Upholding Justice!

"Mr. Xu, a bell rings every morning and evening by the Green Shore River. Have you ever heard it?"

Xu Yi nodded.

"I have."

Golden Orchid Nunnery was on the other side of the Green Shore River, far from the British Concession, but Xu Yi had indeed often heard the bell in the morning and evening.

Old Zhang said:

"That bell comes from the clock tower of the Griffin Firm.

The Griffin Firm's office building has five stories and is entirely in the English style.

The clock tower sits on top. It's quite impressive!"

Xu Yi murmured:

"What a... behemoth.

What's the story with that Stevenson Griffin?"

Xu Yi handed over the newspaper he had bought earlier and added:

"I just saw this."

Old Zhang looked at the newspaper, and the smile on his face faded a little.

"This man is a loner. There have always been rumors that he and his father don't get along, and that their relationship is strained.

The Griffin Firm is huge, and Alfred Griffin has plenty of nephews and sons. They can get by just fine without him.

But... no matter how rotten he is, he still bears the Griffin name.

If he does something outrageous, it'll damage the Griffin Firm's reputation and affect its business."

Xu Yi was puzzled.

"Reputation can affect business? That makes business sound far too frivolous."

Old Zhang said with a serious expression:

"Mr. Xu, you don't know the half of it. The Griffin Firm is a publicly traded company in England!

If its reputation suffers, investors will think it's unreliable and badly run.

Then most of them will take a bearish view of the company and sell their shares.

When that happens, the share price will plummet, and the money that evaporates will be real!"

Xu Yi couldn't really follow what he was saying.

Fortunately, he understood the gist of it: the Griffin Firm cared about its reputation.

That might give him some leverage in dealing with them.

"There's one more thing..."

Even though no one was nearby, Old Zhang still lowered his voice.

"This Stevenson Griffin probably takes after his old man. He's no good."

Old Zhang muttered:

"But I don't know the details.

We were taught by our founder not to pry into foreigners' affairs."

Xu Yi cupped his hands to Old Zhang and slipped a silver dollar into his palm, speaking earnestly:

"Brother, we're all on the same canal. Let's lay our cards on the table, speak from the heart, and keep nothing from each other!"

The slang was a mouthful, but its meaning was simple:

"We're brothers in the Green Gang. Let's speak plainly!"

Old Zhang had landed his first job of the day, and there was no reason to turn down a customer who had come right to him.

He leaned closer to Xu Yi and lowered his voice even further.

"I don't have any direct evidence, but I've heard that Stevenson Griffin is connected to several murders in Puxi City over the past year.

Mr. Xu, you don't know those foreigners. They're a sick bunch! They may look respectable in their suits, but in private they're worse than beasts!

Getting burned and sent to the hospital this time was karma catching up with him!"

Xu Yi said solemnly:

"A monster like that shouldn't be allowed to keep harming people.

Mr. Zhang, can you find out which hospital he's in? Which room? I'll strike while he's down, finish him off, and rid the people of this menace!"

Old Zhang froze when he heard that.

But when he saw the determination in Xu Yi's eyes, he was stunned.

"Mr. Xu! What are you thinking?"

Old Zhang looked at Xu Yi and assumed he was young and impetuous, brainwashed by his elders' talk of upholding justice, and unaware of how dangerous the world was. That was why he'd said something like that.

Was upholding justice something you could just decide to do?

Old Zhang had spent a long time in the Green Gang and had seen plenty of its members' hypocritical talk of benevolence and morality. Seeing how sincere Xu Yi was gave him a favorable impression of the young man.

Hadn't he himself been just as full of righteous indignation when he was young?

He earnestly tried to dissuade Xu Yi.

"The British Concession is heavily guarded! Ordinary people aren't even allowed in, let alone brothers from our gang.

Not all the concession's patrolmen are foreigners, but so what if some are our own people?

They look at your uniform first, then your travel papers. If you don't have papers, they'll draw their guns right away!

We can't get in."

Xu Yi thought it over.

"What if we disguise ourselves?"

Old Zhang said:

"That can be done."

He held up five fingers.

"For people like us, forging papers to enter the British Concession costs this much."

Xu Yi asked:

"Five silver dollars?"

He still had nine silver dollars and some copper coins, so he could afford that.

But Old Zhang shook his head.

"Fifty silver dollars!"

Xu Yi fell silent.

Old Zhang was a veteran of the Green Gang and could be trusted.

In other words, Old Zhang didn't have the means to help him sneak into the British Concession.

If even Old Zhang, the well-connected "Bao Dating," couldn't help him get into the Concession, then ordinary people wouldn't be able to help him either.

Xu Yi sighed softly.

"Then I'll let that monster live a few more days."

Xu Yi took his leave of Old Zhang and walked along 38th Shop District's main street toward Golden Orchid Nunnery, thinking about how to deal with the furious retaliation Stevenson Griffin would bring.

At that very moment, at the end of 38th Shop District, beside the Green Shore River.

Golden Orchid Nunnery.

Mr. Ye Hai had dressed for the day, gotten up early to train, bought a newspaper, eaten his morning vegetarian meal, and was reading the paper beneath a window in the teahouse, as usual.

At around eight o'clock, the engine of a Chevrolet sedan fell silent. Quick, purposeful footsteps approached from outside Golden Orchid Nunnery, and a voice called out from behind the screen wall:

"Master! I'm back!"

The man looked about twenty-six or twenty-seven, and he was tall. His bespoke dark-blue flannel suit was exquisitely tailored, with perfectly aligned shoulders. His English leather shoes gleamed, and sunlight glinted off the row of copper studs along their edges, dazzling to behold.

A smile appeared on Mr. Ye Hai's face. He walked out of the teahouse and went to the entrance of the incense hall.

When the man reached the hall, Mr. Ye Hai lit three sticks of incense for him and placed them in the burner.

The man knelt on the cushion outside the incense hall. Each time Mr. Ye Hai inserted a stick of incense, he bowed once.

As they paid respects to their founder and Guan Sheng Di Jun, a wisp of spiritual essence drifted from the young man's forehead, passed through the air, and entered the statue of Guan Sheng Di Jun through its mouth, unseen by both of them.

After the three bows, Mr. Ye Hai smiled warmly and said gently:

"Bolin, you've worked hard on this trip."

The young man replied fervently:

"I did not fail you, Master, or the gang!"

The man was Lu Bolin, the eldest of Mr. Ye Hai's seven disciples.

The incense hall was no place to discuss business, so Mr. Ye Hai brought Lu Bolin to the teahouse.

Though Lu Bolin had been away for a long time, he was still quite familiar with the tea set. He boiled water, brewed tea, and respectfully served a cup to his master with both hands.

Mr. Ye Hai accepted the cup and took a small sip. Meanwhile, Lu Bolin's men carried packages, bottles, jars, and boxes into the teahouse.

"On my trip to England, I came across quite a few rare things. I thought you might be interested, Master, so I bought some to bring back as a token of my filial respect!"

Lu Bolin described the stories behind each item he had encountered, embellishing them as he went. He managed to turn an ordinary shopping trip into a series of fascinating tales, making Mr. Ye Hai laugh heartily.