Gangster heir? Please call me a legitimate entrepreneur.

The director's office is on the second floor of the municipal bureau building.

The cicadas outside the window were chirping loudly, and the sunlight was so hot that the glass window was burning.

Li Jianguo stared blankly at the red invitation with gold lettering on the table.

My blood pressure shot straight to the top of my head like a runaway dog.

The cigarette he was holding between his two fingers had burned out sometime during the night.

Cigarette ash fell onto the white paper in a flurry, and sparks burned under my fingernails, giving off a burnt smell.

"hiss--"

Li Jianguo abruptly flung his hand, and the cigarette butt fell onto his leather shoe.

He stomped on it and crushed it, his chest heaving violently like a bellows.

"A judge? And they even gave me a banner?!"

Li Jianguo grabbed the invitation, his hand trembling as if he had Parkinson's disease.

He tore the cardboard into pieces in a few quick movements and threw it at Captain Gu's face.

"That little brat Su Ye! He's practically pointing his finger at me and cursing!"

Golden scraps of paper fell like snowflakes all over Captain Gu.

Captain Gu blinked twice, his eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep, and his Adam's apple bobbed.

He subconsciously touched the scar on the back of his head, a result of being hit by the "Five Years of College Entrance Examination and Three Years of Simulation" drills.

My fingertip brushed against the raised skin, and my scalp tingled.

"Chief...please catch your breath." Captain Gu's voice was weak as he bent down to pick up the scraps of paper on the ground.

"The Economic Crime Investigation Division's case files have all been delivered. The Legal Affairs Section reviewed them three times."

Li Jianguo suddenly turned around and braced his hands on the desk.

The veins on his wrist were throbbing.

"What did the investigation uncover? Were there any loopholes in the contract? Was there any evidence of forced purchase or sale?"

He stared intently at Captain Gu, his eyes filled with a spiderweb of bloodshot veins.

Captain Gu paused in picking up the scraps of paper, then stood up with a pained expression.

"No loopholes."

Team Leader Gu swallowed hard. "Sihai's legal department uses the city court's standard contract templates, down to the punctuation marks."

He handed over the file, which was drenched in sweat.

"Chu Zhongtian's Zhongtian Passenger Transport was indeed insolvent. Sihai Group assumed their debt of 38 million and then acquired the shares for one yuan."

Captain Gu gritted his teeth, making a soft grinding sound.

"Throughout the entire process... they even paid the stamp duty transparently, and the tax bureau praised them as a company that pays taxes honestly."

Li Jianguo's legs went weak and he slumped into the chair.

The chipped enamel mug bumped against the table, spilling a few drops of cold tea.

"A legal acquisition? That's called looting! Looting the entire city's transportation lifeline using legal means!"

He unbuttoned his collar and gasped for breath.

"Yesterday they were gangsters wielding knives and attacking people all over the streets, and today they've transformed into capitalists?"

Li Jianguo clutched his hair with both hands, his head throbbing as if it were about to split open.

"Where's the undercover agent! Where's Shen Qinghan!" He suddenly looked up, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Captain Gu.

"She's always following Su Ye around, but hasn't she managed to get any useful information out of him?!"

Captain Gu awkwardly rubbed his hands together and pulled a Nokia with a cracked screen from his pocket.

"They've been distributed...distributed. Comrade Shen said that Su Ye is in his office distributing bonuses to everyone."

At the same time, the top-floor penthouse of the Sihai Group.

The central air conditioning was blowing out cool air, and the air was filled with the smell of freshly opened ink.

Su Ye leaned back in the large leather executive chair.

He twirled a custom-made black fountain pen in his right hand and held a stainless steel thermos that was always chipped of its paint in his left.

He pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, a calculating glint flashing behind the lenses.

At the desk.

Chen Suan stood with his legs together, sporting two thick dark circles under his eyes.

His left hand instinctively clutched his stomach tightly, his face as pale as an A4 sheet of paper.

"Boss, boss." Chen Suan opened his mouth, but a sour taste rose in his throat, which he quickly swallowed.

"Zhongtian Bus Company has taken over all of its vehicles. There are more than 500 vehicles in total."

He pushed up his black-rimmed glasses, which had slipped down to the tip of his nose, with his right index finger. "The meter is being upgraded, and we expect it to be fully integrated into our Yu'e Bao system by tomorrow morning."

Su Ye unscrewed the thermos, and hot steam wafted onto the lenses.

He blew on the plump goji berries floating on the water and took a sip.

The warm water soothed my esophagus.

"Well done." Su Ye's voice was flat, without the slightest inflection.

He opened the drawer, took out three thick, bright red envelopes, and threw them on the table.

A soft "snap" sound.

The envelope was stuffed full, containing at least ten thousand yuan.

"How's the investigation on Zhang Tiezhu's side going?"

Standing to the side, Zhang Tiezhu reflexively straightened his back and put his feet together.

"Snap!" A perfectly standard military posture.

He had a buzz cut, was covered in sweat, and spoke with a slight rural accent.

"I...I've found out who the boss is!"

Zhang Tiezhu's voice was so loud that it made the French windows buzz.

"All of Chu Zhongtian's drivers—those with criminal records, those who smoked or chewed betel nuts, those who failed their medical exams—I dismissed them all as you instructed!"

He scratched the back of his head. "The remaining four hundred-odd honest guys were all sent to Warehouse No. 1 to listen to Director Lei's legal lecture."

Su Ye nodded in satisfaction and tapped the envelope on the table with his finger.

"Take it and distribute it. This is a project progress award."

Chen Suan and Zhang Tiezhu's eyes lit up.

Zhang Tiezhu took the envelope with both hands, his hands trembling with excitement.

"Thank you, boss! I'll go back and go through the background check on the cleaning lady right away!"

He turned and ran outside, his leather shoes making a dull thud on the carpet.

Chen Suan clutched his stomach, took the envelope, and floated unsteadily out of the office.

I almost bumped into the door frame before closing the door.

The office fell silent.

All that remained was the faint hum of the computer tower running.

Shen Qinghan, dressed in a crisp white shirt and a black pencil skirt, stood to the side of the desk.

The flat canvas shoes on her feet pressed firmly against the wool carpet.

The toes were tightly curled up.

She was clutching a blue plastic folder, biting her lower lip hard with her teeth.

A faint taste of blood could already be detected in my mouth.

She looked at the stamped and effective acquisition contract on the table.

My heart was pounding like a drum.

It's ridiculous.

The biggest gangster in Longhai City, without wielding a knife or seizing territory, relied on a few tattered receipts and a calculator to devour a long-established passenger transport boss who had been entrenched for over a decade.

And the police couldn't even utter a word.

"Secretary Shen."

Su Ye put down the thermos, the bottom of which made a soft sound as it tapped on the table.

He turned his head, his gaze behind his gold-rimmed glasses falling on Shen Qinghan's tense shoulders.

"What? Judging from your expression, you seem to think my methods were too ruthless?"

Shen Qinghan's breath hitched.

She suddenly looked up, her palms covered in cold sweat.

"I...no. I just feel that Boss Chu has deep roots in Longhai City, so wouldn't what we're doing be considered...double-crossing?"

She stammered for a moment before tentatively throwing out the word.

With his hands behind his back, he frantically typed on the encrypted phone's keyboard.

[Su Ye has confessed! He was double-crossing other gangs! Chief, please issue an arrest warrant immediately!]

Su Ye chuckled softly.

He stood up, and a gentle breeze stirred up the hem of his coat.

I walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked down at the bustling street below.

"A double-cross?"

Su Ye shook his head, his tone carrying a hint of scientific explanation.

"Secretary Shen, you still need to work on your financial thinking."

He turned around, put his hands in his coat pockets, and stood up straight.

"Chu Zhongtian's monopoly is built on violence and intimidation, resulting in inefficiency and extremely poor service. This is typical of feudal guild practices."

Su Ye walked to his desk and tapped the acquisition contract with his long, slender fingers.

"I took advantage of his violent impulses, legally assessed his losses, rendered him insolvent, and forced him to sell his shares."

He adjusted his glasses. "This is called merger and reorganization based on market principles. We eliminated outdated production capacity and provided citizens with standardized services that included air conditioning, courteous service, and no refusal to pick them up."

"I even paid the social insurance and housing fund contributions for those hundreds of unlicensed taxi drivers."

Su Ye stared into Shen Qinghan's eyes, his voice calm yet extremely authoritative.

"Everything is within the framework of the law."

Shen Qinghan's mind went blank for a moment.

Her back was completely soaked, her white shirt clung to her skin, and she felt a chill.

She found herself following Su Ye's logic.

Yes, he paid taxes, he signed a contract, and he even paid social security for his younger brother!

But damn it, he's clearly a gangster's son!

Shen Qinghan felt that her worldview was crumbling.

She gritted her teeth, forcing herself not to show any weakness.

"The chairman is right. I was short-sighted."

Su Ye nodded, sat back down in his chair, and opened a new report.

"Go and inform the security department that there will be an etiquette competition at the train station tomorrow. Anyone who dares to smile in a way that doesn't show eight teeth..."

Su Ye picked up his thermos and blew on it to release the steam. "This month's performance bonus is reset to zero."

Shen Qinghan quickly lowered her head to take notes.

The pen tip made a scratching sound as it scratched across the paper.

"Yes, Chairman. Then... as for Chu Zhongtian, are we really not going to worry about him resorting to desperate measures and retaliating?"

Shen Qinghan couldn't help but ask a question.

After all, when gangsters are driven to the brink, hiring hitmen to commit murder is a common occurrence.

Su Ye flipped through a page of the report without even lifting his eyelids.

Fingers tapped lightly on the table.

"He won't have a chance to jump over the wall."

Su Ye picked up the cup and took a sip of water.

"Chen Suan called the police while checking the accounts. The 20 million yuan in Chu Zhongtian's company's accounts is suspected of being used for tax evasion."

He pushed up his reflective glasses. "Captain Gu should already be at his house in handcuffs, knocking on the door."