Chapter 488: You're not of the community

Old Jin asked if Xu Tingsheng wanted to take a look. Xu Tingsheng decided that he would. Fu Cheng's family had already returned to Yanzhou, and he was free too.

There were basically two reasons why he wanted to go.

Firstly, he wanted to see what exactly the 'community' looked like. He had lived thirty years in his previous life and several more in this one. Even so, having watched numerous works of fiction depicting the gritty underside of society in cinemas in his youth, he still possessed curiosity and yearning for that rumoured unseen brotherhood, rather idolising it at that.

In the meantime, he also wanted a good look at the other side of Old Jin, the side of Old Jin which belonged to said community.

Just as Wu Kun was a member of it, Old Jin was one too, albeit one with much more worth.

Wu Kun had been wholly incomparable compared to Old Jin before he had placed his bets on Xu Tingsheng. To be precise, he was more like those gangsters in movies, possessing territory, a reputation and a few smaller but thriving entertainment centres which guaranteed him income.

Under those circ.u.mstances, if someone from the city committee suddenly made a move on him, giving him no room to squeeze out of it, his base of power might collapse completely as a result as he lost the ability to protect even himself.

As for Old Jin's lot, they might already be close to the level of To be Number One and Lee Rock.

They seemed to have a collective nickname which should be 'Binzhou's Thirty Conquerors'. Old Jin had boasted this before while he was drunk. Of course, this should only be the polite form of address. There were probably more who called them the thirty wolves or thirty mutts in secret.

These people grasped the lifeline of local economies as their power was interspersed and all-encompa.s.sing. Even if someone from a provincial committee wished to move against them, they would have to weigh the merits and meticulously plan their moves first.

Savage dragon crossing the seas-he had seen this in movies and read it in books before…

Some were great fighters, other versatile schemers.

Still, who would ever imagine something as imposing and majestic as a hundred heavy trucks openly and directly barrelling into the local snakehead's territory just like that?!

Still, this was actually also related to Xu Tingsheng's second reason for wanting to go there.

Hucheng was currently a celebrity enterprise that countless people were paying attention to. Paying heed to their image was definitely a must. Even with Old Jin's substantial experience and despite the fact that Lu Zhixin would be there too, Xu Tingsheng could not help but worry somewhat.

He mentioned this over the phone.

"We must still give them face, of course," Old Jin said, "Our vehicles really pa.s.s that city every once in a while. It's actually normal even though the scale is a bit bigger this time. It's also very normal for those of the 'community' to clash a little with the local members. I won't go so far that the authorities can't stand for it."

As Xu Tingsheng was contemplating this, a young voice resounded from the other end.

"Come on, Uncle Xu, I'll bring you to chop someone...I discovered before that you're awesome in all areas, just that you're lacking some viciousness and guts. Fraternising in the community, those who aren't vicious, are all buffoons…" 

The seven-year-old Little Jinshan…pulling all sorts of things out of his hat...Xu Tingsheng felt despondent.

"Scram back to do your homework, yeah?" Xu Tingsheng interrupted him.

"Oh," Little Jinshan said helplessly, "Fine, you win."

He returned the phone to Old Jin.

Having gone into 'teacher mode', Xu Tingsheng questioned, "I say, Old Jin, what's with you? I don't mind if you let Little Jinshan hit on chicks and throw money around, being a bit craftier or whatnot...but you even tell him about all those violent things, instilling these values in him? He's only seven years old."

Old Jin laughed bitterly, "You don't understand."

"What?"

"You're not of the community."

"What?"

"In the past, though I am uncultured, I did love listening to stories. Once, I heard this. Cao Cao said: A son to be born like Sun Zhongmu (Sun Quan)! Be they sons of Liu Jingsheng (Liu Biao), pigs and dogs! Why? In different circ.u.mstances, one's considerations will naturally be different. That's why Cao Cao admired that young man who could contend with him."

"Take me for example. If you gave me a scientist son, it'll be useless. When I die one day, he'll quickly be shredded by others till there's not even bones left of him."

Xu Tingsheng said nothing. He could hear Old Jin shooing Little Jinshan out of the room.

"When my son is suddenly faced with something major one day, he surely can't just wet himself and burst into tears."

"My son will be the local warlord of this stretch of gold in the future. This is in his fate. Ordering others about, letting them down...he has to learn everything. Still, he's learning English right now. After coming back from Yanzhou, I hired a female student from a teaching school to instruct him at our house. The girl's looks aren't bad, so he's still absorbing it quite well."

They both laughed.

……

Xu Tingsheng got on an aeroplane the next morning. After the plane had landed, it was a black Bentley that came to pick him up. The driver said that Lu Zhixin had already arrived before him. More than an hour later, the car arrived in C City of H Province.

Everything looked calm and uneventful.

He met Old Jin in a luxurious suite of a hotel. Inside were Old Jin, Little Jinshan and a woman. Lu Zhixin was not there.

"What, she hasn't arrived yet?" Xu Tingsheng asked inquiringly.

"I chased her back to her room to sleep," Old Jin said, "Little lady hindering things...I thought about it and maybe you're even more of a hindrance. So, I'm wondering right now if I should chase you away to sleep together with her or sleep by yourself."

"Well?" Old Jin asked.

"Huh?"

"You guys can only watch. Jinshan, go have a chat with your Uncle Xu."

Little Jinshan walked over and yelled happily, "Uncle Xu!"

The two moved a short distance away and sat down.

Xu Tingsheng looked at that woman beside Old Jin. She was in her thirties and very intricate in terms of both appearance and clothes. She even exuded a bit of a unique disposition, far from the kind of woman that were said to hang around nouveau riche...even though Old Jin always seemed to act like one.

"My Dad's woman…" Beside him, Little Jinshan said.

"Where's your mother?"

"She became a nun."

"Huh?"

"It's true! Like my Dad says, those of a different path do not mingle. Still, it just happens that my Mum got married to him and doesn't like the way he's living now. My Mum wanted a simple and mundane life, but my Dad couldn't give it to her. In the end, she left...she still acknowledges me, but not my Dad."

"She wanted to eat vegetarian food and chant Buddhist scriptures, so my Dad built a small temple for her and got a few old nuns to come over. I can still stay there for a few days from time to time. My Dad, though, can't even step past the threshold."

Taken aback, Xu Tingsheng asked, "So, this is your stepmother?"

"She's just my Dad's woman. She can't be considered my stepmother. My Mum and Dad aren't divorced. My Mum wanted to, but my Dad just shamelessly refused to get divorced no matter what. My Mum made a fuss at the Civil Affairs Bureau and courts before, but no one dared accept the case. After a few tries, she eventually gave up on that."

"Right, it seems this woman graduated from some 985 university or whatnot. Her qualifications are much higher than yours."

Xu Tingsheng was unable to immediately venture a reply.

A knock on the door resounded.

Someone entered and pa.s.sed Old Jin a stack of photographs and several pieces of paper.

"This is the namelist. HK company, C City's supporting pillar enterprise. Connections with both the bureaucracy and the criminal underworld. They were most involved with gutter oil last time, and they're continuing to finance it now. The boss is surnamed Peng. A stake in every industry including gambling, prost.i.tution and drugs. Bunch of underlings under him quite a complex mix." 

"Let's begin tonight then. Going by the namelist and photographs, capture as many as you can," Old Jin said.

"Understood," That person responded.

Xu Tingsheng finally got to meet with Lu Zhixin. Together with Old Jin, they stood at the top of the building. Gazing down, from the national highway outside the city, a hundred heavy trucks zoomed thunderously in like an enormous dragon…

A phrase involuntarily arose in Xu Tingsheng's mind: Dark clouds looming overhead, the city doth quake…

"But this, this is too much," Lu Zhixin frowned.

"We're just coming into the city to have a meal and rest up. We always do it; the businesses here have always loved us," Old Jin said.