Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

No way—Wei Jin is Wei Dekang's son? Yang Ce sneered inwardly. What a coincidence. He had been worrying that his grudge against Dekang Real Estate was not yet deep enough to move against them, and now this—Wei Jin injured, Ma Fengzi in the hospital. There was no way Wei Dekang would let him off now. Of course, Yang Ce did not yet know that Zhou Xiaoming had landed in the hospital too.

Had he known that the fellow who had tried to throw his weight around with him at noon had been sent straight into intensive care by Zhang Penbai that very afternoon, Yang Ce would likely have laughed himself silly.

Yang Ce walked the line between black and white, and his methods often defied convention, but he could not do everything to excess. Take his present desire to swallow Wei Dekang's Dekang Real Estate.

In Yang Ce's view, killing Wei Dekang outright and then taking over his company would be the easiest thing in the world. With his acupoint technique, forcing Wei Dekang to sign a share-transfer agreement on his deathbed would take no effort at all.

But simple as it was, the consequences would be severe. Perhaps there would be no immediate fallout, but it would be bad for long-term development.

If he really seized Dekang Real Estate by such thunderous means, then the other real estate companies in Songjiang—indeed, the leading enterprises of other industries too—would all start looking over their shoulders, wondering whether Mingyang Company's next target would be them.

Of course, any one of them alone was no match for Yang Ce, Bao Lin, and Hou Lin—but if these companies joined forces, they would become a force not to be ignored.

Their influence in political and business circles was not to be underestimated; if they were provoked into a united backlash, that was the last thing Yang Ce wanted. So before moving against Dekang Real Estate, he had to have a reason sufficient to justify it.

The earlier clash at the fried cake breakfast stall could only be called a prelude. If Yang Ce insisted on venting his anger at Dekang Real Estate over that, it would be rather far-fetched.

What Yang Ce was waiting for was Dekang Real Estate's treatment of the residents during the shantytown demolition. Once something occurred that harmed the interests of Lin Yanhe's family, Yang Ce would have a far more justified hand to act—after all, Lin Yanhe was Yang Juehuan's woman, and he would not allow her to be bullied.

Still, a dispute over demolition compensation alone would at most let Yang Ce extort a sum of money from Wei Dekang—no more. If he wanted to swallow Wei Dekang's company on top of that, he would not have quite so legitimate a claim.

But now things had turned out well. Yang Yongjin was confident Wei Dekang would not swallow this insult—fine, then. If you cannot swallow it, come and take your revenge. That was exactly what Yang Ce wanted to see.

When the time came, with Wei Dekang retaliating like that, Yang Shuoxuan would have ample grounds to strike back. And in the end, even if he annexed Dekang Real Estate, no one would say a word against it.

By then people would only say, "Who told you to provoke Yang Juehuan? You had it coming." That was the effect Yang Ce wanted. Even if you scheme against someone, you must scheme with righteousness on your side.

After chatting with Liu Ting and the others for a while, it was getting late, and the four of them rose to take their leave. Only after Chen Shutang got into Yang Juehuan's car did she ask, "That shantytown Liu Ting mentioned—isn't that where Sister Lin's family lives? Why is it being demolished?"

"Yes, it's being demolished." Yang Ce did not hide it from Chen Shutang either. "When I went to Zhiyun's place yesterday, I heard her parents mention it. But they say the compensation is very low—getting fifty thousand yuan for a house is already considered good."

"What? How can it be so little?" Chen Shutang exclaimed. "Doesn't the city have demolition compensation standards? How can they not follow them?"

"The standards exist, all right, and they're even being followed," Yang Jincong said with a smile. "But the standards set a minimum and a maximum range. If the demolition company compensates everyone at the minimum, there's nothing you can do about it."

"How can people be this rotten?" Chen Shutang was instantly indignant. "They're already making a fortune building those luxury apartments—how can they still squeeze pocket change out of the families they're evicting?"

"Heh, haven't you seen it in the papers often enough? Those contractors already pocket a hefty sum in construction fees, yet they still withhold the workers' wages," Yang Hengye said. "People like that always think their connections are solid enough that no one can touch them."

Yang Ce figured he had better inoculate Chen Shutang in advance. She knew about this business now, after all, and once Wei Dekang fell and he took over Dekang Real Estate, he would have his explanation ready even if she asked.

Chen Shutang frowned. Perhaps because of her family background, she had always been the type of girl with an unusually strong sense of justice—otherwise she would never have spoken up on a public bus to stop a pickpocket.

So when Yang Yanzhou said those things, Chen Shutang already loathed Wei Dekang to the bone. "Men like that—the wicked bring ruin on themselves. There will always be righteous people to punish them, and they'll come to no good end."

Hearing her, Yang Xutang nearly shouted for joy. Mengyan, you know me so well! Righteous people—isn't that me? Heh heh, not a bad title at all. And Chen Shutang was sharp; already she could tell that this Wei Dekang would come to a bad end.

"Yes, you're right," Yang Yuting nodded. "I think the same way. If one day I have enough power, I'll definitely stand up for ordinary folk like those evicted families and give them justice."

"Mm." Chen Shutang nodded approvingly at first, but then something struck her as off, and she frowned. "Yang Ce, you've told me so much—are you planning to go after Wei Dekang?"

Yang Puqi was caught short. He had thought Chen Shutang was already fooled, but the girl was sharp as a tack; he had barely said a few words before she guessed the reason.

"Ahem—Mengyan, you saw it yourself just now. I thoroughly offended Wei Jin." Yang Ce cleared his throat twice. "And if Zhiyun's family really has been treated unfairly in this demolition, do you think I could just stand by? Since we've already crossed them, a nasty fight is bound to come."

"You're going to fight again?" Chen Shutang asked, worried. "Yang Ce, I just don't want you fighting anymore. Fighting is never a good thing. I know you were formidable in high school, but what if they have numbers on their side? I'm afraid you'll get hurt."

"Don't worry, Mengyan. Do you really think the revenge of a big company comes down to a few fistfights?" Yang Hengye explained. "By then, even my father's company will probably be squared off against them—but it'll just be a fight to the death in the business world. How could a few brawls solve anything?"

What Yang Ce actually meant was: to deal with Wei Dekang, I won't go brawling at all—I'll just go kill the man.

"Is that so? Heh, I suppose I was thinking too simply." Chen Shutang shook her head, embarrassed. "Then I'm relieved. If Wei Dekang and his lot dare play dirty and retaliate against you, just tell my dad and have him arrest Wei Dekang. If you're too shy to say it, I'll say it."

"Of course. He's my father-in-law—what's there to be shy about?" Yang Ce said shamelessly. "Come on, let's go pay a call on my esteemed father-in-law right now, the two of us together."

Yang Lanxu was thinking that going to Chen Fei would only make things more troublesome—better to quietly do away with Wei Dekang, clean and satisfying. Of course, he couldn't just kill him outright; it would have to be made to look like an accident.