Chapter 621 - 617: A Few Connections
"Come in and we’ll talk."
Leng Yuan glanced outside and let one of Lu Yuanbin’s men into the courtyard.
He led the man to the living room and poured him a cup of hot water.
After the man downed the water, the chill in his freezing body eased considerably, and his anxiety subsided a little.
Then, he spoke.
"Brother Leng, tonight, people from the bureau suddenly stormed Brother Lu’s house. They dragged him away without a word. I live right next door, so I ran out when I heard the commotion and saw them take him away with my own eyes. What do we do now? He’ll be okay, right?"
’He was starting to panic.’
Even though doing black market business meant you were always risking your neck, seeing Lu Yuanbin get taken away with his own eyes still made him terribly anxious.
Leng Yuan’s tone was low and steady, his expression unchanging. "Don’t panic. Tell me everything in detail."
The man took another moment to compose himself before speaking.
"After I saw Brother Lu get taken away, I found someone I knew on the inside to ask around. That’s how I found out it was the An Family’s doing."
"I’m guessing that bastard Old Nine must have said something to get Brother Lu arrested."
Old Nine and Lu Yuanbin were mortal enemies. On top of that, Old Nine had been having a terrible run of bad luck, so he was probably even more jealous of Brother Lu. He must have gone to the An Family, pulled some strings, and had them arrest Brother Lu.
The man thought this because the connection between Old Nine and the An Family was an open secret. Everyone in Qingshan County knew Old Nine was the An Family’s lackey, which was why people always showed him some deference.
Otherwise, with Old Nine’s shameless tactics, he would have been dealt with long ago.
Leng Yuan mulled it over. He wasn’t actually sure if Lu Yuanbin’s arrest was because of Old Nine.
’He, on the other hand, suspected he himself was the real reason.’
Ever since that confession card, An Dongyang had clearly set his sights on his wife. Lu Yuanbin’s arrest was nothing more than An Dongyang throwing down the gauntlet.
Understanding the situation, Leng Yuan turned to the man.
"Have you guys been doing any black market business lately?"
The facial soap was completely out of stock. He had long since told Lu Yuanbin to get out of the black market business.
The man understood what Leng Yuan was getting at and shook his head.
"No. Brother Lu hasn’t touched the black market since the New Year. Some of the boys under him couldn’t stand to just hand the profits over to someone else, so they took the risk and kept doing business. But Brother Lu absolutely stayed out of it."
’At the time, I even thought Brother Lu was being foolish. Things had been fine for years with no investigations, so why would one suddenly start now? Besides, we could have just sold a little less; it wouldn’t have been a problem.’
’Looking at it now, it’s a good thing Brother Lu didn’t listen to me. Otherwise, we’d have been cleaned out completely.’
Leng Yuan nodded. "I understand. I’ll need you to keep an eye on things over there. If there’s any news, come find me at the commune middle school. Don’t act on your own."
The man nodded.
Lu Yuanbin had told him before that if he ever got into trouble, the first thing to do was tell Leng Yuan and then follow his instructions.
The man didn’t know the extent of Leng Yuan’s capabilities, but he knew Lu Yuanbin was never wrong. So, whatever Lu Yuanbin said must be right. If he said to listen to Brother Leng, then that’s what he’d do.
Once they had finished discussing business, Leng Yuan offered to let the man stay the night. However, the man was worried about his brothers back in the County Town and rushed back that very night.
In their room, Gu Jiaojiao wasn’t asleep either. It wasn’t until Leng Yuan returned that she rolled into his arms and went back to sleep.
It was the second day of her period, and Gu Jiaojiao still had no energy.
Leng Yuan carried her on his back as usual.
Sweet Girl and Xiao Yang followed behind. They both knew Gu Jiaojiao wasn’t feeling well, and worry was written all over their little faces.