“I, Rong Shaobai, will never admit anything I haven’t done.” He replied, but he never directly answered Jiang Xiaochuan’s question.

An ordinary person would have been fooled by him, thinking it wasn’t Rong Shaobai’s fault. However, Jiang Xiaochuan detected a flaw in his words—he never gave a direct answer. He didn’t directly say it was his doing, but he only said, “I will never admit anything I have not done,” instead of “I have admitted all the things I have done.” In other words, he did not explicitly deny that he had done it.

Ultimately, the whole thing still had something to do with Rong Shaobai.

After Jiang Xiaochuan came to this conclusion, he was silent for a long time, and then said, “There will be a larger anti-gang operation soon, and Qingtuan and Hong are among them. Is there anything President Rong can do to help?”

This was where insiders played their role. Rong Shaobai’s role was in these things.

As the first dynasty in the underworld, the Rong family mastered many secrets within the underworld. Even though they cleared their names now, their influence in the underworld did not diminish. While underworld forces changed rapidly, the Rong family remained an established force. Just because the Qingtuan was now number one didn’t mean they were number one.

He suddenly understood Rong Shaobai a little better. No, it should be said that he already understood Rong Shaobai very well from the beginning.

The confusion and ambiguity of walking between black and white.

Rong Shaobai pondered for a moment, weighed the pros and cons, and finally nodded. “I still have information on the Qingtuan and Hong, but—Mayor Jiang, the old rule between us is the Yanjiang Bridge.”

“The Yangjiang Bridge project was won by your own strength. I am not partial. President Rong, please don’t misunderstand me.” Jiang Xiaochuan’s clasped fingers suddenly moved. For a moment, he was particularly sensitive to such topics, especially at this time.

Lian Cheng’s words seemed to still be ringing in his ears—Party discipline and state law.

Rong Shaobai looked at Jiang Xiaochuan. Jiang Xiaochuan did not avoid it and looked directly at him.

“Is Mayor Jiang recognizing this Rong’s strength?”

“This Jiang recognizes President Rong’s strength.”

“I suddenly feel very happy.”

Rong Shaobai said something strange and raised the corners of his lips. He didn’t know why, but he laughed. Then, his expression darkened, and he lowered his gaze. His eyes appeared clouded, as if he thought of something bad again. “It’s really difficult to clean up things,” he said.

He thought about it many times, that his name was completely cleansed, but when he looked closely at his current methods, he found he was no different from when he was in the underworld. In fact, he seemed even more terrifying than before.

Why was human nature darker in the normal world?

Rong Shaobai believed it was because, without the beast-like desires and behaviors that were prevalent in the underworld, people in the normal world covered up their desires and needs. They became hypocritical, duplicitous, and learned to lie, calculate, and engage in all kinds of conspiracy tactics.

Cleaning up was never easy.

When Jiang Xiaochuan heard this, he was stunned for a moment, thinking of himself, but in the end, he just said, “One day, it will be clean.”

“Clean, who knows?”

He and Rong Shaobai, once close allies, seemed to have drifted further and further apart.

.

When he walked out of Rong Family’s Club, he looked up at the dark sky for a while, then lowered his head and continued walking.

He couldn’t remember which sage lamented the hardships of the world and the unpredictability of people’s hearts. He once thought it was so hypocritical, but now he could feel the words echoing deep in his heart and mind.

Rong Shaobai, Xue Yan—he was still involved in this matter after all.

Rong Shaobai could no longer be cleansed.

He put his hands into his trouser pockets. The cool night breeze blew against his face, lowering his body temperature. It also lifted a few strands of hair around his ears, and the short ones flew in the wind.

He knew what he would do next.

He believed that in the process of cracking down on gangsters and thoroughly attacking the Qingtuan and Hong, someone would inevitably take action, though he didn’t know if it would be Rong Shaobai or someone else.

The arms trafficking and drug trade caused by the last underworld fight probably had started again. This was like a wildfire that could not be extinguished, needing no spring breeze to blow. As long as people’s desires aligned, it would start to grow uncontrollably.

He felt like a dangerous hunter using extreme and risky methods to flush his prey out. How long had it been since he used this method?

Maybe Lian Cheng would have stopped him if he were here, so he didn’t say a word to Lian Cheng. He feared Lian Cheng would interrupt him before he could take action. It depended on when the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection’s investigation of him would begin. If he told Lian Cheng his decision, Lian Cheng would definitely launch an investigation against him immediately at all costs, so he could never tell him in advance.

Standing in this boundless night, he always felt a cold breath on his wrist. He stretched out his hand, then covered the back of his hand with his right hand. The coin engraved with the four words “Qianlong Tongbao*” was clear.

In such darkness, he couldn’t discern his own expression.

But his clenched fingers and nails digging deeply into his palms quietly revealed the cold, murderous intent in his eyes.

At the corner of the stairs, when the door opened downstairs, those words reached his ears.

If there was no justice and fairness in this world, why not dye it all black again?

Note

Qianlong Tongbao is an inscription on the coins produced on the emperor Qianlong era from Qing Dynasty.