Chapter 3692: Everyone Has Private Motives

Rachel was very clear that the Po Qing Association had comprehensive surveillance of internet keywords, and even clearer that if Ye Chen released any news, her entire family would be exterminated by the Po Qing Association.

So she immediately realized that Ye Chen meeting her and only revealing his true identity after Steve and Robert left must be because she still had some use to him.

To her, this was the only piece of good news amidst countless bad news.

This changed her and her family's fate from certain death to possible death.

Put bluntly, betraying the Po Qing Association—if well concealed—would not result in immediate death, and might not even lead to death at all, but once her identity was exposed, she would have to die.

Even if she wanted to report to the Zuo Jun Governor's Office right now, directly informing them that someone here had seen through her identity and asking for their help while also expressing her loyalty, the Zuo Jun Governor's Office would not spare her life; they would only kill those who knew the truth and the scholar who leaked her identity together.

Therefore, from this moment on, Rachel Geydi had already made her decision: no matter what Ye Chen wanted to do, as long as he could temporarily avoid exposing her identity, she was willing to obey his orders.

Seeing her sensibility, Ye Chen smiled slightly and said: "Communicating with smart people saves trouble, Miss Geydi. I need you to tell me everything related to the Po Qing Association, including your own family's situation and any Po Qing Association members you can contact. I want every detail, big or small. As long as you cooperate well, I will not expose your identity."

Rachel Geydi immediately nodded without hesitation and said: "No problem, Mr. Chen. Whatever questions you have, I will speak without reservation and speak exhaustively."

Ye Chen asked her: "How many scholars of your age does your family currently have?"

Rachel said: "There are twenty-six in total, though not all of them are from the Geydi family—some are my aunt's and uncle's children."

Ye Chen asked again: "Where are they located, or which families have they already infiltrated?"

Rachel thought for a moment and explained: "The younger ones are basically still in school; aside from a few college students, only five or six have truly started families at this stage. However, most of them are in some second-tier American families, and no top-tier family has yet been successfully infiltrated."

Ye Chen nodded and said: "Then you should now be considered a rising new star in your family, right?"

Rachel replied honestly: "Yes, Mr. Chen. My mother and her sisters have long tried to infiltrate the upper class of America, but only my mother succeeded. The Geydi family is currently the highest-level family infiltrated through my maternal line. If I could marry Robert, it would be a historic achievement for our family and for the entire Po Qing Association. Before this, the most successful family infiltrated by scholars should have been the American Chinese family, the An family—but those scholars were exposed, announcing the failure of the An family's infiltration plan."

Ye Chen nodded and asked her: "According to your knowledge, which family is currently the strongest that the Po Qing Association's scholars have infiltrated?"

Rachel shook her head and sincerely said: "Sorry, Mr. Chen, I don't know. Each scholar family is independent, and the Po Qing Association does not let us know about other families' situations. We only receive internal notifications when other families encounter trouble, just like with the An family—we never knew the An family also had scholars, or even two of them, until we got the internal notice, at which point we were all shocked..."

Ye Chen asked her: "What did the internal notice say?"

Rachel recalled: "The internal notice told us that two undercover scholars in the An family had been exposed, their scholar families had already been erased by the organization, and we should take this as a warning and absolutely not expose our identities."

Ye Chen exclaimed in surprise: "Already exterminated?"

"Yes," Rachel nodded, saying: "The organization has always been ruthless in this regard—whoever exposes their identity will drag their entire family into burial with them."

Ye Chen said with a smile: "Wu Feiyan's methods are truly ruthless."

Rachel's eyes widened in shock—she never expected that Ye Chen not only knew her identity and the Po Qing Association, but even knew the name of the Ying Lord.

The Ying Lord's name has always been the highest secret; the vast majority of Po Qing Association members, even mid-level ones, do not know the Ying Lord's surname or given name, nor do they know whether the Ying Lord is male or female. Even when the Ying Lord issues orders externally, they use a voice changer to obscure gender, making it impossible to tell. She happened to know the three words "Wu Feiyan," which came from her great-aunt's younger sister, who in her youth had a private affair with a member of the Wu family from the Zuo Jun Governor's Office lineage, overheard the name "Wu Feiyan" from pillow talk, and learned Wu Feiyan's story. Otherwise, even if Ye Chen said those three words, she would only be completely confused.

Seeing Rachel's shock, Ye Chen smiled and said: "You don't need to be so surprised. Although I've never met Wu Feiyan, I know she has lived for over four hundred years, is the founder of the Po Qing Association, and is its sole leader."

Rachel, still shaken, looked at Ye Chen and said: "Mr. Chen, your understanding of the Po Qing Association might even surpass mine..."

Ye Chen waved his hand and said lightly: "You don't need to be so modest. What I know is only Wu Feiyan's background. As for the Zuo Jun Governor's Office, I know nothing. I had Steve invite you here just to ask you about some matters concerning the Zuo Jun Governor's Office."

Rachel pursed her lips and said awkwardly: "To be honest with you... I don't know much about the Zuo Jun Governor's Office either. Scholars are ultimately a structure excluded from the core circle; we scholars are just satellites they cast out and scattered across various regions. They know everything about us, but we know very little about them."

Ye Chen asked her: "Do the people of the Zuo Jun Governor's Office ever come into direct contact with you?"

Rachel shook her head: "No, at least not with me. At most, during major or urgent emergencies, the Zuo Jun Governor's Office would send out a Censor to announce orders. Moreover, the person is highly skilled, comes and goes without a trace, and we don't even know who they are, let alone where they come from or where they go."

"Censor?"

Ye Chen raised his eyebrows unconsciously, recalling Song Ruoyu.

Song Ruoyu had originally been a Censor of the You Jun Governor's Office, and within the Governor's Office, she should also be considered mid-to-high level management.

Thus Ye Chen asked Rachel: "Have you ever seen a Censor of the Governor's Office?"

Rachel replied truthfully: "I have seen one once."

Ye Chen asked again: "Why did that Censor come over then?"

Rachel said: "That time it was because the Zuo Jun Governor's Office had a business related to oil, and they hoped my mother could help facilitate a connection with the Geydi family."

"Business matters?" Ye Chen frowned inwardly, unable to help but say: "The Po Qing Association shouldn't be this Tang Tu, should they? Having your mother facilitate a connection and do business with your father's family—that wouldn't mean exposing their own enterprise, would it?"

Rachel explained: "That situation was quite special. The Zuo Jun Governor's Office had a batch of crude oil from their shale oil fields in America that they wanted to sell through the Geydi family's channels, and they specifically instructed it not be done publicly, but to mix that batch of crude oil into the Geydi family's inventory, sell it together with the Geydi family, and after the Geydi family paid the taxes, settle in cash with the Zuo Jun Governor's Office's liaison. The total amount was approximately close to one hundred million US dollars."

Ye Chen's brows furrowed slightly, then after a moment he relaxed and smiled at Lin Wanan: "It seems the people of the Zuo Jun Governor's Office also have their own private motives."

Lin Wanan smiled and nodded, saying: "It looks like the oil fields under the Zuo Jun Governor's Office concealed part of their output from Wu Feiyan, then privately used the Geydi family's channel to exchange that concealed crude oil for money."

Ye Chen nodded and said: "Someone capable of doing this must be Wu Feiyan's own person—possibly even the highest level of the Governor's Office."

Speaking, Ye Chen muttered doubtfully: "The Five Jun Governor's Offices under their command all control large numbers of death warrior garrisons, and should all be large-scale industrial and mining enterprises with extremely low labor costs. Logically, each Governor's Office's revenue scale should be enormous—possibly even over a thousand billion US dollars per year. As members of the Wu family and as regional ministers of the Po Qing Association, Wu Feiyan would surely not mistreat them. Why risk it for such a small amount of money?"

Lin Wanan shook her head and smiled: "Brother, think about it—the Zuo Jun Governor's Office in this rich land of North America surely has many profitable ventures under its command. Just shale oil alone could skim off a hundred million US dollars in extra income. If every venture operated like this, this year alone could yield several billion, even over ten billion US dollars in net income—and all of it tax-free, not requiring remittance, able to be entirely pocketed."

"Although the Po Qing Association controls vast numbers of death warriors and has high income, maintaining the operations of all major Governor's Offices and headquarters requires astronomical funds. Moreover, there are countless scholar families scattered worldwide. To let them receive the best education and approach the upper echelons of society, the Po Qing Association would need to provide them with funds, which is also likely enormous. Calculating this way, the annual funds left for the senior governors and their families probably wouldn't be high. People all have private motives—some wanting to make more money and hold it in hand is quite normal."