Special District 9

Hearing those words, Coco nodded her head and said, “Thanks, Doctor Matsui.”

“There’s no need to stand on ceremony,” the doctor replied with a smile before leaving the room with his box.

Coco lowered her gaze to look at her watch before speaking with a smile, “I’ll be staying here for the night. Drop by my room one and a half hour later. I’ll treat you to some good food.”

“Sounds good,” Qin Yu replied

“Let’s go.” Coco gestured to her own people before leaving the room.

Qin Yu walked over to close the door. After that, he raised his leg and kicked Old Cat’s bottom before asking, “How are you? Did they make things difficult for you?”

“Tsk, look at who you are talking to! Do I look like the type who would be bullied by a woman?” Old Cat replied with a pout. “When they caught me but didn’t make a move on me, I realized right away that the two of you have chips in hand. Why else would they be so courteous with me? So, I spent my days there like a king. I ate and drank whatever I wanted, causing a lot of trouble for that driver by that woman’s side. Hahaha!”

Qin Yu was speechless. “You sure are carefree…”

“What other choice do I have? If I appeared unconfident, they might just think that we were the ones who got Kang-ge!”

Even though Old Cat might seem reckless and dumb at times, he was still able to stand his ground when it came to important issues. This had something to do with his background too. Having grown up in a relatively privileged family had emboldened him, making him less likely to lose his nerves when facing others.

“Bro, I have heard about it,” Old Cat sat down beside Qi Lin and spoke in admiration. “If not for you and dumb Qin Yu, I might really have lost my life in Jiangzhou. You did great this time.”

Qi Lin chuckled softly and said, “Each of us has our own role to play. I’m just doing what I can.”

“Oh right!” Qin Yu suddenly exclaimed by the side. “I’m intending to have Qi Lin to become the intermediary in charge of our medicine route and the distribution of profits.”

Old Cat was taken aback to hear those words. “That job is quite tough, and it’s very dangerous too.”

“I’m not afraid of danger. I can do it,” Qi Lin replied with conviction.

Hearing those words, Old Cat habitually turned to Qin Yu and asked, “You are okay with it?”

“Yeah, I’ve already given my approval,” Qin Yu replied with a nod.

“Then I’m fine with it too,” Old Cat expressed his approval too.

Back then, during that desperate situation in Songjiang, it was Qin Yu who secretly liaised with the Ma Family and protected Qi Lin. On the way to Jiangzhou, it was also Qin Yu who came up with ideas and thought of solutions to resolve the crisis that suddenly fell upon them. After the medicine route had been secured, it was also Qin Yu who made sense of the relationships within this mess and devised a plan to secure their interest…

As such, both Old Cat and Qi Lin had subconsciously started to view Qin Yu as their leader and support pillar. This was not a bad thing either. While the three of them were working together as equals, they couldn’t afford to discuss every single thing with one another. They needed someone who could call the shots when the situation necessitated swift and decisive actions.

Old Cat was not very grounded to reality, and he tended to be a little reckless and idealistic in his actions. Qi Lin might have gained some tenacity, but he was still lacking experience in socializing, which could be a fatal flaw when dealing with the demons inside Special District 9.

As such, the two of them implicitly understood that the only one who was suited to lead them was Qin Yu, who had more than a decade of experience surviving in the Development District and was meticulous and decisive in his actions.

Qi Lin lay down in the bed with an IV drip beside him. He pondered for a long while before asking, “Qin Yu, you’re planning to negotiate with Coco later on, right? Will you be maintaining the same price as before?”

“Nah.” Qin Yu shook his head. “Our situation is different from that of your older brother. He only had to satisfy himself and make sure that the others didn’t starve. However, we’re going to share the profits with a lot of people this time around. If the cost of medicine is too high, our profit will be lowered. That’ll make it hard for us to satisfy everyone.”

Old Cat picked his nose as he got straight to the point, “Old Li is at Fengbei right now. He needs 50% of the profits.”

“So much?” Qi Lin frowned.

“Old Li’s aim is not to earn money but to create some space for himself while suppressing the Yuan Family,” Old Cat explained. “This 50% is not for himself. The bulk of it will be given to the connections above, so he won’t be able to take much of it.”

“But that’s still way too much,” Qi Lin remarked as he turned to look at Qin Yu. “The Ma Family will be taking away a portion of the profits too.”

“I can accept him taking 50% of the profits,” Qin Yu replied with a smile. “This entire business is dependent on Old Li’s backing. As long as he’s able to hold the fort, even if our earnings from each batch of medicine isn’t significant, it would still be a steady stream of income for us. We might not be able to earn much in the short-run, but over time, we’ll be able to accrue significant capital. There’s no rush in this, we can do it slowly.”

“Un, I understand.” Qi Lin nodded.

While the three brothers chatted with one another, they were also keeping track of time.

Around one and a half hour later, Qi Lin finally pulled out the needle of the IV drip, and the three of them headed to the room diagonal to theirs.

…

The aromatic scent of meat wafted from Coco’s room. A slightly rusty pot on the table was filled with boiling soup, and there were several plates of frozen lamb meat cut into thin strips. In this era, this was a mouth-watering sight.

“I was the one who brought the lamb meat and the vegetables. The soup was specially brewed by the boss.” Coco was wearing a loose high-collared sweater. She beckoned to the trio and said, “Come, let’s dig in together.”

“I won’t stand on ceremony then! ” Old Cat’s appetite was whet by this sight. He swiftly picked up several pieces of meat with his chopsticks before tossing them into the pot. “It was still two or three years ago that I last ate lamb meat. People envy those who can work in the government sector, but in the end, we still don’t live as freely as you lot in the Development District.”

“Heh,” Coco chuckled. She looked at Old Cat and said, “Look at who’s talking. Your family’s Old Li just needs to do others a favor or two, and you can have all of the lamb meat you want in the world.”

Old Cat immediately started bragging upon hearing those words, “Well, you must not know that I’m a very prideful person! Even though I share blood ties with Old Li, my dignity won’t allow me to live off him…”

“Just shut up and eat your food.” Qin Yu was about to vomit after hearing those words coming out of Old Cat’s mouth.

“Hey, what’s with your attitude? Am I not talking facts over here?” Old Cat asked sharply.

“Sounds like farts,” Qin Yu replied vaguely.

“Come come, have a seat!” Coco gestured for everyone to settle down.

The group walked over to the circular table and took a seat. Coco’s driver and her other subordinates didn’t enter the room. They were eating separately in another room.

Coco poured wine for the three of them before raising her cup and speaking with an air of gallantry, “I’ll like to propose three toast to you. The first toast is to celebrate our successful partnership. The second toast is to thank you for avenging Kang-ge by capturing Li Tong on our behalf. The third toast is a show of my appreciation to you for working with me. As long as you do business with me, you’re doing me a favor and making me money. I’ll down three cups first out of respect to you.”

Old Cat eyed the valiant Coco with a glint of his eyes as he muttered despicably, “This woman sure has a high tolerance for liquor. It’s such a pity that she isn’t working at Platinum Castle.”