Chapter 8: The Gradual Approach of Betrayal in the Game of Life and Death

  The two groups produced the first place, and the final was held an hour later. Zhang Tianpeng looked at Yang Junhu, who was panting heavily, and Ye Haodong, who was calm and composed, and glared at Bao Ligang with anger, resenting him for wasting Yang Junhu's physical strength.

  An hour later, Yang Junhu's sweat had stopped dripping, but everyone could see that his footsteps were floating when he came on the court, and his leg muscles were visibly shaking. Guo Dapao saw it clearly, and in his heart, he regretted it. He had just heard about Yang Junhu's relationship with Ye Haodong from Prison Commissioner Lin Yuntai after the game was over. Now that Yang Junhu was in this state, Guo Dapao even felt that if he went up, he might not be able to knock down this giant who was severely physically exhausted.

  Ye Haodong also felt very confident, and before the fight, he even pretended to tell Yang Junhu not to hold back just because they were brothers. It wasn't until they started fighting that Yang Junhu didn't show him any mercy, and Ye Haodong regretted his big mouth. Yang Junhu's approach was simple and practical, steadily advancing while never defending, step by step pressing down, forcing Ye Haodong to fight desperately. As a result, facing the not-so-physically-strong Yang Junhu, Ye Haodong still didn't have any opportunities, as his own strength required him to fully release his life-or-death combat passion to be fully utilized. Now, facing his brother, relying solely on his usual strength, he was at a disadvantage and was inevitably beaten. He was thrown out of the circle by Yang Junhu. From then on, Yang Junhu won completely, and Guo Dabao's entangled heart finally turned from worry to joy.

  On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, Ye Haodong finally got to see the two women he had been longing to meet. Wang Lin came to visit him with Jiang Lan's siblings. Separated by tempered glass and isolation nets, Ye Haodong chatted with his mother through an intercom, mainly exchanging concerns about each other's health. Wang Lin encouraged her son to take care of himself and strive for early release to start anew. Ye Haodong reminded his mother to take care of her body and go to the hospital if anything happened, without worrying about money. The conversation also touched on his two older brothers, with the eldest, Ye Haoyun, pursuing a master's degree, and the second brother, Ye Haoran, becoming a technical staff member at his unit. After Wang Lin finished speaking, it was Jiang Lan's turn, and she chatted with Ye Haodong about some emotional topics. Wang Lin tactfully left them alone for a while, giving them the opportunity to communicate freely.

  Jiang Lan's face was covered with tears: "Bastard, you've actually lost weight!"

  Ye Haodong: "No, it's streamlined."

  "Is the food not good?"

  Ye Haodong: "Every meal has sausage and canned meat, eggs are also plentiful, basically already achieving the level of eating small buns."

  Jiang Lan burst out laughing: "Go ahead and brag, what does my brother do? What's inside that I haven't seen or heard of?"

  Ye Haodong: "Really, I'm not kidding, inside there's a small sales department, known as the first of the three most expensive, everything I said is sold inside, relying on our family's strength, can't bear to lose face in front of brother."

  Jiang Lan curiously asked: "What are the three big expensive things?"

  Ye Haodong: "The sales car on the train, the military service company of the troops, and the small sales department in prison are all absolutely monopolistic operations. The common point is that there is no most expensive, only more expensive! Love to buy or not!"

  Jiang Lan curled her lip: "You talk as if it's a big deal, but who knows what's true or false. Suddenly changing her tone, she asked: Do you think I don't know?"

  "Don't think about it!" Jiang Lan glared at him, and Ye Haodong touched his chest, smiling: "It's in here, no need to think, you're always my heart's treasure."

  Jiang Lan's tears fell again.

  Jiang Wei waited for more than half an hour, and finally it was his turn. He came dressed in casual clothes today. Looking at Ye Haodong by the window, he still wanted to put on a show of being both Big Brother and Captain of the Criminal Police Brigade, but then he heard Ye Haodong's first sentence and couldn't hold back anymore.

  "Sesame green bean, you're still trying to put on the airs of a high-ranking official who sneaks around in secret, but originally I was counting on you to wear that tiger skin and back me up. Now you've come up with this getup, which looks awkward no matter how you look at it. That tiger skin is still the most suitable clothes for you."

  Jiang Weiteng didn't hold back, laughing and scolding: "Little rabbit, after receiving reeducation through the reforging of our proletarian dictatorship, you still dare to spout nonsense."

  Ye Haodong: "Is there something unusual about you coming here in person?"

  Jiang Wei nodded, his expression very serious: "Zeng Xinwei is dead, but the drug trafficking channel has not stopped, on the contrary, it has gone underground and become extremely mysterious. The captain of our criminal police brigade, Chen Tianhao, is now specifically in charge of this case. I hope you can mobilize your brothers to provide some clues."

  Ye Haodong: "I'm now inside, this thing is not easy to do, but I'll try my best. I also hate these poisonous drug dealers who eat people without spitting out bones."

  Jiang Wei: "Then I'll arrange for Zhu San'er to visit tomorrow."

  Ye Haodong sneered with a smile: "You're in such a hurry."

  Jiang Wei ignored his joke and said seriously: "If you can make a difference in this matter, I will apply to the court for a reduction of sentence for your meritorious service."

  Ye Haodong thought of the bet and nodded: "Alright, you arrange it."

  The next day, in the meeting room, Ye Haodong met with Zhu Saner.

  After inquiring about each other's recent situation.

  Ye Haodong: "Er Xinzi is dead, but the drug trafficking route he was involved in has not been cut off. Instead, it's become even more secretive, and the amount of drugs entering Gangcheng has increased. Do you know what's going on?"

  Zhu San'er shook his head: "I've been busy with our steel mill these days, I figured it out, doing this is really making money, better than selling drugs, at least there's no risk."

  Ye Haodong: "Didn't hear any rumors at all?"

  Zhu San'er: "I'll go back and ask Ding Dawei, maybe he's heard something. Now all the things on the way are handed over to him according to your arrangement at that time."

  Ye Haodong: "No matter what you ask, come and tell me at the first time. I suddenly feel that this thing is a bit unusual. We just defeated Er Xinzi's gang, and then that line was connected again. It seems to be more hidden, I have a feeling as if we were used."

  Zhu San Er: "Hao Dong, you're just overthinking."

  Ye Haodong scratched his head: "It's best if I'm just overthinking it."

  More than a month after Zhu San'er left, time entered April. This matter actually underwent an astonishing change, and the intensity of this sudden change really caught Ye Haodong off guard.

  Zhu San'er visited Ye Haodong on a day in early April, bringing him some bad news. Ding Dawei had gone missing. A week before, Zhu San'er had received a call from Ding Dawei saying he had something to tell him about the drug trafficking channel. So Zhu San'er left the factory's affairs to Li Weidong, who was also present at the time, and went to meet Ding Dawei at the agreed location. But when he arrived, he saw a van without a license plate taking Ding Dawei away. Since then, Zhu San'er had not seen Ding Dawei again.

  Ye Haodong's face was as calm as water, he asked very carefully, without neglecting any details, and finally asked: "Did you call the police at that time?"

  Zhu San'er shook his head: "Hao Dong, you know that we usually don't like to report to the police directly when something happens. We always want to investigate the other party's intentions and route first before making a decision. I thought that since they kidnapped Da Wei, they would call us for ransom or make some other demands, but there was no movement from them at all in three days. It wasn't until the fourth day that we reported it to the police."

  "Whose idea was it not to report to the police?"

  Zhu San'er and Kendi: "It was Wei Dong who brought it up first, I think there's nothing wrong with that, so let's just do it that way. What's not right about it?"

  Ye Haodong thought for a moment and shook his head: "Nothing is wrong, Third Brother, you did the right thing."

  On the third day after Zhu San'er left, there was a new development in this matter. This time, the person who came to visit Ye Haodong was an unexpected figure - Chen Tianhao, the captain of the Steel City Public Security Bureau's Criminal Police Brigade.

  Heaven knows how furious Ye Haodong was when he saw this man come to ask him about the situation. In the prison's interrogation room, two men who didn't get along at all didn't give each other a good look.

  "Unexpectedly, I accompanied the superior to Guanli to investigate a case of selling cultural relics, and Gangcheng actually produced such a 'young and promising' underworld big brother like you."

  Ye Haodong expressionlessly said: "I'm just a prisoner serving my sentence, I don't understand what you're saying."

  Chen Tianhao: "You transferred the ownership of Xinlv Group to the niece of Central Farmer's uncle, this move is a good chess game. Our director tracked it down to her and was so scared that he didn't even dare to summon the suspect for questioning."

  "That's because you don't know your director well enough. He's a man who keeps a low profile. The fact that you can come here and ask me questions is proof of this."

  Chen Tianhao thought for a moment, and finally revealed an extremely shocked expression: "You little devil, you know that it was our director who intentionally leaked the message to me, letting me come find you to ask questions?"

  Ye Haodong: "How ridiculous, if a family is the richest in the country, would they let their own flesh and blood do something that could lead to their downfall just for a little money? It's only someone like me, a small-time hoodlum who makes a living by pretending to be a big shot, who would do such a thing."

  Chen Tianhao: "Do you admit it?"