Outnumbered? I'll conquer America with an unlimited number of suicide soldiers.

Chapter 24 A Wedding Turns into a Funeral

"Wow, coming today was definitely the right decision."

Zeng Wei was slightly taken aback when he overheard the conversation through Jian Yuan's ears. He really didn't expect to hear such a conversation among the guests.

"Jianyuan, when you serve the dishes later, make a note of what these two look like. We'll meet them another day and see if we can win them over."

"Yes, my lord."

On a whim, she contacted Zhao Sanjin again and asked, "Zhao Sanjin, is everything arranged properly on your end? Are there any oversights?"

Zhao Sanjin, who was directing the helpers to serve the dishes in an orderly manner in the kitchen, remained calm and thought to himself, "Don't worry, my lord, everything is ready."

As the guests gradually arrived, the huge villa hall and the dozens of round tables set up in the courtyard were all occupied, and the place was bustling with noise.

Accompanied by the enticing aroma of a wok, one after another, meticulously prepared Cantonese dishes began to be served in a continuous stream.

The poached chicken has crisp skin and tender meat with bright red bone marrow; the deep red roast duck is glossy and glossy; and the roast suckling pig is golden red all over with paper-crispy skin...

In addition, there are steamed sea fish, abalone, sea cucumber, shark fin, eight-treasure winter melon soup, beef with oyster sauce, slow-cooked soup... a dazzling array of dishes.

One member of Yi Xing Tang exclaimed, "Wow, these are all gourmet dishes!"

"Nonsense, the boss is overjoyed, do you think he'd treat you to salted fish and cabbage?" The person at the table sneered, "No wonder Brother Sanjin volunteered for this job, he must have been sneaking a lot of food in secret."

"Bullshit!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a slap landed on the back of his head.

The man turned around angrily, but his anger vanished instantly upon seeing who it was. He chuckled and said, "Brother Sanjin..."

Zhao Sanjin, his face stern, cursed, "You damn bastard, you dare to talk nonsense about the Dragon Head's wedding banquet? How could I possibly steal any food? That's called a food tasting to make sure the taste is okay!"

"Yes, yes, yes, tasting the dishes! Thanks for your hard work, Brother Sanjin!"

Zhao Sanjin snorted, ignored him, and found an empty seat to sit down.

Not long after they sat down, Chen Jinkui, wearing a large red silk flower on his chest, came out and repeatedly bowed to those around him.

Not far behind him, in the shadows of the second-floor corridor, stood a woman with a red veil on her head, her figure extremely slender, and she remained silent.

"Congratulations, Boss Chen!"

"Wishing Master Kui a speedy birth of a son!"

The directors of the six major associations and representatives of other Hung Society branches all stood up and raised their glasses in celebration.

Chen Jinkui accepted all drinks without hesitation, downing each one in one gulp, displaying his heroic spirit.

After finishing his drink, he looked at Sun Tianbao sitting at the table, his eyes narrowing slightly: "Ah Bao, why are you here at Xieyi Hall? Where's Cai Pei?"

Sun Tianbao raised his glass with an awkward smile: "Brother Kui, I, Longtou, have been feeling unwell these past few days and am unable to move around much. I was sent here after receiving the invitation, so I hope you will forgive me, Brother Kui."

Actually, no. He was so strong that he could eat a whole cow; catching a cold was just an excuse.

However, he recently offended those lunatics, and for safety's sake, he decided to stay in the building for the time being and keep a low profile.

"A cold?"

Chen Jinkui chuckled lightly, said nothing more, and went to another table.

Accompanied by Margo, he began to go from table to table, drinking and chatting with people, receiving wave after wave of blessings and flattery from his gang members and guests.

"Massive volume at the top!"

"Master Kui is so generous!"

Cheers erupted, and Chen Jinkui's face grew increasingly flushed.

As he passed by Yung Wing and Director Chen's table, Ma Ge quietly introduced Yung Wing's identity as a "Yale prodigy".

Chen Jinkui laughed heartily and said to Rong Hong, "Mr. Rong, you are a promising young man. I toast you and wish you a bright future!"

Rong Hong politely raised his glass and took a small sip, but as soon as the wine entered his mouth, his brows furrowed.

While he was at Yale, he often went to pubs to drink with his classmates and became quite familiar with spirits.

But that glass of wine, besides the inherent aroma of whiskey and the burning sensation of alcohol, seemed to have a very faint bitterness mixed in.

Meanwhile, Chen Jinkui had already returned to the main table.

After a round of drinks, even though he had a good tolerance for alcohol, his steps inevitably became a little unsteady, and his voice was tinged with alcohol.

He shook his slightly dizzy head, intending to chat with the directors of the six major associations and other representatives of the Hongmen Hall at the main table about California Street, when suddenly the world began to spin before his eyes.

"Dragon Head? Dragon Head, what's wrong?" Someone nearby noticed something was wrong and quickly helped him up.

Before Chen Jinkui could even open his mouth, his body went limp and he collapsed onto the chair.

The hall fell silent for a moment, then erupted into even louder laughter.

"Has Brother Kui's alcohol tolerance gotten worse?"

"No, I think it's because this foreign liquor is strong. I've had a few glasses, and now I'm feeling a bit dizzy."

"Two brothers from the gang, help the leader to the back to rest for a while! He's getting married tonight, he can't miss this romantic night!"

No one paid much attention, assuming the groom had simply drunk too much. After all, it wasn't uncommon for the main character to get drunk on such an occasion.

They drank a few more glasses, and then more and more people slumped helplessly onto the table or slid off their chairs and lay on the floor.

Finally, someone noticed that something was wrong.

Some people were still conscious and tried to call for help, but their dizziness and weak limbs rendered them powerless.

Then, the villa's main gate was opened from the inside. Fifty calm-faced assassins filed in and quickly took control of all the entrances and exits.

Those members of the Yi Xing Tang who tried to resist were knocked unconscious, and the cooks and servants they encountered along the way were gagged and locked in the kitchen. As for the guests who were not from the Yi Xing Tang, they were ignored.

Zhao Sanjin stood up from his seat, showing no signs of drunkenness.

His expression was calm as his gaze swept across the faces, his fingers tapping rapidly:

"This whole table is full of people from Yixingtang."

"This whole table is too."

"Except for that tall, thin guy, everyone else at this table is."

"The three burly men at that table, dressed in gray short-sleeved shirts, were Chen Jinkui's personal bodyguards."

"The one lying in the corner is also from Yixingtang."

"And him, him, him..."

Jian Yuan and the assassins behind him immediately sprang into action.

Based on Zhao Sanjin's identification, they bound the hands and feet of the unconscious Yixingtang members one by one with thick hemp ropes. Then, in pairs, they carried them like dead pigs to the heavily covered carriage that had driven into the villa's courtyard.

People piled on top of each other, and soon the three carriages were full.

"Is he going to take the woman he married with him?" Zhao Sanjin asked, pointing to the figure that had already entered the room on the second floor.

Jian Yuan remained silent for a moment, then shook his head after receiving the previous reply. "Our lord said that every wrong has its perpetrator and every debt its debtor; let her go."

In just ten minutes, the hall became much emptier.

Jianyuan gave a final look around, took out a pen from his pocket, and wrote sixteen large characters on the wall: "Trafficking in one's own people is intolerable; kill the traitors to establish authority and serve as a warning to others!"

------

On a remote and desolate beach in San Francisco.

Chen Jinkui was awakened by a bucket of icy, bone-chilling seawater.

"Cough cough cough cough!"

He coughed violently, spitting out salty seawater. He instinctively tried to raise his hand, but he couldn't lift it at all, as if it were being tightly bound by something.

Am I drunk?

He shook his head, his blurry vision gradually cleared, and he became fully awake.

wrong!

He looked around and saw a scene that made him feel as if he had fallen into an ice cave.

He was buried entirely in the sand, with only his head sticking out, like a ginseng planted in the ground.

Beside and in front of him, he could see dozens of heads, also only visible above the sand, densely packed, all of them his Yixingtang people.

Many people have already woken up, uttering terrified and indistinct whimpers.

"No wonder he's a top-tier executive. After drinking so much alcohol and morphine, he woke up so quickly?" A slightly amused, unfamiliar voice rang out.

Chen Jinkui suddenly looked up and followed the sound.

Several people were standing about ten yards away. The leader was a young-looking, handsome man who was holding a very well-made rifle.

The young man took a half step to the side and saw a familiar face.

Zhao Sanjin.

Chen Jinkui immediately understood everything.

"Zhao Sanjin!!!"

His eyes were bloodshot as he roared, "It was you! You were the one who put sleeping pills in the drink, weren't you?"

"Why? What have I, Chen Jinkui, done to wrong you, Zhao Sanjin? How could you betray me? Betray your brothers, betray the Hongmen?!"

"Have you forgotten everything from the past?!"

Faced with the former leader's roaring questions, Zhao Sanjin didn't even lift his eyelids, nor did he answer, remaining as still as a clay or wooden sculpture.

"Jianyuan, he's too noisy. Let him be quiet for a while," said the person in front of Zhao Sanjin.

"Yes."

A burly man with a stern face stepped forward, picked up a wooden bucket, walked up to Chen Jinkui, and poured the remaining seawater from the bucket over his head again.

"Splash—"

The icy seawater rushed into his mouth and nose, interrupting Chen Jinkui's roar and causing him to cough violently again, even bringing tears to his eyes.

Chen Jinkui, panting heavily, managed to calm himself down. He looked at Zeng Guoxian and asked, "Do we have a grudge?"

"hatred?"

He loaded a bullet into his Pacific Type 1 rifle, looked up at the head on the beach, and slowly said, "Of course there is hatred, and hatred that runs deep."

"A year ago, I boarded a ship bound for San Francisco. As soon as the ship docked, I was given a foreign contract that I couldn't understand at all, then stuffed into a freight car and sent to a mine."

The mine was dark and gloomy, and collapses were commonplace. If you worked even a little too slowly, the foreman's whip would lash out. Chinese workers in the mine would frequently die—either from illness or from exhaustion.

"And the smuggler who got me onto that ship, patting his chest and guaranteeing that I'd make a fortune in San Francisco, was one of your Yi Xing Tang's men."

He once raised his rifle, the muzzle sweeping across the pale heads in the sand before finally landing back on Chen Jinkui's head.

Do you think we have a grudge against each other?

Chen Jinkui said, "A piglet and a traitor—you two probably can't have accomplished this, can you?"

"Who's behind you? Cai Pei of Xieyi Hall? Dai Heng of Guangde Hall? Meng Chuan of Danshan Hall? Or Ran Shaohua of Ansong Hall?"

He chuckled lightly and said sarcastically, "You Hongmen people are really just fair-weather friends. You say that all men are brothers and that we will share weal and woe, but when something happens, you suspect the other side is responsible."

"When you raised the banner of overthrowing the Qing and restoring the Ming, you probably never thought about saving the country or ensuring its survival; it was just to make it easier to exploit your compatriots."

Oppressing the good, currying favor with foreigners, trafficking people—you bastards would be better off dead!

Chen Jinkui sneered, "Ha, that's just how the world is, survival of the fittest. If I don't do it, plenty of others will!"

"You think that smuggler is from the Yixing Hall? You're wrong, he's a government official, the government wants to sell people to us!"

"If I don't take in piglets, others will!"

She ignored him, turned around and walked away, backing up to about a hundred yards away.

He braced the butt of his rifle firmly against his shoulder and aimed at the heads on the beach.

"You like to sell people like livestock, transport them like goods, and trample them like dirt."

His voice drifted on the sea breeze, "Then today, I'll let you taste what it's like to be bullied."

He pulled the trigger as soon as he finished speaking.

boom!

In the sand, a head that was struggling and shaking violently suddenly jerked backward. As if struck by a heavy hammer, red and white matter flew out and landed on the heads and in front of those around.

"Ah—!! Ughhhh!!!"

From the surrounding sand pits, even more terrified and desperate sobs erupted. The buried people frantically twisted their heads and bodies, trying to escape, but to no avail.

As if he hadn't heard, he pulled the bolt, the hot cartridge case popped out, he loaded another bullet, moved the muzzle slightly, and aimed at the next target.

"Bang!"

Another head shattered.

"Bang bang bang!"

Gunshots began to ring out rhythmically, neither too fast nor too slow.

Every gunshot rang out, and with it came the end of a life.

On the beach, the smell of blood began to permeate the air, mixing with the salty sea breeze to create a strong rusty odor.

After an unknown amount of time, there were no more sounds of struggle or sobbing around Chen Jinkui.

He looked up and saw that everything around him was bright red, with dozens of broken watermelons surrounding him, obscuring their original appearance.

He once walked in carrying that scorching hot rifle, blew on the gunpowder smoke from the muzzle, and remained expressionless.

"Is there anything you want to say before you die?"

"Haha, hahaha, hahahahahahahahahaha!"

Chen Jinkui laughed, a sound as shrill as a night owl. After a long while, the laughter stopped, and he spat at the ground where he had once stood.

"Those foreigners are really useless; they actually managed to let the piglet escape alive."

boom!

He put away his gun and instructed, "Jianyuan, remember to have someone pick up the spent cartridges on the ground."

"Yes, my lord."

"Zhao Sanjin, take some men to Yixingtang's outposts later and bring back all the money."

"Yes, my lord."

He took a bottle of wine from one of the assassins behind him, turned around, looked towards the gold mine, and poured the wine on the ground. "Brother, I've avenged you. Rest in peace."

He tossed the gun to Jianyuan, mounted his mare, and led his men into the city.

"Now, it's time to do some things I want to do."

"Let's take over the entire Chinatown as the first step."