Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

"Second Uncle Chen," Yang Ce said once they were in the car, studying Chen Dazhuang's face, "for Chen Afu to have come to this result is already the best he could have hoped for. Don't grieve any more."

Chen Dazhuang nodded. "I know. But he is my own son after all, and he's done so many wrong things. As his father, I feel the guilt of it in my heart."

"Heh. Second Uncle Chen, the affairs of this world are hard to reckon. You shouldn't take it too hard. Who knows, one day Chen Afu may win his freedom through his own deeds." Yang Ce knew the odds were next to nothing, but a kindly lie does no harm. "So, Second Uncle Chen, I think what you ought to do now is find a job and live on well. That's what matters."

"You mean it? Afu still has a chance to come back?" At this, a trace of joy rose to Chen Dazhuang's face. He had noticed too that Yang Ce was on very good terms with Xia Yan, the man in charge of this case. What part Yang Ce played exactly, he did not know, but he felt that Yang Ce's words carried a certain credibility.

"Chances there will surely be, but they won't come easily. That depends on him," Yang Ce said.

"Heh, so long as there's a chance." Chen Dazhuang broke into a smile. "You're right. I'll work hard and live on, and wait for the day Afu comes back."

"As for the job, don't worry about that, Second Uncle Chen. I still have some connections in Songjiang," Yang Ce said. "I can't promise you anything high up, though. You'll start from an ordinary post."

"I've only just come out of prison. What ordinary place would have me? A steady job would already be good enough, so why would I be choosy?" Chen Dazhuang said with a bitter smile. "If you can find me a job, Yang Ce, I'd be more than grateful. Dirt and hard work don't frighten me. I did plenty of labor in prison. So long as they'll have me."

"There's no need for that. You used to work in company trade, didn't you? How about this: go to Mingyang Heavy Industries and work as a salesman. If you do well, you needn't worry about opportunities for promotion," Yang Ce said.

"Ah? That's wonderful! I'll work hard, I promise." Surprised and delighted, Chen Dazhuang hastened to give his word.

In truth, Yang Ce had only arranged it offhandedly. It was no important post, nothing to make a fuss over. And a salesman's place was the sort where more work meant more pay and less meant less; how much he earned depended entirely on his own effort.

Yang Ce did not contact his father directly; instead he telephoned Wang Jinde and asked him to see to it. Wang Jinde was one of Wang Lin's men and naturally did whatever Yang Ce said.

Back at Chen Shutang's home, Yang Ce was pleasantly surprised to find that Chen Shutang could already walk about the floor. The cold medicine had evidently taken effect.

"Mengyan, why aren't you sleeping? It would be better if you slept a while longer." Yang Ce sat down beside Chen Shutang, who was watching television on the sofa.

"I've slept enough, I'm not sleepy anymore," Chen Shutang said. "I feel much better. A little more medicine in a while and I'll probably be fine."

"Ah, what a pity," Yang Ce said, putting on a show of disappointment.

"What's a pity?" Chen Shutang was baffled.

"A pity that you can move about by yourself now, so I don't get to feed you congee," Yang Ce said with a sigh.

"You're awful!" Chen Shutang scolded, her face reddening.

Chen Shutang was not yet fully recovered, so Yang Ce could not very well drag her back to the villa at once. Though neither of them could bear to part, under the watchful eyes of Chen Fei and Chen's mother, they dared not do anything out of line.

On the way back, Yang Ce received a call from Wang Yanqiu: Wei Jin had applied online for the contract to assassinate Zou Ruoguang.

Yang Ce coveted Wei Jin's company, but he had no wish to be tangled up in anything like "hiring a killer." Once implicated, after all, it would be hard to get clear of it, and that was why he had told Wei Jin to go and find a hitman agency himself. In that way, it had little to do with him.

"Have you made contact with him?" Yang Yanchuan asked.

"Not yet. Weren't you the one talking to him? I wouldn't know what to do either," Wang Yanqiu said.

"All right, I understand," Yang Yanzhou said. "We'll talk when I get back."

Yang Juehuan's thinking was that plucking any random man from Li Qiang's training camp would be more than enough to handle such an important task.

Back at Wang Yanqiu's villa, Yang Ce saw Wei Jin's assignment request on Wang Yanqiu's computer. The fellow really was a piece of work—he had actually left a message saying he wanted Zou Ruoguang dead at any cost.

Yang Hengye called Bao Lin and asked, "What's the rough market value of Dekang Real Estate?"

"Calculated at normal rates, or a depressed price?" Bao Lin found it baffling that Yang Ce would ask such a thing, but he answered honestly all the same.

"The normal price, of course. No need to depress it," Yang Lanxu said. This was simply a matter of moving money from the left pocket to the right; whether the price was high or low made little difference to him.

"Understood, Brother Yang. Give me a moment—I'll have someone run the numbers and call you back," Bao Lin said.

"Fine, but make it quick." Yang Ce was eager to know Dekang Real Estate's price so he could demand an exorbitant sum from Wei Jin. The two figures could differ slightly, but so long as the gap was small, that would do.

"Only now do I understand what a wise choice it was to have you run the assassin group. You're not just ruthless—most importantly, you're black-hearted," Wang Yanqiu could not help marveling. Yang Ce was simply too formidable; even a worthless task with no skill to it could be leveraged into extracting this much money.

Many of the complex assignments his own family took on did not bring in as much as Yang Cenbin demanded in a single stroke.

"Naturally, it depends on who you're dealing with. That father of Wei Jin's was no good either—he tried to burn down my company, so I dealt with him directly. But my anger hasn't subsided, so the son must pay for the father's debt," Yang Hengye said. "As for that Zou Ruoguang, he's a pure idiot. First he chases Chen Shutang, then Zhao Ying—I've had it out for him for a long time."

Yang Ce did not bother to hide any of this from Wang Yanqiu. Between the two of them there was nothing to hide; when you were an assassin, a heart too soft meant you would never accomplish anything great.

"Heh, seems to me you're killing two birds with one stone," Wang Yanqiu said with a laugh. "But let's be clear from the start—the money for the assassin group, once it's paid to the assassin group, belongs to the two of us. You can't pocket it for yourself again."

Yang Puqi was startled, then gave a bitter smile. "I think you're even more devious than I am."

"Of course. With a sum this large, the assassin group can solve its major problems," Wang Yanqiu said with a solemn nod.

Yang Xutang gave a somewhat helpless sigh—not because he begrudged the money, but because Wang Yanqiu's way of thinking struck Yang Ce as rather too amusing. "You—sometimes you're too clever for your own good. Now that I've taken over the assassin group, naturally I won't neglect it. To build it into something big and strong, strength alone won't do; it needs money. Even without this sum, I would still keep pouring investment into the assassin group."

Hearing Yang Juehuan's words, Wang Yanqiu's face instantly flushed. She felt she had indeed been a little petty, and said with some embarrassment, "I was only saying it offhand."

"Saying it offhand still earns punishment. Your punishment is to be underneath tonight," Yang Yanzhou said. To begin with, woman on top was a most wonderful position—it saved a great deal of effort—but that was true for other people. For Wang Yanqiu it would not do at all.