Ji Lin was indecisive and timid, lacking any real determination.
Hearing him talk about how to repay Grandmother Yu’s kindness, Ning Yanfan couldn’t help but interject, “Back then, when your grandmother was critically ill twice, it was she who lent money to your father.”
Ning Yanfan wasn’t sure if Ji Huaixin had ever repaid the money, but this wasn’t just an ordinary favor. The Yu family was wealthy, and Grandmother Yu herself was known for her generosity. Many of their classmates had benefited from her kindness.
Ning Yanfan wanted Ji Lin to think carefully about how to approach Grandmother Yu.
Since Ning Yanfan wasn’t part of the Ji family, he could only offer advice to them. Whether they listened or not, the old gentleman had no way to force them.
He had given advice to both Ji Lin and Ji Ya but had either of them followed it completely?
It wasn’t the truly clever people he worried about, but rather those who thought themselves clever.
Look at Grandmother Yu’s family – at their peak, they owned nearly half the land in Shangdu City. When it was gone, it was simply gone.
Did Ji Lin think the Ji family could live off their old wealth forever?
The way of the world is that without progress, there can only be decline. Ji Lin had neither reconciled with Tang Hongen nor avoided offending the Zhou family… Was it so clever to manipulate a young female student through provocation? Even if the Zhou family honored the bet and didn’t move against the Ji family, their distaste would only grow stronger.
Things that could have been resolved were being made increasingly serious by the Ji family. Making enemies instead of friends would only leave them with fewer and fewer options!
Ning Yanfan was somewhat perfunctory in his conversation with Ji Lin, thinking about how he should at least meet with the stubborn old lady now that she was in Beijing.
If he couldn’t find Grandmother Yu, he could always contact classmate Xia Xiaolan.
…
“Mayor Tang’s schedule has changed again?”
Du Zhaohui could barely maintain his composure.
He was also someone skilled at adapting different personas. To survive well in the Du family and win Du Chengrong’s favor, the young master’s cunning couldn’t be underestimated. Anyone who dismissed him as just a playboy would end up regretting it.
“Young Master Du, you see, the leader is truly tied up with official duties. As soon as the leader returns to Peng City, I’ll convey your message right away.”
Secretary Peng had no control over Tang Hongen’s delayed return to Peng City.
Even driver Wang knew not to ask about the leader’s private matters – how could Secretary Peng play dumb?
While Tang Hongen’s timing was coincidental, Du Zhaohui believed Mayor Tang was deliberately snubbing him. One can imagine how terrible the young master’s mood was at receiving such treatment.
News of the losses in Min Province had reached Hong Kong. Du Zhaohui hadn’t been directly responsible for the smuggling operations before. Du Chengrong had blamed both his son and his brother-in-law Liu Tianquan equally, but Du Zhaohui suspected Liu Tianquan was behind it.
He didn’t want to wait any longer. If Tang Hongen was at a meeting in Beijing, he’d just follow him there!
Leaving the municipal government building, Du Zhaohui instructed his assistant to buy two plane tickets.
“Dajun, come with me to Beijing.”
Xia Dajun agreed readily. Du Zhaohui’s face was dark, and one of his followers came over, speaking in a low voice:
“Young Master, one of our brothers escaped from Min Province and is now with Liu Tianquan.”
“Oh? Then I should visit Uncle Liu!”
This was Du Zhaohui’s first time visiting Liu Tianquan’s place.
The escapee was right to seek out Liu Tianquan. Du Zhaohui was now Peng City’s star investor with close government ties – he couldn’t be associated with such dirty business. Du Zhaohui felt he’d fallen for Liu Tianquan’s scheme, while Liu Tianquan thought the same!
Both felt betrayed, and Liu Tianquan was seething with hatred toward Du Zhaohui.
The escaped man was Ma Zai, who loved marijuana and was as thin as a ghost.
He was a good swimmer and had clung to rocks in the sea for a whole day before making it to shore.
He’d been shot in the back, and the wound was certainly infected from the seawater. Liu Tianquan had people give him many antibiotics. This kind of gunshot wound couldn’t be treated in mainland hospitals. If he was lucky, he’d pull through; if not, there was nothing to be done. In their line of work, your life hung by a thread – those who made it big, like Du Chengrong, could go legitimate and become bosses, while those who didn’t were just throwing their lives away.
“Ma Zai, the young master has come to see you.”
Liu Tianquan’s fat face showed concern. Du Zhaohui was an even better actor, bending down to steady Ma Zai:
“Don’t move around, rest well. You were working for the Du family, and we won’t treat you poorly. I’ll arrange to send you back to Hong Kong right away!”
As long as he didn’t die on the way, his chances of survival would indeed be much better in Hong Kong.
Ma Zai was very grateful. “Y-Young Master, we were useless…”
Ma Zai repeated what he had told Liu Tianquan earlier.
Du Zhaohui thought to himself, no wonder they couldn’t find anything – it turned out the operation wasn’t carried out by local Min Province police.
Ma Zai said he had seen the opponents’ faces and would recognize them, but Du Zhaohui didn’t take it too seriously. This wasn’t just one person targeting the Du family – who in Min Province could sweep away so many smuggling operations at once? This wasn’t the usual way of criminals stealing from criminals; it would be too hard to digest – this had to be an official operation, not from Min Province but police transferred from elsewhere.
Or perhaps it was even the military?
Du Zhaohui frowned. Smuggling brought huge profits – if the Du family didn’t do it, others would.
Du Zhaohui didn’t consider himself a business genius. He would only completely abandon these illegal ventures if legitimate businesses on the mainland could earn more money!
“Rest well. Tonight I’ll send someone to take you back to Hong Kong.”
Not everyone had died; some were just arrested. This much information Du Zhaohui could find out.
Whether or not it was Min Province police, the other side’s intelligence was too precise. Du Zhaohui’s suspicions about Liu Tianquan hadn’t lessened.
Liu Tianquan thought the same way, and Du Zhaohui’s pretense made him sick to his stomach.
“Young Master, you should leave this matter alone. Focus on securing those investment incentives in Peng City – that would make the Chairman happier.”
Du Zhaohui had previously boasted quite loudly about having some symposium with Mayor Tang, but then the mayor had suddenly left Peng City and hadn’t been heard from for days. This was quite a blow to Young Master Du’s pride. For a moment, Liu Tianquan felt grateful for Mayor Tang’s impartiality!
Du Zhaohui’s lips twitched. “That’s none of your concern. You’ve always been in charge of Min Province operations – next time something like this happens, think about how to keep yourself clean!”
…
The raid on the smuggling group was just a training assessment for the academy.
Zhou Cheng suffered minor injuries, as did other team members. In a firefight with real weapons, injuries were inevitable, but fortunately, none of Zhou Cheng’s team members had died.
The operation was very successful. They handed over the arrested suspects to Min Province authorities, and that should have been the end of Zhou Cheng’s team’s involvement… but Zhou Cheng felt that their superiors’ decision to send them to Min Province might have been more than just a simple assessment.
Why had smugglers always managed to escape in previous operations?
Zhou Cheng felt it wasn’t due to lack of capability, but rather because someone was sabotaging the efforts.
That’s why they had brought in this batch of trainees who had no connections to Min Province, and they immediately caught big fish.
It was also a coincidence that they caught the Chengrong Group.
Zhou Cheng sensed this wasn’t over, and sure enough, after leaving Min Province they didn’t return directly to Beijing but went to the Peng City area instead – they were being used as a customs anti-smuggling strike team now.