Chapter 45: The Wang family is left with nothing left to lose after the King of Tianliang is defeated!
Si Yuan could easily know through the system how Ling Feng sent people to attack Wang Zhenbao and Tao Xiaoyu, but Ling Feng was very cautious and did not leave any substantial evidence. He bribed the driver who drove to hit Wang Zhenbao and Tao Xiaoyu, but has not transferred money to the driver yet. There is no transfer record, only a verbal promise. No one knows why the driver was willing to agree to risk his life.
Before crashing into Wang Zhenbao's car, the driver got himself drunk, intending to turn intentional homicide into drunk driving. Although he would still be sentenced, the sentence would be much lighter than intentional homicide.
After understanding the situation, Si Yuan knew that if he wanted to expose the truth that Ling Feng instructed the driver who caused the accident, he could only let the driver himself speak up and testify against Ling Feng.
After Wang Zhenbao called the police, the police took Wang Zhenbao and several others who were fine to the police station to take a statement and learn the details of the situation. The driver who caused the accident was unconscious and was taken to the hospital by ambulance for emergency treatment. He has not yet regained consciousness.
Wang Zhenbao and his friends were innocent victims. After the police understood the situation, they let them go.
Tao Xiaoyu said to the police excitedly: "Uncle police, we must catch the real culprit behind the scenes! Ling Feng must have arranged for someone to hit our car in order to take revenge on us. He wanted to kill us!"
"..." The policeman, who is only in his twenties, said, "Please rest assured, we will investigate thoroughly. We will not wrongly accuse a good person, nor will we let a bad person go."
They couldn't arrest anyone just based on Wang Zhenbao and Tao Xiaoyu's verbal accusations without any substantial evidence. The most they could do was call Ling Feng to find out more about the situation.
If the bodyguard driver who was responsible for driving Wang Zhenbao had not said that the black SUV that hit them had been following them for a long time, and Wang Zhenbao's car had been modified with dashcam cameras on the front, back, left and right, and the bodyguard driver had checked the dashcam video to show the police the content of the black SUV appearing around their car, the police would not necessarily think that this was a deliberate accident. After all, where do so many murders come from? It is more likely that the accident was caused by drunk driving.
However, even if the dashcam video content provided by the bodyguard driver cannot prove that the black SUV deliberately crashed into the car and killed people, it can be seen that the black SUV was deliberately following Wang Zhenbao and others, which is indeed very suspicious.
The police began an in-depth investigation. With information provided by Wang Zhenbao and Tao Xiaoyu, the police would naturally investigate the relationship between the driver and Ling Feng.
After being sent to the hospital, the driver was diagnosed with advanced cancer and had only more than half a year to live.
This now increases the chances that the driver involved in the accident was bribed to intentionally drive drunk and kill someone.
The police have basically started investigating the evidence that the driver deliberately pretended to be drunk and killed people, and Ling Feng has also been targeted by the police.
Ling Feng did have a relationship with the driver who caused the accident. The driver used to be Ling Feng's driver and bodyguard. Later, the driver fell ill and had health problems. He was no longer able to do the job, so he resigned and left. However, during the police investigation, Ling Feng never contacted the driver again.
Ling Feng is indeed the most suspicious, but the police need evidence to arrest people.
Ling Feng learned that the driver's action failed, Wang Zhenbao and Tao Xiaoyu were still alive, but the driver who committed the crime was seriously injured and sent to the hospital for emergency treatment. He has not woken up yet. The police also suspected that there was a mastermind behind the driver and targeted him.
After being summoned to the police station once, Ling Feng became more vigilant. He must not expose himself. Even if he was suspected by the police, he would be fine as long as they didn't find any evidence.
Therefore, Ling Feng did not dare to call the driver's family for the money he had promised in advance, let alone have any contact with him. He still went to work at Ling's Group every day as if nothing had happened, and his mentality was very stable.
Seeing that Ling Feng was so steady and the driver was still unconscious, Si Yuan fell into deep thought as he had no solid evidence to beat Ling Feng to death.
Si Yuan and Li Guihua bought tickets and flew back to City S as soon as possible. They were now at home comforting Wang Zhenbao and Tao Xiaoyu.
When Wang Zhenbao encountered such a thing, Si Yuan certainly would not hide it from Li Guihua under the excuse of not wanting to make Li Guihua worry. Instead, after answering Wang Zhenbao's call and comforting her, he immediately informed Li Guihua, and the two went back to S City together to deal with the matter.
As soon as Li Guihua saw her daughter, she hugged her and cried and comforted her, which made Tao Xiaoyu, who was standing by, very envious. It was really nice to have a mother by your side to comfort you.
Si Yuan's family moved back to the Wang family's original residence in S City. Tao Xiaoyu was homeless, so she was also taken in. After all, it might be dangerous for her to live outside alone. Si Yuan and Li Guihua were not the kind of people who would watch their daughter's friend die, so they let Tao Xiaoyu live in the guest room at home.
Seeing that Wang Zhenbao was being comforted by Li Guihua, Si Yuan opened the system and followed Ling Feng's movements.
Seeing that Ling Feng was so steady and didn't make any small moves, I knew that this original male protagonist was not easy to deal with.
If Ling Feng couldn't control himself and wanted to do something to erase the evidence and clear himself of suspicion, Si Yuan would have the chance to catch him, but he did nothing, which made Si Yuan so upset.
In fact, after the driver woke up, Si Yuan also had a way to pry open his mouth, but he didn't know when or if he would wake up. After all, he was a terminal cancer patient and was seriously injured in the car accident. Although his life was saved, the doctor couldn't say for sure whether he could wake up.
Although Si Yuan's spiritual realm is high and he has great help from the system, he is just a mortal in this world after all, and it is impossible for him to spend a huge price to save a driver who caused an accident.
Therefore, if you want to get evidence of Ling Feng's crime, you have to stimulate Ling Feng to lose his composure.
Si Yuan took a look at Ling Feng's recent movements, and after thinking for a moment, he said to Wang Zhenbao, who had been comforted by Li Guihua, "Zhenbao, the driver has not woken up yet and cannot identify Ling Feng. The police cannot convict Ling Feng for the time being. We can only make Ling Feng lose his composure so that we can find his flaws."
Wang Zhenbao asked solemnly, "Then how can we make him lose his composure?"
Si Yuan showed a slightly weird smile on his face: "Have you ever heard of the villain who mocks the protagonist?"
Wang Zhenbao: “?”
Wang Zhenbao thought Si Yuan was joking, but she thought that her father was not the kind of person who would make meaningless jokes at important moments, so she hesitated and said, "Dad, can we say that the villain who mocks the protagonist is the kind of villain cannon fodder in novels who looks down on the protagonist and sneers at the protagonist in various ways?"
Li Guihua and Tao Xiaoyu also looked at him with surprise.
The three of them had read several novels at least, and knew what the villain cannon fodder who mocked the protagonist looked like, especially the villain cannon fodder in some stupid and routine novels, who were so hateful and looked down on others.
However, the subsequent plot where the protagonist gets slapped in the face very quickly is also quite satisfying.
Si Yuan nodded and said, "That kind of villain."
Wang Zhenbao asked, "Of course I know this. Why does Dad ask me this?"
Si Yuan smiled meaningfully and said, "I want you to be the villain cannon fodder for once, and let Ling Feng be the male lead in this script for once."
Under the puzzled gazes of the three women, Si Yuan explained his plan: "Since the Ling Group was seriously damaged, in order to save many projects of the Ling Group and to raise enough funds, the Ling family sold a lot of real estate. As a result, except for the employees of the head office headed by Ling Feng's father, the other branches of the Ling Group can only rent commercial buildings or office buildings for work. The Ronghua Commercial Building rented by a branch under Ling Feng's current management is exactly our Wang family's. I think it is necessary to increase the rent for the Ling family. Zhenbao, are you willing to help Dad collect the rent?"
Wang Zhenbao was stunned: "Ronghua Building is actually ours?!"
Ronghua Building is the largest shopping mall in S City. Countless luxury stores, large supermarkets, and headquarters or branches of major companies rent houses there.
The ancestors of an old group like Ling's Group were wise. They built a headquarters building early on and occupied a good location in S City. They had no worries about not having a headquarters building to use. It was just because it was built too early and the headquarters building was not built high at the time. As a result, when the Ling's Group developed later, the headquarters building was not big enough. The branch companies could not squeeze into the same headquarters building with the head office and had to rent another location for office use.
A super shopping mall like Ronghua Building is naturally the first choice for Ling's Group. After all, being able to rent here can not only improve the company's status, but also show partners that the company is financially strong and can easily afford the high rent of Ronghua Building, and it can also establish good relations with other companies that also rent in Ronghua Building. As the saying goes, the one who is close to the water gets the moon first.
The branch of Ling’s Group is also much more powerful than ordinary companies. It directly rented three floors of Ronghua Building and occupies a large area. After all, the branch of Ling’s Group has quite a few employees.
Later, the Ling Group ran into trouble and had to lay off a wave of employees. It even gave up the lease of one floor of Ronghua Building, but its strength should not be underestimated.
Now that one quarter is about to expire, Siyuan decided to increase the rent for the next quarter.
When he bought the land of Ronghua Building and built this super shopping mall, he never thought about starting his own company. Wouldn't it be uncomfortable to just be a landlord for those companies?
He had enjoyed this pleasure for more than twenty years, and now it was time for his daughter to experience this pleasure.
Wang Zhenbao had never understood what her family's assets were. She had always thought that her family only had Jueweixuan as an industry. After all, her family did not have branches everywhere like before, building a catering empire and establishing the Wang Group.
She also thought that after she was reborn, she would flap her butterfly wings and prevent her parents from establishing the Wang Group. Then, after she graduated from university, she would create the Wang Group herself.
Perhaps the Wang Group she founded will no longer specialize in the catering industry like in her previous life, but it will definitely not be worse than her previous life.
Wang Zhenbao thought so confidently.
But she realized at this moment that her entrepreneurial ventures were all just small-scale operations. The tiny bit of assets exposed by Si Yuan alone was many times more valuable than the company she had worked so hard to start.
That was Ronghua Building, and the annual rent alone was higher than the total value of her newly established small company.
Wang Zhenbao said in a daze, "So, what I'm going to get is a script about a villain landlord who mocks the protagonist? Am I going to raise the rent for the hero, and then the hero can't afford it, so he quits the lease in anger, and leaves behind some cruel words like 'Thirty years in the east, thirty years in the west, don't bully the poor young', and then come back after making a lot of money to buy the house and slap me in the face?"
Wang Zhenbao remembered that he had read a similar plot when he was looking for books to read. The hero was poor and owed rent to the landlord at the beginning. The landlord wanted to increase the rent and kicked the hero out. The desperate hero got a golden finger, then made a lot of money and became successful. He turned around and used the money to slap the landlord in the face.
Because Wang Zhenbao felt that this kind of plot was really not right in terms of values. The landlord had allowed the male protagonist to owe rent for several months, and when he saw that the male protagonist really could not pay the rent, he stopped the loss in time and let the male protagonist move out. This was already quite kind. After all, when he let the male protagonist move out, the landlord gave up asking him to pay the rent for those months he owed.
In reality, which landlord would be so kind as to let a tenant owe him several months’ rent?
So Wang Zhenbao couldn't bear to read it anymore and gave up writing the novel. Now that Si Yuan asked her to play the villain landlord, she couldn't help but think of this kind of plot that she had seen before.
The only difference is that Ling Feng is not the male protagonist in those novels who starts out poor and destitute.
However, no matter how things change, the essence remains the same. The plot of the novel can be used as a reference. For example, she can learn how the villain taunts the hero and make sure to increase Ling Feng's hatred value. She doesn't believe that after provoking Ling Feng like this, the other party can still hold his ground.
Si Yuan was very impressed with Wang Zhenbao's ability to comprehend. "Right, that's it. Anyway, we should provoke Ling Feng within a reasonable and legal scope and make him lose his composure. As long as he continues to target us, the more he does, the more flaws he will reveal, and the more evidence we will be able to collect."
Wang Zhenbao thought this was very interesting. It would not only provoke her enemy Ling Feng, but also allow her to play the villain game. So she decided to take Tao Xiaoyu to Ronghua Building.
Because of Si Yuan's personal arrangement and authorization, the property manager of Ronghua Building also knew that the person who came to collect the rent this time was not the agent hired by the owner of Ronghua Building, but the daughter of the owner of Ronghua Building, who could also be said to be the heir of Ronghua Building.
The property manager hurried over to greet Miss Wang Zhenbao in person, and was very respectful to Wang Zhenbao and Tao Xiaoyu. After all, as a super shopping mall in S City, Ronghua Building had countless companies wanting to move into it, and countless property companies wanting to become the property management companies of Ronghua Building. If he offended Wang Zhenbao and caused their property management company to be kicked out of Ronghua Building, he would definitely be fired.
People in middle age have no choice but to take care of their parents and children, as well as mortgage and car loans to pay. Naturally, they dare not risk losing their jobs by offending others.
Wang Zhenbao is not the kind of young lady who would bully others. Whether in her past life or this life, her parents have educated her well in her conduct and she never bullies others by taking advantage of her power.
Wang Zhenbao came to cause trouble for Ling Feng today, but she just found out that Ronghua Building was hers. Driven by curiosity, she wanted to learn more about the situation of Ronghua Building through the property manager.
The property manager was also happy to establish a good relationship with the heir of Ronghua Building, and immediately invited him to his office for entertainment.
Wang Zhenbao and Tao Xiaoyu sat in the property manager's office for more than half an hour, listening to the property manager talk about the specific management situation of Ronghua Building.
To be precise, it is the rental collection situation, because there are almost no vacant spaces in Ronghua Building. Even if a company moves out because it cannot afford the rent, other companies that have been waiting for a long time will soon take over. It can be said that there is no vacancy period in Ronghua Building.
As the landlord of Ronghua Building, it is very easy for Wang Zhenbao to raise the rent and manipulate the tenants.
As for the contractual constraints... in this kind of landlord seller's market, even if the landlord breaches the contract and needs to pay liquidated damages, it won't take long for the next new tenant to earn back the lost liquidated damages.
Moreover, the signed rental contract already stipulates that the rent will increase according to the market rent growth rate. Even the rent increase is so reasonable that it does not count as a breach of contract.
After Wang Zhenbao found out that the Ling Group branch was on the 22nd and 23rd floors, she sat in the chair of the property manager's office without moving an inch and said, "Can you please call the other party's contact and tell them that the rent will increase by 50% next quarter and ask them if they still want to rent it. If not, they should move out immediately."
The property manager was stunned for a moment. He remembered that he had previously raised the rent for the branch of Ling's Group by 50%. That was during the time when Ling's Group was besieged by other groups. The act of raising the rent of Ronghua Building was tantamount to adding insult to injury.
Why is the rent increase specifically targeting Ling Group’s branch this time? Could it be that the Ling Group has offended this young lady?
You should know that the rent of top super shopping malls like Ronghua Department Store has been rising every year, but the increase is very regular and is in line with the market rent growth rate. These reasonable annual rent increases are written into the contract, and it can even be said that it is not a price increase. This is called normal inflation.
But the 50% increase that Wang Zhenbao mentioned means that the rent will be increased by 50% on top of the normal annual increase, increasing year by year. Who can bear this?
Therefore, the property manager felt that it must be Miss Wang Zhenbao who was deliberately targeting the Ling Group.
They would rather risk driving the Ling Group's branch out of Ronghua Building than raise the rent for the Ling Group by 50%. The Ling Group must have severely offended Wang Zhenbao.
But this is not the business of a small property manager like him. He is just a humble worker who is only responsible for passing messages.
The person in charge of the liaison between the Ling's Group branch and Ronghua Building once again received a rent increase notice. He was shocked and angry. This was deliberately targeting their Ling's Group.
So the other party quickly notified Ling Feng, the president of their branch.
Originally, their company's rent was higher than that of companies on other floors. Previously, there was an additional rent increase specifically for them, and now the rent is increased specifically for them. If it continues to increase like this, the company's net profit each year will not be enough to pay the rent. Doesn't that mean they have to pay for the rent after a busy year?
This kind of matter can only be decided by the company's president Ling Feng, especially since Ling Feng is the heir of the Ling family and is only temporarily serving as the president of the branch company to gain experience. Let this prince make the decision, no matter what the choice is, no one else will be implicated when the head office blames him.
Ling Feng was worried that he had been targeted by the police for hiring a killer to commit murder. On the surface, he seemed to be going to work, attending various banquets and pursuing socialites as usual, but he was actually very anxious in his heart.
When Ling Feng received a call from his own employee, he was furious after learning that Ronghua Building had raised the rent specifically for Ling's Group. "Damn Ronghua! Sooner or later, they will acquire it!"
The employee who reported the matter to Ling Feng: "..." The young master is so arrogant. Even if he sells the company, he may not be able to buy half of the Ronghua Commercial Building. He can't even pay the rent for two floors. Why is he bragging about buying the Ronghua Commercial Building?
If the Ling Group was still at its peak in the past, it would have had this strength, but now the Ling Group has been suppressed to such an extent that the eldest young master really has no idea at all.
However, although the employee was complaining in his heart, he did not show any abnormality at all, and asked respectfully: "Then Mr. Ling, how should I reply to the other party?"
Ling Feng said coldly: "I will come and talk to them in person!"
Ling Feng immediately set off back to the branch office.
In Ronghua Building, Wang Zhenbao and Tao Xiaoyu were visiting the Ling family's company on the 22nd and 23rd floors under the guidance of the general manager of this branch of Ling's Group.
Although the Ling Group has been declining in recent years, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse. As a branch of an old large group, even if its market value is far less than before, the company's environment has not changed much.
The employees were working at their spacious desks. Even though Wang Zhenbao and Tao Xiaoyu, two unfamiliar faces, were brought by the general manager to visit the company, not many employees dared to look up to see the excitement. At least on the surface, they all seemed to be working very seriously and no one was slacking off.
Wang Zhenbao and Tao Xiaoyu casually exchanged their impressions of the visit: "Although Ling Feng is not a very good person, the company still looks pretty good."
"Indeed, although Ling Feng is not that good, his employees seem to be pretty good."
The general manager who heard the conversation between the two was: "..." You can just praise the company and employees as you like, but why do you have to single out President Ling and criticize him every time you praise him?
Now the general manager of the Ling Group branch finally understood why their company had once again suffered an unexpected disaster and was singled out for a rent increase. It turned out that President Ling Feng had offended someone.
In fact, for the sake of his own job, the general manager should have said something good about Ling Feng in front of Wang Zhenbao and Tao Xiaoyu, but when he opened his mouth, he couldn't say anything good about Ling Feng against his conscience. The most important thing was that when he opened his mouth, his mind recalled the scene in which Ling Feng was so stubborn and arrogant that he bullied old people and spoke nonsense. He was extremely reluctant to say something good about Ling Feng.
Forget it, forget it. We should always have some conscience and not go against our true inner thoughts.
As for work, the Ling Group has been going downhill in recent years, and there are many other companies offering good conditions to poach him, so it is not impossible for him to consider changing jobs.
So the general manager listened silently to the conversation between Wang Zhenbao and Tao Xiaoyu. Every time they spoke, he would silently repeat in his heart, "Although Ling Feng is not that good."
If this sentence was not included in the conversation between Wang Zhenbao and Tao Xiaoyu, he would feel quite uncomfortable.
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