Chapter 2339: Jian Qiu

Eastern Spring Tower, a newly opened seafood restaurant, was owned by a man from Yangcheng who had an extraordinary friendship with Du Zai. It was precisely because of this that he decided to head north to the capital and open this restaurant.

It is said that most of the seafood at Eastern Spring Tower is shipped from Guangdong Province; whether that is true or not is a matter of opinion. Ordinary folks couldn't afford to eat there anyway; at most, they would curiously peek inside as they passed by the entrance.

However, in this era, the one thing there is no shortage of is people who have become wealthy ahead of others, especially in a place like the capital, where there are more rich people than one could imagine.

Therefore, since its opening, business at Eastern Spring Tower had been quite good. Of course, this was also inseparable from Du Zai's connections. Many people from the underworld came to show their support, adding quite a bit of popularity to the restaurant.

Night fell, the lights came on, and by nearly seven o'clock in the evening, more than a dozen people were sitting in a private room on the second floor of Eastern Spring Tower, all of whom were famous underworld bosses in the capital.

Sitting at the head of the table was Jia Dai. He was about thirty-one or thirty-two years old, dressed in a crisp white shirt paired with black dress trousers and leather shoes, looking quite refined—a stark contrast to the image of an underworld boss.

"You, you just got back a few days ago, why are you leaving so soon? Can't you stay a few more days?" Ge Deng looked quite unhappy, holding a wine glass and muttering, "Your uncle is already so old, can't you spend more time with him?"

Jia Dai explained helplessly, "There's a problem with the business over there that I have to go back and handle personally. Besides, it's not like I'm never coming back. Whenever you want to get together in the future, I'll come back, or you all can come to Shenzhen to find me.

As for my father, the old man is still in good health and doesn't need me to watch over him every day. Anyway, I'm quite at ease knowing you all are helping to look after him. In a few years, I'll consider whether to return to the capital to develop or bring the old man to Shenzhen."

After hearing Jia Dai's words, Du Zai sighed helplessly and said, "Fine, enough talk, let's drink!"

With that, the dozen or so people raised their glasses, clinking them lightly in the air with a crisp sound. Immediately after, they tilted their heads back in unison and downed the wine in one gulp.

After setting down his glass, Jia Dai's gaze slowly swept over the group, a hint of faint sorrow showing in his eyes. After a moment of silence, he said softly, "The main reason I came back this time was to see Xingzhong. But I entrusted many people to help, yet I still haven't been able to see him."

As soon as he spoke, everyone present was stunned. Du Zai looked puzzled and asked with some uncertainty, "Is his situation really that serious? To the point that even you can't see him?"

Jia Dai nodded silently, then raised his glass to take another sip before sighing, "I'm afraid he's going to be executed. When the time comes for him to go, I'll come back to see him off on his final journey."

"Has it reached the point of execution?" A guy with a wisp of a mustache under his chin widened his eyes, as if he had heard something unbelievable: "Can't the Liu family protect him?"

"The whole situation is far more complex than you can imagine," Jia Dai shook his head helplessly, continuing, "The power struggle involved is at such a high level that it's completely beyond our imagination.

And in this fierce power struggle, the Liu family has suffered a crushing defeat, to the point where they were almost unable to protect themselves. How could they possibly have the ability to protect Xingzhong?"

Although Jia Dai was in Shenzhen, he had heard a thing or two about Kong Xingzhong and his brother targeting Future Culture. However, because he knew who the real boss behind Future Culture was, he didn't pay much attention to it. Because, even if Future Culture had some background, compared to the Liu family behind Kong Xingzhong, it was far too inferior.

However, just when he stopped paying attention to the matter, news suddenly came that Kong Xingzhong had been arrested. At that moment, he felt something was wrong, realizing that the matter might not be as simple as he had imagined.

Thus, he began to use his own network of connections to inquire everywhere about Kong Xingzhong. In the end, the result he got was that Kong Xingzhong's crimes were not small, far exceeding the scope of what they could intervene in; it wasn't something they could meddle with.

At the same time, he also learned that the real boss behind Future Culture was actually Zhou Andong, and that Kong Xingzhong's arrest was entirely Zhou Andong's doing.

Now, Jia Dai was a man who valued relationships and loyalty. Although many people around him advised him not to meddle in this muddy water, he never gave up. He kept thinking about who could talk to Zhou Andong and wanted to have a good talk with him.

As the saying goes, the one who tied the bell must be the one to untie it. If Zhou Andong could put in a good word, perhaps Kong Xingzhong's life could be saved. Therefore, no matter what, he had to find a way to try.

After all, he was used to being a big brother; in the underworld, everyone would give him some face. Moreover, he had been a soldier, and just last month, to save a brother, he had clashed with the "King of Thieves of the Century," going in with grenades strapped to his body to rescue the person.

So, Jia Dai was currently at the peak of his momentum, not yielding to anyone, and he believed that as long as he stepped forward, Zhou Andong would definitely give him some face. However, his network of connections not only failed to provide him with any useful information but instead advised him one after another not to meddle in this muddy water.

This made Jia Dai very unhappy and unwilling to give up. Then, he remembered a childhood friend who was already a deputy division-level leader in a certain department. After contacting this friend, the other party, like everyone else, told him directly: don't get involved. Because the matter was too complex, and if he wasn't careful, he would get himself dragged into it.

Then, he heard an unexpected piece of information from his friend: Zhou Andong's wife was actually Jian Qiu. This really gave him a huge shock. If it were anyone else, say Du Zai or Ge Deng and their bunch, they would definitely know nothing about the name Jian Qiu.

But Jia Dai was different; he was also a child of the courtyards, so the name Jian Qiu was like thunder to his ears. It was just that his father's rank wasn't very high, and although he belonged to the courtyard children, compared to top-tier second-generation heirs like Gu Bing, Tang Lin, and Zhang Zuo, there was a significant gap.

Precisely because of this, although he had never met Jian Qiu, it didn't affect the deterrence that the eldest Miss Jian held in his heart. It wasn't until this very moment that he finally understood that Zhou Andong wasn't just an ordinary businessman; he was the son-in-law of the Jian family, someone he couldn't afford to touch. Forget about strapping explosives to his body; even strapping an atomic bomb to himself would be useless.

If he really dared to do that, he would never return to Shenzhen, and he could be 100% certain that not a single one of his brothers under him would be able to escape; they would all be arrested.

Therefore, after his phone call with his friend, he very readily gave up the idea of talking to Zhou Andong. He valued relationships and loyalty, yes, but knowing something was impossible and doing it anyway was just being a fool.

When the matter finally developed to the point where the Liu, Feng, and Yao families were kicked off the table in this contest, Jia Dai finally saw the whole picture clearly: Zhou Andong had long since sat at the card table, and he was the dealer to boot.

At this moment, Jia Dai finally had a deeper understanding of Zhou Andong and gave him a very high evaluation: he was truly insidious. At the same time, he felt lucky; if he hadn't listened to advice and had really used explosives to threaten Zhou Andong, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

Perhaps Zhou Andong would have temporarily compromised under duress, but there was no doubt he would have sought revenge at the first opportunity. The final outcome would likely have been him being buried, without even knowing who dug the hole.

Following that, Zhou Andong stirred up the financial world in Japan, using billions of dollars to acquire a large number of Sony shares, becoming Sony's fourth-largest shareholder in one leap. Then Zhou Andong generously donated one billion US dollars to the country; he broke into a cold sweat and felt lingering fear.

If he had threatened Zhou Andong with explosives, he wouldn't even have needed Zhou Andong to act himself; the grass on his grave would have already sprouted by now. It was mainly because he had too many things on his record; although there were no murder cases, all the things added together meant that if they didn't want to find trouble with him, it would be fine, but if they wanted to, he wouldn't be able to run.

After this series of events, he had completely given up and no longer harbored any illusions. Then he thought about seeing Kong Xingzhong to ask if he had any unfulfilled wishes.

Just like that, he returned to the capital a few days ago. However, the difficulty of the matter exceeded his imagination. He had used up many favors and spent a lot of money, yet he couldn't find a way in and had been unable to see the person.

Then, he found his childhood friend again, and the friend asked him: "You've found so many people, even the Liu and Feng families, yet you still can't see him. Don't you understand the reason for this yet?"

Jia Dai wasn't stupid; he was just single-mindedly looking for connections, hoping to see Kong Xingzhong. As for being unable to see him, he had assumed it was someone interfering, preventing Kong Xingzhong from meeting friends and family, and that this interfering person was likely Zhou Andong, so he hadn't thought about it more deeply.

But after his friend's reminder, he finally realized that Kong Xingzhong's case was likely not just a simple matter of corruption and bribery; it was very likely that there were even bigger cases involved.

Then, his friend advised him to return to Shenzhen immediately. Because if he continued to run around looking for connections to see Kong Xingzhong, once it attracted the attention of the relevant departments, the consequences would be unthinkable. At that point, he wouldn't even be able to leave if he wanted to.

The room fell silent. Although they didn't have much of a friendship with Kong Xingzhong, because Jia Dai was there, they had drunk together. Now that Kong Xingzhong was going to be executed, their moods were still a bit heavy.

Du Zai picked up his wine glass, took a shallow sip, and said with disbelief, "We've only heard bits and pieces about the Zhongbao matter; I didn't expect that even the Liu family would almost be unable to protect themselves."

Jia Dai gave a bitter smile: "At first, I thought it was simple. I looked for people and connections, thinking about saving Xingzhong's life, but after a deeper understanding, I felt a wave of lingering fear. If I hadn't stopped in time, even I might have been dragged into it."

Just then, the door to the private room was pushed open, and Wen Sancao walked in with a loud laugh: "Brothers, I'm late, apologies, apologies."