The Art of Pulling the Rug Out

Night.

"Boss, let me kill that Zhang Qinghuan," Jiang Mubei sighed. "I feel that as long as we kill him, we can get close to the core power of this Art Troupe in no time. This idiot might be our biggest obstacle."

"Stop talking nonsense," Xu Linsen said, scrolling through the news on his phone. "Although Zhang Qinghuan is a bit simple-minded, she's not a bad person at heart. Spades has its principles, and we need to unite those forces willing to change the world together."

"We still need to unite with that Zhang Qinghuan?" Jiang Mubei asked incredulously. "I have a feeling that if we unite with him, we'll be even further away from success."

"Seek common ground while reserving differences," Xu Linsen said.

Just then, footsteps sounded in the corridor. The two of them stopped talking and looked toward the apartment door.

The person passed by Jiang Mubei's room and then opened the door to the next room...

Xu Linsen knew that Chen Sui had come home from work.

He pondered for a moment and then asked, "By the way, what do you think of this Chen Sui? The name sounds familiar, but I can't remember where I've heard it before."

"I don't remember either," Jiang Mubei shook his head and said, "I observed him; his steps were unsteady, he should just be an ordinary person. Boss, you suspect him?"

"It's not that I suspect them, it's just that their appearance was a bit sudden. They live next door to us and even joined the club with us," Xu Linsen said. "Of course, they moved in first, so there's nothing to say about that. I was just asking casually."

"By the way, Chen Sui disappears every night, and we don't know where he goes or what he does," Jiang Mubei said.

"I heard he works at a nightclub in the Fourth District. Don't worry about it, it has nothing to do with us anyway," Xu Linsen said.

"That's true, what he does at night is none of our business," Jiang Mubei nodded.

Xu Linsen said, "I don't know if you've noticed something, but he doesn't come back until 4 a. m. every day and gets up at 9 a. m. He only sleeps for five hours, but he's full of energy."

I'll keep an eye on him tomorrow.

"Okay, let's observe for a while," Xu Linsen said, turning off his phone. "Go to sleep. Zhang Qinghuan said there's a very important task tomorrow."

The next morning, the two went downstairs after being summoned by Zhang Qinghuan. They saw Zhang Qinghuan carrying a bag, while Chen Sui and Zhang Mengqian were looking around at him, seemingly searching for something.

After the two went downstairs, Zhang Qinghuan opened the bag and handed each of them an iron rod.

Jiang Mubei asked doubtfully, "Are we going to wipe out some gang? If so, are there enough of us?"

"It's not about eliminating anyone," Zhang Qinghuan shook her head. "There are more important things to do."

Huh, Xu Linsen felt something was off. They handed out sticks but didn't hit anyone. What was going on?

Zhang Qinghuan led them back onto the Dove Cage, while Zhang Mengqian said from the side, "Let's go to household 703 first."

Zhang Qinghuan sneered, "He has to agree to his daughter's matter today, whether he likes it or not."

Xu Linsen and Jiang Mubei exchanged a glance.

Jiang Mubei whispered, "Is this guy planning to take someone else's daughter? If so, should we become his accomplices?"

Xu Linsen shook his head. "Let's see. If the two are in love but the father-in-law disagrees, we can at most not help, but we can't interfere either. If he tries to hit someone, you should stop him."

"Fine, if he tries to force a woman into prostitution, I'll just kill him," Jiang Mubei said in a low voice.

At this point, Xu Linsen suddenly turned to Qing Chen and asked, "Chen Sui, what do you think?"

Qing Chen looked at the two innocently. "I think you're right..."

Arriving at the door of room 703, Zhang Qinghuan pounded on it aggressively. "Li Sangou, you come out here!"

But then Jiang Mubei saw Zhang Qinghuan banging on the door loudly, and he tried several times to stop her.

Just then, the door opened, and a middle-aged man stood timidly inside. "What do you want?"

"Let's talk about your daughter!" Zhang Qinghuan said.

Qing Chen, Xu Linsen, and Jiang Mubei silently watched behind Li Sangou, where an eight or nine-year-old girl was folding cardboard boxes with her head down...

Zhang Qinghuan said, "Are you going to send her to school or not? She's of school age now. What future can she have folding cardboard boxes with you? Federal Elementary School is free, why don't you send her?"

Qing Chen, Xu Linsen, and Jiang Mubei: "..."

This is completely different from what they thought; it's not a case of abducting a woman at all.

They glanced inside the house.

The room was piled high with paper boxes, all folded by Li Sangou and his daughter. After they were all folded, they were to be sent to the District 5 to be sold to the gift shops there.

However, each cardboard box only costs a few cents, and they might only earn enough for one or two days' worth of meals by folding them all day.

This is the current situation for most people in the Lower Three Districts. They don't want to do bad things, nor do they have the ability to change their lives. They are like worker ants, doing the lowest level of work in society that no one wants to do.

Li Sangou retorted unhappily, "You make it sound so easy. What's the point of going to school? Even after graduating from elementary school, you still have to come back and fold cardboard boxes. What's the difference? Can going to school put food on the table?"

Zhang Qinghuan pointed the iron rod at Li Sangou: "If you keep talking like that, I'll hit you."

Li Sangou said with great distress, "You're a gang, can't you do what gangs are supposed to do? Why don't you go and chop people up? Why do you care whether my child goes to school or not?!"

Zhang Qinghuan sneered, "If you let her go to school, I'll reduce your protection fee by two hundred each month."

"Really?" Li Sangou's eyes lit up.

People in the Lower Three Districts often let their children drop out of school, and most of them come back to help with work before finishing primary school.

But ultimately, it all comes down to the immense pressure of life.

Parents who sell their children's eyes are ultimately a minority. If there were any other option, who wouldn't want to send their children to school and teach them to read?

Zhang Qinghuan asked, "Should I see it off?"

Li Sangou nodded. "Sure... but the people at the District 9 Elementary School aren't good people either. They come up with all sorts of excuses to collect fees every day."

"Don't worry about that, we'll take care of it!" Zhang Qinghuan waved goodbye and left.

This solution will definitely be the same as the club's solution.

Zhang Qinghuan asked Zhang Mengqian, "How many households do we need to help with today?"

"112 households," Zhang Mengqian said, "All of them are of school age but didn't go to primary school."

Zhang Qinghuan laughed heartily, "Everyone, please work hard today. We need to visit all 112 households. If we can finish successfully, I'll treat everyone to braised pork intestine noodles!"

Fatty intestine noodles are a specialty of the slums. After livestock are slaughtered, the best meat is supplied to the big shots, but few people like to eat intestines. So fatty intestines are the cheapest real meat in the whole city.

Of course, even the cheapest ones are not something ordinary people can afford, so Zhang Qinghuan is being generous today.

Xu Linsen and Jiang Mubei exchanged a glance; they really hadn't expected that the Art Troupe would be involved in this matter.

Compared to their organization of student marches, the Art Troupe acted more roughly, but their methods were more widespread.

Spade's current wish is that all children in the world can read books and newspapers, so that they can at least know what is happening in the world.

Thinking about this, Xu Linsen and Jiang Mubei actually became somewhat interested in the Art Troupe.

Xu Linsen said in a low voice, "I'm now certain that the person behind this Art Troupe is the one Yang Yang was talking about. I really want to see what he's going to do with the Lower Three Districts of City 22."

Qing Chen stood behind him, innocently staring at the ceiling.

In the District 9 Fatty Intestine Noodle Shop, Qing Chen and the others sat side by side at a long table, slurping their noodles. Zhang Qinghuan and Zhang Mengqian were the loudest slurping sounds.

Their team completed the task of persuading 112 households to return to school in one day, and everyone was all smiles.

These are just small things, but for some reason, my life feels exceptionally fulfilling.

Xu Linsen wiped his mouth, pondered for a moment, and asked Zhang Qinghuan, "Boss, aren't we a gang? Why are we doing this kind of thing?"

Zhang Qinghuan stopped talking and casually said, "This wasn't my decision. It was the higher-ups who said that the sound of reading should return to schools. They said that if this vast world can't accommodate a single desk, it's the fault of all adults in the world..."

At this point, he realized he had let something slip. "Ahem, the 'people above' I was referring to were the sages in heaven who gave me instructions in my dreams."

In the blink of an eye, Qing Chen became a sage in the heavens...

Xu Linsen didn't care about Zhang Qinghuan's clumsy explanation; he was just thinking about that sentence from earlier, "But we're a gang, shouldn't we be fighting and killing each other?"

"You don't know this," Zhang Qinghuan, "I was incredibly poor when I was a kid. I couldn't even afford to go to junior high. We were barely getting enough to eat, so how could I go to school? Later, I worked hard to earn money, thinking that money would bring happiness. Although my business was doing alright, at least my brothers had food and drink, but I still wasn't happy. Until recently, I've been like I'm on steroids every day, I have inexhaustible energy. Do you know why?"

"Why?" This time it was Qing Chen who asked.

Zhang Qinghuan said, "I suddenly realized why I felt so empty before. It's because before, I was trying to improve my own life, but now my goal is to improve the lives of more people. It's different."

Jiang Mubei muttered to himself, "His ideological awareness is pretty high..."

But Zhang Qinghuan continued, "Besides, the kids are all in school now, so at least they can find slightly better jobs and won't have to be involved in clubs like me. Once they don't have to be in clubs anymore, won't only Art Troupe be left in City 22? We can collect all the protection money, have a monopoly, and that's the Art of Pulling the Rug Out!"

Xu Linsen: "Pfft!"

He spat a mouthful of noodles into the bowl.

Qing Chen: "???"

He never expected that his guiding principles would be misinterpreted in this way when they reached Zhang Qinghuan!

"Brother, look," Jiang Mubei, holding his phone up to Xu Linsen. He saw a message on the screen, a wanted notice for Ace of Black Spade A issued by the Kamishiro Corporation in City 22!

The reason for the arrest warrant is that Xu Linsen murdered Takahashi Taisei, a member of the Kamishiro Corporation!

Xu Linsen and Jiang Mubei stared at the wanted poster for a long time. They did come to City 22 with the mission of killing Takahashi Taisei, but they hadn't done it yet!

Something's strange.

The person was someone they wanted to kill, and although he didn't actually do it, it's still considered that he killed him...

Xu Linsen remained silent for a long time before saying, "There's no such coincidence in the world. It's probably that person Yang Yang mentioned who's trying to get me..."

Jiang Mubei raised an eyebrow. "If I find out where he is, I'll definitely settle this score."

Qing Chen suddenly looked up and raised his hand. "Boss, another bowl, please."

Zhang Qinghuan muttered, "Eat less! How come you have such a good appetite?!"