Special District 9

It was at this moment that someone knocked on his door. Yuan Hua shouted over, “Who is it?”

“It’s me,” a familiar voice sounded.

Yuan Hua walked up to the door and opened the door. It was his younger brother, Yuan Ke. He stepped aside and said, “Come in.”

“You’re going to sleep?”

“I’m a little tired, so I was going to bathe before heading off to sleep,” Yuan Hua replied as he shut the door. “Why did you suddenly come back today?”

“I still have to head back to the bureau later on to work on a case,” Yuan Ke said as he grabbed a can of beer specially imported from Fengbei from the fridge. Then, he sat down on the sofa and asked, “I heard that you’re planning to make a move against the Ma Family?”

Yuan Hua sat down on the opposite chair as he replied, “That’s right.”

Yuan Ke lowered his head and exhaled deeply before replying, “I don’t agree to it.”

“What do you mean by that?” Yuan Hua asked.

“I don’t agree to you making a move on the Ma Family at this juncture,” Yuan Ke replied as he took a sip of beer. “I don’t think that there’s a need for us to panic due to this.”

“No need to panic?” A frown formed on Yuan Hua’s forehead. “Our sales have dropped by 30% just this week. Do you know what does this means? It means that our margins are decreasing rapidly! You don’t know how ugly the faces of the others were when we held a company meeting earlier today! It’s not that I want to panic but the entire company is already panicking!”

“Those bunch of people isn’t worried for the company at all,” Yuan Ke placed down his beer and replied. “The people you have by your side, all they care about is their own interests. The falling sales means that their profits would be reduced, and that’s why they are so desperate to get the Ma Family. You are the boss over here, the helm of our company, so you have to be the one looking at the bigger picture. The Police Headquarters is already dissatisfied with us dealing willfully with the Ma Family the last time around, but as soon as the storm dies down, you want to create trouble for them again… How would they think about this? Wouldn’t they think that we are not in control of the situation?”

“Bullshit!” Yuan Hua’s mood was already bad as it was, and having his little brother cast doubt over his judgment over made him even more infuriated.

He rose to his feet and bellowed, “We’re not living in the same era as before anymore! In the past, the security is so tight that the chances are that you’ll be caught after flouting the law before you can even escape from the city, but things are different now. Qi Lin killed our people, but as soon as he ran into the Development District, there’s nothing we can do about him anymore.

“This is a fight over profits, it’s bound to be a blood bath. You know it, I know it, those higher-ups know it as well! There’s a price that we have to pay if we want to bring down the Ma Family, and this is a problem that we have to face right now. Otherwise, our entire market would have already been devoured by then!”

Yuan Ke stood his ground and argued in agitation as well, “Brother, there’s already a fault in your logic. You are still looking at the problem through the lenses of the past. I have told you before that it’s only a matter of time before the Nine Special Districts and the Development Districts settle down, and the systems implemented are refined to perfection. If we continue relying on such brute methods to deal with problems, it’s only a matter of time before we are eliminated.”

Yuan Hua placed his hands on his hips, and he stared at his younger brother intently as he asked, “Then why don’t you tell me what we should do in order not to be eliminated? Give me a viable solution to resolve the falling sales of our medicine right now.”

“We can leave the Ma Family to develop freely. We’ll temporarily give up on a portion of the market so that they can expand rapidly,” Yuan Ke replied without any hesitation.

Yuan Hua was stunned by those words. He stared at Yuan Ke with a look of disbelief on his face as he uttered, “Repeat what you have just said. What do you want us to do?”

“Let the Ma Family snatch the market over and grow rapidly.”

“Have you gone mad?!” Yuan Hua roared furiously. “Once they have taken the market over, how are we going to get it back from them in the future? Do you know how much we have invested in Black Street Sector so far in order to develop this market? Yet, you are telling me to give it all up just like that? Are you trying to crack a joke with me, or did you have too much to drink?!”

“I’m not talking nonsense with you,” Yuan Ke said with a sharp glint in his eyes. “Have you thought about who would be even more anxious than us if the Ma Family were to dominate the market?”

Yuan Hua stopped for a moment to ponder over those words.

“I can tell you that if the Ma Family grows to prominence in Songjiang, the ones who would lose their nerves first won’t be us but the pharmaceutical companies. If a private company to rise through the ranks, they would be facing another powerful rival. It is very likely that their entire business in Special District 9 might be severely impacted as a result of that. Do you get it now?” Yuan Ke was so agitated that he was nearly shouting at this point.

“So, what we have to do right now is not to touch the Ma Family but to allow them to grow freely. The pharmaceutical companies will soon find themselves unable to in a position where they have no choice but to move. With their powerful political relations, they would be able to get rid of the Ma Family with ease. We don’t even have to touch the Ma Family at all. All we have to do is wait for the opportunity to stab the final dagger in their back, and we would be able to eliminate this rival. In fact, if the pharmaceutical companies were to really go into a fluster, they might even get rid of Old Li for us as well.”

Yuan Hua contemplated over those words for a long while before asking once more, “But if we leave the pharmaceutical companies to deal with the Ma Family and Old Li, when they look back on it, they might realize that we have been too placid in the matter, and they might take it as a sign of incompetence. If they were to select another partner to work with in the local market due to that, we would be placed in a bad position too. Not only will we lose the market, we’ll also lose the initial investment we have put into this project.”

“Trust me, the pharmaceutical companies would surely guess our intention, but they wouldn’t change partners to work with. That’s because there is no one who can compete with us in terms of political backing in the local market. The only way for them to guarantee their profits and be freed of trouble is to work with us,” Yuan Ke said insistently.

Yuan Hua shook his head and said, “Your idea is too risky. I don’t agree with this course of action. We’ll be losing our current market share and our reputation, and it’ll cause us to be weakened considerably in the short-term. Furthermore, if we don’t take any actions right now, those bosses who are working with us will be dissatisfied, and they might even try to pull something. They’ll be losing significant money for sure, and that’s more than enough for them to turn against us.”

“Brother, you need to put forth a stern and unyielding attitude. Like I’ve told you before, these veterans might have helped you build your empire, but they will also be your greatest source of trouble from now onward. It might seem like they are loyal and obedient to you, but that’s built on the premise that this relationship is profitable to them…” Yuan Ke tried to persuade him.

“There’s no need to say anything else. I’ll be following Yong Dong’s idea for this matter,” Yuan Hua interjected sharply.

“Brother, you have to change your mindset! You can’t be obstinate about this!”

“Stop shouting! I am exhausted, and I don’t want to argue with you,” Yuan Hua smashed his glass on the ground as he roared at Yuan Ke. “Can you let me just sleep in peace?”

Yuan Ke looked at his older brother silently for a long while before sighing deeply. “Alright, I won’t say anything else. You can do whatever you want.”

After saying those words, Yuan Ke walked out and slammed the door forcefully without even changing out of his slippers.

Yuan Hua sat down on the sofa and stared at the ceiling in a daze as he muttered, “Is there anyone who can see the difficulties I have? Even my own damned younger brother doesn’t understand it either…”

…

The following morning.