Urban Martial Saint

After the Lin family crowd had left, only Ye Qing’s group remained, with Zhao Chengshuang managing to stand up with the support of others.

”Captain, how are you feeling?” Black Bear was the first to run over to Ye Qing, looking at him with concern.

Ye Qing slowly waved his hand; the pain in his waist had mostly subsided, after all, he was someone protected by inner strength. Although he couldn’t release his inner strength, healing some internal injuries was quite easy for him. The only pain he was feeling now was in his left shoulder—the very real pain of a dislocated arm, which was still hurting.

”Uncle Tie, thank you!” Ye Qing bowed to Tie Yongwen.

Tie Yongwen waved his hand and said, ”What’s there to thank me for? I’ve had it with that Shen Baichuan for a long time and was just looking for a chance to give him a good beating. Bastard—acting all high and mighty every day, as if someone from the Xihang Shen Family is untouchable!”

Indeed, Tie Yongwen had a fiery temper. Even at his age, he could make such statements, but it was really because Shen Baichuan was so detestable. Not just him, who at the scene liked Shen Baichuan? The guy was way too arrogant and proud, a world apart from his older brother Shen Qianyue. Everyone really couldn’t understand—both heirs to the Shen family, yet how could there be such a big difference in the way they carried themselves?

”That Shen Qianyue isn’t too bad, though,” remarked Li Lianshan. ”Cultured and refined, much better than that Shen Baichuan!”

Without saying anything, Tie Yongwen simply patted Ye Qing on the shoulder and said, ”Alright, I should be going back now. If you’re free tomorrow afternoon, drop by the Xingyi Martial Arts School.”

After sending Tie Yongwen and the others off, Ye Qing followed Li Lianshan and the others back to their loft. As soon as he sat down, Zhao Chengshuang looked at Ye Qing glumly and said, ”Ye Zi, you went to rescue someone last night, so why did it take so long? Elder Senior Tie had already informed us that you had rescued Shen Qingyi, but you didn’t get back until this morning. And it would’ve been fine if you’d just come back, but Shen Qingyi was still wearing your clothes. No wonder that kid Shen Baichuan was so angry!”

”I don’t like the sound of that,” Li Lianshan interjected, waving his hand. ”Cheng Shuang, regardless of everything else, Shen Qingyi was saved by Ye Zi. We have no idea what really happened last night; maybe Ye Zi encountered some unexpected situation on the way back, which caused the delay. Besides, it was quite cold last night, and Ye Zi lending his clothes to Shen Qingyi was simply him doing the right thing. The Shen family should be on their knees thanking him instead of starting a fight as soon as they arrived. Is there any sense in that kind of behavior in this world?”

”Alright, alright, I might have been a bit hasty with what I said just now, my bad,” Zhao Chengshuang waved his hand, admitting his fault. ”You two are not aware, but that Shen Qingyi is the granddaughter most beloved by Old Madame Shen of the Xihang Shen Family. Moreover, the Old Madam has declared that Shen Qingyi is to be the next head of the Xihang Shen Family. Plus, with Shen Qingyi being so beautiful, it’s not just outsiders; even many within the Xihang Shen Family wish to see her but never got the chance. They treat her like a Heavenly Immortal, not tolerating anyone even glancing at her—feeling it to be blasphemous. Old Madame Shen has never let her leave the Shen Family Manor over all these years, which shows how highly the Shen family regards her.”

At this point, Zhao Chengshuang turned to look at Ye Qing and said, ”Ye Zi, you did the right thing by going to rescue someone last night. But after you called and didn’t come back for such a long time, it’s natural for the Shen family to be concerned. Additionally, Shen Baichuan is narrow-minded, so of course, he’d suspect you might have done something to Shen Qingyi on the way back. And when you returned with Shen Qingyi wearing your clothes, how do you explain that?”

As he spoke, Zhao Chengshuang even slapped the sofa and said, ”The most crucial point is, I saw that Shen Qingyi looked at you differently from others. Ye Zi, tell us the truth, what did you really do to Shen Qingyi?”

Li Lianshan immediately looked at Ye Qing, becoming more attentive, and said, ”Right, Ye Zi, you were gone for so long, did something happen between you two?”

Seeing the shameless manner of these two, Ye Qing didn’t even want to say more and just waved his hand, saying, ”What was the situation like last night?”

”Don’t change the subject, finish what you were saying,” Zhao Chengshuang stared at Ye Qing and said, ”Ye Zi, we are family here, and I’ll be frank with you. That Shen Qianyue, while he is from the Shen family, belongs to a distant side branch, and his relation to Shen Qingyi is quite diluted. Therefore, he is currently the hottest candidate for Shen Qingyi’s husband. The fact that Old Madame Shen allowed him to escort Shen Qingyi to Shenchuan City shows her trust in him, sending a signal. The Shen family has virtually acknowledged this arrangement. If you have any intentions towards Shen Qingyi, as your brother, I must warn you, that’s a very difficult and treacherous path to tread!”

”So what? Our Ye Zi is no less than that Shen Qianyue, right?” Li Lianshan said.

Zhao Chengshuang shrugged his shoulders and said no more. Li Lianshan also fell silent. In fact, he was well aware that Ye Qing was still somewhat behind Shen Qianyue. Although Ye Qing now also possessed over a billion in assets and had established himself in Shenchuan City, to be real about it, Ye Qing was basically now half a figure of the underworld. Lacking family background and connections, how could he compare with Shen Qianyue? Even as a branch of the Shen Family, possessing the name Shen was in itself a symbol of identity. Moreover, Shen Qianyue was polished and refined, speaking and behaving impeccably, and even in anger, he seldom showed impulsive behavior. In this regard, he was indeed somewhat stronger than Ye Qing, who simply couldn’t manage such restraint!

”Enough, let’s not talk about this anymore!” Li Lianshan waved his hand and said, ”Ye Zi, last night’s opening ceremony at the Dog Field went smoothly. I’ve done the math; we made a profit of sixty million last night. We spent about thirty million, so in other words, last night, the two of us made a clean thirty million.”

Ye Qing nodded. If it were thirty million, he could at least take home ten million. With this ten million, he could better settle those people who had come from Jiuchuan County, give them a sum of money first to increase their enthusiasm for working here. More importantly, this money could be used to buy textbooks and hire teachers, kickstarting the educational activities at the orphanage.

With Zhao Chengshuang’s assistance, the construction of the orphanage had the green light from officials. Locally, Ye Qing had done several big jobs and had the help of Da Fei, the Local Thug, so construction was proceeding quickly without any obstacles. Multiple construction sites had started simultaneously; from construction to inspection, it would take approximately two months to complete. However, decoration was a slow process. After that, they would have to wait for the harmful gases inside to dissipate. All things considered, they should be able to move in before the New Year.

Now, with four or five months remaining until the New Year, it wasn’t feasible to let those children waste away that time. Arranging textbooks and teachers to begin schooling them was of the utmost importance.

Li Lianshan said, ”Actually, we could have made sixty to seventy million, damn it, but people from other provinces came to cause trouble halfway through. They sent some good fighters over and cheated us out of a lot of money. Thankfully, later on, Western Fire Sister lent us a hand, taking care of those fighters. Otherwise, we would have definitely suffered a loss!”

Remembering this, Ye Qing suddenly recalled that last night, Huangfu Ziyu and Chen Si had been present. What had happened afterward?

”Where’s Fire Butterfly now?” asked Ye Qing.

”She left. She took off right after the fight on the ring last night, even walked away holding five heads!” Li Lianshan felt a headache recalling last night’s encounter with Fire Butterfly and said, ”Ye Zi, I’m not sure if her coming is a good or bad thing. Last night, she helped us a lot, but she also caused us the biggest trouble!”

”What do you mean?” Ye Qingqi asked.

”Ah!” Li Lianshan sighed and said, ”You don’t know. Last night, a whole seven groups from the Western Province came, intending to spoil our opening ceremony. Fire Butterfly killed that Xu Yingshi downstairs, taking care of one group. Then, after getting upstairs, she successively killed four groups’ leaders, effectively breaking the Western Province’s forces. The remaining two groups sent their fighters to the ring, and she dealt with these fighters as well. Last night, if it weren’t for her, those seven groups would have surely messed up our opening. But because of her, she killed the leaders of five of the groups, which means we’ve offended five major gangs in the Western Province!”

At this point, Li Lianshan took a cigarette from the table, lit it, and took a deep draw, saying, ”Damn it, any one of those five gangs is much stronger than the Tianqing Gang. Now with key figures of the five gangs dead at the Southern Suburbs Dogfight Arena, how big of a deal do you think this is?”

Ye Qing frowned. He remembered what Chen Si said last night; her coming might not be a good thing. Now Ye Qing could see clearly that this was a disaster. The key figures of these five gangs were killed at the Southern Suburbs Dogfight Arena, and the gangs would certainly not let it go; this had effectively put Ye Qing into a perilous situation!

”Why did she kill those five men?” Ye Qing asked in a low voice.

”I don’t know either. It seems like a personal vendetta,” Li Lianshan replied. ”Fire Butterfly is a complicated person; I’m clueless about her past identity. But I guess she must have been a significant figure in the past. How else could she be involved with those three big shots?”

”A personal vendetta, settled here…” Ye Qing felt a sense of helplessness. Fire Butterfly truly created trouble for others.

”But don’t worry, Sister Huo is a person of integrity!” Li Lianshan said. ”When she left last night, she mentioned that if those five gangs enter Shenchuan City seeking revenge, we could contact her. She would come personally to handle the matter.”