Meanwhile, at the hospital, almost every inch of Wang Tiechui’s body was wrapped in white bandages. He lay on the hospital bed like an Egyptian mummy.
He had taken a beating from more than 500 angry workers and was riddled with broken bones and open wounds. His most grievous injury had been dealt by the man who’d pleaded with Zhang Dashan. He’d smashed open Wang Tiechui’s head with a brick.
When he awoke from his coma, he saw Xiao Luo standing at the foot of his bed with his arms behind his back. He shivered in fear, withering before Xiao Luo’s frigid stare, which made him feel like he had fallen into an icy crevasse.
He asked in a panic, “You. What are you do-doing here?”
He had never seen anyone with such a fearsome look in all his life.
Xiao Luo peered down at him with a domineering gaze then said nonchalantly, “I am only going to ask you this once. Answer me honestly, or you die!”
Wang Tiechui could really feel the killing intent behind Xiao Luo’s expression, and it scared him so much that he almost fainted.
“I-I will answer honestly. I will definitely answer honestly,” he managed to force out a reply despite choking with fright.
“Who ordered you to organize this strike?” Xiao Luo’s voice lacked any shred of emotion and seemed to come from the depths of hell itself.
“I-I don’t know his name. He gave me twenty thousand dollars to organize a strike. The-then he told me that, when it was finished, he would get me a job at Taste Buds,” Wang Tiechui confessed.
Xiao Luo’s expression hardened. “You don’t know his name?”
“I-I really don’t know. It was my first time seeing him, President Xiao. I’m not lying to you,” Wang Tiechui insisted fearfully.
The mouth may tell lies, but the eyes speak the truth.
Xiao Luo was slightly disappointed. He’d thought that questioning Wang Tiechui would produce a lead for them to follow, but now that seemed impossible.
Chu Yunxiong had once reminded him that Luo’s Workshop senior management was full of schemers. That is to say, there could be a spy among them working for Taste Buds. Taste Buds had already demonstrated that they had no qualms about doing something so treacherous as inciting the workers of Luo’s Workshop to strike. Arranging for someone to infiltrate Luo’s Workshop or buying off one of the management team executives would be a simple matter for them.
“Lao Xiao, this is the data on Taste Buds that you wanted.”
Zhang Dashan approached him with a printout as he exited the hospital. “The top dog at Taste Buds is a man called Fang Changlei. He is the step-brother of Luo’s Workshop’s previous president, Fang Changmiao. They have the same father but different mothers. The two of them started their careers in the bread industry together. However, after their father passed away, they split up due to a dispute, and each started their own company. Namely, Luo’s Workshop and Taste Buds.”
Xiao Luo skimmed the document, then commented light-heartedly, “What an interesting pair of brothers.”
Zhang Dashan nodded in agreement, then continued where he’d left off: “While Taste Buds is his main business, Fang Changlei also owns other side ventures, such as the Prosperity Grand Hotel, Phoenix Entertainment City, plus others in approximately ten different industries. He has a son and a daughter. The son’s name is Fang Chongqiang, and the daughter’s name is Fang Shulan.”
“Fang Shulan?” Xiao Luo wore a look of surprise.
“What’s up? Do you know her?” Zhang Dashan blinked, asking him.
Xiao Luo explained, “I had an altercation with her during my time as a bodyguard at Huaye.”
“Since you’ve had a conflict with her before, that means that you two are enemies. Now, you have the perfect opportunity to crush her dad’s business, Taste Buds, and vent your frustrations,” Zhang Dashan snickered.
“You think it’ll be that easy?”
“Now that Luo’s Workshop is under your control, Lao Xiao, crushing him is only a matter of time.”
“Ahem. Please leave me out of your boasting next time.”
“You b*stard!”
******
They climbed into the car, and Zhang Dashan asked Xiao Luo in a joking tone, “Boss, where are we headed today?”
“I need to find someone.”
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“Who?”
“The reporter who wrote the article that pushed Luo’s Workshop into the abyss.”
Xiao Luo leaned back in his seat with his eyes staring straight ahead. “The footage from our surveillance camera shows that the old man did indeed look to be in poor physical condition when he entered the shop. And the hospital files clearly show he had been diagnosed with chronic rheumatic heart disease. The evidence points to a heart attack as the cause of death rather than anything to do with eating bread.
“The medical practitioner who performed the autopsy has left the country to study abroad. The old man’s family insists that the bread from Luo’s Workshop caused his death and claimed 470 grand in compensation. All these facts add up to one thing: conspiracy.”
“Did Taste Buds orchestrate this?” Zhang Dashan asked.
Xiao Luo rolled his eyes at him. “Could there be another company behind it?”
“F*ck him! That old son of a b*tch, Fang Changlei, has no business ethics at all. When I have time, I’m going to find out where he parks his car.”
“What are you thinking of doing to his car?”
“What else? I’m going to piss all over the front,” Zhang Dashan declared loudly.
Xiao Luo did not deign to give him a reply.
“Bang!”
As the car approached a crossroads, there was a burst of fierce but concentrated gunfire from somewhere ahead.
“Bang, bang!”
Another two gunshots sounded. Pedestrians and drivers in the area became flustered and tried to flee. Lest they get shot by accident, they ignored all the traffic lights in the process. This resulted in a series of serious traffic accidents, and the shrill sound of police sirens rang out.
“F*ck, this is some luck!”
Zhang Dashan shuddered and slammed down on the brakes, hard. He had only seen gunfights in the movies, and now that he was in the midst of one, there was no way he could maintain his composure.
Xiao Luo’s eyes narrowed. His gaze grew more focused, and he stared straight ahead like a hawk.
A man dressed in black rode out from a side street on a motorcycle. His head was covered by a helmet, and his hand grasped a short firearm. He rode valiantly, firing as he rode, while two police cars gave chase close on his tail.
An older policeman, who was extremely bold, stuck half of his body out of the window to take aim at the man.
“Bang, bang, bang!”
The gunshots seemed never-ending as bullets whizzed through the air at high speeds. The bullets tore open holes in the police vehicles, and two shots narrowly missed the man in black. Finally, with a loud impact sound, a third shot buried itself deep inside the back of the man’s shoulder.
The man in black was knocked off his balance by the shot and tumbled off his motorcycle. The motorcycle skidded more than ten yards away before coming to a stop under the wheels of a truck.
The man immediately picked himself up off the ground, tore off his helmet, and revealed his bloodstained face. He looked like a foreigner.
“Don’t move. Get down with your hands behind your head!”
Taking advantage of this moment of opportunity, three policemen rushed forward nimbly with their guns up. They pushed through the crowd to try to arrest the man in black.
The man in black grinned ferociously. He flexed all his muscles, which expanded explosively. Leaning forward readily, his coat rolled off his body. As if a black curtain had been draped before them, his coat blocked the three policemen’s’ view.
At the same time, the man in black slid backward, and his strong, sturdy body lithely slipped out of the black trench coat in one clean motion. He took two steps back, then pushed forward with his right leg, on which his body’s center of gravity rested. He probably weighed over two-hundred pounds yet moved with the dexterity of a cheetah chasing its prey. The instant the black trench coat obscured the policemen’s sight, he charged at them recklessly.
“Bam, bam!”
Two of the policemen were hurled backward, colliding squarely with the multi-purpose vehicles parked at the roadside. Rebounding from the impact, they collapsed unconscious on the ground.