Urban Martial Saint

Li Lianshan was furious and slammed the table, ”You talk your talk, why drag me into this?”

”Li, don’t get mad. We’re just talking, you can’t even take a joke now!” a man quickly said with a laugh.

Li Lianshan wanted to say more, but Ye Qing patted his shoulder, signaling him to stay calm.

”There’s been a misunderstanding,” Ye Qing said. ”I already have so many brothers under me who rely on me for their livelihood, I definitely wouldn’t let them scatter. Director Liu knows it’s not easy to disband us. After all, everyone needs to eat. So, he’s not planning to wipe us out completely. However, he did set forth a few demands, which I’d like to discuss with you all today!”

”What demands?” everyone looked at Ye Qing simultaneously.

Ye Qing said, ”It’s impossible to eliminate gangs and power groups since so many rely on them to make a living. However, Director Liu mentioned that while we can gather, we must not engage in illegal activities!”

”What counts as illegal activities?” a man shouted. ”Mr. Ye, can you specify exactly?”

Ye Qing gently tapped the table and swept his gaze over the crowd, ”It’s simple. From now on, Shenchuan City will not allow any involvement in prostitution or drugs!”

As soon as these words were spoken, the room erupted into chaos. Most of those present were involved in prostitution and drugs, without which they couldn’t make money solely from the businesses in Shenchuan City. After the collapse of the Tianqing Gang and Fu Bang, Li Lianshan had seized many of their venues, leaving them with not many left. Primarily relying on prostitution and drugs for income, banning these would cut off their financial lifeline!

”Why should we?” a man immediately stood up and said, ”Without prostitution and drugs, are we still even consider a gang? Without involving in those, what will my brothers eat?”

”Exactly, why should we?”

”Ye, with just a word from you, you want us not involving in prostitution and drugs, do you really think you’re the king of Shenchuan City?”

The crowd uproar continued, all expressing their dissatisfaction towards Ye Qing. Li Lianshan also frowned, unclear about what Ye Qing was up to. However, since becoming brothers with Ye Qing, his venues no longer involved in prostitution and drugs, so this didn’t affect him much. Moreover, he still had the cash cow of the Southern Suburbs Dogfight Arena. Not involving prostitution and drugs, he could still make a big profit. Ye Qing’s prohibition didn’t affect him at all!

Ye Qing smiled faintly, waited for the crowd to quiet down, and then said in a measured tone, ”This is Director Liu’s order, I’m just passing it on. Of course, Director Liu hopes that I can implement this well. That’s why I invited everyone here today, to discuss this matter.”

”Fuck that, there’s no discussion!” a man stood up and said, ”I started out with these, telling me not to get involved in prostitution and drugs might as well kill me!”

Another man shouted loudly, ”Exactly, if you can, just kill all of us. Otherwise, by what right do you order us around!”

”Let’s go, no point talking to them!”

As people were starting to leave, Ye Qing stood up, tapped the table, and said, ”Everyone, don’t rush off, at least let me finish speaking!”

The crowd exchanged looks, then slowly returned to their seats, indeed curious about what else Ye Qing would say.

”To implement Director Liu’s orders, I’ve made arrangements.” Ye Qing continued, ”The routes for smuggling goods into Shenchuan City have been destroyed by provincial officers. Starting today, my men will patrol Shenchuan City. Anyone trying to smuggle drugs into the city will be seen as my enemy. Anyone caught the first time will have their hands and feet broken. Caught a second time, and it’s their life!”

As he spoke, Ye Qing’s voice grew colder and his demeanor more resolute.

”You fucking want to cut off our way of making money!” a person roared angrily.

”For fuck’s sake, breaking hands and feet? Ye, you’re really taking yourself seriously, huh? We have so many people here; you think you can break that many of us?” another yelled.

”Then fucking try!” Li Lianshan stood up, shouting, ”I absolutely support Ye Zi. Starting today, if I find anyone smuggling drugs into Shenchuan City, I won’t let them go!”

After taking over the Fierce Tiger Gang, Li Lianshan now was one of the most powerful men in Shenchuan City. After the collapse of the Tianqing Gang and Fu Bang, he had snapped up many of their profitable venues. Now in Shenchuan City, he was a boss with wealth, power, and people. Although the outcry was fierce, deep down, they truly feared him. So, after Li Lianshan roared a few times, the noise significantly subsided, people grumbling incessantly but no longer daring to openly complain, fearful of provoking Li Lianshan and not being able to walk out of the room at all.

Seeing that no one dared to speak further, Ye Qing smiled lightly and said, ”As for involvement in prostitution, starting tonight and for the next month, Shenchuan City will enter a period of strict crackdown, specifically targeting the prostitution activities at various night venues. Over one month, I believe, it will rectify many people’s habits!”

The crowd became noisy once again. Without engaging in illegal activities related to prostitution, their venues were likely to collapse within a month. After all, they didn’t have many venues, but they did have a lot of gang members. If they didn’t engage in prostitution or drugs, where were they supposed to get the money to support so many underlings?

Ye Qing completely ignored the crowd’s ruckus and just smiled faintly as he sat on the chair, quietly watching everyone present. Li Lianshan leaned toward Ye Qing and whispered, ”Ye Zi, you’re not planning to suppress them with money, are you?”

”Definitely not,” Ye Qing said. ”This is just a premise.”

”What premise?” Li Lianshan asked in surprise.

Ye Qing smiled and said, ”Li, do you know how nurses at hospitals coax children into getting shots?”

”Damn, are you drifting off-topic here?” Li Lianshan glared and said.

”Dealing with children getting shots is very difficult. So, if you want to coax a child, it’s best to give a shot, then a candy. That way, you can calm them down,” Ye Qing explained, looking at the people around the table. ”It’s the same with these people.”

Li Lianshan glanced at Ye Qing, then at the people around them, and said, ”These are not children, though. One candy might not be enough, right?”

Ye Qing just smiled faintly and didn’t say anything, letting everyone discuss incessantly as if he had everything under control. After about fifteen minutes, the cellphones of the people at the scene suddenly started ringing all at once, as if everyone was getting called at the same time.

As they answered the calls, various voices filled the room incessantly. Even Li Lianshan’s phone rang. Picking it up, an anxious voice from one of his underlings immediately came through: ”Li, there’s trouble. The Qingfeng Club owned by the Tianqing Gang and the Nine Heavens owned by the Fu Bang have both been ambushed. The original occupants of these two venues have all been driven out, and now these places have been taken over by a group of unknown people.”

”What?” Li Lianshan immediately stood up and exclaimed loudly, ”Who exactly are they? Find out quickly!”

After hanging up, Li Lianshan immediately looked at Ye Qing anxiously and said, ”Ye Zi, there’s trouble. Both the Qingfeng Club and Nine Heavens have been taken over by strangers. We still don’t know who did it. It could be that outside forces have infiltrated Shenchuan City. Should we send someone to check it out?”

Ye Qing remained calm, smiled slightly, and waved his hand, saying, ”Don’t worry, I know about this.”

”You know?” Li Lianshan looked at Ye Qing in even more surprise and shock, saying, ”What do you mean? You... what do you know?”

Ye Qing said, ”Qingfeng Club and Nine Heavens—I had people take them over!”

”Ah?” Li Lianshan’s eyes widened in shock as he stared at Ye Qing and said, ”You... Didn’t you say before that we shouldn’t interfere with these two places for now? By doing this, we’ll become even more of a target. With these two venues in our hands, these people will definitely unite against us, and then we’ll really be in trouble!”

”Don’t worry,” Ye Qing still smiled faintly, looking at the chaotic crowd, and said softly, ”Actually, aren’t they even more panicked?”

Li Lianshan turned his head to look, and those thirty people were now frantically running around. After all, the Qingfeng Club was the foundation of the Tianqing Gang, and Nine Heavens was the foundation of the Fu Bang. If they could take over either of these places, they would be powerful enough to dominate one side of Shenchuan City. Now that they had lost both, they naturally wanted to quickly send people to take them back.

As everyone was making calls and contacting others, only Ye Qing remained undisturbed. After a full thirty minutes, people finally began to quiet down.

”Ye, you’re behind this, aren’t you?” a man suddenly shouted loudly, instantly drawing everyone’s attention as they all turned to look at Ye Qing. They had been too panicked just before and hadn’t thought about him. Now that this person had reminded them, everyone’s focus was immediately directed at Ye Qing.

”Yes, I did it!” Ye Qing replied straightforwardly.

”It was you!”

”Damn it, you first told us not to engage in prostitution or drugs, and now you’ve taken over Qingfeng Club and Nine Heavens. Are you fucking trying to starve us to death?”

”Bastard, I’m going to fight you!”

The crowd grew increasingly agitated, and a few particularly impulsive ones even ran up to Ye Qing, ready to fight. However, some people quickly pulled them back.

”Everyone, we’re here today mainly to sit down and talk things over calmly, to clarify any issues, not to fight,” Ye Qing looked over the crowd, his gaze finally settling on those who were ready to strike and continued, ”If you really want to fight, I, Ye Qing, am willing to oblige. But first, I hope you all think carefully. Do you really have the strength to fight me, Ye Qing?”