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墨書 Inktalez
San Shao Ye, I often heard Eldest Young Master mention you before. I never expected that Eldest Young Master would be the first to speak to me, introducing Hu San, the most trusted aide of Lu Fei, as the Helmsman of the Third Branch of Qing Gang.
This man, surnamed Hu, appears to be in his forties. He is not very tall but quite strong. I have heard others call him Hu San or simply San Duozhu.
The Tian Ye Gang system is modeled after Qing Gang. The internal structure of Qing Gang is similar to that of Tian Ye Gang, with Helmsmen overseeing regional leaders, followed by branch leaders. However, Qing Gang has fewer branches than Tian Ye Gang; at its peak, Tian Ye Gang had twelve branches, while Qing Gang only has eight.
Even so, Qing Gang's formidable strength is still unmatched by Tian Ye Gang. The moment Qing Gang made a comeback, Tian Ye Gang's territory began to shrink significantly and has not stopped since. The Third Branch, Fifth Branch, and Seventh Branch are all supported by Lu Fei, with three Helmsmen in total, while the Fourth, Sixth, and Eighth Branches are backed by Lu Xian. Their overall strength is quite balanced.
As for the strongest First and Second Branches, they maintain neutrality and are loyal to Lu Ding Tian. When the Qu Family led Qing Gang, there was also Elder Hall involved in consolidating Qing Gang's power. Lu Ding Tian was the Grand Elder, followed by three other elders who supported him. However, after Lu Ding Tian took over, he diminished the elders' authority. Now within Qing Gang, the elders have little say; Lu Ding Tian does not want to follow in the footsteps of the Qu Family. Therefore, since Lu Ding Tian's appointment, the internal power dynamics of Qing Gang have simplified considerably.
Sigh! I never thought my brother would put me in this position; I must find a way to bring him out!
I sighed helplessly and pretended to act nonchalant. San Duozhu has the closest relationship with Lu Fei and is at odds with Lu Xian; he is someone who would never collaborate with Lu Xian.
As for Wu Duozhu, he already met with Lu Xian this morning. Lu Xian was busy and did not express much about it. The Seventh Leader could not attend Lu Fei's funeral because he was not in Shanghai.
Hmm! But San Shao Ye, do you suspect anyone right now?
San Duozhu asked me heavily after a moment of silence. I knew he was probing for information. If I were to say I suspected Lu Xian now, San Duozhu would immediately support me wholeheartedly because we share a common enemy.
However, I did not want to say that just yet. After some thought, I decided it was best not to stick my neck out for now. This matter still requires investigation; I am currently looking into it.
I took my time responding; I knew I was anxious about this situation and hoped for San Duozhu's support. But if I didn’t express my urgency, others could only speculate. San Duozhu was different; he saw right through me and understood my position clearly—he had no other options besides me.
So San Shao Ye, do you have any suspicions?
San Duozhu continued to ask me, hoping I would reveal my suspicion of Lu Xian. Yet I still said nothing useful. Since I had already decided not to take action for now, I needed to appear indifferent towards San Duozhu. This way, both Lu Ding Tian and Lu Xian would see my indifference towards power as a sign of reliability.
If I were too close with San Duozhu at this moment, what would be the outcome? I would surely raise suspicions from both Lu Ding Tian and Lu Xian.
Hu San, this is my brother's funeral; I'm very busy right now. What do you want to talk about with me?
Seeing Hu San come to chat with me naturally made me feel displeased, and I immediately reprimanded him.
"No, I didn't mean that, Second Young Master. I was the most heartbroken over the passing of the Eldest Young Master, so I just wanted to talk to San Shao Ye. I won't disturb you any longer, San Shao Ye. Please, go ahead with your business."
Hu San smiled at me, waved his hand, and turned to leave. The position of Helmsman is very high, wielding real power, while people like me and Lu Xian have no real authority at all. Although our status is more esteemed than Hu San's, if someone at the Helmsman level doesn't acknowledge us, we have no right to manage them.
"Hmph! Third Brother, let me tell you, this Hu San is the most scheming one. He definitely wants to sow discord between us brothers. Third Brother, you must keep your distance from him in the future."
Lu Xian patted my shoulder and continued to entertain the guests.
In truth, who among them has ulterior motives? Lu Xian doesn't either; they all have their own agendas. So no matter what any of them say, I treat it as nonsense and it doesn't affect my own judgment.
The funeral for Lu Fei was grand; while others held theirs for three days, Lu Fei's lasted an entire week. During that week, both Lu Xian and I were extremely busy; basically everyone of note from Huaxia came.
On the day of Lu Fei's funeral, Lu Xian and I even met with someone from Nan Hongmen who had never appeared before!
"Lu Uncle, I represent my father to pay my respects to Fei. Please accept my condolences."
On the day of the funeral, a handsome young man in his twenties arrived with a large group of men in black to pay their respects. Lu Xian told me that this person was named Xiang Nanyuan—the only son of the Boss of Nan Hongmen!
"Is your father well? It’s been many years since we last met; he has grown from a young lad into a formidable leader."
Lu Ding Tian smiled and said this, revealing his relationship with the Boss of Nan Hongmen. After the Qu Family was destroyed, I heard that the Lu Family originally had ties to Nan Hongmen.
It seems that this is indeed true; just by looking at how Lu Ding Tian spoke to Xiang Nanyuan, it was clear that he had a good relationship with the Boss of Nan Hongmen.
"My father is well; he only feels regret over Uncle Fei's passing. When he learned about Uncle Fei's situation, he suddenly suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized. If he hadn't still been in recovery, he would definitely have come to see Uncle Fei off for the last time."
Xiang Nanyuan sighed sadly and said, "Lu Fei's death must be troubling for the Boss of Nan Hongmen as well. I had long suspected that Lu Fei had deep connections with Nan Hongmen."
Upon hearing this, Lu Ding Tian sighed as well; his old face was filled with sorrow as he waved his hand, not wanting to discuss these matters further. Just then, the welcoming sounds echoed from outside again.
"North Hongmen! Ye Tong!"
Accompanied by the welcoming sounds came another group of men in black—imposing and grand. The entrances of Nan Hongmen and North Hongmen were undoubtedly the most spectacular seen throughout this week; no other family could match such grandeur at a Lu Family funeral.
"Oh! Little Nanzi, you came too?"
When Ye Tong walked into the room, he first smiled at Xiang Nanyuan as if casually speaking. Xiang Nanyuan smiled slightly in return as a gesture of respect; after all, Nan Hongmen and North Hongmen are sworn enemies.
However, when Ye Tong appeared, I immediately noticed many faces among Qing Gang showing displeasure—clearly indicating that Ye Tong was not as well-liked as Xiang Nanyuan.
"Third Brother, this is Ye Tong—the young master of North Hongmen—who has been jointly managing North Hongmen with his father for many years now."
Lu Xian smiled beside me, introducing the people around us. For the past few days, he had been playing the role of a caring older brother. The reason was simple: the investigation into Lu Fei's death had been entrusted to me by Lu Ding Tian. Therefore, whenever someone unfamiliar entered the room, Lu Xian would briefly explain who they were.
It was clear that Lu Xian was a supporter of North Hongmen, which meant he had more to say about them. He told me that although Nan Hongmen and the Xiang Family were considered the legitimate branches of Hongmen, during the establishment of Southern and Northern Hongmen, Nan Hongmen had been forced to flee from North Hongmen and spent many years recuperating abroad before gradually regaining strength and continuing their development.
Despite Nan Hongmen's financial power being on a completely different level compared to North Hongmen, the manpower of North Hongmen was at least double that of Nan Hongmen! In today's society, large-scale conflicts were not permitted; otherwise, Nan Hongmen would not dare to develop at all.
In summary, Lu Xian kept boasting about how formidable North Hongmen was, and I knew he wanted me to hold them in awe. However, he also shared some gossip with me—gossip that surprisingly involved Qu Youyang!
When Qu Youyang's father, Qu Liancheng, had just passed away, most of the forces from both North and Nan Hongmen were still abroad and had not returned. At that time, the boss of North Hongmen had already set his sights on Qing Gang, intending to swallow it whole. However, since their forces were largely overseas, even though they had significant power domestically, confronting Qing Gang directly would result in heavy losses for both sides—one thousand for them and eight hundred for us; it simply wasn't worth it.
Thus, the boss of North Hongmen devised an excellent plan: he bribed many key figures within Qing Gang and encouraged Ye Tong to pursue Qu Youyang. If Qu Youyang married him and followed her husband’s lead, wouldn't Qing Gang effectively become part of North Hongmen?
But how could Qu Youyang agree to such a thing? Faced with immense pressure from within Qing Gang, she rejected the proposal. This nearly caused Qing Gang to disband like Southern and Northern Hongmen. However, with Lu Ding Tian's help, Qu Youyang came up with a plan to absorb Tian Ye Gang as a means to resist North Hongmen and even consider countering them—this stabilized Qing Gang.
At that moment, I realized that Tian Ye Gang's destruction stemmed from North Hongmen! It could be said that if it weren't for the pressure from North Hongmen, Qu Youyang's character would never have led her to take such drastic actions. I suspected that the decision to absorb Tian Ye Gang likely wasn't even proposed by Qu Youyang herself; she was merely executing someone else's plan.
"Lu Uncle," I said regretfully about my elder brother's passing.
Xiang Nanyuan merely smiled at Ye Tong's words without responding. Ye Tong then walked directly in front of Lu Ding Tian and respectfully bowed.
At this moment, both the young masters of Nan Hongmen and North Hongmen appeared. Clearly, they were all very interested in Lu Ding Tian's attitude; after all, whoever Qing Gang sided with could become the dominant force in China's underground world!
I had already informed Lu Ding Tian about how North Hongmen had tried to leverage my situation against me. What would his attitude be now? Would he maintain a neutral stance in order to maximize his own benefits or confront Ye Tong directly?
If he turned against Ye Tong right there and then, what would North Hongmen do? They had previously told me to hold steady for three months; those three months were almost up. What exactly were they planning? Was their ultimate goal to eliminate Lu Ding Tian?
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