Chapter 28 Publicly Defended
The room fell silent.
Jiang Tianqi walked to the window, his back to Zhao Ming. The neon lights reflected on his dark profile.
Suddenly, he chuckled softly, his voice filled with the excitement of discovering prey.
"What a Fang Che! What a brilliant 'singing and dancing solution'!" He turned around, his eyes gleaming. "I cut off his business routes, and he just flipped the table, choosing not to go through the underworld or resort to intrigue, but instead turned to mass art? This thought process... is adorably quirky!"
Just then, the study door was pushed open with a bang.
Mad Dog Qiang stormed in, his face contorted with rage. He didn't even notice Zhao Ming and yelled at Jiang Tianqi, "Young Master Jiang! That Fang Che is swindling people on Portland Street! He even stole our goods before! I can't swallow this! Let me cripple him!"
He was about to rush out when he said that.
"stop."
Mad Dog turned back unwillingly: "Young Master Jiang! That kid..."
"I said, stop." Jiang Tianqi repeated himself, the playful smile on his face disappearing.
“Mad Dog Qiang,” he picked up a cigar cutter and slowly trimmed a cigar, “didn’t I say that Portland Street matters are handled my way?”
Mad Dog Qiang felt uneasy under his gaze, but still stubbornly retorted, "Your method is too slow! To deal with this kind of scum, you have to break his legs!"
Jiang Tianqi lit a cigar and exhaled a puff of smoke: "It seems you have a lot of opinions about my way of doing things?"
Mad Dog Qiang was sweating profusely, and his arrogance immediately diminished.
Jiang Tianqi walked up to him, looking down at him:
"I'm saying this one last time, Fang Che, you're not allowed to move."
“He is the ‘toy’ I’ve set my sights on. The game has only just begun, and it’s not your place to ruin it.”
“If you dare to lay a finger on him…” Jiang Tianqi leaned down and whispered in his ear, “I’ll throw you and all your dogs into Victoria Harbour to feed the fish. Understand?”
Mad Dog Qiang trembled all over, and all the color drained from his face.
“…Understood, Young Master Jiang.” He lowered his head and squeezed out the answer through gritted teeth.
"Get out."
Mad Dog Qiang practically tumbled and crawled away.
Zhao Ming kept his head down the whole time, as if he hadn't heard anything.
Jiang Tianqi walked back to the window, looked in the direction of Portland Street, and tapped the glass lightly with his fingertips.
Fang Che...
The more special you are, the more I want to see what kind of light you will ignite when you, like a wildfire, are driven to the brink of destruction or held in my grasp.
Can Li Hanzhou protect you for a while, or for a lifetime?
This game is getting more and more interesting.
The doors and windows of the meeting room inside the stronghold were tightly closed, and heavy curtains blocked out the light and sound from outside.
The air was thick with the smell of cheap cigars and a tense silence.
At the head of the long table, Li Hanzhou leaned back in his chair, an unlit cigarette between his fingers.
His gaze was cold as he slowly swept over everyone present.
His face was still somewhat pale from blood loss, but his straight back and the oppressive atmosphere around him made him seem even more suffocating than usual.
At only twenty-two years old, he held his own against a group of more senior uncles.
Ah Gui stood silently behind him like a stone statue, his eyes warily monitoring the entire scene.
“Uncle Long and my godfather,” Li Hanzhou began, “it wasn’t an accident; someone sold our whereabouts to Jiang Tianqi.”
He paused briefly, his sharp gaze capturing the changes in everyone's faces.
"It's an inside man."
These words struck like a thunderbolt.
The expressions of the several hall masters changed instantly. Some angrily slammed their fists on the table, some avoided eye contact, and some subconsciously avoided his gaze.
"Fuck the Dong Sheng Society! Let's fight them!" roared the hot-tempered leader.
"Fight? What are we going to fight with?" the older, fat man, Li, said coldly. "The leader and Uncle Long are gone, our territory has been taken over, and everyone is in a panic. If we fight now, are we just asking for a quicker death?"
"Fatty Li, what do you mean? Are you just going to let this go like this?"
"Count?" Fatty Li scoffed. "Of course not. But we need to stabilize our position first, otherwise we'll collapse before the Dong Sheng Society even attacks!"
Li Ruoxue sat to Li Hanzhou's left, her pretty face frosty, her tone urgent: "Brother Hanzhou, Uncle Li is right. We need to stabilize the internal situation first before talking about revenge. I still have old connections left by my father, we can..."
Li Hanzhou raised his hand to stop her.
His gaze swept across the room again, finally settling on a middle-aged man who had been silent all along in the corner.
The man, nicknamed "Horse King," was in charge of several undercover operations and always kept a low profile.
“King Ma,” Li Hanzhou said calmly, “on the night of the incident, you had two cars that were supposed to pick up Uncle Long. Why did you change course and go to Kwai Chung Wharf instead?”
All eyes immediately focused on Horse King!
The hand holding the teacup trembled almost imperceptibly, causing ripples to appear on the surface of the water.
He looked up, his expression perfectly timed with surprise: "Brother Li, I'm innocent! There was a problem with a shipment at the dock that day, and I was in a hurry to deal with it. I explained this to Brother Gui..."
Ah Gui snorted coldly, about to speak.
Just then—
"Brother Li! Look what I got!"
The conference room door was pushed open with a bang, and excited, boisterous voices rushed in, like a pebble thrown into still water.
Fang Che, carrying a thick stack of contracts, walked in with a "seeking praise" smile on his face, like a triumphant general, completely unsuspecting.
Then, he met the murderous gazes that filled the room.
His smile froze on his face, the contract he was holding high stopped in mid-air, and he was rooted to the spot.
He finally saw the situation inside the room clearly... It was filled with smoke, surrounded by powerful figures, and the atmosphere was incredibly heavy.
Meanwhile, Li Hanzhou, sitting in the main seat, was looking at him with an expression he couldn't decipher.
"Who is it? No manners! Who let you in!" Fatty Li slammed his fist on the table and roared.
Li Ruoxue glanced coldly at Fang Che, her voice as cold as ice: "Brother Hanzhou, are your rules getting looser and looser? Anyone can just barge in?"
Fang Che shrank back in fright, the contract in his arms suddenly burning hot. He looked pleadingly at Li Hanzhou, his lips moving as he stammered, "I...I'm not...Brother Li, I..."
"A-Che," Li Hanzhou said, instantly silencing the commotion at the scene.
He ignored Li Ruoxue and clearly introduced him to everyone: "His name is Fang Che, he's one of us."
He turned his gaze to the entire room, his tone becoming more serious: "The fire at the funeral hall a couple of days ago was set by him right under the nose of the Dong Sheng Society. Without him, Ah Gui and I might not have been able to escape."
Everyone present was astonished.
They had all heard about the fire in the mourning hall and assumed it was Li Hanzhou's retaliation. They never expected it to be done by this boy who looked too beautiful and even a little frail.
Li Hanzhou was openly supporting him and including him in the inner circle.
Li Ruoxue stared at Li Hanzhou in disbelief, her nails digging into her palms.
Li Hanzhou acted as if it were nothing out of the ordinary, looking at Fang Che who was still standing dumbfounded at the door: "Put the contract down and wait outside."
Fang Che seemed to wake from a dream, quickly said "Oh," and almost simultaneously placed the contract on the cabinet by the door, then fled as if escaping, gently closing the door behind him.
He raised his hand and touched his face. With so many eyes staring at him, he felt like he almost had an "out-of-body experience" on the spot.
"My goodness..." Fang Che muttered under his breath, "This is even more exciting than the village committee election back home! Brother Li's eyes are like knives!"
He calmed his breathing, but his ears perked up, trying to catch any sounds coming from inside the door.
Unfortunately, the soundproofing was too good, and all that could be faintly heard was Li Hanzhou's cold voice: "King Ma, continue explaining." After that, only a muffled whisper remained.
Curiosity spurred him on.
A mole? A traitor? A live broadcast of a Hong Kong movie plot?
Wang Tiezhu actually came to the scene in person!
Fang Che crouched down and pressed his ear against the door panel.
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