She was investigating this just in case, just in case the Hua family became desperate, she would at least have bargaining chips in her hands. But she hadn't expected the Hua family to be so shameless. For exposing a piece of domestic violence gossip, they'd kidnap her and say they were going to teach her a lesson. Of course, that's a story for another time.
Li Xi was currently reviewing the information that Mian Lao Si had just sent over. Perhaps her tone wasn't very good when she instructed Mian Lao Si, and Mian Lao Si had misunderstood her as wanting to destroy the Hua family like she had done to the Zhao family, so the first information she sent over was the information on the Hua family's crimes.
Li Xi was increasingly alarmed by the information in her hands, both because of the information itself and because of Mian Lao Si's abilities. The information revealed that the Hua family maintained a smuggling team specializing in transporting items prohibited by other countries, such as exotic flowers and plants, rare plants and animals, gold, silver, jade, famous paintings, and antiques.
The Hua family's business, while superficial, was actually quite mediocre, not much better than Lai Yaoming's. The Li family's status as a second-tier wealthy family was only maintained thanks to Li's father's management and Jing Liyue's dowry. As for the Hua family, outsiders had always believed that their family heritage was passed down from their ancestors. Unexpectedly, their prestige was indeed due to their ancestors, but not their own.
Just look at the Hua family's current status, and you'll know how many national treasures they've sold through this smuggling team. Li Xi was furious at no point. Domestic violence, illegitimate children, and inbreeding were all minor issues.
The Hua family is involved in organized crime!
This was no longer gossip or scandal, nor was it something an ordinary citizen like Li Xi could participate in.
Fortunately, Mian Lao Si mentioned in the information that the relevant departments have noticed the Hua family and are collecting evidence.
Mian Lao Si also sent a message to Li Xi, saying that during the investigation, he ran into the other party's technicians. After knowing his identity, the other party frantically wanted to recruit him. Finally, Mian Lao Si mentioned vaguely that the boss needed to increase wages to keep the employees!
Li Xi was so angry she laughed. She was filled with righteous indignation and cynicism, but Mian Lao Si, who had confronted the Hua family's crimes, was only thinking about a pay raise? Li Xi angrily sent Mian Lao Si a "hehe" emoticon and ignored his rant.
Li Xi picked up the information and read it again, wondering if she could lend a hand to the authorities. She couldn't intervene in the smuggling investigation, but she could use other matters to keep the Hua family busy and distracted. For example, she could make the domestic violence case a bigger issue, or make the issue of the illegitimate child a public event within the Hua family.
Mian Lao Si knew the smuggling was a serious matter, so he conducted a thorough investigation, but hadn't yet uncovered any links to the illegitimate children. This also suggests that the issue of illegitimate children marrying close relatives hasn't yet become a public issue within the Hua family—at least, they haven't yet sought help from the Hua family, though it's only a matter of time. In the original novel, the matter wasn't a major issue, and only a few powerful members of the Hua family knew about it.
The original novel wrote this story purely because "Shen Zhou" had the aura of the protagonist. He got the news from somewhere and used it as a threat to negotiate a deal with the head of the Hua family.
The Hua family's company is a listed company. If it were just a simple illegitimate child issue, it wouldn't have much of an impact on the stock price. But what if the illegitimate child married a close relative? And an innocent life was involved? The impact would be huge.
A stock price drop is inevitable, and there's no guarantee that partners will terminate their contracts. Crucially, such a scandal will be tarnished by the government, making it difficult for the company to reap the benefits of official sanctions. It's easy to imagine how difficult it would be for a company disdained by the government to survive.
Therefore, in the original work, the head of the Hua family reached an unequal cooperation with Shen Zhou and gave Shen Zhou many conveniences.
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