In a private room on the third floor of the Cantonese Restaurant on Bright Light Road, a faint scent of sandalwood filled the air. Steam rose from the Tea Tray on the solid wood table. Su Tiannan and Wang Daolin sat facing each other. The atmosphere was quiet, but their thoughts were anything but.
Fine beads of sweat dotted Su Tiannan's forehead as he quietly raised his offer. "Uncle Wang, you and my father served together. As someone from the younger generation, I wouldn't dare hide what's on my mind from you. There are no outsiders here, so let's speak frankly."
Wang Daolin held his teacup, his expression grave, and said nothing.
"I'll hand Lu Feng's men over to you. You put some pressure on Changqing Company, make a show of investigating the case thoroughly, and force them into disarray. Meanwhile, the Liu, Bai, and Kong families can apply pressure from the outside. I'm not asking for a miraculous comeback. I just want my father to get out of prison safely," Su Tiannan said bluntly. "If it works and the Su Family keeps its business, I'll give you thirty percent of the company's profits every year from now on. And I'm sure the Liu, Bai, and Kong families would be willing to pay for your protection too."
"Heh." Wang Daolin smiled. "You think I've been willing to meet with you these past few days because I want a cut of your family's profits?"
"Of course not. You're doing it because of the bond you formed serving with my father. I know that," Su Tiannan immediately replied. "The thirty percent is just a token of our gratitude. Whether it means anything to you isn't the point. It's something I have to offer."
Wang Daolin quickly considered Su Tiannan's words, then slowly set down his cup. "Changqing Company's connection in the Sanitation Management Council is Zheng Fu'an. His older sister's husband is Li Xing, the head of the Anti-Smuggling Criminal Cases Division at the Dragon City Police Bureau, and a council member of the Fuzi Chamber of Commerce. Li Xing's office and mine are just one door apart. We see each other every day when we come to work. When we have time, we even sit down for tea and a chat."
Su Tiannan froze at those words.
"Tiannan, a lot of things can't be solved with money or personal ties," Wang Daolin said with a sigh. "If I help you, just how many people do you think I'll offend?"
Su Tiannan had no answer.
"Even putting that aside, working within the system means respecting appearances and the rules," Wang Daolin continued. "Changqing Company hasn't offended me, and it hasn't touched our group's interests. If I jump in to help you, that's a provocation! Troublemakers are the people everyone in the system hates most. If I start something and can't wrap it up, even my friends might not back me."
Su Tiannan remained silent.
"My advice is still the same. Back down, hand over the business, and get your father out. There are plenty of people in the Su Family. Even without the sanitation business, making a living shouldn't be difficult," Wang Daolin gently advised. "We're adults. When it's time to compromise, we have to compromise."
"I understand what you're saying." Su Tiannan hated to accept it, but Wang Daolin had made himself perfectly clear. Pressing him any further would only annoy him.
The conversation had left an awkward atmosphere in the room. Su Tiannan was just about to get up and pour him some tea when the phone in his pocket rang.
"Sorry, Uncle Wang. Let me take this call," Su Tiannan said, rising.
Wang Daolin gave a slight nod in response.
Su Tiannan left the private room and answered in the hallway. "Hello?"
"How's the talk going, big brother?" Su Tianyu asked.
"We couldn't reach an agreement at all. I offered him thirty percent of our annual profits, but he still wouldn't help," Su Tiannan replied with a sigh.
"What if you offer more?"
"I don't think it's about money." Su Tiannan shook his head. "He said it outright. Changqing Company's network is complicated. If he jumps in, the other side will see it as a provocation. It would be both unjustified and stupid."
"All right. Come back and we'll talk."
"Okay. We'll talk when I get back." Su Tiannan hung up.
Standing in the Cantonese Restaurant's traditionally decorated hallway, Su Tiannan felt deeply conflicted, even a little regretful.
After all that groundwork, Wang Daolin had still refused to help. That meant the Su Family was now in an even more awkward position. Without a connection in the justice system to help clear their name, their only remaining option was to use public pressure to influence the legal proceedings. But that was undoubtedly a huge risk. If it failed, his father might receive an even harsher sentence. In a place as corrupt and dark as Dragon City, certain people in the Police Bureau didn't care whether you had been wronged. Stirring up this much trouble had already caused their superiors plenty of headaches and made them look bad.
Thinking of that, Su Tiannan felt that Tianyu had acted too aggressively and immaturely. He had followed his advice, and now things were even harder to handle.
"Ah."
Su Tiannan let out a long sigh, pushed open the door, and forced a smile. "Uncle Wang, shall we head out?"
"Sure." Wang Daolin was a refined, deeply calculating old hand. Even with someone younger like Su Tiannan, he showed considerable respect, waiting until Su Tiannan suggested leaving before he stood.
They left the room together. With his hands behind his back, Wang Daolin said quietly, "Tiannan, like I said, if the Su Family decides to compromise and hand over the business, let me know beforehand. I'll sit down with Li Xing afterward. He should do me that favor. At least your father won't get a heavy sentence. He should be out in six months to a year at most. Ah, that's how Dragon City is these days. There's nowhere to seek justice."
"Yes, yes. I'll discuss it with my family when I get back," Su Tiannan replied with a nod.
While they were talking quietly, a man suddenly came up the stairs. Wearing a baseball cap and keeping his head down, he strode toward Su Tiannan.
Wang Daolin was speaking and didn't notice the man. Instead, the distracted Su Tiannan spotted him first.
The man moved quickly, reaching them in barely two breaths. Su Tiannan thought there was something odd about his clothes and the way he kept his head lowered, so he instinctively pulled Wang Daolin a step back.
Fortunately, Su Tiannan reacted in advance, because the moment the man got close, he pulled out a pitch-black handgun.
Su Tiannan went deathly pale and instinctively grabbed the man's arm. "Uncle Wang, he's got a gun!"
Wang Daolin was stunned too. He abruptly stepped backward, his back hitting the wall with a thud.
Su Tiannan used every ounce of strength he had, clamping both hands around the man's gun wrist as they struggled.
The gunman panicked and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
A sharp gunshot rang out. The entire restaurant went silent for a moment, then screams and shouted questions spread across the third floor.
In the hallway, Su Tiannan fought desperately to hold the gunman's hand. Their bodies slammed against the wall, and their struggle carried them to the stairs.
Thud!
The gunman drove his knee straight into Su Tiannan's stomach. Su Tiannan's grip loosened slightly from the pain.
Then something strange happened. With his back to Wang Daolin, the gunman clearly had an opening to shoot, but instead he grabbed Su Tiannan's collar with his left hand and tried to shove him downstairs.
Su Tiannan leaned against the stair railing, staring at the gunman, and suddenly froze for a moment.
The gunman pushed with his left hand and held the pistol in his right. He seemed to deliberately angle the muzzle away as he prepared to pull the trigger.
Smack!
Just then, Su Tiannan suddenly grabbed the gun and twisted its muzzle toward the left edge of his own abdomen.
That stunned the gunman. He visibly hesitated, but his back was still turned to Wang Daolin.
Bang!
The shot rang out. Blood spurted from Su Tiannan's abdomen, and his body tipped backward over the railing and fell downstairs.
The gunman recovered and pursued him, pistol in hand. He bounded down six or seven steps, saw that Su Tiannan had crashed heavily onto the second-floor landing, and raised his arm to fire without hesitation.
Three more shots rang out, throwing the second floor into chaos.
The gunman was about to continue his pursuit when he saw Wang Daolin's driver charge into the lobby with a police-issued pistol.
"Fuck!"
Cursing, the gunman immediately turned and ran back to the third floor.
In the hallway, Wang Daolin had only just recovered his senses. Panting, he ran to a private room and tried to get inside to hide from the gunman, since there was nowhere else nearby to flee. But he hadn't expected the guests inside to be so wonderfully "helpful": they had all joined together to barricade the door.
"Open the door!" Wang Daolin roared.
The gunman rushed over and stopped beside Wang Daolin. They looked at each other, one masked, the other drenched in sweat.
"Brother, I've got nothing to do with this." Wang Daolin calmly raised his hands, though his voice was already trembling.
Looking at him, the gunman suddenly raised his arm and pulled the trigger.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three shots rang out. Terrified out of his wits, Wang Daolin collapsed onto the floor.
After firing, the gunman turned and ran straight to the end of the hallway. He deftly opened a window and jumped out. Landing on the exterior staff stairs on the second floor, he braced his left hand on the railing and jumped down to the first floor, then fled along the alley and vanished within seconds.
In the hallway, Wang Daolin was soaked in sweat. Gasping for breath, he kept feeling his head with both hands, but found no blood at all.
Once he recovered a little, Wang Daolin looked up and saw three neatly aligned bullet holes just above where his head had been.
Dread, fear, and rage instantly filled Wang Daolin's heart.
A division-level official of the Dragon City Police Bureau had been attacked by an armed gunman while dining with a friend!
There was no way an incident like this wouldn't cause an uproar. A storm had already made landfall in Dragon City.
About half an hour later, on a seaside cliff, the gunman expertly dismantled the pistol, then threw its parts and the remaining bullets into the sea at separate spots.
Ten minutes later, the gunman reached his second stop. He tossed his clothes, shoes, baseball cap, face mask, and other belongings beside a water reservoir and set them alight. Only after they had burned completely did he use a branch to scrape all the ashes into the water and wash them away.
Meanwhile, the Cantonese Restaurant on Bright Light Road had closed for business. Police vehicles and officers filled the premises inside and out.
Wang Daolin and Su Tiannan, who had been shot in the abdomen, had already been taken to the hospital.
Several mid-ranking officials from the Police Bureau's Northeastern Gang came to visit Wang Daolin, cursing before they even entered his room.
"Fuck, Changqing Company must have a death wish! Going after Su Tiannan is one thing, but they even dared to shoot at a fucking division chief?"
"They've gotten way too arrogant!"
"...!"
Still talking, the group entered the room.
Wang Daolin was unhurt, but lingering terror filled his face as he looked at them. "It's not like that gunman didn't know who I was. He deliberately fired three shots over my head. What does that mean? It was a warning!"
Zhannan District.
Lu Feng had made countless calls, but he still hadn't found his battle-hardened enforcer, Floral Shirt.
"Where the hell could he have gone?" Lu Feng was nearly losing his mind. Sitting on the sofa in a foul mood, he roared, "Are you all dead? Keep trying to contact him!"
Just then, one of the brighter lackeys timidly raised his hand. "I still think they're at the Su Family Garbage Dump. Otherwise, A Ming would have contacted us. Brother Feng, how about this? We have Director Li from the Police Bureau demand that the Su Family hand them over. If they're there, they won't dare refuse."
Thud!
Lu Feng sprang up and kicked him. "Are you fucking stupid?! You might as well tell me to file a police report! Would Li Xing do that for you? If he demands they hand them over, wouldn't that indirectly tell everyone we sent the men who smashed the place up and robbed it?"
The lackey didn't dare make a sound after being kicked. Lu Feng loosened his collar and was about to give a few instructions when the phone on the table rang.
"Hello?"
"...Lu Feng, what the fuck were you thinking?! Sending a gunman after Su Tiannan was bad enough, but why did you shoot at Wang Daolin? Do you have a death wish?!" Li Xing's furious voice rang out.
Lu Feng looked utterly bewildered. "What are you talking about?!"
On a road somewhere in Zhannan District, beneath the dim yellow streetlights, the gunman strolled along, his handsome face emerging into the light.
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