Pressure on the Liu and Meng Groups

But whatever the results, the authorities kept investigating. The group's operations suffered, and if this continued, Liu Group could be dragged under.

The authorities' repeated investigations would not shut down Liu Group's operations on a large scale, but they covered too many of its businesses.

For a group that large, Liu Shengli could not oversee every corner of every business. Problems were bound to surface in places he had missed, leading to orders to rectify them or even suspend operations until they passed inspection.

Normally, a group of that size could absorb such setbacks. But the shareholders took notice. After an emergency meeting, they laid the blame squarely on Liu Shengli.

Trying to solve the problem, Liu Shengli tore out a handful of his own hair. He was nearly beside himself.

"Chairman, we should go through the whole thing from the beginning."

Seeing her boss in such a state, the secretary knew he was caught between two sides. The Qiu Family kept applying pressure, while Liu Shengli had already backed down to Lin Cheng.

She had been at his side throughout and witnessed everything. Looking back on events as an observer, she thought she had spotted the key.

Liu Shengli had just come out of a meeting where the shareholders had denounced him. Some had looked ready to tear him apart.

He took his hands from his disheveled hair and looked up at the secretary, who had brought him tea. For a long moment, he said nothing.

"I'm sorry, Chairman Liu. Should I have kept quiet?"

His distant gaze made the secretary inexplicably uneasy.

"No, no. You're right."

Her words had brought Liu Shengli to his senses. He needed to trace the matter back to its beginning and find out how, in just a few days, he had ended up