In the VIP seats at the front.
Zhang Ting and Xie Jichuan exchanged a glance, both seeing the schadenfreude in the other’s eyes.
That woman surnamed Xu from the Wanlong Society had opened with, “Our Wanlong Society may have nothing else, but we have plenty of money.” Her arrogance had nearly put the two of them in an impossible position.
But now things had taken an interesting turn. The mantis stalked the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind it.
A man named Wang Fei had suddenly appeared at the auction and, in front of everyone present, completely exposed the Wanlong Society.
“Mr. Zhang, did you hear that? They’re gangsters,” Xie Jichuan said, deliberately teasing him in Cantonese.
Zhang Ting laughed as well. “I heard. Robbery, looting, arson—the whole package. How impressive. But Old Xie, don’t you think there’s something strange about this?”
“What’s strange?” Xie Jichuan asked.
“Think about it. If the Wanlong Society really is a criminal organization, as he claims, what gives this Wang Fei the nerve to expose them in public?”
“In Harbor City, would you dare point at the head of Hing Kee in front of several hundred people and accuse him of being a gangster? You wouldn’t, would you? I’m afraid you wouldn’t even finish speaking today before ending up at the bottom of the sea tomorrow.”
After hearing this, Xie Jichuan nodded thoughtfully. “You mean someone is directing Wang Fei from behind the scenes?”
Zhang Ting jerked his chin toward Qi Tianhu’s direction. “Isn’t it obvious?”
“Chairman of Tiger Might Group, the local kingpin of Jinchuan—anyone with eyes can see that he has a grudge against the Wanlong Society. The whole ‘criminal organization’ accusation is probably just an attempt to smear his opponent.”
Xie Jichuan followed his gaze and happened to see Qi Tianhu rising to his feet, declaring with righteous indignation that he had already called the police.
“Good point.”
“But this is good news for us.”
“Of course it is.”
The two of them had flown all the way from Harbor City to Jinchuan specifically for the massive lithium deposit at Qingyan Mountain.
Originally, they had not taken the mainland companies seriously at all. But they had never expected the Wanlong Society to appear out of nowhere, seemingly loaded with money, raising the bid by hundreds of millions at a time until it reached three billion yuan.
Now Qi Tianhu and the Wanlong Society were fighting each other. That was unquestionably beneficial to them.
“That woman surnamed Xu was acting so arrogantly earlier, bragging that the Wanlong Society had plenty of money. She must be dumbfounded now, huh? No matter how much money they have, it’s useless now,” Xie Jichuan said gleefully.
But the smile on Zhang Ting’s face gradually faded.
He stared at Xu Shishi and Yang Xin, his brows drawing together slightly. Something about the situation felt wrong.
The two of them were far too calm.
This was not how normal people would react.
If ordinary people were publicly branded as gangsters in a setting like this—especially with several officials present—their first response would surely be to stand up and defend themselves, clarifying that they were innocent.
Yet from the moment Wang Fei had appeared until now, the two had remained quietly seated, acting as though it had nothing to do with them.
That reaction meant either they were completely prepared, or they simply did not care.
Or perhaps the informant was telling the truth—the Wanlong Society really was a criminal organization.
That would make things troublesome.
They were not afraid of competing with others financially, but they were genuinely wary of people from the underworld.
“Old Xie, how much do you know about the Wanlong Society?” Zhang Ting suddenly asked.
Xie Jichuan thought for a moment. “If you’re asking whether I know anything, I do have some information. Mr. Zhang, do you remember what happened to the Jiang family?”
“You mean Jiang Yuan?” Zhang Ting asked.
Xie Jichuan nodded. “Yes.”
“Jiang Yuan was arrested in the capital, and the Jiang family was practically uprooted overnight. I heard some rumors in Harbor City that the mainland’s Wanlong Society was involved.”
Zhang Ting’s expression changed slightly. “Why didn’t you tell me that earlier?”
“I didn’t think much of it at first.”
Xie Jichuan spread his hands. “Jiang Yuan had plenty of dirt on him. Smuggling, hiring hitmen—he was involved in every kind of shady business. It was only a matter of time before someone found the evidence. Still, that kid Jiang Ximing was quick. He got out of the country in advance, and nobody knows where he’s hiding now.”
“But with his vengeful personality, I doubt he’ll let this go.”
“So what if he doesn’t? Does he dare come back to the country?”
“True.”
Zhang Ting suddenly remembered something else. “Old Xie, you held quite a few shares in those publicly listed companies under Jiang Yuan’s name, didn’t you?”
The smile on Xie Jichuan’s face instantly froze.
Of all things, why bring that up?
After Jiang Yuan’s case came to light, the police in Harbor City, together with the mainland authorities, had comprehensively frozen all the assets under Jiang Yuan’s name.
Several listed companies under the Jiang Group had plummeted overnight. He and Zhang Ting both held substantial amounts of stock, which had been rotting in their accounts ever since. Even if they were willing to cut their losses, they could not find anyone to take them off their hands. Their losses amounted to at least double-digit billions.
And those “double digits” were measured in hundreds of millions of yuan.
At the time, they had simply assumed that Jiang Yuan’s own recklessness had dragged down everyone who had done business with him.
But now, if the Wanlong Society really had been behind Jiang Yuan’s downfall, should the money they had lost also be charged to the Wanlong Society?
“If that’s really the case, then the Wanlong Society is no pushover.”
“What are you afraid of?”
“Someone else is sticking their neck out for us now. Let Qi Tianhu deal with the Wanlong Society. If he succeeds, we lose one competitor. If he fails, the Wanlong Society will still take a beating. Either way, we don’t lose anything. We can just sit back and watch the show.”
Zhang Ting considered this. His expression gradually eased, and he nodded. “That’s true.”
As the two spoke in low voices, a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly came from the entrance to the auction hall.
Everyone turned their heads in unison, all eyes fixed on the doorway.
A moment later, a middle-aged police officer walked in at the head of the group. More than twenty uniformed officers followed behind him.
“Is that Chief Wu from headquarters?” someone whispered in surprise.
When Qi Tianhu saw who had arrived, the smile on his face grew even wider.
Chief Wu had actually come in person.
It seemed the connections he had called upon had arranged everything perfectly. With such a large show of force, victory was practically guaranteed!
