Come out and grovel!

High fevers were easy to bring down; low fevers kept coming back.

Afraid Tao Zhiyan's fever might rise again during the night, Feng Ze simply sat in a chair, keeping watch over him while handling work.

Bzz, bzz.

Bzz, bzz, bzz-

The phone beside Tao Zhiyan's pillow buzzed. He frowned and pulled the covers over his head.

Feng Ze got up, walked over, and declined the call.

To his surprise, the caller immediately called again. Worried about disturbing Tao Zhiyan's rest, Feng Ze finally picked up after it had rung several times.

The caller sounded hostile, launching straight into accusations:

"Tao Zhiyan, you've really got some nerve now. You actually dared to hang up on me?"

"What, have you forgotten who you are?"

"Do you need me to remind you?"

Who he was?

Feng Ze glanced at the caller's name-Gu Min.

The Feng Family's business rival, and Tao Zhiyan's real boss.

"Why haven't I heard anything from you lately?" Clearly displeased, Gu Min asked, "Has Feng Ze finalized the partnership with the American Research Institute?"

Tao Zhiyan rolled over in bed, apparently disturbed by the noise.

Feng Ze stepped farther away and answered quietly, "Not yet."

The voice clearly took the caller aback. "Who are you? Where's Tao Zhiyan?"

"He's asleep," Feng Ze replied. "He can't take your call."

The caller was clearly a little bewildered.

After a moment of silence, he hung up.

Only then did Feng Ze put the phone back.

Tao Zhiyan lay facing him, half his face hidden beneath the covers, his eyes closed and his breathing steady.

Feng Ze stood watching Tao Zhiyan for a while, an inexplicable irritation stirring inside him.

He hadn't minded Tao Zhiyan betraying him before.

Business was complicated to begin with. Keeping Tao Zhiyan around and feeding him a few scraps of information would be enough to keep Gu Min in check. It was a good deal.

But now, Feng Ze no longer felt that way.

He was annoyed.

Annoyed that Tao Zhiyan wanted to betray him.

Annoyed that Tao Zhiyan was Gu Min's man.

The feeling refused to be suppressed, and it infuriated him.

Feng Ze stood there silently for a while, then picked up his laptop and left.

Tao Zhiyan had a dream. In it, his phone kept ringing, endlessly ringing.

He had clearly hung up, yet it kept ringing, the noise making his head ache.

"..." Irritated, Tao Zhiyan groped around. The moment his hand closed around his phone, he jolted awake.

Bzz, bzz, bzz, bzz, bzz.

It took Tao Zhiyan a moment to process it.

Was his phone actually ringing?

He rubbed his groggy head and checked the caller.

There was no saved name, only an unfamiliar number.

Tao Zhiyan declined the call without hesitation.

He rolled over and was about to go back to sleep when his phone rang again.

Tao Zhiyan buried himself beneath the covers and stubbornly waited for the call to stop.

But less than two seconds after it stopped, another call came in.

Resigned, Tao Zhiyan threw back the covers, picked up his phone, and answered.

"Tao Zhiyan, right?" An unfamiliar male voice sneered from the other end. "I thought you weren't going to answer."

"Do you know who I am?"

Reclining in bed, Tao Zhiyan asked, "Who are you?"

"Zhao Ming," the man introduced himself with a chuckle. "Remember me? The guy you reported under your real name."

Tao Zhiyan's expression shifted slightly, and he sat up. "Where did you get my phone number?"

"Why are you questioning me?" Zhao Ming drawled, sounding intensely curious. "I wanted to ask you something myself. Where did you hear about my tax evasion?"

The caller clearly had ill intentions.

Realizing this, Tao Zhiyan pressed the record button.

"You cost me over eighty million, you know that?" Zhao Ming said slowly. "I had to find several people at the tax bureau to straighten it out for me."

"What part of you do you think is worth enough to repay that eighty million?"

Tao Zhiyan frowned. "What exactly are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying you caused me a huge loss, and you need to pay for it," Zhao Ming said. "I've looked into you. What do you think would happen if Feng Ze found out about you and that CEO of the Gu Family?"

What CEO of the Gu Family?

Tao Zhiyan didn't quite understand what he meant.

"Of course, there's another option. Come spend a night in bed with my boss. How about it?"

Tao Zhiyan's voice turned cold. "Are you threatening me?"

"Mm-hmm." Confident he had this in the bag, Zhao Ming wasn't worried in the slightest. "Think it over carefully."

With that, he hung up.

Tao Zhiyan understood now. If he didn't settle this whole business with Zhao Ming once and for all today, that filthy scumbag would probably hound him for the rest of his life.

He got out of bed, opened his laptop, and edited the call recording, cutting out the part where Zhao Ming said he had connections at the tax bureau.

Then he opened Weibo.

The top trending topic on Weibo was: #Zhao Ming's Actions Do Not Meet the Criteria for Tax Evasion#

Only then did Tao Zhiyan understand why Zhao Ming had dared to call and mouth off. He had already taken care of the matter.

Tao Zhiyan swiftly registered a Weibo account and drafted a post.

[Tao Zhiyan: @Zhao Ming Listen to the attachment. Do you know which part I cut out? If you don't want me to release the full recording, come out and grovel.

You have two hours. [MP3 attachment]]

Then Tao Zhiyan immediately spent tens of thousands to boost the post.

Netizens flocked over to watch the drama.

[??? What's this drama now?]

[Tao Zhiyan? Is that the Feng Family's butler??]

[What does this mean? Didn't Zhao Ming say he hadn't evaded taxes?]

[?? Another twist???]

The post quickly gained traction. Now, not only was the internet in an uproar, but Zhao Ming himself was losing it.

He hadn't expected Tao Zhiyan to be so confrontational. He had actually posted the call recording online?!

The big shot at the tax bureau who had helped Zhao Ming was panicking too. He pointed at Zhao Ming and unleashed a torrent of abuse. "Are you fucking stupid?! I told you to get him into bed, and this is how you did it?!"

"I... I..." Zhao Ming was at a loss for words. "I didn't think he'd do this. What do we do now?"

"What do we do? Figure it out yourself!"

Zhao Ming panicked. "Bro, we had a deal!"

"Who the fuck made a deal with you? Let me make one thing clear," the tax bureau big shot said. "If Tao Zhiyan actually releases the full recording, this won't just be your problem! You'll drag all of us down with you!"

"Think about that!"

With that, he hung up.

Zhao Ming gripped his phone, his face livid.

Finally, he smashed the phone onto the floor with a bang, his whole body tingling with rage as he cursed, "Fucking Tao Zhiyan! This is all his fault!"

Barely half an hour after Tao Zhiyan's Weibo post went up, everything had changed.

The earlier trending topic clearing Zhao Ming of tax evasion was taken down.

In its place was a notice of the penalties imposed on Zhao Ming.

Zhao Ming's Weibo account was permanently banned. His final post read:

[Zhao Ming V: Paying taxes is every citizen's fundamental duty. This time, I will no longer evade my responsibilities and will accept the punishment!

Lastly, @Tao Zhiyan I deeply regret the disruption I have caused to your life. I'm sorry!]