Chapter 46: Downfall

  Seeing that Hu Baoguo didn't stop him from leaving, Qin Feng also breathed a sigh of relief. Having stayed in the juvenile detention center for over three years, saying he wasn't afraid of Director Hu at all was somewhat unrealistic.

  After turning the corner onto the street directly in front of the police station, Qin Feng's eyes turned towards an alleyway and he stopped in his tracks, saying: "Come out, what are you hiding here for?"

  "Feng Ge, isn't that... Hu Yanwang over there? We're both a bit afraid of him!" A weak voice came from the alley entrance, and then two people walked out.

  Compared to two years ago, Li Tianyuan's height has increased by a lot, reaching around 1.85 meters, with bulging muscles that seem to be about to burst out of his clothes at any moment, and his skin outside is a healthy dark color.

  As for that little fatty Xie Xuan from back then, he had now become even fatter. Looking at Qin Feng's smiling face, his eyes were almost invisible.

  "Take off those police uniforms and he's not a soldier; don't wear those prisoner uniforms, and you're not bandits. What is there to be afraid of?"

  Qin Feng slightly curled his lip, but seeing the only two people of the same age who could talk in the prison cell, he was still a little excited, and walked forward a few steps, punching Li Tianyuan and Xie Xuan on the chest.

  "It's just a habit!"

  Li Tianyuan smiled wryly, took the plastic bag from Qin Feng's hand and said: "Brother Wind, let's go have a drink first, then find a bathhouse to take a bath, get rid of the bad luck, and you can stay at my place tonight!"

  "Right!" Xie Xuan added beside him: "Feng Lao Da, do you want me to find another woman for you to vent your fire?"

  "Xiao Pang, when did you become so good at this?" Qin Feng looked at Xie Xuan with some surprise and said: "Even if it's a woman, just eat something and take a bath. I won't be staying in Shishi for more than a few days."

  "What?!"

  After hearing Qin Feng's words, Li Tianyuan was stunned for a moment and anxiously shouted: "Feng Ge, you finally said it! I've been waiting for you for over a year to hang out with me!"

  "Son, there's work to be done first, no need to make a fuss about it now."

  Qin Feng glared at Li Tianyuan with a bad temper, this guy's head had grown taller and his temper had also risen, but after seeing the clothes on Li Tianyuan and Xie Xuan's bodies, Qin Feng's eyes revealed a hint of surprise.

  It was already April, and the weather in Shicheng was neither cold nor hot, just right for wearing two layers of clothing. But Li Tianyuan was still wearing a tattered single-layer cotton-padded jacket, looking somewhat shabby.

  Xie Xuan's outfit wasn't much better, wearing a half-old down jacket that was tight and ill-fitting, probably something he had dug out from years ago.

  Qin Feng knew about Xie Xuan's family situation, this kid's family even if they didn't have hundreds of millions in assets, tens of millions shouldn't be a problem, during these two years in prison, he had been sending himself things without hesitation.

  So after seeing the two of them looking a bit down, Qin Feng was stunned too, because when Xiao Pangzi visited him half a year ago, he was still boasting about opening the most awesome car to pick himself up.

  "Let's go, let's eat first." Although he was curious in his heart, Qin Feng didn't say anything. This place is too close to the training institute, and Qin Feng also feared that Hu Lao Da would come after him again.

  The former juvenile detention center was built in the suburbs, and it took more than two hours to get to the city with only one bus. Qin Feng and his group arrived at a small district with security guards at the entrance.

  In 1997, the concept of property only existed in developed cities in the south. From the security guards wearing uniforms at the entrance of this community, it can be seen that this should be a relatively high-end residential area in Shicheng.

  The security guard at the door seemed to know Xie Xuan, waved his hand and let a few people in. He followed Xie Xuan through seven twists and eight turns, and the three of them took the elevator to the twelfth floor of a small high-rise building.

  "Feng Ge, this is one of the highest-end high-rise buildings in Shishi City, and it's also the first residential building with an elevator in all of Shishi."

  When taking the key to open the door, Xie Xuan introduced Qin Feng, who had been silent all along. However, looking at his face, he didn't seem to be excited about living in such a high-end community.

  "This is the highest-end community in Shishi?" After opening the door and turning around the house, Qin Feng seemed to understand.

  The house is not small, with four rooms and two halls, covering an area of 200 square meters. Standing on the balcony, it offers a panoramic view of mountains and water, making it an ideal place to live from a feng shui perspective.

  But what's even more ridiculous is that this house was a roughcast house, although the water and electricity were all connected, but the cement floor and walls that entered the eyes didn't seem like a human habitation at all.

  The furniture in the room, except for a table placed in the middle of the living room, was just two mattresses on the floor, and there wasn't even a single chair. From the newspaper spread out on the floor between the mattresses, it seemed that the two brothers ate their meals sitting on the mattresses.

  "Feng Ge, sorry, I'm putting you out today, let's just make do with something to eat, and tomorrow when I get the money, I'll definitely treat you to a good meal!"

  Li Tianyuan took out a plastic bag from under the bed, opened it and pulled out a roasted chicken and several braised dishes. Xie Xuan, on the other hand, fished out a bottle of baijiu, which was the worst quality liquor used in prison kitchens for cooking.

  "What's happened to you two brothers?"

  To be honest, Qin Feng had some mental preparation beforehand, but seeing the situation in front of him, he still felt extremely surprised. He could tell that the two brothers had put a lot of thought into this small wine and dish.

  "Feng Ge, this matter, when I think about it, it's all because of me."

  After hearing Qin Feng's words, Xie Xuan lowered his head and busied himself opening the braised dishes on the ground, saying: "Let's eat while we talk, I stayed behind just to see you, Brother Feng."

  "Give me the wine bottle."

  Li Tianyuan was about to drink from the bottle, but Qin Feng snatched it away. With a swift motion of his thumb and index finger, the cap fell silently into his palm.

  "See that, Li Lao Da? I told you to wait for Wind Brother to come out!" Seeing this scene, the eyes of Li Tianyuan and Xie Xuan both lit up, with Xie Xuan's face filled with excitement.

  Qin Feng poured wine into three bowls on the ground and said, "Alright, stop racking your brains, just say what's going on."

  "It's like this, Wind Brother..." Xie Xuan picked up the bowl of wine on the ground and drank it in one gulp. It had been more than two years since they last met, and the young master aura about him was long gone, replaced by a hint of a Jianghu flavor.

  As Xie Xuan spoke, Qin Feng finally learned about what had happened between them.

  It turned out that after Li Tianyuan was released from prison, he indeed listened to Qin Feng's words and took the note written by Xie Xuan to find Xie Xuan's father Xie Dazhi's company.

  Xie Dazhi also gave face, spending money to let his son's prison mate take a driver's license test, driving in the company with good salary and benefits. This kind of life where one earns money by their skills made Li Lao Da feel very comfortable.

  More than half a year later, Xie Xuan was also released from prison. Although he had become more steady after experiencing the hardships of prison, he refused to go back to school and instead went to help out at his family's company.

  Seeing his son being sensible, Xie Dazhi was also very happy. If he didn't go to school, then so be it. He himself had only graduated from elementary school and didn't place much importance on diplomas. His son was willing to take over the family business, and he couldn't be more delighted.

  Xie Dazhi then took his son to do business, and deliberately took him to some occasions, wanting to let him gain more experience and accumulate some connections for his son.

  What a coincidence, in a business event, Xie Xuan actually met the female classmate who was once humiliated by himself. In fact, Xie Xuan wanted to apologize, after staying in the detention center for more than a year, Xie Xuan also understood many things.

  But who knew that before Xie Xuan could speak, the girl suddenly remembered things from back then and let out a loud wail, turning around to run away as if she had seen a ghost.

  Xie Xuan never thought that the girl's escape would bring him extremely severe consequences.

  The girl's father, who was already the Secretary of Politics and Law Committee and Director of Public Security Bureau in Shicheng at that time, was also present at the scene of the business activity. After figuring out why his daughter was crying, the director's face turned ugly too.

  Although he comforted his daughter by saying that Xie Xuan had already been punished, as a father, the anger that had been suppressed in his heart for over a year burst out again, and at that time, he took his daughter and left the scene of the activity.

  There are many people in this world who like to guess the thoughts of their leaders, especially those in official circles. As soon as Director Wang left, there were naturally people who went to ask what was going on.

  The circle of Shi City is not big, and after hearing this, everyone understood that he was actually the son of Xie Dazhi, who had once flirted with the director's daughter!

  Some people had thoughts when they thought of the angry look on Director's face when he left.

  The leader is unhappy because of you, Xie Dazhi. If you, Xie Dazhi, were to have bad luck, then the director's mood would probably improve. With the leader in a good mood, wouldn't that also give you subordinates hope for progress?

  So after that event, Mr. Xie seemed to have walked into bad luck, and many things started to go wrong.

  First came the industrial and commercial tax authorities to inspect accounts. In this day and age, who among those doing business has clear accounts?

  After checking, it was found that Xie Dazhi's company had a huge deficit of over 10 million. If not for Mr. Xie's timely intervention, he would have spent 7 or 8 million on back taxes and gifts, and might have even been summoned by the procuratorate.

  The audit is not over yet, the Public Security Bureau came to the door again, saying that they want to investigate Xie Dazhi's suspected smuggling case when he did import and export trade a few years ago. The reason is that Xie Dazhi's company does not have the right to import and export.

  Heaven and earth conscience, in 1992 before the Soviet Union dissolved, Xie someone was just an individual who followed the northern army to Russia to dig for gold, those who went to Russia at that time had never heard of anyone having import and export rights.

  The old man who founded this country once said that in all things, it's best not to be too serious, especially when the government gets serious, because that is absolutely something that human power cannot contend with.

  Xie Laoban is a big shot in the business circle of Shicheng, but in the officialdom, he is really nothing. Any small section chief can easily get him to kowtow and beg for mercy.

  After being detained in the detention center for a month, Xie Dazhi's case was also investigated clearly. Smuggling could not be mentioned, but the tax evasion was an astronomical figure.

  Although the director said something to save face, exempting Xie Dazhi from imprisonment, that huge fine directly led to Xie Laoban's hard-earned money over the years being surrendered to the national treasury.