With the opening of the stock market, Shen Group stock price quickly fell from 80 yuan per share all the way to 60 yuan per share, and there was a trend of continued fall.

As Gao Qiulin looked at the graph representing Shen Group stock price on the computer screen, his eyes were gloomy and his face was as white as the face of a patient who was seriously ill.

“Well? Have you thought it over?” Wang Changlin asked unhurriedly.

Gao Qiulin gave Wang Changlin a deadly stare, “Let me take another look.”

Wang Changlin laughed lightly, speaking in the same unhurried tone, “Last time Shen Group share price was 80 yuan per share. I wanted to buy, but you said you’d look at it. Now that it has dropped to 60 yuan per share, you want to take another look? You’re not worried about Shen Group stock price dropping below 50 yuan per share? In that case, you will lose a lot of money.”

Gao Qiulin raised his head sharply, “You want Shen Group to continue to fall?”

Wang Changlin had an odd smile on his face, “How is it possible?”

Gao Qiulin stared at Wang Changlin suspiciously and snorted coldly, “I’ll give you an answer before noon. Whatever you want to do, don’t involve me.”

Wang Changlin smiled in satisfaction, “What are you worried about? I remember we’ve always worked well together before. Are you sure you won’t join forces with me this time?”

A hint of vigilance flashed in Gao Qiulin’s eyes, “What do you want to do?”

Wang Changlin laughed, “What do you think I will do? I think what I have done is already obvious. I’m just doing what you’ve always wanted to do, using Shen Group money to acquire Shen Group.”

Gao Qiulin gave a low grunt, glanced at the stock price that continued to fall and said fiercely, “You can play by yourself, I give up.”

“So you’re agreeing to transfer your shares to me?”

Gao Qiulin frowned, “What are you in a hurry for? Didn’t I say I’d give you an answer before noon?”

Wang Changlin gave Gao Qiulin a meaningful look, thinking of the hidden partner Gao Qiulin had mentioned before, and his eyes flashed with a bright light extremely quickly.

Lao K quickly told Shen Xi of Gao Qiulin’s plan to transfer his shares, and after taking a glance at Shen Group stock price that was still falling, Shen Xi politely declined Gao Qiulin’s offer. Gao Qiulin was holding only about 10% of Shen Group shares; compared to the absolute majority of shares in Shen Dehan’s hand, even if Shen Xi bought them, it would not help at all. What’s more, if Shen Group continued to fall like this, it would soon go bankrupt. What was the use of having shares of the bankrupt Shen Group? He was not interested in taking over the Shen Group mess at all, instead he would like to see the Shen Group mess get worse.

Gao Qiulin regretted very much that Shen Xi didn’t want to take over the shares in his hands. If he could, he really did not want to have anything more to do with Wang Changlin. He had worked with Wang Changlin many times over the years, and the two of them had made a lot of money from Shen Group. In his eyes, Wang Changlin was a poisonous snake. Shen Dehan trusted him, but Wang Changlin could turn around and stab Shen Dehan time and time again. Now that the Shen family was in turmoil, Wang Changlin took advantage of the fire to rob. But this was not the most terrifying thing. The most terrifying thing was that Gao Qiulin had never been able to see Wang Changlin’s intentions clearly. What exactly did he want to do?

Gao Qiulin hesitated, looking at the falling numbers on the screen, his heart beating wildly with each decrease in price. After a while, he gritted his teeth and pressed Wang Changlin’s number. He didn’t care what Wang Changlin wanted to do, since Shen Group had nothing to do with him from now on.

The shares in Gao Qiulin’s hands were transferred to Wang Changlin’s hands quietly. Because of his trust in Wang Changlin, Shen Dehan, who was lying in the hospital, did not notice the transaction taking place. At this time, his attention was on Shen Cheng and Shen Rong’s drug-related incident.

Inside the quiet ward, Shen Ji stood expressionlessly opposite his father, his eyes downcast as he stared at his feet in silence. There was a faint sense of confrontation between the two of them.

Shen Dehan grunted coldly, “Do you want me to repeat myself?”

Shen Ji didn’t react at all, still maintaining his posture of lowering his eyes, silently opposing Shen Dehan’s request.

Anger appeared on Shen Dehan’s face. Shen Ji’s silent resistance made him very dissatisfied. He slapped his wheelchair vigorously, “Ah Ji!”

Shen Dehan’s suddenly straightening figure attracted Shen Ji’s attention. Shen Ji raised his eyes to look at his father, “Father, I will not bail out Shen Rong.”

Shen Ji’s dry refusal made Shen Dehan furious as he continued to slap his wheelchair violently, “Evil son, do you want the Shen family to be reduced to a laughing stock in Zhongjing?”

A hint of self-deprecation flashed in Shen Ji’s eyes as he whispered, “Does Father think that the Shen family is not a laughing stock now?”

“You!” Shen Dehan choked on Shen Ji’s words and said loudly, “I don’t care how much you want to get back to Shen Rong, get him out as soon as possible. The Shen family absolutely cannot have this kind of scandal.”

“Scandal?” Shen Ji sneered, “Shen Rong’s drug dealing and imprisonment is not a scandal, his luring Ah Cheng into taking drugs is the scandal.”

Shen Dehan’s anger was blocked by Shen Ji’s words, and for a moment he couldn’t help but cough violently. Shen Ji raised his eyes to look at Shen Dehan, his expression blank as he had no intention to come closer. Shen Dehan’s face turned grey as he coughed, and his spirit declined a little. Although he already knew what Shen Ji had said, he was still irritated every time he heard it. Whether it was Shen Cheng taking drugs or Shen Rong luring Shen Cheng into taking drugs, it was an unacceptable and huge blow to him. They were both his sons, and he could not believe that Shen Rong would do something like that.

Shen Dehan’s coughing slowly stopped and his attitude remained firm, “Ah Ji, even if you don’t admit it, outsiders know that Shen Rong is the illegitimate son of the Shen family and your younger brother. His problems will definitely implicate the Shen family, and the Shen family can never have a scandal of their children and grandchildren going to jail.”

The words “younger brother” caused Shen Ji to look up at his father, his eyes obscure and unclear. Shen Ji took a step back slightly, the obscurity in his eyes turning to mockery, “I only have two younger brothers. If Father is worried that I will lose face because of Shen Rong, then Father is worrying too much. To me, he is just a stranger who has nothing to do with the Shen family. If Father has nothing else to say, I will leave first, Ah Cheng is waiting for me.”

Shen Ji turned around and left without looking at his father’s expression again. She Dehan strained to grab the handle of his wheelchair, trying to stop him, “Ah Ji!”

Shen Ji, who had already reached the door, stopped slightly after his father’s call, and then a hint of determination flashed across his face as he violently pushed the door and walked out. In the corridor, Chu Qianqian was waiting quietly. As soon as Shen Ji came out, she quickly took a step back and pretended to look natural in front of him. Shen Ji had no intention of talking to Chu Qianqian, and he didn’t care in the slightest about what Chu Qianqian heard at the door. Driving past the press, Shen Ji drove all the way to the suburbs until there was no one else around. Then he let out the anger he had pent up since the hospital and slammed his fist on the steering wheel.

It was ridiculous! It had come to this point, but his father was still deceiving himself, saying that he had to defend the reputation of the Shen family. But how could the Shen family still have any reputation to speak of? Shen Ji’s face was full of mockery. His father wanted to protect Shen Rong, but it also depended on whether he agreed.

Shen Ji’s disobedience made Shen Dehan angry for a long time. After thinking about it, Shen Dehan called Wang Changlin and arranged for him to go to the police station to bail out Shen Rong. When he received the call from Shen Dehan, Wang Changlin was taken aback for a moment but reacted quickly. Shen Dehan might not have any feelings for Shen Rong, but Shen Rong was after all the well-known illegitimate son of the Shen family, and Shen Dehan absolutely could not allow Shen Rong to discredit the Shen family, so he would not allow Shen Rong to carry the stain of drug trafficking and imprisonment. Thinking about Shen Ji’s attitude towards Shen Rong and the fact that Shen Dehan bypassed Shen Ji to let him handle this matter, Wang Changlin could not help but smile playfully. It seemed that Shen Dehan and his eldest son had a big difference in attitude when it came to Shen Rong. Let him think about what he should do to make Shen Dehan and Shen Ji completely turn against each other over Shen Rong.

Wang Changlin acted swiftly and it didn’t take long for him to use some connections and complete the bail procedures for Shen Rong. When Shen Ji found out the news, he was visiting Shen Cheng, who was recovering from drugs, with Li Mingxuan.

The place where Shen Cheng was staying was a holiday villa of the Shen family in the suburbs that Shen Ji had bought a few years ago. Because of its remote location and beautiful environment, Shen Ji used to love to come here when he was in a bad mood. This time he had directly arranged for his bodyguards to send Shen Cheng here and bring a doctor. In the end, Shen Cheng had been locked up here.

When they came over, Shen Cheng was tied to the bed, his whole body fixed immovable, with only his neck barely able to turn. A few bodyguards were quietly guarding the room, and all that could be heard inside was Shen Cheng’s animal-like wails.

“Let me go, let me go now, I want to find Big Brother!”

“Big Brother, please, please, let me take a puff, just one puff.”

“Shen Ji, are you trying to get me killed so you can go back to Shen Group?! I’m telling you, don’t even think about it!”

“Shen Ji, I hate you, I hate you.”

Shen Ji stood in the doorway with a grim face, letting Shen Cheng inside to shout heartbreakingly, without the slightest change of his expression. In the past two days, he had already gotten used to Shen Cheng either begging or cursing whenever his body needed the drug. He watched Shen Cheng shout, weep, struggle violently like a fish out of the water. His initial despair turned to his current expressionlessness. Of course there were times when Shen Cheng was sober, and whenever that time came, Shen Cheng would meekly follow him around, apologising for his swearing, gritting his teeth and vowing to get clean, but every time a bout of addiction came on he would forget what he had said.

As he listened to Shen Cheng’s curses, Li Mingxuan let out a silent sigh and patted Shen Ji’s shoulder hard. Shen Ji shook his head to indicate that he was fine, but deep in his eyes was a deep sadness. Neither of them appeared in front of Shen Cheng;  they knew that once Shen Cheng was awake, he would not want to be seen by anyone in such a mess. Shen Ji stood at the door in silence. The man inside was his most beloved brother. He could even give up Shen Group for him, how could he bear to see him become this inhuman now; and how could he let go of the person who had made Shen Cheng look like this for the sake of the reputation of the Shen family…

The bodyguard gently came over and whispered something into Shen Ji’s ear. Li Mingxuan took a step back, looking away. The last time he saw Shen Cheng, Shen Cheng still looked like he was in high spirits. In just a few days, things had changed so much. Thinking about the current situation of the Shen family, Li Mingxuan remembered what his father had said, that the Shen family was going to be completely defeated. Li Mingxuan could not help but sigh; no matter what, Shen Cheng had Shen Ji to protect him, and it was enough for him to protect Shen Xi.

After a moment, the bodyguard left quietly. Li Mingxuan turned his head and met Shen Ji’s suddenly cold eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

A trace of ferocity flashed across Shen Ji’s face, “Father had Wang Changlin bail Shen Rong out.”

Li Mingxuan’s brows furrowed as Shen Ji said in a cold voice, “Do you have the contact details of those punks in Nancheng?”

Li Mingxuan said, “What do you want to do?”

Shen Ji’s gaze turned to Shen Cheng in the room, his voice cold, “I want Shen Rong to feel the pain that Ah Cheng is suffering as well.”

Previous / ToC / Next