This chapter continues the aftermath of the funeral, focusing on the woman in the wheelchair—Jia Biyao, former Vice Chair of the Taiwan Religious Affairs Commission during Min Tianyuan's tenure. Now she holds an honorary lifetime advisory post and is one of the few surviving senior members from the Commission's old guard. Had Hao Zhengyi not caused such a mess, there would have been no need to drag her out of retirement to clean it up.
The reason Jia Biyao was called in this time wasn't just her seniority—it was because of an old acquaintance from decades ago: Xiao Heshang. The Commission hoped she could leverage that personal tie to defuse tensions with the Bureau of Paranormal Investigation. But during the funeral, the moment Xiao Heshang saw Jia Biyao, he knew exactly why she'd come. Rather than get tangled up in past grudges, he chose the smarter route—vanish before the sparks flew.
But the Religious Affairs Commission today wasn't the powerhouse it was sixty years ago. Against someone like Yang Xiao, they simply didn't have the strength to contend. Left with no better option, Jia Biyao contacted Blind Jin, hoping he could mediate. Even if it meant letting Sun Fatty open his lion's mouth and name an outrageous price, they had to end this crisis spawned by former Chairman Hao.
Blind Jin figured he still owed the Bureau a favor from two years ago—when they retrieved half of the Heavenly Principle Diagram from the U.S. So he reluctantly agreed to mediate, secretly hoping to profit off the situation himself. But he hadn't expected Sun Fatty to come out swinging so hard. Left with no choice, and after a second call from Jia Biyao sweetened with promised concessions, Sun Fatty finally agreed—half-heartedly—to a face-to-face meeting that night.
Because the matter was sensitive, Sun Fatty didn't dare bring a crowd. In the end, it was just the two of us.
The meeting place? A private club registered in Canada, famous in the capital's elite circles for its imperial-level service—and imperial-level prices. Just the type of place to burn money for sport.
Jia Biyao spared no expense this time, booking the entire club for the evening. When we arrived, her staff—several of whom we'd seen earlier at the funeral—were already there. The only one missing was the host herself.
Sun Fatty had already stepped out of the car, but seeing the setup, he snorted dismissively and turned to me."Ladzi, let's go somewhere else. A joint this fancy doesn't suit the likes of us. Not gonna lie—how about some tripe hotpot instead?"
Just as he said that, laughter echoed from inside the club. A voice followed:"Tripe hotpot? Why go somewhere else? We've got it right here."
A chubby man with graying hair pushed Jia Biyao out in her wheelchair. The man behind the wheelchair wasn't a stranger—it was none other than the current Chair of the Religious Affairs Commission, Huang Ran.
As soon as Sun Fatty saw Huang Ran, he locked eyes with him, and for a moment I thought we were one breath from throwing down. But then, Sun Fatty grinned, pointed at him, and barked:
"Well I'll be damned, Old Huang. You're still alive?"
Huang Ran showed no offense. He simply copied Sun Fatty's tone and chuckled:"They say 'only the good die young, while pests live forever.' Guess I'm the latter. Since we're all here, why not come inside and talk? Da Sheng, Ladzi—this way please."
Sun Fatty immediately shot back:"How about you stick to 'Director Sun' and 'Director Shen'? We're not that close, don't go calling us like we're your dear elders. We don't have such accomplished relatives."
With that, he pulled me along like the host himself, strolling straight through the club's front doors, throwing jabs at the decor the whole way. You'd think we were walking into a budget noodle shop the way he talked it down.
Because the entire club was booked, the dinner was held in the massive main hall, with just one grand Eight Immortals table set up. Blind Jin was already there, and as soon as he heard us approaching, he stood with help and took a few symbolic steps toward us.
With a smile, he said,"I was just bored and cast a hexagram. The omen said 'a great pact shall bring great fortune.' And just as I finished, here you two arrived. Looks like fate agrees, hehehe…"
From her wheelchair, Jia Biyao chimed in,"Then let us borrow Mr. Beihai's auspicious omen. If he can help our two sides turn swords into plowshares, he will be…"
"...Not necessarily."Sun Fatty cut her off without hesitation, scanning the room theatrically before saying,"Could just mean the owner of this club is about to go bankrupt and looking to offload the place. Right, Blind Jin—I mean, Beihai—you might want to check with the actual boss here. Maybe they're the ones fulfilling your divination."
Then, he paused, made a goofy face at me, and added:"What do you think, Lazi?"I nodded solemnly."Sounds about right. It's late, the place is empty. Probably going out of business. Not exactly a lucky omen, huh?"
We continued our little back-and-forth performance, and it clearly got under their skin. Even Blind Jin's smile was starting to crack. Jia Biyao looked downright displeased. The only one who seemed unbothered was Huang Ran, still smiling as he said,"Doesn't matter if the place is going under, does it? As long as dinner's served on time, who owns the joint is irrelevant. Let's take a seat. We're all Chinese here—talking over food is our tradition."He gestured to the staff to begin serving.
Everyone had their own thoughts, and the initial conversation was nothing more than small talk—polite, shallow, and perfunctory. Once most of the dishes were on the table, Blind Jin finally couldn't hold back. He turned toward Sun Fatty and said:
"Director Sun, about Hao Zhengyi—the Commission misjudged him. That's why things got so out of hand. How about this: for my sake, the Commission offers compensation to the Bureau to make up for your losses. Then we issue a joint statement saying we'll work together to hunt down Lin Feng and Hao Zhengyi. I don't have to tell you—the Bureau runs the game in China. But in overseas Chinese communities, our Commission still has more sway. If Lin and Hao flee abroad, even if we can't capture them directly, we'll at least find out where they're hiding."
As he spoke, Sun Fatty just kept smiling without saying a word, focused entirely on dismantling a lobster claw. When Blind Jin finished, Sun Fatty finally pulled out a perfectly intact piece of lobster meat and—very courteously—placed it on Jin's plate. He said with a grin:
"How did we end up talking about Lin Feng and Hao Zhengyi? Weren't we discussing Yang Xiao? Oh right—he didn't pick up when I called him at the airport. Not saying anything, but maybe he's already landed in Taiwan?"
As soon as that sentence landed, Jia Biyao snapped coldly:
"Sun Desheng, stop dancing around it. What exactly do you want? Say it straight. Whatever terms you name, the Commission won't haggle."
"Now that's more like it," Sun Fatty replied with a twisted smile."It's nothing major. As long as your Religious Affairs Commission publicly announces its disbandment, we'll consider this whole thing settled."
The blood drained from Jia Biyao's face. Just as she was about to explode, something changed in her expression. She glanced sideways at Huang Ran—he must have signaled her under the table. Huang smiled and pushed his shark fin soup across to Sun Fatty, saying:
"Have some fin and cool down a little. Then hear me out."
"I'll eat while you talk. Doesn't interfere," Sun Fatty replied, ladling shark fin into his bowl, even giving me one as well.
Huang Ran remained calm and pleasant. He looked at Sun Fatty and said,"Director Sun, I know you've got your own ventures outside the Bureau. I'm personally interested. Would it be alright if I bought in?"As he spoke, he pulled out a check and slid it across the table.
I took a glance—the number began with a 1, and the string of zeroes after it was so long I couldn't count them fast enough.
"Not bad," Sun Fatty said casually. "But we're old acquaintances—let's call it a friendly gesture."He tucked the check away without blinking, then pulled out a toothpick and started cleaning his teeth.
"Got shark fin stuck between my teeth… Oh right, I've got a few other businesses too. Chairman Huang, still interested?"
Finally, a flicker of annoyance crossed Huang Ran's face."We can talk business later. Right now, can we get back to Hao Zhengyi?"
Sun Fatty chuckled, pulled a folded paper from his pocket, and slapped it on the table in front of Huang and Jia Biyao.
"Here's a list of everything Hao Zhengyi took from the Bureau when he fled. You pay us back, and we call it even."
I nearly choked on my soup. I was there when Lin Feng and Hao escaped—they barely took anything besides half of the Heavenly Principle Diagram. This list was obviously a shakedown.
Jia Biyao's face turned livid after glancing through it."These are all our Commission's artifacts!"
"And now they belong to the Bureau," Sun Fatty replied, tone cold and indifferent. "Chairman Huang, your thoughts?"
Huang Ran's left eye twitched. He stared at the list for a few seconds before inhaling deeply and replying:"You're right—they now belong to the Bureau."