Gangster heir? Please call me a legitimate entrepreneur.

The faucet handle was turned all the way down.

Tap water gushed out of the pipe, splashing onto the bottom of the white ceramic sink and creating ripples of cool water.

Shen Qinghan braced her hands on the edge of the sink, her knuckles turning white from the exertion.

She suddenly bent over, scooped up a handful of cold water, and splashed it on her face without a care.

The biting cold seeped into my pores, making my facial skin feel tight.

Water droplets rolled down her pert nose and landed on the collar of her professional white shirt.

A small patch of fabric was damp, and it clung to her collarbone, appearing semi-transparent.

She shuddered as she inhaled a breath of cold air mixed with the smell of cheap air freshener.

The woman in the mirror had a blush on her eyes.

A few strands of wet hair clung to her smooth forehead, making her look like a drowned rat just pulled from the river.

Shen Qinghan grabbed two rough paper towels and haphazardly pressed them against her cheeks.

She frantically pulled her phone out of a hidden pocket in her pencil skirt.

With my fingertips wet, I swiped the screen three or four times before finally managing to unlock the fingerprint lock.

I skillfully tapped the icon that was disguised as the phone's built-in calculator.

Enter a long, complex encrypted password.

The screen's fluorescent blue light shone on her slightly pale face.

The document contains detailed records of all the activities of the Sihai Chamber of Commerce over the past month.

There are no online codes for drug trafficking.

There is no list of money laundering accounts belonging to underground banks.

There was no map showing the handover routes for smuggling at the docks.

This document records a whole bunch of legal operations that are absolutely horrifying.

On the 3rd, Security Director Lei Hu led a team to the Industry and Commerce Bureau to queue up and pay the fines.

A heavy truck used for transporting goods was impounded by traffic police because it was overloaded.

Lei Hu, who usually wields a watermelon knife to hack at people in the street, didn't dare to offer bribes or pull strings.

I stood in the payment hall for two whole hours, being scolded like a grandson by the lady at the window, not daring to utter a single word.

On the 15th, the company used its corporate account to purchase the highest level of commercial full insurance for all its trucks.

Yesterday afternoon, that young hoodlum from the logistics department with dyed yellow hair and a gold chain around his neck...

I dragged the stray yellow dog that always rummaged through the trash cans at the entrance of the logistics park to the vet for a rabies vaccination.

The dog now has a shiny aluminum dog tag around its neck.

The words "Extreme Speedy Patrol Dog Across the World" are laser-engraved on it.

Shen Qinghan bit her lower lip hard.

A thin layer of dry skin rubbed against his teeth, and a metallic, bloody taste rose in his mouth.

Is this what you call a criminal organization that has been entrenched in Longhai City for ten years?

What gang leader would be so bored as to give even the stray dogs at his doorstep work permits and medical insurance?

She took a deep breath, opened her contacts, and dialed the unmarked single-line number.

Three monotonous beeps came through the receiver.

"Feed".

Captain Gu's voice was hoarse, as if it had been rubbed against coarse sandpaper.

"Captain Gu, it's me."

Shen Qinghan lowered her voice and glanced around the empty women's restroom like a thief.

The old, dilapidated exhaust fan overhead was whirring and making me feel uneasy.

"Ahem... Little Shen."

The sound of a lighter's grinding wheel rubbing came from the other end of the phone.

Captain Gu took a drag of his cigarette, and the sound of his exhaling smoke rings traveled through the electrical current, carrying a sense of weariness.

"Any progress these past few days? Has that little fox, Su Ye, gotten impatient and started transferring illicit funds overseas?"

Shen Qinghan picked at the edge of the marble countertop, his fingernails filled with putty.

"No, there's no illicit money. Captain Gu, I just went to the finance office on the fourth floor and checked the payroll they sent out."

She paused, swallowing a mouthful of dry saliva.

"Today they paid the salaries of thousands of low-level employees through a legitimate state-owned bank account."

"What the heck?"

Captain Gu had clearly burned his hand with cigarette ash on the other end, letting out a loud "hiss".

"Paying salaries? And using company accounts? These bastards have forgotten even the basics of tax avoidance?"

"No, Captain Gu."

Shen Qinghan's brows furrowed into an unsolvable knot, her toes unconsciously rubbing against the cracks in the tiles.

"They not only paid their taxes honestly, but also provided social insurance and housing fund contributions for all their deliverymen. They even enrolled their immediate family members back in their hometown in medical insurance."

There was a deathly silence on the other end of the phone.

Shen Qinghan could only hear Captain Gu's heavy breathing, which sounded like a broken bellows.

"Bang!"

With a deafening thud, Captain Gu slammed his hand on the desk.

"What a load of bull! This is absolutely a smokescreen!"

He yelled at the top of his lungs, making Shen Qinghan's ears ring. She instinctively moved her phone further away.

"Do you think this is my first day wearing this police uniform? Gangsters getting all the benefits? Why don't they pay for the King of Hell's retirement insurance?!"

Captain Gu paced back and forth, his hard-soled leather shoes creaking against the floor.

"Xiao Shen, wake up! Su Ye has expanded his business so much and spent a lot of money recruiting so many college students."

"He just wants to use the guise of a legitimate logistics company to establish an underground transportation hub that our police can't detect!"

Shen Qinghan switched the phone to her left hand.

Frustrated, she grabbed a handful of her half-dry, wavy hair with her right hand and broke off a few strands.

"But Captain Gu... I saw it with my own eyes today."

The scene in the warehouse at noon flashed through her mind, and her voice trembled uncontrollably.

"Dozens of rough-looking men who used to collect protection money on the streets with machetes are now looking at their cell phones to see text messages about their wages being deposited into their accounts."

"They squatted on the ground and wailed, crying as they called home saying they wanted to buy a house and get married."

Shen Qinghan closed her eyes, her eyelashes trembling slightly, and a wave of soreness welled up in her eyes.

"They said they'd never have to live that life of constant danger again. Captain Gu, those tears couldn't be faked."

"That's all an act for you!"

Captain Gu was furious. He coughed several times, a thick phlegm stuck in his throat that he couldn't swallow.

"What conscience do gangsters have? A wolf can travel a thousand miles to eat meat, but a leopard can't change its nature of eating excrement!"

"Su Ye is winning people's hearts and minds, cultivating a group of loyal henchmen! Once the storm passes, these people who have taken the money will be his most loyal thugs!"

"But……"

Shen Qinghan wanted to argue, but her throat felt like it was stuffed with a waterlogged sponge, and she couldn't squeeze out a single word.

Police arrest people and throw street thugs into jail in order to maintain public order.

But what happens after they get out of prison? People with criminal records can't find jobs, suffer from cold shoulders, and often end up going back to their old ways.

This is like a vicious cycle.

But what about Su Ye?

He used an almost tyrannical set of corporate rules to force this group of lawless madmen to memorize legal provisions and do manual labor.

Give them a way to make more money than being a gangster.

This gave them a weakness and a hope for a peaceful life.

This method is practically eradicating the city's criminal genes at their very root.

"There's no 'but' about it!"

Captain Gu interrupted her without any politeness, his tone stern.

"Xiao Shen, watch your discipline! You're a top-notch undercover agent from the provincial department; don't let yourself be blinded by these poison-coated bullets!"

The lighter clicked again, and Captain Gu lit a second cigarette.

"I'm giving you a month. You must expose his hypocrisy! If you can't find concrete evidence, I'll personally lead a search!"

"Beep—beep—"

The call was unilaterally disconnected.

Shen Qinghan gripped the slightly hot phone and leaned back as if all her strength had left her.

My shoulder blade slammed against the cold wall tiles, causing a sharp, painful ache.

She looked up at the glaring anti-fog ceiling light in the bathroom.

My vision is a little blurry.

Did I waste my three years at police academy?

She vaguely had a thought that even she herself found absurd.

If Su Ye really manages to absorb all the underworld in Longhai City through this kind of legitimate business tactic of overwhelming force, and then forcibly whitewash it, then...

Wouldn't the world then be at peace?

A conscientious company built by a gangster's son?

Shen Qinghan forced a bitter smile.

This magical plot is so good it could be written into a novel.

"Tap, tap, tap."

Suddenly, the sound of steady leather footsteps came from outside the restroom door.

The footsteps stopped in front of the frosted glass door.

Shen Qinghan tensed up, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

She quickly stuffed her phone into her pocket and grabbed a tissue to roughly wipe the remaining water from her chin.

He cleared his throat, trying to make his voice sound like a busy worker taking a break.

"Who...who's outside?"

She stammered for a moment, her fingers twisting tightly around the hem of her soaked shirt.

There was a two-second silence outside the door.

A faint scent of mint tobacco drifted in through the crack in the door.

"Secretary Shen, did it fall into the toilet?"

Su Ye's deep, slightly mocking voice came through the door.

Shen Qinghan gritted her teeth, took a deep breath, and calmed her heartbeat.

"No...Mr. Su, I'm washing my hands."

"You don't need to wash your hands for half an hour, right? If you scrub off a layer of skin, would that be considered a work-related injury?"

Su Ye curled his fingers and tapped on the glass door from the outside.

Two "thump-thump" sounds, like taps on her nerves.

"Get out here quickly."

Su Ye's tone carried the air of an unyielding capitalist, as if he were deliberately ordering her around.

"Go downstairs and call Zhang Tiezhu up for me, and also prepare the checkbook and the company seal."

Shen Qinghan was stunned.

She walked to the door, placed her hand on the cold aluminum doorknob, and called out through the door.

"Why do you need to call Director Zhang? What amount should be written in the checkbook?"

"Five million."

Su Ye snapped his fingers outside, his voice lazy and unruly.

"Come with me to the Red Star Orphanage. Let's donate some coal for the winter and some scholarships to those orphans. This money is too hot to handle in the public account; let's distribute it quickly."