Chapter 497 - Arrogance
“Thunder Horse Military Factory is dead now. They dare steal from Hanwu Weapons? And they brought the item out to display at this exhibition? Are they walking right into a trap? Wow,” said someone.
“Ah, what a waste. It wasn’t easy for a civilian business to enter the military industry. Great, they’re screwed now,” sighed someone.
Discussions started and several expressed regret on Xia Lei’s behalf.
Xia Lei stayed calm. He wrinkled his brows as if he were thinking of something.
“Say something!” demanded the Hanwu Weapons lawyer. “How are you going to resolve this?”
Xia Lei then said, “Hold on, I’ll get our lawyer here.”
Ye Kun sneered, “You won’t be able to resolve this even with 100 lawyers. Be prepared for a lawsuit, Xia Lei!”
Xia Lei did not show any heat getting to him. “Even if I’m getting sued, I’ll need my lawyer. I’m not too familiar with court cases, so my lawyer with talk with you.”
Xia Lei took out his phone. He was going to give the Thunder Horse Group lawyer a call and get him to come over, but that lawyer had already received prior instructions and was waiting outside the Jindgu Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Xia Lei called Ling Han. “Brother Ling, where are you?”
Ling Han’s voice came from over the line. “I’m on my way to the exhibition. Hehe, I’m not coming alone either. Some military representatives are coming too, specially to see what good stuff your Thunder Horse Military Factory’s putting up on display. The XL2500 you manufacture is very popular in the military now, you know.”
Xia Lei gave a laugh. “That’s great. I’ll wait for you to come over.”
“Hold on, did you need something when you called me?” asked Ling Han.
“There is one thing... but it’s not convenient to talk about it over the phone. Let’s talk when we meet, since you’re on your way here. Goodbye,” said Xia Lei.
Xia Lei hung up. Ling Han bringing military representatives over was a good piece of news for him.
It was getting noisy around them. Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng did not manage to hear who Xia Lei had called, but they were disturbed by Xia Lei’s lack of nervousness and his smiling. Did this punk not know how serious this was?
“Kun,” said Mu Jianfeng softly in Ye Kun’s ear, “I feel like something’s wrong with this situation. Are you sure that nothing of this has been leaked?”
Ye Kun was certain. “Of course not. Everything has been in the palm of my hand from start to finish. Teacher, this punk is just bluffing. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he can’t act so arrogantly.” He shot a look at the bodyguards and lawyers around him as soon as he was done talking.
This was the signal to make their move.
“Thunder Horse Military Factory’s exhibition is over. Leave, all of you!” A bodyguard shouted at the foreign purchasers in the exhibition area.
Some bodyguards went to push the reporters and onlookers away.
The Hanwu Weapons lawyers were on the move too. The lead lawyer spoke to Xia Lei in an official tone, “Please excuse me, Director Xia. We are going to inspect your Gust assault rifle. It is the evidence of your plagiarisation of our Shenwu assault rifle technology and it shall be used as evidence in court.”
The burly Hanwu Weapons employees rushed into the booth without any spoken instructions and made to seize Thunder Horse Military Factory’s Gust assault rifle for inspection.
Xia Lei’s expression was ice-cold. “How are you!”
“Ha! I dare!” sneered Ye Kun. “And not just your gun. You’ll have to come with us too!”
Two of Ye Kun’s bodyguards reached abruptly for Xia Lei’s arms.
Xia Lei lifted his arms immediately, avoiding the bodyguards’ grab, then struck them lighting-quick in their faces. The two bodyguards were hit in the nose before they could react, and they lost their balance as blood spurted from their noses. They fell to the floor.
Xia Lei lifted his leg next, and kicked a Hanwu Weapons employee in the shoulder. The employee had been about to seize the Gust assault rifle for inspection, but he was kicked out of the booth.
“H, How dare you!” Ye Kun was shocked, and mad.
Why wouldn’t he dare?
Just as the words left Ye Kun’s mouth, Xia Lei grabbed another Hanwu Weapons employee and lifted him up, then flung him bodily out of the booth. The unlucky man had planned on showing Ye Kun his might but he had been instantly sent flying out of the booth unexpectedly. He fell in a daze and was unable to pick himself up for a while.
Qin Xiang did not stay still either. He kicked a Hanwu Weapons employee between the legs, then kick his butt when the man doubled over in pain, booting him out of the booth.
The remaining few escaped the area before Xia Lei and Qin Xiang made any further moves.
No one wanted to fly out the Thunder Horse Military Factory like bedraggled chickens.
“He’s revolting!” Mu Jianfeng was hopping mad. He roared, “Go! Go get the police to come here!”
There wasn’t actually a need to get the police because they were watching it all happen. Ye Kun had given them greetings earlier and asked them not to interfere. However, they had not expected Xia Lei to be so strong, throwing their men out like he was plucking weeds!
Mu Jianfeng had just uttered the words when policemen came pushing through the crowd.
“Arrest him!” Ye Kun commanded. “He hurt my people. Arrest him immediately!”
The leading police officer did not know Xia Lei’s strength but he knew what Ye Kun’s status was. He did not second-think it, and went straight to arrest Xia Lei at Ye Kun’s order.
The police officers came rushing towards Xia Lei, intent on arresting him.
“What are you doing?” The Thunder Horse Military Factory lawyer had arrived, and he shouted, “Who gave you the right to arrest him? Let me tell you that it’ll be easy to arrest him now, but you’ll face a lot of difficulties when you have to release him!”
The leading policeman gave Xia Lei’s lawyer a frosty look. “Who are you?”
“I am the legal counsel for Thunder Horse Military Factory, Ai Wenqing.” The lawyer made his status known.
The leading police officer frowned. Lawyers could talk circles around people and were very difficult to deal with. He was hesitant now that a lawyer for Thunder Horse had turned up, especially since he did not have a warrant for arresting Xia Lei.
“You’re disturbing our company’s participation in the exhibition for no good reason. This is harassment. You also attacked people in our booth, damaged our company’s property and hurt our female employees. Who gave you such authority?” Ai Wenqing’s voice rang out clearly and righteously.
This Ai Wenqing was a smart man, or Xia Lei would not have hired him to be the Thunder Horse Group’s legal counsel to handle the legal matters of the company.
Ai Wenqing’s words were actually a signal.
Right after he spoke, the female employees of Thunder Horse Military Factory held their stomachs and groaned, acting like they had been hit. They had come into physical contact with the employees of Hanwu Weapons, and they were all burly men. They were frail, weak women so how many would doubt their act?
The policemen who were about to arrest Xia Lei hesitated too, and glanced back at their leader for instructions.
The leading officer had a headache too, and he looked at Ye Kun.
Ye Kun said angrily, “What are you waiting for? Take him away! Seize the guns! I’ll take responsibility if it’s needed!”
Those words were enough. The leading officer gave the command. “Take him away!”
“How dare you!” Ai Wenqing stood in their way.
“Take this obstruction with us too, to assist in the investigation,” said the leading officer.
Two police officers grabbed Xia Lei’s arms and jerked them backwards, bringing his arms to his back. One of the officers cuffed Xia Lei. They actually did arrest him.
Shentu Tianyin, who had been keeping silent, could not keep silent any longer. She moved forward and stood before Xia Lei. “What are you doing? How can you arrest someone like this? I want to see your arrest warrant!”
“That’s right! How could you policemen arrest someone without a warrant! Who are you working for, the people or for yourselves?” said one of Shentu Tianyin’s subordinates.
“Yeah, are there people who are above the law in this country? This is just too much!” said one of Shentu Tianyin’s celebrity friends loudly.
“What gives you the right to arrest him?”
“What right do you have to arrest him?”
The onlookers begun taking up the shout and their voices of protest came in waves.
Sweat formed on the leading officer’s forehead.
“Take him away! Ignore her!” Ye Kun was getting anxious.
Mu Jianfeng was also worried that the situation would get out of hand the longer he left it, so he spoke up too. “Do as Chairman Ye says. Take him away. What’s with you all, making such noise here? Are we still holding this exhibition? How will you be responsible for this if something happens?”
Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng spoke at the same time, and the leading officer put his last doubts away. He waved his hand and said loudly, “Take him away. Anyone who gets in the way will be found to be in obstruction of justice!”
Shentu Tianyin’s face was pale with anger. She was not a woman who would be scared easily, and she kept her position in front of Xia Lei, not letting the police officers take him away.
“Tianyin, move aside. Just watch from the side,” said Xia Lei.
“But they...” Shentu Tianyin was full of worry.
Xia Lei smiled toothily. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Do you think something will happen to me?”
These words seemed to awaken Shentu Tianyin. That’s right – Xia Lei was setting them up, from beginning to end. He had dug a pit for Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng to fall into, and these two were just baring their fangs at Xia Lei in the pit. How could they hurt him? Besides, other than this identity, Xia Lei’s other status made him someone whom Ye Kun could not easily mess with!
Worry vanished from Shentu Tianyin’s heart when she thought about it, and she stood aside.
The police officers dragged Xia Lei out.
Click, click, click. The media were going crazy recording this series of events.
The reporters’ frenzied picture-taking did not make Ye Kun shy away. It made him sneer instead. ‘Go ahead, take pictures. So what? Take as many pictures as you’d like. It’ll be no use when it’s found that Thunder Horse stole patented technology from Hanwu Weapons.”
Mu Jianfeng let out a silent sigh of relief too. It was about 80% done at this stage. The remaining 20% were just surface procedures.
Just then, a voice full of anger rang out in the exhibition hall. “What are you doing? Which department are you from?”