Finally, the police also sent a representative, a Chinese-American officer named Jeff.
This gang gathering was even larger than the last negotiation convened by the police at the police station! More people showed up!
Because... I sent the message.
Friends from all walks of life are welcome to attend the funeral of Eighth Master.
The unspoken message of my statement is: If you choose to be our friend, then come! Otherwise, you are not our friend!
Those involved in organized crime aren't fools. The Vietnamese have been wiped out, and now, under Thorin's orders, the Hells Angels have long since retreated far away from Vancouver, unwilling to get involved in this mess.
Besides, other gangs were previously severely suppressed by the police... So, who has the most power now?
Big circle!
Furthermore, almost all the gangs had been cracked down on by the police before... but the Big Circle was the only one that remained almost unscathed!
So, what does this situation indicate?
it goes without saying!
Jeff, dressed in his police uniform, arrived in a police car with several officers, all in sharp uniforms. This guy had actually been promoted! Privately, he told me that from now on, he had absolute authority over police matters in Chinatown!
Of course, he also brought another piece of news.
This is another major event that happened today.
Mr. Norton has resigned.
Now, Doug is officially in power.
I've always had my doubts. Doug isn't a police officer; he's just a government envoy. It's impossible for him to become police chief. Later I learned that politicians like him don't need long-term control of the Vancouver police force. He only needs to intervene in police affairs for a short period, say two or three years, as a government envoy nominally representing a committee within the police force. Meanwhile, a new police officer will replace Norton. However, in the short term, it's impossible for him to challenge Doug for power.
As for Doug, after two or three years, having amassed his political achievements, he can leave in style. His brilliant success in cracking down on organized crime in Vancouver will also be a significant highlight of his career! This will greatly benefit his future advancement.
He needs to gain political achievements, so he needs to bring Vancouver's underworld under his control within two or three years. He needs to control Vancouver's underworld, maintain good public order, and reduce the crime rate... Therefore, he needs a spokesperson within the underworld.
In other words, with Doug's cooperation, I essentially have a huge protective umbrella within the police force for the next two or three years. As long as I don't do anything outrageous, the police won't cause me any trouble... they might even help me suppress my rivals.
After paying respects to Eighth Master, in front of many Vancouver gang leaders, Jeff, dressed in a police uniform, shook hands with me. Then he said loudly, "Mr. Chen Yang, on behalf of the police, I thank you for your contributions to the safety of Vancouver."
I smiled slightly: "It's about police-community cooperation."
What I didn't know was that a reporter from a tabloid that had infiltrated the scene quietly rated this statement as one of the ten most shameless speeches of the year...
After the funeral, some unrelated guests left, and Officer Jeff naturally left as well. But none of the remaining gang leaders left.
Inside the mourning hall in the auto repair shop, the wreaths were still in place, and the banners were still hanging on the walls, but the incense table was gone. In the vast mourning hall, I had a long table set up, creating a simple meeting space.
Then, I ordered everyone who wasn't involved to leave. I had my men and the bodyguards of these big shots all retreat outside the door.
Everyone remained calm, probably having anticipated this scene.
Because everyone knows very well that today is nominally Eighth Master's funeral. But in reality...
This is my inauguration ceremony!
"Please have a seat, everyone." I looked at the Vancouver gangsters and pointed to the table in the mourning hall.
Everyone quickly sat down, and I, without hesitation, took the seat at the head of the table.
I also invited Fatty and Thunder Fox to attend this meeting.
"These two are senior figures in our industry; they came all the way from Asia," I introduced them with a smile. No one reacted.
These men are all gang leaders, and their combined power accounts for over 80% of the Vancouver underworld! I recognized half of them at the police station, but I didn't know the other half.
"Gentlemen, it is my honor to sit with you all today." I smiled and said, "With the passing of Eighth Master, I have been temporarily in charge of the land acquisition affairs recently. I am still very young, so please forgive me if I have done anything inappropriate..."
Despite my smile as I spoke, no one showed a hint of disdain; instead, they all looked at me with wariness.
Most of them knew. Back then, right at the police station, right under the nose of that senior officer Norton! Just because Aziz, the leader of the Iranian gang, disrespected me, I crippled him on the spot! Later, the police raided eighteen of Aziz's gangs in one day! After Aziz was discharged from the hospital, he was transferred directly to prison.
Therefore, no one dares to underestimate me now!
“Mr. Chen Yang.” It was the Italian Albertoni who spoke. This guy still had his hair in a ponytail and said loudly in an exaggerated tone, “Now you are the head of the Big Circle, and I think everyone will be willing to cooperate with you.”
This guy's on my side; he was the first to voice his support. The others naturally had no objections; everyone understood that I was currently the most powerful!
“No, no, no.” I smiled. “My dear Albertoni, my friend… you’re wrong. I’m not the head of the Big Circle.” I slowly stood up, walked gently to the table, spread my hands, and said with a smile, “As everyone knows, when Eighth Master had his accident, I was only temporarily managing the Big Circle’s affairs under duress. But I’m so young, I’m not qualified to shoulder such a heavy burden… Besides, given my seniority, I’m afraid many people wouldn’t accept me…”
Abbott immediately exclaimed, "No, no, no! I don't think anyone would disagree with you. You're a very famous person in Vancouver now!" Many others chimed in in agreement.
I smiled and glanced at Lei Hu. The guy squinted and didn't say anything.
There were two elderly Chinese men present, representatives of the Chinese community, both of whom I had met before. Their expressions were far more complex than those of the foreigners!
When I said that I was too young to shoulder heavy responsibilities, the two old men immediately seemed to sense something and their eyes secretly swept over Lei Hu and Fatty!
Considering these two are from the Asian underworld... if they're only here for Eighth Master's funeral... if it's simply for the funeral, then this meeting is clearly an internal matter for the Vancouver gang, and there's no need for them to attend! But not only did they attend, they sat right next to me!
There are many profound meanings to be found here!
After all, they are Chinese, and only Chinese people can understand this kind of internal strife. Most foreigners simply cannot comprehend it.
I noticed the strange looks in the eyes of the two old men from the Chinese gang, and then turned my gaze to them with a smile on my face.
The two old men glanced at me and Lei Hu... They understood that I was using my eyes to force them to make a decision.
After a moment's hesitation, one of the older men cleared his throat and slowly said, "Chen Yang, normally we shouldn't comment on matters within your inner circle. But we feel that although you are young, you made the greatest contributions under Eighth Master. Now everyone has seen that everyone in the inner circle respects you. If you don't take this position, who else will?"
Lei Hu's expression turned somewhat grim.
I smiled and returned the old man's friendly smile: "You're a senior, sir. I'm just trying to calm things down temporarily with the support of my brothers. As for who's in charge of the Big Circle now... actually, the reason I invited everyone here today is to have you witness our Big Circle's new leader taking office! Our new leader is probably an old acquaintance of everyone here..."
I smiled, slowly walked to one side of the mourning hall, pushed open the door, and went inside.
A moment later, I emerged from inside, pushing a wheelchair in which sat an elderly man, around fifty years old. His face was thin, and his eyes were sharp as an eagle's! From those eyes alone, one could tell this man had a fiery temper…
I pushed the wheelchair out, and almost half of the Vancouver bigwigs present were stunned! Even the two old men from the Chinese community seemed a bit caught off guard.
Meanwhile, Fatty Fang, sitting to the side, wore a look of surprise on his face, his eyes gleaming with an unusual light! Suddenly, he jumped up, ran two steps to me, and shouted at the man in the wheelchair, "Ha! Seventh Brother! Holy crap, Chen Yang actually carried you out!!"
The person sitting in the wheelchair was naturally Uncle Seven.
When I sent my subordinate Xiao Zhu out on some business, besides having him find the buck-toothed lawyer Zhou Zhou, I also had him find Uncle Qi! My task for him was to stay by Uncle Qi's side and protect and take care of the old man.
Xiao Zhu is a very clever young man. He persuaded Uncle Qi to go into hiding and stay in a different place these past few days. Afterwards, I personally went to visit Uncle Qi... I needed his help!
It's all to deal with guys like Raihu from the Asian big circle!
I still remember when I went to see Uncle Qi, he didn't even ask me a question, and just replied with one sentence: "I have already retired from the criminal life."
Although Uncle Seven has a fiery temper, he is not a fool.
By the way, Uncle Seven and Eight's relationship wasn't actually as good as it seemed when I first came to Canada! Now that I think about it, the fact that they acted so affectionately back then was mostly because there were other people around, and they were just putting on an act.
Moreover, after the news of Eighth Master's death spread, Seventh Uncle did not come forward to pay his respects!
Uncle Seven remained calm when I went to see him. He didn't even ask how Eighth Master died! He simply replied, "I've already retired from the criminal life."
It was clear that Uncle Qi had guessed why I had come.
I told him, "Seventh Uncle, you're the one who brought me into the Big Circle! Now that the Big Circle is in trouble, I'm just a young man and I can't handle the situation! If you step in now, there are probably many things I can't do!"
However, no matter how much I tried to appeal to his emotions, Uncle Qi only said one thing: I have already retired from the criminal life.
I was quite helpless at one point. But later, before I left, I said something:
"Seventh Uncle, I've always thought you were a very loyal person! Now that Eighth Master is dead, although I can take charge, will the people in Asia accept me? If they don't, what am I supposed to do? Do I have any solutions? I'm not here today to beg you for myself, I'm begging you for the future of so many brothers in the family! I'm not asking you to be my puppet... I'm asking you to be my umbrella! At least for now, if you're willing to come out, many of our brothers can still be sheltered from the wind and rain under your umbrella!"
After saying that, I turned and walked away, and only then did Uncle Qi finally speak up, "Wait..."
Today, I pushed my seventh uncle in his wheelchair out and stood before everyone. Perhaps everyone was just surprised, probably never expecting that I, who now holds great power, would elevate an old man who had long lost his power and faded into obscurity to the top position...
Lei Hu, however, had a gloomy expression and looked at me with complicated eyes.
There was a clear sense of defeat in his eyes!
Yes, you can say that I, Xiao Wu, am too inexperienced, that I am too young and lack the prestige to command respect.
So you can try to interfere in our internal affairs under the guise of being the "legitimate" one...
But now that I've brought Uncle Seven into the spotlight! What can you say?
Seniority? What a joke! In the entire Vancouver circle, who has more seniority than Uncle Seven!
Perhaps some people think that I don't need to bring up Uncle Seven, and what can Lei Hu do to me?
Indeed, Lei Hu can't do anything to me! But what about those big shots in the Asian smuggling circle? I have to make a gesture to show them some face-saving concession! At least, I need an excuse, an excuse for them, and also an excuse for myself! I can't openly fall out with them! The characteristic of the smuggling circle is that they bring in parachuted-in troops! I need parachuted-in troops! I also need the support of Asia! Because from a business perspective, the smuggling business and its financial channels are inseparable from Asia!
You want someone with seniority to be the boss, right? Fine! I'll give you someone with seniority!
But at least on the surface, everyone can get by.
Uncle Qi and Fatty Fang clearly had a very deep friendship. They hugged each other, and then I pushed Uncle Qi to the table.
Just then, Uncle Seven glanced coldly at Lei Hu and spoke in a low voice in Chinese:
"Thunder Fox, are you here for a funeral? Now that everything's done and you've seen what you needed to see, if there's nothing else, go wherever you want. Just remember not to stick your claws out indiscriminately in the future. Otherwise, don't blame me for turning my back on you after all these years of friendship."
Lei Hu's face turned pale and then flushed, as if he was about to explode. But after saying those words, Uncle Qi turned his face away and ignored Lei Hu completely.
I stood behind Uncle Qi, my face expressionless, but in my heart I absolutely adored him.
Only a veteran like Uncle Seven could say such things! No one else could say them! Moreover, since Uncle Seven said them, Lei Hu could only listen!
Why?
The underworld in Vancouver was built by Uncle Seven and his gang back in the day! Of course, Uncle Seven speaks with authority! In his words, "Thunder Fox is nothing. Let's see if he dares to fart in front of me!"
There are some things I can't say. If I did, those bigwigs in Asia would call it "insubordination" or "disrespect from a junior to a senior."
But Uncle Seven didn't have so many scruples. Even if he was rude to Lei Hu and caused a huge scene, to those big shots, it was just "a minor conflict between old brothers"...
Part Two: The Road to Success, Chapter Sixty-Seven: Friends and Enemies
With Uncle Seven in charge, I felt incredibly pleased seeing Lei Hu's utterly humiliated expression! This guy came to Canada wearing the hat of an imperial envoy…
The key point is that the phrase "Imperial Envoy" should be in quotation marks. Because fundamentally, we can no longer be considered part of the same organization as them. Even if he really were an Imperial Envoy, wielding the imperial sword, he has no right to boss me around.
At least it wouldn't make sense for a minister from country A to go to country B to enforce the law. But Lei Hu happens to have a senior position, a nominal "senior," and I can't just go against him.
I've put Uncle Seven in charge, so let those old guys do whatever they want with each other.