Urban Martial Saint

Hearing Ye Qing’s question, the young man replied, ”My name is Zhao Ke, but everyone here calls me Mad Dog.”

The disparity between the two names surprised everyone at the table.

”How could there be such a strange name?” Zhao Chengshuang wondered aloud, ”Zhao Ke? That name sounds familiar, like something from a poem.”

”Zhao Ke trims his Hu-style tassels, his Wu hook bright with frost and snow!” Ye Qing looked at Zhao Ke; he had not realized that this young man had such a heroic swordsman’s name.

”My grandfather was an Old Scholar; he knew a lot and was the one who chose that name for me. When I was six, a flood claimed the lives of all my relatives. I survived by fighting with dogs for food. That’s why they call me Mad Dog!” Zhao Ke spoke of his past without a trace of sadness, as if everything was mundane.

Hearing this, Zhao Chengshuang and Li Lianshan immediately fell into silence. Perhaps this explained why he fought like a mad dog, because he had grown up competing with dogs for food.

Ye Qing looked at Zhao Ke in front of him and asked softly, ”What are you doing now?”

Zhao Ke felt a bit awkward, glanced at Zhao Chengshuang, and said in a low voice, ”Mainly I scrabble for food around this area, helping people stand in lines, boosting headcounts for small favors, that sort of thing.”

Zhao Chengshuang knew what Zhao Ke meant; these were just a bunch of petty delinquents, stealing to survive, without the strength to grab any territory, belonging to the lowest tier of their ilk. Yet, it was not easy for Zhao Ke to have these few brothers under him; it seemed to have an inseparable connection with his desperate fighting style.

No matter what his strength, at least he showed loyalty. Just now, so many of his brothers had been beaten down, yet he fought fiercely to the end. Such a leader could indeed inspire wholehearted loyalty!

Ye Qing thought for a moment, took out a piece of paper, wrote down a number, and handed it to Zhao Ke, saying, ”Call this number in seven days, or maybe I can find some work for you.”

”Ah?” Zhao Ke was momentarily stunned, they did indeed want to find a legitimate job. But with no education or skills, even if they worked in construction, they would end up doing the toughest and most tiring tasks. What kind of job could Ye Qing find for them?

Without further words, Ye Qing stood up and said, ”We’ve had our fill, let’s go!”

The four men left, and Zhao Ke held the number Ye Qing had given him. He stood in silence for a while before carefully tucking the slip of paper into his pocket.

In the car, Zhao Chengshuang couldn’t help but ask, ”Ye Zi, what kind of work are you planning to let him do?”

Ye Qing was silent for a moment, then said, ”If I really decide to make money from those properties, I will definitely need a group of people to help me out.”

”Ah?” Zhao Chengshuang startled for a moment, then looked excitedly at Ye Qing, ”You… you really decided to develop those eleven properties?”

Ye Qing did not respond, but he already had the notion in his mind. Because he suddenly realized that even twenty million wouldn’t cover the orphanage’s expenses, he must find a stable source of income for the orphanage!

The next morning, Ye Qing transferred sixty-four million to Huangfu Ziyu’s account. Of this, twelve million came from Hou Qingyi, and the remaining fifty-two million, fifty million was the money Li Lianshan paid for shares in the Southern Suburbs Dogfight Arena, and two million Li Lianshan had loaned him.

Additionally, Li Lianshan lent Ye Qing three hundred thousand in cash to help settle the Tian Sheng employees and those children.

Upon delivering the money to Tian Sheng that morning and receiving it, Huang Fei and the others were naturally overjoyed. They kept their salaries without having to work, a situation anyone would be happy with.

The janitors and chefs who remained at Tian Sheng were mostly older people, free from the restlessness of youth. Ye Qing was thus reassured to leave the children in their care.

After tidying up Tian Sheng a bit, Ye Qing asked Zhao Chengshuang to bring the children over. For the time being, they would live there temporarily. Li Lianshan was inquiring about renting houses, and once a house was rented, Ye Qing would transfer the children out of Tian Sheng.

Knowing they were to care for these unfortunate children, the janitors and chefs were very conscientious, especially after hearing about the children’s predicaments, they took the utmost care of them.

Ye Qing had lunch with the children here, and it was evident that the children were satisfied with the environment. After all, it was much better than where they had lived before.

Right after lunch, Ye Qing received a call from Zhao Chengshuang, asking him to rush to the city bureau. There was a hint of gloom in Zhao Chengshuang’s tone, and it was unclear what had happened.

Ye Qing asked Black Bear to stay here and help look after the children while he went outside to hail a cab, heading straight for the city police department.

Upon arriving at the entrance of the police department, he saw Zhao Chengshuang sitting in a wheelchair, anxiously looking around. When Zhao saw Ye Qing approaching, he hurriedly wheeled over and said, ”Damn, why are you so slow?”

”What happened?” Ye Qingqi asked.

”Oh, a problem has arisen!” Zhao Chengshuang sighed and said, ”The police from Xiangjiang City who came to handle the case have already arrived. The provincial department is also highly focused on this case and has specifically sent someone over to assist with the investigation. Do you know who they sent from the provincial department?”

Ye Qing pondered for a moment and said, ”Captain Guan?”

”Damn, you guessed it right on the nose!” Zhao Chengshuang looked frustrated and said, ”It’s exactly that Guan Haochen, who was just playing big shot in the office. Several city department leaders were there, and he was pointing fingers and acting all bossy, as if he wasn’t even looking at what he really is.”

Ye Qing said, ”Then why did you call me here?”

”It’s because of that Guan Haochen. He heard that you are assisting the city department in solving cases, so he had me call you to the meeting. Damn it, he was practically ordering me, demanding that you be at the meeting room within fifteen minutes,” Zhao Chengshuang said, checking his watch. ”Damn, it’s been more than fifteen minutes already; that pretender is probably going to complain again.

Let’s hurry to the meeting room.”

”I’m not going,” Ye Qing shook his head and said, ”I’m just helping you solve cases, not a policeman, and I do not need to attend this meeting. I have important matters to attend to this afternoon. You can tell Director Deng that I will help when it’s time to detain someone.”

Having said that, Ye Qing turned to leave, but Zhao Chengshuang grabbed his clothes in desperation and said, ”Don’t go, damn it, it was an order to call you. If you don’t show up, it will be counted as dereliction of duty on my part. You have to help me complete this task, since I am a policeman after all!”

Unable to resist Zhao Chengshuang’s insistence, Ye Qing was finally dragged to the meeting room upstairs.

Upon entering the meeting room, Guan Haochen was standing on the stage, enthusiastically detailing his plan. Quite a few people were seated below, including Deng Liyang. Most of the people Ye Qing had seen the night before were there, including the beautiful woman and the effeminate man next to her, who both sat in relatively front positions, indicating their potentially significant status.

”These four are special police officers from Xiangjiang. The woman is named Ou Keren, and she is the captain of this team,” Zhao Chengshuang whispered to Ye Qing.

Ye Qing remained silent, quietly wheeling Zhao Chengshuang’s wheelchair over to a table. Meanwhile, Guan Haochen, who had been speaking non-stop on stage, suddenly stopped and simply watched Ye Qing in silence.

With that, everyone’s gaze quickly shifted to Ye Qing, including those four from Xiangjiang. Upon seeing Ye Qing, a look of surprise flashed across Miss Ou’s face, as she hadn’t expected Ye Qing to also be a crucial figure in this investigation group.

Feeling the eyes of everyone on him, Deng Liyang also seemed somewhat embarrassed, and cleared his throat to break the silence, saying, ”Captain Guan, please continue.”

”There’s no rush,” Ou Haochen looked at Ye Qing and said, ”Director Deng, before we discuss the detailed pursuit plan, I’d really like to talk about this discipline issue. What time is it now, and why has this person just arrived? Can someone explain to me what exactly is going on?”

The four from Xiangjiang all looked towards Deng Liyang, making him even more embarrassed. It was different when it was just their own people; with Xiangjiang Police present, it concerned the face not only of Shenchuan City Police but also of Huaxia police forces more broadly, and he couldn’t afford that.

”Captain Guan, you’re not fully informed,” Deng Liyang explained, ”This Mr. Ye Qing is not an employee of our police department, but a consultant we hired to assist in capturing He Ziqiang. He has experience rescuing hostages taken by He Ziqiang twice, and he has significant experience in chasing He Ziqiang!”

Upon hearing this, Miss Ou immediately turned to look at Ye Qing, with a flicker of astonishment crossing her face. As a member of the Xiangjiang Police, she was obviously aware of how challenging the international criminal He Ziqiang could be to handle. The fact that Ye Qing had managed to rescue hostages from him twice was something the Xiangjiang Police had never accomplished.

A look of disdain passed over Guan Haochen’s face as he said, ”He Ziqiang is just an ordinary kidnapper. Rescuing hostages from him isn’t something difficult, nor worthy of such glorification. What experience to speak of—this is all nonsense. Do we police need outside help to do our job?”

This remark made Deng Liyang quite embarrassed, but caused the Xiangjiang group to look slightly frosty. Miss Ou glanced discontentedly at Guan Haochen, while a man sitting next to her frowned and said, ”By saying this, are you suggesting our Xiangjiang Police are incapable?”

In fact, Guan Haochen intended to belittle Ye Qing but had forgotten about the four from Xiangjiang next to him. Turning his head and seeing Miss Ou staring coldly at him, Guan Haochen was greatly embarrassed and hastily said, ”That’s not what I meant. What I meant to say is that He Ziqiang is more familiar with the situation in Xiangjiang, so it makes sense that he could escape capture there.

However, he’s not familiar with Shenchuan City, and we can use that to our advantage to catch him. It shouldn’t be difficult. Miss Ou, please don’t misunderstand!”

Miss Ou ignored him, turning her head away and continuing to observe Ye Qing. She had witnessed Ye Qing’s capabilities the night before, and now, she once again felt that this man was far from being as simple as he appeared on the surface.