Chapter 205 Rebellion
As the sun was setting, the Lei family villa suddenly became lively. Groups of Black Panther Gang members began to gather on the grass. In just a quarter of an hour, they were crowded. They seemed to be worried and did not chat. They all held their necks high, as if they were waiting for someone.
Lei Xiaohu accidentally looked up and noticed the situation in the yard. His face darkened a little and he said to Uncle Bao, "Didn't we tell them to just go ahead and not gather? What's the point of them showing up here?"
Uncle Bao was stunned and said, "I have passed on your order. Could it be that they misunderstood it?"
Lei Xiaohu stood up and was about to go out, when at this moment a middle-aged man with a mustache walked slowly into the courtyard. Others greeted him as if they were relieved. The man with a mustache just nodded at them and chatted with some middle-level leaders. Behind him were the Twelve Stick Flowers of the Black Panther Gang.
Seeing this, Lei Xiaohu became even more angry and said, "Nonsense! Why did the third brother come here too?"
Little Moustache is the third person in the Black Panther Gang, so the elders call him "Old Third" and the younger brothers call him Third Brother or Third Master. Uncle Bao has always been by Lei Xiaohu's side, equivalent to a think tank, mainly responsible for the work behind the scenes. Usually, Old Third leads any major operations, and the Twelve Stick Flowers are directly under his leadership. It can be said that he is the one who holds the real power. It was he who took the lead in blocking Zhang Nianzu in Lao Jiang's bar last time.
The mustache man calmed down the restless crowd and walked into the house with seven or eight middle-level members of the Black Panther Gang. Lei Xiaohu simply sat down and waited for them to give him an explanation.
As soon as the mustache boy entered the room, Uncle Bao blamed him: "Did I not make my words clear? Brother Tiger meant for you to act directly!"
The man with a small mustache lowered his hands and said, "It's clear." The seven or eight people behind him stood in order, not even daring to breathe.
Lei Xiaohu snorted and said , "Then you don't know the way?"
The man with the mustache stood facing him and said in a very humble tone: "Brother Tiger, some brothers don't want to participate in today's operation."
"I don't want to..." Lei Xiaohu stood up fiercely and said, "What do you mean?"
The man with the mustache lowered his head and looked at the upper of his shoes. He said in the tone of a primary school student who had been criticized by his teacher, "Recently, there have been fights in the gang all the time. The brothers can't take it anymore..."
Lei Xiaohu also knew that something had happened in the gang. He sneered and said, "Oh, what do you mean?"
The man with the mustache turned around and glanced at the people behind him, and continued, "Everyone is just trying to make a living, and they don't want to waste time and money."
Uncle Bao shouted, "You are planning a rebellion! Have you discussed this before?"
Lei Xiaohu said: "Third brother, I usually treat you well. You are using the name of the Black Panther Gang to make extra money. Do you think I don't know? But I turned a blind eye to it because you are my brother--"
Uncle Bao suddenly realized, "I understand. The problem is that Brother Tiger treats you too well. I've heard that your Third Uncle runs a casino and an underground lottery outside. You have everything the Black Panther Gang has. You rely on Brother Tiger to let you go. Now that you've grown wings, do you want to fly solo?"
The man with the mustache raised his head and looked at him, "That's not the case. If it weren't for Brother Tiger's aggressive behavior, I wouldn't have wanted to take the lead."
"Warmongering?" Lei Xiaohu was so angry that he wanted to laugh. "Can you write these words?"
The man with the mustache said slowly, "I know what we do, but brothers are out here just to make money. Fighting and killing are outdated. Besides, Brother Tiger, have you won any battles recently?"
Uncle Bao shouted, "How dare you!"
Lei Xiaohu nodded slowly and said, "I was wondering whether the reason for the recent defeats was because the soldiers were inferior to the enemy or the generals were inferior to the enemy. It turns out it's neither. Liu Bei's Five Tiger Generals all want to rebel. How the hell can he win? You are in the Han camp but your hearts are with Cao!"
The man with a mustache simply agreed.
Lei Xiaohu glared at the middle-level executives behind him and said, "You have discussed this a long time ago, right?"
Those people didn't say anything. It was obvious that this was the truth. Even the younger brothers in the yard had received the news in advance. They said that whether they were demonstrating or forcing the emperor to abdicate, they just didn't want to follow Lei Xiaohu anymore.
Lei Xiaohu asked the little mustache: "Did Thirteen Spices give you any benefits?"
The man with the mustache said, "No, I only have a few dollars thanks to other people's charity. I am not that greedy."
Lei Xiaohu then asked, "Are you here today to make me give up my position or to simply remove this thorn in your side?"
Lei Tingting heard some noise in the hall and stood quietly upstairs looking down.
The mustache-faced man smiled indifferently and said, "How dare we? Brother Tiger, just don't push us too hard. We will still be your little brothers and you will always be the boss of the Black Panther Gang."
Lei Xiaohu waved his hands fiercely and shouted, "Don't! Everyone present here today, once you leave this door, don't say you are from the Black Panther Gang anymore. I, Lei Xiaohu, will pretend that you brothers have never existed. When we meet in the martial arts world in the future, no one needs to give each other face!"
The mustache guy was too lazy to pretend anymore and said lazily, "Whatever you say is what it is."
Lei Xiaohu asked coldly: "When did it happen?"
The mustache guy was stunned and asked, "What?"
Lei Xiaohu said: "You have been thinking about rebellion for a long time. I don't believe that you are breaking up with me just because you are afraid of fighting with others."
The man with the mustache hesitated for a moment and said, "Now that we've come to this, I'd like to give you some advice, Brother Tiger. The reason we're out here is to make money. The environment was different back then. It was in the interests of the society to kill anyone who tried to steal our food. But now stability and development are the only thing that matters. The cost of fighting is too high. In the past, people were poor and wild. Killing someone was not a big deal. It was just a matter of saying 'this is a bad social atmosphere'. But now if you break someone's nose it's considered a serious incident. There are cameras everywhere on the street. After you've killed someone, the police will block you at your door. Who among you is willing to take this risk?"
Lei Xiaohu laughed and said, "So I'm behind the times. I don't understand one thing. Even if you want to work alone in the future, you have to be able to hold your own. Shisanxiang has taken advantage of the situation and destroyed the Black Panther Gang's prestige. If you choose to quit now, aren't you afraid of being bullied by them in the future?"
The little mustache said, "The business that Shisanxiang used to run did not conflict with us. I heard that they now want to switch to doing something that makes money quickly, so there will be no conflict with us in the future. If they want to grab the temporary glory, let them grab it. Fighting to the death for a breath of air will not benefit either side."
Lei Xiaohu said: "It seems that the two of you have already known each other for a long time."
The man with the mustache did not comment, and said, "Brother Hu, if there is nothing else, we will leave. Some of the gang's properties that you were not able to show up in the past are registered under the names of some brothers. We have worked hard over the years without any credit, so just consider it as your share. Anyway, with your wealth, you will not be without money for the rest of your life, right?"
Uncle Bao gritted his teeth and said, "Do you think you can walk out of this door after saying all these things to Brother Hu?" If Lei Xiaohu hadn't been talking, he would have been ready to rush forward. Uncle Bao was an old-fashioned man of the world, and he still believed in the idea that the master should be humiliated and the servant should be killed.
Lei Xiaohu waved his hand at him. He was a half-hero after all, and he knew how to deal with the situation. If it was Xiao Huzi's personal behavior today, he would never retreat even if Xiao Huzi put a gun to his head. But now most of the gang members have changed their minds, Lei Xiaohu just felt discouraged, and it was meaningless to fight hard at this time.
The man with the mustache was waiting for Lei Xiaohu to make a decision. Forcing the emperor to abdicate was a one-time deal regardless of success or failure, so they had naturally made careful preparations and had sufficient response plans for both war and peace.
At this time, Lei Tingting, who was standing upstairs, suddenly said, "Go away, the Lei family doesn't welcome you."
Seeing that Lei Xiaohu had no objection, the man with a mustache walked out of the room with his men. He waved his hand again, and those men followed him out without a trace. It was not known whether they were intimidated by Lei Xiaohu's residual power or because they were in a complicated mood, but no one spoke during the whole process and they all left in silence.
