Chapter 241: What If I Say No?
There were only three of them, yet they had taken down all dozen or so of Brother Nan's men. Even now, the thugs were still on the ground, unable to move.
It seemed they were dealing with trained fighters.
But the man wasn't afraid. He was the Local Bully here, and he had plenty of men who could fight for him.
His sinister gaze fell on Xiao Ye's face. "If you don't want to die, get on your knees and apologize to my younger brother right now!"
"Otherwise... you know what will happen!"
As he finished speaking, his men actually pulled out machetes.
"An arm, or a leg."
"Don't think I won't do it. I've got plenty of money, I'll just have to pay you off afterward! But if you dare to keep pushing this..."
"I won't just come after you, I'll make sure the people around you can't live in peace either!"
After speaking, the Local Bully had someone bring him a stool.
He sat down on it and crossed his legs. An underling handed him a cigar. He extended his fingers to take it, and one could see he was wearing two absurdly large gold chains.
Tsk, tsk.
'Has he been watching too many foreign movies?'
'That crappy cigar is so cheap and nasty, Xiao Ye wouldn't take it even if it were free. Truly wealthy people never smoke such low-grade junk.'
'Only people with money but no class would do something like this.'
Xiao Ye's lips curled into a smirk. "And what if I say no?"
The Local Bully's expression darkened instantly. "Then you'll face the consequences I just mentioned!"
"You don't want to end up a cripple at such a young age, do you?"
Xiao Ye certainly didn't want that, but this group wasn't capable of making it happen.
The person capable of crippling him hadn't even been born yet!
Brother Nan, who had been lying on the ground, suddenly had an idea. He got to his feet with the help of the Local Bully's men and went over to him.
"Boss, just making this kid apologize isn't enough! Look at what he did to me!"
"He has to pay me!"
This Brother Nan was the type who could only see money. Otherwise, he wouldn't have done something like this, let alone use such a method to set up Li Ming.
It could be said that as long as he could get money, he would stop at nothing.
The Local Bully nodded. "Alright then. Have your people go get the money first. If you can pay up today, I'll be merciful and let you off the hook."
Brother Nan immediately chimed in, "Three hundred thousand!"
"It's not just me who's injured, I have all these men, too!"
If he got his hands on that 300,000, he'd only give each of his underlings 1,000 for medical fees. That would only add up to a little over 10,000.
If he didn't know he couldn't push it too far, Brother Nan might not have given them a single cent.
If you wanted people to follow you, you had to be willing to give them a little something.
Xiao Ye smiled. "Three hundred thousand? Fine."
He waved his hand, called over one of his men, and whispered something to him.
The subordinate left immediately.
The Local Bully wasn't worried about him calling for backup. Otherwise, his title would be meaningless!
The onlookers wanted to leave, but they were reluctant to go.
They had never seen so much money in their entire lives!
They wanted to see what 300,000 in cash actually looked like!
Li Ming opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but when he saw Xiao Ye's completely unconcerned expression, he closed it again.
'It's obvious they're rich.'
'The first time he saw Xiao Ye's group of three, he knew they were no ordinary people.'
'It wasn't just a gut feeling. It was their aura, and the way they were dressed.'
'He was in the clothing business, so he could tell at a glance that the clothes the three were wearing weren't cheap.'
'The cheapest items cost several thousand, and based on the tailoring, some were probably over ten thousand.'
At this point, Brother Nan didn't even feel the pain anymore. 'If a beating can get me 300,000—no, to be precise, 290,000—'
'After all, he had to give a portion to his men, but even so, it was totally worth it!'
'This was a huge sum, enough for him to live it up for a long time.'
'The cost of living in this city wasn't high. You could have a great time at the best bars for just two or three thousand.'
The subordinate who went to get the money was quick to leave and even quicker to return, taking less than twenty minutes in total.
There happened to be a bank nearby—the city's main branch, in fact.
Furthermore, the card Xiao Ye had given him had no limit. He was a VIP client at the bank; he could withdraw a million at once without needing to call ahead.
The bank certainly didn't want to offend a VIP client who brought them countless deposits each year over something so trivial.
Money in a bank is never as simple as a customer's deposit.
They use their clients' money for other things and only make it available when a client wants to make a withdrawal.
That's why the interest on fixed-term deposits is much higher than on demand deposits.
The subordinate returned carrying a large black bag, walked right up to Xiao Ye, and gently set it down.
Xiao Ye nodded.
"Is that the 300,000? You're not trying to fool me, are you?"
Brother Nan asked uncertainly. He'd seen 300,000 in cash before, and it wasn't this much. 'Are there bricks in there?'
Xiao Ye didn't reply, simply saying with a blank expression, "Open it."
The subordinate nodded and pulled the zipper open, pulling it open from both sides.
"My god!"
"Holy shit, that's so much money!"
"How much is that?"
"I bet that's over a million!"
A wave of astonished gasps erupted from the crowd.
None of them had ever seen so much cash; their eyes were practically popping out of their heads!
Even Brother Nan's breathing grew ragged. He quickly hopped on one foot over to the bag of money and grabbed a stack of bills.
"It's real, Boss! It's all real money!"
The Local Bully felt that something wasn't right. If the other party could casually pull out a million, why would they give it to them?
Why pay more than three times the price to solve a problem that could be settled for 300,000? Something was obviously wrong here.
He didn't believe in things being too good to be true!
That "pie" falling from the sky was more likely an iron plate—the kind that could kill you when it landed!
Xiao Ye sneered. "Didn't you tell me to pay up? Here's a million."
"I've got plenty of money, after all. A million is nothing to me!"
Brother Nan's eyes were red with excitement. "Great! I'll take it!"
"Kid, let me tell you, this is compensation for me and my boys! With so many of us, 300,000 was too little. I've decided you'll pay us one million!"
"Boss, we're rich!"
With that, he grabbed the bag and started to walk away.
The Local Bully wanted to stop him, but even though Brother Nan was injured, he was now striding away as if he could fly, buoyed by the heavy bag of money.
It was true what they say: money cures all ailments!
But the Local Bully's frown quickly smoothed over. 'So what if Xiao Ye is planning something?'
'It was no exaggeration to say that he was the local emperor here.'
'Once money was in his hands, there was no way he'd ever spit it back out!'
Having gotten so much money, Brother Nan was in a great mood and said magnanimously, "Boss, you're a bigger man than he is."
"He paid out so much, let's just let him off the hook!"
He was even starting to wonder if he should just let Xiao Ye beat him up every now and then to extort more money.