Chapter 2751 - 2813: Suspicion

"Yifei, let’s not talk about those other things. You just got back, you probably don’t realize how serious this is yet. The reason the Zhao Family suddenly went crazy is that they’ve been planning this for a long time, for years even, and we all ignored them. Starting this year, they’ve been integrating all the families—yes, you heard right—all the reputable families and powers in Black Province now fall under the Zhao Family. They set up an organization, the Black Province Commercial Unification Alliance, and in reality it’s not just commerce they’ve unified, but also the underground forces and a lot of other areas. Imagine: they were already a hundred‑billion family, incredibly powerful, and then out of nowhere they integrated all the other families in the province. Rumor has it there are more than thirty members in this alliance, which means over thirty top‑tier families in Black Province have joined. That kind of strength is no joke, that’s why we’re anxious, especially with the Zhao Family suddenly going for the kill and clearing our family members out of Black Province. You tell me, this matter..." Wang Chunlai explained.

They weren’t calling him clan leader Li anymore, they switched to Yifei to sound closer. The latter listened quietly, but waves were still rising in his heart. What the hell is the Zhao Family in Black Province trying to do? Unifying the other forces in the province—just hearing that sounds like fantasy. You think you can just "unify" them because you say so? Even with Li Yifei’s current power, he wouldn’t dare claim he could unify all the big families in Ning Province, get ten, twenty top families to unite under him and lead them. Isn’t that a joke?

What’s a "family"? Why do we rely on blood relations to form a family? Isn’t it precisely because we don’t want outsiders leading us, we want our own blood, holding together through kinship, getting rich together, building something together?

Li Yifei had never even thought about that, and honestly he probably couldn’t do it anyway. The Li family is already big enough that it’s hard to manage—why go looking for more trouble and no thanks? But now the Zhao Family in Black Province has actually done it. How did they pull it off? Something this big, and they managed to make it happen without a sound. Li Yifei couldn’t imagine it. What the hell are they trying to do?

"What’s their goal?" Li Yifei asked.

"We’re not sure, that’s why we’re panicking. Now that they’ve twisted themselves into one rope, that power is ridiculously huge. Right now they’re only driving our industries out of Black Province, but we’re more worried they’ll start moving south. If that happens, we’ll be the first to get hit. If they’re really coming straight for us, then this won’t be fun at all," one clan chief said.

"Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about too. Otherwise, with them twisted into one rope and no rivals left in the province, it’s actually bad for development. And I’ve got a bit of insider gossip—supposedly they’ve got a grand objective. I’m guessing it’s to unify the Northeast, then keep pushing south..."

"Are they insane?" Li Yifei said. The others all nodded, saying, "If that’s really the plan, of course they’re insane. What era do they think this is, to still have that kind of delusional ambition?"

"And the authorities don’t care?" Li Yifei asked again.

"The authorities... If you’re counting on them, the cold dishes will be frozen solid by then. I don’t know what the authorities are thinking. Something this big, there’s no way they don’t know, right? But they just aren’t intervening. Personally, I think they’re not only staying out of it, they might even be fanning the flames from behind. Otherwise how could the Zhao Family quietly finish the integration and form a unified alliance?"

Li Yifei bared his teeth and said, "Hearing you put it like that, it is pretty serious. But I honestly don’t know the full situation. I’ll at least have to get in touch with home and ask what’s going on!"

"Clan leader Li, we are a bit anxious, but a few days won’t make or break it. We mainly wanted to make our stance clear to you first. If we set up an alliance too, then for the position of president, I’d nominate you. Your strength is formidable, your personal ability is strong, I think you can keep the Zhao Family of Black Province in check!" a family representative said.

"The Li family has some money, but I’m afraid I don’t have that kind of ability. Besides, we still need to find out what’s really happening. Otherwise, rushing to set up some alliance might not be a good thing!" Li Yifei said, then added, "The Old Master of the Ye Family and Elder Wang are both highly respected. They’ve been through ups and downs for years, they definitely understand more than I do. Even if we really do form something, whether it’s an alliance leader or president, I think it should be one of the old masters who’s chosen."

That’s what he said, but none of the people sitting here dared see it that way. After all, the Li family’s ranking is right there. Even if they’re second, the gap with the Li family is huge. What’s more, Li Yifei’s strength is right there—his personal prowess... The Wang Family and Ye family know that best. He’s basically a walking war machine. He looks like he’s not harmful, but if he really snaps, ordinary people can’t take it. No—that’s not right. So far, nobody who’s offended Li Yifei has gotten away with it. Not a single one! Whether domestic or foreign, the two families pay special attention to collecting information on this, and the results are identical: Li Yifei’s record so far is almost entirely victories, even draws are rare.

A province’s richest man who’s never met a worthy opponent—isn’t that terrifying enough? What more do you want, a bicycle? So if an alliance really gets formed, whether alliance leader or president, it has to be Li Yifei. Don’t be fooled by his polite refusal—that’s only because he hasn’t figured out the situation yet and hasn’t thought through what benefits this president or alliance leader would have. Otherwise, if Li Yifei doesn’t take it, who would dare take it? And even if someone does, who would dare give orders that move Li Yifei?

If he really gets pissed off and turns his spear around, which family in the province would dare take that hit? That’s his power. That’s his hard strength!

"Yifei, this thing isn’t urgent for the moment, but you have to treat it seriously. If those rumors are true, then what the people in Black Province are after isn’t small, and we’re the first target in their scheme, the first ones they want to wipe out." Wang Chunlai said, speaking with heavy meaning.

Li Yifei smiled and said, "Alright, I’ll go back and look into it. Some things might not actually be that bad."

Seeing him say that, everyone stopped pressing the issue. Actually, they didn’t know that much themselves. Those people work extremely cautiously and haven’t leaked much information. What they know now is mostly conjecture; there’s no direct evidence proving that those events were done by the Black Province alliance. Without that, there’s no way to use the police to do anything.

Naturally, no one stayed to eat more, let alone linger too long. They’re all big figures and usually very busy, so after a few drinks and saying what they needed to say, making their intentions clear, they were ready to take off. Li Yifei still walked everyone to the door, and when Wang Chunlai and that uncle from the Ye family came over, Li Yifei said in a low voice, "Looks like the other three families don’t want to get involved?"

"Heh, it’s more than just not wanting to get involved. They probably already have solid information and are getting ready to switch sides." Wang Chunlai snorted.

"Oh? Any evidence?" Li Yifei raised his brows.

"Of course there’s no evidence, just signs. When enemies come, if there aren’t any traitors and lapdogs, now that would be strange." That uncle from the Ye family said.

Li Yifei smiled and didn’t respond. This guy really thought highly of himself. Li Yifei had acknowledged some kinship, but only with those he recognized himself. This guy was neither Ye Yunzhu’s father nor her real uncle, what kind of elder did he think he was, actually daring to act high and mighty with him.

Wang Chunlai glanced at the two of them, then smiled and said, "Yifei, what I said just now really is how I feel. If our guess is right, then only you can stand up to the Zhao Family of Black Province. Only you. I can’t, Old Ye can’t, and no one else can either."

"We’ll talk about it later. The characters in this story haven’t even appeared yet. The country is all about harmony now—if they really make trouble on that scale, we won’t even need to act, the state will have to crush them!"

"If they dare do it, they aren’t afraid. And they’ve already started, so we can’t afford not to be on guard." Wang Chunlai sighed. In fact, these families had already sensed that something was off, not just because of the Zhao Family in Black Province, but because of national policy over the last decade. The state really doesn’t like this "family" model of existence. They haven’t publicly banned it, but in practice they’ve already been cutting it back and suppressing it in many regions. Add to that the Three Great Clans in the provincial capital disappearing into thin air within a few months two or three years ago, which allowed today’s Li family to grow, and people like Elder Wang suddenly felt it was pointless. Fighting back and forth, competing to be number one—what’s the point? In the end, doesn’t some outsider just get the bargain? Even if there were no Li Yifei, there’d be a Wang Yifei, or a Zhao Yifei.

Shaking his head, Elder Wang got into the car, leaving that uncle from the Ye family standing there. The man forced a smile and said, "The old master’s health hasn’t been great lately. If you have time, Yifei, stop by the house. When the old master has nothing better to do, he just goes on about you and Yunzhu."

"Okay!" Li Yifei said.

The other man froze for a second, slightly displeased, but didn’t dare show it. He said a quick goodbye, then ducked into the car and left.

The wedding guests were gradually dispersing. Brother Hu wasn’t going around with anyone else; he stuck close by Li Yifei’s side.

Li Yifei turned to look at Brother Hu, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Well? Tired?"

"Tired, but happy. Boss, with you here, I can be happy for a whole month." Brother Hu said.

"You drank a lot, right?"

"Not too bad. I’m happy today so I drank more, but I’ve actually already quit drinking, and I’m going to keep it that way!" Brother Hu said.

"Good, it’s for your health. When I first met you, you were in pretty good shape. Now look how fat you’ve gotten." Li Yifei said with some feeling.

It was the same for Brother Hu. With all the little brothers around, it felt like he was in a vacuum zone. Brother Hu’s eyes burned hot; everything he had today was because of Li Yifei, the result of Li Yifei forcibly changing his life.

"If there’s nothing else, I’ll get going too. We’ll meet up again when we get the chance." Seeing Brother Hu on the verge of tears, Li Yifei hurried to say that. A grown man like that, what’s he crying for?

"Yeah, yeah, Boss, I know. You... I’ll see you out," Brother Hu said.

There were plenty of people who wanted to see him off: relatives on both sides who hadn’t left, little brothers, and the bridesmaid group. Those bridesmaids hadn’t even changed out of their dresses yet because they were waiting for Li Yifei to take photos with them. Seeing that, Li Yifei asked about it, and everyone felt embarrassed to speak up, until that dazed postgraduate sister finally said, "We’ve been waiting to take a picture with you, and now you’re about to leave. If you were going to leave, you should’ve said so earlier. We... Wuu wuu, why are you covering my mouth, godmother!" She hadn’t even finished when the person next to her clapped a hand over her mouth, not letting her keep talking.