Chapter 66

Chapter 66

"You're really a wolf cub that bites without making a sound," Gu Tingjun's eyes widened, bloodshot with anger. She glared at Ye Mingzhao with a vicious look. "If I had known about today, I should have strangled you to death back then."

"Is that so?" Ye Mingzhao sat opposite her, tilting his head up slightly, his gaze filled with oppressive condescension. "That's too bad."

Gu Tingjun felt nauseated the moment she saw Ye Mingzhao's pretentious expression. "Don't think—"

"Does your son know you have such vicious thoughts?" Ye Mingzhao interrupted Gu Tingjun smoothly.

Gu Tingjun was startled. "What?"

Ye Mingzhao said, "He should know by now."

As he spoke, Ye Mingzhao turned the computer screen on his desk towards Gu Tingjun, apologetically saying, "I'm very sorry, but since you barged in suddenly, I didn't have time to tell you—I was in the middle of a live stream."

"The ancient costume idol drama *Jiangshan Strategy*, in which I star, has been scheduled for Xinhai TV's prime summer slot. As one of the main cast members, I was invited to participate in the live stream promotion..."

Gu Tingjun couldn't hear what Ye Mingzhao was saying next. Her expression twisted as she lunged towards the desk, her eyes wide open, filled with bewilderment and panic, staring at the dense barrage of comments on the screen.

"Holy shit! Is this kind of juicy, high-stakes drama really something we can watch for free?"

"When it comes to gossip, nothing beats Ye Mingzhao's. Not only is the plot full of twists, but the follow-up is also exciting. The former chairman of Gu family jewelry actually lashed out in a live stream, regretting not strangling a baby in its cradle years ago. Is this a distortion of human nature or a moral degradation?"

"Eww! A huge face suddenly appeared in front of the camera, scared the hell out of me!"

"I just clicked in and jumped in fright, thought Sadako from 'The Ring' was coming out..."

"You did this on purpose," Gu Tingjun's eyes were filled with venom. If looks could kill, Ye Mingzhao would have been executed by a thousand cuts. "You schemed against me on purpose. You want to ruin me and destroy my reputation. You vicious bastard!"

Faced with Gu Tingjun's incoherent accusations, Ye Mingzhao could only sigh helplessly, his expression troubled. "If you insist on thinking that way, there's nothing I can do."

Gu Tingjun laughed in anger. "Don't put on a hypocritical act in front of me. How can you say that this wasn't all carefully planned by you?"

"Why would you think that? Wasn't taking Gu family jewelry public your and Lin Feng's long-held wish?" Ye Mingzhao asked innocently. "Of course, once you enter the capital market, the rules of the game change. But it's still just business."

"In business, we speak the language of business," Ye Mingzhao said gently. "Gu family jewelry's stock price has skyrocketed, and you and Lin Feng hold 20% of the shares, making you major beneficiaries, no?"

"During this time, the two of you have probably earned more from stocks in this short time than the company did in thirty years."

"At least more than one million, and more than fifty million."

"So, shouldn't you be thanking me for helping you earn so much money?" Ye Mingzhao smiled slightly, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. "After all, by your values, as long as there's money, any problem can be solved."

"Nonsense! Everyone knows that I'm an original shareholder of Gu family jewelry, and the stocks under my name have a 36-month lock-up period, which means they can't be cashed out. Since I can't cash them out, what good are those paper profits on the stock market to me?" Gu Tingjun looked at the hypocritical Ye Mingzhao with utter contempt. "Do you really think that hides your true intentions?"

She was determined to expose Ye Mingzhao's false facade.

"So you also understand that money that can't be cashed out is just worthless paper," Ye Mingzhao said calmly, seemingly curious. "Then what do you think one million in compensation meant to me, twenty-three years back?"

Gu Tingjun's curses came to an abrupt halt.

After a long while, Gu Tingjun's face turned ashen. "...Is this your revenge against Lin Feng and me?"

In the live stream room, the viewers watching the drama unfold were completely floored by the unfolding drama.

The host responsible for moderating the live stream chat, along with the other main cast members of *Jiangshan Strategy*, were all dumbfounded, too captivated by the drama to care about promoting the show.

At the same time, internet users flooded the live stream room, nearly crashing it with the flood of viewers.

"What's going on? Does Gu Tingjun mean that the entire series of operations, from taking Gu family jewelry business public to then acquiring it, were all part of Ye Mingzhao’s plan?"

"Damn! Damn! Ye Mingzhao’s image as a ruthless and strategic tycoon really stands firm."

"How dare he openly admit in the live stream to his revenge against his biological father’s family? Ye Mingzhao is truly a wolf in human form! He’s merciless to others and equally harsh on himself."

"Why wouldn't he say it? If Ye Mingzhao wants to take revenge on Lin Feng’s family, he should do so openly and justly. Didn’t our Zhaozhao say it’s all about business?"

"Wah! Ye Mingzhao is so captivating! He’s fully immersed in the role of a mad genius villain!"

"Pure performance! Absolutely pure performance!"

"Well done, Ye Mingzhao! These villains who think they can do whatever they want just because they have money deserve to pay the price!"

"Those who accused Ye Mingzhao of being profit-driven and vain, only taking revenge on his poor mother while forgiving his rich father, are you still around? Can you apologize to our Zhaozhao? Our Zhaozhao isn’t someone who would be swayed by profit; this is what it means for a gentleman to seek revenge, even after ten years!"

"Weren’t Gu Tingjun and Lin Feng the ones who used their wealth to trick people into marriage? After the truth came out, they still had the nerve to argue that they had already given one million in compensation, so they weren’t responsible for Ruan Cuimei abandoning her son. I felt like vomiting when I heard that... If it weren’t for these adulterous scoundrels reneging on their promises and tricking Ruan Cuimei into having a child, only to abandon him afterward, why would she have thrown the child into the garbage? Are children toys that can be returned when unwanted?"

"These villains who think they can do whatever they want just because they have money deserve to pay the price!"

The screen was flooded with comments, all criticizing and mocking Gu Tingjun and Lin Feng. Gu Tingjun tried her best to ignore the comments but couldn’t divert her attention. The computer screen was right in front of her.

Gu Tingjun took a deep breath, struggling to control her distorted expression, and worked hard to calm her anger, trying to regain her composure as quickly as possible.

"It’s not what you think!" Gu Tingjun looked directly into the camera, explaining to the vast audience behind the screen: "Let’s set aside what happened back then. But after Ruan Cuimei found Ye Mingzhao again, Lin Feng and I did everything we could to gather all the cash we could mobilize, amounting to fifty million, to apologize to Ye Mingzhao."

"Ye Mingzhao accepted our compensation and agreed to put the past behind us. However, he secretly orchestrated this scam, taking Gu family jewelry business from us and planning to break it up and sell it to different buyers. This is clearly a breach of trust."

"He talks about the commercial society and doing business. Fine, let’s talk business. He took my money, agreed to reconcile, and then acted behind our backs. Isn’t this a serious violation of the spirit of contract?"

Gu Tingjun's sophistry indeed sparked some netizens' reflection.

Soon, some people began to feel that Ye Mingzhao’s actions were indeed somewhat unscrupulous.

"If Ye Mingzhao hadn't accepted the 50 million, he could have retaliated against the Gu family and Lin Feng in any way he wanted. But since he took the money, isn’t it a bit too much for him to still do this?"

"My goodness! The Giant Buddha of Leshan should let you sit on it. You reflection mongers are so good at reflecting, why don’t you reflect on Gu Tingjun and Lin Feng? If they hadn’t staged a sham marriage and had a child back then, none of these things would have happened."

"Is 50 million a lot? Not really, right? Ye Mingzhao said it himself, with the current surge in Gu family jewelry business's stock price, Gu Tingjun and his wife must have made several times 50 million! By this logic, they should be grateful to Ye Mingzhao! Why are they still complaining about him acquiring the Gu family jewelry business?"

The netizens’ logic was incredibly strong. Apart from a few naive individuals who believed everything they heard, most netizens did not think there was anything wrong with Ye Mingzhao’s actions.

"Personal feelings are personal feelings, and business is business. You can’t stop doing business just because of personal feelings, can you?"

"The 50 million from Lin Feng and Gu Tingjun only bought Ye Mingzhao’s silence regarding their past mistakes. However, Ye Mingzhao’s acquisition of the Gu family jewelry business was for profit. There’s something I think you’ve overlooked: the financial reports and profitability of a listed company need to be accountable to its shareholders. Ye Mingzhao currently holds only 11.3% of the shares in the Gu family jewelry business, and this is the latest data. When the Gu family jewelry business held a shareholders' meeting to remove Gu Tingjun and Lin Feng from the board, Ye Mingzhao only held 5% of the shares. Even if he had the right to attend the meeting, he couldn’t influence the decision. For the proposal to remove Gu Tingjun and Lin Feng to pass, at least 67% of the shareholders needed to vote in favor. This means that the decision to remove Gu Tingjun and Lin Feng from the board was the collective will of more than two-thirds of the shareholders of the Gu family jewelry business."

"To have so many shareholders unanimously believe that Gu Tingjun and Lin Feng were unfit to serve as chairman and CEO of the Gu family jewelry business, how incompetent must they be? Three generations of management, and they still can’t earn the trust of the shareholders?"

"In summary, since we’re talking business, we should stick to the facts and prioritize interests. Gu Tingjun shouldn’t think that after spending 50 million to apologize to Ye Mingzhao, Ye Mingzhao must guarantee their positions on the board of the Gu family jewelry business, right?"

Upon reading a lengthy analysis in the comment section, many netizens who didn’t understand corporate equity or board responsibilities suddenly had an epiphany. They all expressed that they understood.

"This is just moral coercion!"

"Spending 50 million and expecting Ye Mingzhao to protect them? It’s no wonder they came up with such a scam marriage; they really know how to calculate!"

"That’s more like it!"

In a certain office within the headquarters of the Ye family business, Chu Hengyi stretched his slightly stiff hands after typing for too long. He looked at his impromptu lengthy post with pride.

On the computer screen, Gu Tingjun’s eyes flickered, and his expression was rigid, clearly at a loss for words in the face of the comments.

Chu Hengyi looked at the face on the screen, but what appeared in his mind was Ye Mingzhao’s refined and handsome face: "I wonder how you’ll thank me this time?"

Chu Hengyi thought to himself, "Don’t even think about dismissing me with just a cup of coffee!"