Upon hearing Ye Linchen's words, Meng Xueyun shrieked, "You... what did you say?!"
"No...impossible! How could this be? This money wasn't given to me by her, it was returned to me! She took our whole family's severance pay back then, that was our hard-earned money! This is what she should return to us! Why should we hand it over?"
That money was her and Ye Zhenghua's only hope, their retirement money. What did it have to do with Meng Zihan?
If they really go back to their old age, how will she and Ye Zhenghua support themselves in their old age?
Ye Linchen looked at her as she instantly broke down, his expression cold.
"This is a problem between you and Meng Zihan."
She pulled her hand away from Meng Xueyun's, took a step back, and created a safe distance.
"When you lent her the money, you should have thought this might be the outcome. There's no point in you arguing with me now."
She lifted the breakfast in her hand; the soy milk was no longer so hot.
"Instead of wasting your time, you should go back and ask your precious niece whether the money she gave you was clean or not. Don't end up losing both your money and your house, and even your retirement savings."
Ye Linchen dropped this bombshell, picked up his breakfast, and turned to go upstairs.
But Meng Xueyun was not about to let her leave just like that!
"Xiao Chen! Stop right there!"
Meng Xueyun lunged forward and grabbed Ye Linchen's arm tightly.
"Explain yourself clearly! What exactly happened? What does 'stolen money' mean? What does 'turning it over' mean? Tell Mom, explain it to Mom properly, okay?"
Ye Linchen's arm was gripped so tightly that it hurt, and his brows furrowed.
She tried to shake off, but Meng Xueyun was afraid she would run away, so she grabbed her with all her might, and Ye Linchen couldn't break free no matter what she did.
With a pained expression, Meng Xueyun pleaded, "Xiao Chen, I'm begging you! You're a college student, you know so much. I've never been to school or worked much in my life, I don't understand these things! You're the only one we can rely on now, you have to help me!"
Seeing that Ye Linchen still had a cold face, Meng Xueyun became so anxious that she blurted out her two sons again.
"Even if you don't care about your mother, look at your two younger brothers! They're about to go to university. If something happens to the family, what will happen to their studies? What will happen to their future? Xiao Chen, for your brothers' sake, just tell your mother the truth, okay?"
Ye Linchen felt a throbbing pain in his temples.
She closed her eyes, forcibly suppressing her impatience.
Meng Xueyun and Meng Zihan are truly worthy of being aunt and niece; even their way of asking for favors is exactly the same, always saying it's for the other person's good.
Helping her is out of the question, but for the sake of my two younger brothers, it wouldn't be unreasonable to explain the pros and cons of the matter to her and ask her to stop bothering me.
If it would be best to let her and Meng Zihan fight like dogs.
Thinking of this, Ye Linchen let her hold his arm and smiled faintly.
"Want to know? Okay, then I'll give you a legal lesson today."
She organized her thoughts and, using the simplest and most straightforward language, exposed Meng Zihan's true nature.
"You think Meng Zihan runs companies in Hong Kong because she's capable? Where did she get the capital? Those companies were all funded by the Hong Kong boss who was keeping her. She was just a puppet in name only, understand? That boss used her company accounts to transfer illicit money around and launder it into clean money."
Meng Xueyun had heard the term "money laundering" on TV and knew it wasn't a good thing, but she had no idea what it actually meant.
She heard the words "puppet," "kept woman," and "dirty money" very clearly.
Her face paled even more, and she cursed Meng Zihan in her heart.
Could it be that this brat was her enemy in a past life?
He treated her with his whole heart, and what was the result?
She ruined their jobs, angered Ye Zhenghua to the point of having a stroke, and then, along with her unreliable father, swindled them out of their retirement money.
Just when things were getting a little better, this kind of trouble happened!
Meng Xueyun felt incredibly regretful when she thought about how good she had been to Meng Zihan.
She opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say.
Ye Linchen ignored her reaction and continued speaking.
“Now, Meng Zihan has found out that the boss used her to launder money. If she wants to avoid going to jail, there is only one way: to turn herself in immediately and try to get leniency. The condition for turning herself in is to return all the illegal gains. This includes not only the money in the company's account, but also everything she bought with that money—designer bags, jewelry, clothes—not a single thing can be missing.”
At this point, Ye Linchen's gaze fell directly on Meng Xueyun's face.
"Of course, that includes the money she gave you. As long as it can be proven that the money came from the company's account, no matter what name she gave it to you under, whether it was to repay a debt or to show filial piety, it is considered a transfer of embezzled funds and must be returned in full. If she doesn't return it, or doesn't return it completely, she can expect to spend the rest of her life in jail."
Meng Xueyun felt dizzy and her whole body swayed. If she hadn't been holding onto Ye Linchen's arm, she probably would have collapsed to the ground on the spot.
What she cared about most wasn't whether Meng Zihan would go to jail, but herself!
"What about me?" she blurted out. "Will Mom... will Mom be implicated? Will Mom go to jail too?"
"You?" Ye Linchen looked at her terrified expression, feeling no pity whatsoever. "If you hadn't known beforehand and had simply accepted the money, then it wouldn't constitute a crime, and you wouldn't go to jail. But..."
"However, you will definitely get your money back, not a single penny less."
"But...but I've already spent all that money!"
Meng Xueyun hurriedly defended herself, "Your father was sick and stayed in the hospital for so long. All the tests, medicine, and hospitalization cost money. That money has already been spent almost entirely! Where am I supposed to find the money to refund him?"
"Spended it?" Ye Linchen asked in return, then nodded. "If you were the one unaware, the law will take the actual circumstances into account. Generally speaking, for the portion used for daily living expenses and medical bills like yours, it will be handled at the discretion of the court. In most cases, you won't have to pay it back; you'll only need to return the portion that hasn't been spent yet."
Meng Xueyun breathed a sigh of relief, at least she hadn't driven them to the brink of despair.
Ye Linchen added, "Of course, this 'spending' doesn't include big-ticket items like buying a house or gold and silver jewelry. Even if you spend those things, you must return them at a discounted price. The most crucial prerequisite is that you must remain 'unaware' of the purchase."
Ye Linchen paused here, looking at Meng Xueyun's calculating and gambler-like face, and sneered.
Dealing with this kind of person requires drastic measures.
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