Chapter 245 - 245: 245
Having ascertained Ye Qing and his companions' whereabouts, Pi Junchao let his two subordinates leave before returning to the inner private room himself.
Three people were sitting in the private room, and Chen Xueyi was among them. The other two were Yang Shitao and the man who had been by his side all along. The trio was chatting idly when Pi Junchao entered, and they immediately turned to look at him.
Not long after Ye Qing had left, Yang Shitao came to visit Pi Junchao. Pi Junchao was harboring resentments against Ye Qing and Zhao Chengshuang, which perfectly played into Yang Shitao's hands. With a few words, he had convinced Pi Junchao, and they were now in the same boat.
"How is it?" Yang Shitao asked, "Was I not right?"
Pi Junchao nodded and said, "Your guess was very accurate. Ye is in a hurry to liquidate; he's preparing to sell the venues right now!"
"There's no need to guess!" Yang Shitao proudly said, "Twelve venues, when sold, are definitely worth a large sum of money. Even if Ye is foolish, he absolutely wouldn't just return those venues to Poisonous Mantis. He will surely want to make a profit from it. As the saying goes, if a person doesn't act for their own benefit, they will be annihilated by heaven and earth.
Ye isn't a saint; he definitely has his own interests in mind."
Yang Shitao's analysis seemed very accurate, yet unknown to him, he had fundamentally guessed wrong. Ye Qing didn't plan to embezzle those venues; he was going to give them all to Huangfu Ziyu. It was Huangfu Ziyu who didn't want to take them and only wanted the sixty-four million, so Ye Qing began to sell the venues to raise funds.
"So, what should we do now?" Pi Junchao asked.
"Poisonous Mantis, that woman, is notoriously vicious. She never retracts her words. If she says she wants the money within three days, then she must receive it within three days," Yang Shitao said with a cold smile. "If Ye can't raise the funds within three days, guess what Poisonous Mantis will do?"
"Poisonous Mantis said if she doesn't receive the money in three days, she'll come to Shenchuan City again," Pi Junchao said with a worried look. The death of Tiger King had made them more fearful of Poisonous Mantis.
"So what if she comes to Shenchuan City? The money owed to her, you've already offset with the venues. If she hasn't received the money, she should go to Ye, not come looking for trouble with your Fierce Tiger Gang. No matter how you spin it, the Fierce Tiger Gang is in the right.
Even if Poisonous Mantis is unreasonable, she wouldn't come looking for your Fierce Tiger Gang's trouble!" Yang Shitao paused before continuing, "So, if she comes to Shenchuan City, she can only go to Ye for the money. But, when she finds out Ye took twelve venues without informing her and planned to profit from them, what do you think Poisonous Mantis would do to him?"
Pi Junchao's eyes lit up and he said, "Poisonous Mantis will definitely kill him with her own hands!"
"Hehehe…" Yang Shitao sneered repeatedly, "No matter how capable Ye is, he's definitely no match for Poisonous Mantis. If Poisonous Mantis wants to kill him, it would be as easy as flipping her hand!"
"Boss Yang, it's your idea that's really brilliant!" Pi Junchao gave Yang Shitao a thumbs up and said, "But how can we ensure he doesn't raise the money?"
Yang Shitao smiled lightly and replied, "His only way to raise money now is by selling those venues. If you can figure out a way to stop him from selling, then won't he fail to raise the money?"
"Not being able to sell?" Pi Junchao furrowed his brows and said, "Boss Yang, you should know that these twelve venues are the most profitable for our Fierce Tiger Gang; many people want to buy them. If they are to be sold at a low price now, there will surely be people willing to buy, it's impossible that they won't sell."
"Not necessarily," Yang Shitao shook his head and said, "Even though these twelve venues are easy to sell, currently, there are people controlling each venue. If they want to sell the venues, they need to get rid of these people first. But this is not an easy task, nor something that can be done in a day or two.
Hence, the most likely method they will adopt is to sell the venues to those occupying them, allowing for quick cash."
Yang Shitao looked at Pi Junchao and said, "You just mentioned that he went to see Hou Qingyi, and he probably will visit Li Chengxing next. This means he plans to sell these two venues first. Hou Qingyi is easy to deal with; he wants to please Zhao Chengshuang and wouldn't dare to underbid. But Li Chengxing is a hothead, capable of anything.
He will definitely want to underbid, and drive the price very low. This will surely infuriate Zhao Chengshuang and his group."
At this point, a cold smirk crossed Yang Shitao's face, "At that time, if someone adds fuel to the fire, they are sure to clash. If they start fighting, won't the deal fall through?"
"Add fuel to the fire?" Pi Junchao looked at Yang Shitao, and a knowing smile slowly emerged on his face as he said softly, "Is Boss Yang suggesting that I send someone to cause trouble?"
Yang Shitao smiled faintly and said, "As long as he can't sell the venues, Ye is doomed, isn't that what you also want to see?"
"This won't be easy," Pi Junchao looked worried and said, "If it's not done well, I could be exposed. I haven't yet unified the Fierce Tiger Gang, and if I make more enemies now, especially if Fu Bang targets me alone, wouldn't that be a loss not worth the gain?"
"Young man, since I came to you, I certainly won't just stand by and watch!" Yang Shitao laughed and said, "Don't worry, once we handle that Ye, I will help you take control of the Fierce Tiger Gang, and will assist the Fierce Tiger Gang in regaining its status as one of the top three gangs in Shenchuan City!"
Pi Junchao's heart skipped a beat; Yang Shitao was incredibly wealthy. Moreover, ever since the Poisonous Mantis had taken over three billion from the Fierce Tiger Gang, what the gang lacked the most was money. If Yang Shitao was willing to support him financially, then he was confident that he could unite the Fierce Tiger Gang and also confident that he could restore the gang to its former glory.
"Boss Yang, it's my honor to cooperate with you. Rest assured, you can leave this matter to me, and there will absolutely be no problems!" Pi Junchao said with a smile.
"Don't call me Boss Yang; it sounds too distant, call me Uncle Yang instead." Yang Shitao said with a light smile, "When your father was alive, we used to interact frequently. Ah, time flies; you're all grown up now, and I am getting old too!"
Pi Junchao was overjoyed and quickly said, "Uncle Yang, you're in the prime of life, not old at all."
"Time spares no one," Yang Shitao sighed, "Junchao, do this job well for me, help me avenge Wei'er, and fulfill one of my wishes. As for your affairs, Uncle Yang will definitely take good care of them, it's also a way of settling things with your father."
"Thank you, Uncle Yang!" Pi Junchao was extremely excited; Yang Shitao was actually starting to build a relationship with him, and he even felt an impulse to recognize Yang Shitao as his godfather. After all, Yang Shitao's son was no longer around, and his billions in assets had no heir; Pi Junchao was very willing to be that successor.
"Well, I'm going back now; I'll leave this matter up to you." Yang Shitao stood up and left with the man.
Pi Junchao saw them off to the car and then reluctantly returned. Inside the car, the man, seeing Pi Junchao waving goodbye, flashed a disdainful smile and said, "The lad is tempted!"
"Hmph, he should look at himself; how could he compare to my Wei'er?" Yang Shitao scoffed, "Wei'er is no longer with us, and no one else is worthy of inheriting my wealth."
With a light smile, the man said softly, "I'm afraid there are still quite a few people in Shenchuan City who are eyeing this sum of money!"
"As long as they dare to covet my money, I will send them to hell, one by one!" a cold light flashed in Yang Shitao's eyes. Suddenly, he turned his head and asked, "By the way, where is He Ziqiang now?"
"He's hiding out near the North Suburb," the man replied. "He nearly exposed himself when he failed to kill Boss Lin last night. Thankfully, he didn't show his face; otherwise, it would have been troublesome."
"As long as he didn't show his face, that useless Boss Lin will never guess it was He Ziqiang's doing," Yang Shitao nodded and said, "Tell him not to touch Boss Lin for now. The Lin family members are all on alert; it's not wise to involve the Lin family members at the moment."
"Understood," the man nodded. After a moment of silence, he added, "He Ziqiang isn't really reliable. As an international thief, he might pass in Xiangjiang. But in front of Ye Qing, he's always one step behind; he's no match for Ye Qing."
"I knew he couldn't beat Ye Qing the first time he failed to take a hostage," Yang Shitao said coldly, "But for now, he's still somewhat useful. Let's keep him around. By the way, is there any news from the Xikou Fire Butterfly?"
"Just got the news; Fire Butterfly has left Xikou. I suspect she's on her way here to Shenchuan City now!" the man replied.
"It's said that the Xikou Fire Butterfly is extremely protective of her own; her subordinate died in Shenchuan City, and she definitely won't let this go easily!" Yang Shitao scoffed. "However, that bitch Poisonous Mantis actually came forward to support that Ye Qing. Looks like there's a good chance of seeing Poisonous Mantis and Fire Butterfly, these two monstrous women, clash this time."
With concern, the man said, "Boss, I always feel there's something off about the Poisonous Mantis; she probably knows too much about us."
"Why do you say that?" Yang Shitao asked, intrigued.
"Think about it, if she didn't know about our affairs, why did she come to our private room first the last time she was in Shenchuan City?" the man said gravely, "Moreover, she used your money to place a billion-dollar bet. If she won, she took the money and left. If she had lost, that money would definitely have been ours to cover.
There's no way she acts without reason, especially when it comes to such a big deal!"
Yang Shitao frowned; now that the man mentioned it, he too began to harbor doubts.
"If she knows all this, then why didn't she just kill me?" asked Yang Shitao. "Even if she didn't want to kill me, why didn't she tell Ye Qing about my business?"
"This is what I find strange; she's clearly helping Ye Qing, but she just pointed the way, leaving Ye Qing to choose how to walk it," the man fell silent for a moment and then suddenly exclaimed, "Could it be... she's trying to groom Ye Qing?"