After Le Yuxin stole Jing Zhengwei's account, although he always had to face the petty squabbles and deceitful schemes of wealthy families, he also gained a lot—for example, living the corrupt life of a capitalist.
The kind of violent days were always left to Ergouzi... no, to the second-in-command, Yin Minghong, to handle.
Before tonight, the only time Le Yuxin acted in Xuanzhu County was several months ago.
At that time, he got triple support from Jing Qingfu and was preparing to start a newspaper, his sudden rise causing a strong reaction from Jing Zhengwu. The Jing Family was always adept at solving problems—if they couldn't solve the problem, they would solve the person who caused it.
On Le Yuxin's way to the Battle Card Hall, he was ambushed.
If not for Mu Qingmei tailing this young man that day, Le Yuxin would have had to surrender Jing Zhengwei's first blood.
After that, Le Yuxin never went to the Battle Card Hall again, but taught Qing Lan to play cards—later, it turned into Qing Lan teaching him, maybe because his hairstyle was too normal, not quite suitable for playing cards.
As for the Yitian Gang that ambushed Le Yuxin that day, they were later crushed into dust by the Silver Blood Association, but that incident ended there too.
As for the mastermind behind directing the Yitian Gang, it became an eternal secret.
But in fact, it wasn't hard to guess.
In an assassination attempt on his brother, Jing Zhengwu would naturally entrust it to his closest confidant, but also had to completely distance himself from it, so his fiancée, Qin Yueshi, was his best assist.
And Qin Yueshi's brother, who managed all kinds of family affairs, was naturally the mastermind handling it personally.
So when Qin Le Yin said it was his first time seeing Jing Zhengwei here, Le Yuxin wasn't surprised.
Because this was the road where Le Yuxin was ambushed before.
Though not the same time, it was the same place.
The task not completed at the first meeting.
Would end thoroughly tonight.
"The destiny you mentioned, is it the destiny of 'vainly proposing one's will as heaven's will'?" Le Yuxin asked: "Attributing accidental success to heavenly protection, does it make you feel superior, as if favored by fate?"
"I'm merely a destiny believer," Qin Le Yin brushed his bangs aside, shook his head, and said: "I believe there is no chance in this world, it's all necessity in disguise, dressed up."
"Just like my initial goodwill to the Jing Family."
"Just like my betrayal to Silver Blood now."
"The vast past is propelling the vast future."
"Destiny is not an ultimate existence ruling over us; it's a great artwork sculpted by us mortals together, we are destiny itself," Qin Le Yin smiled: "If anything, it should be 'vainly proposing one's will as heaven's will' really."
"Then tell us about the 'destiny' you arranged for us," Le Yuxin cradled his injured arm: "After so many days of acquaintance, letting me die understanding is not too much, right?"
"Of course, not too much; not only that, you can even sit down to restore your strength, you can even treat yourself, I don't mind." Qin Le Yin gestured a 'please': "Happens that I also need some time to reveal my trump card; we're all thousand-year-old foxes, no need to be so restrained."
Le Yuxin really sat down, calming his breath quickly to recover strength and spiritual power. Despite having the 'Ice Blood Physique' for support, the escape along the way still consumed too much of his spirit, and facing Qin Le Yin, whose trump card was unknown, he had to restore to normal combat state.
Moreover, delaying time might even draw White Night's people over, so he had no reason to refuse Qin Le Yin's good will—even if the price might be Qin Le Yin gathering enough power for one move to kill him instantly.
"Have you heard of the name Qin Xiao?"
Seeing Le Yuxin shake his head, Qin Le Yin chuckled softly: "He was a close friend of Jing Qingfu and also the mentor guiding me into the Glorious Four Guards. To me, he was both a teacher and friend, and a father figure."
"Both of them believed that the vast wealth of the Silver Blood Association, scattered across eighty-eight chambers of commerce, not only caused internal strife, but also the production efficiency was too low. Thus, they secretly cooperated to conspire, with the teacher obtaining support from the Imperial Court, and Jing Qingfu guiding public opinion within the Silver Blood Association, a dual approach to annex together. The teacher wanted to leverage the funds of the Silver Blood Association to stir up court dynamics, while Jing Qingfu saw this as a stepping stone to cement the Jing Family's position."
"But when the teacher returned to Yanjing, he became a sacrifice in the struggles between the Glorious Four Guards and other factions in the court, causing this plan to join forces with the Glorious Four Guards and Silver Blood merchants to be shelved."
"Until over a decade later, when you and I reignited it."
"But unlike the 'top-down' approach they chose, you wanted it all, guiding workers' public opinion 'bottom-up' and also conveniently, 'top-down' inducing the Linhai Army, a double-dealing strategy."
Qin Le Yin looked at the burning inner city of Xuanzhu County: "I also did a good deed this time, leaving the Silver Blood Association with a vast, clean land. If you acted, they would not only die miserably, but also suffer all sorts of humiliation by the 'peasants' they despise before their death."
"Not that exaggerated," Le Yuxin sat against the wall, looking at the illuminated Xuanzhu night sky, the corner of his mouth upturned: "All violent pleasures will end violently... I am quite satisfied with this outcome for the Silver Blood Association."
"Of course, provided I first remove myself from it."
Qin Le Yin shook his head: "You can't remove yourself from it."
"Why not?" Le Yuxin tore a piece of fabric to bandage his wound, "Because of the crimes Jing Zhengwei committed in the past, which would warrant execution for half an hour? Ah, speaking of this, I really feel at a loss. Clearly past mistakes, yet the future me must suffer the consequences..."
Speaking of this, Le Yuxin thought to himself, fortunately Jing Zhengwei should be scattered into the wind and gone, otherwise he would definitely be furious.
Jing Zhengwei was like someone who had maxed out loans, small loans, and credit cards before crossing over, and had even robbed a bank and the women's restroom, then fled, leaving Le Yu to face legal punishment and human judgment...
The mess wasn't made by him, but he has to clean it up himself, such a loss.
"No, no, no." Qin Leyin shook his head: "The mistakes you made in the past are insignificant, those mistakes are just pebbles that make the road hard to walk but won't lead you to absolute desperation."
"It's the road you've chosen that leads you to desperation. If the road is wrong, the faster you go, the closer you get to death."
Le Yu squinted: "Are you saying I shouldn't stand with the working class?"
Qin Leyin continued shaking his head: "Let me tell you about the original plan of the teacher and Jing Qingfu."
"Firstly, the teacher would arrive with an imperial order to replace the governor of Xuanzhu County and the administrator of Dongyang. Following that, under the guise of establishing the 'Imperial Merchants,' they would claim to have discovered a Western trade route, allowing the Jing Family to collaborate with large merchants to form a monopoly enterprise, and then create fake accounts to allocate large profits, enticing civilian capital to flock in and increase investment."
Le Yu slightly furrowed his brows: "The Western trade route is fake, how do you allocate large profits to those hungry wolves?"
"I believe for 'Blackthorn' Jing Qingfu, that's not a problem." Qin Leyin smiled: "As long as he can rope in a few large merchants, the first profits would naturally be the principal they invested."
Le Yu was slightly stunned, instantly recalling a modern economic term that is definitely not unfamiliar—
Ponzi scheme!
"Do you think other Silver Bloods—"
"Even if they can spot it's a scam, they'll still choose to enter the game." Qin Leyin said: "Once they are initially seduced by the teacher's imperial authority and Jing Qingfu's inciting rhetoric, later on, even if they want to leave, they can't. Moreover, people are lazy; since money seems to generate more money just sitting there, even if you're shrewd, you'll be dazzled by such a dream."
"There's a saying that children are easy to fool, but adults aren't too hard to deceive either. To be fooled is really just wanting to believe."
"When all of Dongyang is driven crazy, and everyone is dreaming of getting rich, the teacher and Jing Qingfu, who had scraped clean all the gold and silver, would choose to leave, taking hundreds of years' worth of Dongyang's wealth to Yanjing to start a new life, leaving behind angry people and the Silver Blood Association as a target."
"This anger from losing all property is no less fierce than the justice of taking freedom and dignity. If we follow the teacher and Jing Qingfu's plan, then the outcome for the Silver Blood Association would be a thousand times more miserable than tonight."
"Jing Zhengwu once said something that I really liked, a merchant, is someone who harms."
"So, what did you learn from this story?"
Le Yu supported himself against the wall to stand up: "I only know Qin Xiao and Jing Qingfu are both bad. Of course, so are you."
Qin Leyin sighed lightly.
"The only mistake you made was underestimating the human heart," he said: "I originally thought that when you founded the 'Youth Daily,' colluded with White Night, and allied with Blue Flame, it showed you were a man of considerable capacity. But ultimately, you're just this."
"Actually, the teacher and Jing Qingfu's plan is very similar to yours in execution; both use leverage to oppress people, both incite the masses. The difference lies in the teacher wanting to exploit the darkness in people seeking unearned gains, while you wish to harness people's pursuit of freedom and light."
"Darkness needs stirring, needs opportunity, to become rampant. And light, like a flame, once ignited, you can only watch it blaze across the sky."
"If you use a machine as a metaphor, the plan of the teacher and Jing Qingfu is like filling the machine with fuel and materials, and then waiting for the time to suddenly start the machine, letting it march towards destruction."
"And what you and White Night did is to start the machine first, then add fuel and materials. You don't know when the machine will explode, but you eagerly speed it up regardless."
"You didn't even give the people time to adapt, presumptuously instilling your ideas in them—unity, dignity, resistance, anger—they learned these but don't know how to use them."
"The Silver Blood Association treats people as tools for labor, while you treat people as machines for resistance."
"The biggest difference between people and machines is that they can see, listen, think, learn, reflect, amend."
"You and White Night were too hasty; you didn't give them that opportunity nor satisfied their growing desires."
"Lower-class people are also human beings; the Silver Blood Association doesn't treat them as humans due to cruel ignorance."
"And you, it's because of high and mighty arrogance."
Le Yu silently watched him, as more explosions sounded from the inner city in the distance, seemingly swallowing a few majestic buildings in flames.
"You think I'm the mastermind behind tonight's riot, but I only provided a little help," Qin Leyin said: "Those accidental disguises I made were just to elicit the inevitability you've laid out. I never thought it would be this lively."
"Even without me, the people's 'courage' and 'anger' will eventually erupt one day."
"So the current outcome is precisely what you anticipated and deserved."
Qin Leyin looked at Le Yu, taking out a steel chain glove from his coat and putting it on: "Don't think just because your deeds are righteous that the road you're on is correct."
"Since you treat people as machines, don't blame these gears for being cold and emotionless."