Chapter 428 — Catching a Few Thieves

But today he had run into a wall named Wei Zhao—the greatest pillar he leaned on no longer held.

"Not just no match for him! Uncle Yan never even got a strike in. Wei Zhao slapped him flying with one palm—it was an instant kill!" Bu Ruoming shuddered at the memory. Clearly Wei Zhao had never used his full strength when slapping him in the past; otherwise, if Uncle Yan could be sent flying, wouldn't his own head have been slapped clean off?

"Instant kill..." Zou Tiandi's mouth twitched. He had assumed Uncle Yan fought Wei Zhao before losing, but now it seemed that Wei Zhao's strength must be far above Uncle Yan's. "Ruoming, do you think we should buy some gifts and pay Wei Zhao a visit, then admit our fault?" Zou Tiandi asked after a moment's thought.

"That... I don't know either, but for now, probably not?" Bu Ruoming shook his head. "Wei Zhao's still furious right now—going over there would be courting death. Once some time has passed and this has blown over, we can go apologize, and it should be fine then, no?"

"True enough!" Zou Tiandi nodded. "These next few days, I'll see if I can pull some strings and visit Uncle Yan, to get a clear picture of Wei Zhao's true strength!"

"That works too—know the enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles with a hundred victories!" Bu Ruoming trotted out an idiom.

"A hundred victories my ass! Even if you knew his strength, we still couldn't win! Unless we get to know someone even more powerful!" Zou Tiandi cursed. "With just the two of us—don't even dream of it in a hundred years!"

"Ah... I suppose that's all we can do..." Beyond the fear, Bu Ruoming felt a sliver of resentment. Being bullied and having no choice but to swallow it made him deeply uncomfortable.

Zou Tiandi parked the car at the entrance to the flower-bird-fish market, and he and Bu Ruoming got out. This market was his; normally Bu Ruoming's men watched over the place, so nothing ever went wrong. The annual rent alone brought in tens of millions—a business that turned a steady profit.

"Son of a bitch! Whose beat-up car is parked in my private spot right at the entrance?" Zou Tiandi frowned and cursed. There was no parking spot painted at the main entrance, but when cars were plentiful, it got used anyway.

Only today there were very few cars, and yet this spot was still taken, which naturally irritated Zou Tiandi—it was his own private spot for every visit.

"A beat-up van! Have someone find out which shopkeeper's delivery vehicle this is. Asking for a beating, is he? Tomorrow have Ruoguang fine his family a bit of money!" Zou Tiandi was in a foul mood and vented his anger elsewhere.

"Huh?" Zou Ruoming got out and looked where his father was cursing, and nearly stumbled to the ground! Because he recognized that van—wasn't it Wei Zhao's?

"Dad, stop cursing, please, stop! Look at that license plate..." Bu Ruoming hurried to cut off his father's tirade, terrified Wei Zhao might hear.

"What about the plate? What's so interesting about a license plate?" Zou Tiandi said dismissively, thrusting out his big belly as he headed into the market.

"It's Wei Zhao's car!" Bu Ruoming said. "Wei Zhao has come to the flower-bird-fish market?"

"What?" The moment Zou Tiandi heard the car belonged to Wei Zhao, he jumped in fright. Thank goodness he hadn't acted on impulse just now and called security to tow the car away—otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable! Zou Tiandi broke out in a cold sweat and turned to leave: "Ruoming, let's go, we'd better not stay here..."

Bu Ruoming hesitated. He hadn't gotten his saplings yet, and surely they wouldn't run into Wei Zhao by such a coincidence? So he said, "Let's go straight to the office and wait until Wei Zhao leaves before we come out?"

"That works too!" Zou Tiandi nodded, and he and Bu Ruoming walked into the flower-bird-fish market. The guard at the entrance spotted Zou Tiandi and immediately called out loudly, "Good day, President Zou!"

"Quiet! Stop shouting!" Zou Tiandi nearly exploded with rage. Why was he yelling? What if Wei Zhao heard?

The guard was stunned, not understanding what was going on, but then guessed—could it be that Zou Tiandi had brought people here incognito to inspect the market?

The more the guard thought about it, the more likely it seemed, so he nodded vigorously. "All right... I won't say anything..."

Zou Tiandi and Bu Ruoming slipped into the manager's office like ghosts. Xie Fenpian, the manager of the flower-bird-fish market, had just received a report from the head of his security team: they had caught a cheat and two little girls, and had already looked into their backgrounds—they had merely come in a beat-up van, definitely no one of consequence!

So Xie Fenpian prepared to go down and take some liberties—stealing a phone, after all... then he'd just have them strip off their clothes for a body search! That was exactly the sort of thing Xie Fenpian loved doing! Of course, anything more outrageous he still dared not attempt, for fear of trouble; but searching the bodies of caught thieves, though a bit excessive, wouldn't land him in any real trouble. Xie Fenpian was getting excited when he looked up and saw Zou Tiandi and Bu Ruoming burst in—and jumped in fright! Could they have found out what he was up to?

Still, from what Xie Fenpian knew, Zou Tiandi was no good either—he specialized in preying on the young women in the company. As the saying goes, when the beam is crooked, the rafters are askew—that was exactly the principle at work.

The whole Bu Tiandi family—Bu Ruoguang and Bu Ruoming, and his underlings too—were a bad lot, every one of them. The reason Xie Fenpian dared to act so recklessly was precisely because Bu Ruoguang indulged him!

He had once been a local thug in the North District; only because Bu Ruoguang thought highly of him had he been made manager of this market.

The thought that Bu Tiandi was cast from the same mold actually left Xie Fenpian unafraid: "President Bu, you're here—perfect timing. There's good news I was hoping Brother Guang could pass on to you!"

"Good news?" Bu Tiandi was taken aback. He was in a foul mood just then, and if some good news could offset it, it might lift his spirits a little.

"The security department caught a few thieves, and there are some pretty girls among them. Would you like to go search them, President Bu?" Xie Fenpian said, his voice dripping with lewd intent.

"Oh? Have their backgrounds been checked?" Bu Tiandi asked, startled, something stirring in his heart. This was one of his hobbies—if there really was no problem, he could vent his anger on these thieves.

"No background at all. The lot of them came in a beat-up minivan, so broken it looked like something picked out of a junkyard. There's absolutely no way they have any background!" Xie Fenpian said.

"Wait! What did you say? A beat-up minivan?" Bu Tiandi was startled. He had just been frightened out of his wits by Wei Zhao's beat-up van, and at the sudden mention of a beat-up minivan from Xie Fenpian, his nerves went haywire and he nearly jumped out of his skin: "Who are the thieves you caught? Tell me quickly—who are they!"