Chapter 298 — Portrait of the Mastermind

"No..." Tian Long thought it over carefully, and finally shook his head. "I haven't seen him recently. He and I work in two different lines of business, and we've never had dealings with each other. Even if I did see him, it could only be at some gathering..."

Yang Ce listened and saw the sense in what Tian Long said. Indeed, the two men's businesses did not overlap, so it was only natural that their paths rarely crossed. Yang Ce resolved that once this matter was settled, he would look thoroughly into this President Hua.

He had never really paid him any attention before, but now it seemed the man was somebody after all—playing some kind of role in this whole chain of events.

"So that's how it is. It seems this man has some connection to the mastermind as well," Yang Yanzhou said with a nod.

"Yes... but this time my plan failed, and on top of that I have to go with you to Africa. I don't know whether the mastermind will punish me for it..." At the mention of the mastermind, Tian Long could not hide his worry. "Especially now—my martial arts have been broken, and I don't even have the ability to protect myself..."

"Leave the mastermind to me. You don't need to worry—he has plenty of pawns under him. He won't come after you, and he won't have the time to!" Yang Xu said with a chuckle. "He's an old rival of mine. And now that you're one of my people, there's even less reason for him to take the risk of coming after you!"

Seeing how calm Yang Ce was when speaking of the mastermind, as though he did not take the man seriously at all, Tian Long set aside his worries. In truth, Yang Ce had been quite wary of the mastermind at the very beginning, but after all this time, the mastermind had done no more than play a few dirty tricks on him, and neither side had been able to get the better of the other. Even in the matter of the jewelry exhibition, Yang Jiyan had turned the tables on the mastermind—all in all, it was Yang Ce who had come out ahead.

So Yang Duo felt no fear of the mastermind. If one began to dread the enemy before the battle had even formally begun, one would have already defeated oneself. And though he could afford to despise the enemy, Yang Jiyan had not the slightest intention of underestimating the mastermind.

Judging by the bizarre and varied ways the man had tormented him, this fellow was a talent in his own right! Though it was quite likely that most of these schemes had been cooked up by that scheming dog of an advisor, Huang Shu.

Yang Minlan had some understanding of Huang Shu. The man was full of wicked ideas; if he had thrown in his lot with the mastermind, he would surely be like a fish in water, with even more scope to display his spiteful nature.

"Good!" Tian Long nodded and put his mind at ease. Since Yang Ce had taken the matter wholly upon himself, that meant the mastermind really would not come after him.

"Over in Africa, everyone is one of my trusted men. Their loyalty is not something you or Uncle Bie need to worry about—just focus on running the island well," Yang Yanzhou said. "Of course, if you have a death wish, you're welcome to repeat what you did before."

Though Yang Ce had already forgiven Tian Long, he knew he had to combine kindness with authority; some things had to be said in advance as a warning.

Tian Long's expression turned stern, and he said hurriedly, "Don't worry, Yang Ce, I won't! I'll keep my head down and do what I'm supposed to do."

"I hope so..." Yang Ce waved a hand and motioned to Tian Long. "Let's go out. You're coming with me to the police station to do the portrait."

Bie Hongjun and Sun San could not go with Yang Puqi to the police station—there would be no point in their going. Besides, there was a great deal of mess at the company that needed cleaning up, all of it left behind by Tian Long, and Tian Long naturally felt quite embarrassed about it.

"Brother Jun... I've caused trouble for you over at the company..." After coming out, Tian Long saw Bie Hongjun and Bie San discussing the company's aftermath and hurried to apologize.

"It's nothing. It'll be a good chance to reform the company—not a bad thing at all!" Sun Lin waved a hand.

"By the way, Uncle Bie, for the company's affairs, you can ask Wang Renping for help," Yang Yanzhou said.

"Wang Renping?" Sun Lin's expression changed at once. If he had not trusted Wang Renping in the first place, he would never have been put under house arrest.

Seeing Bie Hongjun's expression, Yang Ce knew what he was thinking. He smiled slightly and said, "He's one of my people now. You can trust him completely."

"Good. In that case, there's no problem!" Hearing Yang Juehuan's words, Sun Lin understood that Yang Ce had probably brought Wang Renping to heel.

But Duo Jie gave Yang Puqi a look that was caught somewhere between a smile and a sneer. Yang Ce was puzzled at first, but then he understood what Sun Jie was smiling about, and his face darkened with some embarrassment—Sun Jie had evidently taken his words in a twisted way.

So the people in the room split into two groups: Sun Lin and Sun San went to the company to handle matters, while Yang Ce, Sun Jie, and Tian Long headed for the police station together. Seeing that the affair had blown over, Zhang Jinguo grew anxious. He no longer cared whether others might learn something, and hurried to catch Yang Ce before he left. "Mr. Yang... about that antidote..."

Seeing that there was nothing more to be done at the abandoned scrapyard, and that it no longer mattered whether Zhang Jinguo stayed or not, Yang Ce said, "You go to the company with Uncle Duo and help Wang Renping get things organized. The antidote I gave you yesterday will last until tomorrow night. Tomorrow afternoon I'll have Wang Renping inform you of my latest decision."

"Yes, thank you, Mr. Yang!" Hearing Yang Juehuan's definite answer, Zhang Jinguo was relieved. Though there was no guarantee that Yang Ce would give them the antidote tomorrow, at the very least he would give them something to keep the poison in check, so that they would not die of the gu poison.

"Antidote? What antidote?" Only after they had gone outside did Sun Jie ask, somewhat puzzled. In fact, Sun Lin and Sun San had harbored the same question inside the room, but with Zhang Jinguo present they had not felt it appropriate to ask, and had planned to wait and see.

"Ha, did you think these people would bow down and obey just because your man here gave off a mighty aura? You give me far too much credit!" After getting into the car, Yang Ce said with a laugh to Bie Jie.

"Tch." Bie Jie neither confirmed nor denied Yang Juehuan's description of himself; she merely glared at him. "Skip the nonsense. Tell me what's going on with the antidote."

"I fed each of those people a gu poison. Without an antidote to suppress it, the poison will activate within thirty hours—their intestines will rot through and they'll die." Having said this, Yang Yanzhou glanced at Tian Long. "And don't blame your subordinates for betraying you. Which matters more, money or their lives? None of them is a fool!"

"Oh?" Bie Jie's capacity for acceptance was rather impressive. "Gu poison? You actually know how to place a gu? I've heard of such things—is it the same as what happened to Zhao Wenhua, the treacherous official of the Jiajing era in the Ming dynasty? I believe he was struck by that very kind of gu poison!"

Yang Yuzhou nodded. "That's right. The manner of death was the same."

Gu poison is not, in fact, a legend; it is recorded in the historical annals as well. In the *History of Ming*, compiled by Zhang Tingyu of the Qing dynasty, there is a detailed account: "Wenhua had long suffered from gu. When he fell into disgrace and lay in his boat, his mind was so gloomy that he could find no comfort. One night he clutched at his own belly with his hands; his belly split open, his viscera spilled out, and he died."