Arranged marriage, love blossoms; a fiercely devoted soldier dotes on her alone.

"Brother Zhan, you should lead the brothers from now on!"

Everyone said in unison.

Judging from their appearance, Xiao Zhan thought they must have discussed it beforehand.

Seeing Xiao Zhan hesitate, Bai Zerui said firmly, "Brother Zhan, don't worry. We'll provide manpower, effort, and money. Just say the word and we'll be there."

At this moment, Xiao Zhan suddenly remembered what his grandfather had said to him at the Xiao family not long ago. At the time, he thought his grandfather was joking with him, but he didn't expect that his grandfather had already heard the news. Why didn't his grandfather tell him back then?

It seems the rumors circulating outside are not unfounded.

But why is it that everyone in the capital knows this except me?

Xiao Zhan's gaze swept over the crowd like a knife, finally settling on Bai Zerui, and he asked in a deep voice, "Who among you heard that Deng Zhi chose me to succeed him?"

Bai Zerui shook his head and said honestly, "I really don't know who said it."

Does anyone know?

Everyone shook their heads.

Kong Zhixiang said, "Brother Zhan, who cares who said it? As the saying goes, there's no smoke without fire. Anyway, everyone in Beijing's circles knows. Brother Zhan, I heard you're going to Syria with Deng Zhi tonight?"

Actually, this matter is no secret.

Xiao Zhan nodded and said, "That is indeed the case."

Bai Zerui: "That's right. Why is it only you and not anyone else? There are plenty of people in the Beijing circle. None of the dozen or so people here have this kind of treatment."

Suddenly, as if struck by a flash of inspiration, Xiao Zhan raised an eyebrow and said, "You mean Deng Zhi intentionally brought me along? Just for the white glove thing?"

Bai Zerui, Kong Zhixiang, and the others nodded.

Xiao Zhan's mind suddenly clicked, and he said, "So you've all heard the rumors about me, but I didn't know anything about it myself. That's kind of ridiculous."

Everyone pursed their lips, trying to smile.

Seeing everyone's expressions, Xiao Zhan grinned and said, "Laugh if you want to, isn't it uncomfortable to hold it in?"

"Does anyone know why Deng Zhi chose me?"

Bai Zerui smirked and said, "Brother Zhan, only Deng Zhi can answer that for you. We're just speculating."

Kong Zhixiang whispered, "I heard from my dad that Deng Zhi was diagnosed with a rare hereditary disease a while ago. It just hasn't manifested yet. Experts say that once the disease manifests, there is no cure. After the muscles start to ache, they become stiff and weak, and the pain is unbearable, eventually causing him to die from the pain."

Kong Zhixiang's father was a ministerial-level official in the Beijing government, so what he said should be true.

If this is true, Xiao Zhan feels that Deng Zhi's choice of a successor is reasonable and understandable.

After all, he controls nearly ten trillion in assets.

They are incredibly wealthy, practically richer than a country.

If such a vast amount of property were to get out of control, it would be an absolute catastrophe.

Xiao Zhan raised an eyebrow and asked, "Can any of you explain to me what money laundering is? You all know I just returned from the army not long ago, and I've been taking over the family business and cooperating with the National Security Bureau on various missions. I haven't had the opportunity or time to get involved in this kind of thing."

"Can someone tell me about it so I can broaden my horizons?"

Actually, Bai Zerui and Kong Zhixiang were the leaders among these people. Bai Zerui said, "Let me tell you about a recent case that my older brother told me about."

Bai Zerui's elder brother, Bai Zexiang, is a powerful department-level official in a judicial ministry in Beijing.

Bai Zerui continued, "He said there was a girl who opened a restaurant downstairs in a five-star hotel. It was decorated like a private museum, with private rooms filled with Ming and Qing dynasty furniture, antiques, and jade. She said she bought them all at high prices at auctions."

"This restaurant has two menus: one for 'mainstream dishes,' like a plate of stir-fried shredded potatoes costing 68 yuan; the other for 'specialty dishes,' with wines ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yuan. The restaurant staff are paid exceptionally high wages; waiters earn over 10,000 yuan a month, and the head chef earns at least 100,000 yuan. Three of the waitresses are female relatives, and judging by the head chef's skills, he's probably related as well. The restaurant only gets one or two tables of customers a day, mostly female friends and their friends bringing them. Actually, this restaurant doesn't make money from legitimate meals; it's used for money laundering."

"For example, if you accept a bribe of 1 million, you can launder the dirty money at this restaurant several times. The woman first colludes with an unlicensed auction house to have your wife bid 100 million for a chair worth 100 at an auction. After the auction, the auction house takes a 100 'commission' and returns the chair and the remaining 99 to your wife. Then your wife takes the chair and the auction receipt and pretends to sell it to the restaurant for 98. In this way, the money that was originally illegally received as a bribe becomes legitimate income from selling the chair. This is the first stage of money laundering."

"Next, have your brother-in-law go to a restaurant. A bottle of red wine that costs 120 yuan is priced at 120,000 yuan. He and a group of people drank eight bottles, totaling 960,000 yuan. This 960,000 yuan becomes the restaurant's 'legitimate' operating income—this is the second money laundering. The girl then uses 900,000 yuan of this to pay the head chef nine months' salary, which again becomes the chef's 'legitimate' labor income—this is the third money laundering. Then the chef's daughter goes to a jade shop and buys a jade carving that costs 80 yuan for 800,000 yuan. This 800,000 yuan becomes the jade shop's 'legitimate' sales revenue—this is the fourth money laundering."

"This jade shop was owned by your mother-in-law's cousin. He used the 80 yuan to buy a house as a gift for his mother, but the old lady loved her daughter more and left the house to your mother-in-law after she passed away. A few years later, your daughter wanted to study art at Harvard University Monterey Campus in the United States. You said that you had no savings after years of being an official and couldn't afford the tuition. At this time, the child's maternal grandmother said, 'Education should not be neglected,' and sold her house to raise 160 million yuan to pay for the child's tuition for four years."

"Some people will ask, 'This house was bought for 80, how can it be sold for 160 million?' The buyer said it was because his girlfriend liked the antique-style decoration of the house, which resembled a restaurant. Coincidentally, this buyer is the same person who gave you a 100 million bribe two years ago. Now the inspection team is investigating the source of your daughter's tuition fees, and you say the tuition fees came from your maternal grandmother selling her house, which was left by her mother, and her mother's house was a gift from her son, whose money came from selling jade. But what piece of jade can sell for 80? At this point, the buyer said, 'Sorry, I accidentally broke the jade carving last year, and there's no way to verify it now.'"

Xiao Zhan listened intently, his ears perked up. This was the first time he had ever heard of such a thing; the entire money laundering operation was remarkably smooth and seamless.

Xiao Zhan gave a thumbs up and said, "I've really learned something new."

Bai Zerui smiled and said, "There are countless ways to launder money like this. We often hear about all kinds of money laundering methods when we do business all over the country. They are so varied and ever-evolving."

Xiao Zhan thought to himself, "Bai Zerui and his gang probably do this kind of thing quite often, just not as big a deal as Deng Zhi!"

Xiao Zhan thought for a moment and asked, "What if the relevant departments find out?"

Bai Zerui's expression froze for a moment, then he laughed and said, "Hehe, it's the same old story. When the facts are in your favor, emphasize the facts; when the rules are in your favor, emphasize the rules; when both the facts and the rules are against you, flip the table and muddy things up. Then someone will naturally step in to coordinate. So, this line of work is shady, but it's also a powerful system. Many links are handled secretly by all sorts of people, but these people don't know each other and don't interfere with each other. Only the person in charge coordinates everything, and Deng Zhi is that kind of person."

Xiao Zhan frowned and said, "The waters here are too deep."

At this moment, Qin Huanhuan returned after finishing her phone call.

Everyone consciously fell silent, but they all raised their glasses in unison and said, "Wishing Brother Zhan and his wife a long and happy life together."

"Cheers!"