Chapter 56: Vengeance for Every Slight

"I'm fine. You go out first." Qiao Wanliang put the documents back into the file folder, raised his eyebrows, and urged Qiao Wan'er to leave.

Qiao Wan'er was deeply worried, but pretended to obey, stepping out of the study. She left the door slightly ajar and lingered outside, pressing her ear close to eavesdrop.

"Damn it!" Qiao Wanliang roared, hurling the file folder to the floor in a fit of rage. A photograph fell out—a picture of the three of them meeting with notorious figures involved in fraud, organized crime, and gambling. He crushed the photo beneath his expensive leather shoe, his gaze fierce as he glared at Huo Hongsheng and Fu Yunshan, grinding out, "Which blind fool dares use this to threaten us!"

Fu Yunshan's eyes darted nervously. "If this gets exposed, only the Ye family stands to benefit. It must be Ye Yingtang—he's warning us not to cause trouble during the council elections."

Huo Hongsheng nodded in agreement.

"Impossible!" Qiao Wanliang snapped, glaring at the two of them and shaking his head with certainty. "If he had these in his possession, he wouldn't have waited until now to threaten us. He would have revealed them before the verdict in the Green Realm environmental case. This must be someone else!"

Fu Yunshan and Huo Hongsheng exchanged bewildered glances.

"Who would help Ye Yingtang without expecting anything in return?"

"Exactly, who could it be?"

Qiao Wanliang fell into deep thought. He already had a suspect in mind, but wasn't entirely sure.

Fu Yunshan spoke solemnly. "Brother Liang, you have to help me. If my involvement comes out, I'll lose my seat on the Chamber of Commerce council, and then I won't be able to vote for you."

"Same here," Huo Hongsheng added, his face clouded with worry.

"Calm down," Qiao Wanliang said coldly. "They chose to mail the evidence anonymously rather than expose it directly. That means there's still room to maneuver. First, we find out who sent the documents, then we take care of them."

He fixed his icy gaze on the file folder lying on the floor.

Inside that folder were records and photographs of his involvement in large-scale fraud and money laundering. If these were ever made public, the upright, conscientious entrepreneur image he had so painstakingly built would be utterly destroyed. He could not, under any circumstances, allow them to be revealed.

Outside the door, Qiao Wan’er listened in shock, completely unaware that the necklace around her neck was faintly glowing with a red light. It was the only gift Ye Zehong had ever given her, one she cherished and wore every day, never willing to take off. She had no idea that the necklace was a specially modified listening device that could be controlled remotely.

Ye Zehong sat by the pool, a glass of red wine in hand. He took a sip, a cold smile playing at his lips. He tapped his phone, exiting the surveillance app.

Just these three sets of documents were enough to keep Qiao Wanliang and his associates awake all night in terror. Once the explosive scandal was released tomorrow, wouldn’t at least one of them be driven to suicide from fear and guilt?

He raised his glass in a silent toast to the moon.

For Lu Yao’s sake, he would have his revenge, whatever it took.

The next morning—

The top trending topic across the entire internet: [Fifteen-year-old female student commits suicide, exposing the ugly deeds of high society]. The accompanying photo showed three men—faces obscured except for pixelated blocks—eating delicacies and forcing themselves on a schoolgirl in a high-definition image.

The moment the news broke, the internet erupted. Netizens everywhere transformed into online detectives, blowing up the photo to hundreds of times its size, scrutinizing every detail to deduce the identities of the three men.

Qiao Wanliang hadn’t slept all night. He had only just dozed off when the shrill ring of his phone jolted him awake.

"What is it?" he demanded.

"Brother Liang, we’re in big trouble. Our video has been leaked online—it’s the number one trending topic!"

At those words, Qiao Wanliang opened the browser. The moment he saw the image, his hand trembled, and with a loud crash, his phone slipped from his grasp, shattering on the floor.

Rage and panic surged through him, darkness clouded his vision, and he collapsed in a faint.

On the other end of the line, a desperate voice called out…

Brother Liang, Brother Liang…