บท 17: Played Out by Heaven
บรรณาธิการ: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"Wait." Seeing that Chen Fan was about to leave, the middle aged man stood up to stop him.
Chen Fan turned his head. "What? You want me to pay for medical expenses?"
"Bro, could you leave your name? Let me introduce myself. I’m He Shan, currently a manager at the finance department of Tianhai Shipping Limited. The man you beat up is Wei Songyue, the assistant manager of Tianhai Shipping’s finance department."
Chen Fan gasped with surprise at the older man’s introduction. Tianhai Shipping Limited was very well-known; almost all the locals had heard of it. It wasn’t that the company so successful that it contributed hundreds of millions in taxes to the local government each year, but that the company’s staff made one’s blood freeze.
During the early 2000s, if you asked a local who the most famous person in Zhongyun City was, the answer would be neither Mayor Wang nor the richest local Ma Rongtao. Everyone would tell you Wei Qing. After his discharge from the local military forces in 1995, Wei Qing was transferred to Zhongyun City’s Maritime Bureau as a surveyor. When the rebel became a deputy chief five years later, he was exposed for and immediately arrested for misappropriating 170,000 RMB of public funds. If he had not come up with 150,000 RMB, he would have been jailed for at least ten years.
After he was released from jail one year later, the first thing Wei Qing did that afternoon was grab an iron bar and charge into the house of a colleague whom he suspected reported him. If the person had been home, he most likely would have had to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. Wei Qing smashed everything in his house and still threatened to break the guy’s legs. In the end, this colleague of his got so scared that he did not dare call the police. Instead he got someone to intercede for him, and the matter was put to rest.
Since his future was destroyed, Wei Qing partnered with a few of his jailmates and rented a ship to do maritime transport. The country had just joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and the entire industry was soaring. Wei Qing and his partners rode that wave and their business boomed. If he had done his business honestly, the government might have even given him a medal for turning over a new leaf. Instead, he made his fortune smuggling cigarettes and liquor from Hong Kong to Macau. Then he bribed some underlings to get big crime bosses to come gamble on the yacht he rented while it was in international waters along his route.
Since the laws were different on either end of the route, the Hong Kong and Macau governments could not do anything. The Tianhai Shipping Company, under Wei Qing’s name, had more than a few gambling yachts registered in Hong Kong and Macau. He became the role model for many local ruffians.
"Bro, are you scared?" He Shan laughed.
"Hmph. You rascal! Tell us who you are...if you dare. Ouch! This hurts like hell!" Wei Songyue was lying on the ground, covering his face with both hands. He could not speak clearly from the pain.
"Scared? Ha! You’re the ones who should be scared!" Chen Fan stalled and touched his brows. "Have you heard of Chen Mingya?"
"Chen Mingya?" The middle aged man tilted his head and thought for a while before saying uncertainly, "The deputy mayor?"
"Ah, you’re not stupid!" Chen Fan lengthened the "ah". After leaving the middle aged man hanging for a while, he continued, "Well, my name is Chen Xingpeng, and Chen Mingya…he’s my second uncle!" When Chen Fan said this, the middle aged man started to hesitate. After all, people who could dine here had either money or status. Who knows? He might really be related to the third most important man in the city.
"If you’re really Deputy Mayor Chen’s nephew, I’ll just let the matter rest. But if you’re lying…" He Shan kept Chen Fan in suspense in return. "Zhongyun is neither too big nor too small. With Boss Wei’s subordinates, it won’t be too difficult to track somebody down!"
"Don’t worry! Even if you don’t look for me, I’ll look for you. Hmph, just wait til you’re caged by Boss Wei when you get back!" Chen Fan was arrogant, his tone tougher than that of a police officer interrogating a criminal. After talking tough, Chen Fan walked out haughtily, his eyes on the ceiling. He’d already been delayed for almost two minutes. He had to leave now before someone called the police or got help.
"Chen Xingpeng, Chen Xingpeng…" He Shan frowned and mumbled to himself as he watched Chen Fan leave.
"Ahem." At that moment, a fellow diner stepped forward and said to the middle aged man, "Manager He, you’ve been fooled by that young man! Deputy Mayor Chen is the oldest child. He only has one nephew and his name is not Chen Xingpeng!"
"Eh, Secretary Wang? Why didn’t you say so earlier? The one who got banged up is related to Boss Wei! Waiter, get your manager here. I wanna check the surveillance video!"
After swaggering out a short distance, Chen Fan turned back to see that no one followed him. He put a hand to his chest, his fear lingering. "That was close. That was close! Lucky that fella was intimidated and dared not lay his hands on me!"
Deputy Mayor Chen was of course not his second uncle. He had never even met the deputy mayor before. All he knew was that the deputy mayor had the same surname as him. After finding a secluded place, Chen Fan took out his money again and carefully counted it a few times. He heaved a sigh of relief when he realized he had paid the right amount just now.
Acting rich was not easy. Chen Fan had looked unrestrained when he took out the money to pay, but he had actually estimated the cost of the meal and the damaged items beforehand. Although he did not see it with his eyes, he knew by feel that he had given the waitress two hundred RMB at the most. Chen Fan had been sensitive to money since he was young. When he was in preschool and could not add numbers higher than ten, his mother would teach him with money. "If you have seventeen RMB now and I give you another sixteen, how much do you have in total?"
"Thirty-three!" Chen Fan would answer loud and clear.
"Damn...why all the drama?" Chen Fan shook his head and flagged a cab by the roadside. He had wanted to go shopping to his heart’s content. He hadn’t expected to meet those two beasts who ruined his mood! After getting home, Chen Fan laid on the couch and switched on the TV with the remote. He wanted to watch a serial he had been following called "Little Snail".
The show was produced and filmed by the local television station, and although the filming was a little poor, it was realistic. As it was early, the serial had not started and the local news was still on. Chen Fan was about to change the channel when he saw the image on the news. His heart missed a beat.
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