Chapter 167: Pros and Cons

Chapter 167: Gains and Losses

Eighteen Stairs Slum, in a small courtyard.

He Zangjia dragged a stool and sat in the empty courtyard, head raised, staring at the pitch-black night sky devoid of starlight, lost in a daze.

At this moment, a man walked in with quick steps, and said respectfully to He Zangjia: "Boss, Zhou You's in trouble."

"As expected,"

He Zangjia wore an 'I-knew-it' expression, let out a long sigh, "This kid has suffered plenty these past years, but in the end, he's still too young. When something concerns him personally, his hot blood still rushes to his head."

As for Zhou You's trouble, He Zangjia had long anticipated it.

Ever since that rainy night Zhou You returned to the casino, the whole man had been in a state of absent-mindedness; anyone who wasn't blind could see he had something on his mind.

Even the next day, Zhou You seemed to have evaporated from the world, appearing neither at the casino nor at home.

The casino, accustomed to Zhou You presiding over the big picture, was suddenly leaderless; the motley crew of subordinates immediately reported these anomalies to He Zangjia.

With He Zangjia's mind, it was naturally not hard to guess that the youth had likely encountered some upheaval to become like this.

However, knowing Zhou You's personality, unless the other party spoke up voluntarily, he himself could never pry a thing or two from Zhou You's mouth.

So He Zangjia feigned ignorance on the surface, but secretly sent men to tail him, closely monitoring Zhou You's every move.

He Zangjia looked up at his subordinate, "Who did he provoke this time? Was it those bald donkeys from Luohan Temple?"

The man's expression turned a bit strange upon hearing this, he nodded: "The men below saw him take a gun and hold a guest monk hostage, barging into Luohan Temple."

"Hold a guest monk hostage? What kind of play is this? The money I gave him should have been enough to repay the merit debt he owed, was there a need to take such a desperate gamble?"

He Zangjia's face showed shock, he raised a hand to stroke his chin, pondered briefly, and already guessed the gist.

"Looks like those damn bald donkeys have started thinking about 'eating the whole household' again."

The 'eating the whole household' in He Zangjia's mouth was not entirely the same as the common meaning, but its misery was by no means lesser.

In temples where 'Incense Money' was the main business, guest monks would categorize different levels based on the borrower's strength, thereby signing different contracts.

For those with great families and businesses, or a certain social status, wanting to borrow from the Buddhist gates, they only needed to mortgage their own assets.

The interest merit demanded wasn't too high either, comparatively speaking, it was still considered conscientious.

But if it were those solitary wretches, alone in the world, with nothing of value on them, wanting to borrow from the Buddhist gates, there was only one way: mortgage themselves.

In this situation, the contracts they signed with the temple not only demanded exorbitant merit, but also imposed severe restrictions.

The most crucial clause being: during the period the temple's merit principal was not repaid, the right of disposal over the collateral belonged entirely to the temple.

To put it bluntly: as long as they didn't kill the person outright, they could do whatever they wanted.

So usually the temple would use Buddhist secret arts to link the collateral's brain to the Buddha Realm, serving as the foundation for karmic computing power.

And the so-called 'eating the whole household' usually occurred in this lowest tier of contracts.

Guest monks responsible for collecting merit would, to make up for their performance, pile merit debts onto the debtor for all sorts of reasons.

Once they had sucked the other party dry, leaving no value whatsoever, they would hand the debt over to the warrior monks raised by the temple.

What came next—slicing flesh or scraping bone—depended on what valuable things remained on the debtor.

Such things were nothing new in the mixed-bag Chongqing Prefecture, after all, human life was the cheapest thing here.

Especially the lives of the poor, without power or influence.

"This kid's temper is fierce enough, daring to go snatch someone from Luohan Temple. Is he born this bold, or has he gone mad?"

He Zangjia frowned tightly, his expression exceptionally grave.

Zhou You was definitely done for, there was no doubt about it.

You see, this Luohan Temple might not be a major Buddhist temple, but to take root in the Central Yu District where every inch of land is gold, the big tree behind it probably has lush branches and deep roots.

Although in scale it still couldn't compare to the Sichuan-Chongqing Gambling Association, they won in unity of purpose, unlike the Association with its rampant factions and frequent infighting.

If these bald donkeys could have their collateral snatched away by a brat who hadn't even entered a Sequence, they would have been driven out long ago.

"This matter is troublesome, these bald donkeys of Luohan Temple are no easy characters to provoke."

But He Zangjia knew in his heart he couldn't just sit by and watch Zhou You have his head taken, stuffed into a pagoda, to serve as a computing base.

Not to mention he originally thought highly of this youth. Just saying, if Zhou You died because of this, the only link between him and Li Jun would be severed.

Then, wanting to deal with this Martial Seven Lone Tyrant again, they could only talk interests, not feelings.

Based on his interactions with Li Jun during this time, to make the other party act to help him at a critical moment, interests were far less effective than feelings.

"I finally got a chance to raise my standing, how could I let these bald donkeys ruin it? The man must be saved!"

He Zangjia had made up his mind.

"But this time Luohan Temple has had its reverse scale touched, if I, with my 'Civil Plaque Tiger Head' status, go straight to their door to demand someone, I'll likely only get a cold shoulder."

"If it's ransoming with money, those bald donkeys who've fallen into money eyes probably won't refuse. But without seeing some blood, the effect probably won't be too good."

Thinking to this point, He Zangjia turned to his subordinate: "Go prepare three million in cash, exchange it for Money House cards."

The man froze, "Boss, you're going to ransom him?"

"Zhou You is our brother too, how can we not save him?"

"But you don't need that much money."

"Who said I'm giving those bald donkeys money? This is for emergencies when things go wrong."

The man, confused, "Emergencies?"

"I told you to go, so go. What are you blabbering for?"

He Zangjia barked a rebuke, and the man scrambled out.

Just as the man was about to rush out the door, He Zangjia suddenly called out to stop him.

"In one hour, go to the Peace Hotel on Hongya Mountain, find a man named Li Jun."

He Zangjia said in a deep voice: "Tell him both I and Zhou You have been detained by Luohan Temple people, tell him to hurry up and save us."

Though the man didn't understand what his boss meant by these words, he still agreed muffledly and left in a hurry.

Only when He Zangjia was left alone in the small courtyard did he sway to his feet.

"These bastards, 'eating the whole household' actually onto Zhou You's head, they're truly courting death."

He Zangjia chuckled to himself, "I've endured you lot for a long time. This time, I'll take the chance to chop off a few more heads, consider it me venting for those you've killed."