Very Pure and Ambiguous: The Prequel

VPAATP - V4C30 – Guts As Immense As The Sky

“It doesn’t matter. I am also a person who doesn’t like to follow the rules. Compared to him, I am an even more uncivilized man.” I said with a smile.

The leader gawked at my reply but didn’t say anything.

“You two, our boss is waiting for you inside!” After coming before an office the leader stopped us and said to us.

I took a look around and realized it wasn’t a luxurious office that a resort would have, but a simple office with the words “Monitor Room” labeled on the door.

I didn’t care about the people and walked in as I opened the door. In the office, a man in his thirties was looking at the big screens all over. As he saw me walking over, he nodded to me and said, “Please sit!”

I was also polite and sat on the sofa near me. Yang Mei was still vigilant that the people might do something to us, so she looked around alertly.

“You two won a lot of money?” The man glanced at us as he said arrogantly.

Yang Mei wanted to say something but I stopped her with a wave of my hand.

“Not too much. We only won a little more than four million,” I said leisurely.

“A little more than four million! Oh, what a big tone you have!” The man smiled indifferently as he looked at us.

“What? Is it too much?” I asked.

“What should I say? One must not be too arrogant. This isn’t Las Vegas or Macao where you can gamble however you like. Here, when we don’t wanna pay you, we won’t.” The man said straightforwardly.

“Oh, you opened a business and are now disgracing it like this. Let’s be honest. This meager amount of money is nothing to me, but as a casino, you should have a bottom-line. If you don’t, then how do you think you are going to survive in the long run?” I looked towards the man and said with some unpleasantness.

“That has nothing to do with me! All I know is that I have to earn profit, maximum profit!” The man said proudly.

I was speechless as I listened to him! The industry had turned into a money making one where everyone was after more profit since the reform and opening of the business. That’s what all of it was about in the end! Although gambling was supposed to be something dependant on luck, it was the same with everything else now.

What about the brand effect! These guys seemed too stupid to understand it! Though businessmen loved profit, all of them would rather sacrifice a bit of profit instead of their reputation. It dictated their future!

And the man’s catchphrase, “When we don’t wanna pay you, we won’t!” made me very angry. This was akin to a robbery. Who will dare come here to gamble again? Although those world-class casinos won’t let someone treat them as a cash machine, they would still pay people even if they won a large amount. They also sent the person off respectfully with the slogan, “We hope to not see you here again in future!”

Using the carrot and the stick. That’s the law of management. If they proceeded like this man, then the casino was bound to be finished sooner or later.

Let alone the people who came here were high officials and socialites. These people didn’t care about money. What they cared about was their face! If such people weren’t given face, they would swallow the opposite party whole!

“In simpler words. Money stays, you leave!” The man said concisely.

“Oh, and if we don’t?” I glanced at the man.

“Then don’t even think about leaving!” The man said as he pressed the button on the communicator on the table before him.

The door of the room was pushed open and the black-dressed men outside rushed in as they blocked the door.

“Where did Ding Baosan find bast**ds like you to overlook his territory!” I stood up and said coldly.

The man was stunned as he looked towards me with a strange expression. Ding Baosan’s name was akin to clap of thunder next to his ears. Although he had never met Ding Baosan, how would he not know the name of their organization’s boss!

The conflicts between many underworld gangs could be solved by the mutual “mention of some people” solution. When two groups are fighting and soon to engage in all-out war, they might realize they know the same important person, resulting in a truce.

Although the man didn’t know what relationship I had with Ding Baosan, he did attach great importance to me as he listened to me mention Ding Baosan right now.

“You know Ding......Chief?” The man asked to probe.

“I don’t just know him! However, I won’t be telling you anything about my situation as there’s no need for you to know. I know what you are thinking. You want to probe into my relationship with Ding Baosan and then think about how to deal with me!” Saying that, I calmed down a bit and said, “But you are mistaken about something as your approach is completely wrong. Although our Three Rock Gang is an underworld influence, we are changing the way we work and how our management is. But you...you try to act like this, daring to ruin our source of income?”

Here, I especially emphasized the word “our.” If this man wasn’t a fool, then he will certainly understand the meaning behind my words! Although I haven’t said my relationship with Ding Baosan directly, but I did explain to him how I was related to Three Rock Gang indirectly!

And as expected. After the man listened to me, his complexion changed as he stood up and seriously asked, “Are you from the headquarters?”

“I am not.” I denied his guess, “I am just here to play casually.”

“Then you are......” The man still didn’t want to give up.

“First, you still don’t understand your mistakes, and second, you keep on inquiring about my status constantly! I said already that if you want to develop a company or a gang, you need to first develop your integrity! What? Do you believe no one in the Jianghu will f*** you up if you have the underworld as your background and don’t wanna follow the rules?” I said with an unpleasant expression, “You should be clear about one thing. Although it’s true that you are only trying to earn maximum revenue for the gang, you are also losing customers and your prestige! If you keep on going like this, then you will lose more and more customers in the long run. Fewer and fewer people will come here, and one day, Jiuding Resort will lose all its business. Don’t think I am being an alarmist. Look at history. How many famous brands are there in the world There are brands that have been in business for more than a hundred years. Why? Because of integrity! But what about the rest? Aren’t they dead now!”

“I......” The man’s face was covered in sweat.

“What ‘I’? Don’t tell me you didn’t even know that much!” I said angrily.

“I......I really didn’t know!” The man replied, “Big brother, you also know that we are people who see what’s closest to us. I just want to earn maximum revenue for the company! How would I have the time to think of all these matters!”

The man also changed his form of address to “Big brother” when he called me. In his opinion, if I wasn’t from the headquarters yet still called Ding Baosan’s full name, then there was nothing wrong in calling me big brother.