Shards of the shattered vase scattered across the floor. The servants stood frozen in fear, not daring to breathe.
With his back to everyone, Ji Ting pressed a hand behind his ear. Bright blood had already seeped between his pale fingers.
Ji Shilei felt a momentary pang of guilt, but when she caught sight of the old man not even lifting his eyes, her confidence returned at once.
"Ji Ting, stop putting on an act!" She folded her arms, her voice gloating. "We all have eyes. That vase didn't even touch you."
Ji Ting lowered his hand to check how much he was bleeding, then pressed it back against the wound. With his other hand, he pulled his phone from his coat pocket.
He had just unlocked it when Ji Zhenting said indifferently, "Take his phone."
The bodyguards immediately swarmed him, forcibly twisting his arms behind his back. They did not even spare the hand covering his wound.
Blood immediately streamed down from the wound behind his ear. Ji Ting looked coldly at Ji Zhenting. Seeing that he still dared to defy him, Ji Zhenting asked, "What, do you hate me?"
Eager to see Ji Ting suffer, Ji Shilei immediately stepped forward to order the bodyguards around. "Make him kneel and apologize properly to Grandpa!"
She had been waiting to vent her anger for ages. Ji Yanzhi was one thing, but a bastard had actually dared to watch her father kneel. He clearly had a death wish.
The bodyguards did not move. They were all waiting for Ji Zhenting's orders.
Ji Zhenting said nothing. Instead, he glanced at his secretary, who immediately took out the prepared documents and approached Ji Ting.
"These are Mr. Ji Liping's transfer records for the past two years. Every transfer exceeding seven hundred thousand went into an account under your mother Lin Qing's name. There are 132 illicit payments in total."
"As long as you turn yourself in and voluntarily admit to being the principal offender, Ms. Lin Qing will certainly be cleared of suspicion. And rest assured, the group will hire the most experienced criminal defense lawyer to seek a suspended sentence for you."
A suspended sentence? Those words would only fool the original Ji Ting.
In the novel, "Ji Ting" had spent that year in prison taking the fall for Ji Liping and his son. When he went in, the police had not yet uncovered the hidden drug operation. It was only later, when a major drug-trafficking case was cracked in Southern Province, that the rest came to light.
Even without that discovery, he had received a year behind bars. Now that there was evidence of drug smuggling, he would be facing life at the very least.
Ji Zhenting was plainly sending him to his death.
Blood had already soaked Ji Ting's collar. He lowered his head, looking as though he had accepted his fate.
Ji Shilei and her mother exchanged a glance, smugness written all over their faces.
As far as they were concerned, Ji Ting ought to thank them. The family never kept useless people. This bastard had lived off them for so many years, and now he finally had a chance to repay the Ji Family.
Naturally, Ji Shilei would not miss this chance to kick him while he was down. She stepped forward smugly. "Ji Ting, do you understand what you did wrong now?"
"Shut up."
She froze at the rebuke, then raised both eyebrows. "You're at death's door and you still dare snap at me? Today, I'll..."
Just then, having finished reading the "evidence," Ji Ting raised his head and read out the name on the documents' official seal. "Zhongjia Accounting Firm."
The secretary paused and was about to speak when Ji Ting continued slowly, "Wasn't that the firm that inflated operating revenue through cash flow in 2003 to conceal the Ji Corporation's enormous losses and keep its share price stable?"
The corners of Ji Zhenting's eyes abruptly tightened. His face darkened in an instant, turning grim and menacing. "Do you know what you're saying?"
"You're the one who doesn't know what he's doing." Ji Ting held his gaze steadily. There was nothing fierce in his expression, yet his calm was unnerving. "Ji Zhenting, if you want to hear it, I can tell you things even you don't know."
Seeing Ji Ting dare to address the old man by name, the mother and daughter beside him went rigid with fear. Their earlier arrogance vanished.
"In 2007, to monopolize the local construction materials market, you paid a total of 8.2 million in bribes to the director of the Market Regulation Bureau and the deputy provincial governor, then helped them transfer the illicit money overseas."
"In 2011, you privately instructed Fang Minghua..."
Ji Zhenting exploded. "Everyone, get out!"
Everyone in the hall shuddered in fright. They lowered their heads and all but ran outside.
Perhaps Ji Shilei and her mother had been scared senseless, because they remained rooted to the spot, oblivious.
"You two, get out too!"
Zhao Lin hurriedly grabbed Ji Shilei, and the two fled in a panic.
Only the two of them remained in the hall. Looking at Ji Ting's straight-backed figure, Ji Zhenting gave an icy laugh. "Tell me who told you all this, and I'll pretend nothing happened today."
Ji Ting's lips curved slightly, a hint of mockery coloring his bafflement. "You can even fabricate evidence to send me to prison. Why don't you investigate it yourself?"
Ji Zhenting's gaze instantly chilled, growing colder and colder as a vicious fury rose within him. "As a member of the Ji Family, you should know I have ten thousand ways to make you disappear."
Ji Ting broke into a smile and spoke unhurriedly. "The Ji Corporation started in timber and mining and grew into today's Shili Technology Group. Over all those decades, which deals exploited loopholes, which transactions skirted the law-I imagine Shili's competitors dream day and night of getting their hands on that information."
"Of course you can make me disappear, but you may well lose the entire Ji Corporation in the process." Faced with the old man's intimidating stare, he remained perfectly composed. "Ji Zhenting, can you guarantee you can afford that price?"
Ji Ting had been able to uncover the group's dirty secrets in advance because of Ji Yanzhi.
In the original novel, "Ji Ting" had feared his eldest brother at first, then come to hate him, believing Ji Yanzhi had deliberately framed him and sent him to prison.
The book had said very little about the incident, so ever since the matter involving Dai Xiangqiang had happened ahead of schedule, Ji Ting had begun investigating Shili's background himself.
Originally, he had only done it as a precaution. He had never expected it to become a weapon against Ji Zhenting.
At last, Ji Zhenting dropped his indifferent facade and pushed himself up from his chair, his hands on the armrests.
His clouded, yellowish eyes fixed on Ji Ting as he walked toward him, step by step.
"Who would have thought? We raised you in this family, only to raise a bloodthirsty wolf."
"That description suits you better." Ji Ting refused to yield an inch. "Except your fangs are no longer sharp, and you're still fantasizing that you're the alpha commanding the pack."
An unnatural flush rose in Ji Zhenting's face. He seemed beside himself with anger. "You're acting so recklessly because you think your eldest brother will still protect you, is that it?"
The word "still" made Ji Ting's brow twitch. When had Ji Yanzhi ever protected him?
"I told him to send you to take the fall, but he refused, no matter what I said. Even when he was thwarted at every turn on the Board of Directors, he wouldn't bow his head and compromise with me." Ji Zhenting's smile was deeply mocking and chillingly cold. "Consider this a lesson for him. He failed to see the person right in front of him and raised a viper with his own hands."
Before you continue