Chapter 929: 571, The Art of Removing the Firewood from Under the Pot

Nighttime.

“Boss, let me kill Zhang Qinghuan,” Jiang Mubei sighed, “I feel like if we take him out, we’ll be a step closer to the core power level of this art society in no time. This guy might be our biggest obstacle.”

“Don’t talk like that,” Xu Linsen said as he scrolled through the news on his phone, “Even though Zhang Qinghuan is a bit foolish, he’s not a bad person. Spade has its principles. We need to unite with those who are willing to change the world together.”

“We even have to unite with Zhang Qinghuan?” Jiang Mubei exclaimed in disbelief, “I feel like if we unite with him, we’ll be even further from success.”

“Seek common ground while reserving differences,” Xu Linsen said.

At this moment, footsteps were heard in the hallway, and the two stopped talking, simultaneously looking toward the apartment door.

The person passed by Jiang Mubei’s room and then opened the door to the room next door.

Xu Linsen knew that this was Chen Sui returning from work.

He pondered and asked, “By the way, what do you think of this Chen Sui? I feel like I’ve heard this name somewhere before, but I can’t remember where.”

“I have no impression either,” Jiang Mubei shook his head, “I’ve observed him. His steps are unsteady; he should just be an ordinary person. Boss, do you suspect him?”

“Not really suspicious, just feels a bit sudden, moving next door to us and joining our society,” Xu Linsen said, “Of course, he moved in first, so there’s nothing to say about that. I was just asking casually.”

“By the way, this Chen Sui disappears every night, and no one knows where he goes,” Jiang Mubei said.

“I heard he works at a nightclub in the Fourth District, nothing to worry about, it shouldn’t concern us,” Xu Linsen responded.

“Right, wherever he goes at night is not our business,” Jiang Mubei nodded.

Xu Linsen remarked, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he comes home at 4 AM every day and gets up at 9 AM, only sleeps five hours, yet he’s full of energy.”

“I’ll pay attention to him tomorrow.”

“Yeah, keep an eye on him,” Xu Linsen said, closing his phone, “Let’s sleep. Zhang Qinghuan said there are important tasks tomorrow.”

Next morning, the two went downstairs after receiving Zhang Qinghuan’s summons and saw him holding a bag, with ‘Chen Sui’ and Zhang Mengchan beside him, looking around as if searching for something.

Once they were downstairs, Zhang Qinghuan opened the bag and handed each of them an iron rod.

Jiang Mubei asked suspiciously, “Are we going to take out a society? If so, are a few of us enough?”

“We’re not taking anyone out,” Zhang Qinghuan shook his head, “There’s more important work to do.”

Hmm, Xu Linsen felt it was peculiar, handing out rods but not using them to fight, what’s going on?

Zhang Qinghuan led them back to the pigeonhole, while Zhang Mengchan said, “Let’s go to unit 703 first.”

Zhang Qinghuan sneered, “He has to agree about his daughter’s matter today, whether he wants to or not.”

Xu Linsen and Jiang Mubei exchanged a glance.

Jiang Mubei whispered, “Is this guy going to seize someone’s daughter? If so, are we going to be his accomplices?”

Xu Linsen shook his head, “Let’s see first, if the two are in love and the father doesn’t agree, at most we don’t help, but we can’t interfere either. If he fights, just hold him back.”

“Okay, if he tries to force someone into prostitution, I’ll just kill him,” Jiang Mubei whispered.

At this point, Xu Linsen suddenly turned to Qing Chen, “Chen Sui, what do you think?”

Qing Chen looked innocently at the two, “I think you’re right…”

Reaching the door of unit 703, Zhang Qinghuan knocked aggressively, “Li Sangou, get out here!”

Seeing Zhang Qinghuan banging on the door loudly, Jiang Mubei wanted to stop him several times.

Just then, the door opened, a middle-aged man stood timidly inside, “What’s going on?”

“We’re here to talk about your daughter!” Zhang Qinghuan said.

Qing Chen, Xu Linsen, and Jiang Mubei silently watched a little girl, about eight or nine years old, behind Li Sangou, quietly folding cardboard boxes…

Zhang Qinghuan said, “Are you going to send her to school or not? It’s her age to be in school. What future does she have folding boxes with you? Federal Primary School is free, why don’t you send her?”

Qing Chen, Xu Linsen, Jiang Mubei: “…”

This was totally different from what they imagined; it wasn’t a scene of seizing a girl at all.

They took a glance inside the room.

Inside, paper boxes were piled like a mountain, folded by Li Sangou and his daughter, all to be sent to the Fifth District to sell at a gift shop.

However, these boxes only earn a few cents, and folding them for a day might only earn enough for a day’s meals.

This is the reality for most people in the lower districts. They don’t want to do bad things but also lack the ability to change their lives, doing the most basic work that no one wants to do, like worker ants.

Li Sangou said reluctantly, “Easy for you to say. What’s the use of schooling? After graduating primary school, won’t she still have to fold boxes? What’s the difference? Can schooling put food on the table?”

Zhang Qinghuan pointed the iron rod at Li Sangou, “If you talk like that, I’ll have to hit you.”

Li Sangou lamented, “You guys are a society, right? Do some society work, go chop some people, why are you concerned about whether my kid goes to school?”

Zhang Qinghuan sneered, “If you send her to school, I’ll reduce your protection fee by two hundred a month.”

“Really?” Li Sangou’s eyes lit up.

People in the lower three districts often have their children drop out of school. Most of them haven’t even finished primary school before they return to help with work.

But after all, it’s because the pressure of life is too great.

After all, the parents who sell their children’s eyes are still a minority. As long as there’s a chance, who wouldn’t want to send their kids to school to learn to read and write?

Zhang Qinghuan asked, “Are you sending them?”

Li Sangou nodded, “Yes… but the people in Ninth District Primary School aren’t that great either. They come up with various excuses to charge different fees every day.”

“You don’t have to worry about that, we’ll take care of it!” Zhang Qinghuan waved his hand casually and left.

This kind of solution is certainly a community’s way of solving things.

Zhang Qinghuan asked Zhang Mengchan, “How many households are we dealing with today?”

“112 households,” Zhang Mengchan said, “all those who are of age but haven’t gone to primary school.”

Zhang Qinghuan laughed freely, “Everyone, work hard today. We must visit all 112 households. If we complete the task smoothly, I’ll treat everyone to intestine noodles!”

Intestine noodles are a specialty in the slum. After livestock are slaughtered, the good meat is given to the big shots, as few people like to eat intestines, so intestine noodles are the cheapest real meat in the whole city.

Of course, even if they are the cheapest, ordinary people still can’t afford them. Zhang Qinghuan is being generous today.

Xu Linsen and Jiang Mubei exchanged glances; they never expected the art community to handle this kind of task.

Compared to organizing student marches, the art community’s actions were more forceful yet more widespread.

Spade’s current wish is for every child in the world to be able to read and at least know what is happening in the world.

Thinking of this, Xu Linsen and Jiang Mubei really became interested in the art community.

Xu Linsen whispered, “I’m sure now, the person behind the art community is the one that Qiang Qiang mentioned. I’m really curious to see what he wants to turn the lower three districts of City 22 into.”

Qing Chen looked innocently at the ceiling behind him.

…

In the Ninth District Intestine Noodle Shop, Qing Chen and others sat side by side at a long table, slurping down noodles, with Zhang Qinghuan and Zhang Mengchan making the loudest slurping sounds.

Their small team completed the task of persuading 112 households to send their children to school in one day, and everyone was beaming with smiles.

They were just small matters, but somehow life seemed particularly fulfilling.

Xu Linsen wiped his mouth, pondered for a moment, and asked Zhang Qinghuan, “Boss, aren’t we a community? Why are we doing this kind of thing?”

Zhang Qinghuan stopped and said casually, “I didn’t decide this. Someone above said that they want the sound of reading to resound in schools again. They said that if this vast world can’t accommodate a single desk, it’s the fault of all the grown-ups in the world…”

At this point, he realized he had let something slip: “Ahem, when I said ‘someone above,’ I meant the sages in the sky giving me visions in dreams.”

In the blink of an eye, Qing Chen had become a sage in the sky…

Xu Linsen didn’t mind Zhang Qinghuan’s awkward lie. He was just thinking about the previous statement: “But we’re a community, aren’t we supposed to be fighting and such?”

“Obviously you don’t get it,” Zhang Qinghuan laughed, “I was so poor as a kid that I couldn’t even afford to go to middle school. I barely had enough to eat, so how could I study? Later, I worked hard to make money, thinking that having money would make me happy. But even though the business was okay, at least my brothers had food and drink, it still wasn’t happy enough. Recently, I’ve been full of energy every day, like I’m on adrenaline. Do you know why?”

“Why?” Qing Chen asked this time.

Zhang Qinghuan said, “I suddenly know why I was so empty before—because I used to work on making my life better, but now my goal is to make more people’s lives better. It’s different.”

Jiang Mubei muttered softly, “The level of awareness is surprisingly high…”

But Zhang Qinghuan continued, “Moreover, if the kids all go to school, at least they can find a slightly better job. They won’t have to join a community gang like I did. Once they don’t have to join gangs, wouldn’t City 22 only have the art community left? Then we’d be the only ones collecting protection fees—it’s the art of pulling the rug from under someone!”

Xu Linsen: “Pfft!”

A mouthful of noodles splattered back into the bowl.

Qing Chen: “???”

He never expected that his guiding principle would be so misinterpreted by Zhang Qinghuan!

“Bro, look,” Jiang Mubei brought his phone to Xu Linsen, revealing a message that the Jindai Consortium had just issued a wanted warrant for Spades A in City 22!

The reason for the warrant was Xu Linsen’s murder of Jindai Consortium member Takahashi Masaru!

Xu Linsen and Jiang Mubei stared at the warrant for a while. They did indeed have a task to conveniently kill Takahashi Masaru when they came to City 22, but they hadn’t even acted yet!

Something’s a bit odd.

The person is indeed someone they planned to kill, and even though he didn’t act, it was still considered his doing…

Xu Linsen remained silent for a moment, “There is no such coincidence in the world; it must be the person Qiang Qiang mentioned, trying to mess with me…”

Jiang Mubei raised his eyebrows, “Let me find out where he is; I have to settle this score.”

Qing Chen suddenly raised his hand, “Boss, another bowl.”

Zhang Qinghuan muttered, “Eat a bit less, will you? How do you have such a good appetite!?”

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