Chapter 458 — The Consequences Would Have Been Unimaginable

There was nothing Feng Xiaoxiao could do but follow, seething. Once aboard, without so much as a by-your-leave, she planted herself at Wei Zhao's side. That seat had been Kang **'s, but seeing it taken from him, Kang ** said nothing and simply found another place to sit.

"Liang, what do you figure Feng Xiaoxiao is really going to do to Wei Zhao? The way she looks at him, you'd think she'd fallen for him." Gao Xiaofu had been watching Wei Zhao's movements closely these past days, and naturally he knew all about the situation with Feng Xiaoxiao.

"Who knows?" Zhong Yongliang was puzzled too. "Maybe she's cooking up something vicious. Let's leave her be—if she wants to take Wei Zhao on, all the better; it saves him from coming after us. My one priority right now is to win Gu Mengyao over before the college entrance exams."

"True enough. Let them tear each other apart." Gao Xiaofu nodded. "Liang, Operation Shark is ready. We can move whenever you give the word."

"Good, well done." Zhong Yongliang clapped him on the shoulder. "After this, I'm certain Gu Mengyao's impression of me will change beyond recognition."

At the Gelivable Floating Cloud Bar, Li Cihua met separately with two men of considerable influence in Songshan City: Zou Tiandi and Zhong Fabai.

Li Cihua walked the underworld road as well, and was hailed as the underground boss of Songshan City, yet every man under him was an elite—no street-corner thugs of the lowest sort in his ranks.

Li Cihua dealt in big business. He had no need of petty hoodlums to go shaking down shopkeepers for protection money. He had always devoted himself to high-end underworld enterprise—smuggling, drug trafficking, and now this partnership with An Jianwen to sell human organs.

These were all grand ventures, far more lucrative than protection rackets. And so it was that in Songshan City, besides a figure like Li Cihua, there were two other ruthless men: one was Zou Tiandi, the other Zhong Fabai.

One ran the entertainment trade, the other the hotel trade, and both commanded no small number of henchmen. Zou Tiandi's eldest son, Zou Ruoguang, was in fact the gang boss of the North District.

Li Cihua looked down on the games they played, and Zou Tiandi and Zhong Fabai could never reach the heights Li Cihua operated at, so the three kept the peace, each minding his own well.

But this time, Li Cihua had no choice but to seek these two out for a partnership.

The first he approached was Zou Tiandi, because in his estimation Zou Tiandi was considerably stronger than Zhong Fabai. Zou Tiandi's son was the gang boss of the North District.

"Brother Tiandi, forgive me for dragging you out so early in the morning." Li Cihua needed Zou Tiandi now, so his manner had turned warm. Hearing from his men that Zou Tiandi had arrived, he hurried to his feet and went out to greet him. "Oh? And this young gentleman is...?"

"Haha, Brother Cihua, this is my youngest son, Zou Ruoming. I brought him along to see a bit of the world." Zou Tiandi was thoroughly disappointed in his eldest, Zou Ruoguang—the boy was a spineless thing, no match for Zou Ruoming. So the succession would likely fall to the younger son. Zou Tiandi had changed his approach: rather than letting Zou Ruoming bury himself in books, he meant to groom him as his heir.

"Oh? So this is the second young master Zou. Heh, a fine-looking young man indeed." Li Cihua nodded with a smile.

"Thank you for the praise, Uncle Cihua." Zou Ruoming was elated—his father had finally begun to groom him, and on his very first outing had brought him to meet a man of such weight.

Zou Ruoming had long heard of Li Cihua: the veritable underground boss of Songshan City.

"Brother Cihua, might I ask what business you've called me here for—something to throw a brother's way?" Zou Tiandi and Li Cihua had always kept to their own wells, so their relations were passable enough.

"Brother Tiandi, no dark words between honest men. I called you here because I do have a business proposition for you." Li Cihua did not beat around the bush; they were all men of the road, and there was no need for indirection.

"Oh? What business?" Zou Tiandi had been thoroughly depressed these past days. Wei Zhao had said he would trouble them no more, but the worry lingered. Now that business had come knocking, it lifted his spirits somewhat.

"You know something of my position, I imagine," Li Cihua said with a smile. "A junior of the man behind me wants to open a real estate company here, but he's short of manpower. I wonder if Brother Tiandi might be interested?"

"Manpower? You mean..." Zou Tiandi was slightly taken aback. If he could attach himself to the big boss behind Li Cihua, would his family's business not soar to the heavens? The question was, what did they see in him? Zou Tiandi knew his own limits—he was good at entertainment, but he had never once touched real estate.

"Demolition," Li Cihua said with a smile. "You know as well as I do that to clear a site at a low price, you need certain methods. I have no men for that sort of work, which is why I thought of you, Brother Tiandi."

"Demolition? That's no problem at all." Zou Tiandi breathed a sigh of relief. What was so hard about demolition? Send Zou Ruoguang with a crew to give the holdouts a good scare—wouldn't that settle it?

"So Brother Tiandi agrees to this, then?" Li Cihua had been confident; after all, the work he wanted Zou Tiandi to do was not difficult, and ought to be right in his line.

"There shouldn't be any problem." Zou Tiandi nodded. "Which plot does the young master want to develop?"

"The shantytown," Li Cihua said. "It's a big area. Plenty of profit in it."

"Oh, the shantytown. That's a good spot, no problem..." Zou Tiandi was about to agree when Zou Ruoming pulled him back.

"Dad, we're not taking this job." Fearing his father would agree in a moment of impulse, Zou Ruoming hurried to stop him.

"Ruoming, what are you doing?" Zou Tiandi was startled, then displeased. "What's gotten into you, boy? You're usually bold enough—now that it's something illegal, you lose your nerve?"

"Dad! Listen to me—it's not that I lack the nerve for something illegal! It's Tang Yun. Tang Yun lives in the shantytown..." Zou Ruoming was frantic and rushed to explain. He had pursued Tang Yun before, so naturally he had looked into her family background in detail, and knew she lived in the shantytown.

"What?!" Zou Tiandi froze as well. Tang Yun—wasn't she Wei Zhao's girlfriend? She lived in the shantytown? Cold sweat broke out on his forehead at once. Thank goodness his son had reminded him in time; otherwise the consequences would have been unthinkable.

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