Love letters are not allowed in the exorcism notebook!-Chapter 535 - 113

"Big Brother, I’m back!"

Youtiao rushed back from school to find Wang Yunxiao, who was sitting in front of a street stall eating a popsicle.

The brothers each held a popsicle, squatting in a row on the curb and eagerly gnawing at them.

The old man selling popsicles, frightened by their fierce and menacing appearance, didn’t dare ask for money until Guozi forcefully stuffed it into his hand. The color drained from the old man’s face and, after taking the money, he turned and ran.

In Tianmen’s Jianghu rules, there’s no need for a display of metal on the streets.

This is actually a joke.

Guns don’t count as metal, and the people with guns don’t need to follow any Jianghu rules.

Problems that can be solved without killing someone generally don’t even require pulling out a small knife.

Carrying a gun in the streets only means one thing—that someone is going to be killed.

"Did the principal say anything?"

"I didn’t see the principal."

"That’s right, then."

Wang Yunxiao nodded.

If Principal Zhou wanted to say something to him, he would have found a way to get in touch with him.

His absence was in itself a form of tacit consent.

The Special Service Bureau acted similarly.

It wasn’t that Wang Yunxiao had no one overseeing him.

If anyone wanted to intervene, they would have done so the moment he got his hands on the weapons, rather than waiting for him to cause a big commotion before feigning surprise and saying, "I had no idea! How could this be possible!"

Neither the senior officials of the Special Service Bureau nor Principal Zhou were that kind of people.

This tacit approval was already quite clear.

Youtiao followed Wang Yunxiao’s gaze to the opposite side of the street.

Not far away, diagonally opposite, was a small Western-style building in Federation beige with armed security at the door and a sign next to it, "Weimar Business Association," written in both Chinese and English.

"Big Brother, it’s not even noon yet..."

Youtiao thought, ’even if you, Big Brother, wanted to make another move, why rush at this time? Wouldn’t it be better to come back tonight?’

"What do you think, why wasn’t the Shen Family investigated before?"

Wang Yunxiao suddenly asked a very serious question.

Youtiao thought for a moment and tentatively said, "Is it because the Shen Family was the President’s confidant?"

"There’s that reason, but it’s not the whole story," Wang Yunxiao shook his head, saying, "There used to be an old saying, ’Law does not govern the gentry,’ and local Governmental Offices were reluctant to provoke powerful local families like the Shen Family, especially if there were complicated connections behind the scenes, then they definitely wouldn’t investigate."

"Unless they were affected by political struggles at the higher levels, these local powerhouses almost never faced the possibility of having their homes raided and questioned."

"The Former Dynasty had an organization specifically for supervising officials called the Brocade-Clothed Guard, and later there was the Brocade-Clothed Guard in the shadows, the precursor to the Special Service Bureau. The Shen Family was indeed close to the President back then, thus the Brocade-Clothed Guard dared not investigate them."

"But after the President took office, he abolished all the titles from the Former Dynasty, including both the Brocade-Clothed Guard and its secretive counterpart, replacing them with the Supervision Bureau and Special Service Bureau, whose powers were greatly constrained." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"Having limited powers does not mean being powerless; this morning, some bird from the Supervision Bureau came looking for me. By his lofty attitude, he seemed to have significant authority—what a pity he used it in the wrong place."

"Power is like face; it’s not given by others, you need to fight for it yourself."

"They should focus their main energy on dealing with corrupt officials rather than turning around to fight against their peers in the special affairs departments. When tigers and lions fight, it’s only good for a shout of approval from the spectators, and it has no real meaning. Once they are injured and cannot catch their prey, they can only starve to death."

"Why doesn’t the Supervision Bureau investigate a fat sheep like the Shen Family?"

Youtiao raised an eyebrow and said, "Isn’t the Shen Family a trusted ally of the President?"

"Now that the President holds supreme power over the world, with all provinces north and south, and all regions at the borders needing people, if they were truly confidants, they would’ve been promoted to govern a region by now, when manpower is still likely insufficient. Shen Jianzhen staying at the Northern University as a professor, what kind of confidant is that? Could it be that he has the same high integrity as our principal?"

After giving it some thought, Youtiao said, "Confidants are different from each other, maybe the Shen Family is that kind of..."

"The personal moneybag of the President?"

"Exactly! By staying in Tianmen, they can continue to amass wealth for the President, but if they were posted to other provinces, with all kinds of entrenched forces, they may not be able to gain ground quickly, and it wouldn’t be as profitable as staying in Tianmen."

"I initially thought the same, Half-City Shen, I mean, listen to that nickname, could Shen Zhidong have lived up to now with such a heaven-defying nickname without the President’s tacit endorsement?"

"But when I opened the safe and saw so much money, I realized I might be wrong."

Wang Yunxiao laughed and said, "Do you know what my first thought was at that time? Are we, this bunch of loafers, worth all the trouble for the Shen Family to buy our loyalty?"

"Not worth it!"

Youtiao knew his own worth quite well, "If they really wanted to buy us, according to the rules of the Jianghu World, two hundred Money would’ve been enough. Problems that can’t be solved with two hundred Money are not about the money. So at that time, I also thought that the money was clearly for the Principal and only someone of his stature could match that amount."

"Then do you think they have given him money before?"

"Yes!"

Youtiao immediately insisted, "For Shen Haowen to come to our school, the Shen Family must have paid, but definitely not this much, otherwise the school wouldn’t be so poor."

"Then think about it, if they really were the personal moneybags of the President, would the Principal refrain from asking them for money?"

In Wang Yunxiao’s mind, Principal Zhou was a very practical man. Coming to Qinghe Middle School to teach, he would never forsake any benefit he could get through proper channels just because of pride."

The canned luncheon meat in the cafeteria was proof of this.

Would he feel embarrassed to ask the Shen Family for money? Was it that the Shen Family didn’t give the money, or they didn’t want to give it?

On the other hand, if the President’s personal moneybag couldn’t easily hand out money, why did it happen this time?

From this single detail, Wang Yunxiao concluded that the Shen Family’s facade and their essence were completely different matters.

"If I were with the Supervision Bureau, I wouldn’t dare to investigate the Shen Family either, because what the Shen Family shows right now is the image of being the white glove of the President, doing the dirty work for him. The money they earn is for the President. The mistakes they make are blamed on the President. Investigating them is like investigating the President. To say that they are bad is to say the President is bad."

"This argument seems to have some merit, and it also fits with the moral bondage mindset of certain ordinary people—that the President must be divinely virtuous and flawless, untainted by the mortal world, untouched by worldly dust. The moment it does not meet their expectations, their mindset immediately collapses, turning to the other extreme."

In later times, there’s a specific term for this called "haters."

So my big brother... pah! The President can’t have any flaws, they can’t investigate the Shen Family. If they really find any problems, my faith will collapse, and the world will end.

So could this fandom persona of the Shen Family be deliberately fabricated by themselves?

"I was planning to find Shen Qingxi and continue to look for clues about the Ma Family through her. But after encountering his personal lawyer at Shen Zhidong’s company, I changed my mind."

"Shen Qingxi is just a scapegoat thrown out by the Shen Family. They’ve made all sorts of contingency plans. No matter how we investigate, we can’t escape from the circles they have prepared for us. But it’s different with Shen Zhidong; he never thought that I would investigate, that I would dare to."

"And I really did find something strange."

Wang Yunxiao’s face showed a scornful smile as he said this.

"Half-City Shen, that nickname doesn’t necessarily mean he actually owns half a city. From his personal lawyer’s work records, it’s clear that most of them involve alleged illegal infringements on other people’s properties, with very few involving real estate disputes."

"If you were a millionaire, would you get full and fight with a child over a lollipop? The Shen Family having money isn’t wrong, but there’s a big problem with that money!"