Page 7

"If you want to blame someone, blame those heartless traffickers, and the Ye family's competitors who hired traffickers to steal children just to retaliate against Chairman Ye. Don't nitpick at honest people like my parents, who did a good deed."

Watching Chu Qingyi, who could not stand even the slightest provocation, Ye Mingzhao curled his lips meaningfully and suddenly repeated, "Did you just say that the Ye family's competitors hired traffickers to steal the Ye family's child in order to retaliate against my father?"

Ye Mingzhao tilted his head curiously, studying Chu Qingyi's face with an amused look as he asked unhurriedly, "How did you know that?"

Chu Qingyi: "..."

Chu Qingyi suddenly realized that he had fallen for Ye Mingzhao's provocation. He stared at Ye Mingzhao in shock, terror and fury in his eyes, as though the man before him was not a suave, handsome, courteous gentleman, but a monster wearing human skin.

A monster that usually disguised itself as harmless, yet could open its bloody maw at a crucial moment and devour its prey!

Chu Qingyi's mind went blank. He stared woodenly at Ye Mingzhao's charmingly handsome face. Like a cat whose tongue had been bitten off, or a trapped beast frightened senseless, he stood frozen in place and trembled, unable to utter a word for a long time.

Ye Mingzhao lowered his head with a smile, pulled his right hand from his pocket, and raised the phone to his lips. In a refined manner, he asked the man on the other end, "And you? You've been with the Chu family for so many years. Did you know such a shocking secret?"

Chu Hengyi's handsome face had already gone as dark as the bottom of a pot. He forcefully pressed the hang-up button.

Listening to the busy tone in his ear, Ye Mingzhao smiled and shook his head at the pitiful child before him, who looked as though he wished he could weather into a stone statue. "Your Brother Hengyi really has quite the temper. No wonder he's grown this old without becoming as likable as you."

Chapter 6

Chu Qingyi finally came back to his senses. He stared at the phone in Ye Mingzhao's hand in stunned disbelief, only then realizing what had happened. "You tricked me into talking? Why did you do that? You wanted to drive a wedge between the Chu family and Brother Hengyi, didn't you? You're absolutely vicious."

Ye Mingzhao burst out laughing at Chu Qingyi's frantic roaring and abuse.

Eighteen years ago, Ye Group had been in a period of rapid expansion. At the time, two companies were its main competitors in the market. Of them, Flower Charm Group was the stronger force.

In order to seize the market, Chairman Ye had no choice but to join forces with the other competitor and set a trap for Flower Charm Group. They misled Flower Charm Group into pouring all its cash flow into a bottomless project, then deliberately released unfavorable news that Flower Charm Group was on the verge of bankruptcy at the critical moment when its capital chain broke. Flower Charm Group's stock plummeted as a result. Chairman Ye took the opportunity to frantically acquire Flower Charm Group shares on the secondary market, eventually succeeding in swallowing up Flower Charm Group.

Flower Charm Group's founder, Hua Mingli, jumped to his death. To avenge her father, Hua Rui hired traffickers to abduct Chairman Ye's three-year-old youngest son, Ye Mingyi. Hua Rui had actually intended for the traffickers to take all three sons of the Ye family, leaving Chairman Ye without descendants. However, the eldest Ye brother, who had just turned eight, was too alert for them to succeed. Still, at the critical moment, they snatched Ye Mingyi from the nanny's arms.

After the kidnapping, the Ye family immediately called the police. Following extensive investigation, the police finally found clues to the traffickers, but an accident occurred during the arrest. To evade the police pursuit, the traffickers drove their van through the guardrail on a mountain road. The van plunged off the cliff, killing everyone inside. It exploded on the spot, leaving not even the traffickers' bodies behind. Naturally, the trail to Ye Mingyi went cold as well.

Because the cause of the incident involved some less-than-honorable business tactics used by Chairman Ye, the Ye family had never spoken of the truth behind Ye Mingyi's abduction all these years. Friends, relatives, and business partners close to the Ye family feared touching Chairman Ye's sore spot, so they too avoided mentioning that old matter.

So the question was, how did Chu Qingyi, a college student from a remote county far removed from Xinhai's upper-class social circles, know this secret from eighteen years ago?

Ye Mingzhao smiled at Chu Qingyi, whose hairs were standing on end from nervousness, and spoke softly, "Tell me. How did you find out about this?"

Without giving Chu Qingyi time to react, Ye Mingzhao continued questioning him. "Since you already knew Chu Hengyi's true identity, why didn't you reveal the truth earlier?"

"When Chu Hengyi was taken back to the Ye family by his biological parents, was your entire family really happy for him?"

Chu Qingyi's face turned livid. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Or would you rather explain it at the police station?" Ye Mingzhao propped up his chin and thoughtfully suggested, "Or perhaps to Ye Group's legal team?"

Chu Qingyi fell silent. Obvious guilt and regret appeared on his face.

What was he regretting? That he had revealed the truth so easily?

Ye Mingzhao watched Chu Qingyi's face shift through colors like a canvas with great interest, while the plot of the original novel slowly resurfaced in his mind.

According to the original novel, the reason Chu Qingyi's father, Chu Jianguo, had found Chu Hengyi and raised him was not an accident at all. It was because one of the traffickers Hua Rui had hired back then was Chu Jianguo's younger brother, Chu Jianye.

Eighteen years ago, Chu Jianye, who had always claimed to be working away from home, suddenly returned to the Chu family's house in the middle of the night, carrying a child in his arms.

Chu Jianguo had initially assumed the child was Chu Jianye's, but he learned the truth from his younger brother.

After Hua Rui hired traffickers to abduct Ye Mingyi, she had originally intended to have them kill the child directly, so that the Ye family would know the agony of losing blood kin. But neither Chu Jianye nor the other trafficker wanted to kill anyone. With the police investigating closely, Chu Jianye had no choice but to bring the child back to his hometown and hide him there for the time being.

Chu Jianye had originally planned to muddle through until Hua Rui paid the remaining balance, then return the child to the Ye family and collect another reward. However, their whereabouts were exposed. While fleeing the police blockade, Chu Jianye and his accomplice accidentally drove off a cliff, leaving neither bodies nor bones behind.

After learning of his younger brother's death from the television, Chu Jianguo could not accept it for a time. In a fit of rage, he threw Ye Mingyi onto the mountain. Later, his conscience got the better of him, and he secretly carried the child back. But a villager spotted him on the way home. Left with no choice, Chu Jianguo claimed that he had found the child in the mountains. He said the child was pitiful, so he planned to raise him.

That was the real reason Chu Jianguo had not called the police after finding the child. He did not dare call the police, nor did he dare let his fellow villagers know that his younger brother, who supposedly worked away from home and brought money back every year, was actually a trafficker.

So he swallowed his resentment and gritted his teeth as he raised the culprit responsible for his brother's death. Yet he still redirected his anger toward Chu Hengyi. Out of conscience, he could not bear to watch Chu Hengyi die. He also knew his brother's death should not be blamed on a three-year-old child.

But as an older brother, he could not bear to see Chu Hengyi live well either.

So he endured until Chu Hengyi finished middle school, then immediately forced him to drop out and work to support the family, using their financial hardship as an excuse.

He wanted revenge against the Ye family, to avenge his own younger brother. He wanted to grind the Ye family's favored son into the mud. He wanted Ye Mingyi, the culprit, to live forever in lowly hardship, struggling day and night in the mire of life, every ounce of his flesh and blood spent supporting the Chu family.

He wanted Ye Mingyi to pay for his son's college education and provide for the old couple until their deaths.

This was what Chu Hengyi owed the Chu family.

Chu Jianguo had kept this secret well hidden. Even in his previous life, after Chu Hengyi was unexpectedly recognized and brought back to the Ye family, Chu Jianguo had not revealed a single word. He had even gained many benefits from the Ye family because of his kindness in raising Chu Hengyi.

It was not until Chu Hengyi was reborn that he began secretly contacting the Ye family's enemies in order to take revenge on the Ye family and Ye Mingzhao. He accidentally traced things back to Hua Rui and only then learned by chance of the Chu family's connection to the kidnappers.

But by then, the original novel was already nearing its end.

After being reborn, Chu Hengyi believed he had seen the Ye family's true colors and had completely regarded the Chu family as his only relatives. By a twist of fate, Chu Qingyi had even saved his life several times.