Chapter 198: The Hooligan

Gu Fei’s eyes widened as she listened. "What happened?"

Manager Wang sighed. "Old Huang has a younger brother, a good-for-nothing loafer. When the two of them divided the family property years ago, the storefront next to Old Huang’s was given to him."

"The man goes by the nickname Er Laizi. He’s also a heavy gambler. In less than a year, he’d put that shop up as collateral and gambled it all away at the casino."

"Without the shop, Er Laizi had no source of income, so he started going to Old Huang for money every now and then."

"Old Huang paid off a lot of his gambling debts and even covered his daily food and drink. But who would have thought that one day, Er Laizi would steal Old Huang’s property deed to go gambling again?"

"Fortunately, Old Huang found out. Furious, he gave his brother a harsh beating, then dragged him to the government office to have a document drawn up severing their family ties."

"It was around that time that something happened to Huang’s son, so he closed down his business. In the past, Er Laizi could always extort a few coins by causing a scene at the shop, but now Old Huang himself was barely getting by. After six months without any handouts, Er Laizi couldn’t hold on any longer. So, when he saw that Old Huang had rented out the storefront, he went to demand money again."

"Old Huang refused, so Er Laizi started causing trouble at the new silk shop every day. The shopkeeper of that silk shop was a tough one, though, and had his men give Er Laizi a beating."

"But who could have known? The very next night, someone broke into the silk shop and cut long gashes into the silk bolts—fabric worth anywhere from several to tens of taels of silver per piece."

"The shop owner’s losses were devastating. It’s said that just from that one incident, he lost over a thousand taels of silver."

"The shop owner reported it to the authorities, and the government office arrested Er Laizi. But they couldn’t find any evidence against him, so in the end, the matter had to be dropped."

Gu Fei frowned as she listened. "That man is just awful."

"Tell me about it!" The shopkeeper took a sip of tea. "The owner could only chalk it up to bad luck and didn’t dare continue the business. Old Huang felt terrible and refunded the entire year’s rent to him."

"After that, the storefront sat empty for more than half a year. Then, someone who wasn’t spooked by the stories rented it. This time, they opened a restaurant."

"Er Laizi started coming by constantly to extort money. At first, the owner would give him a few Copper Coins to get rid of him. But Er Laizi started demanding more and more, and eventually the owner got fed up and refused. Not long after, something else happened at the shop."

"A few customers ate the food and came down with violent vomiting and diarrhea, nearly losing their lives. They reported it to the government, and the Government Officials investigated. They said the food had been laced with laxatives."

"The shop owner was framed! Who would put laxatives in their own food? But the government office couldn’t find any other evidence, so they ordered the owner to pay the customers a sum of silver as compensation."

Manager Wang shook his head. "That owner also gave up the business, and Old Huang refunded his rent as well."

"Later, that shop owner hired some men who beat Er Laizi half to death. But what good did it do? He was still out a huge sum of money."

"After that, Old Huang stopped trying to rent the storefront out. He said he wanted to sell it instead."

"As soon as word got out, Er Laizi declared that since his older brother’s family line had ended, the shop would be his from now on. He threatened to burn the place down if anyone dared to buy it."

"After a threat like that, who would dare to buy it?"

"A thief only has to get lucky once, but you have to be vigilant every single day. Who knows when a single lapse would give Er Laizi the opening he needs?"

"And that’s why the storefront has remained empty all this time."

"After all, when you’re doing business, harmony brings wealth. Who would want to invite that kind of trouble? It’s not like that’s the only shop available."

Gu Fei nodded. "So that’s what’s going on."

She muttered to herself, ’And yesterday, Mr. Huang was trying to get me to buy his shop for three thousand taels of silver.’