Chapter 26
Unstable Chinese Republic (Arc 2.10)
Cheng Jiaming was carried by people from the commander"s residence and sent back to Ya Garden. In his heart there was a burst of sorrow, as well as some regret and lingering fear. Last night, he had nearly left his life in the commander"s residence.
Last night Wei Tianxiong had sent people over to pick him up, in his heart he had been somewhat happy, he felt that even if he had some new target, he would still have some interest in him, at least he hadn"t completely spurned him. Taking advantage of this opportunity, if he again swayed him through some pillow talk, even if he wasn"t able to take back the Cheng family properties, he would still be able to get some other compensation.
But once he saw Wei Tianxiong and his ugly expression, Cheng Jiaming knew that it was bad. The following matters he wasn"t willing to remember, Wei Tianxiong had vented all of his anger on his body, exhausting his methods to torment him.
Cheng Jiaming lay on his own bed, tears dripping out from his eyes. He didn"t feel like giving his body to Wei Tianxiong was some shameful thing, in order to achieve his goals, he would be able to endure everything. But now he hadn"t been able to achieve his goals, and still needed to suffer this kind of torment, he was really unwilling. The resentment in his heart reached the peak, no matter whether it was Wei Tianxiong, or Cheng Junxi, he would definitely think of methods to retaliate against both of them.
Wei Tianxiong was unable to get Jing Yang, and had lost face from Yang w.a.n.gkun, his heart had been full of hatred. The men who he had dispatched to monitor the Cheng family reported back, saying that now when Cheng Junxi left and entered the Cheng home, he was always accompanied by Yang w.a.n.gkun"s soldiers, and moreover he would often be sent by the soldiers to Yang w.a.n.gkun"s home.
In a fit of fury, Wei Tianxiong sent guards to surround all of the Cheng family"s restaurants and stores, no customers dared to go in, these stores could only completely close down.
Jing Yang consoled the shopkeepers and workers, he gave them all a sum of money and told them, the closure of the stores would only be temporary. When they would again open, if they were willing to come back, they would still be able to return.
During this period of time Jing Yang would often stay the night at Yang w.a.n.gkun"s place, the two people would use the majority of time to cultivate their feelings, and the rest of the time resting, and conveniently discuss the progress on handling Wei Tianxiong.
Wei Tianxiong didn"t dare to fight against Yang w.a.n.gkun directly, when comparing his soldiers to Yang w.a.n.gkun"s soldiers, the odds of success were too small. Otherwise, he wouldn"t have always not dared to flare up, even when Yang w.a.n.gkun had stormed into his home, he still endured it. But he believed, in his hands he controlled all of the businessmen in Li cheng, Yang w.a.n.gkun also wouldn"t dare to rashly move against him.
The so-called strong dragon cannot repress a snake, Wei Tianxiong thought that he had been deeply rooted in Li cheng for so many years, it was impossible for Yang w.a.n.gkun to wrest control of Li cheng from him in a short period of time. So he prepared to slowly wear Yang w.a.n.gkun down, he would always be able to wait for an opportunity.
~
"When are you planning on acting?" Jing Yang half-sat, lying in Yang w.a.n.gkun"s arms.
"The opium ban has already been pa.s.sed, Li cheng has the most opium dens, the president has commanded that we must complete the opium prohibition in the shortest time possible. With the successful model in Li cheng, the opium activities in the other places would be a little easier.”
"But Wei Tianxiong hasn"t been disposed of yet, if you first prohibit opium, those merchants will definitely be fanned by him, then it would be unfavorable for you." In the previous world it was just like this, but in the previous world it wasn"t Yang w.a.n.gkun who had come over. By the time he had gotten to Li cheng, the situation had already favored Wei Tianxiong"s side, so he cooperated with Cheng Jiaming, and set a trap for Wei Tianxiong.
"Your Cheng family, seems to also have an opium den." Yang w.a.n.gkun hugged him from behind, lowering his head to kiss the side of his face.
Jing Yang curled his lip. "Wei Tianxiong forced me to open that, until now it still hasn"t opened, those opium, I also completely destroyed.”
"You think, those people who opened opium dens, how many of them were also forced like you?" Yang w.a.n.gkun asked.
Jing Yang thought a bit. "It shouldn"t be too many ba, opening an opium den is pretty profitable, the majority of them should have been voluntary.”
"With Wei Tianxiong"s level of greed, you think that the money that they earn, how much of it can really enter their own pocket. In Li cheng, the ones squeezed by him, is definitely not only the Cheng family." Yang w.a.n.gkun reminded him.
Jing Yang suddenly realized, that"s right, how could he have forgotten this, raising troops took a lot of money, Wei Tianxiong was also known for his greed and selfishness. His underlings also followed suit, how would it possible for them to only squeeze the Cheng family.
If it was like this, Wei Tianxiong not completely taking away the Cheng family"s properties all at once, it was just to not let other people have misgivings about becoming the second Cheng family, and then stir up their resistance. So he just slowly hollowed out the Cheng family.
Saying this, in the previous world the Cheng family had completely collapsed only after Yang w.a.n.gkun had arrived in the Li cheng. But now he was not the real Cheng Junxi, Yang w.a.n.gkun was definitely also not the previous world"s Yang w.a.n.gkun, otherwise how would the development of these events have such a large difference.
The two people talked and talked, later Jing Yang was pressed down, his half-dressed appearance was truly alluring. Their lips and tongues entangled, exchanging breaths, the two people"s bodies seemed to have been ignited by a fire, burning and making their hearts itch past endurance. They needed to use force to rub against the other person, in order to slightly alleviate the itching.
"Report!”
Yang w.a.n.gkun"s aide shouted to report outside, normally at this time, if it wasn"t some very important matter, the aide would not come to bother him. He raised his head, but his hands actually didn"t stop moving. "Speak.”
"Ya Garden"s Cheng Jiaming boss paid a visit, he said that he has some matters related to Wei commander, he wanted to make a suggestion to Commander-in-chief.”
Yang w.a.n.gkun frowned, he didn"t need anyone"s advice, and also didn"t want to see whoever this Cheng boss was. His mood had been disturbed, right now he was very unhappy, just as he wanted to open his mouth to berate his aide, Jing Yang covered his mouth.
"Go see him ba, I want to hear what he is going to say." Jing Yang said.
Yang w.a.n.gkun silently looked at him and didn"t say anything, Jing Yang winked at him, his coquettish meaning was very apparent. Yang w.a.n.gkun brought down his hand and said to the outside, "Let him wait.”
Jing Yang tidied up his clothes and wanted to get off the bed, but his calf was pulled and he fell back down again. Yang w.a.n.gkun lowered his head to forcefully kiss him.
"Ah!" Jing Yang had been bitten by him, immediately pushing away his head and pulling up his pants.
Jing Yang went outside together with Yang w.a.n.gkun, but he didn"t directly go see Cheng Jiaming. He sat in a part.i.tioned-off area drinking tea, he wanted to hear how Cheng Jiaming was going to talk.
"Commander-in-chief." Cheng Jiaming respectfully saluted Yang w.a.n.gkun.
Yang w.a.n.gkun indifferently sat down. "What do you want to say? Save the nonsense, say the main point.”
Cheng Jiaming had prepared a bunch of opening remarks and praises, but they were blocked in his throat by Yang w.a.n.gkun. He was extremely uncomfortable, but also didn"t dare to go against his wishes, and directly went to his main topic. "I have a strategy that can help Commander-in-chief handle Wei Tianxiong, it"s to use Cheng Junxi as bait…”
"Shut your mouth!" Yang w.a.n.gkun suddenly took out a gun and pointed it at him, cutting off his words.
"Co, commander-in-chief, you this is…" Cheng Jiaming looked at him with fright, he swallowed a bit, and summoned his courage. "Please Commander-in-chief let me finish.”
"You are not allowed to say any more, roll!" Yang w.a.n.gkun fired two shots at Cheng Jiaming"s feet.
"Ah!!" Cheng Jiaming was scared to death, his legs turned soft, and he fell on the ground.
Yang w.a.n.gkun was getting ready to call people to throw him out when Jing Yang walked out from inside. Originally he had wanted to see, matters had already developed completely differently from the previous world, what kind of strategy Cheng Jiaming would suggest to Yang w.a.n.gkun, but he didn"t think that he would actually want to let himself act as bait.
Jing Yang was actually not as angry as Yang w.a.n.gkun, he had originally wanted to continue listening, but Yang w.a.n.gkun had already become furious, it would be impossible for him to let Cheng Jiaming finish speaking.
"You…" Cheng Jiaming saw Jing Yang walk out, widening his eyes in shock. He pointed at him with a trembling finger, "You…”
"Is it necessary to be so surprised?" Jing Yang felt that his expression seemed a little funny.
Cheng Jiaming really never thought that Jing Yang would be here, what he was surprised about was that Jing Yang and Yang w.a.n.gkun"s relationship had already progressed so quickly, no wonder Yang w.a.n.gkun would be so angry. The reasons and excuses that he had thought up, were all useless.
Jing Yang said, "At that time when your mother was chased out the family, it was not caused by me, you being stranded alone to learn opera, was also not brought about by me, yet you put all of your hatred on my head, wholeheartedly opposing me. If you had only wanted some property, that wouldn"t have been much, I don"t mind giving you a portion. But not only did you want the Cheng family"s entire a.s.sets, and still wanted my life, then you shouldn"t blame me for not being accommodating.”
Jing Yang simply spoke openly, no matter whether it was the original Cheng Junxi or the current him, they wouldn"t have cared about giving Cheng Jiaming a portion of the a.s.sets, but some people"s hearts would never know satisfaction.
Cheng Jiaming"s complexion changed over and over. "Originally you knew everything, so you deliberately went to Fairview Park to perform, to seduce Wei Tianxiong, it was to go against me.”
"It was you going against me, I only counterattacked as self-defense.”
"I am also a son of the Cheng family, for what reason are you the only one able to enjoy everything of the Cheng family?" Cheng Jiaming crawled up, shouting with a face full of anger. "I only want to take back everything that originally should have belonged to me, you enjoyed it for so many years, it should be my turn.”
"Everything that belongs to you? You think that because you are also a son of the Cheng family, and you also endured so much suffering, the entire Cheng family should all be yours, including my life, right?" Jing Yang looked at him, full of irony.
"No mistake!" Cheng Jiaming roared.
"For what reason?" Jing Yang asked.
"Because the Cheng family owes it to me! You should return it to me, the entire Cheng family should all be mine!" Cheng Jiaming had been stimulated too much recently, and then today he suffered a shock, his mind had already regressed into a somewhat deranged state.
Jing Yang self-deprecatingly smiled, he was really a little crazy, he actually attempted to talk some reason into this kind of person, could it be that he had hoped that he would repent?
Yang w.a.n.gkun let his soldiers throw Cheng Jiaming out, Cheng Jiaming was dragged out on the ground, loudly howling, "Cheng Junxi I won"t let you go! I will definitely not let you go!”
The two people returned to their room. After being disturbed like this by Cheng Jiaming, the mood was also gone. They took off their clothes, and then just hugged together, talking to each other.
"After all the matters here are finished, come with me back to the imperial capital." Yang w.a.n.gkun said.
"Go to the imperial capital?" Jing Yang raised his head to look at him.
"Yes, not only the imperial capital, there are still a lot of places we should go, I hope that you can always stay by my side." Yang w.a.n.gkun lowered his head to kiss his eyes, he recently fell in love with this action.
Jing Yang considered it for a moment, it really was impossible for Yang w.a.n.gkun to always stay in Li cheng, and they were both unable to bear long periods of separation. In reality he didn"t have to always stay in Li cheng, when they disposed of Wei Tianxiong, he could still do business here, his shops and stores could continue to open, he also didn"t need to keep living here. He could go to the imperial capital, go to other places to do business, and expand the Cheng family"s industry.
"Good." Rather than feeling anxious after separating, it would be better to just always stay at his side, to stay together in life or death.
Translator Notes:
[1] cultivate their feelings – 缠绵, means touching in the context of emotions, I"m pretty sure this just means they"re often cuddling/having smex
[2] strong dragon cannot repress a snake – 强龙不压地头蛇, idiom, means a local gangster above the law
[3] in a short period of time – 一朝一夕, idiom, literally means one morning and one evening
[4] feeling anxious – 牵肠挂肚, idiom, also means deeply worried
Random Notes:
Second chapter done for the day! Only took 1 hour, surprisingly: 1 – 1:30 pm, 2 pm – 2:30 pm, for 3.2k characters to 2.4k words. Isn’t it nice that they’re back together again? And so gooey as well, the ML is as possessive and sticky as ever haha. Most of the revenge will be happening in the next chapter.