It was already morning when I returned to Guangzhou. Ye Qingcheng had rested well and was elegantly applying her makeup while drinking duck egg and lean pork congee. I never liked this kind of congee, always finding a fishy meat smell in it.
Despite that, I still accompanied Ye Qingcheng and had a bowl. Considering Ye Qingcheng's petite Southern woman physique, she was quite capable of eating. After finishing the congee, she smiled and said to me, "I'm sorry, I deliberately provoked you that day."
Ye Qingcheng had acted very assertively that day, like an overzealous widow. She did this for a reason; if she had shown even a hint of weakness, I would have realized she was actually being held hostage.
As a schemer in the Stanislavski system, Ye Qingcheng's greatest strength was her acting. She could make her performances so real and in tune with human nature that if someone like her didn't want to expose their true thoughts, no one could see through them.
"It's fine. Actually, you could have notified me without them noticing. I believe I would have perceived it."
"To be honest, I was testing you a bit. After all, I had only heard of you and never witnessed your strategic capabilities."
Hearing Ye Qingcheng say this, I chuckled dumbfoundedly. "Ke Yingying tested me, Xiao Zi'an tested me. They did quite a hands-on job of testing, but you seem to look down on me. These few individuals are not bad, but in the eyes of a true schemer, they are all lambs awaiting slaughter."
"Yes, I admit they are a bit weak. But there's nothing that can be done. Who asked me to be an actress? Even if I have a good script in my heart, I can't perform a solo act. In such a situation, I have to make do with some misfits. Fortunately, I spent a long time with Teacher Li Jiu and learned a principle: no matter how grand your plays are, outsiders only see the spectacle; no matter how small your moves are, insiders can still see the craft. To be honest, you're good, but not on the same path as Teacher Li Jiu."
"How so?"
"Teacher Li Jiu's work focuses on fundamental logic. For example, people need to eat, and time doesn't stop. These are unchangeable logical constants. As long as you see an issue to this extent and understand the trends of development, it's easy to find opportunities to win. You don't have that. Your demeanor has a shadow of possessing everything under the heavens and using it for yourself. You were influenced by that glutton, but not entirely. You're neither fish nor fowl, dabbling in many things but excelling at none. If I were your enemy, you wouldn't win."
"Talking about this is useless. Most people who have become my enemies thought the same way before a battle. They harbored contempt before the fight and were filled with regret afterward."
"You think I wouldn't be able to defeat you."
"No."
To be honest, Ye Qingcheng's acting was superb. She likely had a more profound script prepared for me, but I wasn't afraid. The ceiling for schemers in the Stanislavski system should be Senior Sister. I'm not even afraid of Senior Sister, so how could I fear Ye Qingcheng?
Indeed, old ginger is spicier. After hearing me say this, Ye Qingcheng smiled and said, "I have witnessed your adaptability. While it has a tendency, there's no fundamental difference in systems. With such confidence, you should be able to deal with him." "Deal with whom?" The question came suddenly, leaving me bewildered.
"Tu Kela."
Tu Kela was just what everyone called him; he called himself "Underworld Yama." Back in the cram school, Tu Kela was the second to last to graduate. If Ning Caishen didn't want to leave the cram school, then Tu Kela couldn't leave. His understanding of scheming was a tangled mess, and he couldn't strategize at all.
In the later stages of the training, "Logic Paradox" had already lost hope in Tu Kela and assigned him as a pawn in a company. However, after 2000, "Logic Paradox's" plan to deal with this company was shelved. Tu Kela, who had been lurking there, was unaware of this. Everyone forgot about him. By the time Tu Kela came to his senses and contacted "Logic Paradox," the latter had already been fragmented and battered by the "Black Gold" task force.
Thus, Tu Kela became a law-abiding citizen, which should have been a good ending for him. But fate loved to play tricks. At this juncture, Tu Kela had an epiphany. His strategizing, which had been messy for years, suddenly seemed to pierce through a layer of paper. He integrated the capabilities of schemers from all systems, becoming the most powerful schemer.
I listened to Ye Qingcheng's account of Tu Kela's experiences with my jaw dropped. I looked at Ye Qingcheng, "Sister Ye, we are schemers. There's no need to describe this as if it were a xianxia novel, with Mr. Tu Kela suddenly achieving enlightenment and ascending to immortality."
Ye Qingcheng chuckled lightly. "My way of expression might be inaccurate, but that's roughly the meaning. Ning Caishen probably told you that schemers are divided into four systems, and we generally have one main and two auxiliary. For example, I am a Stanislavski system schemer; my main skill is acting, with auxiliary skills in situational staging and psychological effects, complementing each other. Take Ke Yingying, for instance; although she excels at psychological strategy, she also understands acting and game theory. Besides us, the former 'X Driver,' 'Gambler,' and 'Agent' were also similar, majoring in one system and having two auxiliary systems to become independent schemers. Going further back, Teacher Li Jiu and the legendary glutton Cao Shi also gave up certain things to become the legends people remember. This Tu Kela is different from everyone else. He's stubborn; he gave up nothing, ultimately achieving nothing. But ironically, after the age of forty, he suddenly had an epiphany, integrating his years of learning and becoming a powerful schemer."
"How did he do it?"
"I don't know. Anyway, last year, he absorbed remnants from the 'Logic Paradox' old guard, the 'Enchanted Forest' old guard, and the residual tools from the four-colored old kings of 'Zhengqi'."
"You mean, if this were a novel, he has become the final Boss."
"I think so."
"What is the name of the organization he founded?"
"The 'Yama Hall'."
It seemed Tu Kela's life was still overshadowed by the past. Back then, he had proudly given himself the name "Underworld Yama," but was later called Tu Kela by his classmates in the cram school for his inability to strategize. He had joined the organization early, and while everyone else became pillars of the organization, he was discarded as a pawn.
If they had openly expelled him, it would have been one thing. Not only was he used as a tool, but the organization also forgot about him. How could he possibly bear such humiliation? If it were anyone else in his shoes, such an experience would have forced them to achieve enlightenment and ascend.
Hearing Ye Qingcheng reach this point, I roughly understood. "Lin Han's situation is related to this Tu Kela."
"Yes."
"When you were dealing with 'Zhengqi,' Tu Kela had already contacted Wang Zeyi. When you went to Hong Kong, Wang Zeyi persuaded your wife, Lin Han, at a banquet to use a small company to control a large company through financing, purchase all of Gao's enterprise's domestic equity, and gain control."
"Lin Han didn't know Tu Kela."
"She didn't before. She completely trusted Wang Zeyi's arrangements, but everything she did was not Wang Zeyi's plan; all the strategy was Tu Kela's operation. Lin Han asked Ke Yingying to help her control the holding structure, then set up a subsidiary in your name. Finally, as long as the taxes were paid, the company's scale would expand. Then, in cooperation with 'China Style Jade Trading Company,' acquire 2% of Gao's company's equity."
"What does Tu Kela want to do?"
"Tu Kela has already reached an agreement with Cao Qian. After Cao Qian gains control of the Gao family, he will use all the assets of the 'Yama Hall' organization, approximately 20 billion yuan, to become a member of Cao Qian's new financial empire."
I understood Ye Qingcheng's meaning. The new financial empire and Gao Ji's financial empire had the same goal: to create a national-level crisis and establish their own kingdom.
"When did you discover this matter?"
"Not long ago. After I helped Lin Han operate the joint venture to acquire the Gao family's equity, I discovered Tu Kela as the mastermind behind it."
"Where is Lin Han?"
"If we had thwarted this plan then, Tu Kela would have known his scheme was exposed. At that point, for insurance purposes, he might have directly handed over the 2% to Cao Qian, allowing Cao Qian to have a smooth ride in the Gao family patriarch's succession battle. Finally, after much deliberation, Lin Han decided to go to the joint venture to stabilize Tu Kela while you went to retrieve the lost 2%."
I frowned. "The situation is this urgent, and you didn't immediately inform me, but instead let me deal with these individuals who can hardly be called schemers, and even tested me?"
"I pretended to test you. The more I kept you confined to Guangzhou, the more Tu Kela would believe we were unaware of the truth."
"What if he found out?"
I questioned Ye Qingcheng loudly. She was gambling with Lin Han's life.
"Lin Han asked me to tell you that this was her decision, and she has no regrets, regardless of success or failure. She also said she never imagined retiring with you. Facing mountains of knives and seas of fire, forging ahead resolutely, that is the life for you two as a couple."