Chapter 13.2

The next morning, Jiang Rou still learned the truth from him. The banner was real, but the money came from a slightly crooked source.

Li Xiao didn’t hide it from her either. He roughly explained the experience they had gone through. Initially, they were deceived. Zhu Qiang’s cousin had gone to work on the coast two years ago and somehow got lured into a pyramid scheme. Later, as the group grew larger and more ambitious, they even sent people to inland cities to recruit more people to join them. Zhu Qiang’s cousin was one of them; he was following a small leader to the neighboring city, where his position in the group was not high.

The rule of pyramid schemes is to deceive one person after another. If they fail to get money, they are punished. Mildly, they go without food or water; severely, they are beaten. Some people do earn money, but those are usually the leaders.

To avoid hunger and beatings, many subordinates in pyramid schemes deceive their relatives. Using sweet words, they persuade their relatives to bring a lot of money. Once the relatives arrive, a group of people surrounds them, beats them, steals all their money, and then locks them in a dark room to starve and brainwash them into joining.

Zhu Qiang was easily persuaded. When his cousin said there was more money and better food, he believed him without hesitation, trusting his relative.

When they arrived, a group of people surrounded them, mainly targeting Li Xiao. Zhu Qiang’s cousin wouldn’t let his own brother be beaten, but he couldn’t prevent the starving and stealing.

Li Xiao, on the other hand, naturally refused to be beaten without a fight. He had a tough temper and strong fists, and when it came to fighting, he gave it his all.

Despite being outnumbered, he had been fighting since he was young and was experienced. He fought fiercely, taking on the group alone and eventually beating them. He singled out one person and beat him until he was covered in blood and passed out. The others were so scared that no one dared to approach, fearing for their lives.

As a result, Li Xiao became a key target for recruitment, as they feared he would dismantle the group.

Li Xiao remained calm. After figuring out what these people were up to, he knew they wouldn’t let him go. So, he simply pretended to agree.

He was definitely going to leave—not only leave but also vent his anger.

So he persuaded two people to join him as brothers and secretly contacted the local police, working together to dismantle the entire pyramid scheme.

Of course, Li Xiao didn’t let those two brothers off easily. Before the police arrived, the three of them found the money the group had cheated earlier, pried it open, and secretly took a portion.

Even if the final amount didn’t add up, they could always blame it on the group’s leader.

After they were taken to the police station, the three of them were detained along with the others, as had been arranged with the police in advance to prevent any retaliation.

Once at the station, the three were locked up with the others, as agreed upon beforehand with the police, fearing potential retaliation.

Since Li Xiao and the other two had never deceived anyone, they recorded their statements and were released like the other innocent individuals. However, before leaving, they were presented with banners and bonuses in a ceremony arranged by the police, and they shook hands with the officers in charge.

Afterward, the three of them secretly returned to the stronghold, retrieved the money they had buried underground in the toilet, and then went their separate ways.

Zhu Qiang had it a bit rougher because he was related to his cousin, so his testimony took longer to record. Li Xiao even waited for him for a few days but didn’t tell Zhu Qiang about what he had done, fearing that he might not be able to keep the secret.

As for the money, of course, he wouldn’t give it to him.

In fact, Li Xiao proved himself to be a capable man. Not only did he help the police arrest the pyramid scheme members in W city, but he also exposed the pyramid scheme’s main base in G province. Because of his wit and good looks, the group planned to groom him as a core member, providing him with travel expenses and food to attend training in the main camp in G province.

Of course, this was also part of brainwashing—painting a rosy picture for the underlings. As long as they worked hard, there would always be such a day.

However, before this picture was fully painted, Li Xiao had already investigated the identities of several big fish above, as well as their usual whereabouts.

After hearing what he had done, Jiang Rou didn’t know how to respond to him.

Although she had read the information about him, there was still a significant gap between the few words on paper and the reality. She never expected the process to be so complicated. Just listening to his stories and experiences, she felt a sense of thrill.

A dozen or so people had beaten him up in a room, but somehow he managed to fight back. He even went to the South to confront the pyramid scheme leader and spouted nonsense. It’s not easy for someone to become a pyramid scheme leader, and she couldn’t imagine how he could adapt to such situations.

However, what troubled Jiang Rou was the money he had retrieved. If it hadn’t been much, she would have turned a blind eye. But last night, she quickly glanced at it and realized it was a substantial amount.

Jiang Rou crawled down from the bed and opened the money he had casually packed last night. She rounded it up three times before counting it, erasing the rest. The total amount was 9,746 yuan.

She immediately fell silent. She had been a good child since childhood, never taking such an inexplicable amount of money. Even if she found 50 cents on the road, she would hand it over to the teacher.

When she was a child, she picked up 10 yuan on the way home from school, and her brother tricked her into buying food with it. She cried all the way home and complained. Her parents’ attempts to console her didn’t work, so in the end, her father took out 10 yuan and brought her to the local public security bureau to hand it over to the police before she finally calmed down.

Due to this, her father went home and severely beat her brother, feeling that he was bringing trouble upon himself.

I don’t know how much of the family’s hard-earned money these are.

Li Xiao noticed that her face was turned the wrong way and thought it was a pity she had taken less. He casually explained, “It’s quite a lot. The other two didn’t take as much as I did. There wasn’t much money in the box, so I had to keep some.”

Of course, if the numbers don’t match, those people can be detained for a bit longer.

He is not a good person. When someone provoked him, he always retaliated, didn’t he?

Jiang Rou knew he had misunderstood. His upbringing was different from hers. He was brave and ruthless and sometimes lacked a sense of boundaries when it came to actions. For him, this money was rightfully earned and therefore justified.

Previously, when Jiang Rou looked at his profile, she thought he was a very complex person. He wouldn’t actively do evil, bully the weak, or engage in truly illegal activities. However, he had a high tolerance for those things, and even if he saw them, he wouldn’t interfere.

In fact, it’s not surprising that he chose to investigate the truth and seek revenge for his daughter. If an ordinary father encountered such a situation, he would likely seek legal and police help. If the local police station didn’t care, he would escalate it step by step. But he didn’t; he chose to avenge his daughter in his own way.

Perhaps he didn’t trust the law very much, or perhaps he leaned more towards using violence to solve problems.

In other words, he had a low regard for morality and the law and was convinced by the set of social rules of thugs.

This is actually very dangerous, not because he is dangerous, but because his low moral thinking is very dangerous.

When Jiang Rou was studying, she saw many cases of high-intelligence crimes. Those people were geniuses in the eyes of others, but because they lacked a sense of morality, they used their high intelligence to touch the bottom line of the law to satisfy their private desires, causing very terrible consequences.

Today, it is almost ten thousand yuan. When he tasted the sweetness, next time it could be tens of thousands or even hundreds of millions.

Without hesitation, Jiang Rou said to him: “You return this money. We can’t keep it.”

Upon hearing these words, Li Xiao’s first reaction was that he had misheard her. He looked up at her in surprise and asked suspiciously, “What did you say?”