With Shui Miao’s assurance, the three of them felt much more at ease.
In fact, they hadn’t received much money back then either, although money was worth more at the time. They had each only received a little over a million. Now, even if that sum had multiplied tenfold, it would still only amount to slightly over ten million.
These three old-timers could easily come up with billions; to them, ten million wasn’t even worth mentioning.
They looked at each other, and finally Jiang Zhihao spoke first.
It turned out that when Chen Yiren first started his business, he wasn’t exactly on the up-and-up. He had been a smuggler, a gangster, and even trafficked children. In short, he had committed many heinous crimes.
Later on, because Chen Yiren was very cunning, scheming, and manipulative, he made a fortune trafficking drugs in Cambodia. He stopped just in time and focused on real estate, gradually turning his business legitimate. After going legitimate, Chen led his gang and expanded his business at an unimaginable speed. He built three companies within a year, established a group company within three years, and entered the Zhonghai Chamber of Commerce within five years. At the time, the Chamber of Commerce required a minimum of 50 million in assets to join, and there were fewer than ten members in total.
Chen Yiren was undoubtedly the youngest among them, and was hailed as a prodigy.
However, the president of the Chamber at the time was Li Jiazheng, who was also extremely cunning and manipulative. Seeing that Chen Yiren was exceptionally talented, daring, and full of innovative ideas, Li felt inferior and knew that his position as president would eventually be taken over by Chen. Therefore, he targeted Chen’s youth and inexperience, teaming up with other members of the Chamber to set up a massive overseas investment scheme. They tricked Chen into investing all his money, and then the country where he invested plunged into war, causing him to lose everything.
Chen sold off all his assets to repay debts, and was left with very little.
Unable to bear the blow, Chen Yiren lost hope and committed suicide.
In reality, there was no war overseas—it was all a scheme orchestrated by Li Jiazheng. All the information Chen had seen was fabricated, and everything was a trap set by Li, a fog of deception.
Even the fact that Shui Miao had been taken away by Liu Hongmei was part of Li Jiazheng’s plan.
Li Jiazheng’s goal was to push Chen Yiren into despair and force him to commit suicide early.
In the end, Chen fell for the trick.
Li Jiazheng even had someone seduce Yang Min into suicide. Yang Min jumped from a building, was severely injured, and became a vegetative patient, thus narrowly escaping death.
As for Chen Meiling, that was an exception.
Because Chen Meiling deeply hated Chen Yiren, Li Jiazheng didn’t target her.
After obtaining Chen Yiren’s massive assets, Li Jiazheng only distributed ten million among the other members of the Chamber, keeping the rest for himself. Later, Li used the same method to destroy several other members, leaving only four, plus himself, to become the current five representatives of the Zhonghai Chamber of Commerce.
Because Li Jiazheng had a special relationship with a powerful figure, no one could stand against him.
※※※
Jiang Zhihao recounted the general story to Shui Miao.
Shui Miao remained silent, deep in thought.
After a long pause, he asked, “Is Qian Wanke on good terms with Li Jiazheng?”
“Not really. Everyone in the Chamber has suffered at Li Jiazheng’s hands. If Qian Wanke were here tonight, I believe he would definitely stand on Master’s side,” Sun Hao quickly replied. He had been eager to speak after Jiang had taken the lead earlier.
Shui Miao narrowed his eyes slightly. “Alright then, you two help me contact and win over Qian Wanke. I want to use the same method to make Li Jiazheng spit out all the money he’s extorted over the years. But if Qian Wanke refuses to cooperate, don’t bother trying to persuade him anymore—just eliminate him along with Li.”
Shui Miao had heard the meeting discussion earlier, and clearly, Qian Wanke wasn’t a good person either.
“Yes, yes, we’ll definitely test the waters first and then talk to him. From what we know about him, it shouldn’t be too difficult,” Sun Hao responded hurriedly.
Jiang Tao, however, shook his head. “Qian Wanke is unpredictable. He didn’t witness tonight’s events himself, so it might be hard for him to believe us.”
“Hmm…”
Shui Miao nodded. “Alright, I’ll handle Qian Wanke myself. You two focus on monitoring Li Jiazheng. Create some false impressions to keep him from discovering my true identity. Then I’ll set up a major investment project and lure him into investing his money—and then…”
Shui Miao intended to use Li Jiazheng’s own tactics against him.
Sun Hao and the others knew Shui Miao’s abilities well and naturally nodded in agreement, ready to fully cooperate.
In truth, they had already been oppressed enough by Li Jiazheng!
Even without Shui Miao’s appearance, they had already planned to unite and confront Li Jiazheng head-on.
After finalizing their plans, Shui Miao immediately left the luxurious villa and went to the hotel lobby.
Inside the hotel, several “masters” invited by Han Baisheng were staying here, except for the Southeast Asian black magic practitioner. Madam Liu had been sitting in the lobby drinking tea, waiting for Shui Miao. Madam Liu was a spiritual medium. A fox spirit helped her treat people and exorcise evil spirits, and in return, she offered incense and worship to the fox spirit with the money she earned. Together, they formed a successful spiritual partnership. Madam Liu wasn’t a complete fraud—her fox spirit companion had considerable supernatural powers and often helped people exorcise evil and heal illnesses. Because of her many successes, Madam Liu had gained great fame and was treated with great respect by Han Baisheng.
As for Madam Liu herself, she only knew how to chant and perform shamanistic rituals—she had no real abilities. She had heard from the fox spirit that there was a very powerful immortal here, with unfathomable divine power. So Madam Liu was very excited and waited here patiently. But after waiting for a long time, she only saw a young man who looked about fifteen or sixteen years old. Shui Miao sat on the sofa opposite Madam Liu and directly told her to go back to her room and rest, so he could chat privately with the fox spirit sister. Upon hearing this, Madam Liu, having received instructions from the fox spirit, quickly bowed to Shui Miao and hurried back to her room. Along the way, she assumed Shui Miao was a young man transformed by an immortal, and she was extremely excited at having met a real immortal that day.
“Thank you for helping me! I suppose you must have a good name?”
Shui Miao sat on the sofa, calmed his mind, and in his spiritual vision, saw the fox spirit appear.
“Just a small favor!” the fox spirit playfully smiled. “Great Immortal, you can just call me Seventh Sister. Because my parents had many sons and daughters before me, but none of them were as talented as me. I left home at a very young age and have been wandering on my own. My supernatural powers are second only to yours, Great Immortal. I’ve never encountered a real opponent.”
The fox spirit had lived among humans for so long that she had come to see herself as one.
“Haha, then from now on, you can just call me Brother Shui. We’ll be good siblings from now on.” Shui Miao was delighted to have met a spirit who was so human-like, so compatible, and willing to befriend him and help him.
Thinking back to movies and TV shows he had seen before, Shui Miao recalled how monks and Taoist priests always fought against spirits and demons. But in reality, spirits had emotions and were human-like. They were smart, not cold-blooded creatures that only existed to harm people. In fact, spirits simply didn’t understand human rules very well—they were just a bit mischievous. With proper guidance, they could become humanity’s best friends, just like the dogs and cats people kept as pets.
“Great! Great! From now on, I’ll follow Brother Shui and learn cultivation!” In the fox spirit’s eyes, Shui Miao was absolutely superior. Because immortal power was unreachable to spirits—only after hundreds of years of cultivation and surviving countless trials could a spirit even dream of becoming an immortal, and the chances of success were one in a million. “Oh, Brother Shui, earlier when you were away, a very beautiful woman came here—like a fairy, but also very powerful. She was a female ghost. She stood in the lobby for a while and then left. I wonder if she was looking for you?”
“Eh…”
Shui Miao’s heart jolted. He immediately opened his eyes and looked around in a hurry. “The millennium-old female ghost! It must be her!”
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