Chapter 63 of 100

Chapter 63

16 min read3,956 words

When Liu Kangming, the chairman of the board of Longhui Group, received the call from the company, he could hardly hold onto his golf club.

A square, stern face instantly filled with anger and confusion, he lowered his voice and asked the person on the other end of the line, "Who led the team? How could something so big happen without me hearing a single word about it?"

"I don't know..." The middle-aged man on the other end of the phone was almost on the verge of tears, saying, "There was absolutely no wind of it. Dozens of police cars, four SWAT vehicles, and journalists from TV stations and newspapers suddenly swarmed in... Mr. Liu, what should we do now? Mr. Chen was taken away, his face swollen, they must have beaten him upstairs..."

"I understand." Liu Kangming took a deep breath, slowly put down his phone, and hung up.

Having weathered many storms over the years, Longhui Group, a pharmaceutical company worth billions, was one of the top in the entire city of Wenjiang. Although the group was not well-known in the city, it was a typical local power in the county-level city of Yueqing.

In the economically developed and industrially active coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, there were many companies worth billions, and each was a treasure to the local government. Which official would complain about too much tax revenue in their jurisdiction?

No sooner had he hung up the phone than Liu Kangming, with a stern face, walked toward a middle-aged man who was swinging his club nearby, "Director Chen, can I have a word with you?"

Director Chen was taken aback for a moment, then laughed, "Old Liu, what are you up to? Why can't you say it in front of everyone?"

Although he said this, Director Chen still put down his club and walked over with Liu Kangming.

"What's the matter, speak up."

"Director Chen, I want to ask you, did you deliberately try to keep me away by inviting me to play golf today?" Liu Kangming, being an old acquaintance of Director Chen, didn't need to hide anything, so he spoke frankly, "Such a big deal, and you kept me in the dark?"

"Eh? Old Liu, are you feeling alright?" Director Chen's smiling face suddenly turned dark, and he pretended to be angry, "We've known each other for over ten years. When have I ever kept anything from you?"

"Then why did dozens of police cars, four SWAT vehicles, and a crowd of journalists suddenly swarm into our Longhui Group headquarters right after we started playing golf?!" Liu Kangming gritted his teeth, "You're the city's police chief. How could you not know about something this big?"

"What?!!" Hearing Liu Kangming's words, Director Chen was immediately alarmed, "When did this happen?"

"Just a few minutes ago!" Liu Kangming said angrily, "Not only did they take away a dozen of our diligent security guards, but they also took away our CEO, Chen Youming! Is there still any law in this world?!"

"Wait, I'll make a few calls to find out what's going on." Director Chen's heated head quickly cooled down. As the city's police chief, such a big operation couldn't have happened without his knowledge!

Since this had happened right under his nose, it must mean something was fishy!

Director Chen walked to the side alone and started making calls one by one.

After a while, Director Chen sighed and returned to Liu Kangming, "Old Liu, I can't help you with this."

"What's going on?" While Director Chen was away, Liu Kangming had even wondered if someone was planning to target Longhui Group. Was it from the provincial level or even from Beijing? Without a clear answer, he could drive himself crazy!

Facing Liu Kangming's urgent gaze, Director Chen sighed and said, "I've found out. It was a direct order from the provincial department. Your group's Chen Youming is suspected of hiring a hitman to commit murder, and he's involved in a murder case that happened in Jinzhou, Nanhu Province, over a decade ago... They were after him."

"A murder case over a decade ago?" Liu Kangming felt like he was listening to a fairy tale. He was stunned, "Even so, you're the city's police chief. How could you not know about this operation?"

"The order was issued suddenly, and the provincial department's task force took over the command on the scene. They also issued a confidentiality order. It's normal that I didn't receive any notification since I wasn't in the office," Director Chen explained, "But you should be careful. The person behind this has a lot of power... It might be a roundabout way to target you."

"Who has that kind of power?" Liu Kangming just wanted to figure this out.

"Who specifically, I can't know, but the order was issued directly by the provincial department's Director Zhang... Whoever can get Director Zhang to speak must have connections in the provincial party committee or even in Beijing," Director Chen analyzed, "I think we should stop playing golf. You should go back and carefully think about whether you've offended anyone recently..."

"No... I just got back from a business trip abroad. Who could I have offended?" Liu Kangming felt like his head was splitting. He couldn't think of anyone he had offended. For someone to use provincial department connections... this was no ordinary person!

...

"What?! What do you mean, they caught him?!" Jin Meifeng's first reaction to Yang Chen's call was a scream, followed by a series of questions, "Who? Who framed your father?!"

"Mom, do you remember that capable assistant of Dad's, Chen Youming?" Yang Chen, holding his phone, leaned on the railing of the Oujiang River, looking at the waves, and said, "After Huang Yifeng was murdered, Chen Youming left the company the following year and went to Jiangsu Province?"

"Chen Youming..." Jin Meifeng murmured the familiar yet strange name for a long time before she gritted her teeth and said softly, "How could it be him? For no reason, why would he kill Huang Yifeng?"

"Because Chen Youming stole the technical formula for a drug from our Hengyang Group and sold it to Hai Ming Pharmaceutical in Dongshan Province, making an illegal profit of over two million, but he was caught by Huang Yifeng," Yang Chen explained, "At that time, Huang Yifeng was having a falling out with Dad, so he didn't report Chen Youming directly. Instead, he used this as leverage to force Chen Youming to write a promissory note for twenty-four million, which was exactly ten times Chen Youming's illegal profit."

After a pause, Yang Chen continued, "But they had another agreement. If Chen Youming helped Huang Yifeng remove Dad from Hengyang Group, Huang Yifeng would return the promissory note and never mention it again."

"Then why did Chen Youming hire someone to kill Huang Yifeng?"

"That was Huang Yifeng's own fault... You should remember that Chen Youming's wife was very beautiful, right?" Yang Chen said with a bitter smile, "Huang Yifeng, driven by lust, approached Chen Youming and demanded that he drug his wife with sleeping pills and lend her to him for a night... Chen Youming, with no other options, resorted to this desperate measure..."

"No wonder..." Yang Chen's words brought back many small details that Jin Meifeng had never paid attention to before. Back then, the only person who could frequently access Yang Xiuyuan's phone, besides herself, was Chen Youming!

The murderer had never seen Chen Youming, nor had he seen Yang Xiuyuan, but Chen Youming used Yang Xiuyuan's phone to call him! Plus, there was that cash payment of 800,000...

"Your father treated him so well, how could he do such a thing!" Jin Meifeng's voice was filled with melancholy.

Yang Chen, however, laughed, "So, you can never truly know what's in someone's heart... Now that the truth is out, Chen Youming will be taken back to Jinzhou tonight. You should also be more cautious. The people from Qingchen Detective Agency will arrive by tomorrow afternoon at the latest, and the retrial process should start soon... I wonder how much compensation Dad will receive?"

"Soon... we can be a family again!" Jin Meifeng also smiled, "When are you coming back?"

"I still have some things to take care of here, it might take a few days," Yang Chen thought for a moment and said, "But with the evidence in place, the retrial could start within a week. Although I might miss the celebration, I'll be close. I don't like seeing you so worried all the time. Now you can finally get some rest, right?"

"Brat, you're even lecturing me now!" Jin Meifeng laughed, "By the way, when your father comes back, we should find time to visit our hometown. We can go to the ancestral temple to pay respects, and also take care of some matters there."

"Sure, I'll come back as soon as possible," Yang Chen agreed.

After a few more minutes of private conversation, they hung up the phone.

Behind him, Zhang Xiaoman's impatient voice sounded, "Hey, are you even a man? So sentimental, a phone call takes over ten minutes... Don't you know that the car consumes a lot of fuel when the engine is running?"

"How much is the fuel cost?" With his father's case finally resolved, Yang Chen was in a great mood. He turned around and said with a smile, "I'll cover it all!"

"You... humph, I don't want to argue with you." Zhang Xiaoman, frustrated, rolled up the window again.

Yang Chen sat in the passenger seat of the black Cayenne, and the smile on his face slowly faded. He looked at Zhang Bingyu, who was in the driver's seat, and asked seriously, "What's so serious?"

Zhang Bingyu glanced at Yang Chen, shifted gears, and started the car, saying, "A friend's father is in trouble. He went on a business trip to South Africa recently and has been bedridden ever since. He's been to many hospitals, but they can't figure out what's wrong... I suspect he was cursed in South Africa, but that's not my expertise."

"South Africa?" Hearing this, Yang Chen became interested. In the previous life, after the core energy explosion, several super-strong individuals emerged in Africa. Yang Chen had a deep understanding of African powerhouses because he had visited over a dozen super-tribes in Africa more than twenty times on behalf of the Chinese Daoist Alliance!

Zhang Bingyu's friend's home was in Longwan District, Wenjiang City. They drove at high speed and arrived at a grand standalone villa in less than half an hour.

As soon as the car stopped, Yang Chen in the passenger seat softly exclaimed, "Hmm..."

Zhang Bingyu asked instinctively, "What's wrong?"

Zhang Xiaoman, with a disdainful hum, said, "Just making things up..."

Yang Chen turned to Zhang Bingyu and said, "Did your friend's father do anything heinous in South Africa?"

Zhang Bingyu was taken aback and asked, "Does that have anything to do with you helping him?"

"Yes," Yang Chen nodded firmly, "To provoke the peace-loving white witch tribe's priest to take such severe action, if this matter isn't clarified, I can't help."

"Let's go inside and talk about it."

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