Chapter 177: Chapter 176: The Challenge Finally Achieved
When Jing Zhengtang and Feiwei agreed to ally with Leyi, the atmosphere in the study immediately became cheerful.
"In that case, I will soon restore your authority, and then you will eliminate the elders of Jing Zhengwu’s faction in my name," Leyi described his conspiracy: "Yin Minghong will assist you. As for the reason, you can continue using the bait I previously dangled. I have their ’wishes’ promised to me, and once they’re dead, these wishes will turn into evidence of their treachery."
"You can hint at your people that you are helping them this time. When people from Jing Zhengwu’s faction complain to me, I will also send Yin Minghong to stand up for them."
"This way, back and forth, they should be mostly dead, and the remaining ones won’t be a concern."
Jing Zhengtang expressed concern: "But will the clan members really be so obedient? When Uncle Suke died, they were all very agitated. If we continue to cleanse the elders..."
"They will," Leyi said with certainty: "I will tell them that once I’ve reorganized the deceased’s family assets, they will be distributed to be managed by other clan members. This is common practice. I must use the clan members to manage the Jing family. Even if they don’t believe the reasons I provide, they believe they will inevitably reap benefits from others."
"Moreover, even if they suspect that I intend to cleanse the elders, they will deny this hypothesis themselves. First, because it’s too outrageous, and second, because they are powerless—when you become one of my capable subordinates, they won’t even find anyone to turn to."
"Although the patriarch’s power comes from everyone’s support, the Jing family is too large with too many factions. When they’re suppressed, they will suspect that another faction is being recruited by me. They are well aware of the consequences of defying the patriarch; defying the patriarch will only lead to being swallowed by other factions, but loyalty to the patriarch gives them a chance to swallow others."
"’Jing Zhengwei always has to use us to manage the Jing family. If we endure a bit, we will eventually be able to gain back from the hands of other rebels’—that’s how they surely think."
"Greed blinds them and destroys their foundation for cooperation."
At this point, Feiwei whispered something to Jing Zhengtang, who then said, "We can use Jing Zhengfeng."
Leyi was curious: "Jing Zhengfeng?"
Since Leyi took over the Jing family, Jing Zhengfeng hadn’t shown up, but Jing Qingfu had long arranged everything for this son.
Jing Zhengfeng’s prosperity in the outer city gang, the Yitian Gang, was naturally aided by Jing Qingfu. Now the Jing family has many "newcomers joining" businesses cooperating with the Yitian Gang, specifically reflected in people losing money at the Yitian Gang’s casino in the morning and being sent to the Jing family estate to repay the debt by evening.
A few days ago, Jing Zhengfeng even wrote a letter to Leyi, with handwriting neater than Leyi’s, stating he didn’t want to get involved in the Jing family’s Asura field—I play in the gangs and you dine in the Jing Garden, let’s not interfere with each other.
In fact, Leyi had also considered whether Jing Zhengfeng might be Jing Qingfu’s backup plan.
Seeing that Dongyang would become chaotic, naturally Jing Qingfu knew that the Jing family might not be able to protect itself in future turmoils and might instead become a target due to their wealth. In case of the Jing family’s doom, Jing Zhengfeng, who mingles in the gang world’s mud, would be the Jing family’s spark.
Although Leyi planned to destroy the Jing family, there was no need to kill everyone. He could keep these two brothers, provided they didn’t displease Leyi, and there were many reasons that could displease him, summed as violating core values.
"How to use him?"
"Banner," Jing Zhengtang said: "Once I also surrender to you, the only legitimate direct line outside the Jing family would be Jing Zhengfeng. If anyone truly wanted to rebel against us, then surely they’d find Jing Zhengfeng and try to rally support against us through this legitimate line to secure the Silver Blood Association’s backing, thereby isolating and overthrowing us."
It was already "us," and Jing Zhengtang quickly transitioned into his new role.
"At this moment, as long as we collude with our fourth brother, we can justifiably capture all those with ulterior motives. The ones most likely to resist are surely the troublemakers among the clan members. After subduing them, once I say a few words, the other elders will surely obediently hand over their powers, allowing you, big brother, to smoothly take over the Jing family."
"Compared to your method of slowly boiling the frog, I think letting our fourth brother help might be more efficient."
Brilliant!
Leyi almost wanted to pound the table in praise—this was like using Jing Zhengfeng as bait! If Leyi’s previous plan was to slowly kill monsters one by one, then this one was gathering all monsters in one place and wiping them out with invincibility!
Indeed, a true SSR within the Jing family, Leyi struck gold this time!
"Then why not use you as bait?" Leyi asked: "Third brother, you’re more likely to garner backing from the malcontents now, aren’t you?"
Jing Zhengtang hesitated for a moment, needing Feiwei to remind him of what "bait" meant: "Because I’ve already surrendered to you before, even if I display rebellious intentions, they might not believe me. Furthermore, the clan knows my character; unless there’s a convincing reason, they wouldn’t believe I’d compete with you."
Leyi remarked: "There are plenty of reasons, like I have an eye for your sister-in-law—"
"Not possible!"
Jing Zhengtang tightly gripped Feiwei’s hand and declared firmly: "No matter what, I won’t let Feiwei get involved in such trouble."
"I meant hypothetically—"
"Hypothetically is also not possible. I won’t let Feiwei’s reputation suffer even a tiny bit of harm!"
Perhaps to quickly quash such bold ideas from his elder brother, Jing Zhengtang promptly revealed the real reason: "Besides, doing such a thing would certainly draw hatred and revenge from other clan members. I still need to help you manage the Jing family, so it’s not suitable for me. But our fourth brother, being unrelated to the Jing family, is very suitable for it."
"Fine then." Leyi spread his hands: "We’ll proceed with your suggestions. Can you and Yin Minghong go contact Jing Zhengfeng?"
"As you wish, it’s almost evening, I won’t disturb your dinner, big brother. Farewell."
Jing Zhengtang hustled off with Feiwei, even blocking Leyi’s view while leaving. Leyi looked speechless—aren’t we at least nominally brothers? Can’t we even have dinner together? Do you think your big brother fits the stereotype you imagine?
However, reflecting on Jing Zhengwei’s past feats, Leyi had to admit, no normal man would dare let the woman they love idle in front of Jing Zhengtang...
"Ah..."
Just as Leyi was about to finish reading the last bit of "Primordial Energy Maids," he suddenly felt a pulse of intuition.
"Name: Leyi/Jing Zhengwei"
"Number of Deaths: 3 times"
"Usable Points: 3 points"
"Opportunity for Zero-Level Eternal Skill Upgrade: 1 (optional)"
"Yin Yin’s Tribulation: Let Yin Yin win White Night’s approval (36/50) (New tribulation obtainable)."
"Personal Skills: Basic Lingxu Battle Technique (+), Basic Combined Qi Qinri Battle Technique (+), Ice Blood Physique (activatable)"
"Eternal Skills: Substitute, Intermediate Badao Flow Biting Battle Technique (+)"
"Challenge (completed): Waste 10,000 hours of others’ time, difficulty ☆☆, current progress 10,000/10,000."
Today is the release day for the eighth issue of "Youth Daily."
The moment Leyi had long been waiting for had finally arrived.
The aftermath of being afraid of pain and thus not daring to let the Qinri body lose its power was finally about to be resolved!
"Finally, I can activate the Ice Blood Physique..." Leyi’s tears flowed freely: "There’s no need to keep fighting."