Special District 9

Ma Lao-er looked at the phone groggily as he asked, “What the heck does Ol’ Three want to discuss? I don’t have anything I want to talk to him about.”

“… I’m not too sure either. Anyway, he just told me to relay his intention to meet you face-to-face and have a chat together,” the friend replied.

Ma Lao-er contemplated over this issue for a while before replying with a smile, “Alright then, I’ll have a talk with him then. However, there’s no way I’m going over to find him. Tell him that I’ll send him an address later at night.”

“Got it. I’ll relay your words to him.”

“Un, that’s all.”

Ma Lao-er didn’t think that this was anything important, so after hanging up the call, he went back to sleep.

…

The names of Songjiang’s roads were very diverse. While most of them had Chinese names, there were others that were clearly from other nationalities. This was due to Special District 9 having a very diverse population with people of all skin colors. It was through such details that these people created a sense of belonging for their own communities here.

Eight-thirty in the night, in the Northern Charles Street, Ol’ Three, together with two of his friends, entered a dilapidated building along the road.

They went all the way up to the third floor before hearing voices coming from one of the rooms. It was a mahjong room filled with the smell of tobacco. Ma Lao-er was sitting by one of the tables in the inside, wearing a cotton shirt. He beckoned Ol’ Three over with his hand and said, “Come and sit here.”

Ol’ Three smiled back as he walked over and took a seat directly opposite to Ma Lao-er.

“Are you playing?” Ma Lao-er asked as he fiddled with the mahjong tiles on the table.

“Sure, let’s have a game,” Ol’ Three replied with a nod.

“Get two players over here to join us!” Ma Lao-er shouted across the room.

Not too long later, two lads walked over and sat down by the table too. The four of them quickly shuffled the tiles before starting the game.

They played for two rounds just like that. However, Ma Lao-er didn’t broach the topic as to why Ol’ Three was looking for him or what did he want to talk about. He was fully focused on the game.

Seeing that Ma Lao-er wasn’t intending to take the initiative to talk business, Ol’ Three could only raise the topic himself, “Lao-er, we should already bury the hatchet over what happened in Dirt Street. We have already fought each other, and in the end, both our sides ended up suffering heavy losses. You should have noticed that my side hasn’t said anything or messed with your side ever you came back. Two days ago, when you humiliated Yong Dong, Brother Hua also didn’t send anyone after you. This should be enough to show our sincerity to make peace.”

“Three wan .” Ma Lao-er threw out a mahjong tile without raising his head.

(This is the name of a mahjong tile.)

“There’s a saying that peace brings prosperity,” Ol’ Three continued trying to convince Ma Lao-er patiently. “If you continue keeping your price this low, it’s only a matter of time before people get used to it. Once that happens, the profit that we earn will be decreased significantly. To put this crudely, we’re all in this for the money. None of us are living Buddhas hoping to bring salvation to the world, right? If we continue fighting one another like that, you’ll continue to face the hassle of having to release your goods discreetly, and we’ll have trouble selling our goods too… In the end, it would just be a lose-lose situation.”

“Hahaha!” Ma Lao-er suddenly burst into laughter. He finally raised his head and responded to Ol’ Three’s words, “We were more than willing to remain minor players in the medicine market, picking up scraps from you lot to make a living. But you viewed us as an eyesore and insisted on pushing us off a cliff. Now that you are finally feeling the consequences of your actions, you want to negotiate with us and make peace? Is that even possible? Does Yuan Hua think that he’s a god, and that everyone has to sing Hallelujah to him? Hahaha!”

Ol’ Three’s face visibly turned a little awful after hearing those words. “What’s the point of picking on old grudges? We should look toward the future and find a way out of this to benefit all of us.”

“Are you sincere when you said that you want to negotiate with us?” Ma Lao-er leaned back against the chair and crossed his arm.

“I wouldn’t be here to play mahjong with you if that wasn’t the case,” Ol’ Three replied with a helpless smile.

“Very well. Since that’s the case, I’ll be stating my terms then,” Ma Lao-er said as he picked eye goop away from his eyes. “We’ll slice Songjiang’s market into two. The Black Street Sector, together with the entire Dirt Street, will be ours, and the rest will be yours to take. As long as you don’t come into our territory to release your goods, I’ll raise our prices to the same level as yours.”

Ol’ Three was stunned for a long while after hearing those words before he finally uttered, “Are you joking with me?”

“Do I look so free as to crack jokes with you?” Ma Lao-er said as he took a puff of smoke.

Ol’ Three looked at Ma Lao-er with a livid face as he said, “Do you think that it’s possible for us to accept your request? In the entire Songjiang, the area with the highest demand for medicine is Black Street Sector, and Dirt Street accounts for more than 70% of the sales of medicine in Black Street Sector. If we give these two locations to you, we might as well close down our operations!”

“You were the one who wanted to talk, so shouldn’t I have the right to let my view be known? You can reject my request if you want to, no one is forcing you,” Ma Lao-er said nonchalantly.

Ol’ Three gritted his teeth as he fell silent.

“I don’t get it. Yuan Ke doesn’t have the right to make decisions over there, so why the hell are you the one to negotiate with me?” Ma Lao-er looked at Ol’ Three as he spoke with a derisive voice. “You would have to report it upward even if I were to ask you for five dollars, so what the hell is there for us to talk about here? Tell Yuan Hua that he should come over and look for me himself if he’s really sincere about negotiating!”

“What do you mean by that?” Ol’ Three realized that he was being looked down upon, and he immediately stood up and hollered over.

“Brother Three, when can you grow up?” Ma Lao-er glanced at him as he asked lackadaisically. “What are you going to do? Beat me up?”

Ol’ Three felt incredibly stifled inside, to the point where he felt like he could blow up from frustration. However, recalling the aim he had for today, he could only suppress his emotions and tolerate it.

“I’ve already told you what I want. If you really want to negotiate, get Yuan Hua over to split the territories with me,” Ma Lao-er said as he threw out a mahjong tile. “ Hu . Full flush, Tanyao. You can pay up first before leaving.”

Ol’ Three took in a deep breath before he took out his wallet as he said, “Ma Lao-er, you are starting to become more and more like a boss now, huh?”

“Why don’t you defect over to my side then? I really need an expert at negotiation like you.”

“Screw you!” Ol’ Three berated. He slammed the money on the table before saying, “I’ll relay what you have just said to Brother Hua and get back to you.”

“I’ll be waiting for your news then, Brother Three,” Ma Lao-er said as he kept the money.

…

A few minutes later.

On the police car, Ol’ Three called Yuan Hua and said, “Brother Hua, I have met Ma Lao-er.”

“What did he say?”

“He wants us to give him Black Street Sector together with Dirt Street.”

“… How did you reply to that?”

“I said that I would discuss the matter with you first before getting back to him,” Ol’ Three replied honestly.

“Alright, I got it. You can come back now.”

“Roger that!”

They ended their call at this point.

In the Majestic Palace Entertainment City, Yuan Hua looked at Yong Dong and scoffed, “That Ma Lao-er really has his head in the clouds. He actually wants Black Street Sector and Dirt Street for himself!”

“Heh,” Yong Dong chuckled. “That twat might still be able to make it as a fixer in the Development District, but when it comes to doing business and negotiating deals, he’s nothing more than a child.”

“What is the next step?” Yuan Hua asked.

“We’ll get Ol’ Three to…” Yong Dong began sharing the next step of the plan.

…

The entrance of Residence 88.

Qin Yu locked up the motorcycle that Old Cat had lent him before walking toward his house with his dinner. But before even walking in, he heard some dissonant noises.

“Xiangxiang, isn’t it lonely to spend the night all alone? My love for you runs deeper than the ocean… Come, give me your hand. I’ll read your fortune for you.”

“Bucktooth, let go of my hand…”

“Aiyo, there’s no need to push me away.”

“…!”

“Hm?”

Outside the door, Qin Yu froze upon hearing those sounds.