Chapter 2880

Jiangzhou!

Yingmei Hong stood on the street with a red face turning iron-blue, her chest heaving violently as she stared at the municipal reception hall across the street. Behind her stood a group of people, their faces no better, and two youths were even cursing loudly.

Yingmei Hong extended her hand; a woman in a business suit beside her hurriedly pulled a pack of cigarettes from her small bag, took one out, and placed it between Yingmei Hong's two fingers. Then she found a lighter, clicked it, and lit the cigarette.

Yingmei Hong took a hard drag on the cigarette. When she arrived in Jiangzhou the next day, other family members had also arrived, bringing large numbers of people. They then dispersed everyone to search for the five missing women, even offering a reward of fifty thousand for clues.

By today, there was still no result, and what made them even more furious was that that morning they were kicked out of that rundown inn. No reason given—just not allowed to stay, not even if they paid extra.

You should know, they had booked the entire inn at three thousand per day, which was the inn's monthly revenue. They said they wouldn't let them stay and just wouldn't, with no reason at all, and kicked them out.

Then they began looking for a place to stay, something they hadn't expected: whether it was a small inn or Jiangzhou's only four-star hotel, all refused them entry, the reason being……fully booked, no rooms available.

"Damn his mother!" Yingmei Hong suddenly exploded with a swear—this was the first time in her life, as far as she could remember, that she had ever sworn. Because after they showed their IDs, the municipal reception hall also used the same excuse, claiming no rooms and refusing them.

The smoke passed through Yingmei Hong's lungs, then she exhaled it from her mouth; the suffocating feeling in her chest seemed to ease a little. But the fire in her heart grew stronger, making her feel an urge to kill. Because everything they had encountered, anyone could tell without thinking was done by Zhou Andong.

"Director Ying!" a middle-aged man said in a deep voice: "It's already past three in the afternoon. If we still can't find a hotel, we'll have to sleep on the streets."

A youth said: "I think we should just go to the municipal bureau. As long as we see someone, everything will become clear."

Yingmei Hong glanced at the youth with mockery: "Now, all hotels in Jiangzhou refuse us entry. Do you think going to the municipal bureau will get you any face?"

The youth opened his mouth but didn't utter a single word. Because Yingmei Hong was right—if they went to the municipal bureau, they would certainly be warmly received, but seeing anyone? Absolutely impossible.

"We've become a laughingstock." Yingmei Hong said self-mockingly: "Not just Zhou Andong's joke, but the joke of all Jiangzhou."

She still had one thing unsaid: that her brother was still the provincial team leader, yet he had no control over Jiangzhou whatsoever. Or more accurately, Jiangzhou simply didn't take her brother's position as team leader seriously at all.

The youth asked: "Then what should we do? We can't possibly sleep on the streets, can we?"

Yingmei Hong stomped hard on the half-smoked cigarette she threw on the ground: "Let's go stay in Hu Yang City next door. I just don't believe Zhou Andong's reach can extend that far."

"Get in the car!" the middle-aged man said, turning and walking toward a car not far away.

The others said nothing, just followed and got into their own cars. They weren't unwilling to speak—they just couldn't, mainly because they felt too stifled. Their names, besides Jingcheng, would earn them respect anywhere in the country from anyone who heard them.

Yet strangely, in Jiangzhou they became the exception—their face not only didn't work, but was pressed into the ground and rubbed hard. And their faces were scraped raw, bleeding, so what was there left to say?

Yingmei Hong was the last to get in the car. She opened the window, gave a gloomy look at the municipal reception hall across the street, then closed the window and told the driver: "Let's go!"

They had just left less than a minute ago when over ten more vehicles stopped here. The window of the leading Land Cruiser rolled down, revealing Yao Jun's face. This guy took off his sunglasses, then extended his hand out the window and waved it.

From the second car stepped a youth in camouflage, powerfully built, who quickly approached Yao Jun's car and respectfully said: "Boss Yao!"

Yao Jun said coldly: "Follow them. If they leave the pass, let them go. If they're still inside the pass, make it impossible for them to move an inch."

"Yes!" the youth stood at attention: "Boss Yao, are you going to Jingcheng now?"

Yao Jun glanced at the time: "You go ahead first—I still need to go home once, to give a heads-up."

…………

Yangcheng, still that little club, still those dozen or so people, Liu Anrong sat immovably at the piano as always, but she wasn't playing—instead, she held a cup of juice in her hand, head down, biting the straw as she secretly observed the others. Especially when her gaze fell on Zhang Yunfei's face, she would linger there for two extra seconds.

Since last night, she had felt Zhang Yunfei was problematic. But after thinking it over all night, she still couldn't pinpoint where the problem lay. After all, Zhang Yunfei and Wu Hui and the others were already tied together on the same rope—no matter how he jumped and struggled, the others tied to the rope would have to pull him back; he couldn't escape.

"Brothers!" Zhang Yunfei had a cigarette in his mouth, leaning sideways against the small bar: "I've already found the finance people from Yuxi Real Estate—two of them, each getting three hundred thousand."

"How much? Three hundred thousand?" Jiangzhongyuan's son Jiang Zhengming, son of the president of the Intermediate People's Court, shouted, his voice suddenly rising: "Damn his mother, chop them up and weigh them on a scale—could they even be worth three thousand?"

Others also stared at Zhang Yunfei, eyes full of suspicion. Each getting three hundred thousand, two people would be six hundred thousand—this really was a bit outrageous.

"Don't look at me like that—do you know how high the benefits are at Yuxi Real Estate?" Zhang Yunfei sneered: "The two people I found have a base salary of over three thousand a month. If you include bonuses, they can earn forty thousand a year. You try to bribe them with thirty or fifty thousand—they won't even spit on your face, that's just their quality."

Saying this, Zhang Yunfei laughed harshly, full of mockery, not hiding it at all: "They earn such high salaries—if you don't offer enough tempting benefits, why would they risk losing their high-paying jobs and facing retaliation to work for you?"

Gao Jiang held his cigar between his fingers, not knowing whether he truly liked this thing or just liked using it to show off: "What Yunfei said makes sense—they earn four or five ten thousand a year. If you don't offer enough benefits, it definitely won't work—no one is a fool."

"Right!" Zhang Yunfei shrugged: "Anyway, I've found the people. If you agree, we'll split the cost—each person sixty thousand. I can't possibly be the only one paying, right?"

If you disagree, thinking sixty thousand is too much, then cancel the plan. Or if you think someone can be trusted, let them handle the contact—see if they can bribe others instead.