Special District 9 Chapter 55: Meeting at Jiangzhou

The boss on the other end of the phone was stunned for a moment before asking, “Why did he suddenly contact you?”

“He wants to rebuild the medicine distribution channel in Songjiang, and he wants us to get the goods from us,” the flattop middle-aged man replied. “I tried sounding him out. He said that he has finished negotiating with the Ma Family, and he has Old Li of the Black Street Sector Police Bureau covering him. From the sound of it, it appears that he’s just lacking our goods.”

“Kang-ge, are you familiar with the situation with Qi Long’s family?” the boss suddenly asked.

“Somewhat. Ah Long told me quite a bit about his family,” Kang-ge nodded. “When I talked with that lad earlier, the information he gave me is in line with what I know. It might be possible for others to acquire some information through investigation, but when it comes to minor details from day-to-day life, it takes years of living together in order to really familiarize oneself with the quirks of another person. So, my personal judgment is that the lad wasn’t lying, and that he’s indeed Qi Long’s younger brother.”

The boss fell silent.

“Do you think I should meet him?” Kang-ge waited for a moment before probing on. “Songjiang is a major distribution channel for us. We have accumulated quite a bit of good over the past two months after losing this channel. I think that we can try coming into contact with him first. If he proves to be a capable individual who can get things done, this could be a good opportunity for us to make a comeback in Songjiang.”

“It’s a little risky,” the boss shook his head. “What if Qi Long’s younger brother is under the control of the Yuan Family? What do you intend to do if he’s intentionally baiting you? I don’t fear Songjiang’s Yuan Hua, but I fear the pharmaceutical companies backing him. Our private production of medicine has been adversely impacting their markets, so the Yuan Family, the pharmaceutical companies, and those who are receiving money from them are all dying to sniff us out and destroy us.”

“I don’t think that’s likely,” Kang-ge replied with a frown. “I had my men investigate the happenings at Songjiang, and Qi Long’s younger brother, Qi Lin, killed Yuan Hua’s little uncle and a member of their core group. Due to that, he was forced to escape from Special District 9. I don’t think that it’ll be easy for them to cooperate together with that kind of grudge sitting between them.”

“Does Qi Lin have any family members?” the boss asked.

“Yes, he has a mother and a little sister.”

“If those two are held hostage by Yuan Hua, is there a chance that Qi Lin would be forced to cooperate with them?” the boss asked again.

Kang-ge was rendered speechless by those words.

“We’re not very familiar with the current circumstances at Songjiang. If Qi Lin is under their thumb, you’ll be caught if you leap right in. They wouldn’t make a move on you right away, but through your lead, they would be able to eventually track us down,” the boss said warily. “If we were to be exposed at this juncture, without any doubt, we would be utterly crushed by those pharmaceutical companies and their political backing.”

Kang-ge began to hesitate after hearing those words.

“We live in an era where there’s no lack of demand for pharmaceutical products. As long as we continue producing our medicine, we’ll surely be able to steadily climb through the ranks. Right now, we are still weak compared to the other officially recognized pharmaceutical companies, so we have to move warily and prioritize our survival over everything else,” the boss advised. “I don’t recommend you to take the risk to contact Qi Lin. It would be best to give up on Songjiang for the time being.”

There were two main considerations that Kang-ge had in mind at the moment.

First, he had extremely close ties with Qi Long, or else Qi Long wouldn’t have given Kang-ge’s contact number to his younger brother when he sensed that he was in a dire situation. In view of their relations, Kang-ge did feel obliged to extend a helping hand to Qi Lin.

Second, Kang-ge’s role in the company was to manage the distribution channels of their medicine, and he had always been in charge of the Songjiang market. If he were to lose this channel, not only would it cost him significant financial benefits, his position within the team would also fall drastically.

As such, after a long moment of consideration, Kang-ge gritted his teeth and said, “I believe that Qi Lin is a trustworthy individual. I heard that the Black Street Sector’s Old Li got into a conflict with Yuan Ke over this matter, and they have put in quite a bit of effort on their end in order to rebuild this supply route too. I don’t want to give up on a precious opportunity just like that.”

“So, your intention is…?”

“I want to try meeting Qi Lin,” Kang-ge said. “However, you don’t have to worry. If the other party harbors any intention to harm the company, I’ll make sure that their lead ends with me. I won’t implicate the company.”

The boss was silent for a while before replying softly, “Alright then. Since you have already made up your mind, I’ll allow you to act on your judgment. However, we shall do this my way, so…”

…

Around half an hour, Qi Lin received another phone call, “Hello?”

“I’ll meet you.” Kang-ge got straight to the point. “Three days later, I’ll be waiting for you in Ji’an Communal Region of Jiangzhou’s Development District. There is an entertainment venue there called Platinum Castle. Eight o’clock, you must be there by then.”

Qi Lin was taken aback. “Jiangzhou? That’s a little far from where we are. I’m afraid I can’t get there in time.”

“If you don’t get stalled on the road, you will have enough time,” Kang-ge replied unquestioningly. “I’ll only wait for three days.”

“… Alright then, I got it.”

“That’s all.” Throwing those words over, Kang-ge hung up the phone.

In the room, Qin Yu looked at Qi Lin and asked anxiously, “How is it? What did he say?”

“He agreed to meet us, but the meeting venue is at Jiangzhou. He requests us to rush over within three days,” Qi Lin said with a frown. “Time is tight on our hand.”

“Jiangzhou is quite far from here. We have never met that person before, and to rush over to meet him after barely talking over the phone is just… If that person intends to harm us, we’ll be in deep shit,” Old Cat remarked after hearing those words.

While holding onto the phone, Qi Lin turned to the other two and said, “Whether it’s a feast or a landmine waiting on the other side, this is a trip that I’ll have to make no matter what. Otherwise, I’ll never be able to make a comeback.”

Qin Yu glanced at Old Cat and said, “Old Cat, you have someone above you. You don’t need to go.”

“Bullshit! The medicine route concerns Old Li’s position and life. If the two of you are willing to put your life on the line for it, how can I back out at a time like this?” Old Cat replied without any hesitation. “For the first time, I think that the name my mum gave me is quite auspicious after all.”

“We don’t have time to dawdle about. Since we have come to a decision, let’s get moving then,” Qin Yu said. “Qi Lin, you should settle your mum and your little sister first. We’ll leave tonight.”

“Roger that!” Qi Lin nodded.

…

That night, Qin Yu made a call to John, and through the latter’s connections, they were able to entrust Qi Lin’s mother and younger sister to another household to take care of. Of course, they paid them a substantial sum for that.

After settling those two, the three of them forked out yet another huge sum to purchase four barrels of petrol from an oil merchant before they finally embarked on their journey toward Jiangzhou’s Development District.

For this journey, retreat wasn’t an option for the three of them. They had staked everything on the medicine route.

This was a chaotic era where many powers clashed against one another to grab a slice of Special District 9.

Three brothers who had huddled together for warmth under the direst of circumstances finally began on their journey to greatness on this very day.

-ge is a term in Chinese that means ‘Big Brother’. It’s used in casual speech, and it usually denotes respect toward the other party, kind of similar to ‘hyung’ in Korean though it can be used in less intimate context.

I’ve been using ‘Brother’ in some cases, but there are cases where it doesn’t fit in as well, so I’ll be using this term from time to time.