48 Hours a Day

Chapter 830: It’s Not Our Business Once We Get Off Work

“We had a good time earlier. I’m not here to meet you tonight, so take it easy,” Zhang Heng told Black Mamba, whose glare was on Zhang Heng and was ready to fight him. After that, he looked around the tavern, and his attention eventually landed on a black man at the corner.

The black man looked like a regular customer of this tavern. He was neither surrounded by subordinates like Black Mamba nor surrounded by beautiful women like the dwarf. And the food on his table looked quite pathetic as well. He was only eating half a piece of bread and drinking a bottle of wine. From the way he looked, he definitely did not look like a man of power.

Zhang Heng then asked, “You appear to be Iron Handcuff.”

“Why would you say that? I don’t think we’ve met before,” the black man asked rhetorically.

“In this tavern, you are the only one that sits the farthest from anyone else. On the other hand, no one dares to approach you. Obviously, they are afraid of you. And the dwarf just subconsciously looks at where you are sitting. Of course, the main reason is that Soap has told me about your appearance and other relevant information.

“You were a slave before, and you ran away from your master several times. Every time, they managed to catch you and put on iron handcuffs. I also know that you have suffered from great torture. This is where your nickname comes from. One day, your former master was found dead in his own barn. A pitchfork had pierced his heart. They suspected you were the murderer, but they stopped suspecting you due to the lack of evidence. After that, your former master’s son sold you to other families. Two years later, your new master was also involved in an accident. However, he made a will before his death and decided to free twenty of his slaves. You are lucky to be one of them. After you regained your freedom, you moved here and worked as an apprentice in a blacksmith shop. With this job, it was difficult for you to make more money. So you worked with a group of people and controlled all the thieves that lived in the three streets nearby. At that time, you forced them to accept your protection and made them pay you on a regular basis. Am I right?”

“Since you know who I am, why do you dare to stand up for them?” Iron Handcuff glared at Soap and his friends. After living under his reign of terror for so many years, Soap and his friends suddenly felt it difficult to breathe.

“I’m not standing up for them. As he said earlier, we come to discuss a business plan with you.”

Zhang Heng walked towards Iron Handcuff, pulled up a chair opposite him, and sat down.

“We?” Iron Handcuff caught the point.

“Yes, my twelve brothers and I. As a sign of courtesy, I came in to greet you first. They are still standing outside and waiting. If you have no objection, I will let them in now.” Zhang Heng then found an empty glass, blew away the dust inside it before picking up the wine bottle, and pouring himself a glass of wine.

“Twelve people? I am afraid that’s not going to be enough,” Iron Handcuff snorted.

“No, it is. After all, we are only here to discuss business.” Zhang Heng smiled and said to Skinny Monkey, “Let them come in.”

Skinny Monkey then took a quick peek at Iron Handcuff. He seemed to be in a bad mood now, and it looked like he was about to kill someone. However, Skinny Monkey was left with no other option even though he knew what he was about to do would further anger Iron Handcuff. He then ran out and notified Aris.

In fact, Aris felt very nervous now. Having been responsible for this area’s security for some time now, of course, he knew all about the small and large forces here. When he saw Blackwater Bay tavern, he knew that Iron Handcuff and his men were inside. Aris couldn’t understand why Zhang Heng would come here to make money.

If there was money to be made, Iron Handcuff and his men would have had taken advantage of it a long time ago. Fortunately, no sounds of fighting came out from the tavern after Zhang Heng talked to Iron Handcuff. When Skinny Monkey came out from the tavern, the other patrol members could not help but feel nervous. In the end, Aris made up his mind. “Come on. Since we are here, we can’t turn around and leave now. Anyway, we are the patrol team here, and we shouldn’t be afraid of the gangs.”

Some of them could not help but complain. If fear was not an issue, why did Aris tell them to not be nosy at all costs? Although they complained about it in their heart, they still followed Aris to enter the tavern.

When they appeared at the door, the atmosphere in the tavern was frozen.

The patrol team’s presence in this area had always been insignificant. Aris knew that they would never be powerful enough to solve the problems here. Hence, it was wise to keep a low profile. Still, they were the only armed force around the area responsible for enforcing law and order. Thus, everyone in the tavern had seen them before.

Iron Handcuff was surprised. “Did you report a crime here?”

“No, I am a patrol member,” Zhang Heng smiled.

“You are from the patrol team? But I haven’t seen you before. Are you a newcomer? What business plan do you want to discuss with me?” Iron Handcuff quickly calmed down after the initial shock. After all, this was still his turf. Although he was engaged in different kinds of crimes, he was not afraid of the patrol team. To them, the patrol team was no more than a mascot.

Without the help of local forces, these patrol teams could not carry out the investigations even if they received a report. That was becauuse no one would cooperate with them. For a very long time, they hadn’t even caught a single thief. And the most embarrassing part was the thieves actually visited the patrol team’s residence several times.

“Big business,” said Zhang Heng as he finished drinking the wine and put down the glass. “A full 30% of your current income.” He then looked at Soap. “You should tell him the details.”

Ever since Zhang Heng sat opposite Iron Handcuff, Soap had been praying for the two to forget about him. But now, it seemed his prayers were not working. Seeing Iron Handcuff glaring at him again, Soap could only bite the bullet. “The business plan is very simple. The patrol team can help maintain the security of these three streets, and you, as local residents, only need to pay them 30% of your income.”

“Are you kidding me? You want to take 30% of my income?” Iron Handcuff was so furious that he laughed hysterically. Initially, he thought that Zhang Heng had a big business plan to discuss with him. Technically speaking, Zhang Heng wasn’t lying. It was indeed a big business that involved 30% of their current income. However, the only thing was they would be the party that would be paying the patrol team.

“Open your eyes and take a good look. Do you think you must maintain the security of these three streets? Your manpower is less than half of mine… and look at you. You don’t even have a set of decent armor. You like the beggars on the roadside. Thank you, but we shall reject the patrol team’s kind offer. We can manage the turf by ourselves. You should carry on with patrolling the place.”

Iron Handcuff caused everyone in the tavern to burst out in laughter. The patrol team was a joke in this place. They were famous for being useless. In the past two months, they had not been able to solve a single case, forced to watch criminals walk free before their eyes since neither passersby nor the victim was willing to testify against them. And the evidence was destroyed as well.

The thing that Iron Handcuff said had deeply embarrassed all the patrol members. Although they had been living in vain here, they were still law enforcers. And they still had the dignity of law enforcers in them. They were furious when they heard Iron Handcuff insults but they could not refute him. And some people even started to blame Zhang Heng.

They all thought that Zhang Heng’s plan was going to work. And now they were here standing there and letting Iron Handcuff embarrass them. Zhang Heng did not speak until the laughter in the tavern settle down, “Fine. Although you criticized us, as law enforcement officers, we don’t care about these things. We will still do what should be done. You can count on us to maintain law and order around here.”

“Why are you embarrassing yourself? Didn’t you hear what I just said? I’m not paying you a single coin.” Iron Handcuff sneered.

“I heard it, but I believe you will change your mind. From tomorrow, we will only patrol the three streets nearby us. You are right. This place is too big, and we have too few people. I think it’s time to tell you the main points. We have twelve people, and we will only patrol three streets.

Other than that, we will only work during the day. Don’t worry. We will definitely be able to take care of the three streets this time. I can guarantee that all crimes on these three streets will be eliminated. Of course, once we are off work, anything that happens after that is not our business anymore.”