"Jiang Hai, is the matter settled?" Zhan Dun asked as he drove back to the manor. Jiang Hai and Connorson got out of the car. After watching Connorson leave happily, Jiang Hai also returned to the villa.
As soon as he arrived, Bernice anxiously approached him.
"It's all resolved," Jiang Hai replied. Looking around the living room, he saw Bernice, Xiaoya, Darlene, Marian, Azarina, and Aphra gathered there. For the first time that day, a smile appeared on his face before he collapsed onto the sofa, visibly tired. Seeing Jiang Hai's relaxed posture and hearing his words, the women all breathed a collective sigh of relief.
They immediately surrounded him, chattering and asking for details about what had happened that night. Jiang Hai gave them a brief rundown.
When they heard he had personally gone upstairs and sprayed the place, the women couldn't help but laugh. That was just like Jiang Hai.
If it had been anyone else, they wouldn't have had so much energy. Indeed, this whole matter was because of Jiang Hai's unique style.
As the old saying goes, if you don't do bad things during the day, you won't be afraid of ghosts knocking at your door at night. Another saying goes, if you have no desires, you will be strong.
Jiang Hai's true secret wasn't just the environment or the so-called "dragon ball" he mentioned—it was himself. Because of his own strength, he could build countless Tenglong Manors wherever he wanted, without evading taxes or breaking laws.
Even if someone wanted to mess with him, do you think the 2 billion in oil futures he prepared was a joke?
If he decided to cash that in, the people willing to protect him would line up from his home all the way to the imperial capital.
No one pays much attention to a manor owner with a net worth of over 100 million, but an oil holder worth that much? That's a different story.
This is the nature of value, and Jiang Hai possessed the power to back it up.
Since he wasn't afraid of official matters, what else was there to fear?
As for the saying about desire making one strong—this was even more true for Jiang Hai. He had no deep ties to Winthrop. Their cooperation was purely business, centered on Jiang Hai himself. He was there to make money.
If Winthrop made him unhappy, he could simply create another Winthrop somewhere else. He was a man who wanted to earn money and enjoy life.
"Well, now that it's all settled, let's take a shower and get some rest," Bernice said with a laugh after hearing Jiang Hai's brief explanation. She felt like she hadn't had much to do recently, and her heart seemed tied to Jiang Hai.
Jiang Hai claimed he was a salted fish all day, but Bernice felt she was the one becoming the salted fish.
She had spent so long studying medicine to cure her sister, but now that Jiang Hai had cured her, there seemed little point in continuing her medical studies. After all, money wasn't an issue. Staying here with Jiang Hai all day was making her lazier, but she enjoyed this life. Not everyone was a workaholic—and Jiang Hai certainly wasn't.
"Let's go!" Bernice announced as she got up to shower. Jiang Hai didn't say much, just waved his hand, and soon everyone went together to the hot spring.
But was what Bernice said really true? Jiang Hai wasn't so sure. Would those troublemakers just give up?
As he left the villa, Jiang Hai glanced at Ban Ya, who wasn't perched on Xiao Huang's head, and Jiujiu, who had just returned and was lying in his nest. Sometimes animals were more useful than people, especially for surveillance...
The shower went smoothly, but when Jiang Hai returned to his room, he found Janice and Bridget had sneaked in without him noticing. Needless to say, what happened next was inevitable.
While Jiang Hai enjoyed the peaceful countryside, things at Celanese were far from good...
The next morning, those arrested by the police—Augustine and others—walked out of the station.
As Jiang Hai predicted, although they had stirred up the crowd, they had not committed rebellion or pyramid schemes, so the police had no grounds to detain them. Locked up overnight, these people left the station in low spirits.
"Augustine, what do we do now?" asked a man who'd been punched the previous night, covering his swollen face with frustration. Before Jiang Hai arrived, these people had survived by robbing and collecting protection fees. The police couldn't manage them because the force was too small.
But since Jiang Hai came and contributed heavily to the police—through taxes, of course—the Winthrop Police Department had expanded recruitment repeatedly. From just a dozen officers originally, they'd grown to nearly a hundred before the recent events, and expanded further after Jiang Hai's incident.
Now, there were over 2,300 regular officers in a small-town police station.
They patrolled day and night. Stealing was impossible, let alone robbing or shaking down businesses.
More than 30 police cars roamed the town daily, making these criminals miserable.
They had nowhere to survive. They weren't happy to find jobs, they were used to being lazy and hiding. The townspeople lived peacefully these past months, but these criminals did not.
When Augustine found them, they agreed to his plan to deal with Jiang Hai.
The money from Celanese was part of it. These might be the people most eager to return to the old ways.
But now that they had offended Jiang Hai, they were no longer living their previous lives in town. They couldn't even make a living. At the police station's door, others looked at them with disgust, nearly driving them mad. They doubted anyone would even serve them in stores.
Augustine and Celanese caused all this, so naturally, they wanted answers.
"Don't worry. Go home first. I'll get news for you. I'll talk to Mr. ****** now." But Augustine felt like a mud bodhisattva crossing the river—unable to protect even himself. Asked to help these people, who would help him?
As the main leader in this mess, these bastards wouldn't get along with him, let alone protect him.
But he couldn't say that—if he did, he'd be beaten to death. So all he could do was ask Mr. ****** what to do. After hearing Augustine's words, these men still had doubts, but had no choice but to disperse.
Some tried to buy food on the way home, but even restaurants and supermarkets refused to serve them. So they left in shame, only growing more determined to hate Jiang Hai.
This time, they truly had no way out.
If they wanted to live here, Jiang Hai had to go.
Ignoring their plight, Augustine went to Jiang Hai's beach villa to find Peter.
Fortunately, Peter was there. After Augustine explained, Peter smiled.
"Augustine, don't worry. You're an official employee of our company. I won't give up on you. At worst, you can come back to Texas with us. As for those people, stabilize them first. I'm coordinating with Boston authorities to pressure the town and get Mayor Wallis to hold a referendum. Your friends will be key votes," Peter said with a smile.
"But Jiang Hai clearly opposes us. He said as much last night. Honestly, I don't expect much from this referendum. The camps are too divided," Augustine frowned.
"What if Jiang Hai agrees?" Peter smiled mysteriously.
"You mean you have a way to make Jiang Hai agree?" Augustine asked, excited. If Jiang Hai supported the referendum, it would be much easier. No matter what he admitted, Jiang Hai's influence in Winthrop was huge.
Though he'd been here just a year, and active only a month, he controlled the town's most vital lifeline—money.
In a capitalist society, no one can ignore money—not even the townspeople.
"You'll see when the time comes..." Peter said with a knowing smile.
Unnoticed by either, outside the open window, a squirrel lay on a tree branch. On its chest was a tiny camera, transmitting images and sound directly to a computer at Jiang Hai's home across town.
Azarina sat in front of the computer, munching shrimp crackers as she watched the feed and listened.
"If you want Jiang Hai to change his mind, money won't do it. Pressuring him through others won't work either—he doesn't care about officials. Since it's not about money or influence, there's only one option... Hey, I hope you're not going dirty. This is a dead end!" Azarina smiled softly.
If those people really tried to use dirty tricks against Jiang Hai, she thought, he wouldn't mind showing them his own tricks—which were far crueller.
(To be continued.)