Returning - Chapter 168
Chapter 168: Battle
Zhuang Yiqing could tell it was indeed her personal assistant Yao Qian's voice on the recording, and she could guess the content of the recording. But she had never instructed Yao Qian to do such a thing. Moreover, Miao San had messed up last time and was already on her blacklist. She wouldn't have sought him out even if there was something to do.
But with the recording now in play, she couldn't be absolutely sure that Yao Qian, in his eagerness to prove himself, hadn't taken it upon himself to act on her behalf. For a moment, she found herself unable to determine the truth of the matter.
However, after hesitating for just two seconds, she suddenly laughed out loud. "What does this prove? Videos can be faked. Is a recording supposed to be solid evidence?"
Watching every shift in her expression, Xu Chengyan gave a sardonic smirk. "You know perfectly well in your own heart whether it's fake or not. Last time, I helped you. This time, I'll collect tenfold for that stab wound Zhao Yu suffered."
Zhao Yu.
Zhuang Yiqing silently filed this name away in her memory. Looking at him seriously one last time, she said, "I'll say it again. I didn't do it."
"And I'll say it again. What you did to Zhao Yu, I'll repay tenfold."
Zhuang Yiqing gave a cold laugh, then turned and left without hesitation.
She understood people like Xu Chengyan all too well. They neither trusted others easily nor shed their arrogance. Once he was convinced of something, all her denials were useless. Further words were pointless.
At the door, she suddenly turned back, looking at him with equal contempt. "Xu Chengyan, you pig-headed fool."
After she left, Xu Chengyan reopened the recording and listened to it meticulously once more. There was indeed nothing unusual about it.
He had even had an expert examine it; the recording showed no signs of fabrication, and he was also confident there were no issues with his interrogation of Miao San.
Yet, from last night to this morning, he had the nagging feeling that something was off. He couldn't put his finger on it, just a sense of unease.
In fact, a fleeting, vague thought seemed to have flashed through his mind at one moment this morning.
But he had been up all night. His head was groggy and heavy. Before his eyes, all he could see was Zhao Yu's pale, tear-streaked face and that glaring, crimson knife. He simply couldn't calm his mind, nor could he figure out what that shadowy, fleeting thought had been.
Just as he was about to listen to the recording again, his phone rang. It was his father, who was in a semi-retired state.
"How much further do you intend to take this farce? Breaking off the engagement in front of so many people and then turning on the Zhuang family—do you want everyone to know our Xu family is treacherous and faithless? Haven't you disgraced the Xu family enough? Let me tell you, the most important things in business are these two words: integrity. Right now, you..."
Pushing the phone far away from his ear, Xu Chengyan impatiently picked at his ear, drawling slowly, "Wasn't it you who taught me from childhood that strength is what matters most in business? Did I lose my memory, or did you lose yours?"
That one sentence left the other party speechless. After a moment of silence, the voice on the other end seemed ready to speak again, but he had already hung up.
Speaking with strength—this had been the Zhuang family's creed for decades. Now, the company's power was in his hands, and how to act was his decision. Even his own father couldn't interfere.
Leaning back in his chair, he pondered for a long time. The image of Zhao Yu's pale face in the hospital, those tears streaming down without end, played before his eyes again and again. Xu Chengyan clenched his fist and dialed a number. "Continue."
The moment Zhuang Yiqing returned to the company, she immediately summoned Yao Qian to her office for questioning. She had suspected that her over-trust in him might have led him to act first and report later. But she also trusted that under her interrogation, Yao Qian would not dare to lie.
Therefore, she could now be certain: that recording was a forgery. Someone had deliberately framed her.
"Zhao Yu?" Staring coldly at Yao Qian, who was now so intimidated by her questioning he scarcely dared breathe, Zhuang Yiqing commanded, "Find someone to investigate thoroughly. Find out exactly who it is."
All day, she couldn't reach Zhuang Ye or Ji Sui. And Xu Chengyan, after pulling Yicheng and its holding companies out of their long-established cooperation agreements with Lanxi, had also disrupted partnerships between several companies that Yicheng had brought into contact with Lanxi.
She knew Xu Chengyan was using every last resource to strike at the Zhuang family. But Xu Chengyan alone couldn't land any fatal blow on Lanxi. They didn't need to be this nervous yet.
Still, this gave people like Zhuang Ze and Zhuang Ruyun an excuse to attack her, accusing her of bringing this disaster upon them by privately offending Xu Chengyan.
Externally busy all day, internally fighting all day, she was utterly exhausted, both physically and mentally. Just when she thought things were about to settle down, another thunderclap broke.
Early the next morning, Yao Qian had just finished reporting to her that they hadn't yet found any information on that woman named Zhao Yu, when another secretary rushed in hurriedly. "President Zhuang, trouble. An anonymous short-seller has targeted us, claiming we've fabricated revenue and profits, that our financial reports are falsified."
Zhuang Yiqing's expression changed. She took the secretary's phone but hadn't even finished reading the news when Zhuang Zhen walked in. "What exactly is going on between you and Xu Chengyan? Is this short-seller in league with him?"
Xu Chengyan's own family company was also listed in Hong Kong. There was no telling when it might become a target for those short-sellers itself. The question sounded almost ridiculous. But combined with the online news, Zhuang Yiqing couldn't find it amusing, because everything was just too coincidental.
Starting yesterday, the internet was flooded with reports about Lanxi. Beginning with Xu Chengyan's broken engagement and linking to news of Yicheng and its holding companies pulling out investments, all sorts of wild speculation ran rampant. They claimed Lanxi's capital chain had problems, that it was not just marriage fraud but attempted financial fraud, and that the Xu family only discovered this, leading to the subsequent chain of events.
Zhuang Yiqing wasn't sure if this was a narrative spun by Xu Chengyan or if other competitors were secretly stirring up trouble. But this level of impact couldn't seriously harm Lanxi. Lanxi had specifically refuted the rumors just last night.
Who would have thought that today, such a short-seller article would suddenly surface, seemingly confirming Lanxi's deep financial crisis all at once.
Being targeted by those short-sellers was never good news. Quite a few companies previously targeted had seen their stock prices plummet, some even forced to delist directly. Now, with everything piling up one after another, this absolutely constituted a major crisis for Lanxi.
Father and daughter exchanged only a brief opinion before immediately calling an emergency meeting to discuss how to respond publicly.
Nearly at the exact same moment, Xu Chengyan also saw this news.
He had gone to the hospital again last night to see Zhao Yu. Though she still didn't want to see him, he had nonetheless spent several hours by her bedside while she slept.
Having barely slept for two consecutive nights, he was just about to catch a few more hours of rest before heading to work. Who knew that the old man, still furious from their spat last night where he'd yelled about disowning him, would suddenly burst into his room. With a look of utter disbelief, he asked, "Does Lanxi really have problems? Did you sense this long ago? Then why the hell didn't you tell me, you little bastard?"
Bleary-eyed, Xu Chengyan sat up in bed, reluctantly taking his father's phone. "What?"
But in the next second, upon seeing the headline of that short-seller article, his drowsiness vanished completely.
He wanted to read it carefully, but the text was too dense. An instant, intense agitation seized him, making it impossible to take in a single word. He could only urgently ask the old man, "Is this article real? Could someone be impersonating a short-seller institution and fabricating it?"
The old man shook his head. "I've looked into it. This is exactly the kind of thing those institutions do. I didn't expect them to target Lanxi this early. If we get targeted someday, it won't be good at all."
It was as if something buzzed loudly in his ear. Xu Chengyan suddenly felt a splitting headache. Already severely sleep-deprived, his mind instantly plunged into chaos, as if no thought could coalesce.
He sat on the bed in a daze for a long while before abruptly flinging off the covers and rushing out in a frantic hurry.
The series of online media manipulations yesterday weren't his doing, but he was certain it was Xue Zhan.
Seizing an opportunity to suppress a competitor while venting some anger for Zhao Yu—he understood this logic perfectly and couldn't be bothered to accuse Xue Zhan of taking advantage of the situation.
But if this short-seller article that appeared today was real, then as the old man said, those institutions had set their sights on Lanxi long ago.
That alone wouldn't necessarily be surprising. However, when all these events converged so coincidentally, the odds were high that it wasn't coincidence at all, but a long-contemplated scheme.
A scheme long contemplated by the uncle and nephew of the Xue family, and Zhao Yu.
As for him, Xu Chengyan, he was nothing more than a chess piece in their hands.
God this is too good! I feel like an addict
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