AWB Chapter 1979 The Deal Between Shangguan and the Mu Family
Chapter 1979 The Deal Between Shangguan and the Mu Family
A tacit understanding?
A transaction?
What happened between the Mu family and the Shangguan family?
How can this be?
Based on the clues we have gathered so far, although the Mu family and the Shangguan family were not exactly hostile forces back then, their relationship was certainly not that good!
How could they possibly reach some kind of understanding?
Everyone looked at Li Dequan with puzzlement, expecting his explanation.
Li Dequan didn't hold back his words. He took a sip of tea to moisten his throat and continued:
"The Mu family needs a fire to escape, and the Shangguan family needs a fire to establish their authority and intimidate the other families! So the two sides may have reached some kind of agreement: the Mu family will give up their ancestral home and some of their properties in Yanjing in exchange for a 'total annihilation in a sea of fire'! And the Shangguan family will get what they want!"
thing?
What is it?
Could it be an account book?
"What exactly is it?" Guo Qian felt his heart pounding in his chest at the old man's question.
Li Dequan shook his head: "I don't know the specifics!"
He looked at everyone, took a puff of his old pipe, and said, "Perhaps, as you all suspect, it will be part of the ledger..."
"Hiss!" Everyone gasped in surprise.
Sure enough!
The Shangguan family and the Mu family reached a tacit understanding—no, this deal!
Did they obtain certain parts of the account book in advance, thus tacitly approving the Mu family's actions?
But upon further reflection, everyone felt that something was amiss.
According to the clues obtained from Shangguan Wanqing, the Shangguan family has not given up monitoring the Li family over the past few decades.
In other words, the Shangguan family hasn't given up yet!
Why not give up?
Did it not meet their requirements?
Or is it that their greed is too strong?
At this moment, Li Dequan did not stop speaking: "Perhaps it is not an account book, but a guarantee that the Mu family will withdraw from the core circle of the top five families!"
Silence fell in the room.
The water in the coal stove has boiled for the third time, but no one has had time to pay attention.
Li Xiangnan leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and quickly sorted through the clues he had gathered so far in his mind!
If Grandpa's speculation is correct, then the fire forty years ago was not a simple revenge killing or accident, but a meticulously planned deal.
The Mu family sacrificed nineteen lives and their century-old ancestral home to ensure the safe departure of their core members, while the Shangguan family used this opportunity to consolidate their leadership among the top five families and acquire some kind of leverage.
Now, forty years later, the issue of leverage has arisen.
The ledgers have resurfaced?
Is Mu Huanying still alive?
The truth behind that deal from back then may be about to be revealed!
So the Shangguan family panicked, and the ten families of Yanjing made a move.
“I understand!” Li Xiangnan opened his eyes and looked at Song Yi. “In that fire back then, the Mu family wasn’t the loser, and the Shangguan family wasn’t the winner! It was a deal that cost both sides dearly, and now, the deal is about to fall through!”
“In other words,” Song Yi’s thoughts began to wander, and suddenly her beautiful eyes trembled as she stood up and said, “It’s possible that… the Shangguan family obtained a portion of the account books handed over by the Mu family!”
Wang Defa continued, "Then, after studying it, they concluded that the ledger was fake, or that it didn't contain the information they wanted, or that it didn't help them find what they were looking for! They backed out! But by then, the Mu family had already completed their escape and disappeared. When they tried to find them again, the Mu family's old house was in ruins, and they couldn't find a single member of the Mu family!"
Song Ziming's heart skipped a beat, and he exclaimed, "So, that old fellow Shangguan Wuji has been monitoring the Li family and spying on the Mu family all these years, just to make up for that regret from back then, and even more so, to find all the account books!"
“Yes,” Li Dequan exhaled a puff of smoke, “that explains why the Shangguan family has been eyeing the Li family for so long!”
Song Yi nodded, her voice becoming excited, "That's why Shangguan Wuji is in such a hurry! He rallied the ten families of Yanjing to launch an attack at this wedding banquet because he's afraid that what happened back then will be brought up again, that the other families will find out the truth, and that the Shangguan family's position will be in jeopardy!"
“Not only that!” Li Xiangnan also stood up and paced around the room. “What he fears even more is that the Mu family will make a comeback. Forty years have passed, and although the Mu family has kept a low profile and lived in anonymity, their foundation is still there! If my grandmother, Mu Huanying, returns with the account books, if the inside story of that fire is revealed, and if the other families find out about the deal between the Shangguan family and the Mu family, then the Shangguan family is finished! This is a matter of credibility and morality! That’s why they have been very nervous all these years and have been secretly investigating this matter!”
"hiss!"
Everyone was stunned. No one expected that they could obtain so much information through the message brought by Song Yi.
Humans really do need brainstorming.
Li Xiangnan stopped and looked out at the swirling snowflakes: "So, they have to settle this matter at my daughter's full moon celebration! Either get the account books, or... make what happened forty years ago happen again!"
These words were spoken softly, but each one struck like a heavy hammer blow into everyone's hearts.
Guo Qian stood up abruptly. "They wouldn't dare! This is a new society now, not the old one. They don't still believe in their old ways! I don't believe they would dare to kill or commit arson!"
“They won’t set fires!” Li Xiangnan shook his head. “At least not like they did forty years ago, but they definitely have other ways to do it!”
"What method?" Wang Defa swallowed hard.
Li Xiangnan closed his eyes, quickly walked back to the table, opened his notebook, and looked through his arrangements over the past few days.
"I put cacti along the wall in the backyard, and stuck iron nails all over the top of the wall. I positioned Brother Yuejin and Squad Leader Hao at the front and back gates, and my comrades were also lying in ambush in the neighboring yard. There were people from the Red Star Gang at the entrance of the alley, and people from the Song family were also around! To be honest, I was prepared for someone to openly rob me, I was prepared for someone to secretly steal from me, and I was even prepared for someone to use knives and guns!"
He paused, looked up, and asked with deep confusion in his eyes, "But I don't quite understand, the ten families of Yanjing... why would they come?"
This question stunned everyone.
Yes, all ten companies gathered together, creating a grand spectacle.
But things are different now. As Captain Guo said, this is a new society, a society governed by the rule of law, where everything is governed by law and rules.
Decades ago in the old society, they still practiced the old ways of the underworld, resorting to fighting and killing at the drop of a hat!
Now, how will they force him to resign?
Are they really going to barge into the Li family's courtyard like bandits, kidnap Mu Huanying, and steal the account books?
impossible!
This is Yanjing!
It was Yenching in 1980!
Ten companies joining forces to rob someone in broad daylight? That would be a joke.
"They won't rob us outright!"
Song Ziming suddenly spoke up, pointing to the words his sister Song Yi had just written on the table, where the tea stains from the middle and lower grades had already faded.
"Have you forgotten? What are the top five and bottom five players best at? It's using someone else's strength against them, and using underhanded tactics! I bet they'll use 'legal' means!"
Wei Jingfei couldn't help but swallow hard and asked, "What legal means?"
No one spoke in the room, but everyone's thoughts suddenly sank.
What legal means?
After Song Yi arrived, she revealed everything to everyone in detail.
What will they do?