Chapter 1 The Funeral

The next day, a little after ten in the morning.

Gui Mengjun's "funeral" ended hastily. Because he had died an unnatural death, and the coast guard patrol had not found his body, coupled with the involvement of many parties in the yacht attack on the sea, the Gui family chose to handle the funeral in a low-key manner. They only collected some of his clothing, placed them in a small coffin, and buried it early in the morning around seven o'clock.

In the eyes of outsiders, Gui Mengjun was gone just like that, and the future direction of the Gui family became unpredictable.

At noon, at the Gui family's ancestral home in the suburbs of Hanoi, more than twenty chefs were preparing for the evening banquet.

With the funeral over, Gui Mengjun's father planned to invite relatives from the collateral lines of the family and his in-laws to have dinner together tonight, and also hold an internal family meeting.

Inside the Gui family's villa, Gui Mengxiong, with a cigarette in his mouth, walked to a car in the backyard and said to a young man in the car, "Shapi, go to the crematorium and inform Xue Ping'an, and tell him about tonight's plan."

"So urgent?"

"If I don't hurry, I don't think there will be another chance." Gui Mengxiong replied with a frown, "Although the old man is old, he's not senile. I always feel that the way he looks at me is not right. Instead of acting late, it's better to act early. Take advantage of the exhibition being over soon to get rid of him too, then the rest will be easy to deal with."

"Okay, I'll go right away." Shapi nodded.

"Mm." After Gui Mengxiong gave his instructions, he got out of the car and left.

The young man called Shapi was thirty-one or two years old this year. He was the son of Gui Mengxiong's third aunt. The two had grown up together since childhood and had a deep friendship, so the former trusted him very much.

Shapi looked somewhat dissolute on the outside. Despite his age, he had dyed his hair a very bright light blue, and his usual attire was also very Hawaiian: big floral pants, big floral shirts, overall looking very much like someone who worked on the streets.

After Gui Mengxiong left, he immediately contacted the Gui family's production factories, trading companies, and the core members of the Gui family leadership who were working with him behind the scenes to plot the rebellion.

In fact, Gui Mengxiong had no sense of belonging to the Gui family at all. His father had died early, and his mother had remarried. Gui Mengxiong had suffered a lot when he was young, and had been subjected to a lot of cold shoulders and beatings in his stepfather's home.

After growing up, Gui Mengxiong graduated from university smoothly before formally entering the Gui family's core and assisting Gui Mengjun in his work. In the eyes of outsiders, Gui Mengxiong was a precocious child, polite, knew how to advance and retreat, and had strong working abilities.

But in reality, Gui Mengxiong was a person with very extreme thinking. A few years after he entered the Gui family's core, his stepfather's attitude towards him changed. Not only did he use his official position to help him, but he also showed concern for him.

However, Gui Mengxiong did not appreciate it. After preparing for more than two years, he finally found an opportunity when his stepfather was drunk, poisoned him to death, and personally handled the other party's funeral, looking as if nothing had happened.

...

Hanoi, inside the Tianbaofeng Funeral Home courtyard.

Lao Hei stood next to the van he had arrived in, with a small white flower pinned to his chest and a cigarette in his mouth. Coupled with his exceptionally weathered cheeks, he looked just like an ordinary person attending a funeral.

Inside the car, in the passenger seat, a bald man looked at the crowds at the crematorium and said with a sneer, "It's only September, not even the peak season for deaths, how come business is so good here?"

Lao Hei took a drag on his cigarette and casually replied, "The entire Hanoi capital area only has this one crematorium. It's equivalent to a monopoly in the industry, of course business is booming!"

The bald man grinned and said, "That's true, this thing really makes money. How about we find a place later, get a license, and open a crematorium too."

"Damn it, that's bad luck!" Lao Hei immediately cursed, "We're here to work, don't say unlucky things."

"Why so superstitious?" The bald man teased before reaching out to recline the car seat and began to close his eyes to rest.

Lao Hei and the others came to the crematorium to keep an eye on the Xue family. Pao Ge had given them the location, and they did see Xue Ping'an there, who was arranging the cremation for his son.

Before coming, Lao Hei had carefully put on makeup, shaved his head, and sported a bald look, and also stuck on a full beard. Although Xue Ping'an didn't know him, and the people here were even less likely to have seen him, he had worked a lot near Dragon City before, and the Xue family's lackeys often roamed around, so he was still afraid of being recognized.

The weather outside was hot, and Lao Hei, smoking a cigarette, sat casually under the parasol of a water stall, waiting quietly.

"Buzz, buzz!"

Just then, three or four large trucks and four or five SUVs suddenly rushed into the main entrance of the funeral home.

Lao Hei looked over curiously and saw Xue Ping'an's lackeys, leading a group of monks and lamas with shaved heads, along with piles and piles of paper figures and ghost money, rushing in.

"Damn, they're treating a funeral like a wedding, making it so grand." Lao Hei said in amazement.

Next to him, the owner of the water stall said in broken language, "Rich people! The Chinese here are all rich!"

"Hehe, yes!" Lao Hei nodded with a smile.

As the two were talking, the three or four large trucks and SUVs actually drove towards Lao Hei.

"Whose car is this?!"

Xue Ping'an's lackey pointed to the car Lao Hei and the others were using and asked.

Lao Hei was stunned for a moment, then immediately stood up and replied, "Mine!"

"Move it away, our cars need to be parked together, otherwise it'll be hard to unload things." Xue Ping'an's lackey replied without a doubt.

"If you park over here, where are we going to park?!" Lao Hei was stunned for a moment and replied, "We're waiting for someone too."

"Just move to the backyard, hurry, help us out!" The lackey replied in an unfriendly tone.

Lao Hei cursed the other party for showing off, because the spot he had picked was right on the edge of the wall to the left of the main entrance, which was a blind spot for the cameras, and he didn't want to leave at all.

"Hurry up!" The leading lackey glared and urged fiercely.

Lao Hei looked at the other party, turned his head to look around, wanting to pick another spot.

"Damn, so slow!" The leading lackey impatiently took out his wallet, pulled out three hundred-yuan bills from it, and handed them over directly, saying, "Stop talking nonsense, take the money, and quickly move to another spot, the cars at the entrance are all blocked."

Just then, another car came from outside the main entrance. The passenger in the front seat was Shapi. Because the vehicles were congested, he turned his head and saw Xue Ping'an's lackey talking to Lao Hei and giving him money.

Lao Hei was here to do business, so he definitely couldn't argue over this little matter. He took the money, bent down, got into the car, and drove the van towards the side of the main building.

Shapi looked at Xue Ping'an's lackey and muttered, "They're making quite a show."

...

Fifteen minutes later.

Inside the largest farewell hall of the funeral home, a group of monks and lamas were holding various Dharma instruments, surrounding Xue Baolai's body, sending him to heaven.

Many areas in the Golden Triangle are very Buddhist. The Buddhist amulets that were popular before the Cataclysm originated from here, so it was not uncommon for monks and lamas to perform rituals at the funeral home. However, it was rare to make it as big as Xue Baolai.

Xue Ping'an stood at the head of his son's coffin, murmuring with red eyes, "Son, be good down there, don't cause trouble...!"

In the suburbs, inside the Gui family's villa, Gui Mengxiong whispered to a middle-aged man, "We'll make our move tonight. Give the Tai family and Jing Yan a heads-up."

"Okay!"