The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

Chapter 148

148 Chingsu District

After arriving home, Emma immediately took a shower. Once finished, she immediately spread her books on her desk with a bowl of pasta she bought from an Italian restaurant. She decided to do her coursework over dinner because she didn’t have much time left.

“Geez.. I guess I didn’t realize that I was neglecting my lectures all this time for being a hero in shadow,” Emma muttered. Unknowingly, she lost her main goal because she chose to fight crime. In fact, Emma was quite concerned with her academics because she wanted a bright future. She was a girl with big ambitions. Finding herself caught off guard like this made her integrity tarnished.

After a few hours of doing chores until her dinner bowl was empty, Emma started yawning sleepily. She glanced at the clock and it was already right at the midnight. Come to think of it, she was no longer allowed to stay up late because she had started to go to college.

“Okay, Emma.. just a little more. You can do this!” She said to herself.

But just as she was about to continue writing, suddenly, her cellphone screen lit up, followed by an incoming message tone. Emma frowned as she grabbed the phone. Her eyebrows immediately lifted when she read Levi’s name in the description of the sender of the message.

‘So you hit my car? Impressive.’ – Levi.

Emma slapped her forehead lightly with a grimace, and then, replied to the message.

‘I am really, really sorry! Is your car registered with insurance? If not, I’ll take responsibility for the compensation.’ – Emma.

‘No insurance. No wonder you ran into my car. I often see you musing around.’ – Levi.

.....

‘Thanks for bringing it up! Of course, I will be responsible. I’ll come to your house later to take your car to the repair shop.’ – Emma.

‘That’s good. I don’t want to full my hands because of you either.’ – Levi.

Emma put her phone back on the table in disgust. Even chatting via message with Levi was also annoying. Emma shortly retracted her gratitude because it turned out that the owner of the car she hit was Levi. He would be causing her more trouble than a stranger.

***

In Handway City, there was a location which was an industrial area. At that location, there were several factories buildings owned by various large companies. The name of the location was Chingsu District.

The origin of the road was called Chingsu District because there was once the largest company in Handway City that produced raw paper and its various processed products called Chingsu Paper. It was the first company to stand on such vast vacant land. However, the company’s income was shrinking so they were forced to close their factories and leased their private land to other companies. Since then, there have been several companies setting up their factories in Chingsu District.

Initially, when it had just built the largest factory on the land, the Chingsu Paper Company formed a group to protect the factory area from thieves, rebels, etcetera. But in fact, the group had the main task of monitoring the employees who work in that large company. They have to make sure that no factory employees misbehave, for example, running away during working hours, not wearing the correct uniform, establishing relationships with fellow employees, and or going to take rest at inappropriate times.

The group was certainly very well known in the Chingsu Paper Area. The owner of the company named it the General Guard or commonly known as GG.

The guard group had a leader named Lee Mu Fei. He had the rank of commander in the group and he led about three hundred men spread throughout the Chingsu Paper area, starting from the entrance, front yard, back of the factory, offices buildings, and the inside of the production plant. The guard group was greatly feared by the workers and became the favourite of the owner of Chingsu Paper Company.

Unfortunately, over time, the owner of Chingsu Paper grew older and began to get sickly. When the owner’s children started to take care of the company, it turned out that they were not good at business. This caused the company’s management to fall apart and Chingsu Paper’s sales plummeted. It also had an impact on the fate of their GG. Gradually, the group began to lose its men bit by bit, along with many employees being fired.

Due to the increasing debt, the company finally decided to lease their land to other companies. Even so, the money was still not able to save the Chingsu Paper Company, so the company finally closed down. All that remains for the successors of Chingsu Paper was the land they still lease to the tenant companies. The area was now called Chingsu District.

Then, what about the fate of GG? Because the founder of Chingsu Paper highly valued Lee Mu Fei, he gave special conditions to the tenants to allow him to keep employing the GG group as a guard for the Chingsu Paper area, just like the ex-employees of Chingsu Paper Company who were eventually transferred to work for land-tenant companies. This condition was not ordinary. It was a legally protected written agreement that binds the tenants until they no longer lease the land.

In the end, the founder of Chingsu Paper died. He bequeathed his properties to his children and made them fight over each other because they felt that the distribution of properties was unfair. Because of the fuss over inheritance, the three sons of the founder of Chingsu Paper did not have time to take care of the Chingsu District area. They just let the land move on its own as long as it continued to make money.

How could a thriving tree die? That was because there were parasites on it.

Until the end of his life, the founder of Chingsu Paper did not know that the Lee Mu Fei he had trusted for years was actually taking advantage behind his back. Although what Lee Mu Fei did, did not have a big impact on the paper company, his actions proved that the founder of Chingsu Paper had misjudged him all along. Truly, Lee Mu Fei was a cunning man.

While working at Chingsu Paper, Lee Mu Fei often cheated. He took advantage of the boss’s trust to play at the back. He often took bribes from employees who wanted to work fraudulently. There were even employees who steal products raw materials little by little. Some often arrive late or run away during working hours. Lee Mu Fei didn’t care what those people did as long as they gave him bribes. The bigger the fraud the employee made, the more they had to pay him and his men to keep their mouths shut.

Because he had so much faith in the sweet-lips man, the founder of Chingsu Paper never had the slightest suspicion of him. He always received reports from the GG commander just like that, convinced that the boy he had brought from their hometown must do a good job and.. was honest.

Unfortunately, the reality was way much different. The demons even could hide in the brightest places. In fact, Lee Mu Fei even started his own small business within the company. He, along with a man named Oscar Chopper, influenced all GG members to cheat with them. Even, if Lee Mu Fei found one of his men tried to be honest, he would fire him from his guard job easily.

Oscar Chopper himself was a factory office employee at the Chingsu Paper Company. He was such a cunning person that he could easily influence Lee Mu Fei. In the shadow of the GG group, a real group they called the Creeper was standing.

When Chingsu Paper finally went bankrupt, it wasn’t a big deal for the Creeper. Because in fact, it meant that they had been released from their hide. Lee Mu Fei and Oscar Chopper could read the situation clearly. They knew that Chingsu District was no longer under the control of its owner, while they still had full authority to guard the area at the same time. Therefore, they completely ditched the General Guard name and officially introduced the Creeper name.

For many years, Creeper held Chingsu District road and run their main business. It was as if they were parasites that freely built their empire on the body of their host. The more companies stood on that vast tract of land, the more employees would use their fraudulent services.

The owners of companies that stood in the Chingsu District area actually already suspect that the Creeper was committing fraud. However, they finally decided to turn a blind eye because the losses they experienced were still smaller compared with the land rent they would have to pay if they set up factories elsewhere.

Yes, from the start, the founder of Chingsu Paper had set a low rental fee for his land. What in the old man’s mind was that indeed, his company had gone bankrupt, but he still wanted to help his fellow business fighters, so he decided to set a low lease price for the next few decades.

Creeper grew bigger and bigger. They knew that the Chingsu District would not be enough to fill their greedy stomachs. They were aware that in the end, the business would reach its maximum limit. If they made the renting companies’ losses even bigger, they would choose to leave Chingsu District. If there were no more tenants, they would lose their prey. That was not all. They also thought, what if one day the children of the Chingsu Paper’s founder were done with their fight over the inheritance? If the Chingsu District finally got their full attention, the rents would be raised and the Creepers would most likely be kicked out of here.

Seeing a situation that could end badly, Oscar Chopper finally decided to expand beyond the Chingsu District and focus on a new, more sinister business. The business was mugging and extortion in the street. Meanwhile, Lee Mu Fei still maintained the Chingsu District because only his name was included in the agreement letter between the owner of the Chingsu District and the tenants.