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Ye Mingzhao smiled faintly and said softly, "I've already had a lawyer handle it and take the Chu family to complete the transfer procedures. I plan to transfer the apartment in the city center to the Chu family, along with my shares in Ye Group and the family trust fund to Brother Mingyi."

Everyone in the Ye family frowned. Before his family could speak, Ye Mingzhao added, "Don't try to talk me out of it. These things rightfully belong to Brother Mingyi. My ties with my biological parents were shallow, and I was an orphan from childhood. Being adopted by Mom and Dad from the orphanage and growing up in the Ye family was already the greatest fortune of my life. One shouldn't be too greedy. I already have the best family in the world, so I shouldn't covet such worldly possessions."

"Mom and Dad only adopted me because of Brother Mingyi in the first place. Compared with Brother Mingyi, who was kidnapped by traffickers as a child and forced to leave his biological parents, I've already been very fortunate. While he suffered, I took his place and enjoyed the love of Dad, Mom, Big Brother, and Second Brother. Now that he's back, I should return all of this to him."

By this point, Ye Mingzhao's eyes had turned warm. He said hesitantly, "But I really can't bear to leave Dad, Mom, Big Brother, and Second Brother..."

Ye Mingzhao spoke with genuine emotion. He truly did not care about those worldly possessions. His heartfelt confession successfully brought tears to everyone in the Ye family's eyes.

Only Chu Hengyi remained expressionless and unmoved. Still, a trace of bewilderment showed in his amber eyes.

Ye Mingzhao kept his word. Early the next morning, he went to the company to hand over his work.

Chairman Ye and Eldest Brother Ye could do nothing about Ye Mingzhao. Since childhood, although Ye Mingzhao looked gentle and soft-tempered, easy to talk to, once he made up his mind, not even nine oxen could pull him back.

All Chairman Ye and Eldest Brother Ye could do was cooperate with Ye Mingzhao as much as possible in wrapping up the handover of his work, ensuring the group's normal operations would not be affected. In private, they reminded him, "Come back when you've had enough fun. Ye Group's doors will always be open to you."

In response, Ye Mingzhao merely smiled.

Three senior secretaries from the secretarial department were assigned to take over Ye Mingzhao's work. Due to Ye Mingzhao's special status and formidable professional ability, Chairman Ye and Eldest Brother Ye had entrusted him with major responsibilities ever since he began interning at the group three years ago, personally guiding him through the group's various affairs. Thus, for the past three years, Ye Mingzhao had been responsible for the core aspects of the group's most important internal projects.

Now that Ye Mingzhao was suddenly resigning to act, the work on his hands had to be divided among three people.

Each senior secretary was responsible for only a portion, but even so, all three found it somewhat taxing. They could not help being shocked that Ye Mingzhao alone had handled so much work without a single oversight. At the same time, everyone was inevitably surprised—why had Ye Mingzhao suddenly resigned when things had been going so well?

Even setting aside Ye Mingzhao's status as the Ye family's adopted son, an elite employee with solid theoretical knowledge and a mastery of market operations resigning should have prompted the group's senior management to do everything possible to keep him, shouldn't it?

Thinking of the recent upheaval in the Ye family, everyone understood without saying a word.

In less than a morning, news of Ye Mingzhao's resignation had spread rapidly throughout the group.

Those who had once thought Ye Mingzhao was lucky could not help sighing. For a time, they began sympathizing with his fate again.

"Sure enough, no matter how well an adopted child is treated, they can't compare to a biological one. Assistant Ye has worked for the group all these years. Even if he wasn't giving his all to the point of exhaustion, he was still diligent and conscientious, wasn't he? And now he's just resigning under such murky circumstances? Who doesn't know what's really going on?"

"Assistant Ye is such a good person! A young genius, highly educated, so handsome, and with such a great personality. After working with him for so many years, I've never once seen him lose his temper."

"Exactly! More importantly, he takes responsibility. He never pushes blame onto his subordinates to make them take the fall. Last time, Old Liu made a careless mistake in the calculations and submitted them just like that. Fortunately, Assistant Ye caught it during the review and called him over to fix it. Otherwise, it would have been a huge disaster."

"And Assistant Ye is especially considerate. At the end of last year, my dad got sick and was hospitalized. I was worried about him, so I was distracted at work and couldn't focus at all. Assistant Ye noticed right away. Not only did he approve my annual leave early, but he also helped finish my report. He was especially good at making reports—I even got a bonus that month! I wanted to transfer the bonus to Assistant Ye, but he wouldn't accept it. He even told me to buy more nutritional supplements for my dad and help the old man build up his health."

"Now that you mention it, Assistant Ye really is a good person. I never thought he'd leave the group. He loves Ye Group so much."

"What good is love? What good is being a good person? What good is being capable? None of it can beat blood ties!"

"What do you mean by that? Could the real young master possibly take over Assistant Ye's work?"

"No way. I heard he stopped going to school after middle school. Assistant Ye graduated from New Sea University's finance department. Can he handle Assistant Ye's work? He probably doesn't even know what market operations are."

"If he can't, he can learn."

"That's true. His surname is Ye, and all of Ye Group belongs to the Ye family. As long as Chairman Ye is happy, what's one assistant? Even if it's a department manager position, he can be parachuted right in. Worst case, they'll put him on a pedestal and leave all the dirty, tiring work to the rest of us!"

Once the conversation reached that point, the gossiping employees abruptly fell silent and could only look at one another. Many had not even caught sight of the real young master yet, but they had already developed a rebellious attitude toward him.

They could not really be blamed. When they had previously discussed the gossip about the real and fake young masters, it had merely been out of curiosity about the grudges and entanglements of a wealthy family. It was like chatting about a television drama after meals, so everyone could stand on the moral high ground and criticize this person or comment on that one, freely discussing the fortune and original sin of Ye Mingzhao, the adopted son of a wealthy family.

But now, the real young master's arrival might affect their own interests. No one could continue treating the matter as a detached bystander.

However, none of those thoughts had anything to do with Ye Mingzhao anymore.

After leaving Ye Group, Ye Mingzhao dragged his suitcase and hurried without stopping toward Hengzhou Film and Television City. On the way to the airport, Ye Mingzhao took the script handed to him by his friend Yu Mingze.

"No, have you really decided to leave Ye Group and become an actor?" Yu Mingze held it in and held it in, but ultimately could not help asking, his face full of conflicted concern.

Without even raising his head, Ye Mingzhao smiled as gently as a spring breeze and said, "Didn't you invite me to play a role in your drama? What, are you having second thoughts?"

"Of course not!" Yu Mingze stiffened his neck and said loudly, "I'd be over the moon if you were willing to act in my production! Let me put it plainly: I created the male lead of this drama with you as the prototype. You're my muse. If you hadn't always refused to become an actor, this production would have started filming long ago."

"I just think... you love finance so much, and you wanted so badly to help your dad and eldest brother make Ye Group flourish. Yet now you've suddenly resigned. You're even giving up the finance industry entirely to become an actor..." Yu Mingze took a deep breath, stared into Ye Mingzhao's dark, clear eyes, and bluntly asked, "Is it because Ye Mingyi came back?"

"Why would you think that?" Ye Mingzhao laughed in surprise and casually said, "It has nothing to do with anyone else. I just suddenly wanted to live a different kind of life."

"My ass!" Yu Mingze did not believe him one bit. "Not even a child would believe that excuse. If you wanted to act, you would've done it long ago. Why did you suddenly become interested in acting at this particular moment? Isn't it because the third young master of the Ye family, who just came back, can't tolerate you?"

"No, I just don't understand why Ye Mingyi is targeting you. What does his being kidnapped by traffickers back then have to do with you? It wasn't like you told the traffickers to do it! But the moment he came back, he forced you out of the Ye family!"

"Over all these years, how much effort did you put into mastering finance? During your four years at university, you didn't even get a full night's sleep of more than six hours. We all saw it. We all believed you would become the strongest market operator in the country! We also believed you could help Uncle Ye and Eldest Brother Ye make Ye Group flourish! That was always your ideal and ambition, wasn't it? Why should you have to leave Ye Group, leave the Ye family, and even give up the finance industry you love most just because he came back?"