned to the residence he shared with Sanyang.
Sanyang was not there at the moment, but his belongings were. However, it was unclear where he had gone.
Since his phone had been lost earlier, Li Chonglou decided to go to the phone store downstairs and buy a new one, and then replace his old SIM card.
"Thank goodness all the contact information is still here."
Holding his new phone, Li Chonglou dialed Zhang Yu's number.
"Brother Li? You can finally contact me. I tried to reach you many times a few days ago and couldn't."
Li Chonglou was stunned. "I went abroad. What did you need me for?"
"It's fine now. The company had some trouble before, and I wanted to see if you could think of any other way to solve it."
Li Chonglou instantly understood. It must have been He Wei who had targeted her. It was fine now, so she must have received a warning from his superiors.
Thinking of this, Li Chonglou finally truly understood the benefits of power.
If it weren't for the change in his status, Zhang Yu's company might still be in trouble. But now, because his status was different, such trouble disappeared on its own without anyone needing to handle it!
This is the benefit of power. Many things don't require you to personally handle them!
"By the way, Brother Li, what did you need me for?"
Zhang Yu's confused voice came from the other end of the phone, and Li Chonglou stated directly,
"I need to borrow some money from you. The amount might be a bit large, but don't worry, I'll pay you back as soon as possible."
Although Li Chonglou was not short of money now, the money he used was for his family, so he didn't intend to use too much.
As for where to find the money to pay Zhang Yu back, that wasn't a problem for him. After all, in the antique business, as long as you have the ability, you'll never lack money!
He had also established a connection in the antique industry, which meant his path was already open. Making money was only a matter of time.