CHAPTER 331: CHAPTER 328: 【GIVE UP】

Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty-Eight: Abandonment

Because they both knew the answer perfectly well.

He wouldn’t believe it.

If Fang Yuanchao ran out and then ratted on the Electric General...

Saying that your foster mother, who raised you for many years, your life’s greatest benefactor, wants to kill you...

Would the Electric General believe it?

Highly likely, the Electric General might just turn around and kill Fang Yuanchao on the spot.

An outsider, using words to sow discord between a mother and son?

"You could... take me to see..."

"You won’t believe it, even if I insist on taking you..." Fang Yuanchao shook his head. "You might not have the patience to escort me back... And what if she harms you? I only had to steal that thing, and then you would be safe. In fact, I left you a letter..."

Chen Nuo suddenly frowned. "Wait, you left a letter for the Electric General?"

"Of course. I stole the item to save his life, but I also had to warn him."

Chen Nuo looked at the Electric General, whose bewildered expression told him all he needed to know.

"So you didn’t receive that letter?"

"...No," the Electric General shook his head.

Fang Yuanchao said in a low voice, "I sent it through the channel you left..."

"No need to say more." Chen Nuo waved his hand. "Electric General, obviously, if you didn’t receive the letter, the only explanation is that your foster mother has planted a spy by your side. You have your foster mother’s people around you, right?"

The Electric General fell silent. While having a spy didn’t necessarily prove anything on its own, in this context... it strongly implied something. If she wasn’t guilty of something, why secretly intercept Fang Yuanchao’s letter?

The Electric General was silent for a full half-minute.

Suddenly, he lifted his head, stared at Chen Nuo, and said, "He... I’ll leave him to you for now! I... need to make a trip back immediately."

"To confront your foster mother? To turn against her?" Chen Nuo shook his head. "If she has been plotting against you for a long time, this foster mother of yours is probably not simple at all. You rushing back to confront her... Electric General, I don’t mean to look down on you. Even though you’re a Controller, if she’s been plotting against you for a long time, this foster mother of yours is likely far from simple. If you rush back to confront her... Given the current situation, I sense your foster mother is a very formidable character."

"I’m not that stupid!" the Electric General snorted coldly. "I... won’t confront her directly! I’ll investigate these matters in secret first. I need to verify what Fang Yuanchao said!"

He took a deep breath and pointed to his head. "I made it this far not because I’m brainless! I know what to do."

After saying that, the Electric General stormed toward the door. Just as he reached the threshold, he suddenly stopped and, without turning back, said softly, "Thank you, Old Fang."

When it came to other people’s family matters, it wasn’t really appropriate for Chen Nuo to get involved. Since the Electric General had stated he would handle it himself, Chen Nuo knew it wasn’t his place to interfere further.

The Electric General left as soon as he said he would, taking all his subordinates with him—which naturally included any of his foster mother’s spies among them. How the Electric General would deal with them was not Chen Nuo’s concern.

Fang Yuanchao remained, along with Zhang Suyu and Fang Lin, who had also been brought over.

This place was an underground storage warehouse at a hot spring resort owned by Li Qingshan. It was originally intended to be a large cold storage facility. However, since the resort’s business never boomed enough to require vast supplies, the cold storage was never built, though the warehouse itself remained.

Fang Yuanchao’s memory had mostly recovered.

And now, the one in the most awkward position was, naturally, Li Qingshan.

Li Qingshan was indeed at the resort but did not dare to see Fang Yuanchao—he didn’t even dare to run. With Chen Nuo now aware of all his misdeeds, Li Qingshan understood very well that if Chen Nuo decided to stand up for Fang Yuanchao, escaping would be tantamount to suicide.

Almost with the mindset of awaiting sentencing, Li Qingshan stayed at the hot spring resort.

Fang Yuanchao, along with Zhang Suyu and her daughter Fang Lin, were settled in another villa.

Chen Nuo didn’t let this family of three go back. Since there were spies around the Electric General, it meant that news of the Electric General coming to Jinling to find Fang Yuanchao’s family had probably already been relayed to his foster mother. The Electric General had given up on the matter, but that foster mother might not have. If she sent someone to Jinling again to look for Fang Yuanchao’s family, it would be troublesome.

Letting this family of three stay in Li Qingshan’s hot spring resort was indeed a decent place of refuge.

Chen Nuo was very clear about Li Qingshan’s mindset. Li Qingshan dared neither flee nor face Fang Yuanchao.

For two days, Li Qingshan only left once and quickly returned—he went to the airport to pick up Dr. Lv Shaojie, who had been sent back from Thailand. Then, without bringing Lv Shaojie back to the hot spring resort, he directly had someone send Lv Shaojie away.

After these matters were handled, Li Qingshan returned to the hot spring resort, seemingly with the mindset of someone who had put his final affairs in order.

He even took the initiative to find Chen Nuo.

"I... want to see Second Brother."

Chen Nuo was a bit surprised, then frowned and shook his head. "That’s between you and him; it has nothing to do with me. Moreover, Fang Yuanchao didn’t say he wanted to see you."

Chen Nuo regarded Hall Master Li coldly now. Li Qingshan’s actions were just as reprehensible as those Yao Weishan had committed against Old Sun. There were only two reasons Chen Nuo hadn’t personally dealt with Li Qingshan as he had with Yao Weishan. First, his bond with Fang Yuanchao wasn’t nearly as deep as his bond with Old Sun. Second, Li Qingshan hadn’t persecuted Fang Yuanchao’s family of three in the same way Yao Weishan had persecuted Old Sun.

"There’s always got to be a resolution," Li Qingshan said, his voice sounding as though he had aged several years. "As long as Second Brother is here, and I don’t face him, this matter won’t be considered settled for a single day."

Chen Nuo frowned. "How do you want to resolve it?"

"Whatever he wants, I’ll give him," Li Qingshan said with a sense of helplessness.

But Chen Nuo wasn’t going to be swayed by Li Qingshan’s pitiable appearance—he knew all too well the mentality of a wily old gangster like Li Qingshan. It wasn’t that Li Qingshan had suddenly found his conscience—though there might have been a tiny sliver of it, he certainly wasn’t kind-hearted enough to completely repent the moment Fang Yuanchao returned.

Of course, it was because of Chen Nuo’s own existence as the "middle arbitrator" with the power to tip the balance between the two forces. If it weren’t for Chen Nuo’s presence, Li Qingshan absolutely had the capacity to make Fang Yuanchao completely vanish from the face of the earth. He wouldn’t even be thinking about kowtowing and admitting his guilt now.

To make him disappear without a trace might be an exaggeration, but kicking Fang Yuanchao and his family out the door and ignoring them completely would likely have been the outcome.

Don’t naively think that all people in the underworld are loyal; that’s just nonsense depicted in movies. People involved in the underworld fundamentally engage in wrongdoing—actions that are wrong in both a legal and moral sense. Committing a bad act occasionally might be attributed to chance. But someone who’s accustomed to doing bad things over a long period can’t possibly be kind-hearted, much less care about saving face.

It was more accurate to say that Li Qingshan, by appearing to place himself at Fang Yuanchao’s mercy, was actually placing himself at Chen Nuo’s mercy.

He wasn’t afraid of Fang Yuanchao. He was afraid of Chen Nuo.

"I don’t want to see him anymore."

Fang Yuanchao told Chen Nuo this later that day.

Chen Nuo wasn’t surprised and simply asked indifferently, "He owes you so much. Are you okay with that?"

"...There’s nothing to be okay or not okay about," Fang Yuanchao shook his head. "He cheated me out of my money, deceived me, even made a cuckold of me, stole my woman..."

Chen Nuo sighed. "Just say ’but’."

Fang Yuanchao’s aged face was lined with wrinkles, anger in his eyes. "But, what can I do about it?"

Chen Nuo thought for a moment. "If you want justice, I can help you get it. The Electric General would probably be willing to help you too."

"How would you get it?" Fang Yuanchao sighed sorrowfully. "Stab Li Qingshan a couple of times? Or kill him?"

Chen Nuo fell silent.

Fang Yuanchao sneered. "My mind was addled, and my memories were confused, but I’m not a fool.

"You might be willing to help me out of some sense of outrage you can’t stand...

"But what about Li Qingshan? What happens after I stab him a few times?

"You might find that fair.

"And then you won’t get involved in this matter anymore.

"I have a family of three, and Li Qingshan controls his territory. If I stab him a few times, how will I live out my days? How will my family survive? Can you guarantee he won’t seek revenge on me or my family?

"Fine, then. What if he’s killed?

"Would you help me with that? I know Li Qingshan must have done quite a bit for you; he’s your man, or perhaps your dog.

"But would you really be willing, truly ready, to kill him for an outsider like me, just because of some injustice you can’t overlook?

"Alright, let’s say you are a saint and are willing to help me.

"But what after killing Li Qingshan?

"I’m an old man on the brink of death. Am I to carry the burden of another man’s life? To become a murderer?

"Li Qingshan is a big shot. His death wouldn’t go unnoticed. Various parties would investigate.

"What should I do? Run for my life? Take my wife and daughter on the run, or abandon them again to flee?

"Can you guarantee, after Li Qingshan’s death, that none of his underlings will come after me for revenge?"

Chen Nuo was speechless.

"I’m sixty years old," Fang Yuanchao went on slowly. "I don’t have many days left.

"Zhang Suyu... she has also fallen seriously ill. I don’t know how much longer I can stay with her, or how much I can make up to her.

"Li Qingshan is a despicable bastard, but what can an old man like me do at sixty?

"Should I go kill the woman who betrayed me and had an affair with him? Then kill Lv Shaojie?

"And then Li Qingshan?

"Mr. Chen Nuo!

"I’m sixty years old. I don’t have much time left.

"Even if you were willing to help me get this revenge, to vent this anger, can you ensure that an old man like me won’t face retaliation afterward?

"For how many years?

"After I die, what about my daughter?

"Li Qingshan swindled me, deceived me, cuckolded me.

"But at least, he didn’t go to extremes. After returning to Jinling, he didn’t harm my family and even took care of my mother’s funeral.

"He also secretly helped my wife, Zhang Suyu, with her business.

"He’s also looked after my daughter, Fang Lin.

"I... accept it!"

Chen Nuo understood the meaning behind those last few words. It wasn’t that Fang Yuanchao truly forgave Li Qingshan, but rather that Fang Yuanchao was finding reasons for himself to forgive Li Qingshan.

This resolute old man had given up.

"So, what will you..."

"I want to leave this place; it’s suffocating to stay here," Fang Yuanchao shook his head.

"Alright, I’ll make the arrangements."