Chapter 24: Start to Invert

"So, Lawyer Liu came to Hengzhou Film and Television City just to get you to sign the stock transfer agreement?"

Yu Mingze sat in front of the monitor, a look of delight on his face as he watched Ye Mingzhao. "They must have found out what happened to you at Zhou Yueze's congratulatory banquet and devised this plan to protect you."

"Now, those who look down on others won't dare underestimate you again!"

Yu Mingze grinned and punched Ye Mingzhao's shoulder. "Now I can finally relax. Uncle and Auntie are really good to you."

Ever since that day, Yu Mingze had been racked with guilt. If he hadn't insisted on dragging Ye Mingzhao to confront Zhou Yueze, Ye Mingzhao wouldn't have been humiliated at the banquet.

But Ye Mingzhao had too much restraint. He didn't care even when someone was trying to take advantage of him.

"If you hadn't stopped me, I would have smashed that bastard's head in!"

Yu Mingze still bristled when he thought about it.

Ye Mingzhao smiled faintly, his silence speaking louder than words.

Yu Mingze clicked his tongue and stretched lazily in the director's chair. The next second, a check appeared in front of him.

Yu Mingze blinked, confusion written all over his face as he looked at Ye Mingzhao.

Ye Mingzhao smiled. "When Zhou Yueze withdrew his investment, I said I'd make up for the funds."

However, when Ye Mingzhao left the Ye family, he had already transferred all his most valuable real estate and stock funds to Chu Hengyi, leaving very little money in his account. It wasn't until the *Prince of Beggars* production team paid him his acting fees that Ye Mingzhao had enough capital. He then used the information from the original novel to make a massive profit of 300 million, earning his first pot of gold after leaving the Ye family.

Thinking of this, Ye Mingzhao's eyes flickered slightly, and he couldn't help but think of Chu Hengyi, who had helped him earn this fortune.

His phone vibrated, and a message popped up on the screen. Ye Mingzhao glanced at the sender, his dark pupils clearly reflecting the message.

"Chu Hengyi: Congratulations."

"Chu Hengyi: Shouldn't I get some credit for this?"

Ye Mingzhao smiled faintly, his silence speaking volumes, and instinctively stood up to call Chu Hengyi back. "Are you asking for credit?"

Chu Hengyi replied, "I'd call it stating the facts."

"You're calling it 'stating the facts' because you told Zhou Yueze about the reporters," Ye Mingzhao said, narrowing his eyes as the sun faintly outlined his indistinct figure on the dim screen.

Ye Mingzhao slowly walked to a tree, sunlight filtering through the leaves, casting cool, green shadows across his face and body. A fleeting smile touched his sharp, dark eyes but left only a faint glimmer in his clear irises. His voice was clear and calm, carrying a mix of restraint and ease that was uniquely Ye Mingzhao, as he played the victim. "Hearing about this from Zhou Yueze, I was sad for a long time. I thought after what happened with the Chu family, you'd understand that I have no malice towards you."

Each word resonated in Chu Hengyi's ears, like the gentle patter of spring rain.

Chu Hengyi chuckled. "The sudden surge in Lanheyao Base's stock price made me sad too."

He continued, his tone more statement than question, "You're going to replace Zhou Yueze and become the new investor for *Prince of Beggars*. Are you thinking of using this money?"

Ye Mingzhao chuckled. "You know quite a bit."

Chu Hengyi replied, "A little more than you imagine."

An ant crawled across Ye Mingzhao's shoe, and he looked down at the solitary insect. "Why did you have Dagger investigate Hua Rui's whereabouts? Is there something she has that I need?"

The private investigator was the one Chu Hengyi had secretly brought under his control. In the original plot, Chu Hengyi had planted this pawn near Ye Mingzhao, keeping him in check for a long time before having him defect at a critical moment, handing over all the evidence of Ye Mingzhao’s ill-intentions and his attempts to frame Chu Hengyi to the Ye family.

Ye Mingzhao’s fingers, which were teasing the ants, paused slightly. He hadn’t expected Chu Hengyi to reveal his cards so soon.

Chu Hengyi listened to the faint laughter on the other end of the line, his mind drifting into thoughtful contemplation.

As Ye Mingzhao had surmised, the private investigator shouldn’t have been exposed so early. However, Chu Hengyi soon realized that since Ye Mingzhao had found out about his layout concerning Lanheyao Base and had disrupted it purposefully, the relationship between the private investigator and him should no longer be a secret—at least not to Ye Mingzhao.

This guess was confirmed when the private investigator suddenly received a task from Ye Mingzhao to investigate Hua Rui’s whereabouts. Coupled with the fact that shortly after returning to the Ye family, Ye Mingzhao had uncovered the connection between his adoptive parents and the human traffickers who had abducted him years ago, Chu Hengyi had an inexplicable feeling.

It felt like a carefully planned script had suddenly gone off course. Chu Hengyi was curious as to why Ye Mingzhao had changed. So, he informed Zhou Yueze about the reporter, partly to get close to the Zhou family, and partly to test Ye Mingzhao.

Sensing Chu Hengyi’s persistent probing, Ye Mingzhao smiled again. He warmly thanked the production assistant who had just run over to remind him that filming would start in ten minutes. After the assistant left, he smiled and brought up another matter, “The Zhou Film Company and Xingyue Films have no connections. Why did Zhou Yueze suddenly decide to cast Zhu Junjie as the male lead in *Prince Transformation*, despite the lack of ties between Zhou’s film company and Xingyue Films?”

Chu Hengyi remained silent, understanding the unspoken implications.

Since Ye Mingzhao had explicitly mentioned it, he had to admit it. His method of planting Zhu Junjie into the *Prince Transformation* production team was indeed the same as Ye Mingzhao’s method of placing the reporter by Zhou Yueze’s side.

Ye Mingzhao: “I didn’t mind you learning from me.”

Chu Hengyi deftly shifted the conversation: “Then, may I ask Teacher Ye to guide your student?”

Ye Mingzhao: “You’ll need to prepare more tuition.”

Chu Hengyi: “Aren’t three hundred million enough?”

Ye Mingzhao: “As the old saying goes, ‘Teaching a student can leave the teacher hungry.’ I need to be prepared to teach you with the resolve of a martyr.”

Chu Hengyi suddenly burst out laughing. The muffled laughter resonated through Ye Mingzhao’s ear via the phone’s signal.

Ye Mingzhao waited quietly for him to finish laughing and then politely announced, “Think about it. I have to act now.”

With that, Ye Mingzhao hung up the phone and walked into the set.

Chu Hengyi listened to the busy tone in his ear, carefully reviewing the conversation they had just had, and didn’t notice Mrs. Ye cautiously entering the room.

“Let’s have a chat!” Mrs. Ye carefully observed all of Chu Hengyi’s emotions. “Your father transferred 1% of his shares to Zhaozhao. I wanted to say—”

“If you’re asking for my opinion on this matter, my answer is I don’t care. Even if Chairman Ye transferred all 28.8% of his shares to Ye Mingzhao, I would have no objections.”

Chu Hengyi didn’t wait for Mrs. Ye to finish. He met her gaze with calm assurance.

In contrast, Mrs. Ye appeared very anxious. She hesitated, her delicate hands tightly intertwined on her lap, but her inner turmoil was even greater than what her hands revealed.

“Then why did you betray Zhaozhao—” She stopped abruptly, her face contorted with pain, unsure of how to continue.

She didn’t want to blame Chu Hengyi, nor did she want to hurt him. She merely hoped that the two boys could coexist peacefully.

Chu Hengyi smiled lightly. He examined Mrs. Ye with great interest, who had just moments ago questioned him sternly about betraying Ye Mingzhao, and now wore a look of regret. He slowly said, “Telling Zhou Yueze about the reporter isn’t betrayal.”

“Betrayal only happens when trust is broken. There was never any trust between me and Ye Mingzhao. Without trust, how can there be betrayal?”

If we really must talk about betrayal, it wasn’t Chu Hengyi who betrayed Ye Mingzhao. Because the one who gave trust was never Ye Mingzhao.

“There’s something I’m curious about too,” Chu Hengyi slightly turned his head and asked curiously, “You raised Ye Mingzhao for eighteen years. Do you not know his temperament and tactics? Do you really think someone as cunning and calculating as him could be outsmarted by people who can’t see the bigger picture and are filled with empty words?”

Before Mrs. Ye could respond, Chu Hengyi continued, “Or is it that you know he can’t be bullied by anyone, yet you still feel sorry for his situation?”

Madam Ye's lips trembled as she looked at Chu Hengyi with a pained expression.

She didn't know how to respond to Chu Hengyi's question. Did she really not know about Ye Mingzhao's methods and depth of thought?

He was the child she had raised with her own hands. She had watched him grow from a wobbly toddler to a lively child, and from a crying infant to a smart and capable strategist. As a mother, she had attended every parent-teacher meeting and celebrated every honor with him. How could she not know how outstanding that child was?

But as a parent, even if you know your child has grown into an independent adult, how can you bear to leave them alone to face the storms and the overwhelming malice of the world?

Madam Ye's eyes were full of tears as she looked helplessly at Chu Hengyi.

One was her adopted son, whom she had raised for eighteen years, as if he were her own flesh and blood; the other was her biological son, whom she had neglected for eighteen years. Madam Ye wanted to treat both equally, but she found, to her dismay, that no matter what she did, it seemed inevitable that she would hurt one of them.

Chu Hengyi stood up and looked down at Madam Ye, whose face had turned somewhat pale, and sincerely remarked, "You've been a devoted mother."

"But that love and care were never meant for me."

With that, Chu Hengyi no longer looked at Madam Ye and turned to leave.

*

Just as Yu Mingze, who had just received an eighty million investment, flushed with excitement and triumph, he raised the megaphone in his hand to shout, "All departments, get into position. First take, scene eighty-six, action—"

Ye Mingzhao, playing the role of Fu Shen, stood at the entrance of a muddy alley in a tailored three-piece black suit, his handmade Italian leather shoes dirtied by the puddles left from the rain the night before.

The veteran actor playing Fu Shen's father stood opposite him, his face filled with emotion, and said, "You're not some young master of the Gu family business. You're my son, Fu Shen. Even if you were reduced to ashes, I'd still recognize you."

"I knew it! That little idiot at home doesn't look like he's mine at all. I was right!"

"I don't know what game you're playing, but now that you've become a young master of the Gu family business, you must be rich, right? Why don't you give your old man a few hundred thousand as a filial gesture? Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. You're my son, and your success benefits me."

Fu Shen, with a cold gaze, suddenly smiled at his unreasonable birth father, "Do you really think someone like you could produce someone as exceptional as me?"

In that instant, the resentment and madness in Fu Shen's eyes stunned everyone watching the monitors, including the veteran actor opposite him.

The veteran actor was momentarily stunned and almost forgot his lines. Instinctively, he raised his hand and slapped Fu Shen across the face, "You unfilial thing—"

Before he could finish, Fu Shen stepped back half a pace, grabbed the veteran actor's wrist, and yanked it forcefully.

The veteran actor stumbled forward and fell to the ground, turning his head to look at Fu Shen in shock, "You dare to lay a hand on me?"

In that moment, memories of being beaten by his drunken father as a child flooded Fu Shen's mind, along with the humiliation of watching his mother being forced to entertain debt collectors, the constant fear that he and his siblings would be sold to pay off debts, the contemptuous looks of neighbors, and the ridicule and abuse from classmates...

These memories, like deep scars, had long since fused with his skin and flesh. He was ashamed of being born into such an unseemly family and had tried desperately to escape that environment.

Now that he finally had the opportunity to transform his life, he would not allow anyone to ruin his plans. Not even the man who had given him life.

"Do you want money?" Fu Shen looked down at his aged father, who was now like a puddle of mud on the ground.

The man before him, once a towering figure who had dealt painful blows, had been utterly destroyed by years of alcohol. Or perhaps the man had never been strong; it was just that he had been too weak to resist the violence and harm inflicted upon him.

Fu Shen tilted his head expressionlessly. The camera moved from below, slowly zooming in for an upward close-up. His expression grew colder in high definition, but something in his eyes intensified. It was like the turbulent sea beneath a cloudy sky, and everyone could sense the undercurrent beneath the fluctuating waters.

In the close-up shot, Fu Shen's dark, deep eyes exhibited a shocking intensity. He stared directly into the camera, not blinking, and said in a light tone, yet enunciating each word, "You can get down on your knees and beg, and maybe I'll toss you a few scraps."