Xia Lei walked out of Bright Moon Palace Club and took out his phone to give Long Bing a call. “Bing, something came up. I might not be able to go over.”
“What happened?” Long Bing asked, deep concern in her voice.
“I’m certain that Gu Kewen is still alive, and she’s most likely the mastermind behind the attack on Vientiane Group’s shares. She’s just released a few pieces of information to the media, and it’s going to cause Tianyi a great deal of trouble. I need to be by her side for this period of time,” said Xia Lei.
Long Bing was quiet for a bit before saying, “That’s fine. You’re right, she needs you by her side right now. Though, I don’t think it would be a bad idea to let your wife struggle a little on her own. She was born with a golden spoon in her mouth and has never faced any setbacks. If this incident could deal a blow to her pride and ambition, it wouldn’t be a bad thing for you.”
“Mhm, then I’m going.” Xia Lei hung up.
He didn’t tell Long Bing what had happened inside the club because he knew that Long Bing would regard it as something trivial. In truth, that was what Xia Lei thought too. Since it was the other party who attacked first, he could say he retaliated in self-defense. Moreover, as a consultant of Bureau 101, who would investigate him if he raised a knife or a gun at his attackers? He could get away scot-free even if he had killed, much less injured, the two of them.
After a long drive, Xia Lei arrived at the Angel Wings Building, the headquarters of the Vientiane Group in Jingdu.
When he found Shentu Tianyin, she had just finished presiding over a board meeting. He saw several other members of the Shentu clan with her, as well as a handful of unfamiliar ones. They all had grave expressions on their faces.
Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei’s eyes met, and she began to walk towards him. “Come with me to my office.” Xia Lei nodded and followed her. Once they were inside, she closed the door and wordlessly handed him her phone.
A picture was displayed on the screen. In the picture, several bikini-clad dancer girls were clinging to his body. Some had their arms draped over his shoulders while others were hugging his arms and pressing their plump breasts against him. A few were even grabbing his buttocks with their hands, and some had their legs wrapped around his waist. It was a terribly obscene picture.
Xia Lei forced a wry smile. “I can explain, I was there to…”
Shentu Tianyin cut him off. “I don’t want to hear your explanations. I want the conclusion.”
“I’m going to explain it whether you want to hear it or not.” Xia Lei said, “That place is called the Bright Moon Palace Club. It’s Gu Kewen’s territory. I received information that a man named Gu Dinghai owns two percent of your company’s shares. This Gu Dinghai is Gu Dingshan’s elder cousin; in other words, he’s Gu Kewen’s uncle. I had a suspicion that I’ll find other large shareholders of your company there. I was there to help you, not play around with other women.”
Shentu Tianyin hesitated. She didn’t dare to meet his eyes, but she did soften. “Hubby, I’m sorry…”
Xia Lei took her into his arms and comforted her. “It’s all right, I understand. It’s impossible for anyone to live a completely smooth-sailing life. What we’re going through right now is nothing. I will stay by your side and help you solve the problem.”
“Gu Kewen, that bitch. I wish I could kill her!” Xia Lei was very surprised to hear these words come out of Shentu Tianyin’s mouth.
“I’m searching for her. When I find her whereabouts, I’ll definitely kill her for you,” he said comfortingly, patting her shoulder.
“Some media outlets have already begun to report on the collaboration deals I made with Gu Kewen in the past. The stock price of the Vientiane Group is falling fast, and this is just the beginning. Even if you kill her, it wouldn’t do anything to help the situation.” Shentu Tianyin appeared both physically and mentally tired.
Xia Lei suddenly thought of something. “Tianyin, how much of the Vientiane Group’s shares do you still hold?”
“Twenty-five percent.”
“Only twenty-five percent?” he asked in shock.
She smiled bitterly. “The stock market keeps falling, so I have to avoid risks. That’s what all of the other public companies are doing now. When the state of the stock market is like this, everyone reduces their amount of shares to avoid risks, then they buy the shares back at the floor price. Entry and exit, it’s all hard cash.”
“Companies get listed so they can enter the circulation of money. It seems that this statement is true,” Xia Lei said somewhat helplessly.
When the stock market was in good shape and stock prices were soaring, the owners and shareholders of said public companies would not sell their shares. They would wait until the price and profits were at a certain level before selling. Following their decision, they would spread favorable news to entice individual investors to take the offer. After the individual investors bought the shares, the shareholders would proceed to spread unfavorable news about the stocks, causing panic and a drop in the stock prices. The individual investors would then panic, and sell their shares one after another. When that happened, the owners of the listed companies and the shareholders, as well as the insiders could wait for the stock to hit a low before they bought it up again.
A large sum of hard cash would go straight into the shareholders’ pockets with this in and out of money. The poor individual investors were like chives, being cut up into pieces and served.
Shentu Tianyi sighed. “This is the way of capital survival. Everyone does it. In a sense, I’m still doing okay. Some board chairmen of other public companies hold less than ten percent of their own company’s shares. If it weren’t for this circulation of money, who would list their companies publicly?”
“Tianyin, tell me, how much of the shares did you own before you sold them?”
“Fifty-one percent. I control the most. My father once gave a total of ten percent to some other members of the family, so the Vientiane Group is truly a family-held company. However, they don’t have many shares left now. Like me, they all want to avoid risks, and buy back their shares when the prices are low.”
“Then is it possible to buy them back now?” he asked. “You just said so yourself. Because of the dip in the stock market right now, the Vientiane Group’s stock prices have been dropping.”
“I’m buying them now, but so is the opposing side. Right now, we’re competing with our speed and capital reserves,” said Shentu Tianyin.
“If you don’t have enough money on your side, you can ask me.”
“I helped you manage the Thunder Horse Group for some time, so I’m well aware of how much money is in your account. A billion-something yuan won’t be enough,” she said.
The Vientiane Group had a market value of 100 billion yuan; adding in another one billion yuan would not cause even a ripple.
“Then what can I do for you?”
“You can just help me deal with Gu Kewen. I’ll deal with the situation with the stock market myself.”
“All right then, I’ll try to find out where she’s hiding as soon as possible.”
“Sorry, Hubby. Just now, I…” Shentu Tianyin trailed off.
Xia Lei laughed. “There’s bound to be some misunderstandings between couples. I understand how you feel, so don’t dwell on it anymore.”
“Hubby, if Gu Kewen submits the evidence she found to the Prosecutor General’s Office, what… what should I do then?” There was a stone weighing down her heart, crushing her, making her feel nervous, and suffocating her.
Xia Lei thought for a moment before saying, “If that happens, then I’ll beg the higher-ups for mercy. I’ve done a lot for them, so they should agree to help out a bit.”
“I don’t want to be put in prison, not even for a day.”
“You won’t. I’ll make sure of that.”
“But, the evidence… They can send me to prison!” Shentu Tianyin was on the verge of a breakdown.
Xia Lei held her as he comforted her in silence.
The human heart was a very strange thing. When Shentu Tianyin’s ambition was high, the Vientiane Group had expanded rapidly under her rule. The fall of the Gu clan had given her a once-in-a-lifetime chance and she obtained more than 300 billion yuan in assets during that period of time, adding them to the Vientiane Company, which practically gave them a pair of wings. It allowed the Vientiane Company to rhetorically take cities and seize territory in the market, but now, the same assets from the Gu clan had become burning coals, and Shentu Tianyin couldn’t throw them away!
If she had done business honestly and earned money legitimately, it would’ve taken her at least 30 years to bring it to this apex. By then, she would already be in her fifties. If she wanted to take the Vientiane Group to the same heights of Apple or Microsoft, it would take hundreds of years while being only theoretically possible. She simply couldn’t wait that long, so she had taken shortcuts.
In reality, how many capitalists today weren’t taking these “shortcuts” to get rich? How many were truly clean? The majority took from the people and the country, and made that money their own. These people all seemed good on the surface, but how many of them could truly sleep peacefully at night?
Ring ring ring…
Xia Lei’s phone rang suddenly. It was Shi Boren calling.
“You rascal!” Shi Boren immediately roared, “Get over here immediately!”
“What happened, Boss Shi?” Xia Lei didn’t want to go. “Right now, I’m…”
“You, what? Your wife’s in trouble, isn’t she? I’m telling you to get over here so I can tell you something about your wife, so come here, or you’ll regret it!” Shi Boren hung up right after.
Xia Lei put away his phone. “I have to go back to Bureau 101. Boss Shi is looking for me.”
“What does he need you for?”
“He said it’s something about you, but he didn’t give any specifics. I’ll know when I get there.”
Xia Lei said it casually, but Shentu Tianyin suddenly paled. “Oh no. The higher-ups must be investigating me now… What should I do? What should I do?”
“Don’t worry, I’m sure that Boss Shi is on our side. He must have heard something and wanted to share the details with me. I’ll let you know as soon as I find out.”
“Then I’ll wait for your call.” She reached out and fixed his belt. “Go, and be careful on the road.”
“Mhm, I’m leaving now.” He left her office.
Out in the corridor, a large group of people from the Shentu clan was engaged in discussion. They shut their mouths when they saw Xia Lei walk out of Shentu Tianyin’s office. They looked like him like he was a stranger; they had never been family. In fact, they had never wanted to let him into the Shentu clan from the start, back when he and Shentu Tianyin had started dating.
Xia Lei could not be bothered with them, and he continued on without greeting anyone in the group.
“Tsk, what’s he throwing that arrogance around for? Acting as if he’s the savior of the world or something.”
“Right? I’ve never liked him. If Tianyin had listened to me, would we be in this predicament today?”
“I agree. If Xia Lei hadn’t caused Gu Dingshan’s death, then Tianyin’s husband right now would probably be Gu Kewu. Would family members harm each other?”
It seemed like they had also heard a few things about Gu Kewen.
A wry smile appeared on Xia Lei’s face as he quickened his pace.