Chapter 43: Wages Swallowed Up

Li Haibo looked at Ding Dashan and said, "I will point out a bright path for you—join the Red Party guerrillas! The Red Party guerrillas are a force truly dedicated to resisting Japan with one heart. In the guerrillas, veterans like you are precious treasures; you will definitely be given important responsibilities and can genuinely fight the Japanese devils. Moreover, the guerrillas are familiar with the terrain and possess a strong mass foundation. Once you join, you will be able to recover your combat effectiveness more quickly and strike the Japanese aggressors more effectively."

Ma Quanyi chimed in, nodding, "Brother Bo makes complete sense. If we follow the guerrillas, we can exact our revenge just the same, and we can slaughter the devils even more efficiently."

Ding Dashan lowered his head in contemplation for a moment, then looked up with a glimmer of light flashing in his eyes: "Brother Bo, can the guerrillas you speak of really be as good as you say?"

Li Haibo nodded heavily: "I can guarantee it! The guerrillas are all brothers just like you who harbor a burning passion to resist Japan. With everyone united as one, we will surely drive the devils out of China."

The men looked at each other in dismay, and then their gazes gradually grew resolute. Ding Dashan gritted his teeth and said, "Fine! Brother Bo, we trust you! We'll listen to you and join the guerrillas!"

The other men also nodded in unison: "Right! We'll join the guerrillas!"

A wave of great joy welled up in Li Haibo's heart. "Good! Then where are you all living right now?"

"Seven of the brothers have families locally in Shanghai, so they are recovering at home. As for the other brothers, they are either solitary souls with no ties or burdens, or their hometowns are far too distant, so they are all temporarily staying at my home to recuperate," Ding Dashan answered truthfully.

Li Haibo pressed further, "Where is your home located?"

"Ding Family Village in Jiangqiao Town!"

Li Haibo was slightly startled. "Ding Family Village? Then do you know Old Man Ding?"

A look of puzzlement appeared on Ding Dashan's face. "Old Man Ding is my father! Officer, you actually know my father?"

Li Haibo laughed and said, "I know him, I know him very well! Just at the beginning of this month, I even borrowed an ox cart from your father! What a wonderful coincidence!"

Ding Dashan laughed along with him. "Well, that's just fantastic! This coincidence must be a special arrangement by the heavens!"

Li Haibo pulled a bundle of fiat currency from his chest pocket, shoved it into Ding Dashan's hands, and said, "Take this money first. The most important task right now is to get your wounds healed!"

Seeing this, Ding Dashan hurriedly declined, "Brother Bo, you already spent a huge sum of money just to rescue us from the gendarmerie prison. How can we take your money again?!"

Li Haibo said in an unquestionable tone, "Take it! Only when you quickly heal your injuries can you fight the devils sooner!"

Ding Dashan no longer refused. "Then we'll listen to Brother Bo!"

With that, he carefully tucked the money away.

Li Haibo looked at Ding Dashan. "Brother Ding, you cannot go to the guerrillas. You must stay in Ding Family Village. I have important arrangements there, and I need your assistance in the village."

Ding Dashan was both startled and suspicious. "Ah? Really or not?"

***

"Brother Ding, do you have any weapons?"

"No!"

Li Haibo turned his head and said to Ma Quanyi, "Little Ma, give your 'flower-mouth' pistol to Brother Ding!"

Ma Quanyi was stunned and subconsciously blurted out, "Huh?"

Without showing any mercy, Li Haibo kicked him. "Huh, my foot! Come to my house tonight, and I'll get you a new one!"

"Oh! Alright, alright!" Ma Quanyi obediently pulled the gun from his pocket and handed it to Ding Dashan.

"Little Ma, you continue to the rickshaw rental agency to hire a rickshaw, and pull it around Zhabei during the day!" Li Haibo swept his stern gaze over the group and said with a firm tone, "The rest of the brothers go back first. If anything comes up, I'll have Little Ma find you. Let me make things ugly upfront: when the time truly comes to fight the devils, don't you dare let me down!"

Ding Dashan patted his chest and guaranteed, "Don't you worry, Officer! When the time comes, if anyone dares to let us down, I'll hack him to pieces with my own hands!"

Li Haibo nodded in satisfaction, gave a few more instructions, and then turned and left the ruins.

That night, Ma Quanyi came over as promised to collect a brand-new 'flower-mouth' pistol.

After thinking for a moment, Li Haibo also delivered a 'flower-mouth' pistol to Tailor Zhao and Wang Hammer respectively. Although their marksmanship was atrocious, having a gun for self-defense was still better than going bare-handed.

...

Today, the "lying flat" quartet were all extremely excited because today was payday.

Ordinarily, payday had nothing to do with them. Before they came to work, it was agreed that upon getting paid, Huang San would take a half cut, and Pockmarked Liu would take a half cut.

But now that the dog-like traitor Huang San was dead and gone, his half of the cut naturally no longer needed to be paid. Although the amount wasn't large, it was still their first month's salary.

After the morning meeting, because the branch office's translator failed to show up, the Japanese lesson was canceled.

As soon as the meeting was dismissed, the group hurried early to the finance department to collect their money.

Inside the finance department, a staff member asked without even raising their head, "Name?"

Li Haibo quickly stepped forward, handed over his police badge, and said, "Li Haibo, this is my identification!"

Without so much as lifting an eyelid, the finance staff member apathetically replied, "Li Haibo's money has already been collected!"

"What?" Li Haibo widened his eyes in utter shock. "What about Hou Yong's?"

"They've all been collected!" The finance staff member's voice remained entirely devoid of ripples.

"Who collected them?" Li Haibo's voice involuntarily rose a notch.

***

"Aren't there seals right here? Look for yourself!" The finance staff member impatiently pointed at the ledger.

Li Haibo leaned in closer and saw that next to the names of the four of them in the ledger, there was a striking small red seal stamped on each.

He looked closer and discovered that it wasn't just the four of them; more than a dozen other names also bore the exact same seal, all belonging to old Green Gang brothers.

He couldn't help reading it aloud: "Collected on behalf by Lu Ganyang—what the hell kind of name is that? If not Lu Ganyang, who the hell is he?"

Hearing this, the finance staff member nearby let out a snort of derision and said, "Who else could it be! Your Section Chief Lu, of course!"

The four men looked at each other in dismay, rage instantly igniting in their eyes as they spoke in unison: "Pockmarked Liu! Let's go! Let's go find him!" With that, they turned around angrily and stormed off.

Watching their retreating backs, the finance worker scoffed disdainfully under their breath: "Tsk, what a bunch of mental patients!"

Inside the office of the deputy head of the patrol section, Deputy Section Chief Lu Pockmark was sitting leisurely when he was suddenly startled by the four men storming in with furious expressions. His eyes bulged as he chided, "What is the meaning of this! Trying to start a rebellion?"

Li Haibo took the lead, his tone laced with blatant dissatisfaction: "Section Chief Lu, why did you collect all of our salaries?"

Pockmarked Liu, however, said with total nonchalance, "Didn't we agree that Fourth Master Huang takes half and I take half? What salary is left?"

Upon hearing this, Hou Yong grew anxious, his face flushing red as he shouted, "That bastard Huang San kicked the bucket ages ago! Did you collect it to burn it as joss paper for him?!"

Pockmarked Liu instantly glared fiercely, slamming his palm down on the desk so hard that the documents upon it trembled. "Audacious! Just because Fourth Master Huang is dead doesn't mean Master Jin isn't still around, does it?"

Li Haibo narrowed his eyes. "Does Section Chief Lu mean that half of the salary went to Master Jin?"

Pockmarked Liu said righteously, "Of course. Would I, your Lord Lu, swallow your money? Do I, your Lord Lu, need to swallow your money? Get out of here!"

The men stood frozen in place. *Good grief, the man is actually telling barefaced lies with his eyes wide open! As if taking half doesn't count as swallowing it?*

Driven out by Pockmark Liu's scolding, the group walked out of the police station with livid complexions.

With a face full of helplessness and grievance, Hou Yong complained to Li Haibo, "Brother Bo, what do we do? This Pockmarked Liu has definitely used Master Jin's banner to swallow all our money!"

Xiong Kui sighed heavily at the side, echoing, "Even if he swallowed it, there's nothing we can do. That bastard figured we wouldn't dare go look for Master Jin to confront him!"

Li Haibo glared fiercely and said, "Who says we don't dare? I'm going right now. Let's go!"