A Scroll of Infinite Glory

Chapter 70 Beginning

Southwest Community, Dadu Street.

It was another busy day for Liu Yaozu, who runs a duck blood vermicelli shop here.

His duck blood vermicelli soup is made with soft but not mushy vermicelli that is crystal clear. He adds plenty of duck blood and duck intestines, and garnishes it with scallions. The broth, in particular, has a rich and flavorful taste.

The shop is about 20 square meters in size and has a very compact layout. There are six small tables and eighteen plastic stools in two rows on the left and right. It is always full when it is close to mealtime, and many people will also order takeout.

Only Liu Yaozu and his wife work in the shop, and they are often overwhelmed with work, but they dare not hire more people.

The rent for the shop isn't cheap, and there are taxes and protection fees to pay. After deducting the cost of raw materials, the monthly profit isn't much. Hiring more staff would be an additional expense.

"Boss, we're out of chili peppers in this jar."

A young man in a suit, wearing glasses, stood up in the store, holding a glass jar that had been scratched down to a small red mark.

"Oh, I'm coming right now. Um, could you please get that from the table?"

Liu Yaozu was speaking to a table of customers near the door, but just as they were about to get up, a hand with English letters tattooed on the back of it took the jar of chili peppers.

The hair, dyed with cheap, bright red dye, was frizzy and covered a patch on the top of the head. The sides of the head were shaved clean. The person was wearing only an open black leather vest with a zipper on, and some small chains of varying lengths hung from the vest's pockets and the belt of the pants, rattling and jingling as they walked.

The delinquent youth who picked up the chili pepper instantly changed the atmosphere in the store.

The lively atmosphere subsided a bit, and everyone focused on eating rice noodles and drinking soup.

The clerk holding the empty chili pepper container sat back down, somewhat embarrassed.

Snapped!

There was still more than half a jar of chili peppers left on his desk. When the clerk looked up, he saw the smiling face of the red-haired young man.

"Hehe, you eat it!"

"Ah... thank you."

The red-haired youth nodded and walked to Liu Yaozu's side.

"Old Liu, business is good."

"Sigh, we have a lot of customers, but the profits are just so-so."

With a forced smile, Liu Yaozu told his wife to count the money due this month.

The red-haired youth shook his head: "No, I'm not here to collect money today."

"oh oh."

Liu Yaozu nodded hesitantly and got back to work, his eyes occasionally glancing at the red-haired youth.

The red-haired youth stood there, feeling somewhat uneasy. He raised one hand as if to slam it on the table, but the people at the next table had already spotted his hand and were ready to grab their bowls and dodge.

Finally, the slap landed on his own thigh.

"Old Liu, aren't you going to ask me what I'm here for today?"

Liu Yaozu laughed and said, "Oh, what's there to ask? Take whatever you want to eat, just don't take my spoon or knife."

"Hey, I actually did..."

The red-haired youth was somewhat exasperated.

When he went shopping, he and his brothers would often casually grab something—a box or two of tissues, a bottle of toothpicks, a few pieces of uncooked cooked meat, etc.—without paying. That was called being cool and carefree, how great!

But that wasn't what he came for today, and being looked at like that made him feel a strange, inexplicable feeling.

"Alright, I'll be blunt. We've changed leaders. From now on, these two streets are under the protection of our Shenzhou Brotherhood Society. The new rule from the society leader is that everything will be settled at the end of the month. We'll also come and lend a hand from time to time."

Liu Yaozu just kept nodding, looking like he suddenly understood.

But it was obvious to everyone that he hadn't listened to a word.

This is normal. It's common for gangs to change leaders. After a new leader takes over, they always change some rules to show how different they are from the previous leader. But they still collect money, beat people, lend money, collect debts, throw paint, and force people to leave. It's a good thing if they don't get any more ruthless.

The red-haired youth stood in the shop for a while, and the customers came and went twice, but he didn't see what he was supposed to do.

No matter how busy Liu Yaozu and his wife were, they only asked him to make way.

Bored out of his mind, the red-haired youth went out to take a look.

On this street, you can see many of the brothers from the commune. Some are walking back and forth between a few shops, looking like they have nothing better to do, while others are sitting outside people's doors with their legs crossed.

There were one or two people who helped unload the goods.

Yesterday, the new boss said that they would be subject to more rules in the future, and later he did post several rules for them to remember and abide by.

But for now, apart from feeling more bored, it doesn't seem like there's anything else.

The red-haired youth stood under the blazing sun, contemplating whether to sneak away and meet up with some friends to go to a bar or an arcade. But a lot of his brothers had died recently, including two really bad ones, and he was now missing his best buddies.

"Ugh, what a bunch of losers, God didn't protect them."

The red-haired youth clicked his tongue, bored out of his mind, and gradually walked over to the two brothers who were carrying goods.

"What are you doing? Offering to do manual labor for others?"

The short woman in the vest said, "Didn't they say there'd be a bonus at the end of the month if we did a good job?"

"Screw you, are you crazy? It's the same amount whether you do it or not, and what extra benefit will you get from doing it?"

The short man slapped the box with one hand: "If we don't do this, there's nothing else fun. Let me tell you, if we throw these things onto the truck, stack them neatly, and look at them at the end, hey, it actually looks pretty good."

The woman next to me with an earring pushed two boxes onto the carriage: "Yeah, you're always slower than me."

"Fuck you, I'm definitely faster than you."

As the red-haired man looked around, he counted on his fingers and said, "I'll show you what a real physique looks like."

A car slowly drove across the street.

In the driver's seat, Old An looked at the group of people and said, "They have indeed made some progress, but it's really limited. Moreover, these people only have a three-minute attention span. They find it interesting now, but it won't be long before they refuse to work again. President, it's not an easy task for you to get them back on track."

"Labor can transform a person's body and mind. This is a common experience in many parts of the world, especially after so many people have just died around them."

Guan Luoyang has been reading a lot of books these past two days. His mission this time has a longer timeframe and a lot of things to do. If he doesn't understand this place well, he absolutely cannot succeed.

Then he discovered that in the past few years, Singapore and Malaysia did indeed have few jobs and insufficient resources, which squeezed out a large number of people's livelihoods. However, in the past two years, the situation has actually recovered, and the region has even developed in an orderly and prosperous manner.

Even if you exclude all the shady and gray-area businesses, the economy of Singapore and Malaysia is thriving. Young people like these can easily find legitimate jobs if they are willing to look.

The problem is that there are too many gangs here, and they have become too powerful to control. The most attractive jobs for the new generation of young adults are gang members, while they ignore legitimate jobs.

However, these shady gangs have one major drawback.

——Unstable.

People yearn for peace. Are there really people who are used to seeing fights and deaths everywhere? Perhaps some are, but they are certainly not the majority.

Especially these gang members who originally belonged to the lower class, they were just forced to accept this kind of daily life and thought they could adapt to it.

"As long as someone forcibly leads them down a different path, making their labor more fulfilling, more valuable, and more rewarding, then the greatest benefit of stability will permeate their lives and help them get used to the new days."

Old An listened to this and shook his head almost imperceptibly.

Guan Luoyang, seemingly looking out the window, noticed this subtle movement and asked, "Do you think what I said is wrong?"

Old An pondered for a moment: "President, before, everyone only knew that you took a five-day ferry from Hong Kong to Singapore and Malaysia, but now that I think about it, you came from the mainland, right?"

Guan Luoyang said, "Hmm?"

Old An sighed: "Boss, the Steel Wrist Gang's original territory wasn't big, just these two streets, this small area. But if you really refuse to get involved in other businesses, even just keeping this small area stable won't be an easy task."

"There are five major societies here, but they can only coexist with gangs. There are no hundreds of millions of troops here to suppress the land and eliminate lawlessness."

Guan Luoyang smiled faintly: "It's all up to people. Someone has to do it. You're already on my boat, so it's better to be optimistic. If you're too pessimistic, you're prone to being indecisive and might accidentally go down a bad path."

Old An's eyelids twitched, and he understood the warning in his voice.

After the wheels rolled a little further, he laughed and said, "President, whether a person lives or dies, the probability is only fifty percent each. The things Yan Xiong did, the threats he attracted, and the things you want to do are actually no different to me."

"The difference is that under Yan Xiong, I was just a well-liked old hoodlum, but under you, I can feel a bit of my younger self."

After all, he was back to being an accountant, and numbers, banknotes, and forms were what he was most familiar with.

Guan Luoyang smiled and said, "By the way, if we take out all of Yan Xiong and the others' private funds, we can actually hire more people with our current funds. You can draft a plan."

Old An asked, "Okay, what kind of business?"

Guan Luoyang said, "I see that this area, which I'm most familiar with, is mostly occupied by food vendors. Let's start by developing our business in this smaller surrounding area, putting up some promotional posters everywhere, and having the new recruits work alongside the existing staff so they can supervise each other and deliver food."

Almost every household here owns an electric vehicle, and the electricity costs are incredibly low. If this business can be established, it can be considered a great start.

Old An nodded. He couldn't assess whether this thing would make a profit or a loss, but most of the things Yan Xiong had tried had been rejected. It was always a good thing for the new boss to have a goal.

The vehicle gradually approached a building with tall buildings and white walls, nestled among green trees.

From a distance, you can see the large golden characters "University of Singapore and Malaysia" embedded in the wall.

The social council here may not be strong enough, but the total land area of ​​Singapore and Portland is far smaller.

Guan Luoyang already had a rough idea of ​​what he was going to do.

But before that, he needs to know more.

In the entire Southwest community, the most knowledge-rich place is undoubtedly the library of the University of Singapore.

Guan Luoyang, with short hair, got out of the car. Dressed in a clean white tracksuit, he had a sunny and cheerful demeanor, looking more like a student than a student himself. He calmly blended in and entered the library with Xiao Jiang's library card.

(End of this chapter)