Author: 长洱 / Chang’er
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 24
People were different from each other.
This was bullshit, but this bullshit told us not to have preconceptions about anyone or anything.
Of course, Xing Conglian didn’t like Huang Ze, but he wasn’t prejudiced against him. For Xing Conglian, for those who weren’t dandies, they at least deserved a little respect, and that was why he was still willing to work with Huang Ze.
Huang Ze was contemplating it seriously. He didn’t give a quick answer, and his gaze wandered past Lin Chen’s face as he asked, “What do you mean?”
“This is a dangerous matter.” Lin Chen didn’t say anything more.
“It’s impossible for me to close the highway because of your opinion.” Huang Ze looked at Jiang Zhe, who was still being interviewed. “That is our real psychology expert, and I can only listen to the opinions of experts.”
Huang Ze always stuck to the rules, meticulously. This was the reason why he was well respected and was able to defeat all his competitors and step into the position of Inspector of the Provincial Office. This kind of personality wasn’t bad, but sometimes wasn’t necessarily good either.
Xing Conglian sighed.
Huang Ze apologized politely to the reporter and brought Jiang Zhe to Lin Chen.
When Jiang Zhe heard the reason, he exploded in an instant. “This is a prank by a teenager in his rebellious phase, and you expect to close off an entire highway for that? Are you kidding me?” Jiang Zhe lowered his voice, as if unwilling to let reporters from a distance notice what was happening. He sneered at Lin Chen. “I know, in fact, you just want to make things big so you can make a name for yourself again. Do you think you can go back to those flowery days?”
After he finished speaking, he threw his hands in the air and started to leave, but Lin Chen stopped him. “Jiang Zhe, can you be responsible for every analysis you make?”
“Lin Chen, what are you still doing? Trying to scare others?” Jiang Zhe turned his head and gave Lin Chen a look as if he was looking at a ghost. “I can’t be responsible, can you?”
“I can.”
It was obvious sarcasm, but Lin Chen answered very seriously. His voice wasn’t loud, but it held a seriousness that left people speechless.
Jiang Zhe couldn’t retort. “Psychopath!” He held back for a long time but could only come up with this as a response.
After he spat out his insult, the psychology expert with messy, curly hair didn’t look back.
Huang Ze shrugged and said to Lin Chen and Xing Conglian, “I’m sorry. Our expert told me that your idea is nonsense.”
“Huang Ze, if something happens, please let me know.” Lin Chen looked at Huang Ze.
“Why are you so desperate for something to happen?”
“It’s not that I’m hoping something will happen, but something will happen. The occurrence of things isn’t based on my will.”
When Lin Chen finished speaking, Xing Conglian patted him on the shoulder and said, “Let’s go.”
—
When pressed against time and one wanted to close off a highway, the fastest way was to directly go to the Highway Transportation Administration Office.
Xing Conglian sat in his jeep, and as soon as he got in, he stepped on the gas, and the jeep sped away.
The atmosphere inside the car was depressing and no one spoke. Lin Chen sat in the front passenger seat, while Wang Chao and Yang Dianfeng were in the back.
The manager of the transportation company seemed to be holding back for a long time and could no longer contain it. He burst out, saying to Xing Conglian, “Young Master Huang is like this. You didn’t need to talk to him at all!”
Lin Chen noticed that he was still staring at him when Yang Dianfeng spoke, as if he was very dissatisfied with his proposal.
“It’s my duty. If I don’t say anything, it’s my problem. It’s his problem if he doesn’t listen. Forget about it.” Xing Conglian clenched the steering wheel with both hands and acted unconcerned.
Lin Chen glanced at him, and then was poked by the other party. Xing Conglian said to him, “Get me a cigarette.”
Lin Chen looked around in the car but didn’t see a cigarette pack.
“It’s in my pocket.” Xing Conglian motioned slightly sideways.
In the back seat, Yang Dianfeng was watching their every move. He felt as if he was being ignored again.
“How can you leave it like this? It’s obvious that Young Master Huang has a personal grudge against you. You should appeal to your superiors!” Yang Dianfeng increased his volume slightly as he spoke again.
“Why bother?” Xing Conglian didn’t even seem to register Huang Ze in his mind from the start. He stepped on the gas and quickly passed the vehicle in front of him. “It’s a waste of time and energy to be angry.”
If Huang Ze was present, he would probably want to vomit blood again if he heard this.
The Hongjing Highway Transportation Administration Office was about 50 kilometers away from the scene of the hijacking. Even if Xing Conglian drove at full speed, it would take nearly half an hour to reach it.
While in the car, Xing Conglian had already called the old director to report the latest progress of the case, hoping to get his help. Therefore, when they arrived at the transportation office, there were already people waiting for them in the parking lot.
“Hello, Captain Xing. I am Liu Xing, Assistant Chairman of the Hongjing Highway Company.”
After the group got out of the car, a young man wearing gold-rimmed glasses greeted them.
“Where is your chairman?” Xing Conglian asked as he walked briskly.
“The chairman is in a meeting.”
Liu Xing sized up Xing Conglian and his party. Although he had a good attitude, there was still a hint of disapproval in his tone.
Just now, he received a phone call and heard that Captain Xing wanted to meet with the company’s management and asked them to block off the highway. He felt it was all too ridiculous. What kind of rank does a municipal captain of the police criminal division have to dare make such a ludicrous request?
Now that he saw the person in the flesh and saw the dilapidated jeep he was driving and the simple clothing he was wearing, Liu Xing was even more certain that this captain had no background. Since he had no background, he was just an ordinary public servant, so he could send him off casually.
He had dealt with this kind of prevarication from many people before. Some got angry, while others could only swallow their anger. Of course, some would try and beg, but what he didn’t expect was the reaction of the captain to be so different from those types of people.
“Things are urgent. Even if the chairman is on the toilet, we have to force our way in.” Xing Conglian stopped and threatened Liu Xing with a tone that was saying “I’ll be reasonable with you”.
Liu Xing winced. As an assistant, he couldn’t embarrass his boss, so he invited Xing Conglian and his party into the chairman’s office and then made a phone call.
When Liu Xing put down the phone, he saw the four people who had entered the room standing at the door, showing a very surprised look at the furnishings inside.
The Hongjing Highway traversed two provinces and was extremely profitable. It shouldn’t be a wonder why the office of the chairman of the company would be luxurious.
The four pieces that made up a local tyrant were extremely eye-catching: oak floors, mahogany furniture, leather sofas, and jade ornaments. The only difference was that behind the chairman’s leather chair, instead of an imitation of a famous foreign painting or pictures of tigers descending the mountain, there was a huge photo.
The photo was extremely old in every sense. The corners were yellowed. The people in the photo were all wearing outfits from the late 1980’s, and they were laying the foundation for the highway. Looking closely, they found several people in the photo had retired from high positions, meaning the people in this photo were also old.
In the entire photo, the only thing that looked relatively new was the beautiful lady in the lower right corner. The lady was wearing a simple silk cheongsam. Her long hair was coiled with an ebony hairpin, and a few strands of black hair hung down the side of her face. Her ears were like jade, her face was pure, and she wasn’t wearing any jewelry. She stood there quietly, but her temperament was mighty, as if she had descended from heaven.
And because of her existence, it made the huge photo seem to glow.
Liu Xing retracted his gaze and looked at the visitors again.
“The chairman said he’ll be here soon.” He coughed lightly, interrupting the four people who were studying the photo carefully. “Ah, is Captain Xing interested in this photo?” There was silence in the room, so Liu Xing reluctantly found a topic to break it. “This is a photo of when the foundation of our Hongjing Highway was laid. The groundbreaking ceremony wasn’t very grand. Several senior executives were present. More importantly, an important investor was also at the scene.”
Liu Xing had recited this sentence many times. After all, this was the most glorious history of the Hongjing Highway. Whenever visitors came, he was always responsible for explaining it.
He looked up at the beautiful lady in the photo and began to speak eloquently.
As one of the first batches of highways constructed in China, the Hongjing Highway once had trouble raising funds at the beginning of its construction. At that time, private capital was just emerging, and the so-called North-South families were just emerging.
In order to prepare for the construction of the highway, the then mayor of Hongjing went around begging for alms, and finally came to the door of the legendary first elite Chinese family.
It was said that on that day, the mayor arrived at the door of the family, knocked on it, and went in for a cup of tea. When he came out, he was holding all the funds that could complete the highway.
“This beautiful lady, isn’t it Miss Xing?” When Yang Dianfeng said this, he glanced at Xing Conglian meaningfully.
“No, that’s not Miss Xing but Mrs. Xing.” As Liu Xing spoke, he also looked at the poor Captain Xing and said with a smile, “Speaking of which, Captain Xing is also surnamed Xing.”
“No, our Captain’s Xing is punishment, which has sword as it radical*. He just has the same pronunciation.” When Wang Chao heard this, he patted Xing Conglian on the shoulder. “Captain, you have the same surname Xing, yet why are you so poor?”
*Clarity: The Xing in Xing Conglian’s name is (刑) which means punishment. The Xing in Mrs. Xing is (邢). What Wang Chao is saying is that the first radical of the Chinese character is the same, but the second radical is different. Xing Conglian’s second radical is part of sword (剑). Thus, the Xing are homonyms but different Chinese characters, so they are not related.
Xing Conglian staggered a bit when he was patted. He looked at the lady in the photo and fell unexpectedly silent.
Wang Chao was certainly joking, but it showed that the first elite family in China was still rich in people’s hearts, as well as probably still rich in the physical sense.
The Xing family had been doing business since the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, spanning hundreds of years. Its tentacles had spread to almost every corner of the world. The Xing family managed everything, from gas and minerals, to mining and tobacco, to forestry and rice, but even so, they were only just a rich family.
However, legends hold that wherever there were Chinese people, the Xing family would always be held in high regard.
That was because, since the war hundreds of years ago, the Xing family had provided shelter for countless overseas Chinese, and to this day, ran the largest overseas Chinese charity organization, providing all kinds of assistance to countless overseas Chinese who were scattered in foreign countries.
All their praise boiled down to one sentence: The Xing family are truly remarkable.
In silence, the door suddenly opened. The chairman of the Hongjing Highway Company strode in.
Mr. Chairman ignored the people waiting in the office and sat down in his seat, then began to answer the phone.
The content of the phone call was about some insignificant content about a trip abroad. He chatted with the person on the other end of the line and seemed to have no intention of hanging up.
At this moment, Xing Conglian got up, walked over, and disconnected the call.
“Who are you? Who let you into my office?” The chairman scolded.
“Xing Conglian, Captain of the Hongjing Police Criminal Division.”
Perhaps it was due to Xing Conglian’s eyes being too cold that, after a short stalemate, the chairman’s tone finally softened. “Oh, Captain Xing, please sit down.” The chairman waved his hand and said, “I heard that you came to me, so you can ask that I shut down the highway.”
“We judge that the teenage hijacker will probably make a big move today. For the safety of the citizens, I hope you can agree to temporarily close it off.”
“Just because of your judgment, we have to close off the highway? Do you know how much loss the shareholders have to bear?!”
“I don’t.”
“What do you know?!” The chairman almost poked his finger at Xing Conglian’s face.
“I don’t know much, but I do know that if you’re not willing to take responsibility at this moment, you’ll have to bear the consequences for the next moment.” Xing Conglian’s eyes were full of frost.
“Consequences?” The Chairman sneered. “Captain Xing, you don’t think this highway is run by your family, do you?”
Hearing this, Xing Conglian had an odd expression on his face.
The author has something to say:
In fact, my country has been vigorously promoting the introduction of private capital to participate in highway construction. Many roads have private capital participating in investment and construction. This is true…
This is just slightly exaggerated, a bit modern…
Kinky Thoughts:
Well, obviously the Xing is the same Xing. Given that Lin Chen has four elite families after his ass, he needs the backing of a gong with an elite family that rules them all.
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Kinky Translations 
lmao it really is his family right?!
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