When we got home, we didn't see He Tiandou. He said he went to deal with Kongkong'er. I wonder how things went. Getting the treasure back from Gu Debai still depends on him. Those guys have money and guns; I don't want to mess with them again unless absolutely necessary. Of course, they'd better not mess with me either…
The next day, a dilapidated Hongqi car pulled up in front of my house. A bald, middle-aged man stood with his arms crossed, squinting in the sunlight as he surveyed my villa. I threw on a coat and slipped on my shoes before coming out. Fei Sankou greeted me with a smile: "Good morning, Principal Xiao."
"Come in," I said, squinting my eyes.
"Let's talk in the car."
I had no choice but to take a pack of cigarettes and go inside his tattered red flag, saying, "Shall we talk about business first or personal matters first?"
Old Fei said, "Oh, there's a difference? Let's talk about personal matters first."
I offered him a cigarette and said, "So, you've been doing well lately, haven't you? When did you get back?"
Old Fei: "..."
I laughed and said, "Isn't this a private matter?"
Fei San chuckled and said, "Not bad, I just got back a few days ago."
I asked, "How about our Comrade Ying too?"
"He's not bad either. Under his direction, the excavation work..."
I quickly reached out to stop him, saying, "This is official business."
Fei Sankou said helplessly, "Alright, let's talk about personal matters first."
I lit a cigarette, changed my expression, and said, "Actually, there's nothing personal going on. Let's talk business now—how's the excavation project going?"
Fei Sankou: "...Yes, it went smoothly."
I nodded: "That's good. Did you come with any bad news for me today?"
Fei Sankou chuckled and said, "You rascal, what are you talking about, personal matters or business matters? First you try to build a relationship, then you talk about your contributions to the country. Aren't you just trying to get the government to go easy on you this time?"
I immediately collapsed, grinning and saying, "As expected of our country's loyal guardians, your eyes are sharp indeed."
Fei Sankou said, puffing on his cigarette, "It seems you've realized the seriousness of your actions yesterday."
I spread my hands, and before I could even finish putting on an innocent act, Fei Sankou pointed at me and said, "Stop pretending! Stop pretending! I'm too lazy to argue with you. I've already dealt with the matter. Otherwise, do you think you would be sitting here comfortably chatting with me?"
I quickly asked, "What information have you all found out?"
Fei Sankou snorted and said, "Still trying to play tricks on me? Are you afraid of revealing something we don't know?" Fei Sankou slapped a bag of photos on my lap and said, "Anyway, you mobilized all your school staff to fight for you last night, right?"
I opened the bag and saw a photo on top: Li Kui, his eyes bulging like bull's eggs, was brutally beating a henchman. The surrounding environment was chaotic, and I could even make out several faces from Liangshan. The photo below was of Lin Chong with Duan Tianlang at Qian Le Duo; their behavior didn't seem very civilized…
I know what Fei Sankou does for a living, so I'm not surprised he has photos like these. What's surprising is that his bag contains photos from seven different places, and about 70-80% of the people who participated in the operation last night were photographed. I didn't look at them closely, and slammed the bag on the car seat, grumbling, "If your people have time to take so many photos, why don't they go and break up the fight?"
Fei San laughed and said, "Stop talking nonsense, we're not police officers. What else do you have to say?"
"What can I say now that you've already got my eye on me? I've already written my resignation letter, but I didn't mention the fight. I wonder if the government can give me a way out?" It was only then that I suddenly realized, "What did you just say? It's been suppressed? What did you say?"
"What else can we say? We'll classify it as a hooligan brawl. Luckily, Lei Laosi doesn't have much of a reputation either. As long as you tell your employees not to talk about it, this matter will be over."
I exclaimed excitedly, "It's that simple? Why are you helping me?"
Fei San sighed, "You know how much money the country has spent on your school. If this matter is dealt with, who will be left at Yucai? Most importantly, according to our investigation, we have learned some of the details. Lei Laosi kidnapped your wife before you..."
I interjected, "A cornered dog will jump over the wall."
Fei San said, "Furthermore, we've also learned that he's recently been in close contact with an international antique smuggling organization, but we have no idea why they contacted you."
I blurted out, "How do you know? How many photography enthusiasts have you hired?"
Fei Sankou said, "Have you forgotten those two foreigners you knocked out at the guesthouse? By the way, impersonating a policeman is something that will get you into serious trouble."
"This is nothing compared to the previous one," I said dismissively. "I was just saying it casually, but the boss believed me. That guy is so disloyal. I didn't even tell him about him giving black milk to his customers. By the way, how are those two foreigners doing?"
"One suffered a ruptured spleen, and the other a concussion. They were both members of that smuggling ring, and we are currently interrogating them. Your situation is this: you abused your power to mobilize your employees to threaten Lei Laosi in retaliation, and the two of you have a long-standing feud. This line of reasoning is clear. What we don't understand now is why it was Lei Laosi who kidnapped your lover, but he was handed over to two foreigners to guard?"
"That's simple, because they have a cooperative relationship. Once a fight breaks out, Lei Laosi's men will be my targets, so he handed them over to the foreigners who are colluding with him."
Fei San said, "Then he gave up their address under your threat of force? That explanation seems plausible, but I still feel something is off—anyway, let's wait for those two foreigners to speak."
Chapter Sixty-Three: A Comeback
My heart skipped a beat. What if the foreigner spoke up and exposed me? Although they probably only knew the surface details, they knew I possessed antiques. And regardless, several important antiques had left my possession…
Seeing that I didn't speak, Fei Sankou continued, "Oh, by the way, out of habit, we checked Comrade Ying's background. But strangely, we couldn't find any information about him in the national computer system. Many teachers at Yucai School are in similar situations. Your explanation for this is that you found them in some remote mountain village..."
I quickly replied, "Yes, I already reported this issue a long time ago."
Fei Sankou said helplessly, "Since you say so, I'll take it as true. But I want to remind you to distinguish between privacy and necessary information, and to carefully discern what should be told to us and what you can keep to yourself."
I nodded vigorously, thinking to myself, "No need to even think about it. We should keep the birth dates of these people a secret. If two eunuchs come in the future, we should even keep their genders a secret."
"And also—" Fei Sankou said, "You're not allowed to lead those people to fight again! If something like yesterday happens again, you can come to me. Although I'm not a policeman, you've already summarized everything, haven't you? I'll help you both officially and personally."
"Definitely, definitely."
Fei Sankou glanced at me one last time, sighed for some reason, and drove away.
It seems that complete equality between people is impossible, but this time the scales of fortune tipped in my favor. Despite such a massive operation, not a single local police officer showed up. Mobilizing four or five hundred people overnight to simultaneously raze seven entertainment venues—in all of China, only the military and our Yucai School could probably pull off something like that. The official explanation was: hooliganism and brawl. I underestimated Yucai's influence in this matter. After all, it's a school that has gained international recognition. It's not like I, Xiaoqiang, can simply resign and be done with it. The country must preserve its face and reputation within its capacity. In contrast, Lei Laosi is just an old thug. Destroying him brings joy to the public, and the government doesn't need to feel embarrassed. The choice is simple.
After that night, Lei Laosi indeed fell into a slump, and all his brothels were sold off cheaply. What I didn't expect was that the person who bought them was Liu Xiaozhi. The very night Lei Laosi fell, Liu Xiaozhi led his men to raid all the brothels again, and Lei Laosi's men, already on edge from our attacks, fled at the first sign of trouble. I originally thought Liu Xiaozhi just wanted to take advantage, but it turns out he hitched a ride, and from then on, the city's boss changed hands to Wang Laji (Wang the Trash). This guy successfully pulled off a "rural-to-urban" strategy. I just don't know where he got so much money—even if he bought them cheaply, it would still cost a fortune.
That day, a large group of us sat down for dinner again. The members included: the five-person group excluding Qin Shi Huang, Wu Sangui and Hua Mulan, and Zhang Bing. Cao Xiaoxiang couldn't come because he had to take his final exams.