Chapter 426: Zhou Chaoxian of the Songlin Gang

However, these things are of no use to Haitang.

After all, Haitang's political instincts are quite poor, and the reason for her status dictates that she could never walk this path.

The greatest utility in obtaining this status is to gild herself and the Donghu Gang with a layer of gold.

Once the little brat Haiyuan comes of age, Haitang will be able to have even more choices.

Therefore, Madam Tang is truly putting her heart into how she treats Haitang.

She might not even treat her own daughter as well as she treats Haitang.

Hearing Madam Tang's explanation, Chen Jiajun nodded and said, "If this Legislative Member position is truly as useful as you say, it is indeed worth striving for with all our might."

"But since you had Haitang call me over, there must be some difficulty, right?"

Madam Tang nodded: "The competitors this time are very strong: Lei Gong of the Sanlian Gang, Zhou Chaoxian of the Songlin Gang, and Ding Zongshu of the Feiying Gang—those three!"

"However, because Lei Gong of the Sanlian Gang has support from people in political circles, there is definitely no need to think about him for this term; he certainly won't be elected. This old guy coming out to run is likely just to build momentum for his party. The ones who are truly threatening are Zhou Chaoxian and Ding Zongshu!"

"The superiors of these two are both Minister Hou, people of the Big Boss above! Dealing with them both is not easy!"

Chen Jiajun looked at Madam Tang and immediately laughed: "Madam Tang, since you have already brought it up, I presume you already have a way, right?"

Madam Tang nodded: "I have received news that for this Legislative Member election, Ding Zongshu is the first to be out! It is almost certain to be Zhou Chaoxian, but I can think of a way on my end to let Haitang go up and compete!"

Chen Jiajun knows there is no such thing as a free lunch. With Zhou Chaoxian being so influential, even having a chance to compete with him is not an easy thing. Madam Tang certainly wouldn't be so kind as to give it away to Haitang for nothing.

This has nothing to do with affection, because this woman, Madam Tang, has no affection to begin with.

Don't look at how well she treats Haitang now; if someone were to offer the right price, she would sell Haitang without a shred of mercy, just like she sold her own daughter back then! So, when facing a person like Madam Tang, Chen Jiajun never talks about affection, but rather interests.

Only interests are the most reliable! Madam Tang said with a serious expression: "If Haitang is elected, I want Haitang or Mr. Chen to do me a favor!"

Chen Jiajun said quite playfully: "Let's hear it?"

Madam Tang said: "After Haitang takes office, I hope that within limited circumstances, she can help my granddaughter Tang Zhen! After all, only as a community of interests can we cooperate better, right?"

"You certainly think far ahead," Chen Jiajun said indifferently. "Paving the way for your granddaughter this early?"

Madam Tang said very naturally: "It's called taking precautions!"

Chen Jiajun looked at Madam Tang and smiled, agreeing directly: "No problem! This is indeed not a difficult matter for me."

After both sides reached an agreement, Madam Tang enthusiastically instilled in Haitang some points of note regarding the Legislative Member election, as well as several key figures.

Chen Jiajun did not disturb them, just watching indifferently.

The two talked until evening, when Madam Tang finally left with Tang Ning.

Haitang said with a slightly dizzy head: "Brother Jun, what do you think of Master's plan?"

"Not much," Chen Jiajun shook his head and said.

Haitang was stunned on the spot: "Ah? Why? I feel like everything Master is doing is for my sake!"

Chen Jiajun sneered at Haitang: "Silly girl, you go on and on about your 'Master' all day; have you forgotten certain things?"

"What things?" Haitang said, looking puzzled.

Chen Jiajun said helplessly: "Back then, I told you to learn from this Madam Tang, to learn her methods, but I never told you to take her as your master!"

"But..." Haitang wanted to say something, feeling conflicted.

She is the type of woman who values emotions heavily; she easily trusts others if they are good to her.

But Chen Jiajun saw through a person like Madam Tang at a glance: "I remember I told you about that daughter of Madam Tang, Tang Ning, right?"

"That's right!" Haitang said helplessly: "Although she is two years older than me, she is too much of a worry for Madam Tang! She spends all day fooling around with men outside, and it's always Madam Tang cleaning up her messes!"

"As the master's disciple, I gave her a harsh lesson, and she's much better behaved now!"

Chen Jiajun chuckled, saying quite creepily: "Then what if I told you that the reason Tang Ning is like this is all caused by Madam Tang?"

Haitang was instantly stunned: "Ah?"

"You girl always like to treat everyone as a good person, not knowing that some people's hearts are more disgusting than the most vicious people you can imagine."

Chen Jiajun lit a cigarette: "Before I asked her for help, I had people thoroughly investigate Madam Tang, only then did I learn that the reason she has such a dissolute daughter is entirely of her own making!"

"When Tang Ning had just come of age, Madam Tang personally sent her own daughter to the bed of a high-ranking official to trade for her own political resources!"

"What?" Haitang looked at Chen Jiajun in shock: "Are you saying that's true?"

Chen Jiajun said disdainfully: "Why do you think a widow like Madam Tang could reach this point? You really think it's by relying on the connections of her dead husband? Don't joke!"

"I tell you, Madam Tang has such a big reputation, and half of it is Tang Ning's credit!"

Haitang was still digesting the highly shocking matter; the image of a "good master" in her mind was crumbling step by step.

Chen Jiajun continued: "And don't listen to her talk about any community of interests; she even sells her own daughter, so where could there be any community of destiny? Even her granddaughter Tang Zhen is just another one of her chess pieces. If you really believe her, you'll probably be sold and still be helping her count the money!"

Hearing this, Haitang felt a chill, then shook her head and said: "Then let's just forget it! I never had the brains to be any Legislative Member anyway; let's not cooperate with her!"

Chen Jiajun stroked Haitang's hair and said: "This Legislative Member position actually has its benefits, but we don't necessarily have to cooperate with her! Your man here also has a way to help you!"

"Really?" Haitang said, looking pleasantly surprised.

Chen Jiajun nodded: "This status is a golden shield; it can indeed help your Donghu Gang overcome some difficulties!"

"Taiwan previously carried out the 'First Clean-up', 'Second Clean-up', and so on; who knows if there will be a 'Third Clean-up' situation? Once you have this golden shield, the authorities won't be able to touch you!"

"I heard my father say that quite a few Big Brothers went inside during the previous two special operations!" Haitang nodded: "But what should we do? We don't have any resources!"

"Don't worry, your man has a way! But! It comes with a fee!" Chen Jiajun lifted Haitang's chin with a wicked smile.

Haitang's eyes instantly turned languid...

At this moment, inside a lounge.

The two underworld bosses, Ding Zongshu and Zhou Chaoxian, were staring each other down.

Both sides' underlings, the people from the Songlin Gang and the Feiying Gang, were all outside, eyeing each other like tigers, as if they would start a massive fight at the slightest disagreement.

However, compared to Ding Zongshu's restlessness, Zhou Chaoxian was composed and relaxed, seemingly not taking this competitor seriously at all.

A moment later, a man looking like a secretary pushed the door open and nodded to the two bosses.

The two big bosses immediately stood up, followed the Secretary out of the lounge, and arrived inside an office.

And the owner of this office was their direct "superior," Minister Hou.

He was also a big shot who could decide their life or death with a single word.

After all, in this godforsaken place of Taiwan, politics and gangs are mixed together, and the situation is much more complicated than in Hong Kong.

Minister Hou seemed to have just taken a shower; he kept wiping his wet hair and said very casually, "Zongshu! Tell me, why did the Party nominate you to run for Legislative Member this time?"

"Hahaha, I thank you!" Minister Hou burst into loud laughter, then turned his head and said to Zhou Chaoxian, "Then Chaoxian, why should you be nominated?"

Zhou Chaoxian said very domineeringly, "If you nominate me, I will win! Nominate him, and he will lose! Then the seat of the East District 'Legislative Member' will be snatched away by another party!"

Minister Hou nodded and said, "You're right! Your view is consistent with the Big Boss; actually, we are all inclined to nominate you!"

Minister Hou then said to Ding Zongshu, "Zongshu! How much money have you spent this time?"

Ding Zongshu immediately became unhappy, as it was clear that this nomination would not be his.

However, when asked by his Boss, he still said listlessly, "About fifteen million, I suppose!"

Minister Hou nodded and said, "Chaoxian, get twenty million and send it to Zongshu within three days! Then get another sum of money to send to those above! I'll tell you the exact figure in a few days."

Zhou Chaoxian immediately revealed a smug smile, stood up, and said, "Many thanks for the promotion, Minister!"

Before they left, Minister Hou still gave the two a warning: "After you go back, dismiss your own brothers! Don't be stirring up trouble outside! Zongshu, that's how it is for now, we'll talk about the next term! Don't be unconvinced!"

Ding Zongshu nodded, then strode out of the office.

But when he reached the door, Ding Zongshu said viciously to Zhou Chaoxian, "I just am unconvinced!"

Zhou Chaoxian sneered, just looking at him with a smile on his face. Zhou Chaoxian never cared about the howling of a loser; it had no meaning to him.

……

In Haitang's villa, the Information Officer under Chen Jiajun was waiting with documents for Chen Jiajun to wake up.

Having fought a hard battle all night, Chen Jiajun looked at his subordinate's arrival in a daze, waved his hand, and said, "Wait a moment, I need to recover; you eat something first!"

After all, they were Chen Jiajun's own people, so there was no need for such formalities; after nodding, the subordinate began to enjoy breakfast.

After the subordinate finished eating, Chen Jiajun walked out of the bathroom and said to the Information Officer, "How is it?"

"It's already been checked, this Minister Hou really knows how to play!" the Information Officer said with a smile, "He's partnering with that charlatan Song Miaotian to make money, and he's doing quite well for himself!"

Chen Jiajun sneered, "To still not forget to get some benefits for himself at this position, and to be so blatant about it, he really is a fool!"

"We can start from this aspect and make contact with this Minister Hou; I believe things will be much easier to handle," the Information Officer suggested, "This guy is naturally lustful and greedy, which counts as his biggest weakness."

Chen Jiajun shook his head and said, "It's not that simple. Minister Hou is just a mouthpiece; he has some use, but not much. The most important thing is the attitude of the Big Boss behind him."

"The Big Boss has decided on Zhou Chaoxian, so the position is definitely his; no one can shake that, unless..."

The Information Officer said with a smile, "Unless this guy creates some scandal himself!"

Chen Jiajun nodded and said, "Exactly, keep an eye on him for me! This guy Zhou Chaoxian comes from a background of thugs; I don't believe that once he gets power, he can resist creating some trouble!"

"I understand, Boss!" the Information Officer nodded.

"By the way, I heard that an Investigation Bureau was recently established here in Taiwan; go see what the situation is!" Chen Jiajun suddenly thought of something and said to the Information Officer.

The Information Officer said with some surprise, "Boss, how did you know? I haven't even had time to tell you yet! This Investigation Bureau is very interesting; it seems they have been following Zhou Chaoxian for a long time!"

Chen Jiajun smiled and said, "Don't be so curious, go do your work! If there is an opportunity, I wouldn't mind handing a knife to the Investigation Bureau!"

……

The Information Officer was not wrong at all; someone had long since set their sights on Zhou Chaoxian.

This guy was a team leader in the Investigation Bureau named Fang Guohui.

Don't look at him as just a small team leader; he came from a poor background.

But his mentor was the Deputy Director of the Investigation Bureau, so he could be considered quite influential.

He had been watching Zhou Chaoxian's case for a long time, but had never found an opportunity to strike.

It just so happened that this time Zhou Chaoxian ran for election very high-profilely, attracting the attention of many people, which gave Fang Guohui an opportunity, so he went directly to his mentor.

In a dim conference room, Fang Guohui pulled up a slide presentation and began to explain to his mentor: "In Republic Year Seventy-Eight, during the 'Yiqing Project', Zhou Chaoxian was locked up in Green Island for five years. Currently, he is an entrepreneur with over three billion in assets!"

"I won't mention the others; just in the video game industry alone, he owns thirty-eight large and small gambling chain arcades that sell dog meat under the guise of sheep's head! The daily income is about fifty million, even more impressive than McDonald's! Of course, half of it is used to bribe the relevant departments that provide him with protection!"

After listening to Fang Guohui's introduction, the Deputy Director snorted coldly and said, "This Big Brother, as the Leader of the Songlin Gang, now wants to wash his hands and enter politics, and even wants to run for Legislative Member!"

Fang Guohui sighed and said, "Our government has a convention: once a Legislative Member is elected, they immediately receive protection, and past misdeeds are ignored. I really don't understand it!"

The Deputy Director was very supportive of Fang Guohui: "What's wrong? What are you afraid of? Take action immediately and pull him down from his horse!"

"Yes!" Seeing his mentor support him, Fang Guohui felt very motivated.

However, the Deputy Director then emphasized, "But regarding the corrupt departments! Don't be in a hurry; you must cultivate the case! Because the level of involvement is too broad, avoid being rash!"

The reason the Deputy Director reminded Fang Guohui was for fear that this student of his would be too impulsive and overturn the whole table.

People who usually do this kind of thing never have a good ending.

This is reality! Fang Guohui said with a smile, "I will know how to measure the situation!"

Fang Guohui was no fool; having followed the Deputy Director for so many years, he had learned by watching.

He had to preserve himself in order to continue doing what he wanted to do.

A person like a firework is destined not to achieve great things.

The Deputy Director looked at Fang Guohui with appreciation: "As expected of my good student!"

After receiving the support of the Deputy Director, Fang Guohui immediately prepared to launch an operation.

And the first thing to investigate was Zhou Chaoxian's video game gambling arcade.

It was not easy to take this guy down; Fang Guohui even went so far as to take two other team members to the arcade himself to collect evidence! For this kind of undercover investigation mission, gadgets like hidden cameras and wiretaps were definitely indispensable.

The two investigators plus Fang Guohui himself were all "armed" to the teeth.

The two investigators, one male and one female, arrived in front of the arcade first, and seeing the rows of luxury cars in the parking lot, they exclaimed, "Damn it! Is this a luxury car exhibition?"

The arcade was naturally a place where all kinds of people mixed, and investigating a gambling den was not that simple.

However, Fang Guohui had done his homework in advance, obtaining two entry qualifications from others and letting his subordinates sneak in to collect evidence.

As for him, he remained outside, responsible for monitoring the movements inside the casino.

It was just that what Fang Guohui had not expected was that Zhou Chaoxian had considered these issues long ago.

He had even used a professional identification system to verify the information of every member.

Almost as soon as the two investigators, Nicotine and Meili, entered the casino, they were recognized by Zhou Chaoxian's subordinates.

Under the pretext of inviting Meili for a drink, they directly sent people to abduct the two.

Fang Guohui, who was keeping watch outside, immediately heard the noise in his earpiece; thinking to himself that it was bad, he immediately notified his remote support team to call the police, while he himself quickly crept toward the security room.

Soon, Fang Guohui found his subordinates who were being subjected to harsh interrogation, thought of a way to attract the security guards' attention, and then rescued the two subordinates.

Although the process was extremely perilous, they had managed to obtain the evidence after all.

Subsequently, Fang Guohui immediately submitted the information to the Investigation Bureau and then formally indicted Zhou Chaoxian.

Unfortunately, Zhou Chaoxian had long since prepared a response and had directly sought out the judge in charge of this case.

No one knew what deal had been made, but when the court opened that day, Zhou Chaoxian not only brought a crowd of people out to demonstrate but also appeared in court with a calm expression to hear the verdict.

Fang Guohui glanced at Zhou Chaoxian, who was wearing sunglasses, and his expression immediately turned gloomy.

If Zhou Chaoxian dared to show his face for this matter, it meant he already had a plan to deal with it.

Sure enough, the presiding judge announced the result on the spot: "Based on the written report submitted to this court by the Ministry of Education official in charge of video game operations, the video games currently popular on the market have not yet been clearly defined as gambling or non-gambling programs!"

"In other words, there is no proper legal basis to determine that the defendant opened a casino! Therefore, this court declares the defendant Zhou Chaoxian not guilty! At the same time, all video game machines and all game IC boards are to be returned."

The judge had already defined the nature of this case, and Fang Guohui knew that there was definitely no way forward in this regard.

He had known before that Zhou Chaoxian was not easy to deal with, but he had not expected this guy to be so difficult to handle.

However, this only further ignited Fang Guohui's fighting spirit; he was determined to bring this guy Zhou Chaoxian down!

On the other side, Chen Jiajun was watching a live broadcast on television.

Zhou Chaoxian's case was actually related to Haitang's Donghu Gang as well.

The largest video game arcade in Tainan was an asset of the Donghu Gang, and it was now also the Donghu Gang's most profitable business.

"As the chairman of the video game industry association yourself, why do you still openly operate a casino?"

A young reporter rushed in front of Zhou Chaoxian and pressed him for an answer.

Zhou Chaoxian said sanctimoniously: "The definition between healthy video games and gambling video games is unclear. As the chairman, I naturally cannot shirk the responsibility, so I intend to convene a hearing and invite representatives from all walks of life to jointly study the most appropriate standards!"

"Then I will strive to supervise all video game members to comply, in order to resolve the public's doubts and misunderstandings!"

The young reporter persisted: "Your status today is that of a defendant; why does your tone sound so much like that of a presiding judge?"

This immediately caused the reporters on the side to burst into laughter.

Zhou Chaoxian's wife directly kicked the young reporter who was looking for trouble on the shin, immediately causing a scene of chaos.

Zhou Chaoxian also took this opportunity to escape the reporters' siege. (End of chapter)