098 The Great Fraud 杨

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Seeing this, Yang Tang could not help grinning. Yao Yao, however, was too busy sweeping up the desserts and ice cream in front of her to notice, while A Hao was curious but too proud to ask someone younger than himself for an explanation.

Yang Tang had “seen through” the fact that the three men and one woman had no money, but he had no interest in exposing them. Instead, he subconsciously raised Eagle Eye’s threshold to “people with tens of millions in assets.” In an instant, everyone at Yun Luyue’s table except Yun Luyue herself ceased to radiate golden light.

“Heh heh. What about people with hundreds of millions?”

Murmuring to himself, Yang Tang raised Eagle Eye’s level of detection once more. The golden glow around Yun Luyue remained unchanged.

“What about a billion?”

This time, only sparse flecks of golden light remained around Yun Luyue. It looked extremely thin, as though it might dissipate at any moment.

“Good grief!”

Yang Tang arrived at an answer that was almost certainly correct. Looking at A Hao, he said, “Brother Hao, right? I have to admit, your sister really is very rich!”

At once, A Hao perked up. “What does my sister’s money have to do with you? Anyway, there’s no chance you’ll win her over. You can’t even get past me!”

Yang Tang cast him a sidelong glance and sneered. “Is that so? You call that scrawny frame of yours a barrier? If the palm I struck at your motorcycle yesterday had accidentally landed on you instead, do you think you’d still have a chance to stand here and talk nonsense with me?”

A Hao could not help shivering. Clenching his back teeth, he stubbornly said, “That would have been wonderful. If you had struck me with that palm, you wouldn’t be sitting here drinking tea now. You’d be behind bars.”

“Really?” Yang Tang replied with great composure. “What’s that idiom again? Oh, right—wipe them all out. Your sister was there yesterday. What do you think would have happened if I had lost my temper and wiped out every last one of you?”

A Hao jolted in fright and glared fiercely at Yang Tang. “You’d have to be insane!”

“That’s true. I couldn’t bring myself to lay a hand on Yao Yao.”

As he spoke, Yang Tang patted Yao Yao’s head like a kitten.

“A Hao, I’m only trying to remind you that your sister is rich and probably has powerful connections. And you’re a police officer. The Yun family may look formidable on the surface, but perhaps it’s nothing more than a beautiful shell—one poke, and it will break.”

A Hao understood only half of what he was saying and could not help asking, “What exactly are you trying to say?”

Yang Tang hesitated, then glanced at the innocent, bewildered Yao Yao. In the end, he showed a rare bit of kindness and offered a warning.

“Not long ago, your sister took a phone call in my room. It should have been you calling. Could those three men and one woman chatting with your sister right now have been introduced by you?”

A Hao froze for a moment. He did not dwell on why Yun Luyue had been in Yang Tang’s room and merely nodded slowly.

“So what if I introduced them? They’re jade brokers from Qiongzhou. They claim to have a way to open up a distribution route through the border regions. Hey, you really did scare me for a moment. Why am I wasting my breath talking to you?”

“Brokers? Brokers who can control distribution channels?” Yang Tang became even more certain of his suspicions. “Anyone with access to shipping channels is certainly no novice. In other words, as long as these brokers have completed even one shipment, then even at the lowest commission rate of three percent, the funds in their hands should amount to at least several million!”

“What are you trying to say?” A Hao asked impatiently.

“You heard my analysis just now, didn’t you?” Yang Tang said mockingly. “All I’m saying is this: even if those three men and one woman pooled all their assets together, they still wouldn’t have four million. What do you make of that?”

A Hao was stunned. “Impossible! They were introduced to me by my closest classmate. My classmate couldn’t possibly deceive me!”

“Heh heh. In this day and age, you can’t even rely on your own son. How much is a classmate worth?”

At those words, A Hao’s body jolted again. He turned around and was about to head toward Yun Luyue’s table.

Yang Tang grabbed him and pressed him back down. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to warn my sister.”

Yang Tang rolled his eyes. “You believe everything I say? What if I was making it all up just now?”

He truly wondered whether Yun Luyue and A Hao were really siblings. How could there be such a vast difference between their intelligence?

“You—”

“Even if my judgment is correct, going over there now wouldn’t that be alerting the enemy?” At this point, Yang Tang could not help asking another question. “Brother Hao, are you really a police officer?”

A Hao was speechless.

At that moment, Yao Yao, who had nearly finished eating, said, “Uncle Tang, my stinky uncle really is a police officer. He has one bar and three stars!”

“Really?” Yang Tang seized the opportunity to tease him. “But I don’t think your uncle’s intelligence is up to the mark.”

“His intelligence isn’t up to the mark? Then he’s a stupid uncle!” Yao Yao said without the slightest restraint.

This time, it was A Hao’s turn to roll his eyes furiously.

Just then, Yun Luyue seemed to have finished negotiating with the three men and one woman. She escorted them out of the Chinese restaurant, then returned to Yang Tang and Yao Yao’s table a short while later.

She picked up Yao Yao, wiped her mouth, and kissed her several times before asking, “A Hao, why do you look so troubled?”

Before A Hao could answer, Yang Tang spoke first.

“Ms. Yun, the man and woman standing beside you and attending to you just now should both be executive secretaries, right? How much do you pay them each month?”

Yun Luyue instinctively felt that this was not a business secret and replied at once, “The woman gets ten thousand, and the man gets fifteen thousand. Including bonuses and a few other benefits, it comes to about twenty thousand. Why?”

Yang Tang neither agreed nor disagreed. He continued asking, “How long have those two secretaries worked for you?”

“The older one—the man—has been with me for three years. As for the woman, she’s been here for less time, about a year and eight months.”

“You must have employees who are very good at managing their money, Ms. Yun. Especially that secretary. If I’m not mistaken, he’s worth at least a million by now.”

Yun Luyue’s entire body trembled.

A Hao was even more bewildered. “Didn’t you say those three men and one woman were suspicious? Why are you bringing my sister’s executive secretary into it now?”

Yang Tang spread his index and middle fingers and pointed toward his eyes from either side, saying calmly, “I’m merely revealing what I observed. Whether you believe it is up to you.”

“But there’s no proof in words alone. How are we supposed to believe you?” A Hao asked.

Yun Luyue shared the same concern and gave a bitter smile. “Mr. Yang, it’s not that A Hao and I don’t believe you—”

Yang Tang waved a hand, stopping her from continuing.

“Ms. Yun, what you just said is itself an expression of distrust. But it doesn’t matter. I only offered the warning because Yao Yao and I took to each other. Whether you believe me or not is your business and has nothing to do with me.”

“This…”

Yun Luyue was rendered speechless.

A Hao, however, suddenly had a flash of inspiration and deliberately provoked him.

“Yang, I don’t object to you pretending to be some fortune-telling fraud, but I’ll never believe that you and my niece have some special bond, even if you beat me to death!”

“Is that so?” Yang Tang gave him a mysterious smile. “Then let me guess Yao Yao’s birth details.”

“Yao Yao’s birth details?” Yun Luyue stared blankly for a moment, then suddenly realized something. Her expression changed slightly.

A Hao naturally noticed as well. “Sis, is something wrong?”

“Ms. Yun, your expression changed.” Yang Tang gave an ominous smile. “Could it be that the date of birth registered with the authorities doesn’t match Yao Yao’s actual date of birth?”

Hearing this, A Hao relaxed instead. Quite a few people in the country had reported the wrong date of birth. If discovered, the worst consequences would be dismissal or a fine. It would not amount to anything serious for Yao Yao.

But when he glanced at his sister, he found Yun Luyue’s face had changed drastically, as though she had just heard something terrifying.

Yang Tang ignored her expression and said coolly, “Yao Yao was born in 1995. That part is correct. She was born in the sixth month of the lunar calendar. That is correct as well. However, she was not born on the twenty-ninth. It should have been the twenty-eighth. Nor was she born during the Renyin hour; it should have been the Xinmao hour. Am I right, Ms. Yun?”

Yun Luyue nodded involuntarily. A Hao stood there dumbstruck, while Yao Yao remained utterly confused. She had no idea what Yang Tang was talking about with the twenty-ninth and twenty-eighth, and she understood even less what time the Xinmao hour—between 6:12 and 6:35—actually referred to.

“Born in the Year of the Wood Boar, the Month of the Water Goat, the Day of the Fire Snake, and the Hour of the Metal Rabbit—the eight characters are entirely yin. Heh heh. Ms. Yun, no wonder you concealed Yao Yao’s true date of birth. Perhaps someone told you that doing so would help avert misfortune and attract good fortune, didn’t they?”

By this point, Yun Luyue had been thoroughly deceived by Yang Tang. Only the wandering Taoist who had taught her to alter Yao Yao’s birth details and Yun Luyue herself knew that the child’s date of birth had been concealed. Yet Yang Tang had somehow “calculated” everything with such clarity and accuracy that she could not help believing him completely.

“Mr. Yang—Master Yang, then… what do you think must be done to avert misfortune and attract good fortune for Yao Yao, whose destiny contains entirely yin elements?”

Yang Tang let out a cold laugh. “Avert misfortune and attract good fortune? In my view, when things reach their extreme, they must turn around. The greatest misfortune can become the greatest blessing. As long as Yao Yao safely lives past the Dog Hour, she may look forward to a life of immense wealth and honor.”

“Lives past the Dog Hour?” Yun Luyue stared blankly. “What if Yao Yao doesn’t survive until then?”

“Don’t worry. With me here, I will certainly keep her safe.”

“Thank you, Master! Thank you, Master Yang!”

Tears filled Yun Luyue’s eyes as she repeatedly expressed her gratitude. If other diners had not been arriving one after another, she might already have knelt before Yang Tang.

Yang Tang made no comment. He casually picked up Yao Yao and asked, “Would you like to go back to Uncle’s room and play some games?”

“No.”

“Why not?” Yang Tang asked.

Yao Yao reached out her little hand toward Yun Luyue’s face. “Mommy is crying, so I don’t want to.”

Yun Luyue quickly wiped away her tears. “Yao Yao, Mommy is crying because she’s happy.”

“Then can Mommy come with me to Uncle’s room and play games?”

“This…”

Yun Luyue looked at Yang Tang.

Yang Tang made no objection. “Come if you want.”

With that, he carried Yao Yao out of the restaurant.

Yun Luyue hurried after him, but before leaving, she gestured to her younger brother A Hao, signaling him to investigate those three men and one woman.

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