Impossible Persuasion

Zhang Yi stared at his older brother for a long time.

At last, he said with difficulty, "But, Brother, you always used to lecture me. You said people couldn't take shortcuts; they had to work steadily and diligently, use their own hands to create tangible wealth, and not place their hopes on nonexistent luck. Anyone who wanted to take shortcuts would inevitably be taken by them. Besides, those people concealed news about you. They definitely had ulterior motives. We can't fall for it..."

"No. Do you think I'm gambling on luck now?" Zhang Rong's eyes immediately reddened. He seemed never to have expected that one day, he would be lectured by his own brother. "Why do you think Boss Xu never let you meet me? Because for the past year and a half, I've been training myself!"

"Training my body, training my mind, drilling every habit as fine as a strand of hair into my bones. There couldn't be any interruptions in between! I'm not some lazy gambling addict, much less someone fantasizing about pie falling from the sky. I'm risking my life too! The three million I gave you to settle down was earned with my life!"

"Are you still going to—do you still want to lecture me?"

Zhang Yi looked at his roaring older brother and found himself speechless.

He suddenly realized that he had no standing whatsoever to persuade his brother.

Because the other man was right. Unlike those people swindled by empty promises, his brother had not used the hard-earned money of his parents and family to gamble. On the contrary, he had traded his own life for the capital that would let them settle down.

Even if his older brother failed, he would still have left wealth behind for the family.

That was the traditional mindset of people from the Divine Land. They always had to leave something behind for their relatives and descendants, or else they would be too ashamed to accept offerings after death...

At that moment, Xu Qingshu, who sat nearby smoking a cigar, slowly exhaled a smoke ring.

"This meeting alone will waste more than half of his year-plus of training. If it weren't for Mr. Wenren's sake, I wouldn't have bothered with you. In any case, within three years at most, whether he succeeds or fails, I, Xu, will give your family an explanation."

Wenren Sheng sat opposite them with his eyes closed, saying nothing.

"It's all the mutants' fault!" Zhang Yi backed away, clutching his head with both hands, his expression ugly. "If this were really a good thing, why would you hide it from everyone? Why wouldn't you let us know? Do you know how much pain our family suffered when we heard something had happened to you?"

"Dad and Mom cried for days. Do you think it was easy for us to get through that? The money you earned by risking your life is bloodstained bread. How could we possibly swallow it? Even though Mom and Dad eventually used the money to buy me a house, they didn't object when I sold it to search for you!"

"I was wrong about some things," Zhang Rong was the first to calm down. "But Boss Xu said that great undertakings required sacrifice. The participants in some major projects throughout history wrote their wills in advance, then achieved success in one stroke. I'm merely following in the footsteps of those before me."

Zhang Yi had nothing to say. Looking at his brother, he felt that his brother resembled the cases reported in the news—people who had been scammed, yet still went to every length to defend the scammers.

But his brother was different too. He had brought back real money. If Boss Xu had merely offered empty promises, or even demanded that his brother pay to join them, Zhang Yi believed that his frugal older brother would never have acted like this.

He felt powerless. All he could do was retreat in defeat.

He felt as though all those years of schooling had been for nothing. He simply could not find a reason that would persuade his brother.

"All right, Brother. Take care of yourself." Suppressing his emotions, he stepped forward and embraced his older brother. "I'll wait for you to come back. As long as you're alive, even if your limbs are crippled, you're deaf and blind, mentally broken, or paralyzed in bed... I'll support you for the rest of your life!"

At first, Zhang Rong was deeply moved by what he heard. But as Zhang Yi continued, he could not help raising his huge hand. When it finally came down, however, it only patted Zhang Yi lightly on the back.

"You're still just like when you were little—so terrible at talking. You can't speak like that when you start dating and get married."

Half an hour later, outside the gates of Xu Residence.

Wenren Sheng handed over the bank card and said flatly, "I already had someone transfer out the payment I was due. Take the remaining four hundred thousand home and start a proper business. After all, your brother may really need you to support him for the rest of his life."

"Thank you, Mr. Wenren." Zhang Yi bowed deeply.

From beginning to end, he had never expected Wenren Sheng to help persuade his brother.

Even his own younger brother could not persuade him to come back. If Wenren Sheng spoke up, his brother might instead think that a successful person was setting up barriers to keep later arrivals from competing, needlessly offending him...

The fact that Wenren Sheng had connected him with this lead and allowed him to put his mind at ease was a favor he had to remember well.

Thinking about it carefully, a mere hundred thousand could never have hired such an important figure to act. Wenren Sheng had probably been moved by the bond between him and his brother.

How many blood brothers these days would abandon three million, risk being silenced, and spend over a year searching for a family member, with no guarantee of results—perhaps only a confirmation of death in the end?

Mr. Wenren looked cold, but his heart was actually warm. His earlier assumptions had truly been embarrassing.

Zhang Yi did not put on airs. He accepted the bank card, then turned and left, striding down the sidewalk.

Watching his retreating back, Wenren Sheng seemed to want to say something. Then he shook his head, turned around as well, and returned to the Xu family compound.

A few minutes later, the two sat facing each other in a pavilion.

"President Xu, if I tried to persuade you to stop, would the result be the same as before?" Wenren Sheng asked, staring into the other man's eyes.

"Yes. You're a Clever Man, Mr. Wenren. You should know that I cannot possibly stop now, much less turn back. Persuading me would be useless." Xu Qingshu took another draw from his cigar and exhaled a smoke ring.

The smoke ring appeared and vanished in an instant, setting off his somewhat aged face.

"No, I won't try to persuade you. It's only because I understood long ago—if persuasion worked, what would fists be for?" Wenren Sheng said no more and rose to leave.

Xu Qingshu stared at his retreating figure.

"He really doesn't seem like a twenty-year-old young man. No wonder he was chosen by that mutant no one else could activate."

There was an irrepressible hint of envy in his tone.

At that moment, Feng Youlin appeared from nowhere and entered the pavilion.

"Boss, Zhang Rong's condition is fairly stable. All indicators show that he's actually doing somewhat better than before."

"Looks like they were right. Getting rid of the knot in one's heart really is useful." Xu Qingshu nodded.

"But Boss, it seems what we're doing has already drawn attention. The Patrol Division could move against us at any time," Feng Youlin said worriedly.

"No. The time for them to act against us has not yet come. We still have time." Xu Qingshu put down his cigar.

"Then when will they make their move?" Feng Youlin asked in confusion.

Xu Qingshu did not answer. He merely rose from the pavilion and headed toward the villa.

"Move faster on the negotiations with Dragonization."

"Yes, Boss." A trace of worry flashed across Feng Youlin's face as he hurried after him.

Wenren Sheng left Xu Residence and took a car home.

Not long afterward, he received a phone call.

"Is this Mr. Wenren? We have temporarily detained a man named Zhang Yi. He said he had visited this residential complex before and knew you, and that you were the one who brought him into the complex this time. We checked the entry and exit Video Recording, and that does appear to be the case. We're calling to confirm it with you once more."

"That's right. I brought him in this afternoon. There's nothing wrong with him," Wenren Sheng replied. Those were the very words he had wanted to say to Zhang Yi earlier.

Given the care Zhang Yi had displayed, he ordinarily would not have made such a basic mistake. It seemed he truly was someone who valued brotherhood.

"Thank you for your cooperation. We'll process his release immediately."

Wenren Sheng nodded and hung up, then suddenly asked, "Brother Li, did Zhang Yi throw something into our home?"

"Oh, I remember an old newspaper was left on the second-floor balcony some time ago. I casually put it in the storage room, but I can't remember exactly where." Li Shuangyue answered without looking away.

"No wonder he reacted like that back then." Wenren Sheng looked enlightened as he leaned back against the rear seat. "I was wondering how an honest, handsome guy like me could possibly have scared him?"