Zhang Qian only smiled and didn't say anything else. Even though Qin Yue didn't want to admit it with her own lips, the way he saw it, if Qin Feng was telling the truth then Ye Qian must be somebody important to Qin Yue. But since Qin Yue didn't want to admit it, then as her elder he naturally wouldn't be pester her about it.
"Uncle Zhang, did you really come here today just to see him? Could there be something else?" Qin Yue asked. After a pause, she continued, "Let's talk about it in the car."
Zhang Qiang nodded and got inside. "Didn't you ask for their help to find Ouyang Tianming's whereabouts? There's been news." Zhang Qiang said, "Eldest miss, did something bad happen?"
Qin Yue nodded, "That girl Ya'er has gone missing, I suspect that it is Ouyang Tianming's doing. Uncle Zhang, where is Ouyang Tianming?"
"In the outskirts in the north, in an abandoned chemical factory. He's with some fugitives too, all of them hired by Wei Dong Xiang." Zhang Qiang said, "What did Ouyang Tianming kidnap Zhao Ya for? They don't seem to have any connection at all?"
"Explaining it is a little troublesome, it's not all clear to me either." Qin Yue said. After a pause, something suddenly occurred to Qin Yue, could Ye Qian have taken Zhang Qiang's car to find Ouyang Tianming?
Zhang Qiang became surprised at Qin Yue's sudden silence. "What's wrong?"
"I was thinking that Ye Qian might have taken your car to find Ouyang Tianming." Qin Yue replied worriedly, "I'm afraid it's dangerous for him to go to Ouyang Tianming alone."
Zhang Qiang became even more puzzled, how did this have anything to do with Ye Qian. But this was not the moment to ponder over it, he said, "Don't worry, I will immediately send people over." After he said this, Zhang Qiang fished out a cellphone from his chest and prepared to relay instructions for people to help Ye Qian.
"No!" After a silent pause, Qin Yue shook her head, "I don't think we can help even if we go. I believe that he can save Zhao Ya for sure." Even though she said these words, Qin Yue couldn't help being extremely worried for Ye Qian, but she didn't dare have people go over. Who knows, Ouyang Tianming might suddenly go crazy if he discovered other people, that would just put Zhao Ya in more danger.
Zhang Qiang stared in surprise, then he put his phone back into his pocket. Although Qin Yue rarely participated in gang's affairs, he knew very well how intelligent Qin Yue was. It could be said that Qin Yue contributed much for the Hongmen to be able to establish themselves so smoothly in Shanghai. Even though Zhang Qiang didn't say it aloud, he sincerely admired this Hongmen Eldest Miss. Zhang Qiang would naturally not oppose any of Qin Yue's decisions.
"Eldest Miss, there is another matter I have to tell you about it." After a pause, Zhang Qiang spoke.
"What is it? Tell me, Uncle Zhang!" Qin Yue said.
"After second young master spoke to me about Ye Qian, I looked into his background, but there is an 8-year gap where no information can be found. Eldest Miss, you have to be careful, you have to be on guard." Zhang Qiang said.
Qin Yue turned to look at Zhang Qiang and said, "Uncle Zhang, I know what you want to say, be at ease, I'm not a fool, I can distinguish between the good and the bad." After a pause, Qin Yue continued, "he's mentioned those eight years to me, he said he was in the Middle East, I don't know what he did, though."
"The Middle East?" Zhang Qiang became startled. That was a place often at war, and Ye Qian unexpectedly lived there for eight years. But, now knowing the place he was in for those eight years, with the Hongmen's strength and intelligence network, it wouldn't be difficult to dig up Ye Qian's background.
Qin Yue seemed to have realized what Zhang Qiang was thinking and said, "Uncle Zhang, you wouldn't just look into this matter without reason, was it my father that sent you?"
Zhang Qian laughed and said, "I cannot keep anything from Eldest Miss."
Qin Yue smiled faintly then said, "Uncle Zhang, go back and tell father that he should not look into Ye Qian's background, if he were to find out it would be no good. Also, tell father, this is my personal business, I can handle it myself, he doesn't need to bother with these things."
"Okay, okay." Zhang Qiang laughed and said, "When there's time bring that xiaozi over for dinner, I'm getting more and more interested in that xiaozi."
"Uncle Zhang, you have the free time for this? Is the gang not busy?" Qin Yue teased.
"Of course we're busy, ay, it's a shame Eldest miss doesn't want to oversee it, or else I'm sure any hard problem would be easily solved when brought to Eldest Miss." Zhang Qiang said sincerely, "Recently the Qing Gang has been stirring, it seems as if they are in the middle of a large operation. You know that Shanghai is the base of operations of the Qing Gang, our own headquarters are in the south, if the Qing Gang were to act without regard for the consequences, it will be hard for the Hongmen to have a place in Shanghai."
The Hongmen and the Qing Gang had the same origins, their history was long. It could be traced back to the Qing dynasty, in the reign of the Kangxi Emperor. But later on due to internal conflict in the organization they split up into the Qing Gang and the Hongmen. The Hongmen transferred to the south, and the Qing Gang became entrenched in Shanghai, one south, one north. Even though the Qing Gang and Hongmen never stopped fighting, they were all only small skirmishes. Later on, during a period of national crisis, the Hongmen and the Qing Gang joined together to fight against the invaders, lasting up until China unified, the Hongmen and Qing Gang split up once again.
But because of the severe crackdown of the Chinese government, the Hongmen and Qing Gang had dwindled in number, their business had also started to turn to commercialization, but their underground influence did not dissolve, still conflicts between the two were quite rare.
Nowadays the strength of the Hongmen was going up north, naturally they were a threat to the Qing Gang. Even though no large scale conflict had erupted yet, both sides knew that it could happen any moment, it was only a matter of which side would trigger it first.
Qin Yue knitted her brows then said, "Uncle Zhang, why won't the Hongmen just reconcile with the Qing Gang and work together? If both sides start a war, it would be two tigers fighting, both sides will suffer great losses. Why don't we form an alliance and gain mutual benefits?"
Zhang Qiang laughed and said, "Then Hongmen and the Qing Gang enmity can't be easily resolved, there is too much involved. I also wish for both sides to shake hands and talk, but this is a very difficult thing to achieve. Let's put aside other matters and say both sides to form an alliance, who will be the head of this alliance? If the person were to come from the other side, I'm afraid neither side will be happy. But, returning to the main topic, the empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been.* This is the inevitable course of history. Let's just see if any hero will come that will be able to unite both forces.
Qing dynasty (清朝) | Qing gang (青帮) they're different Qings in case you think they were named after the dynasty.
* - the long bit at the end is 天下大事，合久必分，分久必合, the opening line from romance of the three kingdoms, so it's the verbatim translation of Moss Roberts
Translated by:
korezmi
Edited by:
Furutze