Chapter 326: Chapter 326: The Domineering Side of Old Xie’s Restaurant (Second Update)
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At dusk.
Beijiang city was drenched in a drizzling autumn rain.
“Xuan’Er, let me drive you home!” a colleague offered warmly.
Tang Xuan’er smiled and shook her head, “No need! I have to stop by a friend’s place first!”
After saying that, she donned her raincoat and stepped into the curtain of rain.
By the time she arrived at Old Xie’s restaurant, night had completely fallen.
“Oh dear, Xuan’Er, why didn’t you call ahead so Uncle Xie could have picked you up in this rain!”
Auntie Pang rushed forward to greet Tang Xuan’er, who had walked in wearing a raincoat, with a look of surprise.
“It’s fine, the rain isn’t that heavy!” Tang Xuan’er removed her raincoat and said with a smile.
“Look at you, your hair is all wet. Wipe it off quickly! Don’t catch a cold!” Auntie Pang affectionately handed over a dry towel.
“Where’s Jingjing?” Tang Xuan’er asked while drying her hair.
“She’s inside. When it started raining, she thought you wouldn’t come and started doing her homework in the back room,” Auntie Pang said with a beaming smile.
In recent times, Tang Xuan’er had been coming to Old Xie’s restaurant every evening to tutor Xie Jingjing.
“Then I’ll go in!” Tang Xuan’er walked toward the back room.
Only after her figure was completely out of sight did the several tables of customers in the hall let out a collective sigh.
“My God, this girl is indeed as beautiful as the rumors say! Especially when she smiles, it’s intoxicating!” a man said, utterly smitten.
“Cough cough, of course she’s beautiful, what do you think is the reason I come here every day at this time?” another man at the same table said with a hearty laugh.
“Eh, have you inquired? What’s her name? At least find out her phone number or WeChat or something!” yet another man lusted after her.
“Shh! Don’t talk nonsense! This girl is definitely not ordinary!” someone quickly gestured for them to lower their voices.
“I don’t believe it; she’s just wearing a raincoat, walking here by herself, what kind of big background could she have?” someone skeptically remarked.
“Don’t believe it, huh? Well, not to mention the girl, the background of this restaurant is not something you could imagine!” another person sneered.
“This little rundown restaurant has a background? Stop joking!”
No sooner had these words left his mouth, several burly men dressed in black appeared outside the restaurant; each one had a robust build, and the leader was holding a black umbrella, his face full of menace.
Upon seeing this group, all the customers inside shuddered unison, and someone couldn’t help but whisper in alarm.
“It’s Xu Jiu! One of Du Fan’s top men!”
Everyone was shocked.
This was a figure with some notoriety in Beijiang city, so what was he doing here on a rainy night?
As they wondered, Xu Jiu tapped on the glass window.
Old Xie came out and upon seeing the man, walked forward to open the door.
Once opened, Old Xie said, “Come in.”
Xu Jiu’s face broke into a sycophantic smile, and he bowed his head, saying, “No need to come in, I’m soaked with rainwater, I wouldn’t want to dirty your floor! I’m just here following my boss’s orders, to see if anyone who doesn’t know their place has come by recently?”
Old Xie shook his head, “Ever since you sorted out those guys who came asking for money last time, there hasn’t been any riff-raff!”
“Yes, yes, those guys have been kicked out of Beijiang city by me, and they wouldn’t dare come back in this lifetime!” Xu Jiu kept nodding and bowing repeatedly.
Just recently, a few rookie hooligans came to Old Xie’s restaurant for a meal and intentionally dropped a dead cockroach into their dish afterward, demanding compensation and threatening to trash the place if they weren’t paid.
Old Xie recognized instantly that these men were here to extort.
You say pay them? That feels unacceptable.
If we get mad at this bunch, then we might as well give up the idea of doing business properly in the future.
With this thought, Old Xie felt somewhat troubled.
It was Auntie Pang who tentatively made a call to a person named Du Fan who she had met at Xue An’s house during a dinner party.
At the time, Du Fan was not in Zhongdu, but as soon as he received Auntie Pang’s call, he immediately broke into a cold sweat.
Although Old Xie and Auntie Pang were just ordinary people, the fact that they were able to attend Mr. Xue’s banquet indicated that they certainly had more than an ordinary relationship with him.
If something went wrong, when Mr. Xue came back, his own head…
With this thought, he shuddered and immediately said, “Tell Uncle Xie to rest assured, I’ll send someone over right away!”
After hanging up the phone, he immediately informed his underling Xu Jiu in Zhongdu and gritted his teeth over the phone, “If this matter isn’t resolved well, then we should prepare to be finished together!”
Hearing such severe consequences, Xu Jiu, who was drinking at a bar, was so frightened he almost wet himself, and immediately rallied his subordinates and rushed over.
He had thought it was some formidable outsider crossing over from Beijiang, but when he arrived at the restaurant, it turned out to be just a bunch of clueless, inexperienced young hoodlums!
And these young hoodlums were scared witless as soon as they saw Xu Jiu!
In the underworld, who didn’t know Lord Xu Jiu!
Especially in the eyes of these small-time hoodlums, Xu Jiu was practically a godlike figure!
Xu Jiu wanted to kill these people at that moment, but still suppressed his fury and respectfully apologized to Uncle Xie.
After all, his boss had repeatedly instructed him that he must be respectful!
This made Old Xie feel a bit embarrassed at the time!
After this incident, Xu Jiu became cautious.
He didn’t want to one day get dragged down because of some blind small-time hoodlum.
So he made a point of stopping by now and then, just to check in.
Today was no exception.
Seeing this group of strong men shivering in the rain, Old Xie also felt somewhat guilty, so he pulled out a hundred yuan bill.
“Since you insist on not coming in, here’s a hundred yuan. Go buy a bottle of water to drink!”
Xu Jiu trembled all over in fear, knowing that if he dared to accept this hundred yuan, Du Fan would have his hide.
So he quickly waved his hands and declined, “Uncle Xie, please don’t be so courteous, just think of me as one of your juniors. Whatever you need, just give me the word!”
And Xu Jiu’s bowing and scraping in front of everyone in the restaurant left them all stunned.
The one who had just spoken sneered, “See? Now everyone knows I was right! Could someone who makes Xu Jiu bow and scrape be an ordinary person?”
The others fell silent, but they all understood one thing in their hearts.
This little restaurant was definitely not as simple as it seemed!
Correspondingly, that stunningly beautiful girl was no ordinary person either!
Seeing Xu Jiu resolutely refusing the money, Old Xie had no choice but to take it back and nodded, “Thank you all for your hard work!”
“It’s no trouble at all, it’s what we should do! Please, go on with your business!” Xu Jiu said with a smile.
After Old Xie left, Xu Jiu finally let out a sigh of relief.
At that moment, one of his subordinates asked, “Boss, what kind of background does this restaurant have that has you so wary?”
“What background?” Xu Jiu sneered, “It’s enough to scare you all to death if I told you! But you don’t need to know too much, just remember not to provoke this restaurant at all costs!”
“Yes!” All the subordinates responded in unison.