Age of Legends

Chapter 310 is in full swing
Yu De's days were still filled with endless practice problems and tests, waiting for the judgment of fate to arrive, and then waiting for the longest summer of his life to pass.

Before we knew it, it was May, and the countdown on the blackboard at the back of the classroom had changed to "67 days left until the college entrance examination".

During this time, Zhang Chen discovered that Zhao Tao was also busy. Zhang Chen told him to be patient, and he outwardly tolerated it, but Zhao Tao was Zhao Tao after all, and he was still causing trouble behind the scenes. "Monkey" Qian Junyi had a friend who went to Liu Qi's construction site to do odd jobs, extracting information from the workers and collecting evidence on-site. Yipin Real Estate was cutting corners, something Huang Huifen would disdain to do, but it was actually a common problem in the industry, and they were sure to be able to find evidence.

Furthermore, during this process, it was discovered that Liu Qi's construction site dump trucks were illegally dumping construction waste into the Minjiang River. The waste was divided into two parts: hard waste and soft waste. The hard waste refers to construction waste, while the soft waste refers to chemically polluted and toxic waste. Liu Qi's dump trucks hauled the construction waste into several bends of the Minjiang River and dumped it there, while the chemically polluted waste was taken to Quanshan and buried on-site.

After obtaining this evidence, Zhao Tao reported it to the authorities and also contacted several newspapers. However, when the newspapers heard that it was Liu Qi's company, they generally declined to report it, and the reports they did report were quite cryptic. It was clear that the people involved did not want to get involved with or have any conflict with this legendary figure.

As expected, Liu Qi, having gotten some "rumors," had dinner with people from the safety supervision, quality inspection, and environmental protection departments. Then someone stepped in and claimed that it was due to the illegal operations of the relevant outsourcing unit. Yipin Group had already cut off business cooperation with the other party, and the relevant personnel were detained for a few days, fined, and then released. Liu Qi's Yipin Group even issued a solemn statement, completely shirking responsibility.

That's true. Illegally dumping building materials isn't a major offense; it usually just results in a fine and administrative detention. Liu Qi didn't do it intentionally. While the cost of the waste disposal site is indeed substantial, it's not an insurmountable expense for a large company like Yipin Group; it's within their budget. It's really a matter of lax management in Liu Qi's departments. His subordinates were trying to embezzle that disposal fee without even knowing it, so when word got to him, he was stunned for a long time before finally chuckling to himself.

He said to the person next to him, "I haven't been to Wangfujing lately because I was really worried about that ghostly Zhao Tao over there. He might suddenly decide to stab me in the back or shoot me in the back. Well, look what happened. Zhao Tao stopped fighting and learned to use underhanded tactics... I told you, Zhao Tao chickened out. The underworld in Rongcheng... it's time for a change of scenery."

Zhao Tao's attempts to influence Liu Qi through legitimate means failed, and instead brought him a wave of trouble. The provincial television station suddenly broadcast an undercover report, with the camera focused directly on Shengfeng Express: "The express delivery industry's warehouses are filthy and disorganized, the environment is appalling, fire safety standards are not met, and unlicensed vehicles are illegally transporting mail!"

The news was tantamount to publicly humiliating Shengfeng.

The following day, several of Shengfeng's warehouses were simultaneously inspected and ordered to cease operations for rectification. Transport vehicles were also found to be smuggling private messages, their operating permits were confiscated, and some routes were directly suspended…

A series of troubles weighed heavily on Zhao Tao's shoulders.

In the phone call with Zhang Chen, Zhao Tao's voice was muffled and agitated: "The brothers are in an uproar. Some are cursing, some are banging on the table. If I hadn't stopped them today, I'm afraid several groups would have gone out to fight Liu Qi to the death."

Zhao Tao felt it was indeed difficult to confront someone like Liu Qi in this way. He had already stopped using violence, but he was still unwilling to accept Zhang Chen's order to remain inactive. Zhao Tao was not the type to wait passively; in the past, he and his brothers would always take the initiative and strike first. Now, since they couldn't resort to violence, finding evidence of Liu Qi's illegal activities and taking him down was a method his brothers could accept. Unexpectedly, once the "legitimate methods" were used, Liu Qi's counterattack was faster and more ruthless. His so-called connections in the legitimate world were on a completely different level from their petty squabbles.

Simply put, Shengfeng is now in a complete mess.

On the other end of the phone, Zhao Tao's voice was low and his tone stubborn and serious: "You want to deal with him? Fine, I believe you. But you have to give me a heads-up: when will we see results? I can't let the brothers keep suffering like this, watching the company get ruined!" Zhang Chen was silent for a moment, then had to persuade him again: "Brother Zhao, your task isn't to get bogged down in this quagmire. He'd love to drag you down with him. Your most important thing right now is to manage the company well, stabilize the overall situation, and stop getting caught up in this low-level battle. Believe me, his company, despite its current glorious status as a land king, will soon rot from within and run into serious problems because of this!"

Although Zhao Tao had run into a wall this time, he was clearly still somewhat wary of the methods Liu Qi had used in their confrontation. "Those reporters had been lying in wait for a long time. The provincial TV station suddenly released the news like this, putting us at a great disadvantage and causing such a commotion... Does Liu Qi have people in the provincial TV station? Can he really command such tools?"

Liu Qi was unlike any opponent he had ever faced before. This kind of person was too cunning, not a hero, but he had a unique way of doing things, leaving no bones behind.

If he and his men were to confront Liu Qi directly, there would only be two outcomes: either he would be suppressed and unable to hold his head high, or he would even have to run away, but he couldn't let Liu Qi find an opportunity. If he did, he would gamble the rest of his life on a mutually destructive and annihilating fight with Liu Qi. Zhao Tao was a hero, and this was the fate of a hero.

The second possibility is that he was completely and silently destroyed, with Liu Qi manipulating everything behind the scenes. Zhao Tao's company failed, his brothers scattered, he went to prison, and upon his release, he missed the golden age of his life and the era. Or perhaps Liu Qi feared that he would seek revenge and ensured that he would never be released.

"Many voices can melt metal; those who control the discourse are the tigers that devour people," Zhang Chen said. "I haven't been idle either. What we need to do first is to pull out his tiger teeth and chop off his tiger claws."

"Tch!" Zhao Tao scoffed over the phone. "If you had said something like that to me before, I wouldn't have even looked up at you."

Zhang Chen found it amusing and teased, "And now?"

Zhao Tao's deep voice sounded like he was about to exhale a pent-up rage, "Give me a good beating and avenge what happened to me today!"

Sometimes Zhang Chen felt that the world was incredibly strange. It was as if the power struggle between a gangster like Zhao Tao and a real estate tycoon like Liu Qi, who were both well-connected in the underworld and the legitimate world, was actually orchestrated through Zhang Chen, a high school senior, as a hidden thread. In reality, the final blow was handed to Jiang Rong, a seemingly frail girl who had just graduated from university and had been interning in the media industry for less than a year.

The Seven-Day Promise.

After a period of intense production.

It was repackaged and re-released through Jiang Rong's original program channels.

(End of this chapter)