Chapter 80 Go and beg Ye Baoling

When Ye Huaizhang told her that her second aunt was Ye Jinsong's first love, Ye Baoling said it would be a lie to say she wasn't surprised.

No wonder Ye Jinsong and Yang Pinxian's second aunt pretended to be sick and didn't come out when they cut the cake to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary.

Oh, I see.

Didn't you know that before?

Ye Huaizhang was already standing behind the bar, pouring himself a glass of foreign liquor. He shook his head: "I have absolutely no idea."

He is not sensitive to this.

Ye Baoling sat opposite him and asked again, "Does anyone else in the family know? Does Mom know? What about Second Uncle?"

Ye Huaizhang deduced, "My mother definitely doesn't know, otherwise they wouldn't be so natural with each other. I can't say for sure about Second Uncle. Would you like a drink?"

He pointed to the foreign liquor next to him.

Ye Baoling stretched out her hand, pinching it slightly between her thumb and forefinger: "Just a little bit. I also think Mom doesn't know anything. Have you found out why your dad and second aunt broke up back then?"

“My second aunt came from a poor background, so their relationship was doomed. As the eldest son, my father was to marry into another wealthy family, and for the sake of the family's interests, he abandoned his first love.” He poured her a glass of wine and handed it to her.

Ye Baoling gently swirled the wine in her glass, but did not drink it immediately.

She questioned, "If she disliked her second aunt's background, then why was she able to marry her second uncle?"

Ye Huaizhang tapped the rim of his cup lightly with his fingers: "Because she's pregnant, and since Second Uncle is the second son, he has more freedom in choosing his marriage partner."

Ye Baoling suddenly had a wild idea: "Could Huai Li be your half-brother?"

Ye Huaizhang shook his head with absolute certainty: "No. Huaili is my second uncle's biological son."

How can you be so sure?

Because after he learned about his second aunt's identity, he also had his doubts.

“I had someone secretly do a paternity test on Huai Li a couple of days ago, and it’s true that he is my second uncle’s biological son.”

That's better, it means Ye Jinsong had no motive to kill Ye Huaizhang.

Otherwise, it could really be a family tragedy.

Ye Baoling thought for a moment and then said, "Second Aunt's name is Han Yanmei. Could Aunt Mei be Aunt Mei? The two characters sound very similar. We were mistaken before and thought it was the 'Mei' in 'plum blossom,' but it's not."

Ye Huaizhang had also thought of this. "Xiao Dahai showed the second aunt's photo to Shuigou to confirm again, and Shuigou confirmed that the second aunt was not Aunt Mei. The second aunt has a softer appearance and is not square-faced."

Ye Baoling took a small sip of foreign liquor and began to speculate: "If your second aunt still harbored resentment back then because your father abandoned his relationship with her for the sake of the family's interests, then she had a motive to harm you. In addition, since your death would likely make her son the biggest beneficiary, that's a dual motive."

Ye Huaizhang didn't speak, but he agreed.

"There's one more thing. Your second aunt usually pays close attention to your every move. On Christmas Day, you weren't in the living room, and no one knew where you went, except your second aunt who noticed that you went upstairs to answer the phone."

These small details, which wouldn't normally seem amiss, only become apparent upon reviewing them now. It's astonishing that Second Aunt is the person in this family with the greatest hostility towards Ye Huaizhang.

It's terrifying to think about.

The two continued to discuss the details.

Ye Baoling: "A few years ago, my second uncle hired his classmate's company to handle the renovation of Chengheju. Recently, because of a water pipe and circuit breaker tripping issue, he asked his classmate to come and inspect and repair it. Because of this, he may have discovered the existence of the underground wine cellar. He secretly told my second aunt about this discovery. The couple, for some unknown reason, kept it a secret. Later, in order to fight for the inheritance rights of the third branch of the family, they wanted to use Aunt Mei to kill you, so they took two bottles of red wine from the wine cellar and gave them to Gong Jiahua."

Ye Huaizhang: "If your analysis is correct, then Aunt Mei must be someone who is related to Gong Jiahua."

"It should be."

"The red wine in the cellar has a secret with Aunt Mei or the Gong family, and it should be related to the secret inside the copper gate of Silver Snake Mountain."

Ye Baoling nodded: "It can only be closely related to the secret of Silver Snake Mountain. It is known that the red wine in both of our cellars was produced in 1946. The red wine in our cellar is from a different winery than yours. Could it be that the three branches of our Ye family had some common secret with the Gong family that they hid in Silver Snake Mountain, and everyone agreed that this secret would not be passed on to future generations?"

They had previously investigated the renaming of Silver Snake Mountain, which also occurred in 1946.

After a silver snake appeared on Cuiluo Mountain and killed people, the government took back Cuiluo Mountain and renamed it Silver Snake Mountain.

For many years, Silver Snake Mountain has remained undeveloped due to the obstruction of several wealthy families in Qingtang Street.

"They sealed off the brick tunnel in 1946 and put red wine in the cellar at the entrance as a disguise. Anyone who broke the rules and let their descendants know the secret would be killed by the Gong family."

Ye Huaizhang basically agreed with this conclusion, but he still had doubts.

"There's a contradiction: if the secret wasn't passed down, how did my second uncle and aunt find out?"

"Could it be that your second uncle found out by accident through some channel when your grandfather was still alive?"

This possibility cannot be ruled out.

Ye Huaizhang took another sip of wine: "If the Ye family can't pass on the secret of Silver Serpent Mountain, can the Gong family pass it on? Probably not, right?"

"Logically speaking, it shouldn't be possible. Once the older generation passes away, the secret will probably be lost to history. Even if future generations find the wine cellar, it will be very difficult to decipher its secrets. Just like we are now, completely baffled."

Ye Huaizhang thought for a while and said, "If our guess is correct, then the murderer can basically be identified as Gong Fonian. And Aunt Mei is very likely just someone he sent out to do things for him."

Gong Fonian, Gong Jiahua's grandfather, was the kind and gentle cultural figure who held an art exhibition.

Therefore, the conclusion is that the second uncle and aunt wanted to use Gong Fonian's knife to kill Ye Huaizhang.

After the conversation, Ye Baoling thought of Ye Jinliu again, "What role does Auntie play in all of this? Or is she simply having an affair with Gong Jinghui, and nothing else matters to her?"

uncertain.

But it doesn't seem to matter that much anymore.

To crack the code, there are actually some simple and straightforward methods.

Ye Baoling raised an eyebrow and gave him a bad idea: "Find someone to tie up Second Aunt or Huai Li, and we should be able to get the information we want from Second Uncle and Second Aunt."

"That would likely alert the enemy. We wouldn't be able to get through the bronze gate at the bottom of Silver Serpent Mountain. We'd have to wait until after the New Year, collect all three pieces of the Ugly King Jade, and enter the bronze gate before deciding on our next move."

“Okay.” Ye Baoling gently clinked her wine glass with his. “The New Year is just around the corner. We shouldn’t have to wait long; we should be able to find out the secret soon.”

I hope I can successfully acquire the ugly jade pendant from the eldest son's family.

Let's save her life first.

She asked, "Do you think the Gong family might also have a cellar leading to a brick tunnel?"

Ye Huaizhang shook his head: "There shouldn't be. The location of the blue brick tunnel is a bit far from the Gong family's place. I searched the blue brick tunnel several times before, and apart from Silver Snake Mountain, there were no other brick gates."

The young couple drank and chatted until almost midnight before he left. He had things to take care of, so he went back to the third room instead of sleeping at her place.

*

Ye Baoxin and Fang Shanxing's wedding was held in Fang Family Garden before the Lunar New Year.

The eldest son of the Fang family gave all the betrothal gifts to Ye Baoxin as part of her dowry.

Zheng Junni was overjoyed, thinking she would be able to attend, but not only did the eldest son's family not allow her to go, but Ye Baoxin also did not want her to appear.

The explanation given to outsiders was that Junnie Cheng was ill, which is why she couldn't attend her daughter's wedding.

Junnie Cheng was, of course, filled with disappointment.

She's been given a death sentence, and her daughter isn't even on her side.

Because the wedding was kept simple, only close relatives and friends, as well as neighbors from Qingtang Street, were invited as guests.

The eldest son's family members were all present, and even the third son's family had five or six people there.

This is the first time the two companies, Su Man and Gezhi, have met since their business rivalry became public.

Ye Qizu was naturally beaming with pride. Seeing the third branch of the family collectively suffer a setback in his lifetime was the happiest thing for him in recent years.

Even though she felt uncomfortable, Grandma Guan still knew her manners and took the initiative to greet her.

"Second brother, congratulations!"

Ye Qizu smiled modestly and said, "It was all the publicity strategy devised by the young people. I didn't have to worry about it. It's time for this old man to relinquish some authority."

Grandma Guan was originally congratulating him on the marriage of his granddaughter, but Ye Qizu thought she was congratulating him on his great victory in the Battle of Suge.

This left Old Madam Guan speechless, and she could only awkwardly laugh and retort, "It's good that young people are capable. I'm not as passionate about my work as you, Second Brother. I've basically retired in the last few years, and they're the ones who manage the company's affairs. I'm only responsible for signing documents."

Ye Qizu, who was firmly in the lead, was not to be outdone: "We still have to keep an eye on things occasionally. I heard that Hong Kong Tong Industrial was shorted by big Wall Street capital. In your early years, you raised too much capital to expand overseas, which resulted in you having too few shares, making you easy targets."

Grandma Guan really didn't want to chat with him anymore. Just then, Huai Zhang and Bao Ling came over, and she quickly said, "The young people are here."

Ye Qizu wasn't finished. He deliberately poked at her heartstrings: "Baoling is the chief commander of this commercial promotion of Suman Jewelry, a great contributor. You also have shares in Suman Jewelry. If we can rise, you will also benefit."

Even the dignified Old Madam Guan had to put on a stern face.

Yang Pinxian quickly changed the subject: "There aren't many guests today."

Grandma Guan finally found an opportunity to retaliate: "Is Bao Xin pregnant? Congratulations, Second Brother, on becoming a great-grandfather."

Ye Qizu, who had just been all smiles, immediately fell silent. He couldn't directly deny it; after all, she wasn't his own granddaughter, and premarital pregnancy was no big deal.

Fortunately, the old man had a good memory. He immediately said, "Sir Fang and his family want to have a big banquet, but I say there's definitely not enough time. We can follow the example of Ye Jinbo's wedding back then. Your second daughter-in-law was also heavily pregnant. Let's have a simple wedding and a meal with the family, and that'll be fine."

After a lifetime of glory, Old Madam Guan finally succumbed to defeat.

Ye Baoling, who had already walked over, looked at the smokeless battle and smiled nonchalantly to ease the atmosphere: "Grandma, Fang Shanxing and the others asked us to come over and take pictures together."

"Second Brother, we're going to take pictures." Old Madam Guan quickly slipped away.

Ye Jinfeng was also at the photo spot. He glanced at Ye Baoling, didn't say hello, and turned to leave.

Grandma Guan saw this and quickly whispered, "Grandma doesn't blame you this time. In business, we were set up by big capital. It's true that we've had it too easy these past few years and kept expanding, which diluted our shareholding and allowed others to take advantage of us."

Ye Baoling didn't explain herself; she just laughed and said, "I took a picture."

Old Madam Guan sat down, the bride and groom stood in the middle, and Ye Baoling, Ye Huaizhang, and the other members of the third branch of the family stood casually.

Ye Baoling had absolutely no opinion on Ye Baoxin's marriage. Who Ye Baoxin married, and whether her marriage was good or bad, was none of her business.

She came because the Gong family would be there, and she wanted to secretly observe Gong Fonian and the others to see if they would behave in any way.

After observing for a while, she discovered that Gong Fonian was only slightly fierce towards Gong Jiahua; to everyone else, he was like a kind and benevolent Buddha.

The relationship between him, Sir Fong, Ye Qizu, and Ye Qizong seemed like that of ordinary old friends, neither particularly close nor particularly bad, and she couldn't see anything amiss.

The wedding ceremony officially began, with Ye Leyan serving as the bridesmaid. The ceremony was simple yet solemn, and Fang Shanxing's performance was very sincere.

Standing next to Ye Baoling, Ye Leqiong couldn't help but sigh, "Baoxin has good taste. She bet on the right person and married the right one. The Fang family has social standing and no mother-in-law. She became the mistress of the house as soon as she married in. Although Shanxing isn't handsome enough, he has a good temper. He's practically perfect."

"Is that so?" Ye Baoling did not offer any further opinion.

Her gaze kept sweeping across the crowd, and when Ye Huaizhang walked over, she asked him, "Didn't Second Aunt come?"

"They said they felt unwell."

It's always the same excuse.

Ye Huaizhang whispered to her, "I'll leave first; I have things to do at the company."

She knew what he was busy with, and it would be a lie to say that she felt absolutely no guilt.

But she doesn't think she did anything wrong. If she had another chance to choose, she would still do the same thing.

*

Qu Zhengming went to Shenzhen to inspect two plots of land, one outside the city center and the other in Futian.

The land outside the city is larger and cheaper, while the land in Futian is smaller and more expensive, both priced under 10 million.

Ye Baoling placed the proposal on her grandfather's desk. "None of them are expensive. The one in Futian is 8.2 million, and the larger piece of land outside the city is only 5.7 million."

Ye Qizu maintained his usual stance: "Acquiring land is just the beginning. After that, we need to build factories, buy equipment, recruit and train workers. Once we've invested money, it will be very troublesome to change course later. Besides, we have too many things to do right now. Let's consider these things after the US market stabilizes."

Seeing that she couldn't persuade him, Ye Baoling stopped trying: "Alright, Grandpa, you can think about it again."

She didn't want to delay any longer.

After leaving her grandfather's study, she called Liu Haonan and Qu Zhengming respectively. Since her grandfather didn't want it, she was prepared to take it herself.

She wants both plots of land.

As a result, Liu Haonan told her that he didn't have much money left.

"I've basically poured all my money into acquiring Hong Kong-listed companies during this period. Now I only have a little over three million left in my account."

Ye Baoling, who hadn't experienced the hardship of being broke for a long time, was stunned. "There's still money in the US stock market, right?"

“Most of the money I made from US stocks has been transferred back to Hong Kong through the Stock Connect program. There's only a little over HKD 90 million left, but it's all margin and can't be touched. The remaining stock is currently losing money; if I sell it, I'll incur a loss of at least HKD 10 million. I suggest leaving it alone for now. The stock price should rise next month.” Liu Haonan is confident about this.

Ye Baoling thought for a moment, "It's okay, if we lose, we lose. The stock market is risky; there are times when you can make money and times when you can lose money. We'll sell some of it and raise enough money to buy land in Shenzhen."

Seeing that his boss had made up his mind, Liu Haonan quickly said, "Then I'll take action when the US stock market opens."

*

Around 3 p.m. on Sunday, Ms. Yan, the board secretary of Hong Kong Connect, called Ye Huaizhang.

The Li family, as the second largest shareholder, joined forces with the third largest shareholder, R Fund, to demand a board meeting before next Wednesday to discuss the re-election of board members and chairman.

What Ye Huaizhang feared still happened.

The members of the third branch of the family gathered in Old Madam Guan's study.

The second son, Ye Jinbo, was still confused about what was happening. He asked, "Isn't the second largest shareholder the American R Fund?"

Ye Jinsong sat on the sofa, his face grim: "That was true before. But this time, after the Li family shorted Gangtong Industry through Wall Street capital, they bought up enough shares at the bottom and have become the second largest shareholder. If you calculate it that way, the Li family and R Fund's combined shares are very likely to be more than ours."

Ye Jinfeng: "Since Li Shaochang dared to challenge the board of directors to reopen, the Li family must have already acquired enough shares and they want to seize actual control of Hong Kong Tong Industrial."

Old Madam Guan was in a terrible predicament. She couldn't accept that the most important business of the third son's family had been ruined in her hands, and she couldn't face her deceased husband.

Is there any way?

Ye Huaizhang: "I contacted the Qi family, who were originally the third largest shareholder. He's friends with Li Shaochang. He said he wouldn't help the Li family, but he also couldn't help us; he could only remain neutral. As for the shareholders below him, two of them sold their shares to Li Shaochang recently..."

Therefore, none of these paths are viable.

What should we do then?

Ye Jinfeng said, "We should fight fire with fire. We should also use our own methods to short the Li family's Yunchang Group. We can't let them keep beating us like this."

Ye Jinsong shook his head and said, "If they dare to do this, they must have made full preparations and are not afraid of our countermeasures. Moreover, there is simply no time. They are already at our doorstep. What we need to do now is to discuss with the company's management and firmly oppose allowing foreign capital to control the real power."

Ye Jinbo: "Yes, we can also incite the employees to strike and make a big fuss. We absolutely cannot let Li Shaochang's evil scheme succeed."

Grandma Guan believed that these were all last resorts, desperate measures taken as a last-ditch effort.

She looked at Ye Huaizhang: "Huaizhang, what do you think?"

Ye Huaizhang didn't rest after returning. He said, "Besides Wall Street capital getting involved, another group of people have been buying up our shares in the secondary market. We need to find out who they are and whether we can cooperate with them."

"It must be someone from the Li family. No doubt about it. Now that such a huge mess has happened, what caused it?" Fourth Uncle Ye Jinfeng seized the opportunity to attack Ye Huaizhang. "It started because your wife shorted diamonds for her own selfish gain, giving the Li family an opportunity to take advantage. Then, like dominoes, a chain reaction occurred, forcing us into this predicament. To bring you good luck, they created someone like this. It's incredibly unlucky!"

Ye Huaizhang glared at Ye Jinfeng: "First, I didn't choose my wife myself, so you can't blame me. Second, the reason Bao Ling wanted to short Gezhi Diamonds is because of your arrogance and disrespect, Fourth Uncle. You have no basic manners towards Bao Ling and you always mock the eldest branch of the family for having no one to rely on. Now that you've completely crushed Gezhi Jewelry, have you seen it? Do they have anyone to rely on?! Third, and most importantly, I told you to go all out to buy up the stock, but you skipped two days of buying and didn't increase your holdings. Your buybacks were also slow and unhelpful. We could have bought enough, but because of your poor execution, we're in such a predicament now. Ye Jinfeng, you bear the greatest responsibility. Please don't speak ill of my wife here; it's really disgusting."

Ye Jinfeng had never seen Ye Huaizhang speak to him, an elder, with such a harsh attitude, and he felt a little embarrassed.

He then complained to Ye Jinsong: "Brother, look at what Ye Huaizhang said."

Ye Jinsong kept his head down and ignored him.

He then looked at his mother.

Grandma Guan waved her hand, silencing him: "Huai Zhang is right. I also bear some responsibility; I used to often joke that the eldest branch of the family had no successor. These words might have reached Bao Ling's ears, making her uncomfortable. But Jin Feng, if your attitude towards Bao Ling is truly problematic, then you must completely correct it. Also, you made a huge mistake by not seriously implementing the strategy Huai Zhang explained on his phone call; you completely ignored our words..."

Ye Jinfeng never expected to become the target of his family's attacks. He stood up angrily: "Am I supposed to take the blame for this? Even if we continued to buy back shares and increase our holdings those two days, we definitely couldn't outbid Li Shaochang! He came prepared. If you ask me, the root cause is still the company's excessive expansion and financing in recent years, which has diluted our own shares!"

Grandma Guan slammed her fist on the table in anger: "You keep looking for reasons at the top, but you can't face your own problems! Ye Jinfeng, how did you become like this! If I have to say what's wrong, it's that I shouldn't be the chairman! It's my fault, okay?"

As she spoke, she covered her forehead with her hand, her blood pressure spiked, and she felt a little dizzy. Her sons quickly helped her up.

"Mother!"

Ye Huaizhang quickly opened the door and asked someone to get the medicine.

After taking her blood pressure medication, Grandma Guan finally recovered.

Ye Jinfeng then apologized: "It was my fault, I admit I was wrong. Mom, please don't be angry."

Grandma Guan said in a slightly weak voice, "Now is not the time for internal accountability. Time is of the essence; we only have two days left. We need to come up with a solution quickly."

Just then, Dong Jian knocked on the door and came in, whispering something to Ye Huaizhang.

Ye Jinsong asked rather impatiently, "If it's company business, just say it out loud so everyone can hear. What time is it...?"

Dong Jian glanced at Ye Huaizhang, and after receiving his tacit approval, he said, "We have traced another group of accounts that have been buying up large amounts of Hong Kong Stock Connect stocks, and they all came from Lihua Securities."

"Lihua Securities? It's not the same securities company that Li uses."

Dong Jian: "It's not the securities company used by the Li family. We also found that one of the accounts was registered to someone named Chen Yulan."

Ye Jinbo pondered, "Chen Yulan? I've never heard of her. Quickly find out who she is and see if we can get in touch with her."

Grandma Guan frowned slightly: "This name sounds familiar."

Dong Jian whispered, "Chen Yulan is the eldest young mistress's personal assistant."

Ye Baoling's assistant?

Did Ye Baoling buy it?

Ye Jinbo slapped his thigh, he remembered her: "That girl with the big braid? She was quite sturdy."

Ye Jinfeng exclaimed in surprise, "Could it be that Ye Baoling took advantage of the chaos to buy up a lot of Hong Kong Tong Industrial properties?! If she bought them herself, how much money could she have? She certainly couldn't have bought that many. Unless it was the eldest son's family that bought them. If it was the eldest son's family that bought them, their purpose is definitely not pure."

Regardless of their motives, this may be their only lifeline right now.

Old Madam Guan instructed: "Huaizhang, call immediately and ask how much Gangtong Industrial Holdings Baoling has."

"She's really patient. She bought them secretly without making a sound. However, unless she holds more than 3.5% of Hong Kong Tong Holdings, it's useless." Ye Jinfeng thought that Ye Baoling couldn't possibly have the money to buy so many shares.

We can only hope that it was bought by the eldest son's family, in which case they might buy more.

Ye Huaizhang's feelings were somewhat complicated at this moment.

He thought more than they did.

If Ye Baoling really did acquire enough shares of Hong Kong-Tong Industrial, then based on his understanding of Ye Baoling, he seriously suspects that Ye Baoling's recent short-selling of Hong Kong-Tong Industrial is not just a matter of taking advantage of loopholes.

It is very likely that she was the one who initially facilitated the Li family's venture into the Airport Connect business.

After all, he had previously revealed to her that in the entire Hong Kong city, only the Li family had the possibility and strength to develop the Airport Connect business.

As soon as he left Hong Kong for Europe, the Lai family took action, and Ye Baoling simultaneously shorted diamonds.

On the surface, she was after Su Man Jewelry, but that wasn't the case.

Even in the warm study, he felt a chill, as if betrayed by his lover.

Without time to think, he called Ye Baoling.

She seemed to have been waiting for their call, and she didn't beat around the bush, saying frankly, "I own 5.7% of Hong Kong Tong Holdings' shares."

so much!

The members of the third branch of the family stared wide-eyed: "!!!"

I don't know whether to be surprised or happy.

But next, they had no choice but to beg Ye Baoling to sell them the shares.

If she is unwilling to sell her shares, she can act as a concerted party to jointly oppose Li Shaochang.

In short, they saw hope.

-----------------------

The author's note: I've seen everyone's discussion. Actually, the female protagonist isn't someone who only considers self-interest; she also has feelings. For example, she's very willing to give to her grandmother and cousin.

As for the male lead, she's probably more concerned with maximizing her own interests and whether it might harm his financial interests; that's not her current concern. Does she have feelings for him? Of course she does; she's not a cold-blooded animal. But those feelings won't prevent her from doing what she believes is right.