The real fortune is not lost, change the start to train the dog

Chapter 410 "Old Business"

Based on his contact with Pei's mother and his understanding of her over the past few years, Bai Yuan had no doubts at all.

According to the other party's consistent principle of putting interests first, if Pei Jin had an older sister or a younger sister, Pei's mother should have been planning to send that person to Song Yanming just like she was trying to force Pei Jin to her.

Ordinary people think that this kind of thinking is not only too utilitarian, but also too cold-blooded and ruthless to use even children as bargaining chips.

But in fact, this approach is indeed the most effective way to quickly cross classes, narrow the gap in primitive accumulation, and leap into the upper class, without a doubt.

After all, some innate advantages cannot be compensated for no matter how hard you work.

However, families that would use their children as bargaining chips are generally those from the middle or lower levels who want to take a step up.

Whether it is the Bai family, the Song family or the Pei family, under this kind of relationship, they are often the ones waiting to pick chips and help others cross classes.

If we try to curry favor with others and actively be backward compatible, it will not only be unreasonable, but also seem too cheap, as if we are inferior to others.

Most families, out of self-respect and pride, would turn a blind eye to such matters.

But Pei's mother is ruthless in that she never cares about other people's opinions.

She has a clear mind and a clear goal, and will do whatever it takes to achieve her goal.

Such people will never be discouraged even if they fall ten or a hundred times. As long as there is a little chance, they will do their best to make a comeback.

If she really could climb to the pinnacle of power as she wished, it would actually be quite scary.

However, at this stage, it is far from being that exaggerated.

Besides, even if Pei's mother didn't bring it up, she would still bring Pei Jin back to Beijing and introduce him to other people in the compound.

It doesn't matter if it's early or late.

Bai Yuan was thinking about the next deployment in his mind, and suddenly paused.

She glanced at Pei Jin, and decided to warn him just in case:

"Remember to call me brother when you see me. Don't call me that randomly. Do you hear me?"

Although he knew it was unlikely, Bai Yuan was still afraid that Pei Jin would suddenly get angry and follow the nickname that had been circulating among the people recently, and call Song Yanming "Master Song" as soon as he saw him.

If Song Yanming caught Xiaobing this big, he would hold on to him and make fun of himself for years.

Then she doesn't care about her face anymore.

From now on, I can't raise my head in front of Song Yanming.

Pei Jin had not originally thought about it. At most he just called Song Yanming "Young Master Song", nothing more.

But seeing that Bai Yuan had specifically brought it up to remind him, he couldn't help but feel a little confused while accepting it, "This is also your brother? Your brother..."

Thinking of Bai Yuan's "brother" who was studying abroad in another country, Pei Jin smacked the sour taste in his mouth and suddenly said, "——That's a lot."

Isn't it his age that's obvious? He talks as if he doesn't have any. Bai Yuan thought. She still has a brother, who is now lying in the hospital like a mummy.

"Yeah." Bai Yuan responded, "He has a good relationship with my cousin and he also took good care of me when I was a child."

Although Bai Yuan usually disliked Song Yanming's pretentiousness and his overly exaggerated tone.

But that's about it.

Even though she dislikes him, if you really think about the relationship between Song Yanming and her, it's no different from that between them being brothers.

Hearing the tone of voice Bai Yuan used when talking about Song Yanming, Pei Jin, who had been a little uneasy before, now somehow felt a lot more at ease.

Perhaps it was because of the subtle disdain in Bai Yuan's tone, which was almost the same as when he interacted with other brothers and sisters that Pei Jin knew.

There's even a familiar feeling of "I'm annoyed with you but I can't get rid of you, so I can only pinch my nose and bear it, after all, she's my real brother/sister."

In short, it tastes just right.

There weren't many people who could prevent Bai Yuan from using such a subtle tone when talking, so Pei Jin couldn't help but become a little more curious and asked:

"It seems like you have a good relationship with him."

Hearing this, Bai Yuan glanced at Pei Jin again, but did not answer directly. Instead, he changed the subject and talked about another seemingly unrelated matter in an orderly manner.

"You know, the people from our compound all had their own backgrounds even earlier."

This "earlier" refers to before the founding of the People's Republic of China or even earlier, and can even be traced back to the old society and the old feudal dynasty.

This is not difficult to understand.

Without original accumulation, a family will have no experience and vision, and naturally will not seize opportunities in the torrent of history, let alone the opportunity to come into contact with the center of power and reach today's height and status in the great reshuffle.

Topics related to this kind of thing are not secret. Some can even be found directly on the Internet, and some are even written directly into textbooks. As long as you want to check, you can always find a lot. The difference lies in the details.

Pei Jin had heard Bai Yuan mention similar things before, but most of the time he just brushed it off.

Seeing that Bai Yuan took the initiative to bring it up, he also became interested and put on an attitude of listening.

Bai Yuan: "Like our Bai family, our ancestors were imperial merchants, specializing in rare goods from the south of the Yangtze River. When the trade port was opened, we also reaped the benefits. We were one of the first families to cooperate with foreign businessmen and lay the foundation for today's domestic business and Dafeng Township, just like the Pei family today.

It was not until my grandfather's generation that, by chance, he gave up business and joined the army, taking up guns and going to the battlefield. He used his family savings to provide a lot of financial independence for the country, which laid the foundation for the current Bai family.

The other families in the compound basically have similar backgrounds and pasts.

Some are high-ranking officials with high salaries, some grow up in the military, and some come from families of scholars who are respected by others. No matter what, they all make a legitimate living. However, there is only one family that is different. "

Having said this, Bai Yuan paused, raised his eyes and looked at Pei Jin, as if waiting for him to respond.

"Song family?" Pei Jin blurted out, frowning slightly.

There is no need to think too much. Bai Yuan deliberately brought up this matter at this time, which must be related to the Song family.

Considering the widespread rumors outside and the recent trend in Haiqi, the answer is already obvious and there is no suspense at all.

Bai Yuan did not answer but asked, "Guess what the Song family used to do?"

"How would I know the unofficial history of your circle?"

Pei Jin's heart pounded when he saw Bai Yuan's look.

An inexplicable chill ran up and down my spine, causing numbness and pain as if an electric shock.

He curled his lips and deliberately said nonsense, "From what you said, it doesn't seem like a legitimate business. It's impossible that he was a bandit leader who killed countless people and was later recruited and cleaned up during the war, right?"

Bai Yuan just smiled and said nothing, just staring at Pei Jin.

"Holy shit! Is that true?!"

Pei Jin was stunned for a moment, then immediately reacted.

He felt frightened by Bai Yuan's gaze, and the chill in his back immediately exploded, and his scalp felt extremely tight.

"No." After admiring Pei Jin's shocked look enough, Bai Yuan said slowly.

After Pei Jin just relaxed, he added:

"His family travelled by water."

Pei Jin: “…”

Pei Jin: "Water, water bandits..."

"About the same." Bai Yuan said, "The fastest way to get from Jiangnan to Beijing is by water. The river is full of rich merchants' boats. I heard from the elders in my family that a lot of the goods transported by the Bai family were robbed by his family in the past."

Pei Jin: "...then you...you are enemies for generations..."

There is no way a bandit would not shed blood. Not only did they seize a lot of goods, they must have also killed a lot of people.

Similarly, the one who intercepted the imperial merchant's ship and not only was not destroyed but was able to dominate a region, must be an extremely vicious and brutal bandit leader, the kind who had killed countless people and had countless blood on his hands.

Bai Yuan did not comment. "Later, the situation changed. The national treasury was in a slump and the world was not peaceful. The Bai family's goods were intercepted a lot, and they also had many competitors. It was difficult to deal with both sides. The Bai family simply hired the Song family to escort and deliver goods, and helped the Song family get through the door without worrying about being wanted and encircled again. But the Song family did not give up their old business. On the surface, they were a formal escort agency that escorted and delivered goods, but secretly they still did their old business. Sometimes they even sent people to intercept the goods and then let their own people protect them. But there would definitely be losses. They received commissions and the goods were also robbed. They were eating from two ends with one meal..."

Pei Jin: …

Pei Jinrui commented: "This is really dark."

Bai Yuan: "Later, when my grandfather joined the army to defend his country and conquer Jiangnan, he brought the Song family into the army..."

Pei Jin listened to Bai Yuan's story of trivial matters. The sudden chill he had felt earlier slowly subsided and he was unconsciously fascinated.

Not to mention, in fact, if you listen carefully to these family feuds and past events, they are no less dramatic than a TV drama with many ups and downs.

It is even more fascinating because of the added reality that one cannot tell whether it is true or false.

Experiences like the Song family's were not uncommon in that era.

After all, in times of unrest, the power to send troops has always been in the barrel of the gun.

Any great commander in that era must have both men and weapons under his command.

Many bandits also transformed themselves into serious figures, and when the full-scale war of resistance broke out, they shed their blood and contributed to resisting foreign enemies and the great cause of unification.

To the extent that many TV dramas are still adapted based on the real events of that time, and many movies on related themes have also been made.

Pei Jin used to feel that these stories were a mixture of truth and falsehood, and most of them were dramatic artistic processing.

Now listening to Bai Yuan explain what happened in such a clear and explicit way, I couldn't help but sigh in amazement. It turns out that art must be based on life. Reality is much more outrageous than what is shown in TV dramas and movies.

Bai Yuan had almost finished his story. Just when Pei Jin thought the story had come to an end, Bai Yuan suddenly stopped and said out of the blue:

"Guess, has the Song family put aside their old ways now?"

When Pei Jin heard Bai Yuan say this, his first reaction was: This must be fake, right?

What era is this now? There are no longer any bandits hiding in the mountains and robbing people. On the contrary, those with some gangster background were all wiped out in the crackdown on gangs and evil more than ten years ago.

What's more, we are now living in a society ruled by law. With the rapid development of technology in recent years, there are cameras everywhere on the streets. If anything happens, the person will be invited to the police station for questioning within two hours.

No matter how powerful the Song family is, it depends on whether the overall environment allows it. There is no market for this in the country. If they still want to continue doing this "old business" whose authenticity is unknown, they can't go to the Somalia Trench to be pirates, right?

Thinking of this, Pei Jin suddenly caught a flash of inspiration, and a bold idea came into being.

Bai Yuan didn't say what this main business was.

What did the gangsters do most in the last century besides robbing and looting? ...

Pei Jin's Adam's apple rolled up and down, and the color in his eyes became much darker: "You mean..."

At this moment, the doorbell of Bai Yuan's house suddenly rang, and the sound of the door opening was suddenly heard at the entrance.

As we all know, the most feared thing when telling ghost stories is the sudden noise in the house.

Pei Jin seemed to be frozen by the sound at this moment, and turned his head at an extremely slow speed, frame by frame.

His eyes immediately fixed on the young man in a long black coat not far away.

He looked at Song Yanming, who was talking to Bai Yuan's servant, as if he was looking at a living modern-day pirate leader.

The more I look at it, the more serious it seems.

Whether it was the other party's black uniform from head to toe, or the heroic aura revealed when the sleeves of his long coat fluttered, they all seemed to be shrouded in a mysterious and forbidden veil.

After entering the room, the man did nothing but took the towel handed to him by the servant to wipe his hands. In Pei Jin's eyes, it was as if he had just killed a person with his own hands, and it was as creepy as a serial killer who was pleased to wipe the blood off his hands slowly and leisurely.

"Little sister, your brother Sheng is discharged from the hospital today. Later we will -"

Song Yanming had no idea what was going on in the house, and didn't know that Bai Yuan had already shown Pei Jin all his family's secrets. He was still wiping his hands and calling on Bai Yuan to go pick up Zhou Sheng from the hospital together.

He had only said half of his words when he suddenly noticed that something was wrong with the atmosphere in the room, and his voice suddenly stopped.

He first looked at Bai Yuan blankly, then at Pei Jin, whose eyes were almost filled with shock.

Savoring the strange and subtle atmosphere in the room, Song Yanming suddenly understood something. He raised his eyebrows and looked at Bai Yuan, pulling the corner of his mouth in an angry smile:

"You're framing me, right? I heard it outside."

Then, he looked at Pei Jin again, his gaze lingering for a moment on the other's eyes, which were much bluer than in the photo. He straightened his expression slightly and explained in a serious tone:

"Don't believe her nonsense. This is all old news. Our Song family has not been involved in murder and robbery in recent years."

As he spoke, he took out his special office ID from his pocket and showed it to Pei Jin.

"See? They are certified and have a formal organization. They have all gone through a clear path." Song Yanming said, "How can we call it black eating black when we crack down on illegal transactions by criminals, destroy the dens of evil forces, and fight against evil forces?"

Pei Jin: …