Chapter 48: No News At All

Early the next morning, in the Yu family's suburban villa, Yu Mingyuan and his family were sitting at the dining table eating breakfast.

"Brother Yuan, we've planned to go camping at Zha Lake Reservoir next weekend. Will you join us?" An Qiqi asked sweetly.

"I have a lot of things to do recently, so I won't go. You all go ahead," Yu Mingyuan replied with a smile. "Have fun."

An Qiqi looked at Yu Mingyuan mischievously: "Brother, have you been in a bad mood lately? Did something happen at the company?"

"Nothing happened, just busy," Yu Mingyuan didn't say much.

Seeing that their big brother seemed to be in a bad mood, the others didn't say much more. After finishing breakfast, they all went about their own business.

After eating, Yu Mingyuan neatly put down his chopsticks and prepared to leave for work.

"Tap tap!"

Footsteps arose as Father Yu Jinrong came down from upstairs. He glanced at his son and asked: "Going to work?"

Seeing his father come down, Yu Mingyuan immediately turned and walked to the stairs, looking at him and replying: "I was just about to go to the company, Dad!"

Yu Jinrong came downstairs and walked towards the dining room: "Is there a problem at the company?"

Yu Mingyuan was taken aback for a moment, then immediately followed on the left side: "Yes, the goods were hijacked, and a few workers were also detained."

"Dock matters are a bit complicated. Can you handle it?" Yu Jinrong asked.

"No problem, Dad, I can handle it," Yu Mingyuan replied quite confidently, though he was very respectful to his father.

Hearing this answer, Yu Jinrong didn't ask further: "Don't overwork yourself. Things aren't built in a day, take appropriate rest."

"Yes," Yu Mingyuan nodded. "Then I'm off to work, Dad."

"Go ahead," Yu Jinrong sat down at the dining table, replying with a faint smile.

After chatting with his father for a bit, Yu Mingyuan saw him start to eat and then turned to leave.

The predicament the company was facing was actually quite dangerous. If not handled well, it could result in failing to keep the three dirty gang companies and offending the sea connections, leading to the collapse of the new business. But even so, Yu Mingyuan didn't seem to intend to ask his father for help.

After leaving home, Yu Mingyuan sat in the car and called Tang Baiqing: "I thought about it last night, let's talk to the dock gang people after all."

"Ah, you've finally come to your senses," Tang Baiqing immediately replied. "Alright, I'll arrange a meeting with Xu Hu. We'll meet first in the evening, then talk to them."

"Good, that's settled then," Yu Mingyuan hung up the phone and drove to the company with an expressionless face.

......

In Zha'nan District, at Tianhong People's Port, inside the Longqiao Import and Export Trading Company, Wei Xiangzuo sat on a wooden chair, smoking while talking with Xu Hu, the gang leader of the Zha'nan dock gang, and his brother Xu Er.

In fact, organizations like the dock gang have existed since ancient times, the only difference being that as times change, so do their ways of survival. In peaceful times, they mostly exist as labor unions, trading companies, groups, or civil organizations, making money and surviving in a relatively low-key manner. But in turbulent times, such organizations tend to become more active and influential.

For example, before the New Era, many import and export trading ports at home and abroad had numerous companies dealing in smuggled cars, parallel imports, and even contraband goods. These companies and groups had unclear structures, mysterious channels, and vague sales methods. They were deep waters, and when problems arose, they were always large groups involved in cases worth hundreds of millions or billions, yet they usually kept a very low profile.

In turbulent times, such organizations become more active and come to the surface. Firstly, to band together to make money and ensure their own interests are not harmed, and secondly, to form groups and absolute influence, thus creating a kind of industry monopoly. During this period, the company nature, group nature, and formal nature of these organizations decrease somewhat, and the underworld atmosphere becomes stronger, because when rules are chaotic, it's still necessary to rely on people.

The dock gang in Dragon City was of the latter type. Because the infrastructure level here had not yet reached complete modernization, many types of work and industries still relied on manpower to maintain operations. With many workers, various groups formed, and organizational structures emerged.

Dragon City was a port city, and the number of dock gang workers was enormous, far beyond comparison with organizations in the sanitation circle. But its internal structure was also relatively loose, with a stronger underworld atmosphere. Dragon City's dock gang had a Dock Workers General Association, defined as a civil organization. Simply put, its responsibility was to deal with the government, and dock gang workers from all districts were members of the General Association.

On the surface, the Dock Workers General Association was reasonable and legal, recognized as an official civil organization, but the division of territory under the table was more blatant and underworld-like. For example, the dock gang in Zha'nan District often had hidden conflicts and fights with the dock gangs in Longkou District and Xinjie District because they were close to each other, so they competed for private goods channels and markets.

Previously, Su Tianbei had said that Wei Xiangzuo had disappeared for several years, reportedly because he had caused a death in a conflict with people from Longkou District, so he had to flee.

The leaders of dock gangs in various districts all had very underworld-like nicknames, such as "Sitting Hall" or "Gang Leader", and these people all had seniority in the dock gang, having truly paid respects upwards, acknowledging masters and big brothers. For example, Wei Xiangzuo and Xu Hu had paid respects to masters from the General Association, so they were both considered to be of the "Xiang" generation. However, before Xu Hu entered this line of work, his name was already well-known, so outsiders rarely called him Xu Xianghu.

......

In the center of the lobby of Longqiao Import and Export Trading Company, there was a two-meter-high statue of Guan Yu, with an incense burner in front, altogether looking very gangster-like.

Xu Hu was the gang leader, in plain terms the number one, the big shot of the Zha'nan District dock gang, while Wei Xiangzuo was the sitting hall, mainly responsible for various specific under-the-table businesses.

"Brother Wei, we have an appointment with Yu Mingyuan tonight, want to come along?" Xu Hu invited.

"It's your business, you go ahead. I won't get involved," Wei Xiangzuo replied, smoking. "I'll just handle what we already have."

Xu Hu smiled: "Alright then, I'll have a talk with him tonight."

"Mm, if he's willing to join, help him get his people back," Wei Xiangzuo suggested. "Just follow the rules."

"Okay," Xu Hu agreed.

"Good, I'll be going then," Wei Xiangzuo said, getting up to leave after finishing the conversation.

......

At noon.

Near Haiyan Pit, Kong Zhenghui and Su Tianyu sat in the car, waiting for about twenty minutes before a three-wheeled motorcycle came over. The rider was the shifty-eyed man Kong Zhenghui had met last night.

The man stopped his three-wheeler, got into Kong Zhenghui's car and said: "I asked around, but couldn't find any information about seven speedboats."

Kong Zhenghui was unhappy hearing this: "Six thousand yuan, and this is all the news you got for me?!"

"I asked everyone I could, but no one had heard about those seven speedboats. I even asked friends from outside the district, they said no Thunder Boys went into the water to pick up goods," the shifty-eyed man said softly. "That's all I can say."

Kong Zhenghui blinked: "Can you dig a bit deeper, like news from the upper levels of the dock gang?"

"That'll cost extra," the man replied after thinking for a moment.

"Get out, get out of here!" Kong Zhenghui waved his hand dismissively.

The shifty-eyed man was also angry. He pushed open the car door and replied: "I'm the most principled person. I tell you there's no news for six thousand yuan, you've made a profit."

With that, the man closed the door and left.

"Damn, this is a bit strange!" Kong Zhenghui said to Su Tianyu. "This guy has been hanging around the docks for a long time. If he can't get any news, this..."

"No news is the biggest news," Su Tianyu interrupted. "Since we can't find out anything, why don't we be more direct?"

"How direct?"

"...!" Su Tianyu pondered for a while, then directly took out his phone and dialed a number.