Chapter 1361 - 1337: Defecting to the City

Chapter 1361: Chapter 1337: Defecting to the City

Chapter 1337 Throwing In with the City

Quan Xianglin fixed his gaze on Shao Qinyi, his hawk-like eyes seeming to bore straight through him, lingering on his face for a long time without moving away.

Shao Qinyi just stood there properly, completely unfazed by the fact that he was being scrutinized.

"What is the meaning of this?" There was a trace of anger in Quan Xianglin’s tone. He had waited here for thirty hours, only to get two words in return: refusal. And in those thirty hours, this trusted assistant of his hadn’t sent a single word of news. No one knew what he had been doing, no one knew whom he had met. That kind of disappearance was something Quan Xianglin could not accept.

"The Xiao Family doesn’t seem to have any intention of making peace. But Chairman, it’s not like we came away with nothing this time." Shao Qinyi still kept his eyes lowered. "There are two people who want to see you."

Quan Xianglin raised an eyebrow. He didn’t respond immediately, but stared at Shao Qinyi with an expression that clearly showed he didn’t trust him.

"Xiao Lin refused you on the grounds that he’s not the Family Head of the Xiao Family, but there is someone who wants to meet you. Qin Yi took it upon himself to decide that this might be a good opening." Shao Qinyi lifted his head, a flicker of panic in his eyes.

Quan Xianglin smiled faintly. "Let him in."

Quan Xianglin’s residence wasn’t sealed off, it was no different from an ordinary home, the sort of place tourists regularly rented. Quan Xianglin himself looked like an extremely ordinary man; once he hid away the dominance in his bearing, no one would associate this middle-aged man with such a exalted status.

Shao Qinyi nodded. Not long after, the person who appeared in front of Quan Xianglin genuinely caught him off guard. A man prettier than a woman, swaggering into the room with a head of red hair.

"Oh-ho!" Quan Xianglin let out a soft exclamation, sinking back against the chair. He glanced over at Shao Qinyi, as if suddenly full of unexpected expectations. "Young Master Hua, Lord Lao!"

Shao Qinyi tactfully backed out of the room. As he closed the door, he glanced at the three people inside.

"You two really are a surprise." Quan Xianglin narrowed his eyes. The sudden visitors could be called two of Xiao Lin’s most capable aides, especially Lao Jiu, the central artery of Sin City, the man who controlled the core of the underground city. "Lord Quan has a question he doesn’t quite understand and wants to clear up before you start talking."

"Chairman Quan, ask away. Since we’ve come, we’re already prepared." Hua Qingyi greeted him with a smiling face. Quan Xianglin tried to find some falseness on that face, but discovered that nothing could look more genuinely sincere than that smile.

"Young Master Hua, do you know where this is? Do you know who I am?"

Hua Qingyi was taken aback for a moment, all of his emotions playing openly across his face, his confusion and puzzlement as vivid as his words. "Chairman Quan, don’t joke with a junior like me. How could I possibly not know who you are? Even if I didn’t recognize my own old man, I couldn’t fail to recognize you. I still remember when I first entered the army, the first person I saw was you. When they recommended me to Dragon Soul, you even voted against it, saying I was too unruly, a troublemaker."

Hua Qingyi’s words instantly made the atmosphere feel like an easy-going meeting between junior and elder; the whole mood relaxed.

Quan Xianglin was no ordinary man. He wasn’t taken in by Hua Qingyi’s casual, chatty demeanor, but watched him coolly, as if he were watching a one-man show.

"Young Master Hua, you’re a famous little fox in Yanjing. Your brains are no worse than Dragon Soul’s Military Advisor. Setting aside the fact that Hua Muyun and I have been political opponents on the stage, just on the basis of the relationship between the Hua Family and the Xiao Family, I have more than enough reason to wipe you out here and make sure you never walk out of this place." Quan Xianglin’s attitude was the complete opposite of Hua Qingyi’s, his ruthlessness on full display.

Hua Qingyi instantly pulled a startled face, then a moment later was all smiles again. "The Hua Family, the Xiao Family, whatever—those things with Chairman Quan all go back more than ten years. As a junior, I have no right to comment on any of that. If Chairman Quan wants to take it out on us younger ones over the grudges of the previous generation, I can’t dodge it anyway." Hua Qingyi paused for a beat. "I’m not Xiao Lin, I won’t let myself be bound up by the Xiao Family’s rules. Chairman Quan has heard of me, so you shouldn’t be comparing me to Xiao Lin. People are different from person to person."

Quan Xianglin lowered his eyes, thoughtful. It felt like there was something to be gleaned from Hua Qingyi’s words, but Hua’s craftiness and intelligence still couldn’t make him drop his guard. In the new wave of rising stars in politics, Hua Qingyi was the one everyone had their eye on. Perhaps he himself wasn’t aware of it yet, but there were already plenty of people behind the scenes eager to support him.

"I heard long ago that when Young Master Hua first arrived in Palermo, you already pulled a rather bold stunt. Don’t you know that your glorious record doesn’t do anything to improve your character?" Quan Xianglin used Hua Qingyi and Xiao Lin’s collusion to deceive Shao Weihua back then as evidence, to prove that he wouldn’t easily believe him this time.

"That’s true." Hua Qingyi didn’t mind Quan Xianglin’s wording. "Though I don’t want to judge a dead man right in front of the Chairman, I do think a good assistant shouldn’t rely on threats, but should use emotion to move emotion." Hua Qingyi deliberately let out a sigh. "Back then Wang Zhantian wanted my old man’s life. That kind of hatred is exactly like what Chairman Quan feels now. And I was still young and hot-blooded then, of course I wasn’t going to cooperate with an idiot. Killing Wang Zhantian was my goal in coming here, not teaming up with a fool. Second, using my old man as leverage against me—that crossed my line. Don’t Chairman Quan’s subordinates bother to investigate the other side’s temperament and background before they act? No wonder you were defeated so miserably."

Quan Xianglin’s expression grew uglier and uglier, but Hua Qingyi acted as if he didn’t see it at all, continuing to talk on his own.

"There’s really no need to run our mouths over someone who’s already dead. Why doesn’t Young Master Hua just state what you came for."

"Mm." Young Master Hua nodded. Suddenly, he pushed Lao Jiu, who had been ignored for a long time, forward. "Even though Xiao Lin and I are brothers who grew up wearing the same pair of pants, I am also the future helmsman of the Hua Family. Everything has to be weighed against the bigger picture. Whether Chairman Quan truly has the intention to reconcile, I don’t much care, but the Hua Family does not want to be dragged into the mess between your two families. The shady dealings between my old man and you shouldn’t be counted under the Hua Family’s name. As the head of the Hua Family, I’m here to discuss with the Chairman how our Hua Family’s future status should be positioned."

Quan Xianglin deliberately avoided looking at Lao Jiu, instead slowly savoring Hua Qingyi’s words.

"So that means Hua Muyun has already stepped down from his position in the Hua Family?"

"If Chairman Quan doesn’t believe me, you can verify it right now in front of me."

"Shao Qinyi!" Quan Xianglin shouted toward the outside, and very soon Shao Qinyi appeared at the door. "Go check."

Very quickly, Shao Qinyi came back in and whispered a few words in Quan Xianglin’s ear, and the latter’s brows furrowed.

"Chairman Quan, well then, do I now have the qualification to discuss the Hua Family’s future direction with you?"

"I didn’t expect Young Master Hua to move so fast. I underestimated you juniors." Quan Xianglin laughed to smooth things over. The Hua Family’s change of Family Head had been carried out quietly; they hadn’t made a big public show of it, and Hua Muyun’s network of connections also surprised Quan Xianglin.

"Thank you for the compliment, Chairman Quan. But Qing Yi didn’t come for nothing this time. To let the Chairman grasp my intentions more concretely, I’ve brought a present especially for you. I imagine the Chairman is no stranger to the people around Xiao Lin." Hua Qingyi hooked one arm around Lao Jiu’s shoulder, his narrow eyes curving into a pretty crescent-moon smile.

"You can afford not to know ’Black Crow’, but you can’t afford not to know the City Lord of the ’Underground City’." Quan Xianglin cast Lao Jiu a glance, not particularly interested. The corner of his eye lingered for a moment on that head of red hair. It was just a few short seconds, but Hua Qingyi did not miss it.

Lao Jiu’s attitude toward Quan Xianglin had always been rather tight and restrained. He didn’t have the same kind of feeling Hua Qingyi had toward him, but he didn’t feel any particular dislike either. To him, this man was someone with no direct clash of interests, so his demeanor remained neither warm nor cold.

"Young Master Hua, this gift is too valuable. If I accept it, it would feel a bit like taking advantage of you." Quan Xianglin pondered for a moment. "What do you want out of this?"

"As the new generation of the Hua Family, naturally I want a solid backing. Although Xiao Lin and I are brothers, his heart is not with the Xiao Family. As for the reason, I’m afraid there’s no one who doesn’t know. So-called ’beauty brings calamity’—a man who can give up a kingdom for a woman is hard for me to trust. And in the current political arena, the only one who can dominate a whole region is naturally Chairman Quan. Smart people always set their sights on interests they can profit from, and through you I can gain far more benefits."

"Once Young Master Hua is no longer of use to me, I’ll cast you aside just like Xiao Lin. Someone like that is not someone I dare to use."

"It’s not ’casting aside’; it’s simply no longer mutually exploiting each other." Hua Qingyi shook his head. "Chairman Quan, there’s no need to keep refusing. Only between interests and interests can there be a more solid cooperative relationship. From you, I gain the right to your support, and from me, you gain the Magical Treasure that can break apart the Xiao Family. Once we achieve the final outcome, a new set of shared interests will emerge."

"Oh?" Quan Xianglin responded softly. "New interests? I don’t see what mutual interests there would be between us."

"Let’s suppose I help Chairman Quan wipe out the Xiao Family’s power. With your status, how will you take over? Whether you do or don’t, it’ll be hard to handle. Unifying the underworld isn’t that simple. Just how broad the Xiao Family’s network is—surely even you don’t have a clear idea. But I do."

"Very good, go on."

"If the Chairman wants to unify black and white, new blood has to come in, and it has to be done in a way that people can’t gossip about. So we need to put forward a new figure—and for that role, Xiao Lin is the most suitable."

"The Xiao Family’s heir?" (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to go to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)