Underworld Chronicles: Qiao Si's Strategist, Xiao Ke, and Wang Weifan

With his mouth covered in blood, Boss Du watched helplessly as his men were stabbed and fled. His heart began to pound.

Li Zhengguang, Ma Long, and Yao Yifei, holding daggers and glaring fiercely, slowly approached Boss Du.

Terrified, Boss Du knelt down on the ground with a thud. "Brother, I surrender, I surrender! I don't want the construction site anymore, I'll leave right now, I'll leave right now!" Boss Du pleaded, his mouth full of blood.

Qiao Si snatched the blood-stained dagger from Li Zhengguang's hand, walked to Boss Du's side, and slapped Boss Du's face with the dagger, asking, "Aren't you going to discuss this with your partner?"

No more discussion, no more discussion, we're quitting, we're quitting.

What about the profits?

I don't want profits anymore, I don't want anything, just please spare me.

Damn it, you think you can get someone to mess with me? You think you can? I'll teach you a little lesson today so you'll remember this.

As Qiao Si spoke, he picked up the dagger and slashed it across Boss Du's ear. A long, bloody gash stretched from the base of Boss Du's ear to the tip, and blood instantly seeped out. Boss Du let out another scream and collapsed, clutching his ear.

"Get the hell out of here, or I'll kill you!" Qiao Si kicked Boss Du in the butt, sending Boss Du sprawling forward and sprawling face-first into the dirt.

Boss Du scrambled out of his office. Li Zhengguang, Ma Long, and Yao Yifei, seeing Boss Du's embarrassed state, burst into laughter. These desperados didn't take stabbing people seriously at all.

And so, Qiao Si once again won over Boss Du's demolition project. This time, unlike the first time, Qiao Si and his gang made a fortune, earning money and establishing a great reputation.

Qiao Si had become quite well-known in Harbin. He often had access to big bosses, and when he had dinner parties, he would always invite Xiao Ke along. Firstly, Xiao Ke was quick-witted and could sometimes offer him advice. Secondly, it would also allow Xiao Ke to get to know more wealthy people, which might help his business.

Once, Qiao Si invited two big bosses to dinner and also invited Xiao Ke. After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Qiao Si wanted to arrange a second round, inviting the two big bosses to sing karaoke and find prostitutes.

"As the saying goes, when people are well-fed and warm, they think of lustful desires. Let's go sing karaoke and find some girls later," Qiao Si invited, burping and looking like a country bumpkin.

The two big bosses were so used to having affairs with secretaries and models that they were tired of it all; women no longer held any appeal for them.

Hong Kong scholar Cai Lan once famously said: In Pigsy's eyes, Chang'e was a high and mighty fairy, but in the Jade Emperor's eyes, Chang'e was nothing more than a dancer, and there were as many as 3000 people like her in the Heavenly Palace.

So beauty is a rare commodity at the bottom, but just an everyday item at the top. The beautiful woman you often think about and dream about kissing might not even be worthy of licking the butt of a big shot or cleaning toilets.

Don't chase girls if you're broke; girls will come to you if you're rich.

"Boss Qiao, we won't go to karaoke, it's not very appealing. But if there's a place where we can have some fun, we'd be quite interested," one of the bosses said.

"Damn, why didn't you say you had this hobby earlier? This guy owns a casino, huh? Come on, I'll take you there to play. We have everything." Qiao Si said, pointing at Xiao Ke.

"We're not going to the casino. Are there any private, safe places?" another boss chimed in.

Big bosses like them, or corrupt officials, wouldn't bother gambling in domestic casinos. They'd go to Macau to gamble, where they don't know anyone and the stakes are much higher.

Alternatively, people can organize private gambling sessions. This is for safety reasons, since running a casino is illegal in China. If they're unlucky one day, they could all be arrested, which would be a huge loss of face.

It's like how wealthy and powerful people never patronize prostitutes. Patronizing prostitutes is illegal, but keeping two, three, or four mistresses isn't illegal. They're not afraid of getting arrested.

Secondly, it can also expand one's network of contacts without being disturbed by others, which is why prominent people in China generally play private games.

"Little Ke is quick-witted," he said. "Yes, yes, I'll arrange it for you right away." As he spoke, Little Ke had Wang Zhi find a safe place, and then, through his connections, he contacted two big bosses, and they put together a private little game.

The four big bosses played for several hours and had a great time. Their bets were huge; they were rich, and ten thousand yuan was like ten yuan to an ordinary person.

Before leaving, the big bosses gave Xiao Ke 10,000 yuan for "water," a practice commonly known as "taking a cut."

Xiao Ke saw this as a business opportunity; it could not only expand his network but also make a lot of money. So he decided to go for it and do it big.

So the next day, Xiao Ke asked Wang Zhi, Zhang Guangyue and Wei Qinggang to find a few places in Harbin. The place had to be convenient, secluded and safe.

After Wang Zhi and his team found the land, Xiao Ke would go to the site to inspect it one by one. Some of the land not only had back doors, but also side doors and hidden doors, so that it could be 100% safe.

After finding the right location, Xiao Ke had everything renovated to a high standard, because it was a private event, and the guests would be either rich or powerful, so it had to be high-end and classy.

With everything ready, it was time to make contact. Xiao Ke found Qiao Si, Hao the Cripple, Yang Mantou, and Xiao Fei, his friends in the underworld.

Xiao Ke told me about his private gambling operation. He said that if they knew any big bosses or corrupt officials who wanted to gamble, they could introduce them to the gambling operation and split the profits with them when they took a cut.

Qiao Si and the others all knew Xiao Ke's loyalty and said they would definitely introduce him to anyone who needed help, but they didn't want a share of the profits. However, Xiao Ke insisted on giving him a share and kept his promise, giving half of the profits to anyone introduced by a friend.

Gradually, all the high-ranking officials and nobles in Ice City who wanted to secretly play a few games started saying, "Go find Xiao Ke."

Besides the profits from the casino, Xiao Ke also made a fortune from the rake in his private gambling operations. On one occasion, he even earned 90,000 yuan in rake in a single night. This was in the 1980s, an era when even households with 10,000 yuan were rare. 90,000 yuan was enough for some people to earn in half a lifetime, but Xiao Ke earned that in one night. You can imagine how rich he was.

As the saying goes, where there is profit, there is risk. Just when Xiao Ke was making a fortune, he ran into trouble again.

The whole thing started because of the private gambling den he set up. The dens that Xiao Ke set up were run by big bosses and corrupt officials, and the stakes were enormous.

As the saying goes, victory and defeat are common occurrences in warfare, and the same applies to gambling. Winning and losing are also common occurrences; some people win, and some people lose.

So who exactly did Xiao Ke, who set up the betting scheme, offend, and what happened to him? Stay tuned for the next episode.