He had always believed that Taoxun was merely a company that Ye Zhi, relying on the Ye family's favoritism and using all of the Ye Corporation's resources, had established to appear brilliant but was actually very ordinary.
Coupled with his prior complete lack of goodwill towards both the Ye family and Ye Zhi, that was why he had proposed investing in Taoxun when he first met Ye Zhi. He had even felt that Ye Zhi was getting a great deal, enough to compensate for the Ye family's upbringing of Cen Ya over the years.
But thinking about it now, he was laughably arrogant back then.
Taoxun was developing so well, it had no shortage of investment! No, to be precise, it was a place where many wealthy individuals wanted to send their money, to get a piece of the pie with Taoxun, but had no access at all.
No wonder Ye Zhi had rejected his investment back then, and even said the Cen family was not qualified to invest. He had thought Ye Zhi was just getting defensive out of embarrassment, but he now realized Ye Zhi was simply stating the truth.
Perhaps when he proposed investing in Taoxun, Ye Zhi saw him as someone trying to take advantage of Cen Ya and the Ye family's relationship!
However, even if Ye Zhi was very capable in business, her character was also not worth mentioning... Wait.
Cen Xiucheng suddenly felt a moment of daze. His misjudgment of Ye Zhi's business capabilities was entirely due to flawed information. But, were his misunderstandings about Ye Zhi truly only in terms of business acumen?
"How does Ye Zhi treat her family?" Cen Xiucheng asked, pondering for a moment, his voice deep.
"Boss, you've really stumped me. Come to think of it, no one has ever exposed CEO Ye's family situation online. Besides knowing she's the Ye Corporation's daughter, I really don't know anything else," the man in sunglasses said, looking lost. "But the Ye family's family relations should be good, and CEO Ye should treat her family well too. The lack of any scandals could also be considered a form of protection for her family by CEO Ye..."
"As the biological daughter of the Ye family, and with the Ye family doting on her so much, shouldn't she be good to her family?" Cen Xiucheng sneered.
The man in sunglasses blinked. "CEO Ye isn't the Ye family's biological daughter!"
"Wh-what?" Cen Xiucheng was too shocked to speak.
Ye Zhi wasn't the Ye family's biological daughter?
"That's right, this matter caused quite a stir online back then. Someone deliberately wanted to attack CEO Ye based on her background. But that person didn't consider, who cares about CEO Ye's parents? We only care if CEO Ye can become our parent!" the man in sunglasses sneered. "However, this matter was probably done by that commercial jinx Ou Minghan and his idiotic wife Cen Ya! They are the only two who like to cause trouble for Ye Zhi, and that idiotic Duchess's daughter, relying on the Cen family's wealth, loved to show off her status and bully others with her influence..."
Cen Xiucheng felt his head explode.
He remembered that before he left, he had already found a lawyer to help Cen Ya with her divorce case. But from what the man in sunglasses was saying, Cen Ya and Ou Minghan weren't even divorced? And their relationship was almost common knowledge online?
Cen Xiucheng felt his head buzzing. He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
"Can you tell me more about Cen Ya and Ou Minghan?" he asked.
The man in sunglasses sized Cen Xiucheng up, and as if discovering a new business opportunity, suddenly chuckled.
"Of course, but boss," the man in sunglasses said, shaking his phone. "Why don't you settle the outstanding payment first? As for the next question, we'll have to negotiate the price!"
Cen Xiucheng remained silent, not arguing much.
Soon, he transferred money to the man in sunglasses.
"Before, it was information about one person, and you gave me eleven hundred. Now you're asking about two people, so give me twenty-two hundred. That's fair and reasonable, right?" the man in sunglasses said with a grin. "How about you give me a deposit of two hundred first?"
Facing his greed, Cen Xiucheng felt his temples throbbing. He transferred the money without a second word.
"Speak quickly!" Cen Xiucheng commanded.
The man in sunglasses was quite professional, and he told Cen Xiucheng everything he knew.
Of course, he didn't know about the grievances between Cen Ya and Ou Minghan, but these two had appeared online multiple times. The man in sunglasses told Cen Xiucheng about Cen Ya being stopped by Taoxun's front desk using her status as a duchess's daughter, Ou Minghan's public praise of Cen Ya with building advertisements that were met with mockery, reporters catching Ou Minghan in a scandal of sexually harassing a网红 but Cen Ya defending Ou Minghan at a press conference and showing off their affection, Ou Minghan spending the Cen family's money extravagantly, and so on.
Just hearing this made Cen Xiucheng's chest feel tight, and he almost fainted on the spot.
In the evening, Cen Xiucheng left the milk tea shop. The man in sunglasses beside him waved goodbye reluctantly and shouted loudly to him, saying that if he wanted to know anything in the future, he could directly ask him.
Cen Xiucheng ignored him. He stood stunned for a while before calling Chen Hui to pick him up.
Soon, Chen Hui arrived in his car.
Cen Xiucheng got into the car, and Chen Hui immediately asked, "Mr. Cen, are we going to the Duchess's place now?"
"No," Cen Xiucheng said, his face grim, gritting his teeth. "Not for now, I'll be staying at a hotel. Also, don't tell my mother or my sister that I've arrived."
"Okay," Chen Hui replied.
As the car started, Cen Xiucheng, who had maintained a stern expression, finally couldn't help but ask, "Chen Hui, how much do you know about the development of Shanjin Jewelry here?"
Chen Hui was taken aback. He then said with a hint of amusement, "Mr. Cen, I'm just a driver, and I don't understand much about these business matters..."
Seeing Cen Xiucheng's face grow even more somber, Chen Hui thought for a moment and then said, "However, I think, since it's a jewelry company, it should focus on developing its main business..."
Cen Xiucheng's heart grew colder. Even the driver knew that Ou Minghan was misappropriating the Cen family's money everywhere. It seemed the situation was even worse than he had imagined.
He strongly suspected how much of the money he had given Cen Ya to manage Shanjin Jewelry was left now.
Thinking of the worst-case scenario he might face, Cen Xiucheng was almost trembling with anger.
He had to remain calm, do his best to cut his losses, and try to recover the Cen family's assets.
*
At the hillside villa, Ye Zhi took a comfortable hot shower and then lay down on the bed.
Recently, she had been busy with Taoxun International matters, flying back and forth for those newly established bonded warehouses. Thinking about it, besides greeting Qi Xuan through their phones every day, they hadn't eaten together in a long time.
Ye Zhi took out her phone and happily sent Qi Xuan a text message, "I have a day off tomorrow~"
As soon as the message was sent, Ye Zhi's phone rang.
The call was from Chen Wei, which surprised Ye Zhi very much.
After all, Chen Wei rarely called her after work.