“小谢要换上新 clothes. We need to give him a proper burial. Also, you all, go and confiscate everything here. Before the rain stops, we have to retreat. No matter what, we have to show some respect to the officers.” Grace Bolton was quite satisfied with this operation. This was the lowest level of combat. If Mark Carter had been a bit more skilled in martial arts, it wouldn’t have been this easy.

“Alright, Chief. Come on, brothers, let’s raid the house.” Paul White shouted, and immediately, the little brother who had been vomiting reluctantly started to search the house—after all, Mark Carter had been a boss for several years, so there was bound to be some stash.

There wasn’t much time. Under the sharp eyes of dozens of little thugs, everything hidden in secret places was found and taken. When it came to stealing and looting, they were experts.

“Chief, we found twenty long knives. That means we can return the ones we borrowed.” Paul White and his men brought out a pile of long knives. “Also, we found this silver. Damn, who would’ve thought Big Carter’s stash was actually pretty good!”

George Knight stepped forward, counted it twice, and said joyfully, “Brothers, we’ve struck it rich today. There’s a total of about three hundred and forty taels of silver—enough for us to spend.”

Grace Bolton laughed and scolded, “From now on, this house of Mark Carter’s is our old base. It’s big enough for us to sleep in. You bunch of unambitious guys, come on, everyone who took part today gets three taels of silver. Paul White, you did the most, so I’m promoting you to the first ‘two-bamboo’—you’ll be in charge of a street. Also, everyone else listen up: we can’t relax yet. Even though Mark Carter is dead, he still has twenty men left. We have to deal with them quickly. If you’re done puking, let’s split the silver. Each group, according to the intel, go and kill the rest. Before dawn tomorrow, everything must be settled.”

Once the silver was handed out, it was the first time these thugs had gotten so much money. They cheered and jumped for joy, grabbing their knives and waiting eagerly for the order to go kill. Seeing this, Grace Bolton was very satisfied: “Alright, let’s move out!”

Chapter Six: Family Wine (Part 1)

After killing Mark Carter and wiping out his other men, they finally seized his territory of three streets. In total, they now had four streets—a place to call their own. Although their turf was only about a third of the South Gate market, and not even a tenth of all Yangzhou, at least they finally had a base to develop.

Grace Bolton led his brothers to inspect their territory. Merchants and travelers bustled back and forth, and every street had dozens of shops open. Grim Reaper led the way in front.

It had to be said, without Grim Reaper, the local snake, it would have been hard to take control of four streets so quickly. Now, everywhere they went, the shopkeepers greeted them respectfully as “Master Zhang,” and even a few of the brothers behind had earned the title of “Master.”

All the thugs looked proud and walked with their heads held high.

They came to a restaurant, a relatively upscale one. Grim Reaper went ahead and said a few words, and the group of eight went in. There were about a dozen tables inside, and they got one separated by a rough wooden partition. Without needing to order, the owner personally brought out food and wine.

Grace Bolton said casually, “Grim Reaper, not bad. Looks like the shopkeepers here all know what’s going on. But tell me, what were the rules under the old Big Carter?”

Hearing this, Grim Reaper finally breathed a sigh of relief and said, “The old rule was a monthly payment of 1–5 taels from each shop, depending on the situation. As for restaurants, each brother could have a home-style meal, no charge, but if you ordered too much, like now, it was only allowed once a month…”

“What, if we order more, the owner wants us to pay?” Paul White widened his eyes. He came from a poor family and had scraped by in the streets since childhood. Now that he was finally doing well, he naturally became a bit arrogant. That was only human.

“Well…” Grim Reaper pulled a bitter face, not knowing what to say.

“I know this rule. Even fishermen let the small fish go, or what will you eat next year?” Grace Bolton shot Paul White a look. “Grim Reaper, from now on, you’re our gang’s adviser. I’ll give you a ‘bamboo’ rank. The old rules of Mark Carter stay the same. When it comes to eating and taking, there’s a standard. We’ll follow the rules of the underworld.”

“Thank you, Chief, thank you!” Grim Reaper was overjoyed. Although he’d done well under Mark Carter, Mark Carter was just a small-time boss with no backing. Now he was relying on the big leg of the Bamboo Flower Gang. Who would have thought he’d benefit from this disaster?

“No need to thank me. There’ll be plenty for you to do in the future.” Grace Bolton said. Just then, the owner personally brought over the dishes, one after another, filling the air with delicious aromas. The thugs had never eaten like this before, and all of them were drooling. Even Paul White, who had wanted to say something, kept his mouth shut.

“Eat!” The first chopsticks, of course, went to Grace Bolton. Then the little brothers scrambled to grab the food.