Mad Dragon gets out of prison and marries a beautiful CEO.

Chapter 122

Chen Li lifted his hand from the short blade and took half a step back to the side.

He looked down at the unsheathed short blade on the tea table, its blade reflecting the warm yellow light and casting a thin, cold gleam.

He didn't reach for the knife, but instead shifted his gaze from the blade back to Lu Changgeng's face, and said:

"Lu Changgeng, you ask me if we can break through. Let me ask you, do you really think those twenty men outside your courtyard, those eight at the foot of the mountain, and those ten in the duty room are qualified to take a knife for you?"

Lu Changgeng's hand, holding the teacup, hovered in mid-air, the rim of the cup slightly tilted but he didn't put it down.

He looked at Chen Li, and the calm shell in his eyes slowly crumbled.

Lu Changgeng put down his teacup, the sound of the bottom of the cup hitting the rosewood tabletop being particularly clear in the quiet room.

"Young man, no matter how fast your blade is, how many people can you kill? Can you wipe out this entire martial world?"

Chen Li's hand landed on the tea table, not on the hilt of his knife, but instead pushed the short blade, scabbard and all, an inch toward Lu Changgeng, and said:

"Killing one person is enough."

"When you sat in this chair thirty years ago, it was also because you killed someone. You killed the previous chairman and then blamed his death on an accident."

"You know better than I do that sometimes you don't need to kill everyone. As long as the person sitting at the top is gone, the rest will naturally disperse."

Lu Changgeng's expression finally changed, and his hands, which were folded together on his knees, clenched slightly, his knuckles turning white.

He looked at Chen Li, his lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but Chen Li spoke first.

"You sent Zhou Ting to infiltrate the Azure Dragon Hall to leave a trace within Lin Xiao's inner circle, so that you would still have a way to turn the tables if she defected."

"But Zhou Ting is in my hands, and the list is in my hands."

"You won't receive any messages from her tonight, and you know what that means."

"Lin Xiao has already made his move; the people you planted in the Azure Dragon Hall are being removed one by one."

"While I'm sitting here talking to you, you've lost another usable nail."

Lu Changgeng's gaze swept across the windows on the left and right sides of the main hall.

Chen Li noticed this subtle movement and guessed that he was calculating the escape route.

"You don't need to look anymore," Chen Li said. "I've had the road leading from the back door of your main hall to the back mountain blocked off."

Lu Changgeng gripped the edge of the armrest tightly, and the veins on the back of his hand stood out.

He stared at Chen Li, his voice deepening, the warm shell completely peeling away to reveal the rough, unyielding edge beneath, a sharpness that only emerges when cornered:

"What do you want? To kill me?"

Chen Li looked at him:

"What's the point of killing a retired person like you? I'll show you how you lose."

He raised his right hand and gently hooked his five fingers together.

Footsteps came from the courtyard outside the main hall, hurried and rhythmic, followed by the sound of windows on both sides of the main hall being pushed open at the same time.

Ye Qinglian's men stood outside the window, dressed in dark clothes and carrying weapons. Each of them had a flushed face from the recent fight.

They retreated to the outer edge of the courtyard and stopped five steps from the window sill, neither rushing in nor moving aside.

"My men have already taken care of the twenty men outside your courtyard," Chen Li said, looking at Lu Changgeng. "The eight men at the foot of the mountain were taken into custody the moment you finished your first sentence. The ten men in the duty room dispersed the moment you finished your second sentence. The men standing outside the main hall now are not your men."

Lu Changgeng's face was like a plaster statue slowly weathering away. His grip on the armrest loosened and tightened, then loosened again, before finally slowly lifting it up to pick up the celadon teacup in front of him and looking down at the tea that had gone cold.

The water surface trembled slightly; it was his hand shaking.

Chen Li said in a condescending tone:

"Lu Changgeng, you don't need to hand over anything tonight. I will let Ye Qinglian take over your fund chain and personnel list."

"After Lin Xiao's Azure Dragon Hall finishes wiping out everyone tonight, it will sever all ties with you."

"Your men at White Dragon Hall will start receiving transfer orders tomorrow."

You have no choice.

Lu Changgeng raised his head, the sharp light in his eyes completely extinguished at that moment, and opened his mouth, letting out a hoarse sound:

"When...when did you set this up?"

"From the day you sent someone to kill Xiao Wu, you pulled out my knife, and I sabotaged your efforts. You retreated step by step, and I stepped forward step by step."

Chen Li picked up the short blade from the tea table, sheathed it, and turned to walk towards the door.

This time he didn't stop, but pushed open the door and walked out into the night breeze. Behind him was the warm lamp in the main hall and an old, withered figure sitting motionless in a round-backed chair.

As he walked through the courtyard, Ye Qinglian's men made way for him.

As he passed the screen wall, he saw Ye Qinglian standing under the porch, wearing black trousers and a shirt, holding a cell phone in her hand.

Standing beside her was Lin Xiao, her white silk dress stained with blood, indicating that she had personally killed some important people.

Lin Xiao held the string of sandalwood prayer beads in her hand, as if she had just taken them off her wrist, and was slowly twirling them between her fingers.

"it's over?"

Ye Qinglian's voice came from the night wind.

Chen Li walked up to them and stopped, glancing back at the direction of the main hall.

The wooden door was still open, and the light inside was warm and quiet, like the last embers in a extinguished furnace.

"Let him stay here by himself. He'll hand over his things tomorrow. If he doesn't, let him die. You take over," Chen Li instructed.

Ye Qinglian nodded and led her people toward the main hall.

Lin Xiao stood still, put the sandalwood prayer beads back on her wrist, glanced down at the warm luster of the beads under the streetlight, and looked up at Chen Li.

"You told me to remember this favor," she said. "Before you went to Mingyuan, you had already had the area around Qinglong Hall taken care of. You weren't just helping me out; you were telling me that you can get things done before I need you."

Chen Li looked at her and said:

"It's just mutual benefit. You gave me the logistics channels, and I cleaned up your backyard for you."

Lin Xiao's lips curved slightly, but she did not refute.

She turned and took two steps toward the foot of Mingyuan Mountain, then stopped and turned to the side:

"Lu Changgeng will be useless after tonight. If the people from Bailongtang are dissatisfied, you can have Song Qingtong prepare an arrest list in advance; she has the authority to do so."

"Yes, that's for the best."

Chen Li nodded in response. They had finished the meat, so they should give Song Qingtong some soup.

Lin Xiao left, her figure disappearing into the shadows of the trees in the night.

Chen Li stood still, while Ye Qinglian had already entered the main hall. Only a few people remained in the courtyard, cleaning up the traces around the perimeter.

He took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, lit it, and took a drag. The night breeze swept through the courtyard, dispersing the smoke in the lamplight.

My phone vibrated.

He glanced at the screen; it was a message from Su Wan, a selfie of her sitting in a conference room holding up a contract renewal agreement. The words "Xinghai Entertainment" on the contract cover were clearly visible under the flash, accompanied by the following text:

"Now that the contract's signed, are you buying me three yuan's worth of spicy snacks?"

Chen Li looked at the line of text, his lips twitched slightly, then he put his phone back in his pocket without replying.

He finished his cigarette, stubbed it out on the sole of his shoe, and turned to walk towards the foot of the mountain.

The iron gate at the foot of the mountain was still open. The butler was not standing there, but was hanging by the neck from a horizontal branch of a maple tree by a rope. When the wind blew, the leaves rustled, and he swayed like a swing.

"Who killed him?"

Chen Li pointed to the butler and asked the person guarding the intersection.

"Miss Ye," the man replied, then added, "Miss Ye discovered that the idea to harm Master Ye was his, so she had her men stab him to death and hang him from a tree."

Chen Li said in a seemingly joking tone:

"So, you shouldn't mess with women easily, don't you think?"

The man lowered his head; he dared not make any unwarranted comments.