Chapter 22

Li Xin this time just wanted to give the police a heads‑up—don't use the methods you use on short donkeys to cause him trouble, and don't even think of using him as a toy.

Don't even think about it.

If you don't give them a warning, they won't restrain themselves; they'll only push further—'good does not come from policing' is never an empty saying.

If this succeeds, he'll face endless troubles afterward—since they've already succeeded once on him, why switch to someone else?

That's a lot of trouble! But it's just one person's disaster.

Li Xian led his subordinates, those who came in high spirits, the dispirited officers who slunk away—off in defeat.

Just from the tip of the iceberg of the forces behind Immortal Trust, he, a lone anti‑triad inspector, couldn't afford to provoke them!

From now on, just stay away from that loser—if I can't afford to provoke him, can't I at least avoid him?

It's just a part‑time job! I can't even gamble with my generous retirement pay!

I came on this trip and didn't accomplish anything—I just wanted to show my face, but ended up exposing my butt instead!

I also have to put up with a team of trainee lawyers nitpicking me— who can I reason with?

When there's nothing, it's light as a feather; when there's trouble, it's heavy as a thousand jin— enforcing the law under the watchful eyes of a team of lawyers familiar with the statutes makes it hard not to give them something to hold against you.

You say the case needs to be kept confidential?

Do you understand what "law‑enforcement right to know" means?

No?

"Oh," go tell Uncle Wen, and add it next time.

Don't lecture lawyers about the law—they have the right to suggest amendments to legal provisions.

Short donkeys get headaches seeing police, police get headaches seeing lawyers, lawyers get headaches seeing short donkeys—in this rat‑eats‑elephant situation, each of the three types gets a headache upon seeing any one of the others.

Rich people.

Coincidentally, Li Xin himself counts as rich—of course it depends on who you compare him with; compared to Li Huanggua he definitely can't match up.

In the car back to the police station, the officer driving asked Li Xian, who was sitting in the passenger seat, "Boss, are we just going to let it go?"

Li Xian leaned his head against the car seat and asked wearily:

"Then can you still drag Immortal Trust back to the police station?"

The driving officer muttered resentfully, "Immortal Trust is too arrogant—daring to pull a gun in front of the police, and even daring to say he'll strip Ah Hao's uniform right to his face."

After saying that, he slammed the steering wheel hard, "He truly has no regard for the police force—what a bastard!"

"Then what can you do to him?"

Li Xian continued in a lecturing tone:

"Don't be dissatisfied—Immortal Trust's loser spoke the truth: Gangdao is a capitalist society, and it's always the big tycoons who call the shots.

Even the Hong Kong government sometimes has to compromise with those tycoons, who control the clothing, food, housing, transportation, and jobs of the vast majority of Gangdao's residents.

When they sneeze, the Gangdao stock market catches a cold."

"But those are the big tycoons—what does Immortal Trust have to rely on?"

Li Xian turned his head to look at his clear eyes and patiently explained:

"Immortal Trust being able to obtain fifty gun permits proves he has deep connections with the upper echelons of the police force; otherwise, based solely on the size of the words 'Immortal Trust,' he could never get a gun permit!

Those senior officers can pull strings for him to get the permits, and they could just as easily toss us out to guard a reservoir on an outlying island—do you understand now?"

The officer looked at Li Xian with an incredulous gaze and asked, unable to accept it:

"Then what are we?"

Li Xian answered clearly, "Just low‑level workers—what else could we be?"

After thinking, he added, "In some people's eyes, police and short donkeys are no different—you pull them out when you need them, and toss them aside when you don't."

……

Sham Shui Po.

One of Gangdao's eighteen districts, it is also the most complex and xenophobic area, with a dense population; the infamous coffin cubicles are its specialty.

In an old tenement building on Apu Lane, two people were arguing in a small room.

A balding middle‑aged man said angrily:

"I told you not to mess with that triad film—it'll bring big trouble. You didn't listen, and now people are searching all over Gangdao for you; if you come here you'll drag trouble on me too! Hurry up and run—don't implicate anyone else!"

The man opposite, wearily grabbing his hair, said, "How can I run? Kwai Ching's Benny Tiger has put the word out on the street—right now we can't take anyone out, and you know Benny Tiger's background; who would dare to side with me against him? I can't get away!"

The balding middle‑aged man jumped to his feet, pointed at him, and shouted:

"Why the hell did you come to my place? Brother, I'm begging you—leave quickly, don't let your trouble drag me down! Please, go! I have a family to support.

Coincidentally, the police are also looking for you; if worse comes to worst, just turn yourself in at the station—selling pirated tapes won't get you a heavy sentence…."

"Bang," the door was kicked open—"No need to turn yourself in; just come with me."

With a blue streak dyed in his hair, head lowered and eyes looking up askance, he stared straight at the two and said:

……

Line: Qiuti had Li Xin's arm linked as they strolled the streets; they'd already covered all of Causeway Bay's commercial district, and in her hand she carried a clothing bag containing a dress.

Chen Yaoxing came running, panting, "Big Brother, Tianhong Brother called—the source's been found, it's the manager of Shaw Brothers' cinema chain, asking what you want to do?"

Li Xin turned to look at Chen Yaoxing and said:

"What to do? Of course I'll have him come back—don't think just because he's a manager, even Shaw's boss wouldn't dare touch my money.

Tell Tianhong, after he comes back, find out who's behind it—if I can connect with any big boss, I'll be thrilled and will tell Tianhong every detail."

Li Xin smiled at Line: Qiuti and said, "Look, luck's come just like this—I follow the rule and give the cinema chain its cut; they take nearly half the box office, plus all sorts of miscellaneous taxes, leaving us only a third.

"That's fine—it's just the rule. Since we lack the power to break it, we have to obey it; but now that someone's playing outside the rule, that's perfect."

Line: Qiuti asked doubtfully:

"Isn't it said that movies get pirated after a while on release? Isn't that already an unspoken rule? Why are you reacting so strongly?"

Li Xin laughed, the more he laughed the happier he became, his spirits high as he explained:

"Didn't you already say that? It's an unspoken rule. I don't know anyone, I have no choice—I'm a newcomer in the film industry, how would I know any unspoken rules? Since I don't know this unspoken rule, I can use it to blow my top."

Exactly, Li Xin figured it out—at first he was angry because someone had tampered with his film copies, and they had all entered the secondary market; only after coming to his senses did he realize he had lately been slipping into the role of boss, handling everything according to their rules.

Close! He would have been assimilated into that rule system, and then his film company would either be devoured by the rules or by someone else.

Under their rules, don't even think about a chance to turn things around.

Then the only option is to go offbeat—from now on he'll pirate his own work, in high definition; how will the pirates play with him?

Just as he was about to sleep, someone brought him a pillow.

Look, he now has a videotape production factory.

"You stole my copy, compensate me with a factory—this is totally reasonable!"

He can't even get a share of the box-office takings, he has no theater chain of his own, and can't launder money through theaters, so he'll sell high-definition pirated copies throughout Southeast Asia.

He has the conditions for it, and Han Bin is the best partner—everyone makes money together.

The Shaw family may be formidable in Singapore, but in this transformed Gangdao, how are you going to play with him, Li Xin?

So he invited the Shaw managers, and Li Xin isn't afraid of falling out with the Shaws.

When push comes to shove, he'll hit you with a grand vanishing act—what's a jazzman? What's a philanthropist? What's a board chairman?

It's all useless.