You're Strong But Now You're Mine-Chapter 148 - 147: You actually treat Jing Zhengwei as a person?

Chapter 148: Chapter 147: You actually treat Jing Zhengwei as a person?

Jing Zhengfeng felt utterly frustrated.

It was still Zizhu Courtyard in the Jing Garden, still the reception room, still the three brothers, but there were two additional people.

On the left, there were Jing Zhengtang and Feiwei in a blue dress; on the right, there were Jing Zhengwu and the wealthy young lady Qin Yueshi.

Jing Zhengfeng was the only one alone.

’Hmph, two good-for-nothing men relying on their wives.’ Jing Zhengfeng thought sourly.

Feiwei was whispering with Jing Zhengtang, who nodded continuously, saying to the second brother, "We actually don’t need to cooperate with you. The position of the Patriarch isn’t something we must have, and even if we undermine the eldest brother, we still have you as an opponent. Even if we succeed in cooperating with you, we’d still need to compete with you, with less than a fifty percent success rate, and failure would definitely antagonize the eldest brother, leading to unavoidable retribution afterward, which isn’t worth the risk."

"And wasn’t it you, second brother, who orchestrated that assassination attempt by the Yitian Gang? The eldest brother probably guessed, meaning you are already at odds with him, while we still have room to maneuver, so there’s no need to board your sinking ship."

Before Jing Zhengwu could speak, Qin Yueshi said, "If you hold this idea as a bargaining chip, then I will look down on you one level—if you’re not dissatisfied, why don’t you pledge allegiance to Jing Zhengwei to show loyalty, instead of coming here to negotiate with us? Or are you here to gather intelligence, planning to inform Jing Zhengwei later to gain trust?"

"Yueshi."

Jing Zhengwu held Qin Yueshi’s hand gently and said, "Don’t think like that... our third brother can be trusted."

After a pause, Jing Zhengwu glanced at Jing Zhengtang and Feiwei, saying, "Tonight at the family dinner, Father didn’t show up; you all understand what he means, right? He wants a resolution among us four brothers."

"But the eldest brother left right after dinner."

"Third brother, third brother’s wife, don’t be overly optimistic. If the eldest brother truly wanted reconciliation, he should have contacted us during dinner, or at least after—yet he hasn’t."

"I understand our eldest brother more deeply than you do. At this point, I won’t hide it anymore, our eldest brother’s former steward Shen Hong and the manager of Weiling Maritime Trade Bai Yulan were both spies I recruited."

"Now, both of them have been executed by the eldest brother for seemingly legitimate reasons." Jing Zhengwu continued, "I tell you this to show that the eldest brother has special intelligence sources, but more importantly, to tell you that he has an immense desire for control."

"Once the eldest brother takes over the Jing Family, he won’t allow our existence, and our industries will surely be swallowed by him."

"To be fair, the Jing Family has done more than enough for him. Even after his mother died when he was twelve and he left Jing Garden, our father provided ample funds for him to start his venture. He leveraged Jing Family’s connections to profit, with our father’s full backing."

"But people’s desires are insatiable like a snake trying to swallow an elephant. Our eldest brother is someone who remembers grudges but not favors; he only remembers how the Jing Family excluded him after his mother’s death, how he stopped being valued, how we brothers got better treatment than he did."

"His grudge is so strong that you cannot imagine." Jing Zhengwu said calmly, "You know the rumors of Jing Zhengwei’s violent behavior towards women, don’t you? But what you might not know is that many of the women he’s bought over the years resemble my mother when she was young."

"After Yueshi and I got engaged," Jing Zhengwu held Qin Yueshi’s hand tightly, "the three girls he purchased over the next three months all bore a strong resemblance to Yueshi."

Qin Yueshi trembled slightly, showing a trusting gaze towards Jing Zhengwu.

Jing Zhengfeng crossed his legs, too lazy to look. Jing Zhengtang frowned slightly, while Feiwei maintained a neutral expression.

"Although he has changed a lot recently, focusing on the newspaper business and without any misconduct, the deaths of Bai Yulan and Shen Hong prove to me that he is still that vengeful eldest brother."

"If he truly becomes the Patriarch, he will certainly purge those Jing family members who wronged him in the past. And for those of us who competed against him and lost, we will face severe consequences."

"If it comes to that, I would actually be the safest one." Jing Zhengwu said, "I could retreat to the Qin Family; no matter how powerful the eldest brother becomes, he can’t afford to turn against the Qin Family. But what about you? Where could you hide? Third brother, you cherish your wife, but at that time, you might not be able to protect her under the eldest brother’s pressure."

Jing Zhengwu expected that Jing Zhengtang would react to this, but unexpectedly, Jing Zhengtang just turned his head to look at Feiwei, with a questioning expression.

He was secretly wary—the third brother was not simple; it was just that everyone was focusing their attention on the woman next to him, hence underestimating Jing Zhengtang.

Jing Zhengfeng laughed, "I don’t care. If he has the guts to kill me, but if he can’t kill me, it will be my turn to kill him. I only compete for the family inheritance because I find it amusing, and also to annoy that old man."

After listening to Feiwei’s whispers, Jing Zhengtang said, "Second brother, the situation you described is possible, but we have our countermeasures, so no need for you to worry. Moreover, such a situation would only occur if we ended up in a death match with the eldest brother. If we concede and withdraw, the eldest brother would have no reason to continue targeting us."

Jing Zhengwu: "Third brother, you still..."

Jing Zhengtang interrupted, "If I support the eldest brother, then you, second brother, and fourth brother, will have no chance of victory. I can definitely secure favorable terms from the eldest brother, and even though it would take him some time to act tyrannically after becoming Patriarch, we have confidence to develop to a point where we can challenge him during that period."

"Second brother, you asking us to join in, probably not only to gain our strength, but also to completely sever any chance of us defecting to the eldest brother, right? You emphasize the eldest brother’s grievances, his power, all to let us know that once we offend him, it’s a fight to the death, isn’t it?"

"If you don’t show some sincerity, we will very much doubt your intentions—whether you truly want to cooperate with us against the eldest brother, or just want to push us forward to fight him."

Jing Zhengwu’s expression remained unchanged, but his pupils slightly dilated, and he smiled, "Third brother and third brother’s wife are overly concerned."

Qin Yueshi couldn’t help but say, "If Zhengwu becomes the Patriarch, isn’t it much better than if Jing Zhengwei becomes the Patriarch? If you’re willing to support Zhengwu, he can also offer enough preferential terms..."

"So you want to win us over?" Jing Zhengtang said, "Then it requires an adequate price."

Realizing her slip, Qin Yueshi fell silent. Jing Zhengwu looked at his two younger brothers, sighed, and said, "I lost some gold and silver recently, so it’s difficult to give you New Year’s money... However, I have a batch of uncertified firearms I unexpectedly acquired, which could serve as a token of our cooperation among the three brothers."

Uncertified firearms!

Jing Zhengwu actually gifted them the most violent weapon at this stage, Jing Main Hall, Feiwei, and Jing Zhengfeng couldn’t help but show surprise.

"I have no objections," Jing Zhengfeng said.

After chatting with Feiwei for a moment, Jing Main Hall also said, "We feel Second Brother’s sincerity... So, Second Brother, what do you plan to do?"

"Return the favor in kind." Jing Zhengwu said, "Recently, your factories have also had a lot of incidents, haven’t they?"

"Yes, there’s been pipe bursts, fires, and then..." Jing Zhengfeng suddenly looked grim and said, "Could it be..."

"It’s probably Eldest Brother’s doing, isn’t it?" Jing Main Hall said, "Only Eldest Brother’s factory hasn’t had any accidents, but we three brothers’ factories have had quite a few incidents lately."

Jing Zhengfeng said coldly, "We should sabotage his factory? I agree."

Jing Zhengwu shook his head, "Hit a snake at its vital spot; the factory is neither here nor there for Eldest Brother. Even if the factory is gone, he won’t feel any loss."

"Then kidnap his family?" Jing Zhengwu instinctively used his gang mindset, but quickly shook his head, "But we are his family... No wait, didn’t he bring a woman with him tonight? I believe she’s called Qing Lan? They looked quite close while eating."

Qin Yueshi said, "Qing Lan is currently the chief editor of the Youth Daily, considered a competent assistant under Jing Zhengwei. Jing Zhengwei definitely has Qing Lan by his side, even after the patrol team returns from their morning shift, Qing Lan also sleeps with him..."

Jing Main Hall talked to Feiwei for a couple of lines and also said, "Qing Lan is the woman who has stayed by Eldest Brother’s side the longest all these years, and he even buys snacks and drinks for Qing Lan when he’s out. Eldest Brother might truly be moved."

Jing Zhengfeng’s eyes turned cold, "Then let’s grab this woman, and then—"

"You’re all wrong."

Jing Zhengwu sighed deeply and said, "None of you understand Jing Zhengwei better than I do... Do you actually think Jing Zhengwei is truly moved by a woman? You’re treating Jing Zhengwei like an ordinary person."

"Of course, Jing Zhengwei is also human, and he may like someone. But that doesn’t mean he’ll do much for a woman. You think of capturing that woman to threaten Jing Zhengwei, you’re really overthinking it."

Jing Main Hall remained adamant, "But Eldest Brother buys snacks and drinks for Qing Lan, if he wasn’t really attentive, given his status and temperament, how could he—"

"Third Brother, didn’t you also say that with his status and temperament, how could he do such things?" Jing Zhengwu smiled and said, "Rather than believe Eldest Brother truly likes a woman, which is a wild possibility, it’s better to believe that it’s a bait intentionally set by Eldest Brother."

"He let a woman take on an important role, he does many small things for her, he even becomes gentle because of this woman and stands up for her—he’s deliberately making us focus our attention on this woman!"

"Thinking this way makes it in line with Eldest Brother’s character."

"Wouldn’t Eldest Brother know that we would deal with him? But Eldest Brother has survived the Yitian Gang’s ambush, his own martial skill is not weak, if we truly wanted to deal with him, we would have to deploy a force stronger than the Yitian Gang."

"However, at this point, if we see that Eldest Brother values a woman so much, we might abandon the idea of deploying strong force and instead devise a plan to capture this woman."

"Your thinking aligns with Eldest Brother’s expectations because we all come from a business background, and making small bets for big gains is something we can’t resist."

"Eldest Brother deliberately made us notice Qing Lan as bait, and then our plot against him naturally focused on Qing Lan. Eldest Brother not only can use Qing Lan as a trap to capture our people, but even if we did capture Qing Lan, Eldest Brother could sacrifice her to understand our hidden strength!"

"That is our Eldest Brother, that is Jing Zhengwei!"

"Cruel and unscrupulous, even if it’s someone by his side or dear to his heart, it’s just a pawn he can abandon at any time!"

The brilliance of wisdom sparkled in Jing Zhengwu’s eyes as he confidently said, "You’ve only seen the first layer, yet you haven’t thought of Eldest Brother’s second layer!"

...

...

"Hachoo."

At the Great Gate Stone Street, underneath the Battle Card stage during the ’Legendary Masterpiece’ advancement match, Leyu glanced at Qing Lan, "Are you feeling cold too?"

Qing Lan instinctively wanted to deny it but nodded without knowing why and said, "Yes, I feel a bit cold."

She huffed into her hands, "My hands are so icy..."

"That’s so... nothing can be done, let me help you." Leyu sighed.

Qing Lan blinked, glanced at Leyu’s hand, blinked again, and nodded, "Thank you, sir—"

Leyu: "Then let’s go buy some sesame seed cakes! Holding one of those will definitely be warm!"

Oh, I knew it... Qing Lan shrugged helplessly, but at that moment she found her hand being held by Leyu, whose warm, smooth hand pulled her away from the crowd.

"The crowd is getting bigger, if something really happens, Mi Die might not be able to reach in time; make sure you don’t lose hold, be careful not to be snatched away to become someone else’s wife," Leyu reminded.

Qing Lan’s beautiful eyes fluttered, her eyebrows quivered, listening to Leyu babbling to her, she couldn’t help but curl her lips into a smile and replied crisply, "Mm!"