After the meeting ended, Tang Zhentian stopped Xu Zifan and asked him to go home with him to see Tang Jiao.
Xu Zifan hesitated for a moment, then frowned slightly. "Godfather, Jiaojiao has never liked seeing me. She is currently at a crucial time for recuperation, and I'm afraid it will affect her. Moreover, our relationship with the West District is tense, and I want to calmly think about how to deal with them. We can't afford to make any mistakes. Let's wait until things are settled before we go to see Jiaojiao."
Tang Zhentian, seeing the troubled look on his face, understood his unspoken meaning. Knowing Tang Jiao's personality, she might immediately start complaining about him turning off his phone that day if she saw Xu Zifan. Not only would Tang Jiao not get enough rest, but Xu Zifan's mood would also be affected. He still had to contend with the West District's retaliation and territory grab; one wrong move and he could lose everything. Therefore, it was best not to see Tang Jiao at this time.
Tang Zhentian patted Xu Zifan on the shoulder understandingly, but his words carried a hint of admonition, "Zifan, I've always valued you the most. Entrusting Jiaojiao to you is because I believe you can take good care of her. The same goes for the gang. Don't let me down."
Xu Zifan said earnestly, "Godfather, rest assured."
Tang Zhentian nodded in satisfaction and left with his men. Xu Zifan stood there, watching his car drive away. Only after the car disappeared from sight did he say to Ahua, "Notify Sparrow and the others to go to the warehouse in the suburbs."
Ahua was stunned for a moment. The warehouse in the suburbs was a place only he and his brothers knew about. That time, Xu Zifan was very upset because Tang Jiao found a boyfriend, so he invited them to go racing to vent their frustration. In the end, they accidentally drove to a deserted place and found a warehouse, where they drank beer all night.
Later, Xu Zifan bought the warehouse, but never went there again. Why did he suddenly want to gather there this time?
However, he didn't ask any more questions and quickly notified Sparrow and the other two to drive Xu Zifan to the warehouse.
When they arrived, Sparrow, Dali, and Iron Fist were already there, leaning against the hood of the car, smoking and chatting about things in the West District. As soon as they saw Xu Zifan, they immediately stubbed out their cigarettes, stood up straight, and respectfully called out, "Brother Fan."
Xu Zifan nodded, gesturing for them to go into the warehouse to talk.
The group assumed Xu Zifan was worried about retaliation from the West District. Iron Fist said, "Brother Fan, why don't we strike first? A few of us will go ourselves..."
Xu Zifan raised his hand to interrupt him, "It's not about this. Have you thought about the future? Sparrow, your wife is pregnant. Have you thought about what will happen to your child? Will you continue to be involved in the gang?"
The group was taken aback. Sparrow scratched his head, somewhat bewildered. "My...my child? I hadn't thought about that."
Xu Zifan looked at the others and said, "What about you? Dali has been dating his girlfriend for over a year. Have you settled down yet? Have you all thought about your future families? If you continue to live like this, making your wives and children live in fear, and if something happens to them one day, they won't be any better off. This is a path of no return."
The four looked at each other, and Ahua asked, "Brother Fan, what do you mean?"
Xu Zifan glanced at them, lit a cigarette, and remained silent. Silence spread through the warehouse. Iron Fist, the most impatient of them all, said bluntly, "Brother Fan, we've been following you since we were kids. Wherever you say we go, we go; whatever you say we do, we do."
Sparrow circled the warehouse to make sure no one was around before returning and whispering, "Brother Fan, are you planning to cripple the Tang family father and daughter? Don't worry, I'll send my wife away as soon as we get back, and I'll work for you!"
Dali suddenly realized, "That's right, Brother Fan, with you as the boss, that guy surnamed Tang is just using you..."
"Dali! Sparrow! You two shut up." Ahua frowned and stopped them. He had always been by Xu Zifan's side, and no one knew better than him how much Xu Zifan valued gratitude. How could he allow others to speak ill of the Tang family father and daughter?
Xu Zifan waved his hand, and everyone quieted down. He paused for a moment, then said, "I want to leave the gang, leave City A, and live a normal life. Are you coming with me?"
The four men stared in shock, their eyes wide. Seeing his serious expression, they were somewhat at a loss. "Brother Fan, are you serious? But we... we've been in gangs since we were kids. Where can we go? What will we do if we leave the gang?"
"There is always a way out. No matter what you do, you can protect your wives and children and walk upright in the light. The next generation and the generation after that will not be sought after for revenge and will not continue down this path of no return." Xu Zifan paused and said directly, "I have already found a guarantee. Once the East and West districts collapse, I will leave."
This statement contains a lot of information: What caused the collapse of the East and West zones? Why did it collapse? What kind of guarantee did he seek?
After a few moments of thought, the four of them roughly guessed what was going on, which shocked them even more. However, they did not intend to blame Xu Zifan. Their brotherhood, forged through thick and thin, was genuine. They were simply somewhat bewildered by the sudden disruption to their lives.
But Xu Zifan's composure inspired them. The four of them looked at each other, lit a cigarette, and then made up their minds to express their opinions one by one: "Brother Fan, whatever you say goes."
Xu Zifan nodded. "I will arrange for you to go abroad. Just treat it as a vacation and don't worry about things here. I will come to find you after everything is over."
Ahua was the first to disagree, "Brother Fan, the situation is not good now. I'll stay by your side and help you."
"Yeah, Brother Fan, what do you mean by this? Are you treating us like pushovers?"
Xu Zifan laughed, "I let you go first because I consider you brothers. I already have a way to get out unscathed, don't worry, I have someone to help me. If you trust me, listen to me. After you go abroad, don't inquire about news here, cut off all contact. Even if you hear that something happened to me, don't worry. I might use some self-inflicted injury or fake my death to escape. I'll tell you later."
I'm getting you a new phone; nobody knows the number except me. From now on, don't believe anything I don't tell you myself.
The four didn't know who he had asked for help, nor what his specific plans were, but having followed him for so long, they could tell he didn't want to talk about it or involve them. A little angry, yet touched by his consideration for them, they remained silent for a while before agreeing to leave first, only agreeing that Xu Zifan would report his safety once a week.
With Shaohua around, Xu Zifan wasn't afraid of being overheard, so he naturally agreed. Afterwards, Xu Zifan explained in detail who would leave first, how they would leave, and that a new person would be appearing by his side, telling them to prepare in the next couple of days.
Xu Zifan broke Tian Feng's leg not only to exacerbate the conflict between the East and West districts, but also to create an opportunity for his brother to leave. With Tian Feng in trouble, Boss Tian would definitely seek revenge. If he couldn't get revenge on Tian Feng, wouldn't it be perfectly normal to deal with his trusted men? And with his trusted brother in trouble, it would be even more logical for him to cause trouble for the West district. This matter would never end; the hatred would only deepen, and no one could persuade him to stop.
With the plan finalized, Xu Zifan contacted Fang Guowei, the provincial bureau chief who was supposed to be his contact, and sent him a list of officials he knew who were colluding with Tang Zhentian. Although the USB drive and voice recorder in Tang Zhentian's secret compartment couldn't be scanned yet, the ledger had already been completely scanned into the system by Shaohua and could be viewed at any time.
Fang Guowei was shocked when he saw the list, because one of his trusted subordinates was on it. However, he remained calm and did not completely trust Xu Zifan without evidence. He also avoided the people on the list and secretly arranged to cooperate with Xu Zifan to arrest them when Uncle Qiu double-crossed the sissy.
At the same time, he also sent the undercover agent sent by his superiors to City A. The undercover agent was a 30-year-old man named Zhou Hao. He had a scar on the end of his eyebrow and looked very thuggish, but in fact he was a former special forces soldier, known as the King of Soldiers. He had always been by the side of the anti-gang leader. He was sent here to ensure the success of the mission, and even if it failed, he would have a better chance of escaping.
Xu Zifan did not see him, but only told him to keep an eye on the news.
For the past two days, Xu Zifan had been accompanied by the four brothers, Ahua and his brother, wherever they went. The people in the West District hadn't found an opportunity to deal with him, patiently waiting for the perfect moment to strike. On the eve of Uncle Qiu's plan to double-cross him, Xu Zifan proposed luring the enemy out, deciding to have Ahua and his brothers hide in the shadows while he took only an inconspicuous henchman to draw out the people from the West District and deliver a heavy blow.
Others naturally had no objections; this stagnant situation was frustrating for everyone, and only a showdown would put their minds at ease. Xu Zifan, however, secretly leaked this information to the West District through several roundabout channels, embellishing the story by saying that Xu Zifan didn't take the West District seriously, was going to use the same tricks he used on Tian Feng to continue messing with Boss Tian, and mocking them for being brainless and destined for ruin.
For the sake of his reputation, Boss Tian had no choice but to take action, otherwise wouldn't he be afraid of Xu Zifan? However, having received the news first, he naturally had to deploy a large number of men to ensure that Xu Zifan would not return alive.
That night, Uncle Qiu sent men to double-cross someone. Xu Zifan suggested taking some men with him, but Uncle Qiu wouldn't let him go and steal the credit. He absolutely refused. Xu Zifan pointed out that the effeminate guy from the West District had personally gone to keep an eye on things because there were quite a few people they'd recruited this time, and they were worried about something going wrong. The effeminate guy was personally overseeing things, so it would be safer for their side to have their leader in charge as well.
Uncle Qiu simply went along himself, refusing to let Xu Zifan go. Xu Zifan had no choice but to compromise, saying he would wait for Uncle Qiu to return to his nightclub to celebrate.
After Uncle Qiu left, Xu Zifan took a henchman to the nightclub. He drove himself, and as soon as he got near the nightclub, people from the West District suddenly appeared, surrounded him, and started smashing his car with baseball bats.
Xu Zifan took out his phone to notify Ahua and the others, opened the car door, bumped into one of them, snatched the baseball bat from his hand, and started fighting with them. He cleared a path and told the thug to run to the nightclub to get reinforcements. The thug ran away, but Ahua and the other three drove up and joined the fight.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Xu Zifan dropped his phone and stomped on it, but stumbled and revealed an opening. Just as the baseball bat was about to hit him on the head, Sparrow yelled and pounced. Xu Zifan grabbed his arm and used his spiritual power to protect him, and the baseball bat slammed into Sparrow's head. Then four or five more baseball bats came crashing down, and in the chaos, it was impossible to see where they hit.
Sparrow didn't feel any pain. Xu Zifan caught him to avoid the attack from behind, put a pill in his mouth, and put him on the ground. "Sparrow! Sparrow!"
Sparrow was pale, his eyes were closed, and blood kept spilling from his mouth. Xu Zifan put him down, stared fiercely at the people, gripped his baseball bat, and charged forward again.
There were too many people in the West District. No matter how good he was at fighting, he couldn't hold off so many people. Xu Zifan deliberately led them further and further away from Ahua and the others, so that he would be alone. The people in the West District clung to him tightly and wouldn't let go, extremely excited.