Chapter 152

Su Tianyu and Jiang Zhou sat in the room, eating the spicy snacks from Sichuan Province.

Jiang Zhou ate with a smile, saying to Su Tianyu, "You saw Lao Li when you went back, how is his health?"

"He's doing well," Su Tianyu replied, picking up some food.

Jiang Zhou nodded, "That's good. Alas, now that the Huagong Hui issue is resolved, Lao Li's future days...!"

Su Tianyu wasn't really listening, and after a long silence, he suddenly asked, "Brother Jiang, it's boring just eating like this, why don't we have a drink?"

Jiang Zhou nodded in agreement, "Sure, let's have a drink."

"Okay." Su Tianyu reached for the phone in the room and asked for some wine.

Soon, a few bottles of baijiu (white liquor) were brought upstairs. After the service staff left, Su Tianyu took the initiative to pick up the bottle and filled both Jiang Zhou's and his own glasses.

Jiang Zhou raised his glass and was about to speak, but Su Tianyu waved his hand to interrupt, "Brother Jiang, I'll drink three cups first!"

Jiang Zhou was taken aback, "What's this for?"

Su Tianyu didn't answer, but raised his glass and downed it in one gulp.

The spicy baijiu burned his throat, and Su Tianyu frowned slightly, then raised the bottle again.

Seeing Su Tianyu about to pour another drink, Jiang Zhou grabbed his arm, "Xiao Yu, what's the meaning of this?"

Su Tianyu held the bottle, looked down at Jiang Zhou and asked, "Brother, is there something wrong with the document I prepared?"

Jiang Zhou replied softly, "The plan is pretty good, there's nothing wrong with it."

"Brother," Su Tianyu stared into Jiang Zhou's eyes, "We've worked together for so long, if I can't even sense your emotions, then I'm a fool. Just tell me, what's wrong with this plan, let's talk about it openly. You and I don't need to do this."

"Alas."

Jiang Zhou sat back in his chair, sighed, and picked up a pack of cigarettes, replying, "You've still seen through it… the plan itself is indeed not the problem, the problem is the people."

Su Tianyu thought for a moment and slowly put down the bottle, asking, "Are you talking about Mingyuan?"

Jiang Zhou didn't hide anything and nodded straightforwardly, "Yes, it's Yu Mingyuan."

Hearing this, Su Tianyu sat back in his chair.

After revealing their thoughts, they fell into silence, neither speaking.

After a long while, Su Tianyu spoke first, "Brother Jiang, Yu Mingyuan is doing this for the sake of the bigger picture. Although some people's interests were harmed in the process...!"

Jiang Zhou waved his hand, interrupting Su Tianyu, "You have to understand, this isn't just a matter of interests. If it were only about interests, you definitely wouldn't be drinking this wine today. I could have mediated this matter myself. If someone lost out, I could just compensate them. This is about human lives...!"

Su Tianyu was silent.

Jiang Zhou reached out and tapped the table gently, "How many innocent people died in the Wang family this time? Let's not even talk about the four or five hundred who died at the entrance of the Huagong Hui, let's just talk about the dozen or so members of the Wang family's action team. They were targeted in District One, which ultimately led to Wang An being executed… Yu Mingyuan bears direct responsibility for this, right?"

Su Tianyu clenched his fist.

Jiang Zhou continued, "If Huo Dongsheng is a knife, then Yu Mingyuan is the one wielding it! Tell me, how am I supposed to resolve this kind of thing?"

Su Tianyu was silent for a long time, then poured more wine, his voice trembling as he said, "Brother, there's no way to settle this after the fact. If you insist on a solution, you'll have to dig up old grudges, and then the An faction will have something to say too. The first time we rescued Wu Boxin in Man City, how many people from the An faction died because of the Wang family's mistakes?! In the end, we finally brought the person back, but Huo Dongsheng secretly detained him, and we didn't even get to see Wu Boxin before we had to go to the meeting in Saint Paul. I ask you, at that time, did Wang Xiao stand on neutral ground and say a single word? Since you're taking Huo Dongsheng's side, then you can't pursue the An faction's subsequent actions to protect themselves, right?"

"The mistake in Man City and Wang An's execution are two different things!" Jiang Zhou frowned and replied, "One was a mistake, the other was actively using human lives as a bargaining chip to provoke conflict, are they the same thing?"

Su Tianyu retorted upon hearing this, "The positions of both sides are full of antagonism, you can't pursue the way they do things! To put it bluntly, if you, Wang Xiao, can't tell who's on your side and insist on standing on Huo Dongsheng's side, what can we do? Did the An faction's people die for nothing? Yu Mingyuan is indeed a catalyst, but the fact is that Huo Dongsheng never trusted the Wang family! As soon as there was any trouble, he was ready to get rid of them, this is a matter of political skill."

"Then what do you say we should do? Forcefully integrate two groups of people who have blood feuds?" Jiang Zhou slammed the table, his words also becoming agitated, "I'm not saying I have to do anything to Yu Mingyuan, but he has to take a step back, give me a way out, give me some face, so I can handle this."

The two men looked at each other, Su Tianyu looked at Jiang Zhou and roared very sincerely, "Brother! Mingyuan did the deed, he's taking the blame himself, but the leadership is benefiting! It's you, it's me, it's Lao Li! Without his move, you wouldn't have been able to achieve this situation even in ten years."

Jiang Zhou stared at Su Tianyu, silent.

"If we have to choose between the two, the Wang family can be the one to leave," Su Tianyu said directly.

"That won't work." Jiang Zhou was also very frank, glaring at him and asking, "Think about it from my perspective, in this matter in Saint Paul, has the Wang family done anything wrong?! People died, they fought the battle with you, even Wang Xiao's younger brother was killed. Now that everything has settled down and we're about to talk about integration, you want them to leave??? If you do that, who will work for you in the future? Moreover, the Wang family isn't an organization we supported, they left their hometown twenty years ago and came here to pioneer. The older generation of their family has close ties with my family. In many things, I have to take care of both reason and sentiment, what can I do?!"

The atmosphere in the room was tense and silent.

After a long time, Jiang Zhou poured himself some wine, his voice hoarse as he said, "Yu Mingyuan leaving is just one person, without him, the An faction still has Qi Qi, they can have other people. It's just a different way of saying it, the cooperation method remains the same. But the Wang family leaving is a whole group of people, without them, who will clean up the mess of the Huagong Hui? Can their people at the grassroots level recognize you, or can they recognize me? Considering the overall situation, we have to weigh the importance of each. Let's put it this way, as long as there's an explanation, it'll be easier for me to handle things… Xiao Yu, you just drank a cup, I'll drink one too!"

With that, Jiang Zhou raised his head and drank it all in one gulp.

Having said that, the two fell silent again.

…

Late at night, on a remote street in Panama City, Wang Xiao sat on a concrete platform, his face facing the cold wind, staring blankly as he smoked.

At the crossroads next to him, Wang Xiao's family was squatting on the ground, crying and burning paper money.

A gust of cold wind blew over, swirling on the ground and stirring up clumps of black paper scraps.

Wang Xiao squinted his eyes and turned to look around.

Looking around, fires were burning everywhere on the entire street, with nearly a thousand people burning paper money…