Chapter 61

Chapter 61

Anti-Corruption Department of the Procuratorate.

"Mr. Shen, we received an anonymous tip accusing you of embezzling public funds. The informant provided a goods receipt and payment feedback document signed by you, along with evidence that the partner company recently declared bankruptcy."

The prosecutor pushed the documents across to Shen Gali: "Please check and confirm whether this document was signed by you."

Shen Gali: What?

Embezzlement? Me? Didn't know I had it in me.

Shen Gali took the documents, and the first thing he saw was the document Nan Feiyao had given him to sign just before leaving work on Friday, claiming it was a goods receipt and payment confirmation from a previously cooperating Japanese company.

"After verification, we've confirmed that company has indeed declared bankruptcy. The payments and penalty fees collected have been fully refunded. However, the informant claims the company's account did not receive the two hundred million yuan contract breach penalty."

Shen Gali answered briefly: "I don't know. I've only been running the company for a short while. Someone handed me the document to sign. I was in a hurry to leave, so I just signed it."

Prosecutor: "So you signed it just because you were in a rush to leave? As the acting CEO, you were supposed to read the contract carefully. Your signature made this document effective. Either way, you're still responsible. We've already contacted the Japanese company to verify the refund account, which matches a large account newly opened in your name, confirming the money went straight into your pocket."

Shen Gali: Two hundred million dropping from the sky? I wish. How come I didn't know?

"We're asking you one last time: Is this goods receipt and payment feedback document signed by you?" The prosecutors looked stern, almost intimidating.

Shen Gali stared at the familiar contract and suddenly fell silent.

*

Elsewhere.

"Sir, the company just called. They said Mr. Shen has been taken away by the procuratorate for investigation on suspicion of embezzlement and document forgery! Rumors are flying around the company. Today is the annual shareholders' meeting, and it starts in an hour. If Mr. Shen is not there to chair the meeting, won't the shareholders be convinced of his guilt?" Uncle Li spoke rapidly into his phone.

He had no one to discuss this with. Even if Nan Liujing were by his side, what could he understand? After much thought, he had no choice but to report the matter to Nan Feng.

Nan Feng had just taken his blood pressure medication. Hearing this news hit him like a thunderbolt, sending his blood pressure skyrocketing.

"You're saying the procuratorate has taken my son-in-law away?! Embezzlement?! Forgery?!"

"I also believe Mr. Shen would never do something like this. I don't know the specific details either; we'll have to wait for the procuratorate's investigation results. But the urgent matter now is to handle the shareholders' meeting. How are you feeling, sir? Can you chair the meeting normally?"

Nan Feng was in no mood to chair the meeting. His favorite son-in-law had been taken away; how could he just sit by and do nothing?

Yu Huaisu, listening nearby, saw an opportunity. When she heard about the lack of leadership for the meeting, a cunning idea came to her.

Feigning deep concern, she kept patting Nan Feng's back, her brows furrowed in worry: "Dear, you should go to the procuratorate first. This matter requires your personal intervention. As for the shareholders' meeting, Liujing can't help right now. If you trust me, I'm willing to take over."

Nan Feng hesitated. Yu Huaisu pressed on: "Can you bear to see your son-in-law wrongly accused? Right now, you're the only one who understands the company's operations, and only you can protect him."

Nan Feng thought for a long time, then called for a servant to bring his coat. Without doubting Yu Huaisu's plan, he said: "I'll go to the procuratorate now. I'm leaving the meeting to you. Keep the shareholders calm. And don't leak the news about Jiali being taken away by the procuratorate. I'm counting on you."

Uncle Li hung up the phone, pacing frantically like a cat on a hot tin roof, muttering repeatedly, "What are we going to do?"

Nan Liujing, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly said to Uncle Li: "Uncle, I want to eat sugar apple. Go buy it for me."

Uncle Li: "What kind of fruit?"

"Sugar apple."

"Sugar-what? Is that a kind of apple? Where can I buy it?"

"I don't know. Go find it. Don't come back if you can't find it."

Hearing this, Uncle Li was even more bewildered. At such a critical moment, the young master has the nerve to ask for some weird fruit. This old man's life is rough.

At the shareholders' meeting.

A shareholders' meeting is a major meeting mandated by law, generally attended by no more than fifty shareholders. Its content usually includes reviewing the board of directors' and supervisory board's annual work reports, electing a new chairman, reviewing dividend plans, and financial budgets and final accounts reports. Except for special circumstances, it is generally chaired by the chairman of the board.

Considering Nan Feng's intention to step down and serve as an advisor, no longer directly involved in company affairs, this meeting was originally scheduled to be chaired by the CEO on an interim basis.

The meeting was set for ten o'clock. By half past nine, most of the attendees had arrived.

Of the thirty shareholders, except for Yu Jinzhu and Nan Feiyao, who also worked at Huanhai, the others had only heard of Shen Gali but never met him. When they saw him, they gathered in small groups, whispering and speculating about what kind of person Shen Gali really was.

Yu Jinzhu's shiny bald head was particularly conspicuous, and paired with his smug smile, he looked even more petty.

He leaned close to Nan Feiyao's ear and whispered with a grin: "I'm afraid these people will never get a chance to meet President Shen. After all, whether our great President Shen can even leave the procuratorate is still a question mark."

Nan Feiyao smirked softly, the pent-up frustration that had long weighed on him finally easing.

As time ticked by, the official start of the shareholders' meeting drew near. The group stopped chatting and kept looking at the door, waiting for the rumored acting CEO.

"It's already 9:55. Why is the acting CEO still nowhere to be seen?"

"If he tells us he overslept, I'll laugh my head off."

The old-fashioned, conservative shareholders hated tardiness the most. According to past practice, the person chairing the meeting should have arrived an hour early to arrange the details. At the very least, they shouldn't be late. In dozens of shareholders' meetings, they had never encountered such a situation.

"Click, click..."

As the shareholders' dissatisfied murmurs filled the conference room, the crisp sound of high heels echoed from the corridor outside.

The murmuring abruptly stopped. Everyone felt something was off, but couldn't put their finger on it.

Until the door was pushed open, and a dignified figure in white appeared at the door. Then they finally understood what was wrong.

They had assumed the footsteps belonged to the acting CEO, but now they realized they were from high heels.

A familiar yet unfamiliar face appeared at the door.

It was Yu Huaisu, the former chief financial officer of the company, who had left after giving birth.

Once known as the "iron-fisted woman whose heel clicks made every employee tremble."

"Director Yu?" Some still habitually called her Director Yu when she appeared.

Yu Huaisu smiled gracefully at the crowd. The large pearl earrings complemented her pristine white skirt suit perfectly.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting. I was informed at the last minute that I would be chairing this shareholders' meeting. I wasn't prepared, so I'm a bit late. Please forgive me." She sat naturally at the head of the long table, and someone immediately took her handbag.

The shareholders exchanged glances, confused.

"Wasn't the acting CEO supposed to chair this meeting?" someone asked curiously.

Yu Huaisu smiled: "I was just about to explain that. Recently, there has been an issue of embezzlement of public funds in the company. The relevant person has been summoned by the procuratorate for questioning. As you all know, I've always been one to uphold justice regardless of personal ties. So we'll wait for the procuratorate's decision. Meanwhile, Chairman Nan is unable to attend the meeting due to his injury. So, until then, I'll have to step in to chair this meeting. I assume no one objects."

She never named Shen Gali, but every word pointed to him.

Hearing this, the shareholders instantly understood.

Damn! Someone is committing illegal acts for personal gain!

"No objections, no objections. Everyone knows Director Yu's work capabilities. Since things have come to this, we will unconditionally support Director Yu's work."

What could the shareholders do anyway? Even though this woman doesn't hold any title now, she's the chairman's close relative. Offend her? They might as well blow their brains out.

Yu Huaisu smiled arrogantly: "Good. Then let's officially start the meeting."

"Of course no one dares to object. If one wrong sentence leads to death, who would we even complain to?"

Suddenly, a voice different from the sycophantic tones of the shareholders rang out at the door.

Everyone looked over in unison and were shocked, their eyes wide and jaws dropped as if they could swallow a watermelon.

Are we filming a TV drama here?!

Upon seeing the newcomer, Yu Huaisu comically half-rose from her seat then immediately sat back down.

Nan Liujing?

In an instant, everyone sensed a thick smell of gunpowder in the air.

Wasn’t Nan Liujing said to be injured and unable to attend? Then who was this man being pushed slowly into the room by his secretary?

Yu Huaisu swallowed, forcing herself to calm down and put on a smiling face: "Liujing, why aren't you resting at home? Truly worthy of being called the workaholic in everyone's hearts—your brain injury hasn't even fully healed, yet you couldn't wait to come to the meeting. Admirable."

She deliberately emphasized the words "brain injury" and "hasn't fully healed," implying to the shareholders that this man was a fool not worth paying attention to.

Nan Liujing had finally shed his beloved bear-print hoodie, donning a custom-tailored suit that fit perfectly, noble and graceful yet imposing and intimidating.

Compared to Yu Huaisu, they were more afraid of Nan Liujing. Ever since Chairman Nan Feng changed his mind at the last board meeting and didn't nominate Nan Feiyao as chairman, Nan Liujing had become the most formidable contender for power in their eyes.

Moreover, Nan Liujing's ruthlessness was well-known. He had never made a single mistake in his work over the years. If anything, they were not so much afraid as they were genuinely in awe.

But they heard he had damaged his brain—was he really okay?

Nan Liujing replied calmly: "The originally scheduled meeting chair, the interim CEO, couldn't make it due to some matters, so I had to revoke the delegation and chair the meeting myself."

"Bluffing," Yu Huaisu sneered. "Wasn't the embarrassment at the company's morning meeting a few days ago enough? How can this company tolerate a fool wielding power? In your eyes, are these shareholders your kindergarten classmates?"

Since someone was clearly trying to force a coup, Yu Huaisu gladly shed her hypocritical mask, revealing her fangs: "Does a fool understand company management? Know how to stabilize morale? Understand what it means to act according to the law? If you did, you wouldn't have let your husband use his position for personal gain, embezzle company funds, and create a mess that now requires the prosecutor's office to intervene."

Nan Liujing let out a cold laugh: "You're right about that."

He raised his hand, and Secretary Yan immediately handed a stack of documents to him.

Nan Liujing cast a contemptuous glance at the documents, then casually tossed them. The papers flew toward Yu Huaisu, scattering across the floor around her feet.

"Indeed, I am not as capable as my husband. In the short month he worked here, employee productivity rose two hundred percent. Due to his influence, the company's stock rose by seven percentage points. The Rosander family lent their full support, lowering the unit price of processed uranium and reducing the company's budget. All this is backed by data."

Yu Huaisu's face instantly turned white as a sheet when she looked at the papers at her feet.

"And I am even less clever than my husband. If it weren't for him, I might have been the one who couldn't leave the prosecutor's office," Nan Liujing snorted coldly. "I admit that in front of my husband, I am a very useless man, only relying on some extreme tactics to show you a false opening, making you gleefully jump into the trap while patting yourselves on the back."

At this, Yu Huaisu's face turned from white to green, like a green-faced, fanged demon crawling out of hell.

"Security! Call the police! Take this lunatic away."

"Auntie, why are you scared? You're not actually afraid, are you? If you were, you wouldn't have secretly poisoned my mother with chronic poison when I was four, driving her insane until she eventually died."

The crowd: Holy crap! Didn't expect to get a bonus out of this meeting.

"Does anyone believe his bullshit? Everyone knows Nan Liujing's brain is damaged. Now he's starting to fabricate things that never happened to accuse me of murder. With his current intelligence, he couldn't have come up with this on his own—someone must be pulling the strings behind the scenes, teaching him to say this. And I don't need to say who that is. If I were the bad guy, why wouldn't I be the one detained by the authorities? Everyone, think about it. Doesn't that make sense?"

Yu Huaisu thought that by saying "why wasn't it me who was detained," she could clear herself completely. As long as the credibility of the public security and judicial authorities existed, she had the audacity to say such things.

"Auntie," Nan Liujing raised an eyebrow, a frosty chill in his eyes, "there's no such thing as a secret forever. If you did it, there will always be evidence left behind. You thought time would bury them, but have you ever considered that death is not the end—being forgotten is? As long as it remains in my memory, you are a full-fledged criminal."

Hearing this, everyone finally understood.

It was true that Nan Liujing had lost his memory due to injury, but memory can always recover. If he hadn't recalled the full past, he wouldn't have had the confidence to confront Yu Huaisu in front of so many people.

"A sinner? I only ask you this: why wasn't it me who was suspected of embezzlement and document forgery? Why wasn't I the one being investigated by the prosecutor's office? Don't change the subject. I want you and everyone here to explain clearly—why wasn't it me, but Shen Gali?" Yu Huaisu slammed the table, her refined lady demeanor vanished.

"I told you I didn't want to come. The prosecutor's office finally let me go—can't I just lie down for five minutes?"

"Mr. Shen, this is too important. You have to come out."

Just as everyone was holding their breath waiting for Nan Liujing's answer, commotion arose at the door.

Then they finally laid eyes on the long-awaited Shen Gali.

Though the point wasn't what Shen Gali looked like, everyone couldn't help but think: What an incredible face. Can a face like that be real?

Shen Gali wore a burgundy high-neck sweater, black straight-leg pants that hugged his waist and showed off his slim, elegant figure. The deep colors contrasted sharply with his extremely fair skin, creating a strong visual impact, his complexion like fresh snow against the dark.

Even though he had just come from the prosecutor's office.

Yu Huaisu, who had just been shouting, "Why was Shen Gali detained and not me?", felt like she'd been struck by a club when she saw him. Her head buzzed and her mind went blank.

He... was out? How could this be? Shouldn't he be under investigation and then end up in jail as a docile scapegoat?

Why was he out?!

Shen Gali saw all those eyes staring at him in unison, and his social anxiety flared up again.

He instinctively hid behind Nan Liujing, hoping the ground would split open so he could disappear.

Nan Liujing looked at him cowering like a scared chicken, chuckled, and muttered, "You've been through a lot," then pulled out the folder he'd been carrying all along.

He opened the folder, took out all the papers inside, and flipped through them one by one.

After a long moment, he looked up, his gaze piercing like a torch, staring straight at Yu Huaisu.

"Why was it Shen Gali and not you? I told you, I really am not as smart as Shen Gali. So let him give you the answer."

With that, Nan Liujing threw the papers at Yu Huaisu's feet.

Just a single sheet of paper, light and weightless, yet the moment it fell, it seemed to blast a hole in the ground.

Yu Huaisu involuntarily picked up the paper. One glance, and her pupils dilated.

It was the forged goods receipt and payment feedback form—the one she had had Nan Feiyao take to Shen Gali for his signature under the pretext of needing the CEO's signature.

But she forced herself to stay calm: "What, showing me this so everyone knows Shen Gali forged documents? It's black and white, with Shen Gali's signature. I said you're bluffing—don't deny it."

Nan Liujing stared coldly. “Take a good look. Whose name is signed at the signature line?”

Yu Huaisu looked over in shock.

A horizontal stroke, a left-falling stroke, a vertical stroke… a horizontal turning stroke, a vertical stroke, and a walking radical.

It read…

Nan Feiyao.

It was only because the name was written in such a flamboyant cursive that it was hard to distinguish at first glance. She hadn’t even noticed the name was Nan Feiyao back then…

Shen Gali: “The name ‘Shen Gali’ has too many strokes. I was in a hurry to leave work that day and thought signing ‘Nan Feiyao’ would be faster. Besides, he was the one in charge of that contract.”

Shen Gali never expected that a moment of laziness would save him from disaster.

At this point, Yu Huaisu could only stubbornly insist, “Forging a document to divert blame? Have you been watching too many TV dramas?”

“No rush. I have something else I’d like you to take a look at.” Nan Liujing pulled out a second document.

This time, he didn’t toss it. Instead, he placed it neatly and reverently beside Yu Huaisu’s hand.

This time, Yu Huaisu couldn’t utter a single word.

This document was the one she had repeatedly warned must never be leaked—a contract statement confirming that Nan Feiyao had transferred two hundred million to Shen Lanqing’s mother for investment purposes. One copy was with Shen’s mother, the other with Nan Feiyao.

The black-and-white text clearly stated that Nan Feiyao would give Shen’s mother two hundred million, but the price was that Shen’s mother must marry her son, Shen Lanqing, to him.

Below that was the transfer receipt, showing the money from Nan Feiyao to Shen’s mother. As for how Nan Feiyao obtained the funds, the receipt clearly stated it came from a company in Japan.

Although they had bribed the Japanese company into lying to the procuratorate, bank records don’t play favorites—they tell the truth without bias.

“Who gave you this?!” Yu Huaisu’s eyes turned bloodshot in an instant, so red they seemed ready to drip blood.

Like a raging beast, she screamed at Shen Gali.

Shen Gali hated being shouted at. He wanted to shout back, but found it too troublesome. So, in a flat tone, he said, “Shen Lanqing gave it to me.”

This time, Yu Huaisu’s target shifted to Nan Feiyao: “How could Shen Lanqing have this? Weren’t you keeping it hidden?”

Nan Feiyao lowered his head, his eyes vacant and unfocused, staring into nothingness.

He couldn’t bring himself to say that Shen Lanqing had repeatedly demanded to postpone the wedding. To keep Shen Lanqing steady, he had chosen to play the victim, showing him the document, thinking it would make Shen Lanqing understand his good intentions and go through with the marriage.

But he never expected that the person he trusted most would hurt him the deepest.

“Didn’t I tell you not to let Shen Lanqing know about this either?! Why didn’t you listen?! Why are you trying to destroy me?! I exhausted every effort to cover for you and prepare everything, and now your stupidity has ruined it all! What did I give birth to you for? To oppose me?!”

Yu Huaisu, the iron-fisted matriarch, could tolerate everyone firing at her, but she could not bear her own son betraying her through sheer idiocy.

She went berserk, grabbing the documents at hand and hurling them at Nan Feiyao. When the papers ran out, she picked up a water cup.

The people around, fearing someone might get seriously hurt, rushed to hold her back, restraining her.

“Why did I give birth to you…? Because I didn’t want anyone to point at me and call me a mistress. I thought you could help me, that you could take over as chairman and shut those gossips up. But in the end, the child I risked my life to bring into this world personally sent me to prison. I can’t accept this. I’ve been clever all my life, yet I gave birth to a fool!”

Yu Huaisu alternated between crying and screaming, her voice piercing and shrill. Eventually, her roars turned into sobs, choking her until her face turned bright red, as if she might faint from anger at any moment.

Even though she had countless faults, everyone present couldn’t help but be moved by her plight.

From another perspective, she had endured countless hardships to reach her current position. She had painstakingly trained her own son, but he had been blinded by love and single-handedly destroyed his mother’s life.

Faced with tears, people couldn’t help but soften.

But Nan Liujing was hard-hearted. Others might find Yu Huaisu pitiful, but who would pity his mother, who had been drugged for a long time, driven to mental confusion, and eventually died of depression?

It was just that when people leave, the tea grows cold.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Yu. This is a shareholder meeting. If you want to repent, please do so in prison,” Nan Liujing said coldly.

“Nan Liujing! You’re the root of all this! If my mother goes to prison, you won’t have it easy either!” Nan Feiyao, unable to hold back any longer, slammed the table and stood up, pointing at Nan Liujing’s nose and cursing.

He believed that if it weren’t for Nan Liujing competing with him for power and profit, his mother wouldn’t have resorted to such extreme measures and wouldn’t be facing jail time.

Nan Liujing cast a dismissive glance at him and said nonchalantly, “You pushed me down the stairs, causing me injury, and embezzled two hundred million in public funds. You’re going to prison too.”

Nan Feiyao: “…”

Yu Jinzhu, seeing his backing crumble, grew furious: “Nan Liujing, forgive where you can. Be careful not to lose your moral virtue and end up in hell after you die!”

Nan Liujing sneered. “You disregarded the contract and colluded with the accounting department. Even when you regularly skipped work, you still drew a million-dollar annual salary. You’re going to prison too.”

Yu Jinzhu: “…”

Another shareholder stood up to mediate: “Let’s just drop it. We’re all family. Let’s make a big deal small and a small deal nothing.”

Nan Liujing: “If I remember correctly, you created dual contracts for personal gain. You’re likely headed for prison too.”

Shareholder: “I’ll just sit back down.”

Nan Liujing: All of you, go to prison. Not one less.

Then he looked at the crowd, all with bowed heads, and said in a chilling tone, “Everyone knows what you’ve done in the shadows. Heaven knows, and I know. I haven’t spoken up, not because I don’t know, but because I’ve chosen to turn a blind eye out of respect for your years of hard work for the company. I urge you to make amends as soon as possible, and I will let bygones be bygones.”

The crowd lowered their heads in shame: “Yes, yes, you’re right, Chairman Nan.”

Yu Huaisu was still crying on the side, Nan Feiyao still had his fists clenched, but Nan Liujing treated them as if they were air. “Now, the shareholder meeting officially begins. The first item on the agenda…”

*

A flood of reporters poured into the entrance of Huanhai Electronics. Amid the flashing cameras, Nan Feiyao and Yu Huaisu were taken away by the police for investigation.

Watching their retreating figures, Nan Liujing let out a heavy sigh.

Shen Gali had been sleeping in the car for most of the day. Hearing the commotion, he opened one eye to check.

In the original story, it should have been Nan Liujing who was taken away by the police for embezzlement. Now it had become Nan Feiyao. The world is unpredictable—only those who laugh last truly win.

Nan Liujing got into the car. Shen Gali asked curiously, “What kind of sentence will they get?”

“If my father is willing to fill the two-hundred-million gap within three months, probably about half a year in prison.”

“Too short.”

“If we add intentional injury, with cumulative punishment, it’s hard to say.”

Shen Gali finally realized. “You

But he couldn't help marveling—Nan Liujing was still the fearsome villain from the original novel, willing to use his own body as a decoy to lure the protagonist group into a trap. He understood how to manipulate people's minds; once someone let down their guard, every move became a vulnerability. If he hadn't forced them to act quickly, this battle could have dragged on indefinitely.

Yet, he wasn't the only one with such heartfelt efforts.

There was also Shen Lanqing.

Using the pretext of marrying Nan Feiyao, he had extracted crucial confidential documents, obtaining the last straw that broke their backs.

Unbelievable, the original novel's bottom protagonist had personally sent the top protagonist to prison, and the plot was still rocketing wildly off track.

Shen Gali was still a bit bothered: "You said earlier that it was Yu... someone who poisoned your mother. How did you know?"

Nan Liujing gazed at the drifting clouds outside the window, in a soft voice: "Do you still remember the redwood trees in the courtyard that you had cut down?"

Shen Gali: "I didn't cut them down. It was the construction crew."

Nan Liujing: ...

Nan Liujing took a deep breath: "Actually, when I was a child, there was also a redwood tree planted in our yard, one my mother had planted. It wasn't very tall back then, but it was lush and thriving."

"When my mother was still alive, Yu Huaisu came to visit many times. Every time she came, my father would send my mother away on the pretext of discussing important matters, forbidding my mother and me to eat with her."

"Until one day, she noticed the food tasted strange, but she only thought the servants had changed their cooking style, so she didn't pursue it."

"From that day on, her temper became erratic, her behavior abnormal, and the strangeness grew day by day until she passed away in the hospital."

"Everyone said it was because she was too proud and couldn't tolerate the mistress coming to throw her weight around, driving her to a mental breakdown. At first, I believed that too."

Shen Gali listened silently, without a word.

"After she passed, I took over caring for that redwood tree in the yard, but it was like my mother—the first leaf turned yellow, then the yellowing spread to the entire crown, slowly withering."

"I thought it was an insect infestation, so I dug around the tree to catch insects, but unexpectedly, I found a large number of pills buried under the tree. I sent them for testing, and it turned out to be a type of antibiotic that could cause hallucinations, disorientation, and mental disorders, as well as polyneuritis. That's what killed my mother."

It was hard to imagine what Nan Liujing was feeling as he said these words. On the surface, he seemed calm, but if time had truly healed all wounds, why were the corners of his eyes red?

He had finally avenged his mother today, but that person would never come back.

Shen Gali thought of the courtyard full of redwoods, each tree carrying Nan Liujing's longing for his mother, yet he had cut down most of them.

A bit of guilt—what could he do?

This guilt wasn't just about cutting down the trees that held Nan Liujing's sentimental attachment; it was also because it reminded him of why he had first opened his heart to share a meal with Nan Liujing.

Because they had both lost the people who loved them most due to difficult family backgrounds, and at that moment, their hearts resonated.

The birthday gift Bai Wei had given him wasn't valuable, but it was the most precious thing to him, a scatterbrained man, simply because it was from his mother.

Could he still make up for it? Was there still a way?

For the first time, Shen Gali seriously tried to think with his nearly rusty brain.