"Busy, huh?" Just as the barbecue stall owners were gathered together complaining and thinking of ways to deal with Jake, a familiar voice sounded from behind them. They turned around to see Hanson and his group, and the one who spoke was Hanson himself.
"Are you blind? We have hardly any customers here. What are we busy with?" One of the stall owners, still agitated, spoke impolitely.
"It's all because of you guys!" Another barbecue stall owner pointed at Hanson's group and said, "You guys promised that you could take care of that kid for sure. You even took a deposit from us, but in the end, things turned out like this? Not only did his business not get affected, he even gained more popularity."
"Give us our money back! Return our deposit!"
Clearly, the barbecue stall owners were very dissatisfied with Hanson's group's ability to handle things. In fact, Hanson's group had not fulfilled their promises to them.
"Return money?" Hanson, who was smiling a moment ago, suddenly turned serious. "I didn't come here today to return any money. I came to ask for money from you guys!"
"Ask for money? What money do you want? You didn't accomplish anything, and you still have the nerve to ask for money?"
"I'm a reasonable person. Since things didn't work out, you can keep the remaining deposit," Hanson said to the barbecue stall owners. "But my brothers and I got hurt while trying to handle the situation. We had to go to the hospital yesterday and spent a lot of money. You should reimburse us for that, right? After all, it's like an injury at work, isn't it?"
"Injury at work? Haha, you idiots have the audacity to claim it's an injury at work? Do you think you were actually working?"
"With so many of you, yet you couldn't handle one person and even got injured. Aren't you ashamed? And you still have the nerve to come here asking for money?"
"Since things didn't work out, we want our deposit back from you!"
The barbecue stall owners not only refused Hanson's request but also mocked them. They felt very uncomfortable seeing Jake's business prosper while theirs declined. Now, Hanson's group had the audacity to come asking for money from them, and they were not willing to give it.
Moreover, they had seen how Jake easily dealt with Hanson's group yesterday. The barbecue stall owners looked down on Hanson's group, thinking they were all talk and no substance. In their view, Hanson's group was just bluffing and had no actual ability, so they were not afraid of them.
"So, you don't want to give?" Hanson's expression turned fierce as he looked at the stall owners.
"We won't give, what can you do about it?" Although Hanson's fierce expression made the stall owners nervous, they were still stubborn and unwilling to compromise.
"What can I do?" Hanson looked at the stall owners and suddenly slapped the one standing in front of him, knocking him to the ground.
"Destroy their stalls, all of them!" Hanson commanded the others standing behind him.
Immediately, the others followed Hanson's order and began to destroy the tables, chairs, and barbecue grills on the stalls of the protesting owners. This scene frightened the few customers at the affected stalls, who quickly moved away to avoid getting caught up in the commotion.
"What are you doing? Stop!"
"Stop it! You bastards! Stop it!"
The stall owners panicked. With few customers to begin with, causing a scene like this would ruin their businesses. If news of this incident spread, who would dare to eat barbecue at their stalls in the future?
"Please don't misunderstand, these few bosses owe us money, we are just here to collect our dues, no ill intent." Hanson loudly announced to the crowd of onlookers, trying to present a friendly appearance, but still scaring everyone away.
At this time, it was the busiest time of the night market, and there were many spectators. Even Jake, who had been busy, took a few glances.
Hanson noticed Jake looking over and nodded to him in a show of friendliness, with a pleasing smile on his face, which was completely different from the expression he had when dealing with the other barbecue stall owners.
Jake didn't respond at all and continued to focus on his barbecue. Not getting any response, Hanson turned his head in annoyance, and when he looked at the other barbecue stall owners, his expression turned fierce again.
"Smash! Smash it hard!" Hanson commanded his subordinates.
Hanson's main purpose for coming today was twofold: to claim the compensation for himself and his men's injuries and to please Jake.
Yesterday, Jake had subdued Hanson and his group. The words Jake said to him before letting them go were still fresh in his mind. He took that as a task from Jake, and if they didn't perform well and upset Jake, they might not be able to continue their business. Today's task had to be done well and satisfy Jake.
The several stall owners were in despair. No matter how they shouted, they couldn't stop Hanson and his men's actions. Those few people who had acted like kindergarten kids in front of Jake yesterday seemed like gods in front of them today. They found themselves completely powerless against Hanson and his men.
After everything was overturned, Hanson spoke to the stall owners again, "Will you compensate? If not, we will come and wreck your stalls every night!"
"How much compensation?" The stall owners who were still tough earlier finally softened. They just hoped that Hanson and his men would never appear again and were willing to give in.
"How much? Let me think." Hanson rubbed his chin, pretending to be thoughtful, and then said, "Alright, each of you pays twenty thousand, and we'll call it even."
"Twenty thousand!" The stall owners exclaimed. They didn't expect Hanson to ask for so much. This was outright robbery.
"What? Is it too much?" Hanson's face turned stern again. "If you don't want to pay, we will be regular customers at your stalls every day." The stall owners had no choice but to agree under Hanson's threat. They didn't have any other option since they were the ones who initiated the plan to deal with Hanson. If they reported to the police, Hanson and his men might get into trouble, and they couldn't run away either. So, they had no choice but to accept their fate.
However, the stall owners claimed that they didn't have that much cash on hand and asked Hanson to come back tomorrow to collect. Believing them, Hanson agreed, and with tens of thousands coming in, he was quite happy and didn't mind waiting an extra day.