After hearing the contents of the walkie-talkie, Su Jialiang and I exchanged a glance, both looking puzzled.
It seems no one expected that there would be a third party present.
"Could it be that the Qing family is playing a trick on me?"
"Could this be a backup plan from the other two schools?"
We both spoke at the same time, asking each other a question.
I responded first: "The Qing family has recently encountered cash flow problems, and they urgently need your business to inject funds. Therefore, it is far better for them to take over your business smoothly than to destroy you! The scale of your business has exceeded their expectations, so cooperating with you is more beneficial to them."
As soon as I finished speaking, Su Jiaming rushed to our side with a group of people: "Big brother, are you alright?"
Su Jialiang glanced at me, then waved to Su Jiaming: "I'm fine, don't worry about me. Go and detain the Qu and Wei families, hurry up!"
Su Jiaming nodded emphatically: "I'll handle this. We shouldn't stay here any longer. Let them escort you out first!"
I remembered that Song Laosan and Lin Que were over there, and I was about to leave with Su Jiaming: "I have to go back to save my friends!"
“Come with me! I don’t care what grudges you have with Duan Jinyan, but I don’t want his son to get into trouble on my turf.”
Without saying a word, Su Jialiang grabbed me and started walking in the opposite direction.
The copper smelter had a very complicated layout, which was obviously intentional. Su Jialiang led me, and under the protection of many of his men, we quickly made our way along a small alley to a warehouse and into the tunnel inside.
This tunnel is connected to the underground drainage system, and it is also a maze of interconnected passages. By the time the bodyguard lifted the cover, we had already entered another factory.
Su Jialiang locked the cover plate and finally breathed a sigh of relief: "This factory is far from the copper smelter and is also one of my properties, so we will be very safe here."
Seeing Su Jialiang's relaxed expression, I couldn't help but ask, "With such a commotion at the copper smelter, and even gunshots, aren't you afraid the police will come knocking?"
“The pit where I made the fakes isn’t there, and that copper smelter already has the permits for casting handicrafts. Nobody goes back to check it regularly. The factory is in such a remote location, and the machines are running non-stop every day, so the gunshots won’t travel very far. Most importantly, I’m not the legal representative of that factory. Even if something really goes wrong, the scapegoat I paid a high price for will be willing to go to jail.”
As Su Jialiang answered my question, he also said to the people around him, "Contact Lao San and ask how things are going over there."
While his subordinates were on the phone, I lit a cigarette and fell into thought.
Right now, I'm not thinking about Duan Jinyan's search for Hu Shahu's tomb, but rather who exactly attacked the copper smelter.
I've been thinking about this question ever since I was attacked at the musician's tomb.
At the time, I suspected the Qing family the most, but after thinking it over, the Qing family members had no motive for committing the crime, so I thought that someone around Qing Huai was the problem and leaked the information to Su Jialiang or Ma Quezi.
However, as things unfolded later, I discovered that these two people were completely unaware of our existence.
Therefore, the most likely people to do this are the Qu family and the Wei family.
Then, recalling Song Laosan's insistence on saving Wei Shengnan and Qu Ruilin not long ago, my suspicions about him deepened.
At this moment, the young man who had made the phone call looked at Su Jialiang: "Boss, Third Brother and the others are safe and are on their way here."
I interrupted and asked, "Have the Wei and Qu families been detained?"
The young man shook his head: "I don't know. It's very noisy on Third Brother's side. He didn't mention any of this."
I sighed and could only wait patiently.
About twenty minutes later, the warehouse door was opened, and Su Jiaming, Qing Huai, Song Laosan and others walked in.
Seeing that Su Jiaming was splattered with blood, Su Jialiang asked with concern, "Third brother, are you alright?"
"It's nothing, it's someone else's blood." Su Jiaming waved his hand casually: "Those bastards were too ruthless. They're obviously seasoned veterans. They sneaked into the factory, but were spotted by the sentries I set up. My men questioned their identities, and those bastards just opened fire."
I pressed further, "What about the people from the other two departments?"
“They ran away.” Su Jiaming sighed. “The situation at the scene was too chaotic. I had already had my men control them and was preparing to arrest the troublemakers, but who knew that those people were driven to desperation, stole a car and rammed it into the crowd. The scene was chaotic, and the people you mentioned also took advantage of the chaos to escape.”
I raised an eyebrow: "Are they really here to support the other two gates?"
Su Jiaming shook his head: "It doesn't seem like it. I just glanced at the surveillance footage before destroying it. Those people were very careful and didn't seem to want to reveal their identities. Moreover, they didn't show any signs of wanting to save anyone when they were fleeing. There were three deaths at the scene. One of our people died and two of the other side died. I had someone take care of the bodies."
Su Jialiang licked his lips, glancing at Qing Huai almost imperceptibly: "If that's the case, then who are these bastards after?"
Qing Huai put it bluntly: "I know what you're thinking, but this matter has absolutely nothing to do with the Qing family. Our Qing family has already agreed to cooperate with you, and as you said, we'll take 40% of the shares. The reason I came here is to explain this matter."
Su Jialiang frowned: "That's strange. If these people aren't here to save someone or to silence them, what exactly do they want?"
"Whatever they want to do, these people came with firearms, so they're definitely not good people."
Su Jiaming said, "Brother, we've encountered too many strange things lately. I suggest we stop the business for now and stabilize the situation. As for the identities of those people, we can investigate them slowly once we've calmed down."
“That makes sense. Let all our people withdraw from the copper smelter, and only continue normal production here.” Su Jialiang nodded cautiously and said to Qing Huai, “Regarding our cooperation, let’s find a suitable time and place to sit down and talk about it in detail.”
Qinghuai pointed to me and Song Laosan: "Okay, but these two friends have to come with me."
Su Jialiang didn't waste any words: "No problem. Now that the matter is settled, let's all disperse as soon as possible to avoid any further complications."
Seeing that Lin Que hadn't followed me in, I asked, "Where are my other two friends?"
Qinghuai nodded to me: "Don't worry, everything has been taken care of. I've already had the injured one sent to the hospital, and the other one is waiting outside."
After a brief exchange, everyone dispersed to prevent any further accidents. Song Laosan and I were finally free and followed Qinghuai.
As I walked out of the warehouse, before I could even speak, Song Laosan nudged me with his elbow and whispered, "Xiao Duan, those unidentified people were after you."
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