And so, I began working for Boss Liu, managing an 80-square-meter mahjong parlor for him. I told my family about it. They didn't want me doing this work—my father-in-law was so angry he wouldn't even look at me, muttering incoherently, "No… can't… mustn't."
But I was truly out of options. I knelt beside his bed and kowtowed. "Dad, trust me this once. I have to hold this family up."
My father-in-law cried then. "Be… being a man… is hard."
Tears blurred my eyes too. Yes, being a man is hard.
My father-in-law's stroke wouldn't heal overnight, and little Huang Cheng, still so young, got sick easily. Trips to the hospital cost more for him than for adults. The mahjong parlor was a bit rough around the edges, but it was better than selling alcohol or drugs.
I worked there for six months, running it well. I even took on a few younger guys to help, and the business stayed clean—no bad debts, all the loans we lent out got paid back. The only catch was that the parlor's earnings were less than when the previous manager had run it. I thought this might displease Boss Liu, but when it came time to assign more territories, he gave me two more mahjong parlors and a bar.
I was confused, so I asked why. That's when Boss Liu laid out a long string of truths.
He said, "You think guys in the underworld do this for drinking, smoking, tattoos, or perms? That's stupid. Being in the underworld is about letting us uneducated folks make real money. Don't laugh—I mean it. No matter what you do, the end goal is to make money. There's no shame in that. But you gotta live to spend it, too.
"The guy who ran the parlor before you was ruthless. He'd lend money like his life depended on it, and collect debts the same way. The police were always showing up—you could never run a steady business like that. You don't make as much, but you keep things stable. You don't give the police any reason to bother us. That's a good thing.
"The reason I run these bars, dance halls, and clubs isn't 'cause they're big moneymakers. It's so if I ever fall on hard times, I'll still have some territory to rebuild from. You get what I'm saying?"
That's when I realized the gap in vision between Boss Liu and me. If I ever got the chance to go into business, I'd definitely learn from him.