Chapter 235 - 235 Private Orphanage
Ye Qing had never had much ambition before, but after he met Zhao Chengshuang, and made his first major achievement, he felt the joy of accomplishment. Following that, he nearly lost his life while saving others. Though it was a close brush with death, he earned everyone's respect. These experiences brought significant changes in him.
Previously, he was simply a playboy, but now he had become a competent police officer. Although he couldn't change society's law of the jungle, at least now, when he saw those poor children and disabled individuals, he felt anger and compassion, instead of the indifferent disdain he had shown as a rich playboy.
This was how he changed after getting to know Ye Qing. Although his life had been tough since meeting Ye Qing and included several dangerous incidents, the drastic change surprised his family. Therefore, the Zhao Family no longer stopped him from helping Ye Qing. Seeing Zhao Chengshuang turn into someone who understood his responsibilities was a common wish among the Zhao family members.
And Zhao Chengshuang had indeed changed, which was why Zhao Shilin praised Ye Qing so highly and showed such supportive attitude when he went to cause trouble at the Lin family.
Ye Qing said, "It's good to have ambition, but as a police officer, it would be best if you learned more about criminal investigation techniques."
Zhao Chengshuang replied, "Don't worry, once my injuries heal, I'll apply to study at the police academy for a while. When I come out, Ye Zi, let's have a good competition and see who's better at criminal investigation!"
Ye Qing said, "This isn't about criminal investigation skills; it's about survival laws on the battlefield."
"Survival laws?" Zhao Chengshuang looked at Ye Qing and asked, "Can you not make it so complex? Speak plainly, I can't understand."
"It's human instinct!" Ye Qing explained, "On the battlefield, when you're on the brink of death, human survival instincts kick in. For instance, if a knife is being slashed at you and you can't dodge in time, and there's nothing nearby to block it, you'll raise your arm to protect yourself. That's human instinct.
Instinct is something subconscious, a reflex action humans take when faced with danger, also the most likely action a person will take. On the battlefield, we use this to track fleeing enemies. Put simply, it's actually a form of psychology."
Zhao Chengshuang, astonished, scratched his head and turned to Black Bear, asking, "Do you understand all this?"
"I don't!" Black Bear said, waving his hand, "But our captain knows all this stuff. I just need to do what the captain tells me, whatever psychology or not, what the captain says is always right!"
"Damn!" Zhao Chengshuang sneered, "Hearing you say that, I suddenly don't feel like going to study at the police academy anymore. Learning criminal investigation involves studying psychology too? How hard can it get?"
Ye Qing said, "I don't know much about criminal investigation, but if you've been on the battlefield and experienced bullets whizzing by, you would understand what I just said."
Zhao Chengshuang immediately waved his hands, saying, "Forget it, I want to live a few more years. They say good men shouldn't enlist, because on the battlefield, I'm afraid the bullet wouldn't just whizz by but pierce right through!"
"Nonsense, who says that!" Black Bear immediately glared and said, "A good man should enlist. You don't know what being a man or honor is until you've served."
Zhao Chengshuang ignored Black Bear and turned to Ye Qing, saying, "Ye Zi, didn't you say you were a graduate from Northern University? Logically, if the graduates from your time had started working, they would have achieved something by now. But you went off to join the army and look at you now. Do you ever regret it?"
Ye Qing shook his head, "Being a soldier is an eternal honor and always without regrets!"
Zhao Chengshuang looked at Ye Qing's solemn face and shrugged, "That's why I say, you're just too old-fashioned and stubborn. 'Eternal honor,' 'always without regrets,' only those old antiquities would talk like that. Nowadays, having money is the real power!"
This time, Ye Qing didn't argue with Zhao Chengshuang. He was already beginning to adapt to city life. It was undeniable that in this city, money and power were the only rules, and fists were the only truth in settling issues!
"By the way, how are those kids doing now?" Ye Qing suddenly asked.
"A few who were sick are still in the hospital, the rest were temporarily taken in by some officers' families in the squad," Zhao Chengshuang explained, "But that's not a permanent solution. The city is planning to reorganize the orphanage soon and give it a big shake-up. Hopefully, the orphanage situation will improve, and then we can send them there."
"They have to go back to the orphanage?" Ye Qing sounded disappointed, to be honest, he really didn't trust the so-called orphanage anymore.
Zhao Chengshuang said, "There's no other way, there are too many kids. Our officers can take care of them temporarily, but it's definitely not feasible to look after them for a long time."
"Isn't there any other way?" asked Ye Qing.
"No way around it!" Zhao Chengshuang shrugged his shoulders and said, "We can't get in touch with their families right now, so we have to hand them over to the orphanage and slowly figure out a way to find adoptive parents. These kinds of things can't be forced. Plus, no one knows who the adoptive parents might end up being, it's actually sometimes safer in the orphanage.
I know you're worried about them, but the staff at the orphanage has been replaced, so there shouldn't be any more issues!"
Ye Qing shook his head and said, "I don't trust the people at the orphanage!"
"Even if you don't trust them, there's nothing you can do, unless you plan on adopting them all yourself?" Zhao Chengshuang said, "Don't even mention whether you have the capability to adopt them, even if you did, you don't qualify to adopt. Besides, adopting so many at once would never be approved."
Ye Qing was silent. He genuinely did not trust the orphanage, but he truly had no other options. Actually, he was really concerned about the children and wanted to personally look after them. However, just as Zhao Chengshuang had said, he really didn't have the capability to adopt so many children. With his salary, he struggled just to support himself!
"If only there were a philanthropist who could set up a private orphanage and adopt them all, that would be perfect," Black Bear said.
"Have you been watching too many movies from Xiangjiang? Where do we have private orphanages here? Moreover, to start such an orphanage would require an investment of millions, with hundreds of thousands needed each year. There'd be the need to take care of the children and protect them from causing trouble. If something happened, they'd have to take responsibility.
Which philanthropist would want to engage in such thankless tasks?" Zhao Chengshuang said. "These days, so-called philanthropists are just after some fame, few genuinely contribute to charity. Unless a few of us had that much money to start an orphanage ourselves, nobody else would want to do it!"
Black Bear helplessly shrugged his shoulders and said, "After all is said and done, it still comes down to money."
Zhao Chengshuang also sighed, "Although the Zhao family has some assets, they definitely wouldn't support anything as major as an orphanage."
Ye Qing lowered his head and was silent for a moment before suddenly saying, "Chengshuang, are you aware of the situation with the Fierce Tiger Gang?"
"What about it?" Zhao Chengshuang asked curiously. "The Tiger King is dead. The strength of the Fierce Tiger Gang has greatly diminished. From being one of the top three gangs in Shenchuan City, they've become insignificant. You don't need to worry about the Fierce Tiger Gang anymore. Those left are fighting over the Tiger King's territories and have no time to trouble you.
Even if they dared to challenge us, they couldn't muster many people. If they really tried anything, I would lead a team and wipe them out!"
Actually, just because the Tiger King had died, the Fierce Tiger Gang wouldn't necessarily fall into such a state. But this time, the Tiger King was killed by the East State Poisonous Mantis personally, who also took three billion in assets from the Fierce Tiger Gang. This loss was tremendous for them. Moreover, the direct involvement of Poisonous Mantis was a signal.
Last night, many groups immediately united against the Fierce Tiger Gang, which led them to their rapid downfall.
Ye Qing shook his head and said, "I just wanted to ask, if the Fierce Tiger Gang owed money to someone, who should they approach now to collect it?"
Zhao Chengshuang looked curious and said, "Who did the Fierce Tiger Gang owe money to? What does it have to do with you? Are you being asked to help collect it? With the current state of the Fierce Tiger Gang, it won't be easy to get the money. Their boss is gone, who would acknowledge the debt now?"
Ye Qing sighed. He was reminded of Huangfu Ziyu asking him to help collect a debt. If he could recover that debt, Huangfu Ziyu had promised him a twenty percent commission. With that commission, Ye Qing indeed wanted to try setting up his own orphanage and adopt those children.
Zhao Chengshuang said, "Exactly who does the money belong to? What's your relationship with them? If you're on good terms, I could help inquire, but we might not be able to recover much. These bastards, they are willing to fight over territories, but getting them to cough up money is impossible!"
Ye Qing said, "It's Huangfu Ziyu's money."
"Huangfu Ziyu? Why does that name sound so familiar?" Zhao Chengshuang scratched his head, his eyes suddenly widened in shock, and exclaimed, "Huangfu Ziyu? You... you can't mean the Huangfu Ziyu from Dongzhou, the East State Poisonous Mantis?"
Ye Qing nodded, and Zhao Chengshuang's expression changed drastically as he said, "Poisonous Mantis's money? She... she asked you to help her collect a debt? She told you personally?"
"Yes!" Ye Qing nodded and said, "She said, after the money is collected, I can take a twenty percent commission!"
"What!?" Zhao Chengshuang's eyes widened again, and he said, "Twenty percent commission? You... you're not joking, right? Did Poisonous Mantis personally tell you this?"
Ye Qing replied, "Yes, is there something wrong?"
"No... no..." Zhao Chengshuang gulped down his drink in one go, patted Ye Qing's shoulder, and said, "Damn, why didn't you say so earlier. Are you... are you close with Poisonous Mantis? When did you become so connected, and how come you never mentioned it before?"