Chapter 109: Old Ruffian

In Jiangcheng City, there was a residential area called the Ecological Garden District. The name sounded quite nice, and the initial advertising campaign had been loud and flashy. However, in the two years since the apartments were handed over to the owners, numerous problems had been exposed.

For instance, the landscaping and green spaces within the Ecological Garden were nowhere near the standard, completely different from the early promotions. The property management was also exceptionally poor. Moreover, the cement grade used in several buildings was far too low; one could scrape cement off the walls just by rubbing a shoe sole against them. There were also cracked building structures, leaking roofs, and so on. At one point, the Ecological Garden even made headlines in the local news.

However, the buildings had been completed two years ago. The handover was long finished, the developers had made a fortune, and besides, no fatal accidents had occurred! Without any major accidents, there was no way to bring them to justice. As a result, the secondhand housing prices in the Ecological Garden were currently very low. But the developers had already lined their pockets.

Mao Xudong was one of those original developers. At the time, he had been in charge of construction materials. Through various connections, he had acquired the materials on credit. Naturally, contracts had been signed back then. But for a deadbeat like him, even if you signed a hundred contracts with him, he still wouldn’t pay you back what he owed.

Lin Jian and Wang Qinglong entered the Ecological Garden. The man they were looking for wasn’t in the sales office, but in a courtyard within the Ecological Garden District! The courtyard was quite large. The property management office was located inside, along with a warehouse for storing tools and parking the management’s electric carts.

When Lin Jian and Wang Qinglong entered the courtyard, the atmosphere wasn’t tense at all. In fact, four people were playing mahjong, while others were relaxing in the shade downstairs. Xu Xiaohui, Tan Jian, and Wang Chuang were all sitting on a long bench, uninjured.

"Lin." Seeing Lin Jian walk in, Xu Xiaohui and the other two quickly stood up, but then immediately lowered their heads. Being detained here and having to wait for their boss to come pick them up was simply too humiliating. But they had no choice; the other party was too shamelessly rogue.

The four people playing mahjong glanced at Lin Jian and Wang Qinglong, then went back to what they were doing, acting as if the two newcomers didn’t exist. Lin Jian simply swept his gaze around the area and said calmly, "Let’s go!"

Since the other party wasn’t speaking to him, there was no need for him to greet them. All he had to do was take his men and leave!

"Okay!" Xu Xiaohui and the other two didn’t hesitate. They quickly walked over to Lin Jian’s side, ready to leave.

However, just at that moment, a bald man among the mahjong players suddenly sneered. "Just leaving like that?"

Lin Jian turned around and glanced at the bald man. "What else?"

"You’re their boss? What kind of security guard are you?" The bald man and the others looked Lin Jian up and down with strange expressions. This young boss was actually wearing a security guard uniform. Was he joking? Was he some kind of clown sent here as a joke?

Lin Jian smiled and quickly waved his hand. "I’m no boss. This uniform belongs to my uncle. I’m just a greenhorn, only fourteen this year. I just look a bit mature for my age."

The bald man froze for a moment, clearly not understanding the joke about being fourteen.

However, another mahjong player turned to look at Lin Jian. "You do look quite mature, which means if you kill someone now, you’ll have to pay with your life!"

A fourteen-year-old wouldn’t pay with their life for murder, because they were still a minor. Lin Jian’s words clearly carried a hidden threat.

"Heh, truly a greenhorn then!" The bald man suddenly laughed out of anger. "Well then, greenhorn, why don’t you kill someone right now and show me?"

"HAHAHAHA!" Hearing the bald man’s words, the other mahjong players and the surrounding lackeys all burst into laughter. They seemed to be mocking this security guard for bragging. After all, talking big wasn’t a crime.

The bald man continued to sneer, "I haven’t seen anyone in the crematorium that you killed. You’re so young, yet you want to play gangster with us?

"It’s a society ruled by law now, you little greenhorn. Take a good look at where you are. Demanding debts? If you ever dare to come back demanding debts, I’ll break your legs. Get the hell out of here, and don’t let there be a next time!"

The bald man put on the posture of an old thug. He was indeed an old hooligan in society; one look was enough to tell he wasn’t a good person. This guy even bore a slight resemblance to Song Laohu from the TV drama Conquest.

Lin Jian checked the time and smiled. "Tomorrow at this time, deliver the owed money to our company, and we won’t come asking for it anymore. If you miss this deadline, you’ll bear the consequences!"

"Haha, little greenhorn, I won’t give you a single cent. Let alone tomorrow, I won’t pay you even at this time next year! Let’s see what you can do about it!" the bald man sneered.

Lin Jian just gave him a cold glance, then turned and walked away. However, as he walked, he said, "Go back and investigate if he has any relatives in Jiang City."

His voice wasn’t loud, but it wasn’t quiet either. Everyone in the courtyard heard it! Naturally, the bald man heard it too. He fiercely slammed a mahjong tile onto the table. "Boy, stop right there!"

Lin Jian waved his hand without breaking his stride. "There’s no point in saying anything else. This is a society ruled by law. If the money isn’t delivered to the company by this time tomorrow, you’ll see just how much of a greenhorn I can be!"

At this moment, Long delivered the perfect follow-up strike. "Mr. Lin, he has a daughter who works at the Land Bureau, and a grandson at Zhisheng Kindergarten, though he doesn’t have a very good relationship with his daughter."

Wang Qinglong’s voice wasn’t loud either, but the people in the courtyard still heard him perfectly well!

The bald man’s face turned livid with anger. He was a rascal and a rogue, an old piece of scum in society, but he also had people he cherished and cared about. Even though his daughter didn’t acknowledge him, she was still his daughter, and whenever he saw his grandson, he couldn’t stop himself from smiling from ear to ear! Therefore, if this bunch of greenhorns really touched his daughter or grandson, he wouldn’t be able to bear it!

Naturally, he also held onto a sliver of luck, knowing that this was a society ruled by law. If they committed a crime over four million yuan, then this so-called Ruyi Company would be finished! So he gritted his teeth and shouted, "Fine! Go after them if you have the guts! I’d rather part with my life than my money. Go on and do it! If you don’t, you’re a bunch of cowards!"

After speaking, he angrily sat back down and resumed playing mahjong.

Lin Jian didn’t stop; instead, he got into Wang Qinglong’s car. Xu Xiaohui and the other two also got in. The three of them didn’t have a car yet, so they had taken a taxi to get here.

Once in the car, Lin Jian handed out a round of cigarettes and asked, "Hui, that bald guy is the one named Mao, right?"

"Yes, he is Mao Xudong," Xu Xiaohui replied. He and the other two were quite dejected, realizing that they couldn’t even handle a simple debt collection.

Lin Jian smiled and said, "The three of you have never truly mingled in society. After serving in the military, you became security guards. How would you know how deep the waters of this society run?

"So, you still have a lot to learn."

"He claimed his phone was lost today. If the three of us had dared to leave, he would have called the police and said we stole it. That old bastard is too sinister!" Wang Chuang cursed angrily. They hadn’t expected the other party to falsely accuse them, putting them in a dilemma where they couldn’t leave but couldn’t stay either.

Lin Jian laughed, "That’s a typical old ruffian for you."

"Then tomorrow, are we really... really going to make a move on his grandson?" Although Xu Xiaohui had investigated everything about the guy named Mao, they couldn’t do anything illegal. Therefore, he hadn’t even considered using the man’s little grandson as leverage.

"That would be a terrible plan. I was just trying to scare him earlier," Lin Jian said. "If he had been intimidated, the money would have been recovered. But clearly, he wasn’t scared. This kind of person knows the score all too well!"

"You really see things clearly, Mr. Lin! Haha!"

Wang Qinglong praised inwardly, "This Lin Jian really has brains."

Lin Jian shook his head. "Using someone’s family or children as a threat is too tasteless."

"Then..." The others were confused now. If they didn’t use his grandson as leverage, how were they going to get the money back?

At this time, Lin Jian asked, "Where does this guy Mao live?"

"He lives right here, in the building opposite us. Unit Two, a duplex on the eleventh and twelfth floors. The old bastard lives alone," Xu Xiaohui said, pointing to the roof of a building across from them.

"Got it. Let’s go back. Tomorrow, you guys just wait at the company to collect the money."