For a moment, a thought crossed Master Yuan’s mind. If Yuan Wenrui ended up implicated, Yuan Wenrui would have to get sacrificed for the sake of the family. However, it was just a fleeting thought. Even though the Leng family was more powerful than the Yuan family, the Yuans were completely capable of keeping Yuan Wenrui safe.
Despite this, it went to show how selfish Master Yuan was. Would Master Yuan give up on Yuan Wenrui if anything went wrong and they were unable to scoop Yuan Wenrui out of this mess? That went without saying! They could only make Yuan Wenrui take the fall for the family since he was the one who collaborated with Shen Yanfeng directly.
If they got desperate, what else could they do? It was impossible for them to confess that they were aware of the matter and attract trouble for themselves.
“It is impossible to see Shen Yanfeng now, so you can’t stop him from selling you out. Send someone to Shen Yanfeng’s place and try to get a hold of your contract and destroy it right away. As for any other evidence about your connection, it isn’t enough to prove you were both involved in illegal activities just because you were in touch with him. You can always say you are friends, right?” said Master Yuan.
That was right. Even though they were on opposing ends, and could never truly be friends, they always acted as though they were amicable on the surface. It was no big deal for Yuan Wenrui and Shen Yanfeng to occasionally meet up, have dinner or have some drinks. Also, Yuan Wenrui and Shen Yanfeng did not hang out often enough, so it was impossible to prove their ties.
Master Yuan continued, “If you can’t locate the contract, then blame it on the Lengs. In any case, Shen Yanfeng is on the same side as the Lengs and he is even their biological relative. If you accuse the Leng family of getting involved with Shen Yanfeng’s illegal activities, I am sure the Leng family will drop it. It is not worth ruining their reputation just to arrest you. Although it will damage our family standing a little, it is far better than having you arrested.”
“Uh huh. Got it.” Yuan Wenrui instantly felt enlightened and felt slightly relieved. He was confident the Leng family would never go that far just to get him arrested as well.
Shen Yanfeng was on the same side as the Leng family and even relatives with them, so it made absolute sense to make the Leng family their scapegoat.
…
Rong Jue also wanted to touch Shen Yanfeng, but someone else beat him to it, so he was naturally annoyed. However, he did not take it to heart. After all, he was not the only person who could touch Shen Yanfeng out there.
Rong Jue suspected Leng Shaoting of learning about his plans to touch Shen Yanfeng and use him to malign the Leng family. He wondered if Leng Shaoting arrested Shen Yanfeng before he got to him in an effort to thwart his plans. Or was this just a pure coincidence?
Since Leng Shaoting had arrested Shen Yanfeng, it meant Leng Shaoting had already started to investigate him and possessed all the evidence he needed. Rong Jue felt this was highly plausible.
Although the Rong and Leng families were adversaries, he had to admit that the Lengs were far more upright than the other elite families. They did not hesitate to arrest officials even if they were allies.
The other three most influential families in the capital would never do it. They would simply warn government officials for flouting the law before anyone noticed and clean their tracks or even try to squeeze something out of the guilty parties for it. If anyone reported against these government officials, they would get forsaken by their families immediately.
Sometimes, Rong Jue really wished he was from the Leng family.
Although he could not promise that he was entirely blameless, he did not like it when government officials abused their power. Each time he encountered people like them, he wanted to do his utmost to get rid of them. However, he could not do it owing to the family and could only turn a blind eye on these officials.
He always admired Leng Shaoting. Even though Leng Shaoting was a year younger than Rong Jue, Leng Shaoting was several ranks higher than him. Hence, it was his dream to surpass Leng Shaoting. Even though it was hard, he never gave up.
Since Leng Shaoting had already arrested Shen Yanfeng, there was nothing Rong Jue could do about it.
“Damn it. I can’t believe Leng Shaoting arrested him. After all the groundwork and investigation we did, he beat us to it. This is absolutely annoying.”
Rong Jue’s men were not as tolerant as Rong Jue. Even though they could not do anything about it, they kept complaining about it.
Even though they did not expect every mission to succeed, they were annoyed that someone else interfered.
“Uh huh! Do you think Leng Shaoting found out we were investigating Shen Yanfeng? Otherwise, why would he suddenly arrest Shen Yanfeng?”
“I think it is just a coincidence. Despite Leng Shaoting’s abilities, he can’t possibly foresee the future! Also, we only started to investigate Shen Yanfeng and we did it with great secrecy, but that doesn’t mean our plans were foolproof!
Leng Shaoting did not know Rong Jue was investigating Shen Yanfeng. He happened to find out about it because Gu Ning found out and shared the intel with him. However, the main reason Leng Shaoting could arrest Shen Yanfeng so quickly was because he already had proof of Shen Yanfeng’s criminal activities and was just waiting for the right opportunity.
“Enough. I know you are upset, but there is nothing I can do about it. Regardless of whether Leng Shaoting found out about our investigation, Leng Shaoting undeniably already had eyes on Shen Yanfeng ages ago,” said Rong Jue as he calmed everyone down.
Rong Jue’s men stopped talking about it since they knew exactly what Rong Jue was talking about.
More and more people learned of Shen Yanfeng’s arrest since nothing was done to conceal the fact.
Anyone who knew the Leng family was keenly aware of their style. The moment any of their allies were guilty of committing a felony, they would personally handle them.
This was the reason government officials who were linked to them were highly honorable. Even though it was impossible to catch everyone guilty of abusing their power, most of them were only involved in minor crimes. After all, it was hard to conceal one’s tracks after committing a major felony.
When Shen Yanfeng was brought to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Leng Shaoting did not allow him to see Chen Jinpeng right away. Instead, Leng Shaoting went about interrogating him first.
However, Shen Yanfeng remained calm. Although silence alone would not save him, he bore hope that Leng Shaoting was simply suspicious of his illegal activities and did not possess any real evidence. If Leng Shaoting did not have any iron-clad evidence, Shen Yanfeng would be digging his own grave if he took the initiative to confess to anything.
“Shen Yanfeng, aren’t you going to confess?” asked Leng Shaoting.
