Chapter 153: The Big Boss

At this moment, Xiao Ye had just hung up the phone with Red Dragon, having finished listening to his report.

He had known about the Cheng family's plan to hold a meeting several days ago. Although he had not taken action yet, he had never ignored their movements either.

Hearing Red Dragon's report, Xiao Ye already had a clear grasp of the situation in his mind.

The people from the Jiangnan District still seemed unwilling to give up.

He could not help but admire the persistence of this group. Time and again their plans had fallen through, resulting in countless losses, yet even so, they were still determined to make a move against him.

Xiao Ye truly could not understand why these people from the Cheng family were so persistent.

Right now, he was dealing with the matter of Rat entering the underground world.

That morning, Rat had specifically sought out a decision-maker of the underground world to discuss this very issue.

At present, everyone was gathered inside a bar. Rat had brought two men with him, both wearing button-down shirts, giving off the distinct vibe of mobsters.

Sitting beside Rat, Xiao Ye felt an indescribable sense of discomfort all over. Both the smell and the atmosphere of the place reeked of something that made him want to vomit.

He wore a pair of sunglasses to prevent anyone here from recognizing his true identity.

Rat, however, seemed rather excited. It had been a long time since he could appear under his true identity, and it felt as though he were finally seeing the light of day again.

"Young Master Xiao, how is it? This outfit today doesn't disgrace you, does it?"

Rat asked enthusiastically, picking up a bottle of beer and taking a large gulp.

"I'm warning you, we have important business to handle later. Don't mess it up."

Xiao Ye glanced around the surroundings and said to Rat.

"No worries at all. The person coming later can drink even more than I can!"

Rat waved his hand, a carefree expression on his face.

As the two were talking, a middle-aged man wearing a grey Tang suit walked straight in.

Seeing the newcomer, Rat immediately went up to greet him.

"Old Yang! Over here!"

The man in the Tang suit saw Rat, a calm smile on his face as he walked over.

"I honestly didn't expect to ever see you again, kid. I thought you'd been knocked off long ago and died in some nameless street corner."

"What kind of talk is that? If I were dead, who would be inviting you out for a drink today?"

The two men shook hands, laughed heartily, and sat straight down on the sofa.

At this point, Old Yang noticed Xiao Ye sitting beside Rat.

"And this is?"

Xiao Ye was about to speak, but Rat cut in before he could.

"This is my newly hired bodyguard. He's not quite used to the environment around here yet."

Rat smiled and patted Xiao Ye on the shoulder.

Behind his sunglasses, Xiao Ye gave Rat a look of sheer disbelief, but Rat remained completely oblivious.

"Not bad, kid. Looks like you're doing well for yourself today, even having a bodyguard. Who knows, maybe one day you'll even manage to seize the top throne of the underground world?"

The two men laughed heartily once again. Rat snapped his fingers toward his subordinates, and one of them quickly reacted.

The subordinate immediately pulled an expensive, high-end bottle of liquor from behind and placed it directly on the table.

Old Yang's eyes were visibly glowing as he involuntarily swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Just as Rat had said, this man was indeed an absolute heavy drinker.

As long as one could clearly figure out a person's preferences, everything else became easy to handle. The hardest type of people to deal with were those who were completely impervious to any form of leverage.

The subordinate poured a glass for Xiao Ye, but he shook his hand to indicate he didn't need any.

Remaining completely sober before an operation was his absolute rule of conduct.

Old Yang glanced at Xiao Ye with a hint of puzzlement, but said nothing, continuing to exchange toasts with Rat.

Laughter drifted from their table from time to time, and the already tense air grew thick with a hazy mist of smoke.

Xiao Ye frowned slightly, cleared his throat to signal to Rat that it was time to get down to business.

Rat nodded, wiped the trace of alcohol from the corner of his mouth with his hand, and continued.

"Old Yang, we've had enough to drink. The reason I brought you here today is actually to discuss something much more important with you."

Hearing this, Old Yang nodded as well, put down his wine glass, and said to Rat.

"Kid, I knew you were up to no good. But seeing as you treated me to drinks today, whatever it is, I'll definitely help you sort it out!"

Old Yang patted his chest, wearing a look of complete confidence.

"You know about Dabiao being murdered recently, right?"

A strange gleam flickered in Rat's eyes as he probed Old Yang.

"Anyone in the underground world knows about that. Why?"

Old Yang picked up the glass on the table and took a small sip. Having had a bit too much to drink, his mind was not spinning very clearly at the moment.

"Since that's the case, someone has to take Dabiao's place, so I was thinking..."

"I can tell you straight up: that position is not something you can handle. You'd better drop that pipe dream right now!"

Old Yang's words were blunt and straightforward, giving Rat zero room for rebuttal.

Rat gave a faint smile and continued.

"I understand, which is why I came to you, a decision-maker, to see if there's any way around it."

Hearing this, Old Yang seemed to finally snap back to reality and immediately drew a clear line between himself and Rat.

"Drinking is drinking, but I cannot agree to what you're asking."

Old Yang had his reasons for refusing. After all, Rat was merely a minor boss; given neither his seniority nor the length of time he had been in the underground world, he simply could not command respect or obedience from the others.

Therefore, clever as Rat's little scheme might have been, it was fundamentally impossible to realize.

However, upon hearing what the man said, Rat did not get annoyed. He casually lit a cigarette and said with a calm expression.

"Old Yang, if you had said that before, it would have been fine. But things are different now—I am long past who I used to be."

With that, he pulled out a photograph from his pocket and handed it directly to Old Yang.

Old Yang took the photo, and at just a single glance, his expression changed drastically!

"Where on earth did you get these things?"

The photo Rat handed him clearly showed weapons seized directly from the Cheng family.

This gave Old Yang a tremendous shock!

Aside from the upper echelons of the entire underground world, absolutely no one else knew that the Cheng family had been ambushed.

Could it be that this kid, Rat, was the one behind it?
"You have quite the nerve, kid!"

Old Yang was somewhat angered; he held a stake in the Cheng family's businesses.

Now that he had seemingly found the culprit, his anger flared even hotter.

"I don't have that kind of nerve, Old Yang. Take a look—who is this?"

Rat put down his wine glass and pointed toward the man beside him.

At this moment, Xiao Ye finally removed his sunglasses, exposing his face directly to Old Yang.

And upon seeing the person before him, more than half of the alcohol-induced fog in Old Yang's mind vanished in an instant!