Neither grandfather or granddaughter was willing to back down. But in the end, Wen Xinya conceded first out of respect for her elders. She promised to help manage the Wen Corporation before Jinyu was 18 years of age. As to whether Jinyu would continue the family business, it remained to be seen whether he was capable of doing so.
Old Mr. Wen was not completely satisfied, but as his granddaughter appeared resolute, he had no choice but to agree. Anyway, it was still a long time before Jinyu turned 18. Who knew what would happen in the future? No matter what, Xinya would protect Jinyu and would never let the Wen Corporation go to ruin.
Meanwhile, Wen Xinya couldn’t help feeling rather woeful at having been forced by Grandpa into a task she didn’t really want to do.
Wen Xinya sat at the billiard table, watching Xu Zhenyu’s exciting performance.
Every single one of his moves was filled with confidence and certainty of victory. Even Wen Xinya, who was used to seeing Si Yiyan’s expert billiard playing, couldn’t help sighing in admiration.
After one round, Xu Zhenyu drew back his cue stick and asked, “Do you want to play?”
Wen Xinya shook her head. “I will just be making a fool of myself.”
She had never had much talent for billiards. Although Si Yiyan had tried to teach her, her skills remained just slightly above average, with the occasional great showing.
Xu Zhenyu couldn’t help chuckling at her despondent expression. “You used up all your god-given talents on honing your shrewdness, right?”
He burst out laughing then.
Wen Xinya glared at him. “Do you have a problem with that?”
Xu Zhenyu, you are so good at cheap jibes!
Xu Zhenyu saw her face darken and didn’t dare to continue teasing her. He patted her shoulder comfortingly. “Don’t be upset. Although you are not that good at billiards, you are highly skilled in other areas. For example, jewelry design, clothing design, musical instruments, chess, literature, and art. You are also very capable in business matters…”
There was only so much talent one could have.
Most people were only gifted in one or two things and could focus on developing those skills to gain a certain level of achievement in those areas.
In contrast, Xinya could be considered a prodigy. She was good at most things and had attained success in many areas. That was why she had become a legend among the eyes of many people.
Talent was one side of the equation. The amount of time and effort one had to invest to hone that talent was the other side.
Wen Xinya glowered at him.
She was feeling quite dejected inside.
That year, she had tried her best to integrate into upper-class society. But compared to Xu Zhenyu, she realized how lacking she was in the typical leisure activities indulged by those in the upper classes.
Under Wen Xinya’s wrathful glare, Xu Zhenyu rubbed his nose and tried to change the subject. “Xinya, I have something to tell you.”
His expression turned serious.
Wen Xinya’s gaze dimmed. “What?”
Xu Zhenyu seldom behaved so seriously. Whenever he took on this grave expression, it meant that something was truly up.
Xu Zhenyu gave a soft groan before continuing. “The entertainment city project money laundering case will be officially tried and concluded in three days’ time. Those involved include Wen Haowen and over 30 employees from the Zhang Corporation. Wen Haowen will also be charged for making false statements and attempting to frame others. I estimate he will be jailed for at least 10 years.”
He had been discreetly following the money laundering which the Wen Corporation had been implicated in.
In fact, it was more or less thanks to him that Old Mr. Wen had been unexpectedly released from police custody so early.
Wen Xinya looked somewhat shocked. “The money laundering case involved sums as high as five billion yuan. How could such a major case be concluded so quickly?”
The police had already discovered that in addition to that false set of accounts Grandpa had handed them, the Zhang Corporation also had a similar set of fake accounts hidden on their side. The magnitude of the money laundering was astounding, but she intuitively felt that the actual sum might be even more than the five billion uncovered so far.
She had thought the police would continue investigating and dig deeper into the matter. She never expected them to close up the case so soon.
She instinctively felt that there was something fishy going on.
Xu Zhenyu fiddled with his cue stick as he said with a grave expression, “The police conducted a very in-depth investigation into the Zhang Corporation. They have gathered all the necessary evidence and completed the interrogations. There is nothing left to investigate, so they have no choice but to settle the case now.”
On the surface, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with this case. It was natural for them to conclude the matter after carrying out the relevant procedures.
Wen Xinya finally realized what was wrong. “The police are the ones in charge of this case. It has nothing to do with the military side. Why are you so well-informed about this?”
Even if Xu Zhenyu had paid special attention to this case because of her, how could he know of news related to the case which even she herself didn’t?
He had obviously invited her out today to discuss this matter.
This case was clearly not that simple.
“That’s because after the case is concluded, all relevant evidence will be secretly transferred to the military to take over—and the person-in-charge is me.”
Xu Zhenyu propped himself up on the billiards table beside Wen Xinya.
Wen Xinya’s pupils narrowed as she understood what Xu Zhenyu was trying to convey. “You mean that to the public eye, this case will be officially concluded, but the military will be secretly taking over the investigation, and you are the person-in-charge of it.”
Wen Xinya knew this meant that Xu Zhenyu would be crossing swords with the Korean-Chinese Alliance in the future.
She was filled with worry and anxiety.
Xu Zhenyu nodded. “Do you still remember that Envoy’s Mission by Ninth Si and I? It was then that I discovered that Ghost Snake is linked to an extremely mysterious criminal organization.
“Since then, the military has been investigating this criminal organization. From the information we have gathered so far, this criminal organization is very active in Country Z and several countries in the Middle East. The organization has been instigating civil conflict within the nations and then supplying weapons to those very same countries.
“At the same time, they are also engaged in commercial fraud, money laundering, smuggling, drug-dealing, pornography, etc. The entertainment city project money laundering case piqued my interest in the Zhang Corporation, and I discovered that they are closely linked with this secretive criminal organization. Hence, the military has handed this investigation over to me.”
Actually, he would not have paid much attention to this money laundering case if not for the fact the Old Mr. Wen had been implicated. He had activated his personal connections to try and speed up the process of clearing the name of the Wen Corporation and inadvertently realized there was something wrong with the Zhang Corporation.
