Volume 4 Chapter 27 (2/2)
According to Fatty, Yunlong had an endless amount of powerful backers. Most of the time, he only played the role of the bad guy on the stage. Residents who were adamant about staying in their old homes often changed their mind the very next day and willingly signed the paperwork. Fatty was perceptive and knew his place. He knew that he was but a facade to cover up the people who were really moving the pieces. 2
What's more was that many large projects or policy changes would end up favoring Yunlong. Even the contracts that were already given to Yunlong would be amended with more profitable terms. These mysterious incidents convinced Fatty that Yunlong was the biggest fish in the pond, and even though he feared his masters, he was convinced that he would be able to do anything he wanted as long as he was under Yunlong's umbrella.
'Indeed, guardians are one of the strongest backers one can ever have.' Li Yiming smiled coldly.
”Did you receive your instructions from Guo Tai?” Li Yiming asked halfheartedly. 'Guo Tai doesn't look like a guardian. Why is he involved then?'
”No way! He is the big boss after all. I've only seen him once. Usually his a.s.sistant, Brother Dao, gives the jobs.”
”Brother Dao? The a.s.sistant with hands full of calluses?” Li Yiming remembered from his encounter with Guo Tai.
”Yeah. Yeah, that's him.” Fatty nodded. He was surprised by Li Yiming's knowledge of Yunlong Group. 'Well it seems like Brother Dao does leave a strong impression on people.'
”What about Guo Xiang? How much do you know about him?” Li Yiming realized that it must be more than a simple coincidence for Guo Xiang to show up time after time in the domains.
”Young Master Guo?” Fatty peeked at Li Yiming.
Li Yiming stared back at him silently.
”Young Master Guo… I'm quite familiar with him. He comes over to me quite often.” Fatty replied hesitantly.
”Why?”
”Nothing much. Trivial things. I own a few reputable nightclubs in Hangzhou, so he often makes me set up the venues for him.”
”Doesn't seem like you think too highly of him.” Li Yiming noticed the change from respectful reverence to contempt.
”I'm confused as to why a man as great as the big boss would have such a useless son.” Fatty spoke without reserve, wanting to please Li Yiming. ”Despite being the inheritor of an influential company, the only things on his mind are women and parties. On top of it, with how much money he has, it would be easy for him to find any kind of girl he wants, but he likes to use drugs and do it forcibly.”
”Oh?” Li Yiming was surprised. 'I always thought that Guo Xiang was just a playboy, but who knew that there was such a sinister side to him?'
”Yeah. Who knows how many women he's already ruined in my nightclub?” Fatty answered with disgust. Although he was a gangster, he was an old-fas.h.i.+oned criminal with his own bottom line.
”Guo Tai doesn't care?” Li Yiming did not think that Guo Tai would be the kind of person to spoil his son like that.
”That's the most frustrating part. Big Boss spoils his son too much. Once Young Master Guo raped a college student in a bathroom while her boyfriend was right outside. After that, the girl made a ruckus about suicide, and her family called the police. However, on that very night, her family went to remove their complaint, and Guo Xiang came back to the nightclub as if nothing happened on the next day.”
Fury burned in Li Yiming's heart. 'Can guardians just do whatever pleases them in the real world? Isn't Heaven's Laws supposed to reign them in?'
”Are there a lot of cover-ups like this?” Li Yiming's tone turned glacial.
”Once in a while. But usually money is enough to silence them. After all, the girls that frequent my nightclubs are usually there for something… There was a beautiful girl recently though. I think she's a dance major in university? She has to be one of the most attractive girls I've seen in a while” Fatty continued on, not noticing the change in Li Yiming's demeanor.
Li Yiming furrowed his brows. He had a bad feeling about the ending of the tale.
Maybe it's because I'm a selfish a.s.shole, but it seems to me that there's gotta be something in it for me to work like a dog and risk my life to save the world. Pretty sure that the satisfaction of a job well done at the end of the day isn't exactly enough incentives to make me want to become a guardian. Now, I'm certainly not condoning Guo Xiang's actions, but isn't the point of becoming a guardian to be able to do whatever you want when you're not about to die to a Chinese hydra or some crazy dragondogs thingy? Please enlighten me with your thoughts, O readers. ?
Note: does it make sense for these people to be detained when they're not convicted? I'm interested by the question. If I have time, I'll do a quick search on the matter and add a note. Leave a comment if you're a little interested by the intricacies of Chinese criminal/civil law. ↩ This is a social issue in China present to this day. Essentially since the real estate in big cities is so valuable, often there's a lot of money to be made for revelopping old neighborhood in big cities and appealing to mid/high-end consumers. (”Old” usually mean 30-40 years+.) The only issue is when people don't agree to move out of their homes for the amount of money that is offered to them. Well… you can imagine the kind of ”convincing” that happens. I guess this problem of rich crowding out the poor is present in every big city in the world, but unlike Silicon Valley, for example, people don't wait for your lease to end and then raise the rent 10 fold to try to get you out. ↩