Chapter 46: Did You Pick the Hanging Fruit?

After Tang Baiqing finished talking with Yu Mingyuan, he drove away by himself.

Su Tianyu got back into the car and frowned as he asked Yu Mingyuan: "Brother Yuan, what did he say?"

"Tang Baiqing said it wasn't the dock gang who sent people to do it, but he'll urge them to help investigate," Yu Mingyuan interjected with a question: "Tianyu, if this matter isn't related to the dock people, who else could it possibly be?"

"The question is, can we trust what Tang Baiqing says?" Su Tianyu pressed.

"Don't consider what Tang Baiqing said. Right now, just think if there's a possibility that it was done by another group. If there is, we need to verify it, understand?" Yu Mingyuan replied with clear logic.

Su Tianyu pondered for a while: "Besides the port people, the only ones who have had conflicts with us and might be envious or seeking revenge are Changqing Company's side, Lu Feng and his people."

Yu Mingyuan considered for a moment: "Go talk to Lu Feng, lay it out directly, just ask him if he did it."

Hearing this, Su Tianyu felt a bit overwhelmed: "If I go find Lu Feng, we might start stabbing each other before we even start talking."

Yu Mingyuan turned to look out the window: "Tomorrow I'll have someone go with you, to back you up. We'll approach this from two angles, first figure out where the problem lies."

"Alright," Su Tianyu nodded, then started the car: "Brother Yuan, besides this matter, didn't Tang Baiqing say anything else to you?"

Yu Mingyuan looked at him with some surprise: "He just said the dock gang was a bit envious of our business and might want to buy in."

"Ah," Su Tianyu nodded, not delving deeper into the topic with him.

......

About an hour later.

Su Tianyu returned to the garbage yard and sat down with Su Tiannan, Su Tianbei, Bai Hongbo, Kong Zhenghui, and others to discuss this matter. But everyone currently knew very little information and wasn't sure who had taken the people and goods, so for now all they could do was wait and let the higher-ups use their connections to investigate the cause of the incident.

In the early hours of the morning, everyone was troubled by the loss of goods and people, unable to sleep. They sat together in the garbage yard waiting for daybreak.

During this time, Zhang Hao's mother also came, crying and asking Su Tianyu where her son had gone. But he couldn't tell her the outcome either, and could only join Su Tiannan and others in consoling her, telling her that her son was definitely fine, that once connections were made, he would return soon, and that the Yu family would definitely take care of it.

And so, they waited until around 8 AM the next day when Su Tiannan finally found out Lu Feng's whereabouts.

After the battle at Fuman Tower, Lu Feng had been recovering for over two months. After being discharged from the hospital, he was very depressed and didn't need to worry about company matters, so recently he had been "recuperating" at a temple on Qiu Mountain, nurturing his mental state.

It was said that Lu Feng was a Buddhist believer. In the past, on every first and fifteenth day of the lunar month, he would go up the mountain to stay for two days, eating vegetarian meals and fingering prayer beads.

How ironic that a person who constantly engaged in shady business and ran a gang-like organization was actually a lay Buddhist disciple.

......

At 10 AM.

A friend sent by Yu Mingyuan arrived at the garbage yard to meet with Su Tianyu.

After a brief exchange, Su Tianyu took Bai Hongbo and Kong Zhenghui, along with this person, to Qiu Mountain Temple, preparing to have a talk with Master Lu Feng.

On the way to Qiu Mountain Temple, Su Tianyu noticed that Yu Mingyuan's friend sat very straight while driving, and there were several passes with military insignia in the lower left corner of the windshield.

"Brother, are you from the military?" Su Tianyu asked with a smile.

"Ah," the other replied, showing no intention of elaborating.

Seeing that the man didn't want to discuss this topic, Su Tianyu didn't probe further and spent the rest of the journey talking with Bai Hongbo and Kong Zhenghui.

......

Qiu Mountain Temple, with its back to the mountain and facing the sea, had excellent scenery.

Today was Sunday, and there were quite a few people coming to pray and burn incense. After arriving, Su Tianyu and the others parked their car in the visitor parking lot.

Under the scorching sun, Su Tianyu walked a few steps forward with the others, then suddenly said to Bai Hongbo: "You go up with this brother. I won't go, to avoid getting into a fight with Lu Feng."

"So I'm not afraid of getting beaten up?!" Bai Hongbo asked righteously.

"You can take a beating, you go," Kong Zhenghui added.

Hearing this, Yu Mingyuan's friend smiled and turned to Su Tianyu, saying: "It's fine, with me here, he won't dare to get physical."

"You go, we'll wait here," Su Tianyu added.

Left with no choice, Bai Hongbo could only go up the mountain with Yu Mingyuan's friend.

In the parking lot, Kong Zhenghui smoked and asked with furrowed brows: "Do you think Changqing Company could have done it?"

"Hard to say," Su Tianyu shook his head.

"Thinking about it, it might not necessarily be the dock gang either," Kong Zhenghui said softly. "If they were really envious, couldn't they just talk it out openly? Why bother with masks and hiding?"

Su Tianyu fell into deep thought: "I haven't figured it out yet either."

As the two were talking in the parking lot, Big Bai and Yu Mingyuan's friend had already reached the refectory of Qiu Mountain Temple. This area was full of tourists staying at the temple, looking very lively.

The two entered the courtyard for receiving guests and quickly found Lu Feng after asking around.

About ten minutes later, a young monk led Bai Hongbo and Yu Mingyuan's friend to a pavilion in the courtyard. Lu Feng was a bit confused when he saw Bai Hongbo and Yu Mingyuan's friend.

"What do you want?" Lu Feng asked, his gaze fiery as he looked at Bai Hongbo.

Bai Hongbo was actually a bit intimidated by Lu Feng, but he still forced himself to reply: "I want to ask you something. Su Tiannan had someone pass a message to you, right?"

Lu Feng's mouth twitched, his hair disheveled in the breeze, and he didn't respond.

"Last night, the hanging fruit we put out at sea was picked by someone. We have a history, so I won't beat around the bush. I came today to ask if you picked that hanging fruit?" Bai Hongbo spoke directly in underworld slang, very fluently.

Lu Feng squinted as he looked Bai Hongbo up and down, still not replying.

"If you picked it, let's talk openly. Don't do that under-the-table stuff," Bai Hongbo felt Lu Feng's gaze on him was a bit off and continued somewhat hesitantly: "You know this business isn't led by our few families, there's a boss behind it, understand?"

By now, Lu Feng was about to explode with frustration. Since the internal strife in Zha'nan's sanitation circle began, not only had he been beaten and lost face, but the territory he had almost secured was also lost, and his subordinates like Floral Shirt had been arrested. After being discharged from the hospital, Li Hongze and others had many complaints about him, and there were even some conflicts within Changqing Company due to the problem of too many people and too little meat. That's why he had retreated to the mountain for a few days of peace. But he never expected them to find him here, and even speak to him in underworld slang??

Lu Feng held back for a long time, then said to Bai Hongbo in a trembling voice: "Get as far away from me as you can, I don't want to beat you up in the temple!"

Bai Hongbo looked at him sideways: "Then... then you have to tell me, did you pick that hanging fruit or not?!"

"Fuck your mother, if you don't leave now, I'll beat you to death in a moment!" Lu Feng was about to lose control.

"Don't give me that useless talk, I'm just asking you, did you pick that hanging fruit or not?"

"I'll fucking pick your skull off!" Lu Feng reached out to grab Bai Hongbo's collar.

"Wait a moment."

At this point, Yu Mingyuan's friend stepped in to block Lu Feng.

"Get out of my way!"

"My name is Li Tao, I'm Yu Mingyuan's friend," the man with the straight back said, standing in front of Lu Feng. "The sea business has some connection to the military. We're not here to cause trouble today, understand?"

Hearing this, Lu Feng was stunned for a moment.

"I'm just asking you, did you pick that hanging fruit or not?!" Bai Hongbo, hiding behind the man, pointed at Lu Feng and shouted.

Lu Feng, with veins popping on his forehead, glanced at the man in front of him, then after holding back for a long time, cursed at Bai Hongbo: "Pick your mother's pussy, I came up the mountain as soon as I was discharged from the hospital. Where would I go to pick anything?"

The man called Li Tao was taken aback: "It really wasn't Changqing?"

"It wasn't. We don't eat from outside our circle," Lu Feng replied. "Moreover, if we were to do anything, we'd at most hijack the goods. We wouldn't touch people, let alone go into the water."

Hearing this, Li Tao was surprised: "You know the details? That means you've heard about this matter?"

Lu Feng held back for a while: "Last night that idiot Li Xing also called me, asking if I did this. I'm just confused, why do you three families keep fucking asking me about your business?"

Li Tao fell silent.

"For business on the water, except for some newcomers to Dragon City who might try to intercept, who else would touch it? Five or six speedboats going into the water to work, coming and going freely, how could people who eat from the sea not know anything about it?" Lu Feng threw down these words and turned to leave.

Li Tao was stunned for a moment, then called out: "Let's go."

"Such a fierce person, believing in Buddha," Bai Hongbo said, following behind the man. "What a waste."

"Go fuck your mother!" Lu Feng cursed without turning back, and left the mountain that day.

......

Twenty minutes later, at the foot of the mountain.

"It wasn't done by Lu Feng, and it probably wasn't done by Changqing either," Bai Hongbo said to Su Tianyu. "When we were talking just now, he was about to lose it. I could see he was a bit depressed."

Su Tianyu nodded, not saying anything more.

Back at the garbage yard, Yu Mingyuan's friend left, and Su Tianyu called Kong Zhenghui aside to ask: "Let's not talk about who did this for now. I just want to ask you, they hijacked the goods, took the people, but still haven't shown themselves. What does that mean?"

"To make you anxious, then negotiate with you."

"What are they after?" Su Tianyu asked again.

"Even an idiot would know they're after the business! If they just wanted money, they would have contacted you already."

"Zhenghui, currently the profit distribution is: our three families 30%, Tang Baiqing 30%, Yu family 40%," Su Tianyu turned his head to look around, then lowered his voice and said: "If they're after the business, whose interests would be diluted?"

Kong Zhenghui was suddenly stunned by these words.

"The source of goods is from the Yu family, the connections are from Tang Baiqing. In this business, only the courier work can be replaced," Su Tianyu stared at Kong Zhenghui and said: "You understand my meaning, right?"

As he finished speaking, the two looked at each other for a long while.

"Do you have connections at the docks?" Su Tianyu suddenly asked.

Kong Zhenghui immediately understood: "Damn it, now that you mention it, I suddenly remembered that question you asked me last time when the dock gang intercepted us."

......

At around 8 PM that evening.

Yu Mingyuan sat in his company office and answered Tang Baiqing's call: "Hello?"

"The dock gang people have given us information. It seems the hijackers were Thunder Boys from outside Dragon City, coming for big money," Tang Baiqing's voice came through.

"Thunder Boys from outside Dragon City? Can you ask the dock gang to mediate and talk to them?" Yu Mingyuan asked.

Tang Baiqing immediately replied: "I've already said that, but Xu Hu asked me, why should the dock gang help us make connections?"