Chapter Sixty-Five: Farewell

  In the living room, Scott Lee finally met Stu, Zara and three others.

  Ye Haodong looked at Scott in front of him and asked, "You can understand Chinese?"

  "Yes, Mr. Yeh, my father is Chinese."

  Ye Haodong nodded, getting straight to the point: "I know why you've come looking for me, and I know which organization you're from. What I don't know is whether there's a way for us to resolve this peacefully."

  Scott Lee spread his hands frankly: "Maybe there is, but I'm just a messenger."

  "Bring your phone and find someone who can make decisions. I'm very interested in becoming a customer of your company."

  Scott Lee: "Please wait."

  The conversation on the phone was very successful, and Ye Haodong's views on Western devils were incisive and accurate. This is a group of people who are greedy and insatiable, and they only know how to bully the weak and fear the strong. Ye Haodong offered a price of $8 million to buy the head of the Yamaguchi-gumi's Canadian regional leader. Little Lyle immediately accepted this deal on the phone. The Lyle hitman company with a Corsican family background didn't have much to worry about when it came to the Yamaguchi-gumi. The Japanese had a consistent fear of strength, which made them often shrink back when facing Westerners, and their ruthless style was more often used against Chinese people and other Asian ethnic groups. Lyle and his son were very clear about this characteristic of the Yamaguchi-gumi. Ye Haodong's price was too tempting, and under normal circumstances, hiring the Lyle hitman group to assassinate an ordinary person would cost around $10,000. For political figures and business celebrities, it would be ten times that amount, and for underworld bosses and big shots in both politics and business, it would be another ten times that amount, which was basically the limit of what they dared to do. They didn't dare touch anyone more powerful than that. The head of the Yamaguchi-gumi's Canadian region belonged to the category of underworld bosses, with a standard price starting at $1 million. Ye Haodong offered a price that was directly eight times that amount, and Little Lyle had basically no resistance to this price.

  Scott Lee was about to leave with Stuza, but before he did, Ye Haodong called him over for a casual chat. It turned out that his relationship with the Laili Killer Group was just a short-term collaboration. This Scott Lee understood Chinese, and according to Hu Zi's observation, his skills were not bad either, especially in terms of firearms, where he was clearly an exceptional expert. This could be seen from the calluses on his thumb and index finger, as well as his unique way of observing people with a concentrated gaze. Hu Zi said that this kind of gaze he had only seen before in the leader of the Siberian Tiger mercenaries, who was a legendary gun king.

  Ye Haodong brought it up on the spot: "I hope to establish a stable and long-term employment relationship with you, I won't ask you to do anything that betrays your country, you should be able to see that I have many industries here, so I need more professional security personnel to ensure my business can run smoothly, and you are obviously experts in this field."

  Scott Lee hesitated for a moment, asking: "Is it just to help you build a perfect security system to prevent your company from being illegally harassed? You don't need us to kill someone or transport contraband or anything like that?"

  Ye Haodong nodded calmly: "Yes."

  "What kind of treatment can we get if we become your employees?" Scott Lee represented the common interests of seven people, for whom it didn't matter who they worked for, but how much they earned was the key to whether others would accept this thing.

  Ye Haodong: "You earn $150,000 a year, they all earn $120,000." This price is equivalent to the middle-class income level in North America. The price Ye Haodong gave was based on the average salary of his neighbors, but he didn't know that people who could afford to live there were basically upper-middle-class individuals in North America.

  Scott Lee looked at Ye Haodong with some incredulity, speechless for a long time. Stuart also understood a little Chinese and knew a thing or two about what they had just discussed, so he anxiously asked in English, snapping Scott Lee back to reality. When Ye Haodong mentioned the salary in English, Stuart excitedly shouted "OK!" towards him, which Ye Haodong understood. Scott Lee remained calm and nodded: "Hello boss, I hope you will be satisfied with the work of your seven new employees, we will definitely make sure that you won't regret today's decision."

  A month later, the head of Wuto Yosaku, the Canadian regional leader of the Yamaguchi-gumi, was placed on Sutou Shinji's desk. On the other side of the table, Ye Haodong didn't wait for anyone to offer him a cup, and he picked up his tea cup himself and took a big gulp, smiling: "It's settled, now Mr. can tell me how this Red Dragon controlled those eight people."

  He looked at him with a dissatisfied expression, watching as he gulped down the Anxi Tieguanyin tea from the thousand-year-old ancient tree that had been transported by air. It wasn't until the old man scanned the faces around the table that he finally showed some satisfaction, nodding his head: "I've been paying attention to you since I heard you took over the Su family's business, and I sent someone to investigate your past. You didn't disappoint me - I've spent decades searching for the owner of this red dragon, and I've chosen a few people along the way. Among them, you're the only one who passed the test. You have a patriotic heart and a desire to serve the country, you have means, and you have integrity. The others were either too hypocritical or didn't have enough ability."

  Yeh Hao Dong smiled and said: "You'd better save those words for when I've done something worthy of praise in the future."

  Situ Xinyi smiled and shook his head, "I won't be able to see that day, so I'll tell you the secret of this red dragon now. This red dragon was carved from a Blood Fusion Wood that was produced in the Shennongjia region over 900 years ago. This type of wood is now extinct, and it can be said that this red dragon is the only one in the world. Apart from being harder than steel, this wood also has a special secret hidden within it!"

  "Is it related to its strange smell?"

  Situ Xinyi nodded: "Not bad, it's indeed related to the unique fragrance on its body. The fragrance contains a mysterious factor that has not been discovered by science so far. This factor is particularly beneficial to the human body and can help with sleep. It also has a certain stimulating effect on martial artists. In extremely special situations, it is an antidote for a highly toxic poison, allowing people who are poisoned to escape the suffering of being unable to live or die."

  The old man stopped to drink some tea, and Ye Haodong cooperated by refilling his cup, asking: "Under what special circumstances will it become an antidote?"

  Situ Xinyi took out a box from under the table and opened it, revealing a wooden carved bead inside.

  "This bead is the seed of the Blood Fusion Tree that has been dried by the wind. Whoever drinks water infused with it will experience unbearable itching all over their body at regular intervals, and the only way to alleviate this suffering is to smell the scent of the Blood Fusion Tree. So far, sixteen people have drunk this water, and eight of them are still alive. I'll give you their identities and addresses, and what you need to do is collect the fragrance from the Blood Fusion Tree every year, seal it in a bottle, and mail it to them according to the address. When necessary, you can use these people to cooperate with you to replace the Dragon Head of the Hongmen Mountain. But I must remind you that these people all voluntarily drank the water infused with the Blood Fusion Tree seeds, and their loyalty to my father's lifelong ideal of revitalizing China is even higher than mine. They will only cooperate with you on matters related to this ideal."

  Yeh Hao Dong smiled: "You know me, their ideals don't conflict with mine."

  "Situ Xinyi let out a long sigh: 'I hope so.'"

  Ye Haodong looked at Sutu Xinyi, who had not been seen for several months and had obviously aged a lot, with a strange expression. "Are you ill or is there something bothering you? You seem to be speaking strangely today, it doesn't match your usual heroic and bold demeanor."

  Xīn Yì gets up, walks to the door and gazes eastward, with a hint of tears in his eyes. He lets out another long sigh: "I'm going home now, taking the seventeen wandering souls of my Xīn family back to our hometown together. That's where our roots are; my ancestors and brothers have always been thinking about that place. This time when I go back, I'll be buried in my hometown - this is also one of the conditions for me to bring my whole family back. Forty-seven years ago, I killed the son of a high-ranking official of the Huá Xià Republic in a fit of rage; although that official has long since passed away, his family is still thriving and they still remember this incident."

  Ye Haodong blinked his eyes, trying to squeeze out a sentimental expression, but ended up laughing instead. "Life has its time and death has its place, for those of us in this line of work, living to your age is already more fortunate than most people, this is your destiny, I wish you a smooth journey back home to complete the renovation of your ancestral tomb."