When Li Hei and Yan Shiwei heard the news, they immediately rushed to the city. They met the Jun family's carriage on the way, but they didn't even greet them and rushed to the Jun family's residence first. Jun Ruyan was indeed paralyzed in bed, his mouth crooked and eyes slanted, and saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth. They couldn't ask a word because he couldn't say anything other than moaning.
Jun Ruyan was also a ruthless person. Since Chu Silu said, "Avoid the door and don't meet outsiders, this is the only way to avoid disaster!" He simply carried it out more thoroughly and became a disabled person who couldn't speak or move. Even if someone came to see him, they wouldn't be able to dig a word out of his mouth.
Unfortunately, Jun Ruyan only knew a little about the symptoms after a stroke. He had never seen a stroke patient with his own eyes. Li Hei and Yan Shiwei, on the other hand, were knowledgeable. Although Jun Ruyan tried his best to act, he was not a good actor. Li Hei and Yan Shiwei could still see some clues from his eyes and the unnatural expression that he tried to twist.
They were all experienced people and didn't point out that Jun Ruyan was pretending to be crazy. It was obvious that Jun Ruyan wouldn't admit it, so there was no need to do so. After a while, the Jun family's wife, Miao Qing 'er, also hurried back. When she saw her husband was paralyzed from the stroke, she immediately collapsed in front of the bed and cried.
She had only married Jun Ruyan for a month and this happened. If Jun Ruyan didn't recover, he would be a widow for the rest of his life. How could she not be sad?
Yan Shiwei and Li Hei looked at the Jun family's wife who was crying so hard that she almost fainted. They could see that the Jun family's wife wasn't acting. That was to say, Jun Ruyan had pretended to have a stroke. Up until now, even his lover was kept in the dark and didn't dare to reveal the truth to his wife. What had happened?
The two comforted her and got up to leave the Jun family's residence. Out of the long alley, Li Hei stood on the street for a long time without saying a word. Strangely, Yan Shiwei sat on the horse next to him and didn't move. After a long time, Yan Shiwei sighed softly and said, "Master Hei, I'm afraid the decades of peace on Ba River are coming to an end."
Li Hei smiled faintly and said, "Has Ba River ever been peaceful?"
Yan Shiwei said, "With wind and waves, it is called Jianghu. If it wasn't peaceful, it would depend on how big the waves were. In the past, the waves could overturn other people's small boats, but they couldn't overturn our big boats. To us, that was peaceful. Now … I'm afraid there's going to be a huge storm that can capsize the Flood Dragon Society. "
Li Hei stared deeply at Yan Shiwei and said, "Within a day, the leader became a dead man for no reason, the branch leader of the Caokou suffered a stroke and became a living dead. Now only you, the branch leader of the Caoquan branch leader, what do you plan to do?"
Yan Shiwei smiled bitterly and said, "Master Hei, you're making fun of me by saying that. In the past, no matter how much we fought, it was always about who would take the helm. After all, we're on the same boat. Now that this storm is going to overturn the boat, I can't run away, and I can't hide from you. I hope that Master Hei can help me out."
Ever since Li Hei handed over the position of the branch leader of the Caoquan branch, the two of them started fighting openly and secretly. But now they had to help each other out to deal with the current situation. Yan Shiwei knew that the most powerful person in the Flood Dragon Society was this semi-retired Master Hei, so he had to lower his stance and seek cooperation.
Li Hei was silent for a while and said slowly, "Last night, an uninvited guest came to my house!"
Yan Shiwei's body shook and he cried out involuntarily, "What?"
Li Hei revealed a faint smile and said, "It seems that Vice President Yan also has a guest visiting?"
Yan Shiwei slowly calmed down from the shock and decided to have a frank talk with Li Hei. He said, "That's right! Last night, someone from my house also came to visit. Someone came … "
Yan Shiwei told Li Hei what that person had said and stared at Li Hei. "Master Hei, what did that guest say?"
Li Hei said, "That person said the same thing as your guest."
Yan Shiwei stared at him without blinking and said, "Then … what did Master Hei say?"
Li Hei said, "Looks like there's more than one of them. But even if there are a few or a dozen of them, and each of them is a good man who can fight against a hundred people, they still can't control Ba. No one can make the tens of thousands of people on Ba bow their heads to him with just their fists. If you can't make a living for them, they won't listen to you even if they have to fight you to the death."
Yan Shiwei said, "I thought so too. They can't make me bow my head with their fists. But it's different now. You've seen how stupid Jun Ruyan is when he's pretending to be crazy. He's so scared that he'd rather give up his position as the helm of the Caokou and give up his generous annual income to hide at home and pretend to have a stroke. The person who wants to control Ba must have a powerful background. Jun Ruyan fears them like a tiger. Do you think we have a higher status than this Duke Xiaolian? "
Li Hei said, "It's good that Vice Head Yan understands this. In that case, shouldn't the two of us seriously consider that uninvited guest's suggestion?"
Yan Shiwei said, "What does Master Hei plan to do? I'm young and inexperienced, so I'll just follow your lead. "
Li Hei saw that he was still trying to play tricks and couldn't help but laugh. "If a ship is about to sink and everyone wants to live, the best way is to climb onto another ship, a bigger one. What do you think?"
Yan Shiwei's eyes narrowed slightly. "Are you sure … that's a big ship?"
Li Hei said indifferently, "I didn't believe it at first, but after seeing Jun Ruyan's expression, you don't?"
The two of them stopped talking and looked at the long street together.
As the sun set, the dark red light bathed the ancient city of Chang 'an, which was as orderly as a chessboard. Standing on the long street, they were like two insignificant chess pieces on this huge chessboard. Advancing or retreating was insignificant to the chess players, but for these two chess pieces, it was a matter of life and death.
The setting sun mixed the shadows of the man and the horse into a very strange shape, dragging on for a very long time.
Li Hei stood there silently, recalling what the guest had said to him last night. He didn't quite believe it at the time, but now he had to take it out again and carefully ponder over it. "Master Hei, I'm telling you today because I'm not afraid that you'll leak it. But remember, if you leak a single word from your mouth, don't even think about hearing your grandson call you grandpa for the rest of your life!"
"Speak!"
"Our goal is to consolidate the current Water Gang and rebuild the situation of the Water Gang during the end of the Sui Dynasty."
"Haha! That's just wishful thinking. It's simply impossible! Do you think you can subdue the Flood Dragon Gang with your martial arts? Not just us, there are the Life League, the Five Elemental Guild, the Three Rivers Gang, the Circle Sect, and the Peace Gang that are stronger than us. These first-class gangs are rich and powerful.
They have money and people if you want to use force, even if they don't have masters who can compete with you, they can spend a lot of money to invite eccentric Jianghu people who can compete with you. What's more, if they invite the official forces behind them, unless you rebel, a patrol officer and a team of constables can make you piss your pants! "
"Haha, you don't have to worry about whether we have the ability or not. You should be clear that if all the major Waterway Gangs on Ba Shang can be united, it will be beneficial to everyone except for the gang leaders, society leaders, and sect leaders who have inherited their positions of power and authority. After the unification, you can gather all the skilled sailors to transport the important, urgently needed, and heavy goods that are inconvenient to transport by land by ship, and other goods that are difficult to transport by water can be transported by land by land.
This way, everyone's lives will be much better than they are now. There will be less competition and exclusion between gangs. Everyone will be united. Even if there are no ports, the officials along the way won't dare to extort or make things difficult for you. Otherwise, if the transport of grain is affected, the whole of Chang 'an will be affected.
This matter will be of great personal benefit to you. Once the Water Gangs are united, we will follow the original rules of the Shun Sect and set up eight elders and thirty-six stewards. You should know that after the gangs are united, a steward will be more powerful than a helmsman. Most importantly, at that time, you won't have to worry about your family business being taken away by others because of your grandson's young age.
Right now, in the big Water Gangs, aside from the stable position of gang master, if the helmsmen don't have capable descendants to inherit their positions, they will inevitably have their power taken away by others after a bloody struggle. But once they are united, even if your grandson is young, he can firmly hold on to the rice bowl you left him. It won't be taken away by others.
Because when he is young, his affairs can be handled by other stewards, and it won't affect the affairs of the Water Gangs. On the other hand, if anyone has designs on your grandson, the eight elders and thirty-six stewards will support you. Because no one can guarantee that there won't be orphans and widows in their branch one day. Helping you today is helping them tomorrow. "
Thinking of this, Li Hei suddenly raised his head and shook the reins of his horse. He said to Yan Shiwei, "I, Li Hei, am old. I only have this precious grandson. I don't want anything else but to leave a family business for my grandson so that he can eat and wear warm clothes! I'll work for whoever gives me food. What do you say? "
Yan Shiwei rolled his eyes and said through gritted teeth, "Then … shall we go meet them tonight?"
Li Hei nodded, whipped his horse, and galloped away. Yan Shiwei stared at his receding figure for a long time. It was only when Li Hei's figure was about to disappear at the end of the long street that Yan Shiwei ruthlessly lashed his whip and led his men away.
Over the past day, the Shun Gang had received too many surprises or scares. Last night, they were still on tenterhooks worrying about the revenge of the Flood Dragon Triad. But this morning, they received the news of the death of Wen Changxing, the leader of the Flood Dragon Triad. When the Wen Family held a funeral, Qiao Mu anxiously waited for the people of the Flood Dragon Triad to break in openly and kill his whole family.
This kind of thing had happened before. Twelve years ago, there was a leader of a small gang who didn't listen to the Flood Dragon Triad because of his outstanding martial arts skills and unruly character. At that time, Wen Changxing, who had just taken over the position of the gang leader, used him as an example and led his men to break into his house. After one night, the whole family of this hero disappeared in the surging Wei River.
Today, was this scene going to repeat itself in the Qiao Family?
However, in the evening, the turning point came …
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