Lu Shaoyan’s smile deepened. “Care to take a guess as to what it could be, Mrs. Lu?”

Ye Zhen took a step back and replied honestly, “I don’t know.”

“It’s okay. I can tell you. It is evidence of Lu Beichuan committing trafficking. Are you worried? Your husband will be a prisoner after today. Hmm? Are you scared now?”

“Trafficking?” She didn’t remember Lu Beichuan ever committed trafficking.

“That’s not all. He was also involved in corruption with government officials and tax evasion. Just think, with so much evidence, what would the board members do?”

If the evidence were real, any one of these would be enough for the cops to come looking.

“If you have all this evidence, why didn’t you just call the cops? Why have Old Mr. Shen take them to the board meeting? What is it? The board has turned into a police station now?”

Lu Shaoyan smiled languidly from the chair. “What would be the fun in sending them directly to the cops? Besides, even if Lu Beichuan is in jail, he will still own his shares, alright? Now that we have this opportunity when everyone is gathered around, we should just have an open and honest discussion about it. Wouldn’t you say?”

“You…” Ye Zhen turned and walked outside of the office.

Lu Shaoyan had a happy smile as he watched Ye Zhen walk out of the office. Nevertheless, his smile disappeared altogether the moment the office door closed behind Ye Zhen.

Just as Lu Shaoyan had said, it wasn’t looking good inside of the conference room.

Old Mr. Shen had walked inside of the conference room when it was almost break time after the first half of the meeting. That was when everyone recalled that Old Mr. Shen held 5% of the Lu Corporation’s stocks and had the right to attend this meeting.

An old fox, who had started his family business from scratch, was always more vicious and ruthless. He was smiling like a loving elderly as he asked about the status of the Lu Corporation in the past two years while tossing a stack of documents in front of Lu Beichuan.

The old fox then stripped himself of his kind and loving mask and pointed at Lu Beichuan while asking in a heartbroken way how he became like that over the years!

Lu Beichuan didn’t stir at all, his look was cold. He didn’t seem to care about what Old Mr. Shen was saying at all.

“Beichuan, I’ve watched you grow up since you were a child. You have always been a smart one and your grandpa loved and trusted you and handed you the Lu’s enterprise. I have also trusted you are one who’d go far and had high hopes in you. I even considered having Weiyin marry you. But look at you! Trafficking! Corruption! Tax evasion! You’ve hit each and every single one of them! Have you ever listened to a word that your grandfather had said over the years? How could you disappoint your grandfather so? What am I going to say to your grandfather when I see him in heaven?”

“What did he just say? Trafficking and corruption? What is going on?”

“Old Mr. Shen, whatever do you mean by that? You can’t just throw out accusations like that without proof!”

All of the board members in the conference room exploded from Old Mr. Shen’s words.

The Lu Corporation had been going up and up over the years under Lu Beichuan’s management, that was a fact that all of them could see. And now they were told that Lu Beichuan had been pulling stunts like that?

Voices began to rise in the conference room, and Lu Beichuan continued to sit there calmly and quietly.

“Beichuan, look at this evidence. You tell me, did you or did not commit these felonies?”

As soon as he finished saying that, the door to the conference room was opened and in came Ye Zhen.

The whispering was interrupted temporarily.

Lu Beichuan, who had been expressionless up to this point, got up and walked to Ye Zhen the minute he saw the door open and asked her in a low voice, “What are you doing here?”

Old Mr. Shen sneered, “Why are you here?”

Ye Zhen looked over at him and lifted her brows. “Old Sir, I think you are getting confused. I hold 10% of the Lu Corporation’s shares and you are asking me why I am here? Why do you think I am here?”

Old Mr. Shen was not able to rebut her words.

Ye Zhen took the opportunity and asked Lu Beichuan in a low voice, “What’s going on?”

Lu Beichuan comforted her, “Everything is under control. Why don’t you take off first? Don’t worry. I got this.”

There was no way that Ye Zhen would leave under such a dire situation. She glanced over at Old Mr. Shen and slowly took her seat.

“Zhenzhen?”

Ye Zhen squeezed his hand subtly and said, “I want to stay. “

She had no idea how much truth there was in what Lu Shaoyan had said to her. She was worried. Right now, she only wanted to stay inside of this conference room and find out the truth rather than waiting nervously in the office.

Lu Beichuan hadn’t quite figured out what had happened when their hands touched. When the warm and soft feeling was about to leave his hand, he flicked his wrist and held her hand. He gave her a reassuring look before returning to his spot.

As soon as he sat down, Old Mr. Shen sighed and said, “Okay, since Ye Zhen is here as well, I am just going to rip the band-aid off. Each one of these pieces of evidence could land you in jail! Have you considered their impact on the Lu Corporation when you commit these felonies?”

If that happened and the CEO of Lu Corporation ended up in jail for trafficking and corruption, the news would spread in a mere few days and the Lu Corporation’s stock price would plummet as well as the morale of their employees. Customers that they have worked with in the past and those considering working with them would give things more thoughts. The Lu Corporation would be hurting for a while.

And, when that happened, those who stood to lose the most were these board members sitting there right now.

“As an elder of yours, I can’t just sit by and watch you commit these felonies. As a buddy of your grandfather, I cannot watch you throw away his life’s work! Beichuan, look at Grandpa Shen and tell me, did you or did you not commit these felonies?!”

Lu Beichuan looked up at Old Mr. Shen coldly.

“Trafficking? Corruption? Tax evasion?” Lu Beichuan flipped open the documents in front of him. Just as Old Mr. Shen had said, the evidence in the document looked solid and unquestionable.

Lu Beichuan flipped through all of them and finally closed the folder back up.

“What if I did? And what if I didn’t?”

“Great if you didn’t commit those. If you did, indeed, commit them, then Grandpa Shen cannot just sit by and watch you drag the Lu Corporation down with you!” Holding onto his cane, Old Mr. Shen looked very authoritative. “The Lu Corporation will still belong to the Lu family, but your spot will be taken over by Lu Shaoyan!”

Little buddies looked up at him. “Where did you get this evidence, Sir?”

“You don’t worry about how I come across this evidence. You just need to say whether you have committed these felonies or not!”

Lu Beichuan pushed the stack of documents over to Old Mr. Shen while he looked at him calmly. His eyes shone like the blade of a knife and sharp like that of an eagle.

“No.”

“This evidence pointed to the fact that…”

“If I am speculating correctly, you have gotten these from Lu Shaoyan, no?”

Old Mr. Shen paused a little.

Lu Beichuan smiled and sighed. “Sir, you’ve been fooled by him. All these were fabricated.”

“How could they be fabricated!” Old Mr. Shen was enraged. “I have looked into each and every single one of these myself!”

Lu Beichuan did not engage with him further. He placed a call. The door to the conference room opened up and his assistant brought with him two cops as he entered the conference room.

Lu Beichuan handed the documents over to the cops in person. “Someone is accusing me of trafficking and corruption. Here is the evidence. I hope you can look into this matter in detail and prove my innocence.”

Something was off. Cops could not have arrived so quickly.

“If the evidence were real, the cops will come and arrest me. As for the Lu Corporation, you wouldn’t need to worry about that, Old Mr. Shen.” Having said that, Lu Beichuan turned to the others in the conference room, smiled, and said, “It’s now break time. Please take a break and we shall resume our meeting at 2 PM.”

Having said that, Lu Beichuan walked out of the conference room while holding Ye Zhen’s hand.

Those in the conference room whispered to each other and turned to look at Old Mr. Shen suspiciously. Nobody ended up asking him anything but left the conference room in groups of twos and threes.

Old Mr. Shen could barely breathe. His mind was filled with all kinds of questions and shock. As manipulative as he had been for years, he had no idea how things ended up the way that they did!

Had Lu Beichuan not been readied for today, the cops would not have shown up just like that. If the evidence were real, Lu Beichuan would not have handed them over to the cops so confidently. If they were fabricated like he said… then why did Lu Shaoyan lie to him?!

Not to mention that he had sent his men to look into the evidence and they had confirmed to him that they were accurate!

Old Mr. Shen walked out of the conference room with the help of his butler and ran into Lu Shaoyan in the hallway.

“What is going on? Lu Beichuan wasn’t phased by that evidence at all. Didn’t you tell me that…”

“Oh, those?” Lu Shaoyan scratched his head and put on an apologetic look. “Sorry, I fooled you. Those pieces of evidence were fabricated.”

“You tricked me??” Old Mr. Shen’s eyes widened and his body trembled from anger. Pointing at Lu Shaoyan with his trembling finger, he said to him, “Can you even hear yourself talking?”

Lu Shaoyan was not bothered by him at all. “The student has exceeded the master. Old man, you need to understand the fact that you are getting old. Don’t you always tell the younger generations to always have patience and should not rush things? So why is it that you are so impulsive when it comes to Lu Beichuan?” Leaning close to Old Mr. Shen, Lu Shaoyan whispered into his ear in volume that was only audible to the two of them and said, “Isn’t this scene familiar to you?”

Old Mr. Shen might be old, but his eyes, under his wrinkly eyelids, were still sharp-looking. “Whatever do you mean by that?”

“I handed you a knife and you just took my words for it. Isn’t this just like how you had handed the knife to my father ten or so years ago?”

Lu Shaoyan took half a step back. The smile disappeared from him, and he looked at Old Mr. Shen gloomily.

Old Mr. Shen was rattled greatly. “You… You…”

“Oh, don’t be so surprised. Yes, I’ve learned of the truth.” He lowered his eyes, smiled, and shrugged. A vicious look came from his narrow eyes. Like a wolf that had been lurking for the longest time, hHe finally bared his sharp teeth at the perfect moment. “You are just as stupid as my father was!”

When he was done talking, he paid no more attention to the panting old man who was supported by his butler and walked away.

The old man was so tricky that he had to wait patiently for two years for his perfect opportunity.

Besides, Old Master Lu had just passed away and Lu Beichuan would not rush to take care of a family friend. The delicate balance between the Lu and Shen families might seem perfect but, in reality, it was annoying.

And now, the two of them could go and fight each other.

Old Mr. Shen was still stupefied even after Lu Shaoyan had left. With one hand over his cane and the other holding onto his butler’s hand, he asked in disbelief, “What did he mean by that? Whatever did he mean by that?”

The butler frowned and said in a solemn tone, “Old Sir, I’m afraid what happened back in the days is going to come out!”

Old Mr. Shen sneered. “What happened back in the days? Tell me. What happened back in those days?”

The butler remained silent.

“This scumbag dared to set me up! Who does he think he is?!”

He had failed to notice Lu Shaoyan’s ambition and had been led into a trap. All the way until he had antagonized Lu Beichuan.

Old Mr. Shen looked in the direction that Lu Shaoyan had left from and narrowed his eyes.

Did Lu Shaoyan really think he was so old that he had lost his mind? He wanted him to sever his relationship with Lu Beichuan so he could benefit from it? In his dreams!

Old Mr. Shen gritted his teeth and sneered. He felt unreconciled for being tricked by someone his junior.

“Let’s go, Lao Chen. Let’s go talk to Lu Beichuan.”

Lao Chen quickly supported him and the two of them walked toward the office.

Lu Beichuan had lunch delivered into the office. It was already past 1 PM. It didn’t matter to him if he skipped lunch, but Ye Zhen needed to eat.

“Why were there cops in the office?”

“Eat your lunch first.”

Ye Zhen did not take the bowl and chopsticks that Lu Beichuan had handed over to her. She only stared at him and asked, “Did you know ahead of time that Old Mr. Shen was going to be here today and arranged for the cops to be here?”

Lu Beichuan said nothing.

Ye Zhen assumed that was a yes.

“You never tell me anything.” The sick feeling in her stomach finally started to subside. Grumbling, she picked up the chopsticks. “The Lu and Shen families had been family friends for generations. How could he join forces with Lu Shaoyan against you?”

She knew full well that Lu Beichuan would not have committed those crimes. Besides, even if he did, he wouldn’t leave a trail of evidence behind that could be easily obtained by others. She worried more that Lu Shaoyan and Old Mr. Shen, in cahoots with each other, would do something shady and falsely accuse him.

The shameless ones were always the difficult ones to deal with.

“Old Mr. Shen was not someone easy to get rid of. Why don’t you get some rest at home recently.” Lu Beichuan was, after all, worried. “Have others take care of matters at the office for the time being.”

Ye Zhen had a couple more bites of rice before she put down her chopsticks. “You can get out unaffected, right?”

“Of course.” Lu Beichuan smiled and handed her a bowl of soup. “Don’t worry. I will have it all taken care of.”

Ye Zhen didn’t need to know about everything. She only needed to be Mrs. Lu under the protective umbrella that he had set up for her. He would be able to take care of everything else.

There was a knock on the office door and his assistant walked inside after he had given him permission. He said to Lu Beichuan in a low voice, “Boss Lu, Old Mr. Shen would like to meet with you.”

Lu Beichuan looked the same as he did before. “Take him to the conference room.”

“Okay.”

Lu Beichuan, however, did not get up and leave right away. In fact, he continued to enjoy his lunch with Ye Zhen, unaffected.

“Aren’t you going to go?”

“After lunch.”

Ye Zhen raised her brows. That made sense.

Even when Old Master Lu was still around, Lu Beichuan had never been that respectful of Old Mr. Shen. Now that Old Mr. Shen had stormed into the board meeting and waved around the “evidence” against Lu Beichuan, everybody who was present knew what he was trying to pull. If he was going to expect special treatment simply because he was old, then there was definitely no reason to be respectful to him now.

It was half an hour later when they finished eating. Lu Beichuan finally slowly walked back toward the conference room.

Old Mr. Shen was not annoyed that he had to wait for half an hour. Quite the contrary, he patiently explained how it was all a big misunderstanding. “I didn’t believe you’d do such things either, but I had my men look into them multiple times just to be on the super cautious side. Who would have thought that I’d still be fooled by that Lu Shaoyan!”

Lu Beichuan didn’t show any emotions. As he gave Old Mr. Shen a smile, his expression was unfathomable.

“I admit. I was too rash in this matter. But your grandpa explicitly asked me to keep a close eye on the Lu Corporation before he passed away and that I shall not let any bad luck befall on it. So, you see, I can’t just sit by and watch the Lu Corporation when….”

Lu Beichuan smiled indifferently. “Thank you for all of your hard work, Old Mr. Shen. It must not have been an easy task.”

“Your grandfather poured his entire life into this company.” Old Mr. Shen lamented.

Old Mr. Shen sounded so righteous and matter-of-factly as though everything was truly nothing but a big misunderstanding.

Finally, when Old Mr. Shen was walking out of the conference room, he patted Lu Beichuan on his shoulder and said, “Your grandfather can truly rest in peace now. As for Shaoyan… you should watch out for him.”

He managed to completely sever all ties that linked him with Lu Shaoyan.

The butler inquired worriedly on their way back. Old Mr. Shen leaned against the back of the seat and sighed quietly.

“I am getting old after all, to be fooled by that Lu Shaoyan. Lu Beichuan is not a simple one either. Luckily, the incident did not blow up. I take it that Lu Beichuan wouldn’t make any big moves. His grandfather had just passed away. It would not look good to the outsiders if the two families have a fall out right now.”

The butler, as an outsider, really wanted to point out Lu Beichuan never cared about the Shen family. When Old Master Lu was still around, he could still hold Lu Beichuan back. Now that Old Master Lu had passed away, Lu Beichuan no longer needed to pay any attention to the friendship between his grandfather and Old Master Lu or feel that he needed to hold back for any reason.

Granted, he would never dare say those words directly to Old Mr. Shen.

His old master had been conceited his entire life and always made decisions single-handedly, taking no advice from anyone.

The butler sighed silently and said nothing else.