Chapter 74

Chapter 74

A hotpot meal and a few casual words were enough to sow discord among the scheming conspirators, leaving them suspicious and on edge.

The growing tension between Zhou Heting and Hua Rui was within Ye Mingzhao's expectations, as was Hua Rui's distrust and wariness toward Mark Brown. Now, with one stone killing two birds, the next step was to see who between Zhou Heting and Hua Rui would lose their composure first.

—However, what Ye Mingzhao didn't anticipate was that the first to lose composure would be Zhou Yueze, the incompetent and bumbling fool.

In a heated argument, he accidentally killed Chu Qingyi.

The incident stemmed from the rampant rumors that "the Zhou family's support for Chu Qingyi was because Chu Qingyi had evidence of the Zhou family's collusion with Hua Rui."

This was a rumor deliberately spread by Ye Mingzhao to drive a wedge between the Zhou family and Hua Rui. Unexpectedly, Chu Qingyi, the other party involved in the rumor, upon hearing this news, conceived the idea of "using this information to make another profit."

When Chu Qingyi first interacted with the Zhou family, he was deeply afraid of Zhou Heting. He knew Zhou Heting was a cunning and shrewd master manipulator, with connections and assets far beyond his reach. Therefore, he always behaved obediently in front of the Zhou family, never daring to offend Zhou Heting.

It wasn't until Zhou's film company went bankrupt, Zhou Yueze was taken away by the authorities for investigation, and Mrs. Zhou vented her anger on Chu Qingyi, ordering bodyguards to beat him, that Chu Qingyi had no choice but to trade the ledger for Ye Mingzhao's protection to save his own skin.

After the incident was exposed, the Zhou family, in an attempt to quell the matter, voluntarily gave Chu Qingyi ten million in hush money.

This move not only inflated Chu Qingyi's greed but also made him realize that the Zhou family wasn't as fearsome as he had imagined.

At the very least, the Zhou family combined couldn't outmatch Ye Mingzhao.

So, upon hearing the rumor, Chu Qingyi immediately guessed that Ye Mingzhao and the Ye family were behind it.

Instead of distancing himself from the turmoil, Chu Qingyi proactively called Zhou Yueze, threatening the Zhou family to give him another ten million in hush money: "...Otherwise, I'll tell everyone that the rumors circulating are true. Your Zhou family colluded with Hua Rui to kidnap Chu Hengyi."

Having reaped the benefits of spreading rumors about the Zhou family, Chu Qingyi initially thought the Zhou family, fearing public opinion, would agree to his demands. After all, given the Zhou family's wealth, even if they were ousted from the Zhou family's board by the Ye family, they were still billionaires. For the sake of their reputation, they wouldn't hesitate to part with ten million.

Chu Qingyi wasn't entirely wrong. Compared to the Zhou family's reputation, Zhou Heting indeed didn't care about ten million. But what Chu Qingyi never expected was that Zhou Yueze wasn't Zhou Heting. He lacked Zhou Heting's cunning and composure.

If Chu Qingyi had chosen to call Zhou Heting, even if Zhou Heting disliked his opportunism, for the sake of the bigger picture, he might have paid to silence Chu Qingyi.

But Chu Qingyi didn't do that. Although he understood the Zhou family's limits, he was still afraid of Zhou Heting. So, after much deliberation, he didn't dare to call Zhou Heting. Instead, he called Zhou Yueze, with whom he had the longest history of interaction.

Chu Qingyi initially thought that Zhou Yueze, upon receiving his call, would be cautious. He expected Zhou Yueze to curse at him, even physically attack him, but ultimately, given Zhou Yueze's inherent cowardice, he would choose to compromise.

—In this, Chu Qingyi wasn't mistaken.

Upon receiving the call, Zhou Yueze was absolutely furious. He couldn't believe Chu Qingyi could be so shameless. Just after extorting ten million from the Zhou family with the ledger, he now wanted to use rumors to extort more money.

Did Chu Qingyi think the Zhou family was his personal ATM?

Adding to the insults he faced in social circles, Zhou Yueze, overwhelmed by old and new grievances, wished he could strangle Chu Qingyi on the spot.

So, in a fit of rage, without consulting Zhou Heting, he agreed to Chu Qingyi's demands over the phone and asked where Chu Qingyi was.

Chu Qingyi, thinking his scheme had succeeded, immediately gave Zhou Yueze the address of his rented apartment.

Zhou Yueze went there intending to argue with Chu Qingyi, even to beat him up to vent his anger, never intending to kill. But Zhou Yueze didn't expect that Chu Qingyi was no longer the meek, obedient canary he once was.

After enduring such a blow, Chu Qingyi had long since dropped the act. He didn't bother hiding his true self in front of Zhou Yueze, nor did he want to listen to Zhou Yueze's accusations.

"After repeating a lie a thousand times, don't start believing it's the truth. Outsiders may not know the truth, but you should. Did you offend Ye Mingzhao to promote me, or did you use me as a pawn to scheme against Ye Mingzhao?"

"I thought following you would lead to a bright future. Turns out, you're just a loser. You couldn't even outmaneuver Ye Mingzhao, almost ending up in jail. What does that have to do with me?"

"If it weren't for your mother using the Zhou family's influence to send bodyguards to beat me in a fit of rage, I wouldn't have had to cling to Ye Mingzhao to save my life. At the end of the day, it's your Zhou family's cutthroat tactics that left me with no way out."

"Zhou Yueze, don't keep saying as if I owe you so much. Other wealthy young men give houses and cars to their mistresses! What have I gotten from sleeping with you for so long, except for an agency contract that turned into a worthless piece of paper? Your mother even pinned the blame for your troubles on me. I haven't even blamed you for using me as a target to make enemies everywhere!"

"What's the big deal about me asking you for money? I'm only asking for what I deserve. You don’t have to give it to me! If you don't, I'll go public with it, I'll give interviews to the media, I'll make sure the whole world knows just how despicable and shameless your Zhou family is..."

At first, Zhou Yueze tried to argue with Chu Qingyi. But the more they argued, the angrier they got, and the more they got carried away in the argument, until they even started fighting.

When Zhou Yueze snapped out of it, he found himself sitting on Chu Qingyi, his hands around Chu Qingyi's neck, while Chu Qingyi lay on the floor of the rented room, already lifeless.

Zhou Yueze was terrified and was about to flee the crime scene when he was caught by the police who had arrived at the scene—

The paparazzi who had been staking out Chu Qingyi captured the entire scene of Zhou Yueze fighting with Chu Qingyi and accidentally killing him. Seeing Chu Qingyi motionless in the footage, he sensed something was wrong and immediately called the police.

*

Ye Mingzhao saw the news on the evening news that night. The footage clearly showed Zhou Yueze being taken away by the police from Chu Qingyi's rented room. The Ye family was left in shock when they saw this scene.

"Zhou Yueze, that coward, actually dared to kill someone?" Ye's second brother was puzzled: "Is he crazy?"

With the Zhou family's background, what couldn't be solved with money? Why resort to murder?

Mrs. Ye was also extremely shocked. No matter how much the Zhou and Ye families were at odds, Zhou Yueze was someone Mrs. Ye had watched grow up. She never imagined that such a well-behaved child from her childhood would kill someone over a measly ten million in hush money.

Ye's eldest brother frowned: "Ultimately, it's Chu Qingyi's insatiable greed. If he hadn't gone to Zhou Yueze for money, this tragedy wouldn't have happened."

Although Chairman Ye remained silent, his expression was as grim as death.

Whether it was Chu Qingyi's insatiable greed or Zhou Yueze's impulsive mistake, the root cause of this incident was the old case of Chu Hengyi being abducted over twenty years ago. Now that things have escalated so much, the Ye family is also involved.

Thinking of this, Chairman Ye couldn't sit still. He immediately called the heads of the public relations and legal departments of the Ye family business, ordering them to keep an eye on online public opinion and prepare for public relations in a timely manner.

Ye Mingzhao's expression was also grave. The rumor that Chu Qingyi had leverage over the Zhou family and threatened the Zhou family to promote him was deliberately spread by Ye Mingzhao, with the aim of dragging Zhou Heting and Hua Rui into the mess.

But Ye Mingzhao never expected that Chu Qingyi would extort the Zhou family after hearing this rumor, and that Zhou Yueze would accidentally kill Chu Qingyi.

Chu Hengyi frowned and said in a deep voice: "If Zhou Yueze really went to confront Chu Qingyi over this matter and accidentally killed him, we must be prepared for Zhou Heting's revenge."

At this point, Chu Hengyi's mood was also complicated. No matter what, he had lived in the Chu family for eighteen years in his previous life. Even if the Chu family treated him poorly, and it was possible that they were deliberately abusing him under someone else's orders, before the truth came out, Chu Hengyi had considered the Chu family as his only family in this world for a long time.

He never thought that Chu Qingyi would die, and for such an absurd reason.

*

At the same time as Chu Hengyi was filled with emotions, Chu Jianguo and his wife, upon hearing the news of their son's death, wailed all the way to the Xinhai City Public Security Bureau.

Upon seeing their son's body, Chu Jianguo and his wife broke down. They wailed and knelt in the morgue, begging the police to severely punish the murderer.

The media reporters who had been staking out the police station also noticed the arrival of Chu Jianguo and his wife. Like sharks smelling blood, these reporters surrounded Chu Jianguo and his wife, constantly asking them about their feelings on the murder of their biological son.

Not to mention how Chu Jianguo and his wife wailed and cursed in front of the reporters, Zhou Heting was now unable to cry even if he wanted to.

Zhou Heting also didn't expect that just one moment of inattention would lead Zhou Yueze to cause such a big mess. But no matter what, he couldn't let his only son pay with his life for Chu Qingyi.

To stabilize Chu Jianguo and his wife, Zhou Heting directly sent a lawyer to offer a high compensation, tempting Chu Jianguo and his wife to issue a letter of forgiveness; at the same time, he had the lawyer accuse Chu Qingyi of extortion, and Zhou Yueze, as the victim of extortion, only killed Chu Qingyi in a moment of emotional excitement during the argument, at most it was excessive self-defense.

He hoped the judge would consider this and reduce Zhou Yueze's sentence.

However, what gave Zhou Heting even more headaches was the increasingly intense online public opinion—

The only son of the former chairman of the Zhou family had killed someone! And it was Chu Qingyi, the family member of a human trafficker.

For a time, the entire internet was abuzz with this news. The previously widespread rumor that "Chu Qingyi had evidence of the Zhou family's collusion with Hua Rui, which is why Zhou Yueze promoted him" once again became rampant. Netizens who had heard this gossip all claimed that the rumor must be true. Otherwise, why would Zhou Yueze kill Chu Qingyi to silence him?

When Zhou Heting noticed that some people online were conflating these two incidents, he was so angry that he smashed another blue and white porcelain teacup!