DLWAV CH83

But this matter wasn’t over yet!

As far as the government was concerned, no sooner had they lost Ao Ruize the transmigrator than along came a reborn person in Xia Lewen — if this wasn’t a case of “a bright future appearing just around the bend,” then what was —

So how could those above possibly let such a golden opportunity slip by!

After all, while they couldn’t bear to harm so much as a single hair on Ao Ruize’s head, when it came to Xia Lewen, they had far fewer such reservations.

There was only one complication: despicable and vile as Xia Lewen was — just like his father Xia Yuanzheng — no matter how you looked at it, he hadn’t actually done anything so heinous as to warrant a death sentence.

So they could only first try to open a dialogue with Xia Lewen, and see whether they could persuade him to cooperate with their research.

Upon learning the purpose of the middle-aged man’s visit, Xia Lewen — who had been paralyzed with fear ever since his secret was so unceremoniously exposed, so wracked with anxiety that he hadn’t slept a wink — “……”

He stared in disbelief: “You mean — as long as I refuse, you won’t force me?”

“Correct.”

The middle-aged man said.

A blazing light of elation suddenly ignited in Xia Lewen’s eyes.

After all, he had fully expected that this time, his death was all but certain.

He never imagined the government would be willing to let him go.

“Then I want to go home. I want to go home right now!”

With that, he shot to his feet and made for the door at a brisk pace.

But before the middle-aged man could even react, in the very next second, Xia Lewen came to a stop on his own.

But then what — once he went back?

He still wouldn’t be a match for Xia Ruize.

The collateral branches of the Xia family were now plainly a pack of starving wolves who wouldn’t rest until they’d torn a piece of flesh from the main family. The Xia family’s rivals were circling, watching with predatory eyes.

The Xia family was teetering on the brink.

And Xia Yuanzheng himself — right now, he probably wanted nothing more than to devour Xia Lewen and his mother alive.

So why shouldn’t he stay —

The middle-aged man had said the government was willing to respect his wishes, but they clearly and urgently wanted him to cooperate with their research.

So why not use that as a bargaining chip — and demand that the government help him deal with Xia Ruize?

The more Xia Lewen thought about it, the more convinced he became that this was an excellent idea.

With the full weight of China behind him, did he still need to fear Xia Ruize? Did he still need to fear Xia Yuanzheng?

Thinking this, Xia Lewen suddenly spun around, a look of manic intensity on his face: “Fine. I can cooperate with your research — on the condition that your experiments do not compromise my health or restrict my freedom.”

“And I have one demand: you must help me kill Xia Ruize——”

The middle-aged man: “……”

As expected — being reborn does absolutely nothing to improve one’s intelligence.

He immediately put on a grave expression: “Mr. Xia, you need to understand that we operate according to our own principles.”

“If we had no principles, we wouldn’t be sitting here negotiating with you right now — we would have simply seized you and dragged you straight to the laboratory.”

“So it is impossible for us to help you go after Xia Ruize when he has not violated any laws or regulations.”

— He made a mental note to thank Xia Lewen, who had just reminded him to arrange a security detail for Xia Ruize, to guard against precisely this sort of person.

The manic joy on Xia Lewen’s face froze in place.

But he had to admit that what the middle-aged man said was, in fact, entirely reasonable.

He gritted his teeth: “Fine. I’ll take a step back — as long as you agree to back the Xia family.”

As long as the Xia family could make a comeback, was he really worried they wouldn’t be able to deal with Xia Ruize eventually?

The middle-aged man gave a nod: “That can be arranged.”

Xia Lewen immediately said: “Then I want technologies right now that are more advanced than the electronic display screen technology, the thermal insulation technology, and the synthetic rubber technology that Ao Ruize has.”

“The National Academy of Sciences has gathered so many brilliant minds — I trust that you must have technologies in your hands more advanced than anything Xia Ruize has.”

The middle-aged man: “……”

For a moment, it was impossible to tell whether Xia Lewen was insulting the government, or insulting himself.

After all, even the national broadcaster had already reported that the three technologies Ao Ruize had invented were at least five years ahead of the rest of the world.

So the middle-aged man could only say diplomatically: “Mr. Xia, why don’t the Xia family consider pivoting to a different industry?”

It was right at this moment that the voice of an elderly man came through his earpiece: “Tell him that the National Academy of Sciences recently developed a lithium battery technology — by all estimates, it’s at least two years ahead of other countries. The Academy can license this technology to Xia Feng Group.”

The middle-aged man immediately relayed the message.

But the moment the words left his mouth, he fell silent.

Because something had suddenly occurred to him: Ao Ruize had previously made a very public declaration — that from here on out, whatever industry Xia Feng Group entered, he would research that same industry, until the Xia family went bankrupt.

And by now, it was abundantly clear that Ao Ruize had every capability to follow through on that promise.

Yes, the Xia family had suffered a devastating blow this time — but their underlying foundations were still intact. Assets in the range of twenty to thirty billion yuan could still be preserved, and they could still go on living lives of luxury.

But if Xia Lewen continued to clash head-on with Ao Ruize —

The Xia family’s fate would be easy enough to imagine.

Even the elderly voice in the earpiece had gone quiet, clearly having arrived at the same conclusion.

Upholding the traditional virtues of the Chinese people, the middle-aged man still felt compelled to offer one word of counsel: “Mr. Xia, the ancients said — ‘a cycle of revenge, when does it end?’ I think that saying actually carries some wisdom. So perhaps you might want to reconsider?”

Xia Lewen was so overjoyed right now that he had no capacity whatsoever to read between the lines of what the middle-aged man was saying. He simply replied: “What is there to reconsider? With the government backing me, I refuse to believe I’ll lose to Xia Ruize again.”

The middle-aged man: “……”

Xia Lewen was indeed insulting the government.

In every sense of the word.

But what could the middle-aged man say?

He could only nod: “As long as you’ve thought it through.”

Upon hearing this news, Ao Ruize: “……”

“Alright then.”

What else could he say?

A stroke of luck had clearly handed Xia Lewen a path to survival, yet Xia Lewen insisted on charging right back in and hurling himself headlong down a dead end. Who could he blame for that?

Then he turned back to pinching egg tart shells, getting ready to bring Qin Xiuyan a homemade lunch later.

Little did he know how flustered Qin Xiuyan was at this very moment.

Because Qin Xiuyan had taken leave on and off for seven or eight days, he had been working overtime solidly for the past half month. That morning, he had finally carved out a small pocket of time, intending to sit down with a cup of coffee and a slice of cake to decompress — only to turn around and find himself staring at that video of Ao Ruize calling out the Xia family.

And the truly critical part was that in the video, Ao Ruize had originally been strolling through the snack street while holding Qin Xiuyan’s hand.

That’s right — Ao Ruize had been strolling through the snack street while holding the hand of their dear CEO Qin, who had supposedly taken sick leave at home to recover from a severe cold!!

Qin Xiuyan, who happened to walk in at precisely that moment: “……”

Almost simultaneously, Ao Ruize’s voice floated out from his secretary’s phone: “……I am deliberately targeting the Xia family……until the Xia family goes bankrupt.”

Qin Xiuyan: “……”

He didn’t need to guess what video his secretary was watching.

Catching sight of Qin Xiuyan, his secretary directed a deeply aggrieved look his way: “Even with a severe cold, still in fine enough spirits to wander around a snack street. Truly worthy of being called CEO Qin.”

“And who was it that said he knew exactly what he was doing and would never be led astray by Mr. Xia?”

And most critically of all —

To think he had once been bitterly disappointed on their behalf for missing out on such a golden opportunity — yet it turned out Qin Xiuyan had long since secretly gotten entangled with Xia Ruize behind his back.

Qin Xiuyan: “……”

For no particular reason, he did feel just a tiny bit guilty.

But fortunately, he had long since prepared his countermeasure. He cleared his throat: “Raise your salary.”

His secretary: “……”

Ruthless capitalists really did have an uncanny grip on every working person’s weak spot.

The secretary instantly sat up straight and assumed an earnest expression: “Understood. Wishing CEO Qin and Mr. Xia a hundred years of happiness together.”

Hearing the phrase “a hundred years of happiness together,” Qin Xiuyan couldn’t help but let the corner of his mouth curve upward: “Thank you.”

But in the very next second, an infuriated voice rang out: “A hundred years of what happiness, together with whom — I do not give my blessing——”

The two of them turned to look. Approaching was an elderly gentleman, white-haired and leaning on a cane.

The secretary immediately rose to his feet: “Elder CEO Qin.”

Qin Xiuyan: “……”

One look at the old man’s expression and there was no need to guess — he had clearly already heard about the situation between him and Ao Ruize.

But before Qin Xiuyan could even open his mouth, the old man cut straight to it: “Qin Xiuyan, do you have any idea what you’re doing?”

The secretary, who hadn’t even finished his coffee, hurriedly excused himself and retreated from the room.

Qin Xiuyan: “……”

He tried to explain: “All I did was keep a man — it’s not like I did anything that goes against heaven and earth.”

Suddenly he didn’t feel guilty at all anymore.

After all, he had found himself a top-tier partner through his own abilities (throwing money at the problem) — what was there to feel guilty about?

Hearing this, however, Elder Qin was startled for a moment.

Then he absolutely erupted: “What — you’re keeping another man on top of everything else?”

“You you you…… you’ve barely been back any time at all, and you’ve already picked up every last rotten habit the entertainment industry has to offer. You’re going to drag my lifelong spotless reputation straight into the dirt.”

As he spoke, Elder Qin’s eyes darted around the room.

Seeing no suitably useful weapon within reach, something seemed to occur to him, and he raised the cane in his hand: “Today I am going to beat you to death.”

Qin Xiuyan: “……”

He had let his guard down.

So it turned out the old man only knew about him getting involved with Ao Ruize — he didn’t know that the person he was “keeping” was Ao Ruize.

Qin Xiuyan dodged while explaining: “There is no other man. There is only Xia Ruize.”

No other man?

Elder Qin paused.

Well, alright, that was a relief.

Wait.

What exactly was the difference?

Elder Qin: “Don’t you move——”

But no sensible person would listen to that.

Fortunately, Elder Qin ran out of steam fairly quickly.

He had no choice but to stop — even as his fury mounted further.

He simply could not understand it. For more than twenty years, Qin Xiuyan had always been a proper, obedient child. How had he gone so thoroughly astray in less than half a year since coming back?

And worse still, judging by the look of things, Qin Xiuyan had clearly made up his mind to see this through to the bitter end.

Then, as though something had occurred to him, Elder Qin’s anger surged even higher: “Was it that insufferable old fossil Xia Ruize who seduced you?”

He had always thought — how could someone as upright as Qin Xiuyan have suddenly gone so wrong?

For what it was worth.

Qin Xiuyan: “……Old fossil?”

Elder Qin said, almost without thinking: “You probably don’t know yet, but that Xia Ruize — in all likelihood, he’s some seventy or eighty year old man who was reborn into a younger body.”

Since he had previously served in the National Security Bureau and was still rendering service to this day, whatever the National Security Bureau could figure out, how could he not have worked out as well?

Qin Xiuyan: “……Xia Ruize is a seventy or eighty year old man reborn into a younger body?”

…………w-wait, wasn’t that a good thing?

Because didn’t that mean they could go straight to the “old man wheelbarrow” position right now???

Support me on Ko-fi