Early the next morning, a special guest arrived at the bookstore.
Hong Fei said with a beaming smile, "Ms. Mei, I'm very happy you could come. What would you like to drink? Coffee, juice, or milk?"
"Milk, hot or cold is fine, thank you." Mei's tone and smile kept people at a distance. Clearly, she didn't trust Hong Fei that much. Of course, Hong Fei preferred to believe this was a warning. She was warning this young man not to get any ideas. Hong Fei, of course, didn't overthink it. He genuinely believed Mei was well-suited to manage the bookstore.
Serving the warm milk, Hong Fei sat down and asked, "Ms. Mei, have you given it any thought?"
Hearing this, Mei didn't respond immediately. Instead, she asked, "Mr. Hong, may I know why you want me to manage this bookstore?"
"Of course." Hong Fei smiled and explained, "Because you have experience running a store. Although it wasn't a bookstore, I think the principles are largely the same. And to be honest, I don't have much interest in running a bookstore; it's just something my parents left behind, so I'm unwilling to close it down directly. Also, because of Peter—we are friends, so naturally, I would consider someone I know first."
Mei knew Peter liked Hong Fei, but she feared Peter didn't just see Hong Fei as a simple friend.
After a moment of silence, Mei nodded. "I am very willing to accept this position; that way, I will have more time to accompany Peter. Thank you."
Hong Fei immediately waved his hand happily. "Don't mention it. I should be the one thanking you for solving a big problem for me."
"Before I officially start, I'd like to know what kind of thoughts or expectations you have for the bookstore as the owner?"
Hong Fei shook his head. "No, none at all. Just as I said, I have no interest in running the bookstore, and even less in the way of ideas. Everything will be up to you. I will leave a sum of capital for you to use. Whether you want to keep it as it is or make major changes, it's all up to you. Do you think one million is enough?"
Mei was startled, but she quickly furrowed her brows and looked at Hong Fei vigilantly. "One million is too much. I don't think a bookstore needs that much startup capital."
"Then how much do you think is appropriate?"
Mei turned to look at the bookstore and shook her head: "I'm not sure yet. I can't give you a specific number."
"That's fine. You can think about it slowly after you officially join. There's no rush." After a thought, Hong Fei added, "By the way, there are rooms upstairs. Why don't I arrange a room for you and Peter? It's not smaller than where you currently live. This way, it'll be more convenient for you to work, and convenient for Peter to read."
Mei shook her head without hesitation: "No need, we are living quite well where we are now."
Hong Fei could tell at a glance that his enthusiasm might have made her suspicious.
But he really didn't have any unsavory intentions like that! "Mr. Hong, I need at least a week. I still need to hand over my current job. I will come on the first of next month."
"No problem."
Mei left briskly, and Hong Fei let out a heavy sigh. Mei didn't seem relaxed, and Master Hong wasn't either. Such a pretty widow was indeed attractive, but Hong Fei had no designs on her. At least not for now. He wanted to hire a shop assistant, and it just happened that Mei wanted to change jobs—it was a perfect match.
Having a plot-relevant character he knew well doing the job naturally made Hong Fei feel more at ease. After resolving this, Hong Fei closed the store and went upstairs to knock on Frank's door.
Frank opened the door and immediately said something unpleasant: "What are you here for?"
Hong Fei entered the room and sat down: "Did you see the news?"
"I don't have the leisure for that."
Hearing this, Hong Fei looked at the room full of guns, ammunition, and fitness equipment, and frowned: "Do you treat my place as a warehouse?"
Frank: "Say what you have to say."
"Fine. I'm here to tell you that Kingpin is back."
Frank immediately locked the door: "How do you know?"
"Of course, by watching the news. Didn't I tell you? In the public eye, he is a great philanthropist and spice merchant."
Frank sat down with a dark face: "What do you want to do?"
Hong Fei raised the corners of his mouth and smiled maliciously.
A long time later, Hong Fei left Frank's room and returned to the bookstore. Frank didn't stay long either; a few minutes later, he changed his clothes and left from the back of the building.
However, until past 11 PM, Hong Fei didn't wait for the person he wanted to see.
"Don't they want this land anymore?"
The person Hong Fei was waiting for was naturally Hall from Fisk Industries, that young man who had no lawyer's license but had a lawyer father. But this didn't seem to make sense. Hall was young and hot-headed; it didn't look like he had a good temper. Even if Fisk Industries changed their mind and didn't want the land, Hall certainly wouldn't easily let go of the grudge between him and Hong Fei. After all, Master Hong had humiliated him in front of a group of thugs.
Now that Kingpin, who went out to handle big business, was back, what was he still enduring? Why hadn't he brought people to smash up the shop yet?
Enduring his impatience, he waited for nearly another hour.
Time jumped to midnight, and Hong Fei sighed and stood up to close the door.
Before going upstairs to sleep, Hong Fei specifically activated the Eyes of Death to look at the churning Dragon Qi in the room, and only then did he comfortably fall asleep.
3:00 AM. Most of the city had fallen into darkness; this was the time when the vast majority of people were fast asleep.
Now that Kingpin, who went out to handle big business, was back, what was he still enduring?
However, at this very moment, Hong Fei was suddenly woken up by an unusual noise. His bedroom door had been opened. Soon, footsteps followed, uneven in weight—clearly, it wasn't just one person. Hong Fei nimbly rolled out of bed and turned on his phone to monitor the living room. Under night vision, three men were slowly pacing in the room. They didn't have firearms, but each was carrying a baseball bat. The key was that Hong Fei recognized the faces of a few of them; they had all accompanied Hall to the bookstore before.
After a moment of thought, Hong Fei turned off his phone and lay back down. Before long, the bedroom door was pushed open, and the three of them surrounded him. Hong Fei seemed to wake up suddenly from his dream, his eyelids fluttering slightly. The three men immediately swung their baseball bats.
Hong Fei scrambled to raise his hands in defense, throwing out a flurry of chaotic punches, only to be hit by the baseball bats and cry out in pain. Suddenly, his limbs were pinned down, and a towel with an irritating smell was instantly pressed over his nose and mouth.
Hong Fei immediately held his breath. After faking a struggle for a while, his movements quickly weakened until he fell unconscious. Subsequently, he was hoisted onto one person's shoulder, carried downstairs, and taken through the broken window of the bookstore into the alleyway. After twists and turns, he was shoved into a beat-up car. In the back seat, Hong Fei kept his eyes closed, letting his body sway left and right due to inertia. In his mind, a clear driving trajectory was gradually taking shape on a complete map of New York.
About forty minutes later, the vehicle began to slow down and slowly came to a stop. The route on the map was complete. Hong Fei continued to be carried inside by someone. Not long after, he was thrown onto a chair, his body tightly bound with ropes.