Dragon Clan: Lu Mingfei Returns from Japan

Chapter 582 The Emperor of the Underworld

Everyone passing by the Tokyo Bay Cross-Sea Highway today had a vague feeling that something big seemed to have happened.

Starting from noon, without any prior notice, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Traffic Bureau and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism suddenly closed all entrance ramps of the Tokyo Bay Cross-Sea Highway on the pretext of road repairs. Vehicles that had already arrived were required to return via the original route, and even government vehicles were not allowed to enter the road at will.

However, the drivers who were stuck at the entrance clearly saw one black Lexus after another being released from the diversion outlet nearby. From the lowered windows, they could see that the people sitting in the cars were muscular thugs wearing sunglasses and suits, and the "Genji Heavy Industries" logo on the cars was very eye-catching.

Although the traffic police of the police station claimed that these people were just workers sent by Genji Heavy Industries to assist in road repairs, this could not convince the drivers with road rage. The Tokyo Bay Cross-Sea Highway is the closest road connecting Kanagawa Prefecture and Chiba Prefecture. The next road is far away, and each of them has urgent business.

As a result, one complaint call after another was made to the office of the then Tokyo Governor Yukio Midorishima and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's Traffic Control Center.

The contents of the complaints were all similar, all questioning why the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Traffic Bureau suddenly closed the Tokyo Bay Cross-Sea Highway without any prior notice.

Fujino Itsuki, the head of the traffic control center, was not so bad. Most of the people who called the traffic bureau to complain were ordinary citizens. He just used a few official words to fool them, and bowed and said "I'm really sorry" at the end. He was a bureaucrat who was elected from the local level, a typical professional politician. His strengths were TV debates and speeches. He was also very comfortable in bowing to the public to apologize. He should be considered a semi-professional actor.

But Midorishima Yukio was a little overwhelmed. Those who could call his office were either bureaucrats from functional departments or powerful members of Congress, or at worst, the sons of chaebols from oligarchic groups.

Although Tokyo is not the legal capital of Japan, it is the de facto administrative center of Japan. It is said that if a screw falls from the Tokyo Tower, it may hit a vice minister. His rank as the governor of Tokyo is not low, but in Tokyo, a place where many talented people live, there are always people with higher ranks than him.

Midorishima Yukio held the phone, wiping his sweat while apologizing to the person on the other end of the line, saying that he would immediately investigate the matter. As the phone hung up, another one came in, and Midorishima Yukio's abdominal muscles were almost exposed.

I finally took a break, and I didn't even have time to rest in my office chair. I waved my hand and called my secretary to ask what was going on. Why did they close the Tokyo Bay Cross-Sea Highway for no reason? I called Fujino Itsuki from the Traffic Bureau of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department to question me. He wanted to find out who issued this order and hold the culprit accountable.

"Well... I'm afraid you can't hold accountable the person who gave the order." The secretary bowed.

The governor was stunned for a moment: "Why? Was the document closing the road signed by the Minister of Transport himself? Did a major accident really happen on the Tokyo Bay Cross-Sea Highway?"

The Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan is the head of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. There are not many officials higher than the Governor of Tokyo, and the Minister of Transport is one of the highest officials. The only officials higher than the Minister of Transport are the Prime Minister or the Emperor. The position of the Governor of Tokyo is just equivalent to that of a mayor.

The secretary shook his head: "No."

"Could that be the chief of police headquarters?"

"No."

"Is it a member of Congress? Or a political official?"

The secretary shook his head and rejected them one by one: "Neither."

Midorishima Yukio was stunned. He had counted almost all the officials who were higher in rank than him, but the secretary denied them all. Who gave the order to close the road? Were there other people he couldn't control? It couldn't be that the Prime Minister gave the order himself, right?

The secretary helped him express his doubts: "It was Genji Heavy Industries' chairman, Mr. Minamoto Chisei, who asked the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's Transportation Bureau and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism to assist them in closing the Tokyo Bay Cross-Sea Highway."

"The chairman of Genji Heavy Industries? A gang leader?"

Yukio Midorishima frowned. To have been able to climb to this position, he must have heard many secrets that ordinary citizens did not know. He knew that Genji Heavy Industries was just a large gangster organization disguised as a legitimate company. To put it simply, Genji Heavy Industries was just the white glove of the gang.

However, due to the influence of Genji Heavy Industries and the GDP it created, government officials would more or less give their people some face when they met at some meetings. But in Midorishima Yukio's mind, gangs are just gangs after all, so why should they be able to dictate to government departments?
"Mr. Governor, that's not just any gang leader..."

The secretary whispered, "That's the emperor of the Japanese underworld."

……

"But to be honest, the ramen made by you, the emperor of the Japanese underworld, is really not very delicious. Even the pork slices are cut crookedly. Your hands are really not suitable for holding a kitchen knife. It is more suitable to hold a samurai sword."

"Just to remind you, it's the former emperor. There is no Japanese underworld emperor here anymore. There is only an old man who should have retired a long time ago, but because he has no pension, he has to set up a stall to sell ramen to make a living."

It was past lunchtime, and there were not many customers in front of the ramen cart parked under the cherry trees on the back street of Tokyo University. There were only two young men chatting. The late cherry blossoms, which were not very lush, fell one by one in the wind.

The words "young" and "old" sound completely opposite, and it's hard to imagine that these two words can form an attributive sentence. But once you see these two old men in person, you will find that describing them as young old men is not too appropriate.

I say old because both of them have white hair and their eyes are full of traces of time. I say young because both of them are full of energy and spirit, and they don't look like old people at all.

The old man sitting in front of the trolley eating ramen has a typical European and American face, wearing classic yet fashionable single-sided glasses, a high-end suit that looks quite expensive, and a suitcase on the seat next to him. It is hard to imagine that such a person would eat ramen on the road.

The old man in the cart was dressed like a common ramen shop owner, with the name of his ramen shop printed on the front of his white chef's uniform, and a headscarf on his head to hold all his hair together as a chef's hat.

When people passing by hear the conversation between the two people, they will unconsciously turn their heads to take a look, with strange expressions on their faces... The old man eating noodles is obviously dressed like a standard British gentleman, and the ramen shop owner looks like a native Japanese old man, but why do the two people seem to be talking in Chinese?
To be honest, Uesugi Yue didn't know why this man suddenly came to his ramen shop. It was clearly his lunch break, how could he fix it!

For a ramen shop owner who runs a stall in the back street of Tokyo University, the most relaxing time is the short break after the busy lunch break.

At this time every day, he would pull out a bamboo lounge chair, lie down in front of his own trolley, and lie on the chair with an old magazine covering his face. He pretended to be taking a nap, but in fact he was looking at the beautiful legs of the female college students passing by in the back street through the gaps in the magazines.

Today is the same. It is the end of spring and the beginning of summer, and it is the last cherry blossom season. Female college students who love beauty and fashion have already changed into skirts. Uesugi Yue lies on a bamboo chair, and the spring breeze is like a hand, lifting the skirt of a female college student passing by... These legs seem a bit thick, next one.

At this moment, a pair of legs in tight-fitting high-end suits and black leather shoes suddenly stood in front of him. Before he could react, a somewhat familiar voice sounded in his ears.

"Tonkotsu ramen, plus two marinated eggs." Angers said with a smile, sitting down next to the trolley, putting the umbrella and heavy suitcase aside. "Why are you here?" Uesugi Yue stood up from the recliner and looked at the person in front of him, still a little dazed.

"Are you asking why I came to Japan?"

"I don't care why you came to Japan. I mean..." Uesugi Yue said angrily: "Why did you come to my store, you plague god?"

"Are you so unwelcome to me?"

Ange said calmly, "This is really hurtful. I came to your place right after I got off the plane without leaving my luggage at the hotel. After all, when I meet an old friend I haven't seen for many years, even if I don't give him a hug, I should at least give him a bowl of noodles, right?"

"I have been retired for more than 60 years, Ange." Uesugi Yue said with a bitter face, "When I retired 60 years ago, I burned down the family shrine. They should be ashamed to mention me now. No matter how they offended you, it has nothing to do with me. I am just a retired gangster. Please don't disturb my peace, okay?"

"Don't worry, I won't eat for free. I will pay." Angers took out a 10,000 yen bill and repeated the order: "Tonkotsu ramen, plus two marinated eggs."

Uesugi Yue was silent for a moment, but still walked into the trolley and lit the stove. He turned around and angrily grabbed a bowl of fresh noodles from the refrigerator, and said in a cold voice, "Didn't you arrive in Tokyo at twelve o'clock tonight?"

"Don't you care why I came back to Japan? How come you know my itinerary so well?"

"It's no longer a secret within the family that the Kassel Academy negotiation team will be coming to Japan tonight."

Uesugi Yue: "I had long guessed that the person coming from the academy would be you. To be honest, I had planned not to open the stall today, but the news said that you would not come until 12 o'clock tonight, so I thought I would only open the stall during the day and close the stall to go home at night. I didn't expect that you would be unpunctual sometimes."

"That's probably because they misunderstood what I meant."

Ange said, "In the email I sent them, I wrote that I would visit them at 12 o'clock tonight. That means I will visit the Japanese branch executive bureau at 12 o'clock tonight, not that I will arrive in Japan at 12 o'clock tonight. It's a rare trip, so I should visit old friends first, right?"

"How ridiculous! Back then, you and I were enemies who fought to the death. It's not like old enemies become old friends just because we haven't seen each other for too long."

The bone soup was bubbling over a low fire, and Uesugi Yue put the noodles into the soup.

"Are you here alone?" Uesugi Yue asked.

"It's just a home visit, not a gang fight, why send so many people?" said Angé.

"After all these years, you haven't changed at all. You're still as confident as before."

Uesugi Yue shook his head: "But you forgot that we are all old. Time is our biggest opponent. Although you are a living legend among the hybrids, if the core elites of the Eight Snake Families rush forward, you may not be able to defeat the main family."

Uesugi Etsu scooped up the noodles and put them in a bowl, added two hot marinated eggs, cut a few slices of pork and arranged them, sprinkled chopped green onions, and served the ramen to Ange. The small TV in the trolley was broadcasting news about the sudden closure of the Tokyo Bay Cross-Sea Highway.

“It’s a bit unpalatable.”

Ange took a mouthful of noodles, made his comment, then folded a knife from his bosom, opened the earthenware jar with familiarity, took out the yellow radish from it and poured it into the noodles: "Well, it tastes better this way."

"This is not L'Arpège, L'Ambroisie and Le Pré Catelan, the three-Michelin-star restaurants in France."

Uesugi Yue slammed his hands on the chopping board, angrily: "The cheap ramen sold at a stall in the back street of Tokyo University is only this good! How much better do you want to eat at 800 yen a bowl? If you want to eat high-end Japanese food, I can recommend a few shops to you."

"The beef ramen I ate at a roadside stall in Huaxia for 8 yuan a bowl was delicious. Yours is not even as good as dried noodles."

"Then go and settle your affairs first."

Uesugi Yue said nonchalantly, "You can do home visits if you want, and teach those kids a lesson if you want. Even if you want to destroy the Eight Snake Families, it has nothing to do with me. After you're done with these things, you can also take a plane to Huaxia to eat beef ramen for 8 yuan a bowl. As a ramen chef, I only have a hobby of looking at the beautiful legs of passing female college students during lunch break."

"As expected of the emperor of the Japanese underworld, you and Flamel are the only ones who can say such things without batting an eyelid."

Ange shrugged: "You don't care what the Snake Eight Clan did, but you asked me to come to Japan to deal with it personally?"

"Isn't it just the detention of a few of your students?"

"Of course it's not that simple." Angé said while slurping noodles.

"It doesn't matter. I told you I've retired a long time ago. Now I'm just a lecherous ramen chef. Unlike you, a legend. After you finish your noodles, go save your world. In half an hour, the first afternoon class at the University of Tokyo will begin. By then, many female college students will run past my stall in a hurry to attend classes. Don't disturb my only hobby."

After Uesugi Yue finished speaking, he turned around and hummed a little tune while washing the dishes. Ange also started humming a song. Uesugi Yue hummed the Japanese folk song "The Net-Pulling Tune" and Ange hummed the British national anthem "God Save the King". The two seemed to be competing with each other or enjoying themselves. The only sound was the bubbling sound in the soup pot.

Five minutes passed, and Uesugi Yue threw the bowl into the water with a bang, slapped his head with his wet hands, and looked up at the sky in frustration. Angers were still eating the side dishes leisurely.

"Alright, alright, alright, alright!" Uesugi Yue slammed his hands on the chopping board, "Tell me! How did my descendants offend you again?"

"Cut me another braised egg." Ange smiled, "and a glass of sake."

……

(End of this chapter)