Me! A high-ranking official!

Qi Honghai's face turned deathly pale in an instant. He stared intently at Zhao Jianguo, a chill running down his spine. His personal bodyguard, a retired special forces soldier he had hired at great expense, was still lying there unconscious. If Zhao Jianguo could beat him up like this, he absolutely couldn't defend himself if he really wanted to kill him.

Before Qi Honghai could say anything more, Zhao Jianguo turned and walked outside.

After leaving the construction group, he rode his electric scooter back the way he came, going over what had just happened in his mind. Qi Honghai had been dealt with badly this time, and he probably wouldn't make any rash moves in the short term. Right now, the most important thing was to make money!

He took out his phone and called Liu Tao.

"Tao, the usual place tonight, let's have a couple of drinks."

Liu Tao's voice on the other end of the phone carried a hint of surprise: "Sure! I was just thinking of calling you. What time?"

"Let's go now."

"Okay, I'll close the shop and head over."

After hanging up the phone, he rode his electric scooter toward the old county town. The Old Place Barbecue Restaurant was located on the old street of the county town. It was an old restaurant that had been open for more than ten years. The storefront was small, with only four or five tables. The owners were a couple in their fifties. He and Liu Tao had been eating there since they were in high school, for more than ten years.

When he arrived, Liu Tao had already arrived.

Liu Tao had taken a table outside and was flipping through a laminated menu, a cigarette dangling from his other hand, the ash long and untouched. Seeing Zhao Jianguo approach, he looked up, waved vigorously, and grinned, "Over here! Come on over!"

He walked over and sat down opposite Liu Tao.

Liu Tao pushed the menu over: "I ordered grilled beef tendon, grilled kidney, and grilled chives. See if you want anything else."

"That's enough. It's just the two of us. We can't finish ordering so much."

Liu Tao called out to the boss to place the order, then turned around, looked Zhao Jianguo up and down, his smile faded, his brows furrowed slightly, and his eyes showed a hint of worry.

"Jianguo, how are you feeling right now? Do you have any symptoms?"

Hearing Liu Tao ask this, he felt a warmth in his heart. This brother who had grown up with him since childhood, when he learned that he was sick, did not hide or despise him. Instead, he asked him if he needed money. Now that they met, the first thing he asked was about his health.

"It's nothing." He smiled, picked up the teapot on the table, and poured himself a cup of tea. "I don't have any symptoms now, just like a normal person."

"Have you seen a doctor yet?"

"Not yet. When I have time, I'll go to the capital to take a look. The hospitals there are better, and maybe they'll have a better treatment plan."

Liu Tao frowned even more, stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray, took out a bank card from his pocket, placed it on the table, and pushed it in front of Zhao Jianguo: "There's 50,000 yuan in here. That's all I've saved. I don't have any more right now; it's all tied up in the goods at the store. I'll try to scrape together a few tens of thousands more in the next few days, until I have 100,000. Go to the capital and make sure you get everything in order. Don't delay."

He looked down at the bank card, feeling touched. Liu Tao ran a small supermarket and only earned tens of thousands of yuan a year. He wondered how long it had taken him to save this 50,000 yuan.

He pushed the card back.

"I have money."

Liu Tao's face immediately darkened, and he slammed his hand on the table: "Don't try to be tough with me! What's our relationship? Don't I know your situation? Your entire salary is in Xu Qingqing's hands, and now that Xu Qingqing has been arrested, you don't have a penny on you!"

Zhao Jianguo looked at him, a feeling he couldn't quite describe welling up inside him: "I really have money, I don't need yours, you can keep it for yourself, the shop needs money for cash flow."

Liu Tao stared at him for two seconds, as if trying to determine whether he was telling the truth or just putting on an act.

"You really have it?"

Yes, it is.

Liu Tao took the card back with some skepticism, but the doubt on her face remained: "Where did you get the money?"

He paused for a moment. He couldn't talk about the treasure bowl. It wasn't that he didn't trust Liu Tao, but it was too outrageous to say, and Liu Tao wouldn't believe it anyway. He thought for a moment and made up an excuse on the spot.

"I took something from Cao Wenting's house and sold it."

Liu Tao's eyes widened immediately: "What is that?"

"It was an antique I didn't recognize, but I took it to the city and sold it for a lot of money."

Liu Tao opened his mouth, then slammed his hand on the table, making the teacup jump: "Damn it! I thought you were a pauper, who knew you were a millionaire! Compared to you, I'm the pauper!"

He was amused by Liu Tao's shout. Liu Tao lit another cigarette, took a drag, exhaled a cloud of smoke, and looked at him through the smoke: "So you came to me today not to borrow money?"

"No." Zhao Jianguo picked up a grilled tendon and took a bite. "I wanted to ask you if you know any ways to make money. I've lost my government job and I'm thinking of investing some money and starting a business."

Liu Tao looked at him in astonishment, as if she had heard something unbelievable: "You have money but don't go to the doctor, what kind of business are you doing?"

"You need money to see a doctor." He gave a helpless bitter smile. "Although I don't have to worry about food and drink now, this illness is a long-term project. I have to spend money every day. I can't just sit around and do nothing, can I? I have to do something to have money to see a doctor."

Hearing this, Liu Tao nodded thoughtfully, picked up his beer, and took a sip. "You're right," he said, "this illness really is a bottomless pit; it's not sustainable to only lose money without gaining any." After thinking for a moment, he asked, "How much do you have on hand right now?"

Zhao Jianguo held up two fingers, then added another: "Two or three hundred."

"How much?!" Liu Tao's eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

"Two or three million."

Liu Tao was completely stunned, his mouth agape, wide enough to fit an egg. Several seconds passed before he came to his senses and, in a low voice, cursed, "What the hell did you steal from Cao Wenting? Gold bricks?"

He didn't respond to that question, but just smiled.

Liu Tao paused for a moment, then rubbed his face vigorously and downed the remaining half-glass of beer in one gulp: "Fine, if you really want to do something, why not invest in my supermarket?"

"I'm currently looking for a place to expand," Liu Tao said, his eyes gleaming with enthusiasm. "My current store is too small, and the location isn't good either. I'm thinking of finding a larger place in the new district to turn it into a medium-sized supermarket. Originally, I was planning to partner with another friend. His family is wealthy, so he would provide the capital and I would provide the manpower. If you're willing to invest, I won't partner with him anymore; we can do it as brothers."

Zhao Jianguo didn't answer immediately. He knew Liu Tao well; he was always reliable. Liu Tao had been running that small supermarket for several years, expanding it from one storefront to two. Although it wasn't a huge fortune, it had been stable and never had any problems. Since he wanted to expand the scale, he must have a certain level of confidence.

The problem is that supermarkets are getting their money back too slowly.

"Tao," he put down the skewers of grilled meat, "is there any way to make money quickly?"

Liu Tao paused for a moment: "This may be slow, but it's reliable. There's no such thing as a quick business deal; anything fast is a trap."

"I know," he sighed, "but I need some quick money right now."

How fast?

"Earn 20 million in the shortest amount of time."

Liu Tao had just picked up his beer glass when he heard this. He stopped mid-air, stared at Zhao Jianguo for two seconds, then put the glass down on the table and rolled his eyes.

"If I had that method, I'd be rich by now, why would I be sitting here eating street food with you?"

He gave a wry smile, picked up his wine glass and took a sip. He knew that this request was unrealistic; to earn 20 million in seven days, one would have to rob a bank.

Liu Tao glared at him, looking at him with a disappointed expression: "Jianguo, doing business requires a down-to-earth approach. You can't get fat overnight. You worked in the government office for so many years, you know better than me how to be stable. Why are you so impatient now?"

Zhao Jianguo nodded helplessly. Liu Tao was right; doing business is a long-term endeavor. His idea of ​​making 20 million in seven days using traditional business methods was simply wishful thinking. However, the 20 million debt from the "Treasure Bowl" project was weighing on his mind, making him somewhat anxious.

Seeing his expression, Liu Tao hesitated for a moment, tapping her fingers on the beer glass as if she were making a difficult decision.

"If you're really in a hurry and want to make a quick buck..." He paused, lowering his voice, "I actually have a way."

He perked up and hurriedly asked, "What connections?"

"The risk is too high."

"High risk means high reward." He stared at Liu Tao: "Tell me."

Liu Tao hesitated for a few seconds, looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to their table, and then lowered his voice and said, "These days, there are only a few ways to make money quickly: prostitution, gambling, and drugs."

Zhao Jianguo rolled his eyes: "I thought it was some great idea."

"You absolutely can't touch drugs." Liu Tao quickly waved his hand: "You'll get shot if you touch that stuff, it's not worth any amount of money."

"Nonsense," he said irritably. "If I wanted to touch that, would I need to ask you?"

"You're no good either." Liu Tao looked him up and down. "If you were a bit more handsome, I might introduce you to be a gigolo. With your looks, no rich woman would be interested."

Zhao Jianguo spat and said, "Get lost." He paused, then added, "Then all that's left is gambling!"

Liu Tao nodded: "Yes, if you're lucky, you can go to a casino in Macau and make tens of millions in a day without breaking a sweat."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Jianguo tapped his fingers lightly on the table twice and pondered for a moment.

Macau, casinos, legal...

That's a quick way to make money.

Liu Tao was startled when she saw that he didn't speak and seemed to be seriously considering something, and she almost knocked over the beer glass in her hand.

"You don't actually want to go, do you?" His eyes widened, his voice trembling. "Let me tell you, gambling is a losing proposition nine times out of ten! I'm just saying, don't take it seriously! Don't be like me and throw all your money away!"

Zhao Jianguo frowned, looked up at Liu Tao, and asked, "You gambled?"

Liu Tao's expression froze for a moment, then he gave a wry smile, picked up his beer glass, and took a big gulp.

"Yeah. Otherwise, why do you think I could only give you 50,000 yuan?" He slammed his cup on the table and said dejectedly, "I've been saving for several years now, so I could easily come up with 300,000 or 400,000 yuan. I got obsessed with this stuff a while ago and poured it all in. I don't dare let my wife know."

He wiped his face, his expression bitter: "I was hoping to make a profit and recoup the money I spent on expanding the supermarket, but now I have nothing left."

Zhao Jianguo looked at him with some surprise. Liu Tao was always a steady person and didn't seem like someone who would gamble. How could he have become addicted to gambling and lost so much money!

"Do we have a place like this around here?"

Liu Tao nodded: "It's been open for a while now. Many people from the county and the city come to play, raise dogs, gamble on dogs, and play very aggressively. Some people win millions in one game, and some people lose millions in one game. It's not uncommon."

"How does the betting work?"

Liu Tao put down his cup and gestured: "Two dogs are fighting in the pit. Whoever bets on their dog winning gets the prize. But there's an even more ruthless game here..."

He paused for a moment, then lowered his voice and said, "A war between humans and dogs."

He raised an eyebrow: "A war between humans and dogs?"

"It's just people fighting dogs." Liu Tao's voice was even lower: "To put it bluntly, it's treating people like dogs. The rules are the same as dog gambling. There are quite a few people playing this now. They are all poor people. Some are forced to do it because they owe high-interest loans, and some are ordinary people who want to gamble when they have no money. There are a lot of people betting like this. If you win, you can win hundreds of thousands in one go, but if you lose, you will not only get injured, but you will also owe the dog farm a lot of money."

He nodded slowly, already making plans in his mind.

This thing is really a way to make money.

Seeing his expression, Liu Tao quickly waved her hand in front of his eyes: "Jianguo, I was just saying, please don't take it seriously!"

He snapped out of his thoughts, smiled, and said, "I know. Okay, let's not talk about that anymore. So, what are your plans for expanding your supermarket?"

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