A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Chapter 974 Ru Meng Agrees to Arrange a Cooperation Between Longxing and Wu Mingqiang

"So you agreed?" Wu Mingqiang asked hurriedly. Gui'er was right. It was too dangerous for him to deal with Ouyang Bao all by himself. It would be better to find his enemy and use his strength against him.

"How could I dare? You know how ruthless Ouyang Bao is," Ru Meng said.

Wu Mingqiang clicked his tongue: "You missed an opportunity. Do you have any way to get in touch with him again?"

Ru Meng thought for a moment and said, "Then let's go to the police station to find him?"

Wu Mingqiang shook his head and said, "No, Ouyang Bao will also appear there, it's too dangerous."

Ru Meng happily kissed Wu Mingqiang on the cheek and said, "Brother Qiang, I knew you cared about me."

Suddenly a commotion broke out outside. Wu Mingqiang jumped up and asked alertly, "What happened?"

Ru Meng stood up, walked to the door, opened it a crack, peeked out, and then withdrew after a while, saying, "It's nothing, just some drunk guests causing trouble."

"I'll take care of him for you," Wu Mingqiang said, turning to leave.

"Hey, Qiang-ge, you can't show your face right now. Don't worry about it. The sisters will get through this. Once this matter with Ouyang Bao is settled, you can come back and support us, okay?"

Wu Mingqiang hesitated for a moment. Gui'er had told him not to get involved in things here anymore, but now was the time to use Ru Meng. He couldn't refuse now, so he nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go first. If Long Xing comes again, you should agree to his conditions and arrange for us to meet then."

Ru Meng sweetly replied, "Okay."

After Wu Mingqiang left, Ru Meng swayed into the noisy room and said in a coquettish voice, "Boss Li, why are you so angry? What did my sister do to offend you?"

Inside the room, a girl of about eighteen or nineteen was disheveled, with tear stains on her face and scratches visible on her back and arms.

A fat, bald man with a round belly and a large head was putting on his clothes while pointing at the girl and cursing. When he saw Rumeng arrive, his expression softened a little. He said, "This bitch is already out selling herself. I tried to change positions, but she wouldn't have it. She kept making excuses. Let me tell you, I'm not paying her today. I didn't get my satisfaction." As he spoke, he straightened his slightly disheveled clothes, buttoned them up, and walked out.

A murderous glint flashed in Ru Meng's eyes, but it vanished in an instant. She smiled and said, "So that's how it is. Then it was her fault. Mr. Li, take care. Come again soon."

Upon hearing this, Boss Li laughed and said, "You're so sensible. No wonder you're the top courtesan. I'll come back for you next time." With that, he gave Ru Meng's buttocks a hard pinch before swaggering out.

As soon as Mr. Li left, the woman who had been sobbing quietly burst into tears. Between sobs, she said to Rumeng, "Sister Rumeng, it's not that I'm being noble, it's just that he was going to strangle me with his belt. I was afraid he might accidentally kill me. Even though my life is as worthless as an ant, I still want to live."

Just then, another girl wearing a high-slit cheongsam and heavy makeup walked in. She crossed her arms and said to Rumeng, "Sister Rumeng, Brother Qiang was clearly there just now. Why didn't you ask him to come out and stand up for us? Although he's not on our side now, you helped him pay off Detective Ouyang last time. He should be grateful for that favor."

Ru Meng said seriously, "He offended Detective Ouyang these past two days and can't show his face. None of you should tell anyone outside that he's been here, understand? Otherwise, we'll all suffer too." Then she turned to the girl who was still crying and said, "Alright, Meixiang, stop crying. In our line of work, we inevitably encounter these kinds of situations. If you keep crying, when will it ever end?"

Meixiang raised her head, tears streaming down her face, and said, "What if that Mr. Li comes again next time?"

Ru Meng said mysteriously, "Brother Qiang is going to do something big. Once it's done, we'll benefit from it and maybe even turn our lives around."

Wu Mingqiang was completely unaware of the conversation between the prostitutes. He lowered his hat brim, put on sunglasses, and quietly arrived at the shantytown of ordinary people.

The place was a haphazard collection of tin shacks, with rotten wooden planks for walls and tattered tarpaulins for roofs. Sewage flowed freely in the alley, children ran barefoot, and women fanned the fire in front of mud stoves. The smell of smoke mixed with mildew drifted into the gray sky. Wu Mingqiang, dressed fairly decently, seemed out of place here. Passersby couldn't help but stare at him, but he didn't care at all. He looked around for a while and finally came to the outside of a simple wooden shack.

"Who are you looking for?" An elderly woman came out from inside, wearing a traditional Chinese jacket and with a head of messy gray hair.

"Do Ah-Guang and Ah-Zong live here?"

"Guangzai, Zongzai has a rich guy looking for you."

Wu Mingqiang knew he hadn't made a mistake. He glanced around and strode into the room.

"What big shot? Hey, Qiang, you're here. Are you alright?" A-Guang and A-Zong poked their heads down from the attic and quickly came down when they saw Wu Mingqiang. "The day you left, Ouyang Bao came to the pawnshop with his men. Anything that was put into the storeroom in time was either smashed or taken away. They even wanted to arrest us and take us to the police station, but Uncle De said that we were just odd jobs and didn't know anything, so he let us go."

"Did they not discover the expensive pawned item I hid under the floorboards that day?"

Ah Guang and Ah Zong exchanged a glance and said, "No, it's good that you hid it quickly. But Uncle De asked us later where those things went, and we said you took them with you."

Ah Guang said, "Uncle De asked us if we knew where the key to the cellar was. He said he was afraid something might have gone wrong inside and wanted to take a look. We all said we didn't know. Then he told us to come back and lay low for a while."

Wu Mingqiang said with a sneer, "I knew he was restless, but I just didn't have time to deal with him."

"Then what should we do now?"

Wu Mingqiang glanced back at the doorway and said, "Nobody should know your family lives here, right?"

Ah Guang and Ah Zong said, "Besides you, no one knows. Uncle De did say he wanted to come and see my mother, but he never came. I guess he was just being polite. We usually live on the third floor of the pawnshop, which is much more comfortable than here, and we're too lazy to come back, so not many people know we live here."

“Alright, here’s what we’ll do for me.” Wu Mingqiang nodded and said, “I need to find Ouyang Bao’s nemesis, Long Xing, to cooperate with, but if I approach him rashly, he probably won’t trust me. One of you will help me track Long Xing, and the other will help me track Ouyang Bao.”