CH 90

“I’m sorry to disturb you at this time.” Shen Yuhuai sat in Dr Xie’s consulting room. He originally wanted to make an appointment for tomorrow morning but the doctor had to travel for the next few days, so he changed it to this evening.

“It’s okay.” Dr Xie held the pen and his eyes rested on Shen Yuhuai. “You can continue talking about what you mentioned on the phone.”

Shen Yuhuai half-lowered his eyes. Chen Qizhao didn’t reply to his message again. He patiently brought out Chen Qizhao’s abnormalities during this time.

Dr Xie’s expression was originally relaxed but when Shen Yuhuai explained it in depth, his brow furrowed. “If it is really like what you said, your friend’s situation no longer has a simple solution. It is possible that medication is needed.”

Shen Yuhuai’s voice was low. “Is it serious?”

“You should know a lot. Based on what you said, I feel that this person is very vigilant. He is wary and cautious. This means it is difficult for him to lower his guard in front of others. But once this defense is noticed by the people around him, it means he doesn’t have much energy to disguise himself.”

Dr Xie could gain a general image from Shen Yuhuai’s mouth. Shen Yuhuai should know some psychological knowledge so he was more specific when describing the person. “It is a good thing that you found out in time. Perhaps you can bring him to find me.”

—

Chen Shiming went to the kitchen before going upstairs and asked a maid to fill a thermos with heated chicken soup.

The maid asked, “Would you like more chicken?”

“Remove the oil. Just make it clear soup,” Chen Shiming said. “Don’t overdo it. He might have a bad appetite.”

Zhang Yazhi seemed to have gone to talk to Dr Li on the phone and there wasn’t the sound of the TV in the living room. The slightly empty environment made footsteps more obvious. Chen Shiming thought of Chen Qizhao’s strange appearance during this time and of the doctor’s inference during his physical examination. His mood couldn’t help sinking a bit.

As he was going upstairs, Shen Xuelan sent him a message with a document attached.

The Shen family had been investigating this matter during this time. He hadn’t expected Shen Xuelan’s speed to be so fast. He stood at the entrance of the stairs and quickly read the main contents of the document. His heart was already full of turmoil.

Even if he had been prepared and knew that Lin Shizong and Gu Zhengsong were crazy, he hadn’t expected the other party to be crazy to this extent. These things were a major criminal case.

Lin Shizhong and Gu Zhengsong… they were two outlaws who ignored the law.

Chen Shiming squeezed his phone, walked to Chen Qizhao’s door and knocked on it.

The speed at which the other person opened the door wasn’t as slow as before. It opened quickly.

The two of them didn’t speak to each other. Chen Qizhao’s movements stopped for a while and his eyes were on the thermos in Chen Shiming’s hand. “What is it? Instead of coffee, you are drinking this?”

Chen Shiming said calmly, “It is chicken soup. There was still some left in the kitchen and I brought it to you.”

“I’m not hungry.” Chen Qizhao paused for a moment before letting go of the door. “Come in and say it.”

Chen Qizhao was used to Chen Shiming speaking directly about things. It was the same when Chen Shiming came to him before. But after coming in today, Chen Shiming didn’t get to the point so quickly but was looking at something.

“The family’s staff should’ve cleaned the room for you.” Chen Shiming’s eyes stopped on the ashtray on the table. Chen Qizhao had only returned in the evening but there were already several cigarette butts in the ashtray. “Why are you smoking so much? Can cigarettes be eaten as food?”

Chen Qizhao paused. He followed Chen Qizhao’s line of sight and noticed the ashtray on the table. “I don’t smoke much.”

He emptied the cigarette butts from the ashtray into the trash. “It is gone. Let’s get down to business.”

Chen Shiming frowned. “You didn’t have such a smoking addiction before.”

Chen Qizhao put the thermos on the table and his voice lowered a bit. “I don’t smoke much.”

Chen Shiming paid attention to Chen Qizhao’s state. He didn’t know when Chen Qizhao’s smoking happened. At the very least, he hadn’t seen Chen Qizhao smoking before last year. There was still a faint smell of smoke in the room and the windows weren’t ventilated. He walked over and opened the curtains to disperse the smell of smoke in the room.

“Cigarettes aren’t a good thing. If you don’t smoke then smoke less.” Chen Shiming opened the window and thought about the information that Chen Qizhao took away. He couldn’t help saying, “The group’s affairs aren’t difficult. You know the truth behind the plan. You don’t have to worry too much about things. Father and I will…”

Chen Qizhao’s tone was as usual as he interrupted Chen Shiming. He got directly to the point. “I read the document sent by Xiao Xu. You are staring at the project in Y City.”

“Yes. I had someone watch the person in charge. The Shen family sent a document over. I just forwarded it to you. You can take a look at it yourself. Gu Zhengsong and Lin Shizhong’s relationship is basically as we judged before. The information from the Shen family can basically be determined.” Chen Shiming’s eyes stopped on Chen Qizhao. “After the jade jewelry incident, the Gu family’s internal struggle was very fierce. Gu Zhengxun currently has the upper hand. Yesterday morning, he sent an assistant over to discuss cooperation with Dad.”

Gu Zhengxun took the initiative to show favor and Chen Qizhao had heard about it from Special Assistant Xu. “What about Gu Zhengsong? For the information of the Shen family, do you have any other ideas?”

“Based on the information that the Shen family has, only Lin Shizong can be arrested at most. It isn’t easy to move Gu Zhengsong.” Once Chen Shiming heard Chen Qizhao say this, he thought of the purpose of his trip. “Is the matter of the Lin Group and the Industrial and Commerce Bureau your doing?”

Chen Qizhao didn’t answer Chen Shiming’s words but said something else, “Gu Zhengsong is busy fighting with Gu Zhengxun now. He doesn’t have the leisure to come to S City to manage this matter. Behind Lin Shizong should be his illegitimate son, Gu Shen.”

“These days, you have found a lot of evidence following Lin Shizong’s line. Have you found any other problems?” Chen Qizhao opened the Shen family’s document and showed Chen Shiming the several channels mentioned in it. “Do you think these few look familiar?”

“It looks familiar. These channels belonged to the Chen Group before but the ownership stopped belonging to us a few years ago.” Chen Shiming knew this. This was what Lin Shizong used in the Chen Group as a springboard to make a profit. These channels were abandoned by the Chen family and came into Lin Shizong’s hands. They became a means for Lin Shizong to commit crimes.

“At most, we can only report Lin Shizong for this and send Lin Shizong away. If we want to move on the Gu family…” Chen Shiming suddenly realized something after speaking. “What do you mean?”

“Do you think Gu Zhengsong and Gu Shen helped Lin Shizong deal with us just because Lin Shizong is their ally?” Chen Qizhao swiped on his phone and continued to swipe down on the document. “It isn’t just Lin Shizong who wants to deal with the Chen Group. Gu Zhengsong and Gu Shen aren’t just helping their allies.”

“They are very anxious and can’t wait for everything in the Chen Group to disappear in this world.” Chen Qizhao expressed his conjecture in Chen Shiming’s mind. “The reason is very simple. It is because there is something in the Chen Group they must destroy.”

“It isn’t that we don’t have any evidence we can use against Gu Zhengsong.”

—

The contradictions within the Chen Group were still advancing one by one according to the original progress, but Lin Shizhong’s side encountered a lot of trouble.

The investigation of the Industrial and Commerce Bureau hadn’t finished and Yicheng and other enemies were making things difficult for them.

In the middle of the year, several goals had been advanced but the Lin Group’s drug sale targets and customer orders had dropped a few points in the past few days. The two big orders that were originally negotiated were snatched by competitors. There were also a lot of bad things in the group recently.

Public opinion had been suppressed by the impact it could cause couldn’t be solved in a short period of time.

If it was changed to any other time, such a situation wouldn’t be difficult for the Lin Group to deal with. The problem was that they were bitten by the Sun family some time ago and hurt them. Before the stock price could be stabilized, the investigation by the Industrial and Commerce Bureau occurred. The news of commercial monopoly could easily have another impact on the Lin Group’s hard-won stable market.

In the meeting room, several high-level management didn’t dare to speak. They looked at Lin Shizong, who had a gloomy expression.

“Chairman Lin, Yicheng’s side is spending a lot of money to punish us. The recent orders haven’t been won. Do you want to continue grabbing the bids that Yicheng is competing over?”

The middle-aged man in charge of this type of thing stood up. “Now our situation is really inconvenient to make enemies with so many companies. The people of the Industrial and Commerce Bureau are also coming frequently. The other party seems to have released news in the industry. I’m afraid it will be difficult to conceal the matter of the investigation.”

Other people kept their opinions silent. The Lin Group could be stabilized but this stabilization was tantamount to showing weakness to Yicheng and handing over the things that had been in operation for half a year. No one here wanted to give up on this profit. Originally, the current market wasn’t as good as it was a few years ago. If they gave up on this big fish, they wouldn’t be able to earn any money from several projects in the second half of the year.

All the top executives of the Lin family looked at Lin Shizong but Lin Shizong was thinking about more things.

At the same time that the Lin Group faced difficulties, he was still running his plan for the bankruptcy of the Chen Group. In order to stabilize the Lin Group, they could only regress and show weakness, but the impact of this would be irreparable. In the second half of the year, his competition Yicheng would step on him.

In recent years, the market competition had become fiercer. A few years ago, he managed to make a lot of money for the Lin Group but with the adjustment of policies and the rise of new industries, he would need to recover more when taking a wrong step. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have accepted the olive branch from the Gu family back then… but now this was a road where he couldn’t turn back.

If he had attacked the Chen Group in one month then at least he would have enough energy to grab things from Yicheng while dealing with the investigation from the bureau. It was all because of Gu Shen’s instigation that he advanced his plan with the Chen Group and disrupted his plan.

Before coming to the meeting, he spoke to Gu Shen and the other person told him to continue to maintain the current speed of progress. Gu Shen would find a way to suppress the matter of the Lin Group’s investigation by the bureau. However, Lin Shizhong knew that Gu Zhengsong’s reach in S City was limited. After all, this wasn’t the capital and Lin Shizong knew Gu Shen’s strength well.

Gu Shen said this. It was more likely to let him give up on his immediate interests and get rid of the Chen Group first before considering other things.

“Let it go.”

Once Lin Shizong finished speaking, some people in the meeting room looked embarrassed. They obviously weren’t very satisfied with Lin Shizong’s choice.

Some people thought this was the best way to stop the loss of the Lin Group in time, so as to not hurt their roots due to greater competition.

“Chairman Lin, this matter…”

Lin Shizong looked at the group. “Or can you come up with a better plan?”

Things had developed to this point. Lin Shizong knew that he and Gu Shen had been twisted together. Now he could only advance one by one according to the plan and deal with these troublesome things one by one.

The target of competing with Yicheng could only be given up. First, he had to stabilize the Lin Group’s current business and go all out to deal with the Chen Group.

After leaving the meeting room, Lin Shizong gathered his confidants to prepare for the next step. Their plan for the Chen Group was still progressing steadily and it was time to speed up the process. He thought of the method Gu Shen mentioned. “Release the news about the Chen Group’s project in Y City.”

It was a sunny day.

In the small meeting room of the Chen Group, Chen Shiming held an emergency meeting and was arranging people to plan for the next step. Chen Jianhong was in the head seat and was looking at the content of the plan presented on the electronic screen to further determine Chen Shiming’s plan.

At this time, Chen Shiming’s assistant knocked on the door of the meeting room and said with a serious expression, “President Chen, the suspected object of Y City’s No 3 project has moved. There is no business trip but he is planning to take a plane out of the country.”

Chen Shiming stopped. “Send someone to stop him.”

Special Assistant Xu, who was sitting in a corner of the meeting room, immediately adjusted the project status of Y City. At this time, he urgently received a phone call. After answering the phone, Special Assistant Xu’s expression froze. He stared straight at Chen Shiming and Chen Jianhong. “It isn’t good!”

“Public opinion has broken out on the Internet!”