Compared with the bustling central area, the Anshan area of Shengjing looks like a country village. The main buildings are gray bungalows, and there are a large number of shanty towns scattered among them.
Lu Ming, Sun Jingjun and Yuan Keli were all at the "Shun Xiang Donkey Meat Restaurant" on the main street Santai Street. Gao Dali treated them to a meal, but his brother Gao Xiaoli did not come.
It's a very small restaurant with only four or five tables and not even a private room.
This was probably the first time Gao Dali had eaten at a restaurant since he was a child, even though in the eyes of others, this was a small and low-class restaurant that could not be any smaller.
His lawsuit did not end in vain with Horton being thrown into prison and Guanglifa being confiscated.
A few days ago, the Black Mountain Concession Court ruled that Gao Dali won the case, and that Guanglifa’s boss Horton should apologize in the newspaper for discriminating against Anshan people, and that Guanglifa must pay Gao Dali 796 yuan as compensation for the psychological trauma caused to Mr. Gao Dali.
Although he could not get the money, Gao Dali was still very happy. He gritted his teeth and decided to treat his brother's classmate, the mysterious Mr. Zhang Aming, to dinner. At the same time, he also invited his brother's classmates in his small circle to join them.
But I didn’t expect that my brother would get so angry and say something happened early in the morning and then he disappeared.
Today the table is full of the main dishes of this small restaurant, including braised donkey meat, three donkey pieces, stir-fried donkey tripe, braised donkey liver, etc.
Today, the cost of wine and food is about 1 yuan. Gao Dali used to earn only 10 yuan a month, and he had to pay half of his salary to the Anshan District Administration for "labor introduction fees". This is the case for all Anshan workers. Half of their salary must be handed over. Despite this, being able to work in Shengjing is like heaven for Anshan people. Gao Dali's village is all smuggled in. If they are shot to death when crossing the barbed wire, their death will be in vain. After they can come in, Anshan will basically no longer pay attention to them. However, if they cannot find a job and do not pay the labor introduction fee, they will still be repatriated, and they will be repatriated as smuggled criminals. Going back will be a tragic fate of going to prison and doing hard work for the rest of their lives.
Gao Dali's new job is to work as a security guard in a building in the Black Mountain Concession, with a monthly salary of 20 yuan. Compared with his previous salary, the treatment is very different.
Talking about this, Lu Ming smiled and said, "Brother Dali, you're about to get your first month's salary, right? Let's move to the Concession District. You don't have to pay half of your salary to Anshan District. Although the rent in the Concession District is a bit higher, you can rent a small single room for 5 yuan, which is much better than your current environment. You will also have more money left in your hands, don't you think?"
Gao Dali smiled innocently, "That being said, I really can't bear to leave my neighbors, and, when I report my salary..." He looked around and said nothing more.
Lu Ming just smiled: "Brother Dali, I didn't expect you to be so cunning." It seems that the salary that Gao Dali reported to the Anshan Labor Management Office was only about 10 yuan. The building was managed by Donghai management talents who were naturalized in Montenegro. They must find the cruelty of labor exploitation in Anshan District unbelievable, and they were happy to help him issue a lower salary certificate. That position is not in a factory with hundreds or thousands of workers as a reference, so it is really difficult for outsiders to find out how much the salary is.
Gao Dali scratched his head, smiled a little embarrassedly, and raised his glass: "Ah Ming, thank you so much." He glanced at Lu Ming's side, his face flushed, but as the host, he still had to say: "Can you have some tea? Why not some drinks?"
Sitting next to Lu Ming was Margaret. He came to Anshan District to attend Gao Dali's banquet, and brought her along to deal with the opium matters here.
Margaret wore a shiny silver professional suit, revealing a pair of slender snow-white legs, and black-rimmed cream high heels. Her figure was extremely attractive, and with her British-style bright red long hair, the cold and elegant girl had a unique kind of wild beauty that was captivating.
But in front of Lu Ming, she had already lowered her proud head. She had also been punished by Grandma Tuolong for wearing the black gauze pajamas with a hole in the belly and had to accept a very humiliating job in the future. Inevitably, she had degraded herself in front of this man, because after accepting the job, she knew that in this man's eyes, she was not even a woman at all, but just an item like a hot pack, only more useful and more comfortable than a hot pack.
She ignored Gao Dali's words at first, but when she saw Lu Ming looking at her, she said reluctantly, "I'll just drink some tea."
In fact, he didn't even touch it. The teacup was covered with yellow tea stains, which was disgusting to look at, let alone drinking from it with his lips.
The dishes were even worse, they were all so black that I couldn't tell what the ingredients were, especially the one called "Three Donkeys", which looked a little off no matter how I looked at it.
"Brother Dali, don't pay attention to her. She brought some snacks." Lu Ming smiled at Gao Dali and raised his glass to clink with Gao Dali.
After thinking for a while, he said, "Brother Dali, you still have to claim the nearly 800 yuan in compensation awarded by the court. Didn't the lawyer from Gigi's firm talk to you?"
Gao Dali said nothing. How could he ask for the money? Especially Guanglifa, which was now owned by Lord An. Lord An was famous for eating meat without spitting out bones. He was greedy by nature. How could he want to pick out some meat scraps from the meat he was chewing
Although the lawyer from Jiji Law Firm said that they could apply to the court, Guanglifa will still have to bear the penalties resulting from the loss of the lawsuit.
But when I think about the fact that it’s unlikely that I’ll win, and I’ll have to pay for the lawyer’s fees, and my life is pretty good now, so I’d better forget it.
Seeing Gao Dali's expression, Lu Ming smiled and said, "Okay, Brother Dali, you can do whatever you want." He had helped him enough. Although fundamentally, it was to find a fulcrum for the Montenegrin Court to intervene in the affairs here, but no matter what, he also helped Gao Dali. He had done enough, and it would be his own choice in the future.
"Aming, are you coming to school these days?" Sun Jingjun asked.
Lu Ming smiled and said, "Let's see."
Sun Jingjun and Yuan Keli didn't talk much. They saw that the beautiful Western girl beside Lu Ming had changed, and she was also very arrogant. She seemed to be more afraid of A Ming than the servants. Sun Jingjun and Yuan Keli no longer had any feelings. They just knew in their hearts that they were actually very far away from this "good friend" and were not from the same world at all.
"Brother Dali, there are a lot of opium dens in Anshan District, right?" Lu Ming pondered. "There should be 200,000 to 300,000 laborers and illegal workers in Anshan. I wonder what percentage of them smoke opium."
Gao Dali said: "A fellow villager of mine is addicted. He spends all the money he earns on the opium den. There's no way to persuade him." He shook his head and sighed.
"Camel, Three Battery, cigarettes and matches!" A little girl came in from outside with a cigarette holder hanging around her neck. If the cigarette holder was fully unfolded, it would probably be taller than her and looked very funny.
The lady boss at the counter wanted to drive her away: "Go away, no one is buying here."
The girl kept shaking her head at the lady boss, "Sixth Aunt, I, I'll go to the backyard to see if anyone is buying anything."
The lady boss was frowning and saying, "You girl, today..."
"Mr. Wang San is chasing me..." the little girl clasped her hands together and pleaded with the proprietress, looking pitiful.
After hearing this, the proprietress waved her hand and said, "Then let's go to the backyard."
The girl had just entered the back door and the curtain was still shaking when a buck-toothed man wearing a black silk shirt and carrying a box gun came in from outside, cursing, "The more you call me, the more you run away! I still owe you money for cigarettes?" When he came in, he didn't see the smoking girl and cursed, "Where is that little bastard Sanhong?" His eyes suddenly fixed on Margaret and immediately lit up.
Gao Dali whispered, "This is Mr. Wang Sanye, from the detective team, he often hangs around this street..."
Wang San was already staggering over. In the past, when he saw a Western beauty, he would naturally take a detour. But now it was different. Besides, there was no danger of offending a Western woman who came to this shabby little restaurant to eat.
"Who are you guys? Take out your residence permits!" As Wang San spoke, his eyes were fixed on Margaret's snow-white and cold face.
Margaret turned her head away in disgust.
Lu Ming casually took out his work ID and waved it at Wang San. "Your last name is Wang? I'm from the Black Mountain Concession Security Bureau. I want to ask you something. Do you know Wang Zhengtong, who is also known as Wang Ershanren?"
Wang San was stunned and looked at Lu Ming, who was in student uniform. He could see that the other men, who looked strong and clumsy, and students, seemed a little afraid of him, but this one was different. Although the work ID in his hand was not unfolded and was being put back into his pocket, the black mountain pattern on the blue cover seemed to be a work ID from the Montenegro Concession.
After hesitating for a moment, he said, "I know him. He's my second cousin..."
Lu Ming nodded, "Thank you for showing me the way later. I have something to discuss with him. Let's eat now. I'll open a table for you. You can eat while waiting for me." He said to the counter, "Serve Brother Wang San his favorite food and a pound of good wine."
Wang San was a little dizzy, but when he heard that he could eat and drink whatever he wanted, he grinned and said, "Okay, okay." He shouted to the counter proprietress, "Laoliu's, give me some solid dishes! Five more donkey meat hot pots, if I can't finish them, I'll pack them up. Also! That Liulianghe, give me the best one!"