Got A Problem? Better Call Charcoal!

It was night. The sky was void of stars and the moon was hiding too. Lamps were lit around all the training grounds.

"At ease! Break for five!" the drillmaster yelled out. The next moment, every standing figure seemed to have melted to the ground.

"Pa!"

Then the sound of mosquito hunting started.

"Oh my God and Buddha's uncle!" One of Jiao Wei's roommates looked at the mosquito body and smear of blood on his palms and exclaimed, "It's hard work producing blood, and this thing has to take some!"

"Don't disrespect Buddha," Jiao Wei's other roommate said.

"Have mercy, Buddha. Pretend I was just farting earlier."

"You did fart earlier. You think I didn't hear you just because you yelled?"

"You want to be Buddha then?" Jiao Wei asked him with a smile.

"God no! The job responsibilities sound like hard work. I just want to graduate, find a job, find a wife, reproduce, and then complete this long and ordinary life."

The other roommate was silent for a moment, then said, "This is too deep for me. I heard eating vitamin B1 pills could ward off mosquitos, why did it not work?"

"Probably depends on the individual."

"Use a spray or something tomorrow."

At night, the training ground was a mixture of smells. However, mosquitos managed to attack amidst the repellants, ointments, and sprays.

It was half-past nine when the day of training finally ended. Jiao Wei didn't head back with his roommates but left campus. He always checked in at his parent's restaurant to help out until the restaurant closed for the day. He sometimes brought back midnight snacks for people in his dorm.

Today, he saw people inside the restaurant from a distance away.

Normally, they didn't get many customers at this hour. What was going on?

He quickened his pace and ran into the people outside the restaurant as they were walking out.

The leader had yellow hair and was smoking. He looked every bit a punk.

Jiao Wei felt his heart drop. He quickly went inside, sighing out in relief when he saw his parents were ok.

"What's wrong?" Jiao Wei asked. "Are those people picking on us?"

Jiao Wei had heard that some businesses hired people to cause trouble for the competition.

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it." Jiao Wei's father waved his hand.

No matter how he pressed the issue, his parents just wouldn't say anything. He had to ask the person they hired to help out the next day to find out what had happened.

Last night, those punks came in when most of the customers had left and demanded Jiao Wei's parents pay a sanitation fee.

They had paid the city's sanitation fee already and had the receipt to prove it. Obviously, those people were asking for a different kind of fee. Whether it was masked as a sanitation fee or a management fee, they were asking for a protection fee.

Back in their town, their family restaurant had been larger but they still had to pay such a thing. Jiao Wei just didn't know about it.

Now that he knew what was happening, Jiao Wei was furious. He told his parents they should refuse and call the police.

Jiao Wei's father was quite calm. He even made a joke, then explained the situation to Jiao Wei.

The truth was, all the shops around here paid the punks. He had asked around to see what everyone else paid and realized their restaurant had to pay a bit extra. He accepted this without much emotion. They were new and from out of town, after all, so he talked to those guys and paid them.

Both his parents had expected this before they opened the restaurant. They just didn't think those people would find them so quickly. They already had experience dealing with this kind of thing and had decided to teach Jiao Wei since he had found out.

The couple had thought their child would end up a white-collar worker and wouldn't have to deal with people like that. However, there were unspoken rules no matter the profession. Those who were exceptional might be able to defy those rules, but for normal people it was easier to follow the rules than to fight them.

Jiao Wei had a bitter taste in his mouth. He was young but not stupid. He knew what his parents said was the reality but he still couldn't accept it that easily. Before he started to care about his studies, he had fought all the time. He even fought teachers. He wasn't sure he could control himself if he ran into those people again.

After lunch, Jiao Wei sat at the door and helped peel potatoes. The restaurant was packed so he chose to sit outside where the air was better. His parents had refused his help but his stubbornness won in the end. His parents were afraid he would be laughed at if his classmates saw him, but he didn't care. Who said university students can't peel potatoes?

As he worked, the owner of the shop next door dropped by.

The shop sold mostly noodles and was owned by a young couple. The two families were familiar and the shop owner knew Jiao Wei.

"I heard they came to your restaurant yesterday," the owner said.

Yesterday his shop was only open for half a day, so he only just heard what happened.

"Yes." Jiao Wei answered. He didn't really want to talk about this. He tried to focus on the potato in his hand.

The owner smiled and said, "Don't be like that. We went through the same thing. I had just graduated from school and didn't know the ins and outs of the business yet. I wanted to call the police but my wife stopped me. We chose appeasement and paid the money. Later, we got some help and never had to face those people again."

Jiao Wei didn't reply, but he had stopped peeling the potato in his hand. The owner knew he was listening and pointed to the hotpot restaurant across the street. "When they just opened, business was great until those punks started showing up. They got paid and behaved at first, but soon they were picking faults and asking for money. The owner was no doormat. He told them to come to the store the next day but had people teach them a lesson that night. The next day, none of the little punks showed up."

"It was the same with the restaurant that sold rice bowls. Whenever they ran into things like this, they called for help and were ready to fight. One time the police had to show up. Those rascals are bullies, they pick on the weak. If you show them you are not weak, they won't bother you. No point reasoning with them, you have to show them who's boss. This is what society is like now. You are either tough or you're nothing. There were real tough guys among those punks, people with tattoos and forbidden weapons, but they still backed off."

"For a while, the city was all tough on crime, so those people disappeared. Now they are back. Before, most of these people were just your garden variety gangster wannabe. However, the people who dare to start harassing again so soon are probably harder to deal with. If you know people in the police, it could be time to pay them a visit. You'll probably have to spend some money, but it's necessary.

"There are some other stores that haven't been picked on. Though not all the owners are local, they had been around long enough to have contacts. For your shop, you guys should ask around, see who deals with this kind of thing and try to get in touch. If you have protectors, these people are nothing. If nothing works in the end, it's best that you just pay them. After all, we're all here to make money. No point looking for trouble when it can be avoided."

He wife called for him, so he hurriedly said goodbye and left.

Jiao Wei sat, dazed.

"Exciting stuff."

A voice behind him made Jiao Wei jump. He looked around, Su Qu was behind him with a bowl of rice.

"Why weren't you eating in the store?"

Both Yi Xin and Su Qu knew Jiao Wei through Papa Jiao. They came to the restaurant when the cafe was closed.

"It's too stuffed in there so I came outside. I didn't expect to hear all that. I never knew such things happened. I have friends that have stalls at the night market and they never said anything. Maybe they don't want to talk about it," Su Qu said whilst stuffing food into his mouth. "I'm guessing a large gang won't need to do things like this to make money. No need to fear those people. Count me in for a fight if that's what it's going to come down to."

Su Qu was a big guy and quite intimidating, but Jiao Wei had decided not to resort to a group fight. His parents were aging and he couldn't make them bet everything they had on a fight.

"Um...would you...would you happen to know people who, you know, take care of things like this?" Jiao Wei asked tentatively.

Su Qu knew what he meant but he was new to town too. This was the first time he even heard of such a problem.

"I only know my boss," Su Qu said.

Jiao Wei shook his head. "I can't bother Mingsheng Uncle with this. He already helped us with so much and he has two kids to worry about."

"Um..." Su Qu's eyes suddenly lit up, "You know that guy right, that Wei Ling?"

"I do, but not well. He helped find furniture for the restaurant. After the store opened, he sometimes came to get take out. You're saying he knows people?"

"Yi Xin told me about him, you can try asking him."

"But I would need to go through Mingsheng uncle to reach him."

"Well...and I'm just repeating what I heard, whether you believe it is up to you."

"Yeah?"

Su Qu threw the takeout box into the trash can and said, "If you really want Wei Ling's help, you don't need to tell my boss. There's another way."

"What do you mean?"

"My boss's cat!"

Jiso Wei, "..."