Chapter 59: Insidious Business Warfare, Jinxi Seeks Help

Seeing Jiang Chen single-handedly force the heiresses of two formidable prestigious families to retreat and leave, the guests were utterly shocked.

Originally, Jiang Chen and the Chu family were at a clear disadvantage, but now Jiang Chen seemed to hold all the cards. The only question was whether he could truly keep Wen Ruoxuan in check.

"Jiang Chen, mind your status!"

Chu Yan quickly stepped forward, grabbed Jiang Chen's arm, and reminded him not to resort to physical violence.

Just as Ye Qingchan had pointed out, their conflict with Wen Ruoxuan was a matter of business competition, revolving entirely around interests and gains.

However, if Jiang Chen were to beat Wen Ruoxuan up, it would mean making an enemy of the Wen family, one of the elite noble houses of Haidu, which could easily escalate into a life-or-death feud!

"Miss Wen, if you wish to acquire the Chu Corporation, you should resolve this through a business war. I wonder if you have the grit and capability for it?"

Chu Yan challenged Wen Ruoxuan with the fierce momentum of issuing a battle declaration. "If you win, the Chu Corporation will naturally belong to you! But if you lose, please leave Linzhou and return to your Haidu!"

"Chu Yan, you don't need to use reverse psychology on me. You want a business war, do you? Fine! I will make you lose so thoroughly that you have no choice but to admit defeat!"

Wen Ruoxuan smiled proudly, regaining her confidence. When it came to a business war, Chu Yan and Elder Chu combined were no match for her.

Besides, Elder Chu was merely a nominal chairman of the Chu Corporation, having transferred all his remaining shares to Jiang Chen, a brute who only knew how to use violence.

Even though Ye Qingchan had refused to give her face earlier today and disciplined Jiang Chen, finding a Martial Arts Grandmaster to deal with Jiang Chen would be a breeze for her. Even without tapping into her family's resources, she had countless ways to crush Jiang Chen into dust!

"I'll wait and see!" Chu Yan retorted tit-for-tat.

Wen Ruoxuan considered using Chu Yan's own logic to mock Jiang Chen—that a business war required brains, not brawn—but she thought better of it, deciding not to provoke this reckless brute and risk personal injury, especially since she had no bodyguards with her.

She turned and left, looking as though she had made up her mind about something.

Wang Zeiyi, Zhang Qingbo, and the other shareholders scurried after her like whipped dogs. Instead of witnessing Wen Ruoxuan successfully acquire the Chu Corporation, they had watched her lose face. Jiang Chen was simply too arrogant, and they were terrified of getting beaten up as well.

The moment Wen Ruoxuan stepped out of the banquet hall, her female assistant immediately hurried over and asked respectfully, "Miss, why did Miss Ye leave alone? Was the acquisition of the Chu Corporation successful?"

"Chu Yan refused a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit; she wants to wage a business war with me. Gather all information on them immediately. I want to find the Chu Corporation's Achilles' heel and deal Chu Yan a fatal blow!"

Wen Ruoxuan brushed past the topic of Ye Qingchan, speaking only of her determination to crush Chu Yan.

"Yes, Miss!"

The female assistant understood immediately, realizing that the acquisition of the Chu Corporation had not yet succeeded.

She then reported, "Earlier, two people were thrown out: one was Jiang Chen's ex-girlfriend, Du Yalan, and the other was Du Yalan's husband, Feng Junwei, the general manager of the Feng Corporation!"

"I spoke with them, and according to them, Jiang Chen is an orphan whose entire family was wiped out. Four years ago, the Jiang family was exterminated for offending powerful enemies, and only Jiang Chen managed to survive as a stray dog!"

"An orphan? Powerful enemies? Extermination? How interesting!"

Hearing this, Wen Ruoxuan let out a playful, mocking laugh.

No wonder Jiang Chen and Chu Yan's marriage was held without a grand wedding, and even shareholders like Wang Zeiyi and Zhang Qingbo knew nothing about it. Were they trying to help Jiang Chen hide from his enemies?

Wen Ruoxuan gave a sinister order, "Spread the news of Jiang Chen hiding in the Chu family through every available channel. I want to see how many days this scumbag can manage to stay alive!"

"Understood!" the female assistant acknowledged, taking the order.

"Take me to see Jiang Chen's ex-girlfriend. Who knows, we might get some unexpected harvest!"

Wen Ruoxuan smirked sinisterly, signaling the assistant to lead the way.

Following Wen Ruoxuan's departure, the guests in the banquet hall also found various excuses to take their leave.

With Wen Ruoxuan determined to acquire the Chu Corporation and Jiang Chen having gravely offended her, given the formidable background and influence of the Haidu Wen family, the Chu family had not the slightest chance of winning this business war.

None of them dared to side with the Chu Corporation for fear of being implicated.

"Jiang Chen, can't you learn to be smart and calm down? Wen Ruoxuan was already at odds with us; do you really want to escalate this to a bitter, irreconcilable feud?"

Chu Yan scolded Jiang Chen irritably, her emotions on edge. "And what about Ye Qingchan? She is the heiress of the Dragon Capital's prestigious Ye family and a Martial Arts Grandmaster! Is she someone you can afford to offend?"

"Prestigious families and Martial Arts Grandmasters are nothing special, whether they are from Haidu or Dragon Capital."

Jiang Chen replied with utter composure. The villagers he treated back in Peach Blossom Village included former patriarchs of Dragon Capital's elite families and supreme elders of martial arts sects, and none of them were as arrogant and conceited as these people.

"Enough!"

Chu Yan snapped angrily. With Jiang Chen's penchant for courting disaster and his arrogant attitude, he wanted to make the Chu family the head of Linzhou's top five families? They would be lucky not to be the very first family wiped out!

"Xiaoyan, we should try to understand Xiaochen. Everything he did was to protect the dignity of the Chu family. You two are husband and wife; you should be pulling together."

Elder Chu tried to soothe Chu Yan before turning to Jiang Chen with a question, "Xiaochen, do you happen to know Miss Ye?"

"Well... you could say that. We do know each other. She... she said she owes me a favor."

Jiang Chen found it a bit awkward to put into words, hesitant to spell out the exact nature of his relationship with Ye Qingchan.

"A favor from the heiress of a Dragon Capital elite family, and instead of utilizing it properly, you wasted it right here! What am I supposed to say to you?"

Chu Yan said speechlessly. No wonder Ye Qingchan hadn't bickered with Jiang Chen—it turned out she owed him a favor! They would never have such good luck a second time!

"Ding-dong!"

Jiang Chen was about to say that he had no need to cash in any favors from Ye Qingchan when his phone suddenly chimed with a notification sound.

He pulled out his phone to check, only to find a distress message sent by Su Jinxi!

Clearly, Su Jinxi's situation was critical to the extreme, leaving her no opportunity to make a phone call!

Following the location sent by Su Jinxi in her plea for help, Jiang Chen rushed over without a moment's delay.

"Where are you going?"

Seeing Jiang Chen leave without a word, Chu Yan called out sharply.

Jiang Chen didn't even turn back to answer; he had already vanished from Chu Yan's line of sight.

"You'd better never come back!"

Chu Yan roared in a fit of rage.

...

Inside an exclusive, luxurious private room at one of Linzhou's top Western restaurants.

In order to help Jiang Chen investigate the middle-aged man from the nation of Xiaokun seen in the photograph, Su Jinxi had sought out Han Qiyue, the young master of the Han family, one of Linzhou's top five clans.

Because Han Qiyue had told Su Jinxi that not only did he recognize the middle-aged man in the photo, but he also knew his whereabouts, he had invited Su Jinxi to share a dinner so they could eat and talk business.

Thus, Su Jinxi had come here for a Western meal with Han Qiyue. However, before she could extract any information about the Xiaokun man, she took a single sip of red wine and immediately felt dizzy and weak all over.

Realizing that Han Qiyue had likely spiked her wine, yet not daring to tear off the mask and provoke him outright, she hurriedly sent a discreet distress message to Jiang Chen. Moments later, her hands grew so weak and limp that she lost her grip on her phone, letting it drop to the floor.

"Miss Su, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"

Han Qiyue initially put on a facade of concern before breaking into an evil grin. "Are you feeling completely weak, unable to stand up, and finding even moving your fingers a struggle?"

"You really drugged the wine!"

Su Jinxi leaned back against her chair, her face pale with panic. "What... what do you want?"

"Do I even need to ask? Naturally, I want you!"

Han Qiyue laughed lasciviously, reaching up to tear off the tie from his neck.