20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 870 Disloyal Heart
On the north bank of the Shenshui River, there is the Jiangjia Sand and Gravel Plant.

It was past noon, the leaden clouds hung low, and the cold wind whipped the withered grass on the bank. Suddenly, a burst of laughter and cheerful voices came from the watchtower.

Li Zhengxi gathered a dozen or so minor leaders of the Kaoshan Gang, brought them a reward, and personally came to reward Lai Zi and the others.

It goes without saying that everyone is happy to receive money, but the degree of their joy varies from person to person.

Logically speaking, the reward money given by the Jiang family was by no means small, but the number of members in the Fan Gang was too large, and Xifeng couldn't bear to owe any of his brothers anything, so he always wanted to treat everyone equally. As a result, after splitting it up, not much was actually left for each person.

Of course, whether it's a lot or a little depends on who you compare it to. For ordinary people, it's at least three months' salary.

Money is a mirror that reveals the true nature of one's heart.

At times like these, you can see the true character and integrity of brothers.

Some people are content with what they have and know their own worth. After receiving the money, they carefully put it in their pocket, thinking about quickly buying New Year's goods.

Some people are greedy and always want more. They weigh the money in their palms and feel that they are somewhat demeaned. They don't say anything, but they are not hesitant to express their gratitude when they should. In the end, they sit on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) and keep clicking their teeth, as if they have been wronged.

Among the crowd, two quick-witted individuals, holding the money, pondered for a moment, then suddenly approached Xifeng and said with a smile:

"Third Brother, look at this. The reward money given by the boss isn't small, but there are so many of us brothers. After dividing it up, how much money is actually left in our hands? It's all spent on eating, drinking, and having fun. It's all gone in the blink of an eye!"

“I think we should pool all this money together, rent a shop in the city, find a reliable business, and do some trading. The brothers can consider it as an investment. Then everyone will have stable property and decent work. Wouldn’t that be great?”

Upon hearing this, Li Zhengxi nodded silently, thinking that the idea was indeed good, but he hesitated slightly and said, "The idea is good, but I'm really not cut out for business."

Mercy does not control soldiers, and justice does not control wealth.

Xifeng was quite self-aware of his own behavior.

Others chimed in with discouraging remarks, scoffing, "Doing business isn't that simple; you might end up losing money!"

"You're being foolish!" the two brothers hurriedly said. "Don't you think about it? With Third Brother's reputation online, how could he possibly have trouble making money?"

However, the members of the fan gang all came from poverty, and there were very few brothers with true foresight. The vast majority of them had a "small fortune is enough" attitude, only wanting to live on their small plot of land. Once they received their reward money, they would immediately hold onto their money tightly and would never easily take it out to invest or do business.

The two brothers, mingling among them, felt as if they were in a quagmire, wanting to climb out but constantly feeling trapped in place by the crowd.

After much deliberation, I could only try my best to persuade my third brother.

After all, as long as the west wind nods in agreement, it can naturally overcome all opposition.

"Third brother, if you find this troublesome, then you can leave it to us brothers to handle. I promise to get it all organized for you."

"Yes, we've finally earned this capital, so if we don't make good use of it and just spend all our time eating, drinking, and having fun, then it'll be a complete waste!"

Before Li Zhengxi could even respond, the others were already unhappy.

"Hey, this is everyone's money, why should you two take it and run the business?"

“I disagree. This is money I earned by risking my life. I want to use it to eat, drink, and have fun. Nobody else should covet it.”

"Don't make a big fuss about it. Who knows if you two will secretly pocket the money? I can't be watching you every day."

Everyone held their own opinions, and the argument raged on for a while. Although no one broke off relations, the atmosphere was not very harmonious.

"Alright, alright, stop fucking arguing!"

Li Zhengxi stopped the argument, pondered for a moment, then suddenly turned to ask, "Shitou, what do you think?"

Stone sat to Xifeng's left, clicked his tongue, and said in a muffled voice, "Third Brother, I think we should forget about it!"

"You think it's wrong?"

“Hey, when brothers go into business together, it’s easy to ruin everyone’s harmony in the end. Look, they haven’t even decided to do it yet, and they’ve already started arguing. If they keep making money, that’s fine, but if something goes wrong… don’t blame me for being a jinx, they might not even be able to stay brothers.”

Li Zhengxi nodded thoughtfully.

Let alone sworn brothers, even biological brothers, are there few examples in the world of people who turn against each other after starting a business together?
Given the Jiang family's immense power, only Xue Yingqing and Wang Zhengnan were involved in other businesses within the family.

Xue Yingqing started his business with his own capital, paid monthly bills to the Jiang family, and brought his own assets with him, so he was a different story.

Wang Zhengnan's grain and oil shop was also built up slowly with his own savings, and he also paid his bills monthly. The reason he hasn't ventured into other industries is simply to avoid competing with the Jiang family for profits. Otherwise, with Nanfeng's intelligence and connections, his business should have grown much larger.

If Li Zhengxi wanted to lead his brothers to start a business, he naturally needed the Jiang family's approval.

"Hey Lai Zi, what do you think?" Xi Feng suddenly turned to his right and asked with some curiosity, "Why are you so listless today? Come here, come closer to me. This is such a big matter, you have to give your opinion!"

Lai Zi sat at the far end of the kang, looking somewhat listless. Hearing the question, he didn't move his buttocks, but lazily said, "No matter how much we discuss these things, in the end, we still have to get the landlord's approval before we can do it, right?"

"That's true, but before that, I'd like to ask for everyone's opinion."

"I don't care, anything is fine with me."

"Let's vote by raising hands!" Li Zhengxi glanced at everyone and said in a calm tone, "After all, this money belongs to everyone. I don't know if you've used it privately, so it's up to you. If you disagree, then go back and have a peaceful New Year; if you really want to do something, I'll fully support you!"

Everyone looked at each other, and a vote was held on the spot, so people gradually raised their hands.

The results are obvious.

There's no need to count the votes. Throughout history, only a very small number of people have dared to work hard and start businesses; the vast majority prefer to secure their wealth.

Seeing this, the two brothers who had proposed starting a business were naturally quite frustrated.

Li Zhengxi patted the two men on the shoulders and comforted them in a low voice: "Don't be discouraged. If you can't do big business, you can still do some small business. If you don't have enough capital, come to me to borrow money. I won't charge you interest or urge you to repay the debt. If you encounter any difficulties in your business, I will help you solve them."

Upon hearing this, the two nodded hurriedly and said, "Thank you for your help, Third Brother."

Lai Zi remained seated at the far end of the kang, silent and withdrawn, only glancing casually at his two brothers.

Shi Tou, standing beside Xi Feng, tried to smooth things over, laughing loudly, "Alright, let's put this aside for now. In any case, today is a joyous day. Qin Huaimeng is dead and we're basking in the cool sun. Fengtian is still the Jiang family's Fengtian, and Xiaoheyan is still our Xiaoheyan. We don't need to fight anymore. Let's go out for a meal tonight!" Everyone agreed.

Li Zhengxi declined, saying, "It won't work today. My boss has a meeting tonight. Let's do it another day. I'll treat you all to a meal another day!"

In just a few words, the atmosphere became lively again.

Immediately afterwards, another brother asked, "Third Brother, is Qin Huaimeng definitely dead?"

Li Zhengxi nodded with a smile and said, "That's for sure. He was shot three times. Even a god couldn't save him."

"What about Lao Dou?"

"He died even earlier than Qin Huaimeng; his head was cut off."

"Third brother, didn't you go up and kick it a couple of times?"

"No, I was planning to keep it and use it as a chamber pot!"

Everyone burst into laughter, and the atmosphere became even more joyful. After all, the Fan Gang and Lao Dou and others had quite a grudge against each other and had long wished to tear them to pieces.

At this point, Shi Tou suddenly remembered something and hurriedly said, "Third Brother, we've had quite a few conflicts with Lao Dou over the past few years. Before, thanks to Dong Ju's mediation, the brothers never completely broke ties with him. Now that the old man's rebellion failed and he's dead, shouldn't his territory in the south of the city be given to us?"

Everyone naturally assumed that this was a natural progression and didn't require any special explanation.

Unexpectedly, Li Zhengxi suddenly looked troubled, hesitated for a long time, and then sighed, "Don't even think about Lao Dou's original territory. For now, let Tang Wenbiao manage it..."

In an instant, the room fell silent.

Everyone stared in disbelief, their expressions a mix of shock and disbelief, as if they had misheard.

After a moment of silence, some people began to chuckle.

"Third Brother is so mean! He's making fun of us like we're idiots!"

"Hey, I told you, you gave me a fright just now!"

"Haha, Third Brother, stop joking. Let's get serious. When can we take over Old Dou's territory?"

"I'm not messing with you guys!" Li Zhengxi put away his smile. Perhaps he himself felt a little embarrassed to say it, so he silently lit a cigarette, took two deep drags, and then explained to his brothers, "Tang Wenbiao betrayed Lao Dou, but he is innocent of surrendering and has merit in killing the enemy. The boss has already agreed to hand over that territory to him to manage."

Stone turned his face away, two veins bulging on his cheeks, and said in a deep voice, "Third Brother, I still don't understand this matter."

"Why don't you understand?"

“When the Jiang family was in trouble, we, the Fan Gang, stepped up. Putting aside everything else, if it weren’t for us, it would have been a question whether the Jiang family’s caravan could have even reached the concession. Now that Old Dou is dead, even if the owner doesn’t give us his original territory, I can barely accept it. Why should it be given to Tang Wenbiao?”

Everyone nodded in agreement, but a sense of discontent was slowly spreading in their hearts.

Everyone felt that the rewards and punishments were unfair.

Little did they know that it wasn't that the Jiang family was incompetent, but rather that surrendered generals had always been treated relatively well, which was called their value in united front work.

Li Zhengxi hurriedly said, "Don't worry, that piece of land in the south will be ours sooner or later. It's just that the boss needs to set an example for us now. Once the city is in order, we'll settle accounts with them later."

"How long later?" Stone pressed. "A year later, or three years later?"

Li Zhengxi took a deep drag on his cigarette and explained in a muffled voice, "Tang Wenbiao betrayed our boss and seized power illegitimately. Things seem calm now, but given time, internal problems will inevitably arise, and then we can take over with peace of mind."

"So that means if Tang Wenbiao and his men don't cause any trouble, we'll have to wait like this forever and can't fight?"

"The boss once said that if Qin Huaimeng led a rebellion, only the ringleader would be punished, and the others would not be punished."

Jiang Lianheng did indeed say this: "With a formidable enemy at hand, we will not kill surrendered generals." At that time, the battle outside the city was not yet over, and the Jiang family was in a period of turmoil. The reason for saying this was also somewhat out of helplessness.

But as the top leader, his word is law. What he says must be kept, otherwise, inconsistency between words and deeds will damage his prestige.

Stone shook his head, then suddenly snorted coldly and asked, "Third Brother, so all of us brothers died in vain?"

Li Zhengxi waved his hand and said, "What kind of talk is that? How can he have died in vain?"

"Oh, right, at least I got some reward money!" Stone laughed self-deprecatingly.

Hearing this, Li Zhengxi felt uneasy and quickly comforted him, saying, "You must trust the boss and your sister-in-law's judgment. If your sister-in-law says that there will be internal problems in Tang Wenbiao, then she must be right. Be patient, and that territory in Nancheng will be ours sooner or later."

“But the boss isn’t a god!” someone said dismissively. “He says there will be trouble within Tang Wenbiao’s organization, so there definitely will be trouble? What if he’s really a close friend and never falls out?”

Jiang Lianheng and Hu Xiaoyan may not be gods, but they understand the survival strategies of gangs better than the people in the Fan Gang.

It is a fact that Tang Wenbiao lacks prestige and is simply unable to fully control Lao Dou's remaining forces. Even if he could barely maintain the situation, the Jiang family has plenty of ways to secretly sow discord and devise a plan to wipe out Lao Dou's remaining forces, thereby both protecting the Jiang family's face and fulfilling their own interests.

However, not everyone was as convinced of Jiang and Hu's judgment as Sifengkou was.

Li Zhengxi suddenly asked, "Do you still believe me or not?"

After thinking it over, and considering Xifeng's many years of righteous deeds, everyone finally nodded and said, "We believe you!"

“Then you have to trust what the boss and sister-in-law say!” Li Zhengxi said. “I’ve been with the Jiang family for over twenty years, and the boss and sister-in-law’s judgments have never been wrong!”

"What if we're wrong this time?"

"Even if she's wrong, you have to listen to her. She's my sister-in-law!"

Seeing that things had come to this point, everyone fell silent and simply followed the instructions.

Li Zhengxi was still a little worried. He suddenly turned to look at the end of the kang (a heated brick bed) and said earnestly, "Laizi, I know you don't get along with Lao Dou and the others, but the current situation is not suitable for starting a war. Let's all calm down and wait until after the New Year. I believe the boss and sister-in-law will make it up to everyone."

Lai Zi smiled and said, "Third Brother, you don't need to worry about me. I trust you the most. Even if you asked me to kowtow to Tang Wenbiao right now, I would not say a word."

(End of this chapter)