Deceiving Superiors and Hiding the Truth

"Heh, Su Xin, it is truly a waste of talent that you aren't working in the officialdom." Tie Wuqing looked at Su Xin with genuine interest; he hadn't expected that coming out to catch a lecherous thief would lead him to such an intriguing person.

Ordinary gang members, when facing him—the Chief Constable of the East Twelve Wards—would either be fearful or respectful, but never would they take the initiative to approach him and offer up merit. This was truly interesting.

The two iron balls in Tie Wuqing's hands spun faster and faster, yet they remained eerily silent.

"It is just a pity that with this humble one's background, the imperial court would never look upon me with favor," Su Xin said with a self-deprecating smile.

"That is not necessarily true. Our Great Zhou Dynasty looks only at ability, not at one's background."

Tie Wuqing waved his hand, pointing at the lecherous thief. "Bind this fellow and take him back to the yamen to be handed over to the Chief Clerk."

Turning back to Su Xin, Tie Wuqing added, "I accept this favor of yours. If you have any matters in the future, you may come to the yamen to find me."

"That is perfect, as I have something else I intended to give to you, my lord," Su Xin said.

"What is it?"

Su Xin waved his hand, and Li Qing tactfully led several gang members to retreat. When Boss Liu saw this, he immediately turned and walked away; there were some things that were better left ignored.

Tie Wuqing smiled knowingly, and the other constables immediately led the lecherous thief away.

"Lord Tie, being in the official service, you are already overwhelmed with major and urgent cases. If you were to encounter these petty thefts or minor offenses, it would be a waste of your time and energy.

If you ever have need, you can simply notify me, and I guarantee that I will have the person delivered to your doorstep within three days."

Tie Wuqing narrowed his eyes. "Changning Prefecture is vast. With only the two hundred or so men under your command, can you really capture every criminal with a record and send them to me?"

"Of course I cannot catch them all, but if there is a need, within three days, someone will appear at the yamen gates to confess. I believe that not only you, but even the Prefect himself, would be very pleased," Su Xin said in a low voice.

Tie Wuqing was stunned, then burst into loud laughter.

"I retract my previous words. You aren't just wasting talent by not being an official; if you truly became one, you would undoubtedly be a great, treacherous minister!"

How could he not understand what Su Xin meant? If they couldn't catch the real culprit, they would simply find someone to turn themselves in and take the blame. As long as it wasn't a capital offense and the price was right, there were plenty of people in a place like the Joyful District willing to do it.

The only purpose of this was to pad his, Tie Wuqing's, record, as well as that of the Prefect.

No official liked having a mountain of cases piling up on their desk. As long as they were resolved, who cared if the real criminals were still at large?

"Very well, I accept this generous gift. Tell me, what is it that you want?"

"I only want you to help me when it is within your power to do so," Su Xin said, emphasizing the words 'within your power'.

"I would have done so even if you hadn't asked. After all, among all the Three Gangs and Four Associations in Changning Prefecture, one cannot find another person as interesting as you." A faint, elusive smile hung on the corners of Tie Wuqing's mouth once more.

This young man was truly fascinating. The others from the Three Gangs and Four Associations had always held only one attitude toward the imperial court: respect them from a distance.

The Three Gangs and Four Associations were powerful in Changning Prefecture, but they were not yet strong enough to challenge the imperial court, so they treated the officials with respect and occasionally offered bribes.

However, none of them were like Su Xin, who actively sought to build connections and even engaged in the sophisticated art of deceiving superiors and shielding subordinates to help him pad his performance record.

Tie Wuqing waved his hand, and several constables immediately followed. A young constable couldn't help but ask, "Boss, what did that kid say to you?"

"Snap!"

Tie Wuqing flicked him on the forehead, leaving a large red mark on the young constable's head.

"Don't ask about things you shouldn't. You still call him a kid? If you were in his position, he would have likely become a chief constable long ago, unlike you, who is still just a small constable."

The young constable pouted in grievance, clearly unconvinced, but under Tie Wuqing's imposing pressure, he dared not talk back.

As the iron balls spun rapidly in his hands, Tie Wuqing whispered in a voice only he could hear, "Heh, to think that such an interesting young man would emerge from the subordinates of that old guard dog, Sha Feiying. The Flying Eagle Gang is going to be interesting now. I just wonder how far he can go."

Watching Tie Wuqing walk away, Su Xin waved for Li Qing to continue patrolling the Happy Forest before returning home.

Establishing a connection with Tie Wuqing could be considered an unexpected gain. In truth, he had always wanted to build a good relationship with the officials, but he had never found a suitable candidate.

Sha Feiying and the others kept their distance from the government because they believed they lived in two completely different worlds.

But Su Xin's thinking was different; befriending officials could prove immensely useful at critical moments.

In his past life, Su Xin's boss—an invisible billionaire who kept a low profile but owned dozens of large manufacturing companies—had done exactly this.

One of his classmates had entered the officialdom, and whenever that classmate was assigned to a new post, he would open a factory in that region—not to bribe, but simply to provide the official with political merit.

And as it turned out, the actions of Su Xin's past-life boss were not in vain.

When he had offended someone he couldn't afford to provoke and was on the verge of ruin, it was thanks to a single word from that classmate, who had by then become a powerful provincial governor, that he was spared from disaster.

Su Xin didn't need any promises from Tie Wuqing; as long as he could stand by him at a critical moment, that would be enough.

The next morning, Su Xin arrived at the hall, and Huang Bingcheng was already waiting for him at the entrance.

"What did my foster father say?" Su Xin asked after pulling Huang Bingcheng into a private room.

Huang Bingcheng poured tea for Su Xin. "We went to deliver money to him; what else could he say? I didn't even get to see his face; the money was handed directly to Master Li."

Su Xin shook his head. His foster father was truly too narrow-minded; was he already trying to draw a line between them?

"By the way, how is the information I asked you to gather regarding the Green Bamboo Gang and our Flying Eagle Gang?"

Huang Bingcheng chuckled. "I've found out just about everything. Ever since we assassinated Dai Chong last time and the Green Bamboo Gang backed down, their subordinates have started to grow dissatisfied."

Su Xin blew on his teacup and said, "Dissatisfaction is only natural. To have a major leader taken out by a nobody like me, and then to be unable to retaliate—anyone would feel stifled by that."

Huang Bingcheng nodded. "That is the truth. Moreover, the situation in the Green Bamboo Gang is even more severe; they are locked in internal strife. The old leader of the Green Bamboo Gang died last month, and now the gang is split into two factions.

One faction is led by the leader's son, Wei Feng. Although he is the leader in name, out of the eleven major leaders in the Green Bamboo Gang, only three support him."

No, there are only two left now; that Dai Chong you finished off was originally one of his supporters.

The remaining ones are the two vice gang leaders, Chen Hong and Ma Qingyuan, both of whom possess strength far superior to Wei Feng.

However, these two fellows harbor their own agendas, each wanting to be the gang leader, so in the end, they could only temporarily let Wei Feng sit in that position.

"What is the current attitude of these two factions toward the Flying Eagle Gang?"

Huang Bingcheng said, "Wei Feng advocates for war. His strength is weak, and being young, he struggles to command respect; he desperately needs a battle to consolidate his status.

Even if he loses, he could at least establish his position within the Green Bamboo Gang. Otherwise, in the current Green Bamboo Gang, there are even some low-level members who don't know the name of their own leader.

As for those two vice leaders, they are doing their utmost to avoid war.

They want to pull Wei Feng down in a legitimate way. Once a fight starts, the strength of their subordinates will inevitably be damaged, which offers them no benefit whatsoever."

"Are these two factions fighting fiercely?" Su Xin asked as he took a sip of tea.

Huang Bingcheng nodded, "Extremely fiercely; they are just one step away from tearing off their masks on the spot.

Right now, all the personnel stationed near our Flying Eagle Gang's territory have been replaced by the two vice leaders' men. They are terrified that Wei Feng might provoke a conflict and trigger a war between the two gangs.

Yet, even with such precautions, an incident occurred two days ago.

Two of our Flying Eagle Gang brothers went to the Chengde District to visit relatives. That place is the location of the Green Bamboo Gang's main hall. The two unlucky fellows were recognized and nearly beaten to death on the spot by Wei Feng's subordinates.

Fortunately, Chen Hong discovered it in time, rescued them, and sent them back to the Flying Eagle Gang, even paying a large sum of silver as compensation. He gave us both face and substance, and since we didn't want to fight either, the matter was settled."

Su Xin pondered for a moment. Both sides being this restrained was not what he wanted to see.

"Old Huang, you should know what I mean by having you collect this information, right?"

Huang Bingcheng nodded hesitantly and whispered, "You want to fight the Green Bamboo Gang?"

Su Xin did not hide it, nodding as he said, "The development of our Happy Forest has reached its limit. If I continue to recruit more men, not only will we lack the space, but my foster father won't tolerate me, and I suspect the Hall Master of the Punishment Hall won't let me off easily either.

If our Happy Forest wants to grow, the only legitimate path is through military merit. Territory conquered by the brothers through blood and battle is something even the gang leader has no right to question. Therefore, we must fight the Green Bamboo Gang."

Huang Bingcheng scratched his head, looking troubled, "But both sides are currently very restrained. We don't want to fight, and the Green Bamboo Gang wants to fight even less. Even if there are some frictions among the subordinates, I suspect they can be smoothed over with some silver and a bit of face. It's unlikely a real war will break out."

A cold glint flashed in Su Xin's eyes, "Since they don't want to fight, I will give them an opportunity that will leave them no choice but to fight!"