"Who knew?" Xu Jiayin cut him off abruptly, as if he had heard a massive joke. He then burst into a fit of shrill, frantic laughter, until his eyes turned red. "Who knew you would gamble away the Xu Family's entire lifeline?"
Following his wild laughter, he delivered another slap to Xu Zhi's face.
This slap was even harder than the previous one.
Xu Zhi was knocked straight to the ground, crashing into a desk leg. The pain was so intense that his vision went dark.
"Fifteen billion! You just moved it like that? Do you have any idea that fifteen billion was the result of ten years of my hard work?! It was the life-saving money I painstakingly scraped and funneled out of a 2.4 trillion yuan hole!"
Xu Jiayin clutched his aching chest and pointed at Xu Zhi's nose, his words dripping with blood: "But look at you, you took it to play the stock market! Now look at the mess! You owe 23.7 billion! And then there's the money from those powerful figures! Tell me, how are we going to pay them back?!"
The commotion in the study was so loud that it finally alerted the floor above.
The sound of hurried footsteps came from the staircase.
Lin Wanqiu's voice, filled with panic and unease, came through the door: "Old Xu? Ah Zhi? What are you two arguing about in there?"
The door was pushed open slightly, and Lin Wanqiu poked her head in. She immediately saw Xu Zhi slumped on the floor with blood at the corner of his mouth, and her face turned pale instantly.
Ignoring the lingering scent of indulgence in the study, she rushed in, knelt down to help Xu Zhi up, her voice trembling.
"What happened? Everything was fine, why did you start hitting him?"
Seeing her, the madness in Xu Jiayin's eyes intensified. He pointed at Xu Zhi and roared at her: "Ask your precious son! He took 15 billion of our family's overseas funds to play the stock market and lost every cent, and now he owes another 23.7 billion! He even dragged the money of those powerful elites into this! Our Xu Family is going to be destroyed by him!"
Lin Wanqiu held Xu Zhi's arm, her fingertips shaking. "What? Ah Zhi, is what your father saying true?"
Since he was the one who did it, Xu Zhi had no defense. He could only cover his face and nod.
Seeing this, Lin Wanqiu slapped him in frustration at his failure to live up to expectations.
After a sigh, she tried to persuade him: "Old Xu, it's already happened. What's the use of hitting and scolding him? Ah Zhi just wanted to share the family's burdens, he..."
"Share the burdens?" Xu Jianhong acted as if he'd heard a ridiculous joke, his voice suddenly rising as he spat in Lin Wanqiu's face, "He's digging up the Xu Family's ancestral grave!"
He pointed at Lin Wanqiu's nose, his chest heaving violently: "It's you! You've spoiled him since he was a child! You gave him the stars if he asked for the moon, and you covered for him every time he caused trouble! You turned a blind eye when he embezzled company money; you even said he was capable! Well, look now, he's brought the sky down on us! He's gambled away the Xu Family's entire future!"
"I didn't..." Lin Wanqiu's tears finally fell. She turned her head away, looking at the shattered celadon paperweight on the floor, her voice choking, "I just didn't want him to feel wronged..."
"Didn't want him to feel wronged?" Xu Jianhong sneered. He stepped forward and kicked a nearby mahogany chair hard. The chair crashed to the floor with a piercing sound. "Now our whole family is going to be buried along with his 'grievances'!"
Just then, Xu Jiayin's phone on the desk began to vibrate.
He froze for a moment, then quickly walked over and grabbed the phone.
The name of the group's Vice President was flashing on the screen. His heart skipped a beat, and his fingertips trembled as he pressed the answer button.
"Hello?"
"Chairman Xu! This is bad! Our bidding eligibility for that plot of land in the south of the city... has been revoked!"
Xu Jiayin's pupils contracted sharply, as if he couldn't believe his ears: "What did you say? Say that again!"
"It's true. The bidding office just sent a notice saying our company's 'credit status is questionable' and they kicked us out directly! Also... regarding the shantytown redevelopment project in the west of the city, the government said they need to re-evaluate our partnership qualifications and told us to pause all coordination!"
With a loud bang, it felt as if something had exploded in Xu Jianhong's head.
That plot in the south of the city was a lucrative opportunity he had been eyeing for half a year.
It was the only chance for the Xu Family to turn things around before their cash flow completely dried up.
The shantytown project in the west was a lifeline he had secured only after countless rounds of drinking with officials.
Now, it was all gone.
He froze in place, and the phone in his hand fell to the floor with a thud.
"So fast... how could it be so fast..."
Jiang Cheng's retaliation had come so unexpectedly, so ruthlessly and decisively.
After standing frozen for three seconds, he suddenly bent down, picked up the phone, unlocked it with his fingerprint, and opened his contacts.
In his contacts, names labeled 'Elder Zhao,' 'Chairman Wang,' and 'Bureau Chief Zhang' now felt like red-hot branding irons.
He stared at the screen, his throat tightening. He raised his hand to make a call, but his finger hovered over the call button and stopped abruptly.
The night outside was thick and impenetrable; the clock had already passed two in the morning.
At this hour, those people were either sound asleep in their beds or socializing in private clubs. Which one of them wasn't a haughty figure?
Calling now would only invite annoyance for no reason.
Xu Jiayin's chest heaved violently. He gritted his teeth hard and gripped the phone so tightly his knuckles turned white.
"Wait until dawn. I'll call as soon as it's light."
He had to go and beg these people, even if it meant discarding all his dignity and pride.
The money of those powerful figures was tied to the Xu Family. If the Xu Family fell, they wouldn't benefit either.
He was gambling on that last bit of mutual interest—the idea that if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold.
Lin Wanqiu looked at his distraught yet forced composure, and her tears fell even harder, but she didn't dare say a word.
Xu Jiayin moved his gaze from the shattered celadon paperweight to Xu Zhi's face, which was filled with resentment.
His tense jawline relaxed slightly. His tone was no longer hysterical, replaced by a deep, bone-weary exhaustion.
"Why do you think I moved that 50 billion overseas?" He tugged at the belt of his bathrobe, hiding his trembling fingertips in his wide sleeves. "It was so that if the building ever collapsed, your mother could live a stable life with that money, and you would have a way out instead of going to prison with me!"
Xu Zhi looked up sharply, the hostility in his eyes fading a bit, replaced by a hint of shock.
"In my life, I've bowed at banquet tables and played the fool in front of others, walking on eggshells to scrape this money out of a 2.4 trillion yuan hole," Xu Jiayin's voice grew hoarser. "Every transfer record, every overseas trust contract—I signed them all, I handled them all. Your mother and you weren't involved in any of it! I wanted to take all the heat myself!"
"I wanted to make sure that even if I fell one day, you and your mother could take that money and live peacefully abroad!" Xu Jiayin's eyes were red, but he refused to let the tears fall.
Xu Zhi opened his mouth, but his throat felt as if it were stuffed with cotton. The surging hatred and grievance he felt mostly dissipated at his father's words, leaving only a sharp, inescapable guilt.
Lin Wanqiu stood to the side, covering her mouth as tears silently hit the floor.
It turned out that all those years of her husband's shady dealings were for the sake of this family.
Xu Jianhong looked at the speechless Xu Zhi.
His voice turned cold again: "I'll handle this mess this time. But I'm telling you, this is the last time. From now on, don't you dare touch the overseas accounts. If you ever take matters into your own hands again, I'll personally send you to prison—at least that way I can save your mother!"
The next morning, Jiang Cheng went to his grandfather's residence alone, carrying a box of pastries.
The old man was sitting in a rattan chair, tending to an old potted bonsai, his movements with the pruning shears slow and deliberate.
Hearing the footsteps, he didn't even look up, speaking leisurely: "I heard about what happened last night..."
Jiang Cheng sat down beside him, his fingertips casually brushing the leaves of the bonsai, his tone relaxed yet serious: "Grandfather, I didn't cause any trouble for your side, did I?"
Hearing this, the old man finally put down the shears and glanced at him.
A faint smile touched his eyes, but his tone carried an irrepressible confidence: "Trouble? What trouble? It's just a real estate developer who rose through opportunistic connections; they can't stir up any significant waves."