Best Young Master
Chapter 446 - 395: Scars Forgotten As Pain Fades

Chapter 446: Chapter 395: Scars Forgotten As Pain Fades

"Clap, clap..."

At ten in the morning, as Ye Wenhao concluded his summary speech, a thunderous applause erupted in the meeting room of the Southeast Asia Special Zone Government Office Building.

Below the stage, attendees clapped while admiring Ye Wenhao.

Although they didn’t know by what means Ye Wenhao had managed to stabilize the chaotic Underworld of Southeast Asia, they believed that his ability to accomplish all this in just a few days, when other department heads were helpless, sufficiently proved his capability!

Besides, everyone understood that following this incident, Ye Wenhao could at least solidify his footing in the Southeast Asia Special Zone and smoothly commence his golden journey.

One person didn’t see it that way.

Yan Lei.

As the person in charge of the Yanhuang Organization’s Southeast Asia Special Zone Office sitting on the stage, he looked like he was clapping for Ye Wenhao’s speech just like everyone else, but inside, he was sneering.

"Director Yan, come to my office for a chat," Ye Wenhao said, closing his notebook and turning to glance at Yan Lei next to him after the meeting.

Hmm?

Surprised by Ye Wenhao’s words, Yan Lei instinctively had a bad feeling, but then he thought it was unlikely, so he smiled and nodded, "Alright, Special Chief."

A few minutes later, Ye Wenhao, accompanied by Yan Lei, returned to his office. The secretary immediately made tea for them, then tactfully excused herself.

"Huaxia Officialdom always says the Southeast Asia Special Zone is Hell, that mainland officials who come here find it hard to adapt and end up leaving in disgrace,"

Yan Lei took a sip of first-rate Da Hong Pao tea, set down the cup, and subtly offered a compliment, "This custom looks to be broken under your leadership."

"The so-called difficulty in adapting arises because the systems and cultural environment here are different from the mainland. I, having just arrived, have a long way to go to be a good Special Chief," Ye Wenhao said modestly, then smiled. "I’ll have to rely a lot on Director Yan’s help in the future."

"You’re too modest, Special Chief."

Yan Lei politely said, "As you mentioned before, the system here is different from the mainland. In the Special Zone, there are no five administrative teams; the Special Chief manages everything, everyone obeys your commands. Just give your instructions freely."

"Director Yan, from yesterday to today, have you noticed if the Yakuza, Giant Axe Organization, and the Dark Council have sent people into the Special Zone?" Ye Wenhao asked, cutting to the chase without any further pleasantries.

"Not yet."

Yan Lei shook his head and then added, "Please be assured, Special Chief. The Yanhuang Organization and other relevant departments are in close contact, constantly monitoring the movements of these three forces, intensely surveilling all entrants. We’ll report anything unusual to you immediately."

"Good."

Ye Wenhao nodded slightly.

"Special Chief, according to the intelligence we gathered these past two days, no unfamiliar faces have shown up around Taihu, the leader of the Tiger Gang. Given the abilities of his two bodyguards, beating the three major forces’ Southeast Asia branches in such a short time seems almost impossible—do you think there might be something fishy going on?" Seeing that Ye Wenhao was silent, Yan Lei took a guess.

"Director Yan, how the Tiger Gang managed to achieve this isn’t important to us, what’s important is that the chaos has ended. From now on, we just need to step up the monitoring of the Tiger Gang and other such underworld forces to prevent chaos from erupting again,"

Ye Wenhao kept his composure; he naturally wouldn’t foolishly reveal the secret of Ye Fan’s involvement to Yan Lei, as that would hand over evidence of Ye Fan violating the Yanhuang Organization’s rules directly to Yan Lei.

"You’re right."

With his probing going nowhere, Yan Lei nodded in agreement, then subtly probed further, "After the chaos ended, our Yanhuang Organization intensified our surveillance of the Tiger Gang. Just yesterday, Taihu organized a meeting with the remaining underworld leaders; no idea what he was up to."

As the words fell, Yan Lei closely watched for changes in Ye Wenhao’s expression, only to see him responding with a light laugh, "Taihu is naturally taking this opportunity to unify the underworld in Southeast Asia."

"I think so too."

Yan Lei nodded again, then pretended to pick up his cup of tea and took a sip. After setting down the cup, seeing no further comment from Ye Wenhao, he took the initiative to take his leave, "Special Chief, if there’s nothing else, I won’t disturb your work."

"Good."

Ye Wenhao nodded gently and stood to see him off.

"Could Yan Lei be linked to the Bai Family?"

As he watched Yan Lei leave, Ye Wenhao closed the door of his office, recalling how Yan Lei had on two occasions subtly probed him and couldn’t help but ask himself internally.

"Ye Wenhao, this old fox, is really tight-lipped!"

Meanwhile, as he left the meeting room, Yan Lei cursed internally, then quickened his steps to leave.

A few minutes later, Yan Lei walked out of the office building and took a car to leave.

"Xiao Li, pull over to the side."

Not long after the car left the Special Zone Government compound, Yan Lei abruptly spoke.

"Oh... okay!"

Taken by surprise by Yan Lei’s sudden order, the driver momentarily hesitated, then unconsciously responded while slowing down and pulling over as Yan Lei had instructed.

"I have some personal matters to tend to; you can take a cab back to the office." Once the car stopped, Yan Lei gave another instruction.

"Alright, Director,"

Although puzzled, the driver did not dare to ask further. He obediently opened the door, got out of the car, and watched as Yan Lei drove away.

About twenty minutes later, Yan Lei drove alone to the well-known Menam River in Bangkok.

Stopping the car, Yan Lei didn’t get out, but instead took a specially-made phone from his briefcase, took out a SIM card, and inserted it into the phone.

After completing these steps, Yan Lei let his consciousness relax and carefully sensed his surroundings. Once he confirmed there was no presence of martial artists nearby, he dialed a number he knew by heart.

"Director Yan, I’ve finally received your call."

The phone had taken ten full seconds to connect before a deep voice came through, exuding a sense of superiority.

"I apologize, Young Master Chen, I haven’t called you because I haven’t uncovered the truth of the matter yet," Yan Lei explained, his tone neither servile nor overbearing.

"Have you figured it out now?" Chen Feilian asked from the Los Angeles Qinghong Villa of the American Alliance.

"Not yet."

Yan Lei had an unpleasant expression as he said, "In the past three days, I have assigned more personnel to increase the surveillance on the Tiger Gang, but have found nothing unusual."

"It seems that the intelligence network of the Yanhuang Organization is just an empty fame," hearing Yan Lei’s words, disappointment flashed through Chen Feilian’s eyes, his tone sarcastic.

Facing Chen Feilian’s mockery, Yan Lei felt somewhat uncomfortable, but remembering their cooperation, he had to swallow his discontent, quickly adjusted his mood, and added, "However, I just had a conversation with Ye Wenhao. While subtly probing, I noticed that Ye Wenhao avoided discussing the elimination of the three major forces’ branches in Southeast Asia. This leads me to believe that this matter is most likely related to Ye Wenhao, and it could very well have been orchestrated by him personally!"

"Director Yan, I don’t know what kind of standards Yan demands from you all. In Qinghong, whether it’s my father or myself, we don’t like to hear subordinates talk about possibilities, probably, more or less, or should. We want definite results!"

Upon hearing Yan Lei’s words again, Chen Feilian felt a hint of discontent but then remembered that Yan Lei was cooperating with him out of necessity and not one of his subordinates. His tone softened considerably, "Director Yan, Ye Wenhao didn’t notice anything fishy, did he?"

"No."

Although dissatisfied with Chen Feilian’s high-handed attitude, Yan Lei still reflexively responded affirmatively without any prefix like ’should’ as per Chen Feilian’s earlier insistence.

"Good then."

On the other end, Chen Feilian spoke, his eyes flickering as if pondering his next move.

"Young Master Chen, should I personally go and question Taihu?" Seeing Chen Feilian’s silence, Yan Lei hesitated before asking.

"Director Yan, if you do that, won’t you be alerting the enemy and revealing yourself prematurely?"

Chen Feilian spoke in a mocking tone, "If it really is Ye Wenhao supporting that pitiful creature Taihu to unify the Underworld of Southeast Asia and quell the chaos, then your visit to Taihu will surely be reported to Ye Wenhao immediately. With Ye Wenhao’s intelligence, he will definitely sense something is amiss!"

"It was foolish of me."

"Not foolish, you are just anxious. But... as the saying goes, haste does not bring success.," Chen Feilian hinted.

Yan Lei, his face riddled with embarrassment, wisely shifted the topic, "Then according to Young Master Chen, what should be done next?"

"As you said, up to this point, only Taihu presents a breakthrough— to get to the truth, we must pry open his mouth," Chen Feilian spoke thoughtfully, "but you can’t be the one to go."

"What are you suggesting, Young Master Chen?" Yan Lei, his heart stirring, subconsciously thought Chen Feilian would send Lin Tianyi, the helmsman of Nanqinghong personally.

"I’ll personally make the trip to Southeast Asia."

The response was unexpected, causing Yan Lei’s face to change in shock!

"Young Master Chen, it’s just a matter of investigating the truth, isn’t it excessive for you to come personally?" After a few seconds, Yan Lei recovered from his shock, his tone filled with concern.

"This matter is crucial for my plans hereafter—you’re so anxious, is it because you’re worried that our cooperation might be exposed if I come to Southeast Asia?"

Chen Feilian chuckled coldly, "Yan Lei, you should know, there are no impermeable walls in this world. No matter how well you hide it, our collaboration will eventually come to light. Likewise, there is no such thing as a free lunch; there has to be a give to get a return."

"Phew~"

As Chen Feilian punctured that pretense, Yan Lei’s expression changed like a chameleon, his face shifting several times before he took a deep breath as if resigning himself and said firmly, "Since Young Master Chen puts it that way, I’ll follow whatever arrangements you make. But... just a reminder, Young Master Chen, don’t forget my reward!"

"Rest assured, once things are accomplished, I will deliver what I promised you," Chen Feilian said, his lips curving into a mocking smile.

"Very well, then I’ll await your instructions," upon hearing Chen Feilian’s words, Yan Lei didn’t bother with further words and directly hung up the call.

"Father once said, everyone has a weak point; once you grasp someone’s weak point, you can defeat him, and his words couldn’t be truer."

Realizing Yan Lei had hung up first, Chen Feilian wasn’t displeased but rather sighed and then lifted a cup filled with bright red blood and drained it in one gulp.

"Ye Wenhao, you wouldn’t even dream that Yan Lei would be a pawn of mine, Chen Feilian," he sneered as he finished the blood in his cup, "Without the protection of Ye Family and Yanhuang Organization, you wouldn’t even have the worth to lick my father’s boots!"

As he spoke, Chen Feilian licked the blood from the corner of his lips, that sinister face full of smug satisfaction.

The scar is forgotten once the wound heals.

At this moment.

He forgot one thing.

Months ago, during his first encounter with Ye Fan, although he had the advantage of time, place, and people, he had miserably failed!

...

...

PS: World Cup, waited for four years, endured a month, lost a good deal of money, had a heavy cold for a week, finally it’s come to the climax.

After the craziness is over, time to adjust the routine, diligently write, aiming to return to regular updates starting tomorrow.

.

. (To be continued. If you like this work, feel welcome to vote at Qidian (qidian.com) with your recommendation ticket, monthly ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)