Chapter 305: Changing the Corleone Fate

"Hello? Mr. Corleone?"

Old Corleone's hoarse voice came from the other side of the phone: "Wang, we haven't seen each other for half a year. How are you?"

"I'm very well, thank you for your concern. It just so happens that I recently got a batch of good wine, we can make an appointment to have a drink together."

"I've already prepared wine here, just waiting for you to come over." Old Corleone laughed: "This Saturday, my youngest daughter Connie is getting married, I hope you can come to participate, just right we can have a good drink."

Wang Yan was stunned for a moment, then said: "I won't go, Mr. Corleone. Many of your friends don't know me, and my skin color and appearance will inevitably cause you trouble. On such a happy day, it's better not to have trouble. I will let Leo take the gift I prepared for your daughter to attend the wedding. Let's meet again on Sunday afternoon, how about that?"

"Okay, that's settled, goodbye, Wang."

"Goodbye, Mr. Corleone."

After speaking, Wang Yan hung up the phone, frowned and pondered for a moment, pondering the next things.

The time is now the end of August 1945. At the beginning of the month, America threw two big treasures, Little Boy and Fat Man, to kiss little Japan. Now all matters have been basically negotiated, just waiting for little Japan to surrender. It is also at this time that Old Corleone's youngest daughter Connie is getting married. He naturally knows this scene; this is the beginning of the Godfather plot.

It's just that I don't know how it will unfold this time. After all, he cooperated with the Corleone family, Old Corleone started to transform and wash clean witily, and followed his operations. After four years, the current Corleone family is not what it used to be.

Just what Wang Yan knows, the Corleone family has already been considered to have left the thug circle on the surface. The two leaders under him have already separated and opened up a new family, only retaining a portion of elite personnel as bodyguards. Of course, Old Corleone's influence is still there. If he wants the two leaders under him to do things, it is still very easy to use. But that is not an order, it is an exchange of interests.

Of course, that's just saying so. Washing clean is just changing a way to better protect oneself and one's property. To say it's really clean, how is that possible? Besides, even if the Corleone family washes clean, it is not favored by the upper class. Although their rise might be dirtier, a bunch of dirty people together redefined dirty.

Fortunately, Wang Yan gave face and never abandoned the Corleone family, relying on the largest share of Body-Strengthening Pills in his hands to mix until today. Otherwise, with such a large plate, it would take five, seven, or eight years to turn around; how could it be cleaned up in just four years? You know, the second-generation thug leader Michael spent most of his life, and only did it when he was about to die.

Now the Corleone family has been promoted to capital very gloriously. However, in the transformation, they abandoned a large number of industries and constantly involved themselves in new industries, resulting in a great loss of strength. But now what they are involved in are high-quality industries that can be done for a hundred or eighty years. Especially now that the war is over, a new wave is coming. It won't take five years to far exceed the past. And although the overall strength has declined, they have mastered more powerful political and capital connections. If you calculate the pros and cons, maybe they are even stronger.

In this process, other big families must have discovered it, and they can figure it out, but they didn't care, thinking that Old Corleone was old and confused, crazy. After all, not making money during the war, but washing clean and transforming? Whether they transform or not, they don't care. On the contrary, seeing Old Corleone constantly cutting off various industries and opening up various industries, they were secretly happy. They admitted they couldn't beat Old Corleone, but couldn't they beat the leaders under him? So New York and its surrounding areas have been relatively chaotic recently.

Of course, they wouldn't think that the Corleone family had already turned more than half, basically considered successful. They were not qualified enough, and hadn't even heard the name of the Body-Strengthening Pill. This was the tacit understanding of the upper class; if you weren't qualified enough, even if you had money, you wouldn't know. However, this situation couldn't last long; it was good to maintain it for four years, and it was always inevitable that some would leak out.

"Daddy, what are you thinking about?"

The childish voice made Wang Yan return to his senses. He looked happily at his third son, Xier Wang, who was not yet two years old, in his arms: "Thinking about what we should eat for lunch."

Xier seriously buckled his hands and pondered, looked up, and looked at his father with the big eyes inherited from Malèna: "I want to eat barbecue."

"Hmm... you are too young, you can't eat too much." Wang Yan pretended to ponder, then changed the subject: "But Daddy just happens to want to eat it, so let you follow and be satisfied."

He laughed, picked up his third son who was shouting happily, and walked out.

Outside, it was even more lively. The eldest, who was over three years old, took the second, who was over two years old, followed by the little daughter who was over one year old and couldn't walk steadily, shouting and jumping around inside and outside the house.

Having many children at home was good because they didn't lack playmates; the bad thing was also this—too many children were too annoying. He put down the third one in his arms, letting him stumble and play with the other children, while he sat on the sofa and hugged Malèna, who was watching the children play with a smile: "Lunch is barbecue."

"Okay, I'll go prepare." As she spoke, Malèna was about to get up and go to the kitchen to tidy up.

Wang Yan pulled her: "We just finished breakfast, why are you in such a hurry? Wait a while before doing it."

Malèna leaned on Wang Yan's shoulder, looking at the four children who were shrieking, and sighed: "Honey, life is really good now. I couldn't imagine being able to live such a life one day."

"It will get better and better, Malèna. It's too early to say these things now. Future life is something you wouldn't even dare to imagine." Wang Yan looked at the children in front of him: "Do you know what I'm thinking about now, Malèna?"

"What?"

"I want them to grow up quickly, and then get lost, don't disturb our world for two."

Malèna smiled gently: "Then you'll have to wait a long time."

Wang Yan didn't say anything more, and the two leaned together, watching the children play. Of course, they definitely couldn't be quiet for long. Before long, the four little ones ran over, pulling them to go out and play. After a while, Wang Yan and Malèna prepared the barbecue ingredients, the father-in-law took the four grandchildren to avoid their enthusiastic help, and amidst the curling blue smoke, the family ate barbecue and drank beer lively.

Except for the time when the children were just born and needed to worry, although it was annoying when they grew up, it was relatively worry-free. Life now was still good; basically, every day was like this, laughing and making a fuss.

Mainly because he had nothing to do. Although various researches had been launched early, compared to the new century, the industrial foundation, scientific foundation, etc., were much worse, and they hadn't developed to that point. Moreover, the people he recruited could be said to be the smartest group in the world, and he didn't need to do anything; he just needed to convey the goals, directions, and general research process, and this group of people could realize it after spending some time. This was the benefit of those in power mastering resources.

It was also because of this, except for occasionally going to the West Coast to check on the women who were about to enter the entertainment industry, most of the time he was at home with his wife and children. Other commercial matters were handled by others; he just gave instructions, and occasionally dealt with some subordinates who had inflated ambitions and made small moves, which was fine. It was properly leisurely.

The only thing he needed to worry about was the Longevity Laboratory under that consulting company. This required his personal participation to fool people. In general, it was very easy.

Malèna saw that he was so idle and wanted to take advantage of her youth to have more children. Anyway, many children meant many blessings; in these years, basically every family had a bunch of children. But he strongly refused; after all, there were already four children, which was enough. Giving birth to too many was not good; it would dilute the parents' energy and love, although he didn't have much love to begin with... he was no longer the Wang Mou who was excited and happy watching the children be born and grow up...

In a blink of an eye, a week passed, and it was Sunday.

After eating lunch at home, with a little brother driving, Wang Yan went to the Corleone family's small fortress once again.

The master of the Corleone family, Vito Corleone, received the notice and waited at the entrance of the villa with his eldest son Santino, his second son Michael, and Tang Mu Hagen, just right.

Without needing anyone else, Tang Mu took the initiative to open the back door. When Wang Yan, wearing a slim-fit suit, tie, and large leather shoes, got out of the car, Vito enthusiastically stepped forward to hug Wang Yan: "Wang, my friend, long time no see."

"Long time no see, Mr. Corleone." Wang Yan naturally patted each other's backs: "Is your daughter satisfied with the gift I sent?"

"Oh, I think your good intentions were in vain. She is a vulgar person and cannot understand the oil painting you sent. However, after knowing its true value, she accepted it very happily." Vito told a joke about his daughter and turned to invite Wang Yan to walk to one side: "The weather today is very good, let's go under the grape trellis to cool off and drink."

Wang Yan nodded happily, followed him chatting and laughing to the shade under the parasol next to the grape trellis full of plump grapes. In the process, Vito naturally introduced his second son to him.

Picking a ripe grape and tasting it, Wang Yan sat on a chair and asked: "The taste is not bad, did you plant this yourself?"

"It was planted by my wife and Santino's wife together. We occasionally helped. They are all virtuous traditional Sicilian women." Vito shook his head with a smile: "But later, when I hand over power, maybe I will consider planting some grapes myself, and then brew some wine, and then you can come and taste it."

Wang Yan laughed: "Your body has been well-maintained these two years. In my opinion, as long as there are no accidents, living another twenty or thirty years is not a problem. I don't know how long it will take to drink the wine you brewed yourself."

Who wants to die if they can live? Especially when they are not short of money or status. For so many years, this old boy has never missed the Body-Strengthening Pill, exercising for one hour every day, and his state is much better than four years ago, regaining his vitality.

Vito waved his hands repeatedly: "Maybe soon. Regardless, Wang, I am indeed old. I stepped into America at the age of twelve, and I haven't had a moment of relaxation since then. If possible, I also want to enjoy my old age early."

Santino and Tang Mu on the side looked at their father who was in high spirits and heard this, all secretly curling their lips. Tang Mu didn't care; he was picked up. Michael also didn't care; he had always been against the illegal criminal activities his family was engaged in. It was Santino, the eldest son, who was very disgusted with the family's transformation in recent years. He believed that they had started with those things, and without them, they had no foundation. But helplessly, he couldn't twist his father's arm, so he could only be like this. He no longer had his former subordinates, and he wouldn't go around showing off anymore. Except for a few bodyguards, he just worked in the construction company all day, bored to death.

"You're right, I hope you get your wish." Wang Yan raised his glass to clink with him, and signaled to the three people on the side who had no right to speak, drank a sip of wine together, and wondered: "Why didn't I see Genco?"

"His body is not good, he needs to rest well. Now Tang Mu has taken over his work. And Tang Mu is also more suitable. He is a practicing lawyer, and he has done many things in the past few years, very well."

Wang Yan nodded, clinked glasses with Tang Mu, and congratulated him on his promotion.

According to the original, Genco should be dead by now. It wouldn't change because of his appearance; instead, he might be more likely to die. After all, the Corleone family is transforming. Genco, who participated from beginning to end and knew many truths, didn't look like he needed to live. As for the Body-Strengthening Pill, Vito only had five bottles a month, and he would definitely eat one himself. Other medicines at one hundred thousand a bottle, Genco didn't have that mouth to enjoy.

After talking about some idle things for a while, Vito cleared his throat and started talking about serious matters: "Wang, I don't know what you think about drugs?"

Wang Yan laughed: "Now the price of a bottle of medicine is sixty-five thousand US dollars, the cost is more than forty thousand, the production per month is forty-five bottles, and I earn twenty thousand per bottle, so I can earn nine hundred thousand a month. And this is not the actual price; you also know the specific premium. Now that the war is over, countries have begun to resume production, and my fleet goes out once and it's millions of US dollars. The land I control, the food, trees, stones, and other various materials I sell, also earn a lot every month."

"Leo's casino has hundreds of thousands of turnover every day, and the film and television company in Hollywood has also filmed a few hot movies in the past few years. I also have a construction company, developing real estate, building shopping malls in New York, Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles, etc., each one earns a lot. They take risks and work hard for a year, not as much as the fraction I earn in a month, not to mention the lives lost in the process. Mr. Corleone, what do you think I should think about drugs?"

Vito drank a sip of wine: "I think so too, Wang, but someone came to New York recently, and is contacting other families, wanting to do this business. They want my political resources, want to be sentenced lightly when caught. Should have also found Leo, right? He controls the port of Manhattan's West Side, and land transport channels, no matter what, they can't bypass him. Didn't he report to you?"

What Wang Yan said, the Corleone family had everything except the Body-Strengthening Pill. Although the scale was not as large as Wang Yan's, they earned a lot. It was absolutely not comparable to a bunch of thugs, traditionally doing gambling, usury, smuggling, and collecting protection fees. Even if you count the future of thugs, smuggling drugs was the same; they definitely didn't earn as much as them, and they didn't take risks. Besides, he cut off his arm to survive, and cut off so many industries to bring the Corleone family to today. That must be a big disease to step back into it.

"Said, a guy named Virgil Sollozzo, said he was planting poppies in Turkey, processing heroin in Sicily, and now it's just waiting to be shipped to America for distribution. I have already let Leo refuse him, and Sicily is searching for his factory." Wang Yan looked at him with a smile: "As far as I know, Sollozzo has united the Tattaglia, Cuneo, and Barzini families, and connected with some other mafia in other places. They are moved, and their determination is great."

"It doesn't matter if Leo refuses. After all, they can smuggle by sea and land themselves. But they are afraid of being caught, afraid of being imprisoned for decades. Unfortunately, those big families don't have solid connections, and your Corleone family dominates one side by relying on political capital. They won't give up easily."

Just as his voice fell, Santino on the side 'clanged' and slapped the table: "Then kill those sons of bitches, we are not afraid of them."

"Sit down, Santino, what are you doing? Who slept with a woman and became stupid?" Vito's voice was a little louder, stopping his eldest son who was running wild, and seeing his third son on the side who hadn't said a word from beginning to end, just silently observing Wang Yan, nodded. Fortunately, there was still a successor.

Wang Yan naturally knew Michael's observation long ago. The current situation is different from the original. Michael was against his father's arrangement for him, and he didn't want to participate in family affairs, but now it is Old Corleone transforming in advance, and has completed the vast majority. It can be completely said that the current Corleone family is a decent businessman family. Since the family does legitimate business, Michael doesn't have to pull anything about leaving the family. Just work in the family business, which is a hundred times better than working hard outside by himself.

Scolded by his father, Santino sat there drinking wine angrily.

Vito turned his head to look at Wang Yan: "You are right, Wang, they won't give up easily. Before, I had already clearly refused, but Sollozzo still insisted on seeing me. He wanted to persuade me in person, but this is impossible. And if I don't agree, the drug transporters under them will be caught, and they will definitely not be able to keep the secret, then their business will definitely not be able to continue. I know them, they will definitely find a way to make me agree."

"So what do you want to do?" Wang Yan glanced at Santino, signaling that it was a weakness: "Strike first?"

"I have this idea, but you know, Wang, the power in my hands is not enough to confront the other big families at the same time, so I need your help."

"No, no, Mr. Corleone, your thinking has deviated." Wang Yan waved his hand to Vito, who was puzzled: "We are not the mafia, we are law-abiding citizens. We pay taxes to the government, we support the army and the police, we undertake infrastructure construction, and this prosperous America has our efforts. Now, there are lawless elements endangering the safety of us and our families, affecting our production. And our friends in the police station, our politician friends, they need political achievements. So for these lawless elements, we must give the most severe blow."

"Of course, for those who provoke us, we must give the most fierce warning. The strongest mafia in New York now is Barzini, and the one who jumps the highest is him. And he has done many evil things and bad things, he needs to see Satan. Oh, and that Sollozzo, should also be like Barzini, they should go to Satan's empire to make a fortune. Their mistake is not smuggling drugs, but wanting us to help them smuggle, which is wrong. Let these two ambitious people die, and it will deter others who want to drag us into the water."

Vito realized that he indeed had some inertial thinking, ignoring the role of his good friends at this moment. It was mainly because although he was strong before, he hadn't developed to the current level. Although he had taken a step further in these years, it was just asking for some back doors or other aspects, maintaining by sending money and medicine, but he really hadn't let those good friends launch as Wang Yan said. It's good to move this time. On the one hand, he felt the taste of power, on the other hand, he deterred thugs, and on the other hand, it could indeed add a stroke of political achievement to his friends. It was a good thing that benefited everyone.

"Wang, my friend, you are right. This is indeed the most labor-saving method that everyone can benefit from." Vito raised his glass to invite Wang Yan to drink together: "Cheers."

"Cheers." Wang Yan drank it all in one gulp.

From the moment Vito helped him promote the Body-Strengthening Pill, the fate of the Corleone family had already changed. He had no grudges with Vito, although there were some contradictions at first, they were all resolved, and people had indeed helped him. Returning the favor, changing the fate was fine.

Continuing to talk about some idle things, staying at the Corleone house until before dinner, declining Vito's kind offer to have dinner together, Wang Yan took a car back home, prepared dinner with Malèna daily, and then the family of seven ate daily noisily...

In the following days, Wang Yan kept paying attention to the development of the situation.

Old Corleone was relatively stable. He didn't want to do it directly, so he decided to give them a chance. So that evening, he notified everyone involved in this drug business, including Sollozzo, clearly stating that he didn't care if they wanted to do drugs, but don't drag him into it.

But unfortunately, Sollozzo still insisted on seeing Old Corleone, and the Tattaglia family frequently acted as a go-between. And other families were also trying to win over Leo, wanting him to participate, and must unite the five big families in New York to make this business a success.

Actually, you can't blame other families. US dollars were waiting for them to pick up there, but they didn't have the ability to ensure safety and needed the Corleone family's help. And the Corleone family didn't help, saying this and that, whether they managed it or not was not important, it was important that the Corleone family didn't let them make money. Besides, this was a handle. If the Corleone family didn't participate, what if there was a conflict in the future and they were pointed out? So, the Corleone family had to do it if they didn't want to.

Old Corleone naturally understood this truth and knew that these people were hopeless, so he simply didn't hold back. He accepted Sollozzo's meeting request and decisively refused. At the same time, he investigated the recent action patterns of Sollozzo and Barzini, contacted officials of the state government and municipal government, as well as the head of the police station, and sent some criminal data of several big families. Of course, it was not life-and-death, but enough to make several big families hurt their muscles and bones and make the officials' reports look good. It was decided to start the crackdown on illegal and criminal activities in New York City on the second Monday of September.

At the same time, Old Corleone naturally understood that several big families had people in the police station, but they couldn't buy off the high-level officials. After all, if they had that ability, they wouldn't need to force the Corleone family to join. So this was a surprise attack with tacit understanding from the high level, ensuring surprise and hitting them with greatly reduced strength.

Very quickly, the most notorious killer belonging to the Corleone family, Luca Brasi, personally took action to kill Barzini. The other Barzini was killed by the former leader of the Corleone family, the Don who had separated and opened up, letting three elite subordinates take action to kill Sollozzo.

When other families, including the Barzini family, gathered to study how to take revenge and how to make the Corleone family pay the price, the police gathered urgently and went straight to those three big families with clear goals. Gambling, brothels, smuggling channels, etc., were precisely attacked.

Overnight, the police in New York sealed most of the venues of the three big families, arrested thousands of people, and the police stations in various districts of New York were overcrowded. Of course, it was not just New York alone; the surrounding areas controlled by the three big families were also swept through. So many black industries, all of which were untaxed and illegal income, could be said to have directly beaten them to waste. Even if the thug leaders of the several big families were fine, they couldn't make any waves in a short time.

And doing all this was just Old Corleone making a few phone calls back and forth. This was the role of power. He had been cautious and hiding behind the scenes all his life, and he had seen the power of power with his own eyes. Even with his temperament, he couldn't help but feel floating, very cool. Of course, he wouldn't show it, just secretly happy in his heart.

After this disturbance, the irritable Santino also became honest. He knew that even if he made a big name for himself, there was no way to compete with this kind of power. He also knew that his father had always favored his younger brother as a successor. He didn't have anything to say about this. Anyway, he didn't know anything except killing and violence. Now it's good, he has endless money, goes to the company to show off every day, trains the little secretary, occasionally goes out to have a date with others, comfortable.

Michael, who had just come into contact with family affairs, also knew how terrifying that Oriental man was. After all, he knew that his family had reached this point because of Wang Yan. But whatever, anyway, his father could live for many more years, he just needed to work steadily, it was not his turn to worry yet.

As for the second son of the Corleone family, he was a waste, couldn't participate in the family core, not worth mentioning.

With such a big movement, Leo couldn't avoid disaster, but that loss was really negligible. Afterwards, the Corleone family also gave Leo some compensation. In addition, the three big families fell from grace, and he could take the opportunity to expand his influence.

In fact, if Wang Yan hadn't let him move around, the five big families would have been a joke. Of course, this was counting the hundreds of people in the security company. But these things were not for Leo to consider. It was good for him to be a puppet steadily, to be able to live, to be able to live without being short of money.

Wang Yan was just a spectator. These things had nothing to do with him, so he was still steadily at home with his wife and children. Occasionally, he would instruct the situation of various companies and laboratories. Most of the time, he was self-studying knowledge about natural science. After all, what he had to know was that all disciplines were slightly understood.

Days passed day by day, plain, fulfilling, and warm...