Brother Snake leaned back in his chair and flicked his cigarette ash.
"Little Sun, calling and asking to see me this late, is there something urgent?"
Sun Neng secretly gave a wink. Xiao Cui hurriedly placed the bag of money on the mahjong table, unzipped it, and revealed stacks of red banknotes.
"Brother Snake, this is this month's cut, a full seventy thousand. Combined with the previous times, it makes exactly three hundred thousand. About that matter you promised last time..."
Brother Snake's gaze swept over the pile of money. A smile appeared on his face as he extended a hand and said politely, "Sit, everyone sit down first. The money is a minor detail; I mainly want to see if you are sincere."
After Sun Neng and the others sat down.
Brother Snake began to use his usual bragging tactics, intending to thoroughly hoodwink them first.
"Do you know how big the Wanlong Syndicate is now? Let me tell you, just in our Wushui County alone, there are over a hundred official members and thousands of peripheral followers. Even the local police chief has to politely offer us cigarettes when he sees us. That's just how badass we are!"
"Yes, absolutely. We've long heard of the Wanlong Syndicate's prestige, which is why we're troubling you, Brother Snake."
"When do you think it would be convenient to make the arrangements for us?"
Brother Snake pretended to ponder. "Well... you see, the Wanlong Syndicate has grown so large now that we have a clear division of labor. Specific tasks like recruiting new guys are handled by others. I am mainly in charge of... um... recommending talent."
"Brother Snake, if you recommend us, what if the boss in charge of the review doesn't agree?"
"That's nothing to worry about. With me here, it's just going through the motions at most."
Brother Snake took out his phone, pulled up a photo, and placed it on the table. "Let me show you something. I never let ordinary people see this."
The five of them hurriedly leaned in. On the phone screen was a somewhat blurry group photo. The poor pixel quality of phones from this era was mostly to blame, but they could still roughly make out the faces of the people in it.
The background of the photo looked like a private room in a restaurant. Over a dozen people sat around a table. In the center sat a slightly chubby young man, and right next to him was Brother Snake himself.
"Do you know who this is?" Brother Snake asked, pointing at the person in the middle.
Sun Neng and the others shook their heads blankly.
"Ignorant!"
"This is Brother Ma Da, one of the founders of the Wanlong Syndicate. In the syndicate, he's basically a big shot second only to one and above ten thousand!"
"See that? I'm sitting right next to him. What kind of relationship does that imply? This is the treatment only a core confidant gets."
"So that's why I'm telling you to rest assured. As long as the money is right, you'll definitely be able to wear the black suits of the Wanlong Syndicate in the future."
"Brother Snake, you're amazing!"
"Brother Snake, since you could sit next to Brother Ma Da back then, your position in the syndicate must be quite high, right?"
Hearing this, Brother Snake didn't look proud; instead, he sighed. "Alas, it's a long story. It's true that I'm a founding veteran of the Wanlong Syndicate, but because of some family issues, I missed the opportunity to be promoted to a hall master. Thinking about it now, I really fucking regret it."
His frustrated appearance wasn't entirely an act. He really had been a member of the Wanlong Syndicate in the past, except it was before the syndicate was officially established.
Last year, when the eldest miss, Liu Yutong, announced her departure from the Yilian Society, he was one of the members who chose to quit.
At that time, he and many others who left felt that the eldest miss couldn't defeat Niu Ben. Niu Ben had been entrenched in Wushui County for years; he had money and manpower, and relying on the Yilian Society was the only way to have a promising future. The eldest miss insisted on going solo? They thought she was just courting death.
But who could have imagined that in less than two months, Niu Ben would be taken down by the eldest miss, and the prestige of the Wanlong Syndicate would instantly spread throughout Wushui County. By then, he wanted to go back but had no chance.
Later, he asked a friend who hadn't left the Wanlong Syndicate and expressed his desire to rejoin. But the other party simply replied: Those who quit the Wanlong Syndicate will never be hired again; it's useless no matter who you look for.
That attitude was already considered polite.
You have to know that before this, their slogan was: Those who betray the eldest miss and the brothers and sisters of the Wanlong Syndicate will be punished with three knives and six holes.
Not applying the gang's law and giving them three knives and six holes was already showing mercy.
Wanting to go back was naturally absolutely impossible.
However, as he watched the Wanlong Syndicate grow stronger day by day, even dominating Mingzhu City, the people he used to know had all traded their shotguns for cannons. They wore black suits, drove company cars, and each had a net worth starting in the hundreds of thousands. The first batch of members basically all became rudder masters. In reality, these were just positions like store managers or supervisors, but the core members were accustomed to designating them as rudder masters or incense masters.
Aside from these positions, the net worth of the first batch of members all exceeded a million, which included circulating shares within the Wanlong Syndicate Group, as well as their income and bonuses.
In just one year!
Originally, they were all brothers who squeezed into a broken-down van to go to the countryside to collect fish catches, but now every one of them was a millionaire. The most crucial thing was that the identity of the Wanlong Syndicate was incredibly useful. Ordinary people had to greet them politely when they saw them; they were incredibly majestic.
Then look at himself. A year had passed, and he was practically standing still. If it weren't for a chess and card room keeping him afloat, he would probably be starving on the streets.
This sense of disparity really made him miserable.
If he hadn't chosen to quit back then.
If he had been able to bring down Niu Ben with the eldest miss and conquer this territory, even if he couldn't compare to big brothers like Ma Da and Yun Cheng, he would at least be a high-ranking executive in the Wanlong Syndicate, right?
Worth millions, driving the company's Mercedes-Benz, being respected by everyone wherever he went...
Unfortunately, there were no ifs.
As time went on, this huge disparity caused his mindset to become increasingly unbalanced.
A while ago, at a gathering with friends, he drank too much and bragged about his former identity in the Wanlong Syndicate, even taking out the old photo on his phone as proof.
Unexpectedly, this unintentional act instantly made him the center of attention at the dinner. Those fair-weather friends enthusiastically came up to offer cigarettes and toast him with flattering attitudes. Some even secretly slipped him money, hoping he would recommend them to the Wanlong Syndicate.
Brother Snake looking at those fawning and sycophantic faces, suddenly realized that the words "Wanlong Syndicate" were now a golden signboard in themselves.
Having found the password to wealth, he became unstoppable from then on, using the name of the Wanlong Syndicate to swindle and bluff everywhere.
In just over a month, he transformed from a street punk who didn't even dare to add an egg to his street pancake and only smoked three-yuan packs of cigarettes, into a wealthy boss who ate at restaurants every day, smoked premium cigarettes, and even drove a sedan.
Life was comfortable, but he knew in his heart that this gig wouldn't last long.
There is no wall in the world that doesn't let the wind through; sooner or later, the Wanlong Syndicate would come looking for him.
Especially after he heard Sun Neng and the others mention that they had seen an incredibly beautiful girl in Duanzhuang, he knew it was time for him to get out and lie low for a while.
