Chapter 1075: Chapter 26: Boss Mu’s Words Hold a Deeper Meaning
It’s normal for people inland to not understand the specific workings of the Four Seas Commerce Guild.
After all, in these days, the country still doesn’t have the capability to implement compulsory education universally.
Even if compulsory education becomes universal later, there will still be all sorts of ignoramuses trolling the internet.
Taking anecdotal stories from marketing accounts as gospel history.
The main members of the Four Seas Commerce Guild are Overseas Chinese, but even Overseas Chinese are not a monolithic group, as there are distinct factions within.
Within the Four Seas Commerce Guild alone, the Chinese communities are divided into three factions.
One of them consists of the remnants of the Heavenly King Divine Sect, who fled overseas after their uprising failed.
The second comprises Chinese laborers from Fujian and Guangdong who were half-forcibly, half-willingly brought overseas to help build railroads for the Foreigners.
The third is what Yan Yu’an referred to as the Incense Hall, a mutual aid organization established by the Chinese in Southeast Asia, also known as the Sandalwood Society.
To outsiders, these three seem indistinguishable, but internally, the factions are quite distinct.
Simply put, these three groups do not worship the same Immortal.
The remnants of the Heavenly King Divine Sect worship the Guiding Bodhisattva and are the mainstream group advocating the return of fallen leaves to their roots.
The Chinese laborers worship the Heavenly Empress, with no grand ideals or high-level demands, only seeking peace and success in life.
The Sandalwood Society worships the Life-Protecting Emperor, with mainstream thoughts focused on saving the suffering and healing the world.
“They have ideals, but not many.”
This is Yan Yu’an’s personal evaluation of the Sandalwood Society.
Personal evaluations are inevitably subjective, like the stereotype that Northerners use their fists rather than argue, whereas Southerners might argue affectionately for half an hour. Such stereotypes are not objective.
There are also many passionate and expressive individuals in the South.
Back during the Ryukyu incident, when the Vermilion Bird Army clashed fiercely with the Fusang Navy in the southern part of Yizhou Island, many members of the Incense Hall enthusiastically enlisted and heroically sacrificed themselves.
But as the saying goes, when the forest is large, there will be all types of birds.
Where there is progress, there is naturally regression.
Take for instance the group of Incense Hall members who came with Yang Jian to Tianmen; according to Wang Yunxiao’s personal impression, they are not upstanding people.
Yan Yu’an said this case should be his responsibility, which is both right and wrong.
The Tianmen Customs’ jurisdiction is quite broad; besides collecting customs duties, they must also inspect and supervise goods and people coming from abroad, whether legal or illegal immigrants, laborers, sailors, travelers, adventurers…
This group returned through formal customs procedures; no matter what happens, Customs must bear the responsibility.
In plain terms, if they commit a crime, Customs provides information for their capture, and then they are deported. If you don’t want to leave, there are ways to deal with that; the East Sea is vast, and there’s always a place to discard someone.
Yan Yu’an’s emergency team mainly handles such tasks, but they have no investigative rights. For incidents like these, the investigative process must first proceed through the police system or the Special Service Bureau.
The navy doesn’t have those rights either.
Yang Qiming completely relied on his identity, withstanding pressure from various sides, to forcibly intervene in this case, demanding that Wang Yunxiao catch the culprit tonight.
At this point, some people might be excited—”Who is Yang Jian, we don’t know, just a Little Karami. But Yang Qiming, a dignified marshal breaking the law, disrupting social order and stability, certain individuals harboring and indulging, promoting nepotism. If this continues, society will decline, and the nation will be destroyed.”
This won’t satisfy public indignation unless they are executed in the marketplace for five minutes!
It can be imagined that this case will undoubtedly cause Yang Qiming great trouble in the future.
For now, however, Wang Yunxiao only needs to focus on how to catch these people by the tail.
“Can you find out where they are currently staying?”
“Yesterday yes, but after today’s upheaval, it’s hard to say.”
Yan Yu’an replied helplessly, “It’s possible to find out, but it’ll take some time, you on your end…”
“I need to give an account before dawn.”
“Before dawn?”
Yan Yu’an glanced at the time, “The time is a bit tight.”
“Consider it a personal favor owed.”
“You haven’t even repaid the last favor… Alright, I’ll think of a way.”
Thinking of a way involves using non-official channels.
Just like how Wang Yunxiao is doing now, given his experience at Customs, Yan Yu’an naturally also has connections that aren’t suitable to be publicly acknowledged.
Yan Yu’an turned around to make some calls, while Wang Yunxiao continued to go through the list.
Fortunately, after Chen Deng, all the telephones from other families were reachable.
It seems the other party’s efficiency was not as fast as imagined.
If multiple massacre cases erupted overnight, it would no longer be a private vendetta involving the Yang Family.
The powerful involvement of the Special Service Bureau would surely be provoked.
From the information left on the little note by Yang Jian, it seems he also didn’t want to make the situation overly public.
Blowing it up would make it difficult to contain.
When reaching the last person on the list, as Wang Yunxiao dialed Mu Yuming’s home, he felt a little apprehensive inside.
What if.
What if he misjudged, and Boss Mu is not clean, catching these people’s attention?
“Hello?”
“It’s me.”
“Ah! Sir, Miss she…”
“Go get Uncle Mu, I have an urgent matter to discuss with him.”
“Ah, okay.”
There was the sound of the young maid running up the stairs over the phone.
After a while, Mu Yuming answered the call.
“Yuanxiao, what’s the matter?”
“Uncle, on my side…”
Wang Yunxiao briefly explained the situation, “Did he contact you?”
“He did contact me, called me.”
???
Wang Yunxiao immediately became alert.
“When did that happen?”
“Yesterday, just after you brought Mumu home.”
“What did he say to you?”
“He said…”
Mu Yuming hesitated for a moment on the other end of the line.
“He said he wanted to borrow Mumu for a while, and I refused.”
Wang Yunxiao’s tone grew colder, “What do you mean by borrow him for a while?”
“Don’t overthink it, it should just be a test for me.”
Mu Yuming explained, “There’s nothing to worry about at home, nothing will happen. I have dealt with this person before; he has a rather peculiar temperament. The more you stick to principles, the better his attitude towards you. But the more guilty your conscience, the harsher his methods.”
“According to what you’ve said, this person seems quite agreeable.”
“He’s agreeable, just that he’s quite a bit older, about ten years older than Mumu.”
“Hehe, he’s already engaged, didn’t you know?”
“I truly didn’t know.”
“His fiancée isn’t much older than Mumu either.”
“Oh? A local?”
“Yes.”
“Got it. You take care as well.”
“Alright.”
Hanging up the phone, Wang Yunxiao couldn’t help but clench his fist.
Boss Mu’s words seem to have deeper meaning.
What does he mean by telling me to stay safe? Is it possible that someone like me, a dignified Special Service Section Chief and Navy officer, would take personal matters into my own hands and kill that groove guy over relationship issues?
“Old Wang, I found…”
Yan Yu’an came back, seeing the grim-faced Wang Yunxiao, and paused for a moment, “What happened here?”
“Nothing, just had some coffee, feeling motivated for overtime.”
Wang Yunxiao stood up, rubbed his neck, put on his military cap, and glanced at his watch.
“Let’s go, let’s meet these Overseas Dragons.”