Chapter 407: Counterattack

After a full week of scouting, Zhang Ping'an was already familiar with Zhang Zongqing's travel schedule and knew the layout of the Zhang family home like the back of his hand.

Zhang Ping'an didn't intend to drag it out any longer; after all, it was already the twelfth lunar month, and he still had to go home for the New Year—he couldn't let this trivial matter delay him.

This Zhang Zongqing's family actually had some substance; their cash flow was definitely over one hundred million, and with all their miscellaneous industries, it should be over one billion.

At 1:30 AM, Zhang Ping'an slipped into the Zhang family villa without alerting anyone; only Zhang Zongqing and his wife were on the third floor, and they were already in a deep sleep.

Just to be safe, Zhang Ping'an still used incense to sedate them, then swaggered around the bedroom searching.

"Hah~ there really are quite a few good things in this safe."

Stacks of US dollars, property deeds, stock certificates, various company seals, and ledgers for gray-market industries.

"Tsk tsk, what a poor wretch, only about two million."

Zhang Ping'an packed everything up in one go, then stuck two needles into the back of Zhang Zongqing's head; within the next half month, he would slowly become mentally disabled due to a cerebral hemorrhage, and if stimulated by bad news, this speed might accelerate.

After Zhang Ping'an climbed downstairs, he discovered the villa also had a basement; at first, Zhang Ping'an thought it was just a simple cellar, but a scan revealed that the cash was actually all down there.

"Fifteen million US dollars, plus big Golden Bricks, jewelry, and jade—what a good person he is."

Zhang Ping'an was very satisfied with Zhang Zongqing, this "gift-giving boy"; he had just called him a poor wretch, but Zhang Ping'an admitted he had spoken too soon.

This was completely enough to compensate for the losses of the Oriental Group, and after clearing away his traces, Zhang Ping'an returned home.

When Zhang Zongqing got up in the morning, he didn't notice anything wrong, only feeling that his head was exceptionally heavy today...

Dahu had previously inquired about this Zhang Zongqing; with his capabilities, he shouldn't have dared to arm-wrestle with the Oriental Group, so there must have been others behind him.

Zhang Ping'an was too lazy to check them one by one; looking at who had invested in real estate in Pengcheng, eight or nine out of ten were involved.

He didn't intend to take things to the extreme; he would first liquidate their assets to make up for the Oriental Group's losses during this period.

As for whether they became brain-damaged, he would put that aside for now; Zhang Ping'an was also worried about hurting the innocent, and it wouldn't be too late to act after confirming the culprits.

Thus, over the next few days, Zhang Ping'an visited the remaining eight families; the situation was similar to the Zhang family, and they all brought Zhang Ping'an twenty or thirty million in income, not including the unprocessed shares and the like.

Two weeks later, Zhang Ping'an had a full harvest, and Zhang Zongqing, upon seeing that his safe had been robbed, suffered a cerebral hemorrhage from the excitement.

In the Hospital, he was lying there with his eyes crooked and mouth slanted, hooking his fingers and babbling things that no one could understand.

After the other eight families learned the news, their hearts turned cold; they checked their own safes at the first opportunity and were immediately struck with despair, some even vomiting blood from anger.

Many of them had ledgers and recordings; once these leaked out, it would not only affect them personally, but even the foreigners.

The Oriental Group alone had already kept the foreigners busy enough; if they offended their backers too, they really wouldn't be able to survive in Xiangjiang.

Zhang Ping'an looked at these ledgers and recordings with great satisfaction; he believed Maidige would like this gift, though he didn't know why they had such a bad habit of keeping records.

Shouldn't doing bad things be very secretive? How could they be recorded so openly? That's like lighting a lamp in a latrine—looking for trouble.

The next day, Zhang Ping'an invited Maidige out at a private club.

"Maidige, my friend, sit."

"Thanks, my friend. I've heard about your group's affairs. Do you need me to act as an intermediary? I imagine they should give me this face."

Maidige thought Zhang Ping'an had invited him out to resolve the Oriental Group's predicament.

"No need. I invited you out today to give you a big gift; I imagine you won't refuse."

"Oh?"

"I accidentally obtained a few ledgers and a voice recorder. Take a look first."

"OK."

Maidige flipped through the ledgers one after another; his expression showed surprise, excitement, anger, and even lingering fear.

Because not only were his competitors' names on here, but his own as well; every single payment was recorded clearly, and there were even recordings.

Their department was in charge of imports and exports; it could be said that almost everyone was dirty, but it was an unspoken understanding. Even if they had conflicts with each other, they wouldn't completely turn hostile, because once that happened, it would be like pulling up a radish and bringing out the mud.

"F**k."

"This... my friend, where did you get this?"

"Accidentally obtained. I only took a rough look, but it should be of some use to you."

"Hahaha, my friend, this is a huge help to me. Perhaps we can cooperate again soon, who knows."

"Hahaha, if possible, I naturally wouldn't refuse. After all, we are brothers from different fathers and mothers."

"Yes, yes, yes."

Both of them tacitly didn't mention money again. Maidige didn't mention it because he felt he could advance further and perhaps scrape a bit more in Xiangjiang for a couple more years, so he didn't care about these few hundred thousand.

Zhang Ping'an didn't mention it because he was prepared to follow the usual practice; of course, if Maidige didn't accept it, that would be another matter.

After all, the impression Maidige gave him wasn't bad; not only did he take money to get things done, but he could also tip him off in advance when something came up, which made him very worth associating with.

Besides, it's better to use someone you know than a stranger; the Oriental Group's Medicinal Wine would take a few years to have a market, and they would always need someone to endorse them, so why couldn't it be Maidige?

After a friendly discussion, Maidige also became a bit more enthusiastic; if he had previously just helped out because he found Zhang Ping'an pleasing to the eye, now the two of them stood on equal footing.

With these ledgers and recordings, Zhang Ping'an basically didn't need to do anything about the remaining eight families; the foreigners' retaliation would be enough to keep them busy.

Their best move now was to sell off their assets and flee Xiangjiang before the foreigners made a move, otherwise, they wouldn't be able to leave when the time came.

And just as Zhang Ping'an thought, they were all dumping their company assets at low prices on the Black Market, which actually allowed a few families with deep backgrounds to pick up a bargain.

The few residential complexes in Pengcheng weren't taken over; everyone knew those were the fuse for the conflict with the Oriental Group. Whoever took them would face consequences perhaps no better than directly offending the Oriental Group, so everyone was very sensible.

Being able to take down nine small families at once wasn't something an ordinary person could do; there was no need to offend the other party for a little petty profit. If no one took them over in the end, they could only be left as unfinished projects.

Zhang Ping'an hadn't seen anyone come to cry or complain during this time, so he knew all nine families were involved; thus, the "crooked mouth and slanted eyes" package for Zhang Zongqing would have to be arranged for their ringleaders as well.

For this, Zhang Ping'an wasted another eight days in Xiangjiang; at this time, there were only ten days or so left until the New Year.

"Brother-in-law, are we going to take over their residential complexes in Pengcheng? The price has already been cut in half; they've lost everything down to their underwear."

"Why, do you want to take them?"

"Hee hee, that's right. We can just hang the Oriental Residential Complex sign on them and lower the price a bit."

"Taking them is fine, but forget about the sign; they aren't worthy. Let's set up a subsidiary."

"Alrighty."