At four o'clock in the afternoon, Lin Jiangbei took a taxi to the Licha Hotel, and he planned to go to the pachinko room of the Licha Hotel in advance to familiarize himself with the situation and make some preparations for coming to investigate Araki Oi in the evening.

At this time, his identity was already the manure contractor of Ma Hung Kee's firm on Beishan West Road in the public concession, and the price was to pay Ma Hung Kee a monthly contract fee of 1,000 fiat currency.

When he arrived at the Licha Hotel, Lin Jiangbei paid the fare, stepped out of the car, and a doorman greeted him and opened the glass door for him diligently.

"Where's the pachinko room?" Lin Jiangbei casually stuffed a piece of fiat currency tip for the doorman.

The doorman couldn't help but be overjoyed, and hurriedly said, "Over there, boss, I'll lead you over!" ”

Under the guidance of the doorman, Lin Jiangbei walked through the modern dance hall on the first floor with bright colors and classical style, which can accommodate hundreds of dancers, and walked along the wide rotating marble escalator to the pachinko room on the second floor.

This is a large and spacious house, and when Lin Jiangbei has not yet entered, he has already heard the crisp sound of marbles colliding. After entering the room, I saw many long platforms of purple wood lined up, and bright sunlight shone in through the spacious floor-to-ceiling glass windows, illuminating the pachinko table in every detail. Standing at the gate, Lin Jiangbei could clearly see the clear details such as the diamond-shaped luodian embedded on the top of the pinball table. The marbles stand straight on the wall next to them.

On the wall next to each pachinko stand, there is a row of clothes hooks nailed to the wall for guests to hang their clothes. Next to the clothes hook, there is also a wall clock, and under the wall clock, there is also an abacus hanging horizontally, and the staff in charge of counting the pachinko room are standing upright next to the abacus, waiting to count the guests.

However, at this time, there were almost no customers in the pachinko room, except for a table in the center that looked like a wealthy businessman in his thirties and was accompanied by a pachinko room staff to play marble, the rest of the pachinko tables were empty.

Seeing the doorman leading Lin Jiangbei in, the manager of the pachinko room standing at the door greeted him.

"Manager Wu, this boss is coming over to play marble, you can entertain you!" The doorman introduced Lin Jiangbei to Xiao Wu, the staff member of the pachinko room, and then bowed to Lin Jiangbei again, and then turned to leave.

Manager Wu's eyes couldn't help but light up when he saw this!

The doorman of the Licha Hotel is no better than the doorman of other hotels, all of them are well-informed, although the boss in front of him is young, but to be able to make the doorman so respectful, it must be generous.

He also hurriedly bowed to Lin Jiangbei and said, "Boss, welcome!" Do you want to play with you or teach you to fight? ”

Lin Jiangbei smiled faintly and asked, "How do you say to accompany the beating, how to say the teaching beating?" ”

"If it's a sparring fight, it's our pachinko room staff who will accompany you. Only one yuan per disc is charged. If you want to teach how to play, then the staff of our pachinko room is also responsible for teaching you how to play in the process of accompanying you. Manager Wu said respectfully.

"Are there only those two ways to play?" Lin Jiangbei said.

"There is also a way to play, that is, two guests make an appointment with each other, and whoever loses the fight will pay the pachinko fee." Manager Wu said, "But generally you need to wait until the evening when there are many customers. During the day, there are few customers, and it is usually accompanied by the staff of our pachinko room. ”

Lin Jiangbei nodded, pointed to the pachinko in the center, and said, "Okay, I know." I'm going to watch a game first, and then I'm going to ask your staff to play with me. ”

"Return, boss, please!" Manager Wu stepped aside sideways and made a gesture of please.

Lin Jiangbei walked to the central pachinko table, held his hands behind his back, and watched.

At this time, it was the turn of the pachinko room clerk who was playing with him to hit the ball. While bowing his head and carrying the marble rod, he said to the rich businessman in his early thirties with a smile: "Young Master Dai, look, if I can't hit the No. 3 ball into the hole with this rod, then I won't have the face to play with you Young Master Dai anymore!" ”

As he spoke, he shrank his pinball rod and struck it quickly. I saw that the white cue ball flew straight out, cutting to the side of the No. 3 red ball, and with a crisp sound of crackling, the No. 3 red ball rolled into the bottom pocket on the right.

"Beautiful!" The rich merchant stood aside and clapped his hands. He wore a leather robe of light satin, and the left sleeve was pulled up to his wrist, revealing the fine gray squirrel lining. When applauding, the gold ring on the ring finger of the left hand with a large jade ring face is particularly eye-catching.

"Pretty what? It's not that Master Dai let me! ”

As he spoke, the pachinko clerk turned around and dialed a sunspot on the abacus under the wall clock. Then he picked up the pachinko again and leaned over the table, ready to hit the four-ball.

It's a pity that this time his performance was relatively poor, the pachinko rod was compared for most of the day, and the ball that was finally hit was weak, and after touching the front of the No. 4 ball, it stopped moving, and the No. 4 ball rolled slightly in front of it, and it happened to be caught on the side of the table.

"Xiao Fan," Young Master Dai smiled and said, "Your elbows are raised too high, which affects your strength. If you can press your elbow down, the ball won't be like this! ”

"What Young Master Dai taught me is that I must pay attention to the next one!" Xiao Fan smiled, stepped aside, and let Young Master Dai hit the ball.

Young Master Dai was about to hit the ball with a marble, but he saw Lin Yuanfang standing aside, so he stopped, looked at Lin Yuanfang and said, "This boss, look at the noodles!" First time? ”

"First time!" Lin Yuanfang nodded.

"Why don't we make an appointment?" Young Master Dai looked at Lin Yuanfang, "It's not too big, in addition to the pachinko fee, pay attention to a ten-yuan bet on a game, what do you think?" ”

Lin Jiangbei shook his head with a smile, pointed at Xiao Fan with his finger, and said, "Even the staff in the pachinko room can't beat you, how dare I fight you?" ”

"Haha, do you really believe that Xiao Fan can't beat me?" Young Master Dai couldn't help laughing and said, "He was afraid that I would not be able to earn my desk fee if I was angry, so he deliberately let me do it!" He is the number one master in the pachinko room of the Licha Hotel, and if he really wants to fight, neither of them is his opponent! ”

When Lin Jiangbei heard Young Master Dai say this, he knew that Young Master Dai was a frequent visitor to the pachinko room of the Licha Hotel, so he had the heart to befriend him, so he nodded and said, "When Young Master Dai said this, I have a little confidence." Okay, when you finish this game, I'll accompany Young Master Dai for two games! ”

Young Master Dai originally casually told Lin Jiangbei that he didn't expect Lin Jiangbei to really make an appointment with him, after all, the ten-yuan marble gambling game is not something that anyone can afford to gamble, but he didn't expect Lin Jiangbei to agree.

So he stretched out the marble rod to flick the marbles on the table, and said to Xiao Fan: "Xiao Fan, I lost this plan." Give us marbles! ”

"Okay, Young Master Dai!" Xiao Fan answered, immediately leaned the marble rod against the wall, reached out and took out all the marble from the bag of the pachinko table, and then leaned over the table and pushed it with both hands, a beautiful triangle composed of fifteen marble was already placed, and the No. 8 black ball was located right in the center of this regular triangle.

After setting up the marble, Xiao Fan picked up the towel next to him and wiped his hands, bowed to Lin Jiangbei, took Lin Jiangbei's hat and scarf and hung them on the clothes hook next to him, and then asked Lin Jiangbei diligently: "What kind of tea does the boss drink?" Longjing or incense? ”

"Longjing!" Lin Jiangbei nodded.

Xiao Fan turned his head and shouted to Manager Wu standing at the gate: "Manager Wu, there is a pot of Longjing on the ninth platform!" ”

"Great!" Manager Wu agreed at the door, and then instructed a staff member next to him to make Longjing tea for Lin Jiangbei.

Here, Xiao Fan turned around and explained the rules of the pachinko game to Lin Jiangbei: "Boss, according to the rules of the battle between the guests of our pachinko room, in addition to paying the winner the agreed amount of bets, the loser must also pay us a pachinko fee of one yuan per game in the pachinko room. ”

"In addition, before the start of each game, the guests also need to hand over the bets of that game to our pachinko room for safekeeping. In order to avoid disputes after the end of the game, the loser cannot take out the bet. ”

"Hehe, understand, understand!" Lin Jiangbei nodded, reached out and took out a stack of thick banknotes from his wallet, and casually took out a ten-yuan bill from it and handed it to Xiao Fan.

When Young Master Dai saw the thick stack of banknotes in Lin Jiangbei's hand, he couldn't help but sigh lightly in his heart, and quickly came to his estimation in his heart: at least more than 1,000 yuan.

You must know that as the eldest young master of the Dai Shengchang Steamship Company, he usually has a maximum of four or five hundred yuan in cash in his wallet. The young man in front of him, who is in his early twenties at most, can easily find thousands of yuan in bills from his wallet, what is his origin?

Xiao Fan's eyes lit up even more when he saw the banknote in Lin Jiangbei's hand. His attitude became more and more respectful, he stretched out his hands to take the banknote from Lin Jiangbei's hand, and said in his mouth: "May I ask the boss's surname?" ”

"Xu, double Xu." Lin Jiangbei replied.

"Okay, I received ten yuan from Boss Xu!"

Xiao Fan took the banknote in his hand, turned around and said to Young Master Dai, "Young Master Dai, your bet." ”

Young Master Dai also reached out and took out a ten-yuan fiat currency and handed it to Xiao Fan. Xiao Fan also took the banknote in his hand, bowed to Lin Jiangbei and Young Master Dai, and said, "Boss Xu, Young Master Dai, you can start!" ”

"Wait a minute!" Lin Jiangbei said to Xiao Fan, "It's the first time I've come to your marbleroom, so please introduce me to the rules of marblework in your marbleroom, so as not to have any misunderstanding." ”

"Okay, okay, then I'll introduce you to Boss Xu!" Xiao Fan said: "The rules are very simple, that is, the bullets from one to seven are called panchromatic marbles, and the marbles from No. 9 to fifteen are called two-color marbles. After the two guests decided on the suit, ......"

After listening to this, Lin Jiangbei found that the rules here were similar to those in the pachinko room in Hangzhou, only some details such as the placement of the cue ball, free throws, and combos were different, so he nodded and said, "Okay, I understand!" It's time to get started! ”

So Xiao Fan took out a coin and asked Lin Jiangbei and Young Master Dai to guess the pros and cons, and in the end, Young Master Dai won, and he kicked off first.

So Young Master Dai picked up a piece of powder, wiped the head of the marble, and then put the white cue ball in place, leaned down, set up the scaffold, and used a high rod hitting method, snapped the ground, and vigorously hit the cue ball out.

After the cue ball knocked the triangular marble pile apart, it crashed into it again, and with a crashing sound, I saw the panchromatic No. 5 marble fall into the bottom pocket.

"Master Dai's target ball is a panchromatic marble." Xiao Fan said as he tossed a bead on the abacus under the wall clock frame.

"Good rod method!" Lin Jiangbei shouted hello next to him, "Young Master Dai is really extraordinary!" ”

"Hehe, it's just luck!" Young Master Dai took the marble rod and glanced in the direction of the No. 1 marble, while thinking about how to use the No. 9 two-color marble to make a second pass into the bag, he asked Lin Jiangbei as if very casually: "Where did Boss Dare Xu make his fortune?" ”

"Hehe, what a fortune!" Lin Jiangbei shook his head with a smile and said, "The younger brother just arrived in Shanghai, and he was lucky to have a road in Ma Hongji!" ”

"Ah, Boss Xu is Sister Gui's subordinate?" Young Master Dai stopped his rod and glanced at Lin Jiangbei.

You must know that although digging and dumping manure is a cheap business, the status of these dung tyrants who contract the dung bucket and dung channel is not low. Especially in the Public Concession and the French Concession, these dung heads and dung tyrants are almost treated as uncles.

Why? There is no other reason, but interests.

Regardless of whether it is in the French Concession or the Public Concession, the fecal disposal contract fee paid by the dung head and dung tyrant is a very important source of financial revenue for the French Concession Public Board of Directors and the Public Concession Ministry of Industry. In 1935, the contract fee for the treatment of feces collected was as high as more than 300,000 yuan, accounting for almost 90 percent of the expenditure of the Ministry of Industry and the Health Department of the Public Concession.

Therefore, both the Public Board of Directors of the French Concession and the Ministry of Industry of the Public Concession attach great importance to this source of income, and in order to ensure the stability of this source of income, both the French Concession and the Public Concession have even enacted special legislation to explicitly "prohibit the construction of any connecting facilities by public or individuals to discharge feces into drainage pipes." It is forbidden to build or use flush toilets, septic tanks, cisterns, and permanent containers for storing sewage or feces. ”

These rules are so strict that even foreigners and foreign companies who want to build flush toilets will be strictly prohibited, and once found, not only will the flush toilets be removed, but also heavy fines will be imposed.

One of the situations brought about by this is that the status of the dung head and dung tyrant in the concession is particularly high, and the foreign patrols in the patrol room must be respectful and respectful when they see it, and they dare not slack off easily.

Therefore, when Young Master Dai heard that Lin Yuanfang had contracted a road in Ma Hongji, instead of disliking Lin Jiangbei for engaging in a cheap business, he took a look at it.

"Don't dare, it's just a road contracted in Sister Gui's hands, and I don't dare to say that it's Sister Gui's subordinates." Lin Jiangbei replied modestly, and then asked, "I don't know where Young Master Dai is?" ”

"Me?" Young Master Dai smiled and said, "I'm idle, I don't have any career, I rely on my family to support him." ”

Xiao Fan heard what Young Master Dai said, and hurriedly said playfully: "Boss Xu, Young Master Dai is the young owner of Dai Shengchang Steamship Company. ”

"The Hoopoe Chang Steamship Company?" Lin Jiangbei's heart shook slightly. He really didn't expect that he would come to the pachinko room of the Licha Hotel in advance to feel the situation and hit such a big fish!

Wonderful Book House