Chapter 249: Cat and Mouse Game

Presidential Palace, inside the conference hall.

A group of indigenous officials saw Li Yaohua walk in and immediately stood up, calling out, "Grand President."

But those old fellows from the Citizens Society didn't even stand up; instead, they said with an air of nonchalance, "Yaohua, you've finally come. How have you considered the matter regarding foreign trade that we mentioned to you last time?"

Li Yaohua coldly glanced at the old fellow who spoke, said nothing, and sat down directly.

That old fellow continued to ask with an expression of dissatisfaction, "What is the meaning of this? You should at least say something about whether you agree or not."

"Exactly, Yaohua, don't forget that it was us who pushed you into this position of Grand President." Vice Chairman Hu of the Citizens Society even rapped the table to chide Li Yaohua.

In their view, this young man, Li Yaohua, had no real ability, and many things still required them, these elders, to help him get things done.

Li Yaohua looked coldly at the two old fellows and said, "Is that so? In other words, I should thank the two of you for my position as Grand President?"

Hearing Li Yaohua's words, everyone was stunned on the spot.

Because they had never seen Li Yaohua speak to them like this before.

Usually, he would address them as "senior" this or "Vice Chairman" that.

Having been snapped at on the spot, Vice Chairman Hu also sensed that the atmosphere today was a bit off and did not dare to continue speaking.

Another Elder of the Citizens Society, still oblivious to the danger, said, "Young people should know how to be grateful. If it weren't for us, do you think a young person like you could control such a massive mess?"

Li Yaohua did not speak, but He Guorong, who was by his side, suddenly moved.

He walked directly behind the old fellow, grabbed his head, and smashed it fiercely onto the table.

This action startled everyone present.

Although He Guorong had a smile on his face, his eyes were ice-cold: "You seem to have forgotten who it was that saved you old fellows from the Black Prison in the first place, right?"

As He Guorong spoke, a group of fully armed members of the Political Department rushed in.

When the people from the Citizens Society saw Li Yaohua turn hostile on the spot, their faces turned pale with fright.

These people were cowards with no guts to begin with; otherwise, Richard wouldn't have succeeded so easily.

They were experts at infighting, but when it came to a head-on confrontation, they lacked the courage and the strength.

Li Yaohua scanned the crowd and said, "Originally, I intended to return the plantations, factories, and other places that Richard forcibly occupied back to you, and have the Brunei Industrial Fund provide a sum of money for low-interest loans to help you get your businesses back on track."

"Unfortunately, human greed is always endless. Perhaps you mistook my goodwill for weakness and dared to push your luck."

Li Yaohua's voice was not loud, but his tone was exceptionally cold.

Now, those old fellows from the Citizens Society were afraid; they were truly afraid.

Only now did they remember that the young man before them had accomplished quite a few major feats.

He was even the sole ruler of Brunei now.

The reason for their previous illusions was entirely because Li Yaohua had appeared too peaceful.

So, sometimes people are just base.

"Yaohua... no, Your Excellency Grand President, we were blinded by greed. Please spare us this once." Vice Chairman Hu, who had been incredibly arrogant just a moment ago, was the first to beg for mercy.

A trace of disdain appeared at the corner of Li Yaohua's mouth: "Spare you? It's not impossible. But it depends on your performance. Katuo."

Hearing Li Yaohua call him, Katuo immediately stood up: "Grand President, what are your orders?"

"How did the investigation turn out?" Li Yaohua said indifferently.

Katuo took out an account book, checked it, and said, "Grand President, the list of personnel who embezzled state assets is all here."

As he spoke, Katuo took out a list and respectfully placed it in front of Li Yaohua.

Li Yaohua took a look, then handed it to He Guorong beside him and said, "Brother Rong, I leave this matter to you to handle."

Seeing this list, many of the Citizens Society members present felt their legs go weak.

One must know that they had not skimmed little money into their own pockets during this chaotic period.

Even a significant portion of Richard's assets had been funneled into their own pockets.

They had originally thought Li Yaohua was a pushover who wouldn't dare do anything to them even if he knew.

But they hadn't expected the reckoning to come so quickly.

For a time, the sounds of begging for mercy rose one after another; there were those wailing and crying, and others throwing tantrums on the floor.

But who was He Guorong? Before being controlled by Chen Jiajun, he was known for being cold-blooded; he started arresting people directly according to the list.

The personal guards stood by with hostile glares, and anyone who dared to throw a tantrum was met with a rifle butt.

In just a moment, the number of people at the conference table had been halved.

Seeing that the conference table was finally no longer in a chaotic state, Li Yaohua nodded and said, "Good, the parasites have been cleared out. Let's start talking about the real business: the subsequent development of our Brunei."

Hearing Li Yaohua's words, everyone's heart trembled.

Usually, when a new ruler takes power, there is a reward—either money or positions.

Everyone looked at Li Yaohua with eager eyes, waiting for the Grand President's bounty.

Li Yaohua did not disappoint those present and quickly established his own team.

Important positions including diplomacy, economy, and administration were all assigned.

Although there were certainly some among them who were incompetent, Li Yaohua had no better options right now.

After the appointments were made, everyone curiously noticed that Li Yaohua had not mentioned anything regarding the military.

Chen Jiajun would not allow anyone to interfere with the national defense forces of Brunei Island.

It wasn't that he didn't trust the young man Li Yaohua, but rather that others had already set their sights on it.

That Gweilo from the United States, Vintson, had long wanted to use Brunei as their stepping stone.

Otherwise, Li Yaohua's overthrow of Richard this time would not have been so easy.

The reason the United States was willing to support Li Yaohua internationally this time likely had everything to do with Vintson.

Given the greedy nature of these Gweilo, they would likely come knocking soon to demand their share of the benefits.

The Brunei that Chen Jiajun wanted was his own territory, not a drug den specifically for growing marijuana for others.

Therefore, he was destined to make Winterson and the people behind him return empty-handed this time.

However, he could not afford to offend these bastards to the death right now; Chen Jiajun had been waiting for an opportunity to drive these annoying Gweilo out of his territory.

As for the national defense of Brunei, Chen Jiajun decided to let the Security Company take it on concurrently for the time being.

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, the English Gweilo had been thoroughly disgusted by Chen Jiajun and had no way to go and cause trouble for him for the moment.

Thus, Chen Jiajun also enjoyed a few rare days of comfort and brought all his women back.

It was just that Chen Jiajun's good days did not last long before they were interrupted by someone.

A problem had arisen at the Guojun Garment Factory, and Lu Jinqiang had even come to his door with a worried look on his face.

"What happened?" Chen Jiajun asked, looking at Lu Jinqiang with some curiosity.

Lu Jinqiang sighed and said, "A Jun, I have disgraced you."

Chen Jiajun immediately laughed: "Hehe, you make it sound so serious."

Lu Jinqiang was helpless and could only tell Chen Jiajun about the incident that had occurred recently.

It turned out that a major event had recently happened at the Guojun Garment Factory; someone had used forged withdrawal slips to take out a large batch of goods from the Guojun Garment Factory and sold them at an extremely low price.

Although the loss was only a batch of goods, worth about a few million, the consequences were extremely severe.

This batch of low-priced clothing from the Guojun Garment Factory had dealt a heavy blow to the local market in Hong Kong.

It not only disrupted the market order but also caused huge damage to the reputation of the Guojun Garment Factory.

Lu Jinqiang said with an ugly expression: "I don't know which bastard did this; it's truly wicked."

Hearing Lu Jinqiang's words, Chen Jiajun's brow immediately furrowed.

Money was a small matter; what was important was the commercial reputation of the Guojun Garment Factory.

"Have you found the person who did the forging?" Chen Jiajun asked aloud.

Lu Jinqiang shook his head: "The police have been notified, but there has been no movement for several days."

"Where are the forged documents? Bring them here for me to see," Chen Jiajun said, rubbing his chin.

Lu Jinqiang nodded, then took out the documents and placed them in front of Chen Jiajun.

Chen Jiajun looked at the documents before him and, for a moment, could not find any flaws at all.

"With this level of skill, why would they come to target our garment factory?" Chen Jiajun's expression darkened, and he thought silently to himself: "Could it be the English Gweilo?"

Thinking of this, Chen Jiajun put away the forged documents and said to Lu Jinqiang: "Go find the people from the public relations department of the Guojun Group and have them help conduct an emergency PR campaign."

"As for the guy who did the forging, I will find a way to deal with him."

Chen Jiajun looked at the forged documents in his hand and then picked up the phone.

Inside a rented room in the Wanchai Building.

Several young men were cheering as they looked at the banknotes packed in sacks before them.

"Boss, you were right; Hong Kong is indeed full of money everywhere."

The young man said to his Big Brother with an excited face.

The several young men in the room looked extremely similar; one could tell at a glance that they were biological brothers.

The Big Brother put down the paintbrush in his hand and said indifferently: "This is nothing. With this little bit of money, we wouldn't even be able to build a house back home."

"That's already very impressive, though," the youngest, the fourth brother, said with an exaggerated expression: "Our Village Chief built a small two-story house; look at how smug he is. This time when we go back, we'll build three stories."

The Big Brother laughed and scolded: "Look at your lack of ambition; you're satisfied with just a three-story house? I brought you to Hong Kong to make a fortune. Do you remember that movie 'A Better Tomorrow' I showed you before?"

Hearing the Big Brother's words, the other three brothers' eyes lit up: "Boss, are we going to make counterfeit money too?"

"What counterfeit money? Do you really think this is a movie? What we are going to make are fake checks," the Big Brother said with a smile: "The Boss has already set everything up for us; as long as we make the printing plates, we can start. So, all of you behave yourselves these days."

Hearing the Big Brother's words, the other three nodded repeatedly.

After all, they had seen the level of the Boss behind the scenes; just by relying on a single forged document, they were able to get so much money.

A few days later, the four brothers joined forces and finally finished the design for the fake checks.

They prepared to go and trade with the Boss behind the scenes.

After arriving at the agreed-upon location, they discovered that the mysterious Boss had not appeared.

Instead, a young Gweilo appeared there.

This Gweilo was wearing a well-fitted suit and looked handsome, appearing to be at the age of someone who had just left school.

"You're here?" The young man said immediately upon seeing the four of them arrive.

The Big Brother said with some suspicion: "Are you that... Boss?"

The young man smiled and said: "Of course I'm not. The Boss doesn't have time to see you for now and instructed me to come and get the items. Where are they?"

Upon hearing this, the Big Brother immediately handed over the sample design he had made.

The young man took it, glanced at it, and nodded: "Very good. Keep your phones on; the Boss will contact you at any time."

The Big Brother beamed with joy, took the banknotes the young man handed over, and stuffed them into his pocket.

Then, he took his brothers and walked out of the hotel.

After the four of them left, that young Gweilo revealed a look of contempt: "As expected, a bunch of greedy idiots, but their drawing skills are actually quite good."

After packing up the drawings, the young man returned to the hotel and changed his clothes.

In an instant, he transformed from a successful person's Secretary into a flight attendant.

His speech and manners were so perfect that one could not see a single flaw.

He hailed a taxi and headed straight for the airport, preparing to leave Hong Kong.

His principle for doing things was that he would never stay in one place for too long.

After arriving at the airport, the young man prepared to use his uniform to sneak onto the plane.

But while he was tidying his clothes in the airport restroom, he was suddenly ambushed from behind and struck with a blunt object.

By the time he woke up again, he was already in a room.

The young man clutched his forehead and said with a pained expression, "Where am I?"

At this moment, an indifferent voice rang out beside the young man: "Name."

The young man was startled and hurriedly said, "Hey buddy, if you want money, I still have some in my wallet, please don't hurt me, okay?"

The other party ignored the young man and instead said with some impatience, "Name, you only have ten seconds."

As he spoke, the young man clearly heard the sound of a Handgun being cocked.

The young man immediately dared not talk nonsense anymore and hurriedly said, "Frank, Frank Abagnale."

That's right, the young man's name was Frank, the youngest person on the CIA's most-wanted list.

A wanted criminal who had issued bad checks totaling as much as 6 million dollars across fifty states in the United States and twenty-eight countries around the world.

Hearing Frank state his name, the mysterious person laughed and said, "You are the youngest fraud master in the United States? Frank, known as the 'Skywalker'?"

Frank was stunned for a moment and said, "Why have I never heard of this title?"

"Less nonsense, was the order for the Guojun Garment Factory placed by you?" The mysterious person's temper seemed not very good.

Since the other party had captured him, Frank dared not speak recklessly and could only nod in admission: "It was me."

"Where are your accomplices?"

"That... if I tell you, can I live?" Frank said timidly.

The mysterious person suddenly laughed in anger: "You still want to bargain with me? Speak quickly, or I'll blow your head off."

"Okay, okay, I'll talk." Frank dared not waste words and immediately told the other party the phone numbers of the four brothers.

After getting the phone numbers, Frank felt the gun pressed against the back of his head being pulled away.

Only then did he dare to sneak a turn to look at the mysterious person who had been holding him hostage.

One look, and Frank was stunned on the spot.

Because the person holding him hostage was not the hulking brute he had imagined, but rather a young lady with an extremely hot figure.

This person was none other than White Deer, a subordinate of Chen Jiajun.

After obtaining the information from Frank, she immediately reported it to Chen Jiajun.

After finishing the call, she discovered that Frank was actually peeking at her, so White Deer went up and threw a punch, smashing it into Frank's handsome face, directly knocking the poor Frank unconscious.

(End of this chapter)