Shanghai.

Suhe Bay Apartments.

In the luxurious living room spanning hundreds of square meters, Zhu Chaoji sat squarely on the sofa.

Opposite him was a middle-aged couple seated across.

From their facial features, Zhu Chaoji bore a slight resemblance to them; sitting across was the Chairman of Shanghai Hongye Building Materials Group, Zhu Hongye.

Mentioning Zhu Hongye, he indeed had some fame in the business circle of Shanghai.

Starting from scratch, he rose from a small contractor to become a tycoon in the building materials industry, with a company worth billions and holding 40% of the company's shares after it went public, amassing a wealth of over two billion. In Shanghai, he was considered a somewhat famous figure.

But at this moment, Zhu Hongye was smiling as he spoke into the phone: "Rest assured, Director He, if this matter was really caused by my boy, I'll personally take gifts to Chairman Gu to apologize."

"This isn't about apologizing! Defamation is subject to legal punishment, this matter has blown up, and the Black Swan Group is pressuring us to investigate thoroughly! Secretary Wang has also personally issued an opinion, I have temporarily suppressed this matter, but you best have a discussion with Chairman Gu of the Black Swan Group to get a letter of understanding, or else tomorrow morning, we'll be coming to take someone away."

"Alright, alright, I'll speak to this boy and find out what's going on. Let's meet for a cup of tea when you have time."

But there was no reply from the other end of the line, the call was abruptly cut off.

Clearly, Director He on the other end wanted nothing more to do with Zhu Hongye.

After the call ended, Zhu Hongye's face turned ashen, he lit a cigarette, clenched his left hand into a fist, his veins bulging.

"Was it you who smeared Gu Bai online?"

Zhu Hongye slowly exhaled a smoke ring, looking at Zhu Chaoji sitting across from him and asked.

Zhu Chaoji still didn't know that the situation online had reversed, nor did he know that Li Gang had been arrested, and that the online public opinion was now overwhelmingly against him. He thought he was flawless in his actions. Upon hearing Zhu Hongye's question, he was momentarily stunned, quickly denying, "Of course not, that Gu Bai was already a bully at school, it's normal for someone to expose him online, how could it be smearing?"

Seeing his son still being stubborn, Zhu Hongye stood up with a livid face, and kicked him in the chest with great force, causing Zhu Chaoji to temporarily suffocate, painfully crawling on the sofa and coughing incessantly.

Zhu Chaoji's mother, an ordinary housewife, stood up immediately upon seeing Zhu Hongye hitting Zhu Chaoji, hugging the pain-stricken and curled up Zhu Chaoji while shouting, "Zhu Hongye! Are you crazy? This is your own son, do you want to kill him?"

"Am I crazy? Ask him what he has done!"

At this moment, Zhu Chaoji knew for sure that Zhu Hongye had discovered the affair, under Liu Xianggui's questioning, he stammered, "I just gave Li Gang a bit of money to smear Gu Bai online a little, so he wouldn't be able to raise his head at the Shanghai Theatre Academy..."

"A little smear? Do you know how big this matter has gotten?"

"And do you think what you did was flawless with no one knowing? Let me tell you, the Li Gang you hired has been arrested, and you've been implicated! You're a university student, do you know the consequences of inciting and directing are even more serious!"

"The call earlier was from Director He from the precinct, he said tomorrow they'll be coming to our home to arrest you!"

Upon hearing he was going to be arrested, Zhu Chaoji panicked immediately, scrambling up.

"Dad, I really didn't know the situation would become this serious, at first I just hired some trolls, but later when I thought it was about right, I stopped hiring trolls!"

Hearing this, Zhu Hongye's anger flared up again.

A resounding slap landed squarely on Zhu Chaoji's face.

"Dad..."

"I don't have a son like you! I told you earlier not to provoke Gu Bai, don't provoke Gu Bai, he's not someone you can afford to mess with, did you ever think I am your father?!"

Another loud slap, Zhu Chaoji was almost knocked senseless, his head resonating with a persistent buzzing sound.

"Zhu Hongye! If you keep hitting him, you might as well beat us both to death! It's just cursing someone online, at worst we can pay compensation!"

Liu Xianggui, in a fit of maternal protectiveness, shielded Zhu Chaoji once again.

"The brat is like this now because you spoiled him, compensation, do you think I have that much money to pay? Another company's worth is as much as four or five of ours, do you think they care about money?"

Liu Xianggui, having little education, understood from Zhu Hongye's explanation that her son had offended someone he shouldn't have, yet she still sided with her son.

"Then what can we do? Even if they're rich, does it mean that just because Chaoji cursed him, he should pay with his life?"

Seeing Liu Xianggui's protective stance, Zhu Hongye was compelled to calm down, decades of marital feelings couldn't be ignored.

"I told you before, don't provoke Gu Bai, think about it rationally, how could someone younger than you have the means to put together over a hundred billion to start a company?

Our family has been busy for over a month just trying to secure the building materials supply project for their company's headquarters, yet you go out of your way to offend someone your father has to curry favor with?"

Zhu Chaoji was now too frightened to say a word.

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