Chapter 45

If that was really the case, then what were the luxury houses and cars they had given away to win over Weng Shao worth? What about all the humiliation they had endured lately, all the smiles they had forced themselves to put on?

A trace of viciousness suddenly appeared on Weng Yingjie's face. "Then investigate thoroughly. Find out exactly who's behind this!"

When Weng Zhen called, Weng Shao and Pei Xingze were sitting on the deck, enjoying the sea breeze. They had originally wanted to fish, but the dance music on the yacht was far too explosive. Weng Shao suspected all the fish nearby had been scared away—he hadn't even heard the ringtone. He only noticed Weng Zhen's call when he saw the screen flashing.

Weng Shao picked up his phone and answered. Weng Zhen's furious voice immediately came through the receiver. "Weng Shao, are you screwing with us?"

Weng Shao held the phone farther away and said disdainfully, "Keep your voice down."

How could Weng Zhen be in the mood to listen to Weng Shao's nonsense? His lungs were about to explode with rage as he accused, "Weng Shao, I'm suing you for illegally manipulating the stock market!"

Unfazed, Weng Shao remained calm. "I advise you to watch what you say. Accusations without evidence are defamation. We're brothers, after all. I wouldn't want too many people in your Weng family getting dragged into lawsuits. That would be embarrassing. Besides, as the executive president of Weng Group, you should at least carry yourself with some grace. Don't start throwing tantrums like a mad dog over something so trivial. You're not some child who never went to college."

Weng Zhen took a deep breath. "Why are you doing this? Haven't we treated you well enough? Do you have to betray your own family and work with Pei Xingze to set us up?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Weng Shao had no idea whether Weng Zhen was recording the call, but he had always been cautious. He would never follow Weng Zhen's lead and fall into the trap of trying to prove his own innocence.

"Don't take me for an idiot. You must have leaked the bids for those Weng Group projects. You and Pei Xingze joined forces. On one hand, you leaked Weng Group's trade secrets and caused it to lose bid after bid. On the other, you spread rumors that Weng Group's cash flow had collapsed, triggering panic selling among the public. You manipulated Weng Group's stock price that way and illegally made hundreds of millions in profit. Do you think you can keep this hidden?"

"Don't exaggerate." Weng Shao smiled. "We did buy heavily when Weng Group's stock price crashed, and we did sell at the peak when it rose again. But those were normal investment activities. If you insist on slandering ordinary low-buy, high-sell transactions as stock manipulation, then I suppose we'll have to settle this in court."

Weng Zhen knew he wasn't as quick with words as Weng Shao, and he had no interest in arguing. He simply couldn't understand it. "What exactly did Pei Xingze give you that made you so devoted to him?"

Weng Shao glanced at Pei Xingze, who was sitting beside him and inching closer. "He's curious what you gave me that made me so devoted to you. Want to tell him yourself?"

Pei Xingze, who had been openly eavesdropping, openly took the phone. "I told him that as long as he stays with me, I can play you all to death."

"You—" Weng Zhen cursed furiously.

Weng Shao took the phone back and leaned against the railing with bored indifference. "Weren't you worried before that once I lost my usefulness, President Pei would throw me away like garbage? I have 160 million in hand now, and I plan to use it to build a new social platform. No matter what I want to say, no one will be able to pay to have my posts deleted or silence me at will anymore. What do you think?"

Chapter 45

"Weng Shao!" On the other end, Weng Zhen's roar was almost hysterical. "What deep grudge do we have against each other that you have to take revenge on us like this?"

Weng Shao laughed. "Don't say that. We're all just trying to make money. Why make it about grudges and resentment?"

"Who makes money by specifically targeting their own family?" After a burst of chaotic noise, Zhou Shujing's voice replaced his. "Weng Shao, are you still angry with us? Just tell us what you want us to do. We're family. What can't we sit down and discuss openly?"

"Why do you think I'm angry?" Weng Shao countered. "The root cause of anger is that one's needs haven't been met. Have you done anything to wrong me?"

Zhou Shujing immediately said, "We shouldn't have given you to your eldest uncle when you were born. We shouldn't have thrown you into the countryside and ignored you for all those years. We shouldn't have said so many cold, heartless things when you wanted to acknowledge us... Your father and I were wrong. Can you forgive us?"

Hearing Zhou Shujing's seemingly heartfelt repentance, Weng Shao smiled even more happily.

No wonder the ancients said money could make ghosts turn millstones. Once you had enough money, even villains would start talking like ghosts.

"It's clearly evil ghosts trying to speak like humans. Too bad they've been lackeys for so long that they can't even imitate people properly." Pei Xingze, pressed close against Weng Shao as he eavesdropped, mocked her into the phone.

Zhou Shujing's face darkened. "Mr. Pei, this is a private matter of the Weng family. I hope you'll stop meddling."

Pei Xingze said, "And I hope you won't fly into a rage out of humiliation. I simply can't stand people like you, who evade the important points even when apologizing. What do you mean, you shouldn't have hurt Weng Shao's feelings? Strictly speaking, what you did was slander, rumor-mongering, and personal attacks. It was criminal behavior. Your younger son should understand that very well."

"You—" Zhou Shujing said angrily, "Pei Xingze, stop making sarcastic remarks. Search your conscience. If you weren't backing him up, would Weng Shao dare treat us like this?"

Pei Xingze admitted it frankly. "You're right. My responsibility is to back Weng Shao up. I, Pei Xingze, am Weng Shao's support. So what about it?"

"Shut your mouth!" Enraged, Zhou Shujing began swearing. "You deliberately drove a wedge between my son and me. Don't you just want to see Weng Shao turn against us? You're using him too. What makes you think you're any better?"

"I never said I was a good person." Pei Xingze put an arm around Weng Shao's shoulders and bragged, "Unlike some people, who are rotten to the core but still parade themselves as great philanthropists. In the end, they can't even bear to pay a few thousand for their biological son's tuition, yet they stir up so much trouble and make such fools of themselves. Calling that kind of person hypocritical is giving them too much credit. They're just stupid and evil! Don't you agree?"

After being insulted through thinly veiled mockery, Zhou Shujing was so angry she nearly fainted. "Pei Xingze!"

Zhou Shujing's voice instantly shot up several decibels, and her shrill soprano caught Pei Xingze off guard as it pierced his ears. "You uncultured bastard—"

"Whoa—" Pei Xingze held the phone away and rubbed his ears with lingering fear. "Mrs. Weng, isn't that a bit harsh and unrefined?"

Zhou Shujing was about to continue cursing when Weng Shao helplessly snatched back the phone and ended the argument with one sentence. "I recorded that."

The curses stopped abruptly.

A moment later, the other side silently hung up.

Listening to the busy tone, Weng Shao and Pei Xingze exchanged a smile.

Pei Xingze shrugged. "I really didn't expect Mrs. Weng's mental fortitude to be this poor. She can't even handle a few truths."

"Good advice is hard on the ears!" Weng Shao set his fishing rod aside, stood up, and stretched.

Pei Xingze said, "Don't be sad."

Weng Shao smiled and shook his head, his emotions steady. "I'm a very professional person. I won't bring my personal feelings into my work."

In other words, everyone in the Weng family was merely part of Weng Shao's work. He wouldn't get angry with tools that made him money.

Pei Xingze froze for a moment, just about to say something when Lu Qingyang stumbled over with a crowd of disreputable friends.

"What are you two doing?" Lu Qingyang leaned over the railing, still holding a bottle of liquor in one hand. "Wow, such a lively party, and you two actually ran off here to fish. Can you even catch anything?"

"Of course not." Pei Xingze simply slapped the fishing rod into Lu Qingyang's arms. "Be careful. Don't fall in."

"If I fall in, I'll float back up~" Lu Qingyang was clearly quite drunk. He stood with both feet on the railing, waving his arms like wings while his whole body swayed unsteadily.

Weng Shao was so startled that he yanked him down and shoved him straight into the crowd.

A group of people caught Lu Qingyang in a flurry of hands.

"Stop fooling around." Someone grabbed one of Lu Qingyang's arms and scared him. "If you fall in now, no one will be able to fish you out."

"If you can't fish me out, I'll haunt your dreams!" Lu Qingyang slapped him irritably. "I'll drag you down to keep me company!"

"And all of you too!"

Before he could finish, the whole group scattered in every direction. Lu Qingyang had barely found his footing before he fell flat on the deck.

"You bunch of fair-weather friends!" Lu Qingyang landed face-first and slowly raised his middle finger, expressing his intense dissatisfaction.

"I heard you two have made quite a bit lately!" After the laughing and horseplay died down, the rich second-generation heirs sat crookedly across the deck. Somehow, their conversation turned to Weng Group's recent stock fluctuations.

They were all well-informed. No matter how carefully Weng Shao and Pei Xingze had acted, they couldn't possibly hide it from everyone.

"I say, Young Master Pei, I did the math for you. In just the past half year, you must've made at least four hundred million off Weng Group, right?" The speaker held up a number, his face full of envy. "If another chance like this comes along, can you bring the rest of us with you? The more people, the greater the strength!"

Pei Xingze lazily raised a brow, bumped Weng Shao with his shoulder, and said affectionately, with a hint of smugness, "You'll have to ask my strategist. I can't make the decisions alone."

"Ooh, ooh, ooh..." The group couldn't stand Pei Xingze acting like this and immediately started heckling. "Strategist~~~~"

"Lord Strategist, please have mercy and take us along to get rich toooooo!"

"Pleeease~~~"

Weng Shao instinctively rubbed his arms, feeling goosebumps fall all over the ground. He turned to Pei Xingze. Why did you have to provoke these people?