Chapter Ninety-Three: Each with Their Own Schemes

July 31, 2002, was a day Zhao Zekun would never forget.

In his previous life, at around three or four in the morning on this very night, a holdout house in Gao Gang Village suddenly caught fire. By the time the fire brigade arrived, the resident who had refused to move and was staying inside had already burned to death.

After that, the remaining more than one hundred households in Gao Gang Village, Zhao Zekun’s family included, all moved out within a week, and the demolition work was brought to a smooth finish.

The investigation concluded that the weather had been dry, a gas leak had occurred, and some stray spark had likely triggered the blaze. As for Manager Qian from Baoye Company in the relocation office, because of his colossal dereliction of duty, he was removed from his post and placed under investigation.

On July 30, the sun finally set, darkness deepened, and the construction site in Gao Gang Village grew unnaturally quiet. Several companies responsible for salvage and demolition had, by coincidence, chosen this day to begin resting at night for the next few days, taking advantage of the month-end payroll settlement to give their workers time off.

A handcart rolled into the night at the rear of the three-story building. It was piled high with many bulging burlap sacks, their mouths tied tightly shut. No one knew what was inside. The man pulling the cart was stooped and hunched, wearing a broad straw hat with a towel wrapped around his neck.

Demolition was a rich haul. It was impossible for the nineteen companies involved to eat up every last bite, and many independent scavengers who collected junk would come at night to pick over the ruins and snag a bargain or two. It was common enough to see these junkmen dragging handcarts in under cover of darkness to steal a little scrap. So long as they did not run into anyone face to face, and did not come in large groups, no one really bothered them.

When the cart reached the back of the three-story building, the man looked around, removed the straw hat shielding his face, and revealed a face wrapped in a towel. In a low voice, he said to Ren Jifu, who was waiting on the third floor behind the building, “Put these things inside for now. It’s not safe anywhere else.”

Though his entire face was not visible, anyone familiar with him would still have recognized him. It was Jun Zi.

“At last! Move it, move it!” Ren Jifu said impatiently. Together with Jun Zi, he hauled all more than a dozen large woven bags into the building.

“Where is he?” Jun Zi asked in a low voice.

“He passed out. Hold on a second.” From the second floor, Ren Jifu laboriously dragged down a man who was half-asleep, half-unconscious. It was the holdout resident, He Dapeng.

“Your boss sure knows how to make trouble for me. He even had them drug the food. Was that really necessary? When he wakes up, how am I supposed to explain this?”

“These things can’t be seen by outsiders. When he comes back around, just tell him the relocation office did it.”

“Will he believe that?” Ren Jifu asked doubtfully.

“Cut the nonsense. Do you still want the money or not? I’m telling you, if these things are seen by outsiders, we’ll be the ones in trouble, and you won’t be having good days either. You think Song Tianming will let you off?” Jun Zi shot him a glare.

“Fine, fine. You go tell your boss to pay me the rest as soon as possible. Whether this thing succeeds or not, not a cent of what’s owed to me can be short. Otherwise I’ll throw caution to the wind and make sure he pays dearly for it...”

Jun Zi hauled the unconscious He Dapeng onto the handcart, covered him with a layer of canvas, put the straw hat back on, and bent low as he pulled the cart out of Gao Gang Village.

After seeing Jun Zi off, Ren Jifu first carried all those bulging sacks up to the third floor. No one usually came up here, and he and He Dapeng mostly moved around the first and second floors. Even if He Dapeng came back, he might not discover these things right away.

After he finished, Ren Jifu sat on the second floor with a bottle of beer, eating and thinking.

Song Tianming and Zhao Zekun had a grudge between them. Zhao Zekun was using him to steal evidence of Song Tianming’s casino business in order to bring Song Tianming down. That was perfectly normal. Those sacks upstairs were all copies of documents and propaganda slogans. It looked as though Zhao Zekun meant to make a huge scene.

If he could really take down Song Tianming, that would of course be best. Not only could he make a fortune, but the gambling debt would naturally no longer need to be repaid. That was one of the main reasons Ren Jifu had been willing to help search for evidence in the first place. Loan shark interest at a casino was viciously compounded, and once you were caught in it, you were finished. Even if you sold everything you owned, you still would not be able to pay it off. He had originally owed just over forty thousand yuan, and over the course of things he had already paid back twenty or thirty thousand here and there. Yet somehow the debt had swollen to one hundred and twenty thousand. It was obvious that the more he paid, the more he owed. If Song Tianming did not fall, he would spend the rest of his life working for the casino for nothing.

Ren Jifu knew better than anyone how much weight those pieces of evidence carried. Once exposed, they would be enough to bring down the casino and Dahong for sure. Although Song Tianming rarely showed his face there and worked from behind the scenes, the scandals inside that casino were so vile in nature that with even a slight connection, Song Tianming would never escape. Not to mention that coward Dahong would surely end up naming Song Tianming under interrogation.

And then there was the ledger, with all those names of people who had accepted gifts. Once the ledger came out, those people would probably be the first to go after Song Tianming.

But the problem was, one must never ignore the small chance of disaster.

Who was Song Tianming? A man who had been mixed up on the underworld streets of Yijiang City for years, with influence in all directions. Zhao Zekun was nothing more than a small-time boss who had only just started to rise, and apart from Zhaojian Company, he had no real power at all. Could he truly go toe-to-toe with Song Tianming?

And if Song Tianming slipped through this disaster, retaliation would surely follow!

Only now, as the shock of the two hundred thousand yuan reward wore off and he calmed down enough to think it through, did Ren Jifu realize that this two hundred thousand was not so easy to earn after all. If Song Tianming did not fall, then with just a little investigation into how those pieces of evidence had leaked out, suspicion might well land on him.

By then, it would not be as simple as paying off a few hundred thousand in loan shark debt. Most likely, he would have to pay with his life.

At the thought of that, Ren Jifu began to regret things a little.

What he regretted was not agreeing to help Zhao Zekun find evidence. What he regretted was asking for too little money.

Damn it, just two hundred thousand, and you want me to risk my neck to deal with Song Tianming? If I don’t help, you can’t even protect yourself. You think you can buy peace for two hundred thousand?

Dream on. Those few apartments you cheated out of me during the demolition would be worth more than that if we counted them properly!

This two hundred thousand can only count as compensation to me. You want to use my money and still have me do your work? Do you take me for a fool?

And then there is He Dapeng, who is another headache. Following Zhao Zekun’s instructions, he was drugged at dinner. But once he wakes up, is he really going to believe the relocation office did this? Not likely. He’ll probably end up suspecting me too.

By then, the payment we agreed on with He Dapeng will turn into a whole other round of haggling.

No matter how I add it up, I’m the one losing!

Ren Jifu sat alone in the dim candlelight, brooding over it for a long while. In the end, he took a hard swig of beer and made up his mind.

When Zhao Zekun sent someone to collect these “evidence” materials, he would squeeze him for another good sum.

As for the evidence itself, he would not leave it for Zhao Zekun. Once the money was in hand, he would burn everything to ash. That way Song Tianming would have nothing to pin on him later!

Add the earlier two hundred thousand to it, then take the money and vanish. Demolition, loan sharks, all of it would have nothing to do with him. Let Zhao Zekun and Song Tianming tear each other apart like dogs fighting over a bone.

With several hundred thousand in his pocket, where could he not live well? Why should he stay in Yijiang City and keep playing the servant?

Having made up his mind, Ren Jifu’s mood lifted. He felt that the idea was brilliant: he would get the money, eliminate future trouble, and at the same time vent his rage by taking Zhao Zekun for a fool. What was that called again? A single shot, two birds. No, three.

That settled it.

He blew out the candle and went to sleep. Tonight was unusually quiet outside, perfect for a beautiful dream of sudden riches. By morning, he would wake up a rich man.