ng Lang returned to the private booth to find that a few barbecue dishes had been ordered, and the two of them were actually skewering at.
Yan Weiwei, eating a chicken wing, gave him a suspicious glance.
"Going to the bathroom took you that long?"
"Oh, I stopped to watch the excitent on my way back."
"You sure you were watching the excitent and not checking out the girls? The girls here dress so skimpily, I understand these things, you know, being a man and all."
Like you’re a man, what the hell do you know!
ng Lang rolled his eyes.
"Instead of worrying about whether I went to see the girls, you should be more concerned about the beauty from your place. Seems like she’s run into so trouble..."
As he spoke, ng Lang pointed towards the area near the stage in the distance.
Yan Weiwei turned her head in confusion to look...
...
Lin Haitang and the band had just finished performing and were stepping down from the stage when seven or eight thugs surrounded them.
"Hey! What are you doing?"
"Not much, just wanted to invite Miss Lin for a drink. You see, we asked the other day and you didn’t agree, so by now it’s like we’re making three visits to the thatched cottage, right?
Today you ought to give us so face!"
The lip-pierced thug who spoke seed quite drunk, sporting a grin that was anything but friendly.
"Sorry! I don’t know you, and I don’t drink. My friends are waiting for us, please let us pass."
"Hey! Don’t be in such a hurry to leave!"
The thugs spread out their arms with a laugh, blocking their path again.
"Don’t go overboard!"
"Why should we have to drink with you!"
"That’s right! Keep pestering us and we’ll call security!"
The mbers of the band stood up one after another, causing a bit of a disturbance that made the surrounding custors turn to look.
"Call security? Sure! Go ahead and call them!
I see the ladies here also seem to have so free ti, why don’t we all go sit down together?"
The lip-pierced thug wore a brazen look of indifference while his cronies inched forward with smirks on their faces.
All the mbers of Liunian Band were girls who had never dealt with such an ordeal, and they were visibly panicked.
"What’s going on here!"
Just then, a middle-aged man in a suit ca over with two security guards.
"Manager Lu!" The people from Liunian Band clearly recognized the middle-aged man and saw him as a lifesaver.
"These guys are trying to force us to drink with them!"
The bar manager seed no stranger to these situations, but his brow furrowed on seeing the lip-pierced man and his group.
"You again? Didn’t I tell you the other day not to cause trouble here?"
At this, the lip-pierced man, far from abashed, raised his thumb smugly, pointing behind him.
"Heh heh! You might not care about my face, but you’ve gotta care about our boss’s face, right?"
"Your boss?"
Everyone turned to look behind them, only to see a man with a small mustache, surrounded by a group of thugs like stars around the moon, smiling and gesturing with his drink toward them.
Manager Lu’s stern expression instantly fell when he recognized the boss.
He hurriedly put on a forced smile, approached Hu Dazhi with a series of subservient nods and exchanges, glancing occasionally toward Lin Haitang and her friends.
Not long after, Manager Lu returned with an awkward grin.
"Uh, Singer Lin, Boss Hu thinks highly of your singing and just wanted a drink to get to know you better, no other intentions, you see..."
No other intentions with him striking that pose?
Lin Haitang shook her head firmly.
"I’m sorry, Manager Lu, but our contract only covers singing performances and doesn’t include accompanying guests for drinks."
Manager Lu found himself in a difficult position with such a direct rejection.
If it were anyone else, causing offense wouldn’t matter much, but Hu Dazhi had over a hundred followers, and even the bar owner had to pay him protection money every month.
Angering these people would make it practically impossible to keep the bar business running...
Even in a harmonious society, the phenonon of protection rackets is not entirely eradicated.
Especially in high-profit industries like bars, KTVs, and nightclubs, where the margins are considerably fatter, and they are circled by wolves.
Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes, and where there are interests, there are gray areas!
However, the thods and ans of collecting protection money have also beco more discreet and modernized.
Typically, there are a few types of groups that collect protection money.
The first type includes gangs with Black Society characteristics.
They might look the most brash, but they’re actually the lowest on the totem pole.
The second type is legitimate security companies.
Usually operating under official registration, they offer protection to the paying stores by deploying security personnel.
If soone causes trouble in a store, they can muster dozens or even hundreds of security staff from nearby to dominate the scene, establishing regional cooperation.
This requires having enough authority and prestige in a certain area to get local businesses to accept their "security services."
Compared to the first type, this type is more upscale.
At least they’ve taken care of "risk control" and "compliance," providing social security benefits to their employees. You can’t really fault them, and they even get praised for reducing unemploynt and improving public order.
As for the third type... they are the more mysterious "big brothers," who, as they say, need no introduction.
Without a doubt, Hu Dazhi and his crew belong to the first type.
They employ the rogue tactics of splashing paint and smashing windows to intimidate bar owners into paying for peace.
Such thods generally target individually operated bars or KTVs with little backing power or support.
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