Liang Yujie's premonition came true. Xu Maotong soon felt that the Xu Group's operations were not as smooth as before. For example, in terms of bank loans, cash flow was not as easy to manage as before, and the industrial and commercial inspections were unusually strict, nitpicking every single thing in accordance with the standard, almost to the point of finding fault.
No matter how much the Xu family tried to pull strings, it was to no avail. No one even stepped forward to speak up or confront the Xu family directly. Xu Maotong had no excuse to apologize. He guessed that Xu Zifeng had offended the vice mayor, causing this situation. He wanted to explain that Liu Cheng had acted on his own initiative, but he didn't even have a chance. Wherever he went, the government would be in the right; after all, they were acting entirely according to national regulations. Was it wrong for them not to make an exception for him?
Xu Maotong can get the whole group to strengthen management and comply with all regulations, but that's not how business is done. If you can't get along with your superiors, they'll be so strict with everything and check every now and then. The trouble and losses will be huge. Even partners will have to consider whether to continue cooperating with them. Who wants to be constantly nitpicked?
Other directors of the Xu Group also expressed their dissatisfaction, hinting during the meeting that he shouldn't be too biased and should carefully consider which son was the most promising. The implication was that they didn't think highly of Xu Zifeng, while suddenly praising Xu Zifan. They even believed that Xu Maotong was preventing Xu Zifan from joining the company.
Xu Maotong was seething with anger, his expression was serious and his face was grim all day, and a low atmosphere surrounded him. He ordered people to investigate what wrong Xu Zifan had done, but they couldn't find anything. Instead, he heard that Xu Zifan was playing here today and there tomorrow, and that he had made some friends, living a life completely opposite to theirs, which made him so angry that he couldn't eat.
When in a bad mood, everyone seems unpleasant. After so many years of a harmonious family life, this was the first time Xu Maotong felt Liang Yujie wasn't very bright. Otherwise, Xu Zifan wouldn't have grown up to this extent under her watchful eye. He also felt for the first time that Xu Zifeng was a troublemaker; just when things were looking up, he'd gotten involved with the vice mayor—the vice mayor of the capital, whose connections were far more extensive than he could handle. Xu Zifan hadn't ruined his family, but his beloved youngest son had caused him so much trouble. He didn't think he'd failed in his parenting; he just felt Xu Zifeng was inherently dull-witted, having learned none of his intelligence. Beneath the seemingly peaceful surface of the Xu family of three, the seeds of future conflict had already been sown.
Meanwhile, the Xu family once again became the topic of conversation among netizens. Liu Cheng appeared naked at the Xu family's door. Regardless of the truth, everyone speculated that Liu Cheng was being held captive in the Xu family and had escaped under cover of night. Although some questioned why he wasn't dressed when he escaped, such questions were insignificant. The most important thing was that Liu Cheng's words implied that Xu Zifeng had done something to him. With the person involved breaking down in tears and making a personal implication, Xu Zifeng was in no position to clear his name. "Double-plug" suddenly became his synonym, and browser searches directly linked to it.
There's an even bigger scandal exposed by Liu Cheng: it turns out that Xu Zifeng had Liu Cheng frame Xu Zifan! Not content with cheating on Xu Zifan before, he now wants to destroy him, seeing that Xu Zifan has his own career. Many people are analyzing how many people will be implicated in the private club incident, how many people the owner will offend, and how miserable his future will be. This analysis makes Xu Zifeng seem incredibly insidious and malicious, actually wanting to ruin Xu Zifan's life!
Netizens praised Xu Zifan, saying he went too lightly and that the beast was still up to no good and wanted to get back at him, supporting him in taking revenge.
Xu Zifan timely posted a Weibo message: "The wicked will be punished by heaven. Just wait and see. This world rewards the good and punishes the evil. Those who have done wrong, enjoy your last moments."
This statement might seem like he's too intimidated to confront her directly, but netizens, based on Xu Zifan's past actions, know he's someone who seeks revenge. Almost everyone suspects he's brewing something big, just not saying it out loud. Many left supportive comments, saying they're waiting to see this scumbag get his comeuppance. Some, however, have speculated that Xu Zifan is alluding to something. The "person who did something wrong" probably doesn't refer to Xu Zifeng, but rather Xu Maotong and Liang Yujie. Some even guessed that Liang Yujie, as a mistress who broke up the Xu family, provoked Chu Wen when she was most heartbroken, causing her to fall down the stairs.
There's no shortage of people who overthink things, and many of their speculations are actually close to the truth, but at this point, no one will give a definite answer, not even Xu Zifan.
Xu Maotong and Liang Yujie were quite unsettled after seeing these analyses. They had been wondering what triggered Xu Zifan's sudden change of heart. Was a simple case of being cuckolded really worth such a strong reaction? Especially considering that Xu Zifan had turned against them, moved out, and hired so many bodyguards to protect him and his mother, this Weibo post really made it seem like he knew something.
After much deliberation, the two decided to kill Xu Zifan when they found an opportunity, but such an opportunity was extremely difficult to find, and they couldn't do anything to Xu Zifan for the time being. Xu Maotong, after much thought, decided to take Chu Wen back as her husband. With Chu Wen in his hands, Xu Zifan would be more cautious. Giving Chu Wen to Xu Zifan in the first place was a mistake. Chu Wen was in a vegetative state; her life was entirely in his hands. Even if he had to give way to Liang Yujie, there was no rush in the next two years. Taking good care of Chu Wen and controlling Xu Zifan was the priority. They had underestimated him before, but it wasn't too late to make amends. After all, he was Chu Wen's husband, and he had the most power to decide her fate.
Xu Maotong's act of putting Liang Yujie's feelings aside directly revealed his selfishness. Even though he loved Liang Yujie, he still loved himself more than his own interests. Liang Yujie felt a lump in her throat, but ultimately agreed with his idea with a smile. From the moment Xu Maotong made her his mistress for the sake of inheritance, she knew how selfish he was. Now it was just a matter of waiting two more years, which she could afford. After all, the real Mrs. Xu was just a vegetable anyway.
After that Xu Maotong personally called Xu Zifan, "Zifan, I dreamt about your mother last night. I haven't seen her for so long, and I'm worried about her. I'll go see her tomorrow. There are no professional caregivers there, which will affect your mother's health. I think it's better to send her back to the sanatorium. If you're worried, you can arrange for more doctors to be assigned to her."
"Impossible, I think you're just daydreaming." Xu Zifan hung up the phone without saying another word and blocked Xu Maotong. Xu Maotong couldn't get through no matter how hard he tried, and in anger, he smashed his phone!
Xu Maotong, who had lived a life of luxury for years, hated anyone who disrespected him. He immediately sent his assistant with men to Xu Zifan's house to pick up the men. Xu Zifan simply told his bodyguards to beat them as badly as possible, just enough to keep them from dying or crippling them. The dozen or so men who came were all beaten black and blue. Xu Zifan coldly told them, "Go back and tell Xu Maotong not to mess with us, or he'll face the consequences."
Xu Maotong was naturally angered again upon seeing the returning group, but Xu Zifan paid no attention. It was just a routine occurrence for him; whenever he encountered Xu Maotong, he had to humiliate him, even if it meant directly confronting him. As long as Xu Maotong was unhappy, that was enough. The idea of angering someone to death sounds ridiculous, but it's actually quite feasible. No matter how healthy a person is, if they're angry every day, affecting their eating and sleeping, their health will deteriorate. Over time, they'll naturally get sick, and with sickness comes the chance of death. If they're lucky enough to anger someone to the point of a stroke or a ruptured blood vessel, they might even die in one go. Therefore, Xu Zifan was very confident and diligently maintained the frequency of his anger.
However, since Xu Maotong has set his sights on his mother again, we need to give Xu Maotong some trouble. Since he dares to declare war, let's wait for the retaliation and see who is stronger.
Xu Zifan went to his study and retrieved the photos of Xu Maotong he had been searching for online recently. Among them were two rare photos of Xu Maotong and Liang Yujie together. Xu Maotong had used his hacking skills to find them in a deleted database of an abandoned email account. The two must have deliberately cleaned up their files after being separated, as even private investigators couldn't find any concrete evidence. Xu Zifan had gone to great lengths, but thankfully, his efforts paid off.
Xu Zifan anonymously posted a photo of the two of them from their university days and a current photo online, making it easy for people to identify them. The caption read: "Scumbag husband and mistress ruined the wife, now the wife is in a vegetative state, the mistress has become the mistress of the house, the scumbag husband favors the mistress and her son, and the mistress's son has repeatedly harmed the wife's son. It's terrifying to think about..."
The Xu family was a hot topic; the photos were immediately and wildly reposted online, becoming the hottest news, with almost every netizen having seen them. Xu Maotong tried to delete them, but found that they would just reappear elsewhere. The internet was so vast that he couldn't impose a complete ban online; he could only order his people to constantly contact various parties to delete the photos. This action only emboldened netizens to download the photos via email as soon as they saw them, then repost them on their own accounts. With such widespread dissemination, it became impossible to delete them all, especially since it wasn't a public exposure of the photos, and not everyone would cooperate with the deletion.
Xu Zifan, working behind the scenes in the study, noticed netizens speculating that Liang Yujie hadn't broken up with Xu Maotong. He immediately impersonated Liang Yujie's classmate, saying she hadn't gotten a job after graduating from university, didn't attend class reunions, and simply disappeared. He then impersonated Liang Yujie's neighbor, saying he'd seen her a couple of years ago; she lived in an affluent area. He hadn't noticed what her always-traveling husband looked like before, but now, seeing the news, he thought it must be Xu Maotong. Next, he impersonated Liang Yujie's nanny, saying he'd worked for her for several years, with Xu Maotong visiting every three or four days, sometimes during the day, sometimes at night—the years before Xu Maotong's marriage.
With Xu Zifan's guidance, netizens have been conjuring up old grudges and entanglements, practically condemning Xu Maotong and Liang Yujie, urging Xu Zifan to thoroughly investigate the truth. Some even speculated that Xu Zifan's sudden invitation to his mother to come to his home might indicate he knew something, hence the saying that those who do wrong will be punished. In short, after this incident, Xu Maotong's image as a powerful business tycoon has collapsed. No matter how capable he was, in people's eyes he is just a scoundrel, and some have even begun searching for Xu's products and launching a boycott.
Xu Maotong suspected that all of this was the work of Xu Zifan. He worried that Xu Zifan knew more, but he didn't have the energy to deal with it now and could only frantically deal with the public's resistance and the board members' questions.