According to Zhang Liang, his family used to be in the real estate business. His sister, Zhang Xiaoxia—the mother of Bai Yingzi and Bai Xue—had married into the equally prominent Bai family. In those days, such a union between powerful families was entirely normal.
However, everything changed after the reform and opening-up policy, when she met Wang Tianlong, a man who presented himself as a merchant from Nanyue. Wang lured them into a massive trap, enticing them with the promise of Nanyue’s booming development and higher profit margins. He didn't just swindle the Zhang and Bai families; he used the opportunity to swallow up both their businesses. Bai Yingzi’s father even died a tragic death in Nanyue, his bones left in a foreign land; to this day, no one knows where he is buried.
Judging by his account, it was another case of collusion between gangsters and officials—a tactic Wang Tianlong was an expert in. After raking in a fortune here, he laundered his assets and moved to Shancheng, the only municipality under direct central administration in the northwest. He secured legal residency, stayed for over twenty years, and transformed himself into the richest man in Shancheng.
Chapter 217