Second update,

...

Of course, where some were elevating, there definitely were others suppressing.

Following the Bihai Pavilion incident, as one of the involved parties, Bihai Pavilion maintained an attitude of indifference toward the matter, neither clarifying anything proactively nor showing any reaction.

One could say Bihai Pavilion was swallowing its pride, or one could also say Bihai Pavilion possessed a broad and forgiving heart.

The benefits were quite clear anyway; at least business at Bihai Pavilion had improved a great deal over the past few days, with the gambling den especially seeing a continuous increase in profits. This brought Li Hui so much joy that he couldn't stop praising Li Rui's clever moves.

As for Qin Fang, the other involved party, he had disappeared without a trace, not even showing his face. Many people guessed that he might not have come out ahead but suffered a major loss instead. There were even rumors that someone had seen Bihai Pavilion personnel sneaking two sacks out the back door, insinuating that they had sunk Qin Fang to the bottom of the river to feed the fish.

Hearing Ning Weiqiang say this, Qin Fang himself couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time. These past few days, he had been paying attention to Li Rui and Chen Weilian's movements without detecting anything out of the ordinary; that's why he sought out Ning Weiqiang's help, never expecting the rumors to reach such heights.

"Qin Fang, you must be very careful yourself. Li Rui is not as simple as you think; you mustn't let your guard down!"

Even though he learned from Qin Fang that everything that happened at Bihai Pavilion was real, Ning Weiqiang couldn't help but remind Qin Fang. Imagining the degree of power it took for Li Rui to unify the Ninghai underground forces in just a few years indicated his formidable strength.

"I understand!"

Qin Fang nodded, not doubting Li Rui's strength in the slightest—in fact, his wariness was even greater than Ning Weiqiang could imagine.

After hearing about the two sacks from Bihai Pavilion, Qin Fang knew exactly what was inside them; when he went to pick up Fan Ning, he had already noticed two people being held to one side, kneeling on the ground. One of them was clad in particularly lavish and expensive attire, likely a high-level manager of Bihai Pavilion.

Without a doubt, Chen Weilian must have bribed this person to be able to imprison Fan Ning right under Li Rui's nose.

The relationship between Qin Fang and Tang Cheng was actually quite easy to uncover. After all, the time Qin Fang sold jade to Lin Yuan, he happened to run into Tang Cheng. And Lin Yuan, being the president's assistant of Hanhai Group, with Chen Weilian as the vice president, their relationship certainly wasn't simple. It wouldn't be hard to discover Qin Fang and Tang Cheng's relationship, not to mention that Qin Fang and Tang Feifei's relationship was already well known throughout the school.

The feud between Li Rui and Tang Cheng was an open secret within the Ninghai circle; though both never showed any hostility, everyone knew they couldn't stand each other.

The scheme of Chen Weilian was quite clear; he wanted to use Qin Fang to stir up the conflict between Tang Cheng and Li Rui, but he never anticipated that Qin Fang alone would resolve the situation and even expose him in the process, which became clear from the way Li Rui looked at Chen Weilian recently.

...

With Ning Weiqiang's help, Fan Ning's passport was processed smoothly, and Qin Fang asked her to take a trip around Europe, to thoroughly enjoy each country she visited.

Qin Fang didn't let Fan Ning use her own bank card, instead, he made a supplementary card for her to use. With his current wealth, funding Fan Ning's travels wasn't an issue.

"Why have you come again?"

What made Qin Fang lose his appetite was that just after he had just accompanied Fan Ning home to pack a few clothes, the National Security agents, who had been out of sight for several days, showed up again, led by Director Fan. However, Zhao Kang was nowhere to be seen.

Regardless of whether Zhao Kang had recovered from his injuries, after being dealt with by Qin Fang, he would probably avoid Qin Fang at all costs for the rest of his life.

"Stop looking; that kid Zhao Kang returned to Capital City..."

Noticing Qin Fang's gaze, Director Fan immediately spoke with a chuckle, "I'm here this time still about the last incident..."

"When will this ever end? I've said it multiple times that Fan Ning just went on a trip for a few days. Isn't she back home now? If you keep pestering us, I won't be so polite..."

Qin Fang was truly annoyed with this group of National Security agents. They weren't much help when it came to saving people, but they were particularly good at bothering him. Just as Fan Ning came out with her clothes and belongings, Qin Fang had enough and spoke up assertively.

He had already clashed with National Security once before; if pressed, he was ready to do it again.

"We are well aware she's back..."

Director Fan smiled and said, "But we have some matters we would like to discuss with her..."

"There's nothing to talk about. Get out of here quickly, or I'll..."

"Qin Fang!"

Just as Qin Fang was about to raise his furnace-sized fists to intimidate the National Security and ensure Fan Ning boarded the plane peaceably, Fan Ning spoke up before he could act.

"Stop it, I'll talk to them..."

Qin Fang was aware of Fan Ning's stubborn nature; once she made up her mind, it was hard to change it—this wouldn't have happened if it weren't for the previous red envelope incident with Qin Fang.

"Fan Ning, these guys are all... Okay, okay, I'll listen to you, alright?"

Qin Fang tried to persuade her but couldn't stand up to Fan Ning's firm gaze and had to reluctantly compromise.

"Xiao He, go and have a talk with Miss Fan!"

Director Fan immediately beamed with joy and dispatched the National Security beauty whom Qin Fang had previously met to accompany Fan Ning into the room.

Old Fan still had some standards, knowing to send a woman to discuss matters with Fan Ning. If he dared to send a man into the bedroom and close the door to talk, Qin Fang would have definitely thrown him down from upstairs.

"Do you smoke?"

Sitting down with Qin Fang, Old Fan took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, offered one to Qin Fang, and seemed quite polite.

Qin Fang didn't hesitate, accepted the cigarette, and Old Fan even proactively lit it for him. Then he lit one for himself, and the two of them started puffing away in the living room.

In fact, Qin Fang didn't like smoking, but sometimes when the pressure was great, he'd smoke one or two, like right now when he felt a bit conflicted.

"You must already know everything about Miss Fan's situation. We mean her no harm, and you could even say we are helping her break free from that organization... We can understand what's in your heart, but what you don't know is just how clandestine that organization is, and how powerful!"

"And what about you? How powerful is National Security?"

Qin Fang scoffed, unabashedly sneering.

National Security was responsible for the nation's safety, and spy organizations fell under their jurisdiction, yet such an organization had been entrenched in Ninghai for so many years but still existed. This only proved that these National Security people were incompetent.

"Ha ha..."

Old Fan laughed awkwardly, took a drag on his cigarette, "You're young, you always think things are very simple. Do you think we have no way with this organization? Wrong. If we really wanted to bring it down, we could bust it anytime... But you should know, behind such organizations, there are always some forces backing them. Even if it gets taken down, how would that matter? It won't be long before it rises from the ashes!"

Qin Fang fell silent, saying nothing.

"Remember the ledger from last time? I know you're the one who handed it over. You must have read it, too. But we took down so many people, and what of the organization? It just went underground, becoming even more secretive. Once the time comes, they'll just resurface again..."

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

This time Qin Fang didn't stay silent but looked into Old Fan's eyes and spoke deliberately.

Clearly, Old Fan had a hidden meaning in his words, and this time he seemed not to have come for Fan Ning, but specifically for Qin Fang.

"Talking to a smart person is always pleasant..."

Old Fan immediately smiled, took out an ID book from his person, and placed it in front of Qin Fang. Other than a golden national emblem, there was nothing else on it.

Qin Fang frowned slightly but still took and flipped through the ID book, his frown growing deeper.

"You want me to join National Security?"

After hesitating a bit, Qin Fang threw the ID book back onto the table, his lips curling disdainfully as he spoke.

"Not joining National Security!"

Old Fan was not surprised, but he shook his head and denied it, "It's only taking the title of an advisor for National Security, assisting us with certain tasks when needed, and normally no one will bother you!"

"So what is this? A duty of a citizen?"

Qin Fang scoffed even more.

"There are also rights involved! For instance... Fox Assumes Tiger's Might! Just kidding, don't mind me. An advisor for National Security counts as half of National Security; when necessary, you can seek our help. Even if you accidentally kill someone, as long as it's not intentional, we can cover for you..."

"Hmm?"

Qin Fang had thought Old Fan was joking. He was somewhat anticipating what Old Fan would use to persuade him, but he never expected to be presented with such a right.

"So this is what they call a 'license to kill'?"

Being covered even if you killed someone—wasn't that essentially a license to kill?

"What do I need to do?"

But of course, there is no such thing as a free lunch in this world; the more rights one enjoys, the greater the price that must be paid.

"Nothing much, just occasionally helping me carry out some tasks that we can't handle openly!"

Old Fan made light of it as if these tasks were as simple as inviting someone out for dinner, "It will probably just involve assassinating a person or two. I know your gunmanship is pretty good, and you also possess those unbelievable acupuncture techniques."

Listening to this, Qin Fang felt as though he'd walked into a trap; as if someone had already planned out his path for the future.

"Oh, right, I almost forgot to mention, the boss of National Security is a Tang!"

Qin Fang couldn't figure it out, but Old Fan's last sentence suddenly gave him a sense of clarity. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it at Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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