A day later, all papers were headlined with news about He Lianjing—the heir of the He Group—going to prison. Reports on the He Family made headlines in major newspapers, magazines, entertainment tabloids, and news applications.
He Lianjing had long been an eyesore to many due to his usually arrogant and unscrupulous demeanor. Upon seeing the news coverage, they immediately seized the opportunity to add fuel to the fire by exposing his numerous past scandals, including all kinds of brutal violence that he had committed.
Because of that, the He Group’s share prices plummeted, and all the company’s business partners ended their partnerships with the company in advance.
Normally, if partnership contracts had been signed before the news broke out, business partners would have to wait until the contract expired before ending their partnerships with the He Group. However, a mysterious man pressured these companies behind the scenes and promised to compensate for their losses. Because of that, all companies—large and small— ended their partnerships with the He Group instantly.
Furthermore, many of these companies were linked. Even though some of the companies had close dealings with the He Group, they wanted to shrink back and play it safe when they saw so many large companies severing their ties with the He Group overnight; that was because these companies were scared of getting themselves dragged into trouble.
After all, the forces behind this must be enormously powerful, for it had uprooted a company as large as a He Group overnight.
As these companies followed suit, the He Group’s share prices plummeted to an unprecedentedly low value.
When He Lianjing’s father learned of the news, he was so angry that everything went black before his eyes. He asked, “What’s wrong? Didn’t I have the news crushed? Why did the news break out again? Has all the money I spent earlier on gone down the drain?”
“I heard that someone spent a lot of money expressly to bring the entire He Group down.”
“Who is it?”
“President He, the person whom Young Master He tried to burn to death was none other than the newly-married wife of Han Qing, the President of the Han Group.”
“I know that. The Han Group is powerful, but it can’t possibly have such tough measures.”
“There’s something that you aren’t aware of, President He. The wife of Ye Moxuan, the President of the Ye Group, is Han Qing’s younger sister…”
When He Lianjing’s father heard that, he felt even dizzier to the point that he nearly passed away then and there.
It turns out that my son has offended two business conglomerates—the Ye Group and the Han Group—at the same time. No wonder… No wonder they took such swift action! Now that the two business giants have joined forces, how can the He Group possibly survive?
Still, He Lianjing’s father considered himself and the He Group lucky, for the He Group was not based domestically. Even if the company’s local branches were wiped out, it still had overseas branches. In the worst-case scenario, the company might as well not expand its business domestically.
However, He Lianjing’s father learned that even his overseas companies were affected that very night. After all, the He Family, of course, were not the only family who based its companies overseas; it took just a word from the two business groups to lay a hand on these companies.
The He Group fell from grace at stupefying speed. Those ignorant of the story behind its fall couldn’t help discussing among themselves, whereas those in the know dared not add a word lest they dragged themselves into trouble. After all, such tough measures from the two figures really struck terror into their hearts.
On the other hand, Yan was totally unaware of everything going on. She had not been using her cell phone lately, for she had been concentrating on taking rests every day to take care of her baby. Two days later, she took the initiative to speak to him about the matter after he was well rested.
“I have something to discuss with you.”
“Uh-huh?”
“It’s weird—I didn’t notice anything wrong at the time, but the more I thought about it over the last few days, the more I feel that something was wrong that day. Why would the room catch fire all of a sudden? Moreover, by the time I realized that the room was on fire, the fire was already serious, but it had not spread over yet. I ran to the door, but I couldn’t pull the door open, and my cell phone was missing. Even more strangely, I have been unable to figure out why I slept so soundly at the time. Even so, I did not feel myself losing consciousness at the time. Therefore, when I think about it now, I still feel that something isn’t quite right.”
While she had brought up the matter on her own initiative, Han Qing had already finished dealing with the affairs outside. No matter what sort of doubts she had, the truth had come out by now.
Therefore, Han Qing merely replied with a faint smile, “The matters are all resolved, so just put this memory behind you in the future. I’ll never let something like this happen to you ever again.”
Han Qing had never stumbled upon such incidents in the past, so he had no idea that a person could be so frenzied to such an extent. Now that he had learned his lesson, he would make all the necessary arrangements no matter the occasion, and he would never leave Yan’s side easily.
“The incident has already been resolved?” Yan blinked her eyes in surprise. “How did it get resolved?”
“You shouldn’t have to worry about such things. The most important thing you should do right now is to take care of our baby. All you have to do every day is to eat and sleep to your heart’s content.”
All I have to do is to eat and sleep to my heart’s content? Yan thought to herself. Is he treating me as a pig? Moreover, I’m just pregnant; I’m not trying to gain weight.
“I just want to know the whole story about the incident. Why won’t you tell me anything?”
“This is not something good, so you’d better not know too many details about it. Either way, I’ll never let you suffer from something like this ever again.”
In the end, no matter how Yan asked him, Han Qing refused to explain how the incident was resolved. Feeling sleepy, Yan was no longer in the mood to ask him again. Ever since she had gotten over the incident, her sleep quality had improved as well. As an expectant first-time mother, she craved sleep and food as other mothers did.
Since Han Qing did not want her to know the incident’s details, she decided not to ask him again. After all, this was probably one of his ways of protecting her.
Meanwhile, Xu Yanwan was stunned when she saw the published news reports. She had never expected Han Qing to be so ruthless to such an extent. A company as large as the He Group being crumbled to dust like that in complete silence! Such a piece of news would certainly cause an uproar among business circles, yet Xu Yanwan had no idea how big the uproar would be.
Because of that, Xu Yanwan felt even more stressed out. After all, He Lianjing had perpetrated that incident for her sake. Even though she did not agree with what he did at the time, she was still guilt-ridden deep down inside.
Now that the entire He Family was gone, what would He Lianjing think? Should she visit him in prison to tell him the news? However, wouldn’t that be too cruel? Nevertheless, He Lianjing had the right to know the truth.
Xu Yanwan’s mind nearly exploded as she pondered over the matter. Why? she thought to herself.
Why did such things happen? I never wanted to hurt anyone. All I wanted was to come back to take a look at the man I love. I didn’t expect him to have someone by his side, and there was a moment when I failed to suppress my inner demons. Even so, I have never thought of harming anyone’s life, yet both Yan and He Lianjing have ended up like that because of me.
Two days later, Xu Yanwan asked Han Qing out for a meeting. At first, Han Qing told her that he had matters to attend to, and she could talk to Su Jiu if there was anything she wanted to talk about.
However, Xu Yanwan changed his mind with just a sentence. “Don’t you want to know why He Lianjing did so?”
Upon hearing her words, Han Qing immediately narrowed his eyes dangerously. “Does this incident have something to do with you?”
Xu Yanwan held her cell phone as she nodded in both despair and resignation. “Yeah, you can say that this has something to do with me, so I want to talk to you about it. If you’re busy right now, you can find time to meet with me when you’re free.”
With that, Han Qing made an appointment with her, but their meeting was to take place at Han Qing’s office.
Xu Yanwan came ahead of time. She held the documents in her hand while thinking about how she should explain everything to Han Qing later.
