"Second uncle seems very anxious." Ye Qingliu spoke, his voice hoarse like metal friction due to lung injury, but it accurately pierced through the hypocritical warmth.
He didn't even look up, but just stroked the obsidian inlaid on the edge of the table with his fingertips, the movement like he was sharpening an invisible knife.
The smile on Ye Linyuan's face froze for a moment, then was replaced by a warmer look of concern. He took two steps at a time and walked to Ye Qingliu, trying to touch his forehead.
"Qingliu, why are you up? The doctor said your lung is punctured and you need absolute rest... Look at you, you look so pale. Go back to the ward with your uncle and lie down..."
When his palm was about to touch, Ye Qingliu tilted his head slightly to avoid the hypocritical touch. There was no warmth in his gray-blue eyes, only the indifference of seeing through the play.
"Rest?" Ye Qingliu finally raised his eyes and scanned every face present - his pot-bellied uncle was wiping his sweat with a handkerchief, his eyes avoiding him.
The pointed-faced Fourth Aunt pretended to fix her hair, but her fingers were nervously twisting her pearl necklace; and those collateral relatives who usually fawned over him were now thinking of becoming his "temporary successors".
Under the illumination of the crystal lamps, these faces appeared particularly greedy and ugly.
"Second uncle is worried that if I 'rest' for too long, it will delay your taking over the 'great cause' of the Ye family, right?"
Ye Chenghai's smile completely collapsed, his mouth twitching as he tried to argue: "Qingliu, what are you talking about! I'm your second uncle, how could I possibly harm you? We all care about you..."
"Care?" Ye Qingliu chuckled, and that laugh was full of cold sarcasm.
He raised his hand and pointed to the crystal chandelier in the center of the dome. The miniature camera hidden there was transmitting the images in real time to Sacred Heart Hospital. Sun Guixiang was sitting beside the bed, holding the warm ginseng soup in her hands. Her cloudy eyes showed only genuine concern for his safety.
This formed a stark contrast with the faces of the relatives in front of him.
"So the 'concern' Second Uncle is talking about is exchanging the EMP pulser provided by the Gu family for my life? Is it taking Chao Zhenshan's money to plant C4 explosives in the engine room of the 'Star'?"
He pressed a hidden button on the edge of the table, and the entire floor-to-ceiling window instantly fogged up, revealing a holographic projection of the Swiss Bank's transfer records.
The green cursor flashed under the entry "Ye Chenghai's Overseas Accounts": 20 million, 35 million, 50 million...
Each remittance from "Chao Holdings" was marked with a shocking purpose. One of the remittances, "Mu Xinrong's Clearance Operation Advance Payment," was even followed by a confirmation letter signed by Ye Linyuan himself.
"Fake! This is all fake!" Ye Linyuan overturned the long table suddenly, and the bone china teacup smashed on the fogged glass. Brown tea stains flowed along the signature of "Chao Zhenshan" like blood sliding down.
Veins popped out on his forehead, and he pointed at Ye Qingliu like a madman.
"In order to seize power, you fabricated evidence to slander your own uncle! Do you still have any conscience?"
"Conscience?" Ye Qingliu slowly stood up, supporting himself on the table with his left hand to steady his shaking body. The bloodstains on his chest spread over a larger area on his silk shirt.
He looked at Ye Linyuan, his eyes as cold as poisoned ice.
"Second Uncle, ask yourself honestly, have you ever been sincere to me since we were little? When my parents passed away, you rushed to handle the inheritance. When I took over the Ye family, you colluded with the elders to hinder me at every turn.
"Now that I'm seriously injured, you're eager to get help from outside, hoping to turn the Ye family into your and Chao Zhenshan's possession—"
His voice suddenly rose, shaking the pendant on the crystal chandelier slightly. "So what if you are my second uncle? In your eyes, what else is there besides profit? Today you can kill me for the position of head of the family, and tomorrow you can sell out the Ye family for the money of the Chao family!"
"You...you are slandering me!" Ye Chenghai was hit in the sore spot and suddenly burst into laughter, taking out a silver-plated pistol from the inside pocket of his suit.
"That's right! I want to be the head of this family! Ye Qingliu, you are just like your dead father, blocking my way! Only when I am the head of the family can the Ye family be on equal footing with the Chao family!"
He pointed his gun at Ye Qingliu, but didn't notice that the secret doors around the conference room slid open at the same time, and Hua Jinyue and ten black-clad secret guards came in one after another, with the muzzles of their guns pointed at his eyebrows.
"Second uncle, put down the gun." Ye Qingliu's voice was calm, as if he was just talking about the weather.
He looked at Ye Chenghai's trembling wrist, there was no fear in his gray-blue eyes, only a kind of indifference of "as expected".
"You thought you could be safe by bribing the Viper Mercenary Group? Little did you know that their leader signed a confidentiality agreement with me three years ago. All of your little tricks, ever since you contacted Chao Zhenshan, have gone unnoticed by me."
The blood color on Ye Chenghai's face instantly faded, and the pistol fell to the ground with a clang.
Hua Jinyue took a step forward and hit him on the back of the neck with the butt of the gun. The man groaned and fell to the ground with an expression of disbelief on his face.
Ye Qingliu looked at his second uncle being dragged away, and suddenly started coughing violently. Blood splattered on his white silk shirt, like a blooming strange flower.
Awei quickly supported him, and everything he touched was burning hot.
"Boss Ye, your temperature has risen again!"
"It's okay." Ye Qingliu pushed him away and walked towards the fogged glass. His fingertips scratched Chao Zhenshan's name, leaving a blood mark.
He looked at the messy conference room and the "relatives" who were trembling with fear. The light from the crystal chandelier reflected in his eyes and shattered into a piece of cold starlight.
The eyes of these people looking at him at this moment were full of fear, but Ye Qingliu knew that it was not awe, but fear of losing vested interests.
"Notify the 'Deep Sea' special forces to surround the Xishan Villa." He ordered Awei without turning his head, and there was no emotion in his voice.
"Tell President Chao and President Gu that the obstacles on the Ye family's side have been cleared."
Hua Jinyue looked at her brother's thin back and couldn't help but say, "Brother, these old guys..."
"Keep it." Ye Qingliu interrupted her, his tone cold and hard, "Don't they like benefits? Then let them watch. The 'benefits' they can get by following me, Ye Qingliu, are far greater than those following a fool like my second uncle.
"When he turned around, the sunlight shone through the gaps in the fogged glass onto his face, half of it pale and half blood red, like a judge returning from hell.
"As for Second Uncle and Chao Zhenshan... I will personally recover what they owe me, with interest."
The only sounds in the conference room were heavy breathing and the occasional chime of the crystal chandelier.
Those relatives who were just thinking about "temporary replacement" now lowered their heads, not daring to meet Ye Qingliu's cold gaze.
They finally understood that this seemingly frail young man had already seen through all their greed and betrayal, and that today's meeting had been a carefully planned hunt from the very beginning.
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