Chapter 64: Rolling in Profits

  Xu Jie said the game hall is not far from school, out of the school gate and walk left for seven or eight minutes to arrive.

  This was originally an old-fashioned residential building. With the rapid development of the domestic economy, people are becoming more and more business-minded. The owner opened a door on the balcony and built several steps with cement, transforming the original residence into a storefront.

  The game room had no sign, and the door was hung with a dirty curtain. Several young people dressed as hoodlums were squatting at the entrance of the game room, chatting and laughing.

  The game hall doesn't look impressive from the outside, but inside it's a different world.

  This is a three-bedroom house, all three bedrooms are connected inside and filled with row upon row of arcade machines. Countless young people are noisy around the arcade machines, smoking cigarettes. The machine that Xu Jie mentioned was not seen here.

  What was supposed to be the kitchen had been converted into a staircase leading up. Two young people sat at a wooden table beside the stairs, carefully scrutinizing anyone who approached the stairs.

  Gambling is an illegal business, although it's lucrative but also comes with great risks. Those small-time hooligans outside are just the first line of defense, while these two inside are the second. As soon as they discover someone with ulterior motives or who looks suspicious trying to go upstairs, they'll intercept them in no time. If everything checks out, they'll let him through; if there's a problem, they'll stall for time and use secret signals to alert the people upstairs to get ready to respond.

  At this moment, Chen Hai sat in front of a machine on the second floor, with a cigarette in his mouth and his bright red eyes staring at the screen, shouting: "14! 14! 14! 14!"

  "Damn it!" The pointer on the screen finally stopped at 7, Chen Hai cursed and slammed his fist on the table. He had just borrowed over 600 yuan from Mo Shaokun less than half an hour ago, and now it was all gone.

  "Hey, slow down, you can't afford to pay for it if you break it." A blond kid reminded him, he had seen too many people like this and was no longer surprised. Basically, everyone who came here was full of expectations but ended up leaving one by one, cursing and swearing.

  "Give me another two hundred yuan's share." Chen Hai threw away the cigarette butt and said to the yellow-haired kid.

  The blond kid smirked and said, "Sorry about that, but you should pay off what you owe first."

  "Shut up! Call Brother Qiang over, I'll talk to him!" Chen Hai yelled at the yellow-haired kid with a red face from gambling.

  "It's no use even if you look for Wu Ge!" Huang Mao sneered disdainfully, just about to mock a few more sentences when he felt someone patting his shoulder.

  "Let me come," said the newcomer, and the little yellow-haired boy nodded and went elsewhere.

  "What's wrong? Lost again? I told you, kid, your luck has been terrible lately." The newcomer looked to be in his early twenties and had a smile on his face as if he was very familiar with Chen Hai.

  "Ma De, press the back, what to press is not right, what not to press is right! Qiang Ge, for the 200 yuan share, first record it on the account and we'll settle together later."

  That man didn't say a word, took out a cigarette and handed it to Chen Hai, lit one for him, then patted his shoulder and said: "Brother, listen to me, you've had bad luck these two days, better stop for now."

  "What do you mean?" Chen Hai stared at Qiang Ge with a somewhat unpleasant expression.

  He looked around and leaned down, embracing Chen Hai's shoulder in a low voice: "Brother is just an errand boy, don't make it difficult for brother."

  "Brother Qiang, does this mean you won't even give me this little bit of face?" Chen Hai gritted his teeth and looked at Brother Qiang with some annoyance.

  "Look at you, if others can't give face to Ah Hai, then his brother can't either? The key is that when you borrowed money the other day, you said you would return it in two days. Look, it's been more than a week now and the interest has increased a lot, but you haven't returned a single cent. If it weren't for me being your guarantor, I'm afraid Wu Ge would have sent someone to your house to collect the debt by now."

  Chen Hai got angry: "This group of bastards, when I had money, they treated me like a big shot. Now that I'm short on cash, they're being so difficult about lending me some?"

  "Alright, I understand. Fine, I won't make it difficult for Strong Brother either." After saying that, Chen Hai smiled angrily and stood up to head outside.

  "Don't be in a hurry, let's settle the account first." Qiang Ge's tone remained calm.

  Chen Hai didn't say anything and turned around to look at Qiang Ge.

  "Brother took out a small notebook from his pocket and flipped through it for half a day, then said: "The principal and interest together is four thousand two hundred and eighty-five. I'll waive the small change for you, so that's four thousand two. Can you settle it today?"

  "What? 4,200?! Are you kidding me?! I only borrowed 2,000 yuan initially, and it's only been seven or eight days, how did it become 4,200?!"

  "Hey, brother, don't be in a rush, let me calculate it for you slowly. You did borrow 2,000 yuan initially, but at the time of borrowing, Wu Ge told you very clearly that the daily interest rate is 10%! That means on the first day, you already owed 2,020 yuan including principal and interest. On the second day, the principal of 2,020 yuan plus 10% interest becomes 2,402 yuan. From the day you borrowed the money to now, it's been eight days in total. This is how much you owe, isn't it? If you can't repay it today, it will continue to increase."

  "You... this is extortion! I'm going to report you!" Chen Hai pointed at Qiang Ge and shouted angrily. He admitted that he was so angry at the time that he didn't listen carefully to what Wu Ge said. But it's only been eight days, and the principal and interest have more than doubled. What is this if not extortion?

  "Ah Hai, I've always thought you were a good guy, so when you're here, I help you out in every way. But now, this is really heartbreaking for me."

  "Without waiting for Chen Hai to say anything, he let out a light sigh and continued: 'It's clearly written in black and white on the contract, borrowing 2,000 with an interest rate of 10% per day. No one forced you, did they? You signed it voluntarily, didn't you? How come now you're not acknowledging it?'"

  "I... I, in short, you are simply naked extortion." Chen Hai said with a choked voice, still sticking his neck out and shouting.

  Brother Qiang shook his head and patted him on the shoulder, saying: "I won't say anything else, you take care of yourself." After that, he turned around and left.

  Chen Hailei let out a cold snort and walked downstairs, but unexpectedly the two young men blocked his way: "Brother, settle the bill before you leave."

  "What do you want? I don't have money now!" Chen Hai said angrily.

  That kid sneered and said, "I know you don't have money, but since you've incurred a debt, shouldn't there be some explanation? There are many people here, let's find a secluded spot to talk slowly."

  Two young men came forward and lifted Chen Hai up, ignoring his struggles, and carried him towards the inner room.

  Downstairs, Mo Shaokun and his group had just arrived at the game hall, but before they could go upstairs, they were stopped by those two door gods.

  "Hey, you guys look unfamiliar, where are you headed?" one of them asked.

  Mo Shaokun didn't say a word and looked at Xu Jie, who nodded and stepped forward: "Brother, I'm Qiang Ge's friend. He brought me here to play just the other day. Since tomorrow is not the weekend, today I'll bring some brothers from my dormitory to try our luck."

  The two of them exchanged a glance, and one of them said, "Wait." After finishing speaking, he turned around and went upstairs.

  Before long, the strong brother followed the young man down and saw Xu Jie. He smiled and said: "Oh, this is really a coincidence. I was just about to send someone to find you."

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