Urban Martial Saint

”Hahaha...” the Lady Boss giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. ”Old Master Tie really knows how to joke. With you here, who would dare to cause trouble? Our tea house is here with sincere intentions today, and we’ve even brought two gifts for Mr. Ye!”

”Gifts?” Tie Yongwen and Ye Qing exchanged glances, both clearly puzzled about what the tea house meant.

”The first gift,” the Lady Boss said with a faint smile, ”is that we have already turned down Yang Shitao’s offer.” She continued, ”I apologize to Mr. Ye for any inconvenience we caused earlier.”

Ye Qing was even more confused. A thirty million deal, just dismissed like that? What was the tea house really up to? Moreover, he had no ties with the tea house, only grievances. Now that the Ghost-faced Judge had returned, instead of seeking revenge, he had cancelled the deal. What was the meaning of this? Could it be that they were afraid of Tie Yongwen? That seemed unlikely; if they had been scared of Tie Yongwen, they would have declined the deal when he first intervened, not wait until now!

Neither Tie Yongwen nor Ye Qing spoke, just watched the Lady Boss who still wore a serene smile. ”The second gift,” she declared, ”is Xiao Bai!”

White Impermanence, discontent, turned and pulled a man from the car, throwing him in front of Ye Qing.

”This is the second gift?” Tie Yongwen scrutinized the man and asked, ”What does this mean?”

”Last night, he came to our tea house, offering five million to hire some assassins to disrupt the opening ceremony at the Southern Suburbs Dogfight Arena today,” the Lady Boss explained with a light smile. ”However, I turned down that business. Consider this man as the second gift for Mr. Ye’s inauguration ceremony!”

Hearing this, Ye Qing felt a chill. Had the Lady Boss accepted that deal, who knows what might have happened. The assassins from the tea house might not kill him, but if they targeted his brothers, that would be unbearable for Ye Qing. Fortunately, the Lady Boss had declined the business and even brought this man here, granting Ye Qing a significant favor.

Ye Qing glanced at Tie Yongwen, who nodded slightly in response. Understanding the gesture, Ye Qing bowed and said, ”Thank you, Lady Boss. Since everyone is here to celebrate, how could I not welcome them?”

Meanwhile, he signaled Black Bear to seize the man as he led the people from the tea house and Tie Yongwen’s group upstairs. Originally, Tie Yongwen had planned to stay close to the Shen Family people, but with the sudden appearance of the Ghost-faced Judge, he had to change his strategy and instead joined the tea house group. He was more concerned about what the tea house people might do here than about the Shen Family, especially since the Ghost-faced Judge was more dangerous than the Shen Family members.

After settling the two groups, Ye Qing went downstairs, and by now it was nearly eight o’clock. The guests who arrived subsequently carried less influence. Apart from Xu Yingshi from the Sanhe Gang, five others from out of the province had come. However, news of Xu Yingshi’s death had already spread, and these people, after entering, behaved much more low-key, positioning their subordinates downstairs while key figures took seats upstairs.

With Du Tianyi and Gao Shusen helping to receive the guests, everything went more smoothly. Du Tianyi aside, Gao Shusen, being well-respected in Shenchuan City and formerly the personal bodyguard of Lin Zhen Nan, was recognized by many. His presence alone communicated a clear message—the full support of Tie Yongwen for Ye Qing. As a result, those previously harboring ill intentions became much more restrained. Tie Yongwen’s presence here was a strong deterrent indeed!

By around eight o’clock, everyone was appropriately settled, and the gates of the dogfight arena were closed.

The inauguration ceremony took place in the main hall on the ground floor. Around 8:30, everyone was seated and Lin Mengjie commenced the ceremony. Unknown to whom Li Lianshan had handed the task of writing a speech, he read it aloud on stage, droning on for half an hour, nearly getting booed off.

”Old Li, do you think you’re a leader? Why talk so much? Just get on with it!”

”Yeah, what’s with the cultured act?”

”Stop showing off; we were in kindergarten together, I know you. Who knows how much Pinyin was marked in that speech of yours!”

The crowd yelled loudly, leaving Li Lianshan flushed with embarrassment, prompting him to step down without finishing.

It was Ye Qing’s turn. Not one for speeches, he looked at the crowd and opening his mouth, eventually managed only a few words: ”Everyone, eat well, have a good time!”

The room fell silent immediately, and a person sitting in the first row stared at Ye Qing in astonishment, exclaiming, ”That’s it?”

”Gone!” Ye Qing said, spreading his hands.

The scene was calm, then suddenly broke into roaring laughter. Everyone marveled that Ye Qing’s speech was the best, simple yet profound!

”Damn, what kind of society is this?” Li Lianshan, holding his speech in hand, complained, ”I even went all the way to Shenda University, used some connections, and paid over a thousand bucks for a Chinese major to write this speech for me, and it’s still not as good as his seven words?”

”Li, you really like to fuss!” Qin Jing sincerely looked at Li Lianshan.

Hou Sanqi said, ”No, hold on, Li, didn’t you say you have a bunch of college girls at your place? Why didn’t you have them write one for you instead of going all the way to Shenda, using connections, and bothering so much?”

”Ah, forget about it!” Li Lianshan waved his hand, looking frustrated, ”I did ask, but those girls, they all bloody sell their bodies, not their art!”

Everyone was initially stunned, then burst out laughing again.

”I’ve heard a lot about selling art and not bodies, but selling bodies and not art, that’s a first!” Chen Jun laughed.

”Hehehe...” Li Lianshan couldn’t help but laugh as well, then added, ”Damn, from now on, whatever it takes, I must make sure Mao Mao goes to school. Being uneducated, you get too damn bulled. Damn it, with speeches, if you say too little, they say you’re not deep enough, not up to standard. If you say too much, they call you a show-off. Look at Ye Zi, he only said seven words, yet the reaction is so strong. Damn, it’s just too demeaning!”

”Alright, stop moping. Being educated or not, it depends on the context you’re in,” Lin Mengjie said with a light smile: ”In this sort of scenario, with uneducated hooligans below, what’s the point of delivering a speech to them? If there were a few cultured people in the audience, Ye’s seven words would be useless!”

After Ye Qing and Li Lianshan had spoken, the next event was the first dogfight at the newly renovated Southern Suburbs Dogfight Arena. Li Lianshan had spent a lot of money to bring in a batch of top fighting dogs from outside the area, hoping to make a big profit on this.

Of course, this wasn’t easy to earn, because while their own fighting dogs were going at it, they also had to face challenges from other people’s dogs. The gangs in Shenchuan City were one thing; they didn’t openly oppose Ye Qing and Li Lianshan, so they didn’t bring their fighting dogs. However, the gangs from other provinces were not so courteous and brought quite a few fighting dogs, making tonight’s event a tough battle.

And the dogfights were just the beginning; following that were underground boxing matches. Compared to dogfights, people were more willing to place bets on boxing matches. Gambling had its risks; if the boxing match got manipulated, tonight could be even more troublesome.

With Tie Yongwen present, and after the recent Forceful Killing incident involving Fire Butterfly, these people did not dare to make trouble openly. However, rigging the match was still a problematic affair. After all, Ye Qing and Li Lianshan were the bankers, and if someone like Poisonous Mantis won billions at once, the arena could likely break down.

When the dogfight began, some people went straight back to their private rooms, not interested in watching. Actually, when coming down for this ceremony, many people didn’t come down personally, like the people of the Shen Family, who only sent Zhao Chengshuang as their representative. Huangfu Ziyu also didn’t come down; it was just that dwarf who appeared. And from the Fire Butterfly and Tie Yongwen Tea House side, no one came person; only their representatives were present.

These people were all very powerful, and each had their own agendas for tonight. The opening ceremony wasn’t important to them. As for the people of the Shen Family and Huangfu Ziyu, Tie Yongwen and the tea house people, they were currently restraining each other; they were more focused on keeping an eye on each other. As for Fire Butterfly, Ye Qing was even more frustrated; this woman was very aggressive and couldn’t be restrained by anyone. Who knew if she might cause some major trouble again?

Ye Qing didn’t dare linger downstairs but went up and hustled between several rooms, fearing any potential conflicts.

The situation with the dogfights downstairs seemed very stable; at least Li Lianshan hadn’t contacted Ye Qing, which suggested that things were still under control. Otherwise, Li Lianshan would have likely contacted Ye Qing by now.

Ye Qing hustled around upstairs, but he never went into the room of the Shen Family because he didn’t want to face them. He just walked around outside the Shen Family’s room and was preparing to leave to check on Poisonous Mantis’s situation when he inadvertently caught a glimpse of what seemed like a figure in the hallway.

Ye Qing was startled and hurried into the hallway, but the figure had vanished. From a distance, he only caught a glimpse of a long wooden box flashing by the hallway entrance; he didn’t see the person at all.

Seeing that wooden box, Ye Qing’s expression instantly changed. He had seen this box before—it was the same strange wooden box used by a mysterious man to carry weapons. That night, the mysterious man had used a strangely shaped long sword to directly cut a quarter off a car, a scene Ye Qing vividly remembered. Now, to see traces of this man at the Southern Suburbs Dogfight Arena, Ye Qing couldn’t help but feel uneasy. What was this man here for? Could it be that he was also planning to exploit this opportunity at the Southern Suburbs Dogfight Arena to stir up some major trouble?