Jiangpan Conspiracy

Shen Zhiyi sat where she was, turning over Zhao Chen's final words in her mind and recalling his astonishing remarks about Bitcoin in class.

She gently toyed with the fountain pen in her hand. Only after a long while did she let out a faint sigh, her eyes shining with an unprecedented brightness and resolve.

After leaving the school, Zhao Chen headed straight to the cafe where he had arranged to meet Zhang Qingxue.

Zhao Chen and Zhang Qingxue had chosen a riverside cafe in Jiangbeizui. Beyond the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows, the murky Jialing River and the clear Yangtze River met in stark contrast. Cargo ships sounded deep whistles as they slowly passed across the water.

Zhang Qingxue had arrived five minutes early and was already seated by the window.

She wore a sharply tailored dark gray skirt suit, her hair meticulously swept into a bun behind her head. A pair of gold-rimmed glasses rested on her nose, and before her sat an open, slim laptop and a cup of black coffee.

Even in such a relatively casual setting, she radiated an efficient, prudent air—the mark of years spent in law and the Finance Circle.

When Zhao Chen approached, she was frowning at a document on her screen. Only when his shadow fell across the table did she look up.

"Aunt Zhang." Zhao Chen sat down and ordered an Americano.

Zhang Qingxue closed her laptop, her gaze carefully sweeping over his face for a moment before she got straight to the point. "Xiao Chen, this isn't something we can explain over the phone. Tell me now—what exactly do you want to do, and why? Pledging your shares is no small matter, especially if you're hiding it from your father."

Her voice was steady, yet it carried a sharpness that brooked no evasions.

Zhao Chen did not answer immediately. He turned the glass in his hand, watching the beads of condensation slowly slide down its side.

Outside the window, mist began gathering again, and the high-rises on the opposite bank gradually blurred into hazy silhouettes.

"Aunt Zhang, do you remember what my mother told you before she died?"

Zhao Chen suddenly asked a seemingly unrelated question.

Zhang Qingxue's eyes darkened, and her tone softened somewhat. "She asked me... to take good care of you. She said you kept too much to yourself and was afraid you'd suffer for it."

"Then how do you think I'm doing now?" Zhao Chen looked up at her calmly.

Zhang Qingxue frowned slightly. "Your father... has provided you with excellent material conditions. But the relationship between the two of you has never seemed particularly close."

She chose her words carefully, but she had hit the heart of the matter.

"It's not that we aren't close. It's..." Zhao Chen weighed his words, lowering his voice to ensure only the two of them could hear, "he has someone he's closer to, and I've become the one in the way."

Zhang Qingxue's brow furrowed deeper. "What do you mean?"

Zhao Chen leaned forward slightly, his voice as soft as a whisper. "My dad may... have more than just me for a son outside the family."

Zhang Qingxue's pupils contracted sharply. She instinctively adjusted her glasses and said flatly, "Impossible! Zhao Jianguo, he..."

Her words trailed off. She seemed to want to find a reason to refute him, only to realize that aside from her past impression of the man, she had no solid basis for doing so.

Less than two years after Zhao Chen's mother died, Zhao Jianguo had married the young and beautiful Su Wantang. That alone had already shattered many people's view of him as a man devoted to love and loyalty.

"I don't have concrete evidence." Zhao Chen leaned back against the chair back, his tone returning to calm.

"Just a feeling, and some... unusual details. For example, over the past six months, whenever we have a family dinner or occasionally talk on the phone, he always finds a roundabout way to bring up the ten percent of Henglong Shares I hold. It's always something like, 'Scattered equity isn't good for company decision-making,' 'Family assets need centralized management to maximize their benefits,' or 'Dad can buy them back from you at a favorable price. You can use the money for other investments—it's better than holding onto dead shares.'"

As a seasoned lawyer, Zhang Qingxue immediately caught the abnormality in this. "He never asked about this before. Your mother left those shares to you, and all the legal procedures are clear. For him to suddenly become so concerned..."

"And," Zhao Chen added, a trace of cold mockery in his eyes, "don't you find it strange? He's already the Major Shareholder and chairman, with more than fifty percent of the shares."

"It is indeed abnormal. Your ten percent poses absolutely no threat to his control of the company." Zhang Qingxue fell into thought.

"Then why is he so eager to clear out a 'minor shareholder' like me? Even if I'm his biological son. Unless he thinks the shares are safer in someone else's hands—or there's someone more worthy than me for him to focus his resources on raising."

The speculation was logical, even pointed directly at the core of the issue.

Zhang Qingxue's brows were tightly drawn together, her fingers unconsciously rubbing the handle of her coffee cup. She understood the bloody storms of the business world, and she understood even better how fragile human nature could be in the face of enormous利益.

Zhao Jianguo had built everything he had from nothing. He was absolutely not a softhearted man who clung to family affection.

"Even so," Zhang Qingxue said, still not fully convinced, her lawyer's instincts demanding evidence, "it could simply be that he has a strong need for control, or that he listened to Lin Wanqing's pillow talk. An illegitimate child... this is a serious matter, Xiao Chen. Without evidence, we can't jump to conclusions."

Zhao Chen knew that this alone was not enough to make Zhang Qingxue completely take his side. He needed a more direct "catalyst."