Past midnight, after wrangling the managers, Su Tiannan finally drove Su Tianyu home.
"This attitude from management won't hold," Tiannan said, voice even, thoughts neatly stacked. "If you think they'll stick their necks out with us against Changqing, you're wrong. You unite shareholders around profit—and profit always comes with risk."
Tianyu nodded. "Fair point."
"Come with me tomorrow," Tiannan added. "We'll sit down with the other three families."
By now he was treating this younger cousin as a real hand in family affairs.
"Big brother, I just got to Dragon City. I don't know all the nuances—I'm guessing half the time," Tianyu said, careful not to overpromise. "You'll still have to make the calls."
Tiannan drove in silence for a while, then changed the subject. "Liuzi, long term—what's your plan here?"
"I want to sit the civil-service exams," Tianyu said plainly.
"I mean, if we ride this out, I'd rather you stayed with the family," Tiannan replied, gentle but firm. "Sanitation isn't glamorous, but scaled up it has a future. Our generation sticks together, we can build something."
Tianyu hesitated. "I still want a post in government. It'll help the family more."
Tiannan thought, then nodded. "That works. Having someone on salary inside makes everything easier. If we get through this, the whole family will back you into the system."
Tianyu grinned. The two brothers were the kind who spoke in short lines and kept their feelings under the surface; the warmth sat in how they moved around each other.
Tiannan glanced over. The kid felt different from before he left for school, though he couldn't pin down why.
Back home in the small hours, they split between their rooms.
Tianyu saw Tianbei still wasn't back; the room looked untouched. He woke up and called. "Second Brother, you're not coming home?"
"…I'm out entertaining. Busy tonight—not coming back," Tianbei said bluntly.
"?" Tianyu blinked. "At this hour do you still have the mood for that?"
"I found some people in the city to look after Second Uncle on the inside. No way around it—have to wine and dine," Tianbei hiccupped. "We'll talk later."
"Okay. Rest if you can."
"Mm. You sleep."
They hung up. Tianyu yawned and was out in seconds.
At first light, the sun was bright and the air clear.
Tianyu rose early out of habit and ran four laps up and down the street outside the courtyard.
"Yo, Liuzi, you still do mornings?" Cousin Su Miaomiao stood in the doorway in pajamas, dabbing her face with a towel.
"Got used to it at school." His white tee was soaked; short hair damp—sunlight and sweat.
Miaomiao gave him a once-over, surprised and amused. "Hey now, you're built better than I thought. Can't tell with a shirt on—but you've got lines."
"Low body fat. Doesn't show much," Tianyu said. He looked thin in clothes and solid without them.
She gathered her hair into a quick ponytail, strode over, and slapped his lower abs with a grin. "Hah—firm, too."
Tianyu braced hard. "Can you be serious for once?"
Miaomiao was two years older, pretty as a flower and twice as bold. As a child she could go fifty-fifty, throwing hands with Tianbei; that said enough. Tianyu had always been a little afraid of her. She'd even coined his nickname—First Coward of the Su Family.
"Oh, now you're shy? Forgot when I caught you and Second Brother watching blue movies?"
"You're nuts!" Tianyu bolted, mortified.
"Front hall—breakfast," she called after him, laughing.
"Got it!"
With so many Sus, breakfast meant five or six tables inside and out. Porridge, buns, fried dough—everything came out by the basin. Warm and noisy, full of steam and chatter.
After a quick bite, Tiannan said to Miaomiao, "You and Second keep an eye on the depot. Don't let anything happen. I'm taking Tianyu out."
"Okay," she nodded.
Tiannan finished giving instructions, then drove off with Tianyu. Tianbei still hadn't returned.
On the road, Tiannan briefed him. "I set up tea at Fuhai House in Zhanan with the Bai, Liu, and Kong families. Same tier as us—similar size."
"Are we close with them?" Tianyu asked.
"Not really. In recent years, Changqing's gotten stronger in Zhanan, so we've huddled closer for warmth. A few years ago, we and the Bais even had a real spat over a downstream processing contract."
"I see," Tianyu said.
"Right now, the Bais are also working for the police. They've basically caved—trying to buy a 'secondary offender' tag for their old man so he'll get a lighter sentence. If Old Bai's second, your second Uncle, likely gets pushed as principal," Tiannan went on. "The Lius are timid. They're scared and leaning toward surrender—handing in their district to calm things down. The Kongs are in our position: they don't want to give up the turf, but they're light on connections and scrambling."
"So all four families have their own agendas," Tianyu frowned.
"Yeah." Tiannan glanced over. "Thoughts?"
"We need a bloc," Tianyu said without hesitation. "When you talk, use last night."
Tiannan considered. "Disarm us first, then kill us?"
"Exactly."
"Got it," Tiannan nodded.
Ten a.m., a private room at Fuhai Teahouse on Guangyin Avenue.
Bai Hongbo—the Bai family's eldest son—sat with Liu Lao'er of the Liu clan and Kong Zhenghui, the Kongs' eldest.
Tiannan stood at the end of the table and poured tea for the trio. "I asked you here to talk about how we clear our four elders' names."
On the sofa, Tianyu kept quiet, studying the three. He'd just arrived in Dragon City and didn't know the deeper currents; today he'd listen and learn how his brother played it.
"Clear, what, exactly?" Bai—early thirties and loud—snorted. "The Administration and the police—Changqing's got them locked down. We've got no one on the judicial side, and upstairs they won't speak for us. You tell me—how do we crack this?"
Liu Lao'er wasn't the same generation as Tiannan; he was the younger brother of the Liu patriarch, so his words carried weight. "Tiannan, with things where they are, we need to be cautious. Our heads of house are already in custody—our lives are in their hands. One slip and this blows up."
Kong Zhenghui listened without a word.
Tiannan slid full cups into each of them and spoke quietly. "Leave 'cracking' aside a second. Say we all admit defeat, hand in our districts, and bow our heads. Will Changqing let us go?"
Silence.
"My reading is—even if we empty our pockets—they still won't," Tiannan said. The youngest at the table, but steady. "The heads have been locked up for days, yet the police still haven't officially defined the case—just 'under investigation.' If Changqing wanted our districts right now, why not set the charge immediately and put direct pressure on us?"
"What's to think about? They're stringing you along to make you sweat," Bai shot back.
"Yes and no," Tiannan said, raising a hand. "I think they're waiting to disarm us and then kill us."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Liu Lao'er frowned.
"Simple. They don't just want the work areas; they want the money we've made over the past few years. Why do the crooked cops help Changqing? Profit. If we don't pony up, Changqing will. So they wait for us to lay down our guns."
Tiannan followed Tianyu's line exactly, her voice going cool. "Our elders are inside, which makes us anxious. We push relationships, slide money across the table. Then the police still don't release them and still push for sentences. What do we do? We still hand in the turf, right?"
Faces around the table went grim.
"If I were Changqing, since the mask is already off, I'd drop all four families at once—leave no chance to counter," Tiannan continued. "I won't lie: I've been running connections these days. I've also sounded out people at the police. Straight up—this isn't a problem envelopes can solve. The bureau chiefs are tight with Changqing's people in the Administration. Folks below might want to earn money, but on the surface they don't dare."
"Tiannan's not lying," Kong Zhenghui said at last. "I've been running too. That's exactly how it is."
"Damn it. Taking our district isn't enough—they want the skin after the gun," Bai growled. "It's too much."
"We need to bind together and make noise," Tiannan said, trading a look with Tianyu. "If we don't fight, we will die anyway. Our four elders are straight arrows. They've never done a filthy thing in their lives—and now they slap 'smuggling military-grade supplies' on them? It's suffocating."
"What if the blowback shatters us?" Liu Lao'er asked, worrying hard in his voice. "Your father's still in their hands."
"Uncle Liu—if we can agree, I, Su Tiannan, will take point. If there's fallout, it lands on me. But the effort—we all put it in," Tiannan said crisply.
Kong Zhenghui didn't hesitate long. "I'm out of options. I'm in."
Bai Hongbo took a sip of tea. "You lead; I'll sing harmony."
"We should still be careful," Liu Lao'er said, wavering.
"Second Uncle Liu! If you don't swing today, after they finish with your elder brother, they'll come for you tomorrow," Kong said, short and sharp.
Liu Lao'er weighed it, then nodded. "Fine. If Tiannan leads—we try."
An hour and a half later, outside the teahouse, Tianyu said quietly to his cousin, "If we're doing this, we will move fast. Their hearts aren't set—they could flip."
"Right. You and I should go sound out the police—start the conversation—"
Tiannan's phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Tianbei's in trouble. He got jumped."
"What?!" Tiannan's brows snapped up. "Where is he?"
"He just got home."