The thought of what Baozi might suffer made me shudder. If she were prettier, she might only be groped a little, and wouldn't be really humiliated until her goal was achieved. But Baozi looks like a torture device; it's hard to guarantee that her guards won't be so resentful as to abuse her.
Wu Sangui and Hua Mulan were both experienced military commanders, and although they were anxious, they remained calm. Wu Sangui asked, "Xiaoqiang, what do you plan to do?"
I clasped my hands together and said, "If you have a solution, just tell me, Third Brother. I'm completely out of ideas right now."
Wu Sangui said, "First, we need to know who did this. The waiter at the steamed bun shop said it was two Chinese men, so they're probably Lei Laosi's men. For now, let's ignore those foreigners and focus on saving the steamed buns."
His words cleared up half the problem, allowing me to focus on the steamed buns.
I held Wu Sangui's hand tightly and asked, "And then, what's the specific method?"
Wu Sangui twisted his fists back and forth and said, "Go ahead and hit me!"
"Fight?" I asked in surprise. "Like last time?"
Wu Sangui said, "Last time was just a small lesson. This time, we must strike at the heart of the matter. If we don't make a move, we won't do it at all; but if we do, we'll kill him!"
I shuddered and asked, "What do you mean?"
How many people at your school can help you right now?
I said, "The 54 heroes of Liangshan, plus Hua Rong and Fang Zhenjiang, are all my brothers whom I kowtow to."
Wu Sangui asked, "How much territory does Lei Laosi own in total?"
"We've been to most of the six bars and nightclubs in the city, and there's another one in the suburbs called Da Fu Gui, which is the most crowded place."
Wu Sangui frowned and said, "If there are seven places, there aren't enough people now."
He Tiandou interjected, "If it's a war, you can call on Fang La and his Four Heavenly Kings. They won't refuse to help with this small favor."
Li Shishi said, "And what about those 300 Yue Family Army soldiers? How could you forget?"
I shook my head and said, "The Yue Family Army is disciplined like iron. If I ask them to help me sweep up other people's businesses, they might be hesitant, especially since those people are all 'commoners' in their eyes."
Wu Sangui rubbed his hands and said, "Call Brother Xiang back. If we consider the few of us old partners as one group, we'll need at least a hundred more people for the other six places."
I said, "Tell me your plan first."
Wu Sangui coldly said, "One word: attack. Take down all of Lei Laosi's establishments. Whether or not we can catch him, we must force him to hand over the steamed buns."
I said with some skepticism, "Is it really that easy?"
"Therefore, we must strike hard, to defeat him so that he has no power to fight back, to make him despair and never dare to resist again."
Hua Mulan said, "What if he gets cornered and jumps over the wall to make things difficult for Baozi?"
Wu Sangui snorted and said, "A man who can be bought with a penny, would he dare to fight to the death? Last time we offended him so badly, and he was still able to endure it even though he didn't know our background. This shows that he is somewhat shrewd and greedy. He must know how to weigh things when he does things. He would never give up the foundation he has worked so hard to build for a bunch of foreigners."
Li Shishi calmly said, "Don't you think you've overlooked the biggest problem—was Baozi Sister actually kidnapped by Lei Laosi?"
This girl is indeed incredibly meticulous. Actually, what happened last time was just a misunderstanding, a lucky accident. But if Li Shishi had been there last time, we might not have ended up fighting with Lei Laosi. That's precisely what makes her so thoughtful.
I took out my phone and dialed the number that Lei Laosi had used to contact me several times. Lei Laosi asked with a cold laugh, "Have you figured it out?"
I asked him directly, "Did you tie up my wife?"
Lei Laosi gave an awkward "hmm," then sighed, a hint of lingering fear in his voice, and said, "I just don't understand, what's so great about that woman that you're interested in..."
I interrupted him and said, "Give me half a day to think it over. You'd better not make things difficult for my wife during this time."
Lei Laosi said, "Hehe, how could that be? We'll be working on the same land in the future, so I don't want to push things too far. Don't worry, I tricked my sister-in-law into coming here, I didn't do anything violent, she's watching TV right now—but I don't know if she'll start to have second thoughts after a while."
I hung up the phone and nodded to the people in the room. Wu Sangui said, "Now, go to Yucai and call people. Remember as many as possible. Mulan and I will discuss the detailed plan on the way."
Li Shishi said, "I'll call Brother Xiang and Brother Liu back."
He Tiandou said, "I'll go and think of a way to deal with Kongkong'er."
Only Jing Ke, who had remained silent until now, finally breathed a sigh of relief and said, "...Another fight has broken out."
Chapter Fifty-Eight: Gathering Trumpet
It's 7:45 PM now. Although I told Lei Laosi I'd have half a day, we both know in our hearts that we won't wait that long, especially me.
Baozi is a naive woman. I used to have many friends, and I would sometimes send friends I'd never met to pick her up and go out. Back then, she was neither rich nor attractive, so she wouldn't have thought much of it, making it easy to lure her out. But as the night goes by, even the most naive woman would sense something's wrong, especially since her phone seems to have been taken away. Given Baozi's personality, there's a high chance she'll turn on everyone on the spot, meaning she's likely already at a disadvantage.
The matter is extremely urgent!
I sped towards Yucai, but it was rush hour, and for the first time, I experienced the protective features attached to my car, crashing through countless steps and the edges of stalls that dangled in my path. Wu Sangui and the others had never seen me like this before, but they were responsible for deploying the plan for a while, so they just gave me a strange look and continued studying the strategic map.
Li Shishi, gripping the armrest, was calmly making phone calls to Xiang Yu and Liu Bang. I could tell Ersha was very excited; specifically, he was asleep. It's said he was like that before he assassinated Ying Bu.
At this moment, Yucai School was still brightly lit and bustling with activity. Teachers and students who had just finished dinner were lazily strolling around the vast campus, while fewer than 10 students remained in their dormitories. This created the biggest problem at the moment: how to get them all together?
These heroes had no other friends in this era, so unless they were going on a long trip, they wouldn't carry a phone with them. Most of them spent their free time with children and were scattered around the country.
I had no choice but to use the emergency loudspeaker. On this vast land, teachers and students usually live and study independently, following their own schedules and routines, and this device is rarely used unless there's a major incident. You can imagine how spectacular and disastrous it would be if a sound that could be heard across more than 3,000 hectares of land were to be blaring…
At first, I announced: "All teachers, please proceed to the old campus auditorium for a meeting immediately." Li Shishi whispered a reminder from the side: "Not everyone needs to come."
Then it dawned on me that I had shouted "all teachers" because when Yucai School was first established, it meant "all the heroes of Liangshan," but now there are hundreds of faculty and staff, including more than half of them clerical teachers. So I changed it to: "All martial arts teachers, come to the old campus auditorium for a meeting immediately." This wasn't quite right, but I had no other choice. You can't exactly shout "All the heroes of Liangshan and the Four Heavenly Kings, come to a meeting immediately!" The most important thing now is to gather the people I need; as for the screening process, we can only address that once everyone is present.
Suddenly, my voice echoed throughout the entire school: "Come here quickly... have a meeting..."
To my surprise, the first to arrive were 300 soldiers led by Xu Delong. Although numerous, they always seemed like a cohesive unit. They weren't wearing uniforms anymore, but just sitting there, you could tell they were a well-trained force. I felt a pang of regret. If the 300 had been willing to help, both the success rate and the speed of the operation could have been greatly improved.