Chapter 20: Something happened to cousin

Without realizing it, half a month passed. This had been a fulfilling half a month Jiang Bai. He spent every single day reading, and with that, the amount of knowledge he had grew rapidly. In half of month, his level of knowledge in the various subjects such as economics, culture, politics, biology, history, and so on were already comparative to the best PhD holders.

Apart from spending his time reading, Jiang Bai had also been visiting the Great World once every two days. The place had been handed over to Li Qiang and Xu Jie, and business had been booming. Xu Jie’s men were now in charge of watching over the turf around the club, and apart from that, the bouncers had all been changed to a bunch of sturdy youths as well.

Jiang Bai understood clearly the type of activities conducted within the club, but he turned a blind eye to them. The thugs watching over the club were all Xu Jie’s men, but in a way, they were all his men as well. Although he wasn’t directly managing them, everyone knew he was the actual boss of the place.

Jiang Bai had successfully made a name for himself through one battle. His feat of wiping the floor with a group of 20 thugs including Xu Jie had been spread far and wide by all the youths under him. Each time he arrived at the club, he could clearly feel the adoration in their eyes. Unknown to him, his feat was not only known within the Great World. In fact, his name was being spread in the entirety of the Upper East District.

Jiang Bai was not from the criminal underworld, and he had no intention of entering that world either. Even so, his name was starting to be recognized by many people of the underworld. After all, Xu Jie himself was a renowned figure at the Upper East District, and he had a big mouth. He had been singing Jiang Bai praises everywhere he went, to the point Jiang Bai’s status had now been elevated to the number one boss of the turf. Sure, he might not be much in the entirety of Tiandu, but at the Upper East District, his name was known far and wide. Many young thugs dreamed of joining his gang.

When Great World was recruiting, why had all those young men agreed to work as bouncers for a low pay? That was so they could claim that they were Boss Jiang’s men when they were outside. That alone would earn them a considerable amount of respect. All of that was unknown to Jiang Bai. In fact, he had not expected that something like that would happen.

Ma Changyang hadn’t been idling around either. After cleaning up the affairs of his production company, he changed the name of the company to Soaring Dragon Films as per Jiang Bai’s request. He had also hired people to redesign a new logo and signboard for Jiang Bai, and had even asked for a copy of Jiang Bai’s ID so he could transfer the ownership to Jiang Bai in advance. All that was done without a single mention of money, to the point even Jiang Bai was feeling somewhat embarrassed.

Everyone except Jiang Bai seemed to be very busy. He had nothing to do. Apart from reading, the only thing he had been doing was flirting. Who had he been flirting with? Who else if not that seductive neighbor of his?

Since the day they split Wu Tian’s money, the relationship between Jiang Bai and Yao Lan had improved considerably. Their interactions had been much warmer, and for some reason, Yao Lan greatly enjoyed teasing Jiang Bai. Every now and then, she would unleash her seductiveness on Jiang Bai, greatly stirring his lust.

What’s odd was the fact that Wu Tian had never shown himself ever since. It was unknown if that was due to Yao Lan having said something to him. During the day, Jiang Bai’s cousin would deliver him lunch every single day. He could clearly feel the concern she had for him. And when he returned home from work in the evening, he would be able to flirt around with his sexy neighbor. He was indeed living a fulfilling life. His only regret was the fact that Su Mei had not contacted him since their first meeting. It was as if she had vanished from the world.

“Ding ding ding…granddaddy, your grandson is calling…granddaddy, your grandson is calling…”

Today, while at work in the library, Jiang Bai was fully immersed in the Dream Analysis by Sigmund Freud he was reading when his phone suddenly rang. That was his new ringtone. The moment it rang, it attracted the attention of everyone in the library, causing Jiang Bai to feel awkward.

“Hello? Who is this?” Jiang Bai blanked out when he saw that it was an unknown number. He answered and asked politely.

“Is this cousin? I am Ma Shuyuan.” A woman’s voice rang out from the other side of the phone. The caller was Lin Wanru’s roommate who Jiang Bai had met once before. The girls staying with Lin Wanru were all decent people, especially this Ma Shuyuan who was the best friend of Lin Wanru. When they met previously, she had even teased Jiang Bai and Lin Wanru, asking about their relationship. During the meeting, she had also asked for Jiang Bai’s number, but they had never contacted each other before.

Jiang Bai checked the time and noted that it was around six in the evening. Why was she calling him at this time?

“Hello. How can I help you, Shuyuan?” Jiang Bai asked with a smile. He had a favorable impression of this straightforward young lady from a northern town.

“You see, just now, Zhang Tian’ang picked Wanru up. I think Wanru had previously asked for his help. He called her today telling her there is an update, but it is a tricky problem so he will only help if Wanru agrees to have dinner with him. But I have a bad feeling about the dinner. Zhang Tian’ang has never been a decent person. There are even rumors that he had gotten some seniors pregnant in the past and they were made to abort the baby. And I have also heard that he has done many bad things outside the campus as well. I’m worried about Wanru going out with him. That’s why…”  Ma Shuyuan slowly explained her reason for calling, her anxiousness clear from her voice.

“Where did they go?” Jiang Bai’s face fell as he asked with a gloomy tone.

What kind of help would Lin Wanru need if not for the trouble Jiang Bai was in previously? He had already told the girl that everything was fine, but she refused to believe him. And what was that Zhang Tian’ang trying to do? Wasn’t he from an influential family? If he had really asked around, shouldn’t he know that the issue had been handled? Would he not know Jiang Bai’s current relationship with Xu Jie? If so, why was he still asking Lin Wanru out for dinner? Dinner? It’s definitely not that simple.

“I think it’s at Marriot Hotel.” [1]

“Alright, got it. Don’t worry. I’ll deal with it.”

After promising to deal with it, Jiang Bai ended the call and left the campus. Xiaotian had been spending his time loitering around the campus. With a single call, he arrived to pick Jiang Bai up. Jiang Bai got on the car and they started heading toward Marriot Hotel.

Halfway there, Jiang Bai decided that it was not enough for him to go alone. So he gave Xu Jie a call. It was not like he was afraid to go alone. He had great combat strength, but it was better to have Xu Jie around to deal with the aftermath. Xu Jie was a person with a number of connections. He even knew some people from the police force. If things turned south, Jiang Bai would fight but Xu Jie was the best person to deal with everything else. In fact, the various interactions Great World had with the numerous parties such as socializing, giving gifts and brides were all being handled by Xu Jie.

“Don’t worry, boss. I’ll be there immediately!” Xu Jie stamped his foot with fury the moment he heard from Jiang Bai. After gathering his men, they charged straight to Marriot Hotel. When Jiang Bai arrived, Xu Jie was already there. Also standing there waiting together with Xu Jie was a middle-aged man.

“Big brother, this is the president of Marriot Hotel, Sir Chang. He is Old Ma’s friend. I’ve already checked with him. That Zhang Tian’ang is currently upstairs.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Jiang.”

Sir Chang was obviously a wise person. He did not show any contempt despite Jiang Bai’s age. Instead, he quickly shook Jiang Bai’s hand warmly. Marriot Hotel was a five-star hotel, a business worth a considerable sum of money. With his wealth and his wisdom when dealing with people, it was no wonder he could be friends with someone like Ma Changyang.

Footnotes:

1. As we all know, this is an alternate world similar to Earth. You will occasionally see similar places and organizations in this world, but those would all be this world’s version of those places and organizations. So do not be alarmed if there is something different with what you know. An example would be this Marriot Hotel here. There is a Marriot International hotel chain irl, but they are not the same.