Copycat - Chapter 29
Chapter 29
◎Three Years Later◎
Three years later.
M Country business building.
A sunny day, tall buildings, and cars speeding along the asphalt road.
A slender woman stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows on the top floor of a twin tower. Her deep black hair was straight and glossy. Her indifferent pupils looked down at the bustling traffic below, showing no emotion, like a quiet lake.
“CEO Wen.”
A man in a suit came over with a wine glass.
“We’ve secured a large government investment, but those tech companies are very cunning. They’ve scheduled the signing ceremony for this year’s tech summit and insist that you attend in person before they’ll participate in the ceremony.”
Wen Jiao held her wine glass. When she heard this, a disdainful smile appeared on her lips.
“Forcing me to show my face?” she said slowly. “It’s not the first time those old men have wanted to see me.”
Li Xu clenched his fist: “They’ve gone too far all these years. Now that our company has developed, they’re starting to butter us up!”
“Li Xu,” Wen Jiao’s voice grew cold.
Li Xu immediately fell silent.
“You handle the arrangements for returning to the country.”
Wen Jiao gave the order. Li Xu nodded slightly, not daring to say anything more.
“The evidence of the Zhou family’s illegal underground casino has been collected. The public relations department is preparing to report it a month before the tech summit. It’s enough to send their entire family to prison.”
“Hmm.” The woman’s voice was nonchalant, as if this were the most insignificant matter.
“However,” Li Xu paused.
He carefully observed his boss’s expression: “Our suppression of the Zhou and Cheng families has already affected…”
Li Xu didn’t say it explicitly, but his meaning was clear.
“The Cheng Group got news from somewhere and has been trying to contact our company to speak with you directly. Our person inside the Cheng family sent a confidential message saying that Cheng Junfeng wants her to plead for mercy on his behalf.”
Upon hearing this, the woman’s calm eyes finally showed some emotion.
After a while, Wen Jiao sneered: “Pleading for mercy?”
A crack appeared in the woman’s icy expression.
A moment later, Li Xu heard laughter echoing in the empty corridor.
It was a sarcastic, chilling, and hair-raising sneer.
Li Xu’s hand, holding the wine glass, tightened slightly.
He gave an awkward laugh: “Gossip isn’t always accurate.”
“Currently, the company hasn’t received any calls from Miss Zhou, and Miss Zhou has also been very…”
“That’s enough,” Wen Jiao directly interrupted him. “Do everything you can to suppress the Zhou and Cheng companies before the tech summit.”
“Yes, CEO Wen.”
The Cheng family.
By the time Zhou Shancheng arrived, Cheng Junfeng was already at his wits’ end.
He walked into the Cheng family’s main hall with a cane. Cheng Junfeng was standing there, a phone to his right ear. His roaring voice was almost enough to deafen Zhou Shancheng’s slowly decaying ears.
“What did I tell you in the beginning?!”
“Who gave you the audacity to secretly expand the sales scale behind my back?!”
Cheng Junfeng’s expression was frantic. In just three years, the ambitious young man who inherited the family business had become so hysterical. Zhou Shancheng shook his head and waited at the entrance with a blank expression.
Ten minutes later, the angry voice in the empty reception hall gradually calmed down.
Zhou Shancheng used his cane to forcefully tap the floor. The person who had just hung up the phone finally turned to look at him.
The roaring beast once again turned into a refined gentleman.
“Father-in-law.” Cheng Junfeng’s voice still had lingering anger. “You’re here.”
He casually picked up a nearby teapot and poured a cup of cold tea.
Zhou Shancheng looked him up and down. He was used to being in a position of power, and his first reaction to a junior was often to criticize.
An expression of dissatisfaction appeared on his increasingly aged face: “Is this how the dignified CEO of the Cheng Group entertains guests?”
It was sunny outside the estate, but the Cheng family’s hall, where guests were received, was incredibly gloomy, and the tables were covered in dust.
The young man standing in front of him had stubble growing on his chin like weeds. His blue shirt was loose, his hair was a mess, and a foul smell could be detected from a distance.
A picture of decay.
The air was dead silent.
Seeing that Cheng Junfeng wasn’t speaking, Zhou Shancheng’s brows furrowed deeply, and he began to speak without reservation: “Tell a servant to pour me a hot cup of tea.”
“Where is Zhou Ziyan? Why isn’t she here to greet me? Are all you Cheng family members so ill-mannered?”
“You’re truly uncultured.”
Cheng Junfeng’s expression was grim. Zhou Shancheng looked at the cold tea in front of him with disgust and poured it directly onto the floor: “Tell Zhou Ziyan to come down and brew a new pot.”
“Zhou Ziyan?” Cheng Junfeng suddenly gave a cold laugh.
Zhou Shancheng frowned and looked at him. Cheng Junfeng’s eyes were malicious: “That wonderful granddaughter you raised, how could she possibly live a hard life with me here? She ran away a long time ago.”
Cheng Junfeng sneered, “But you, on the other hand, have so much free time. The malls under the Zhou Group are being auctioned by the court, and the villas have been sealed off. You’re not worried at all.”
Zhou Shancheng’s expression turned cold: “Cheng Junfeng, what do you mean?”
Cheng Junfeng took off his refined gentleman mask, revealing a ferocious face.
He leaned his face close to Zhou Shancheng’s. Zhou Shancheng could see the increasingly red and dense bl00d vessels in his eyes.
Cheng Junfeng’s expression was frantic. He clenched his right hand into a fist and began to punch the wall behind Zhou Shancheng.
The white paint on the wall peeled off, falling onto Zhou Shancheng’s meticulously combed hair. He finally realized that Cheng Junfeng’s mental state was unstable.
“What do I mean?”
Cheng Junfeng’s knuckles cracked loudly.
“Zhou Shancheng, you were the one who initiated the marriage alliance with my Cheng family. I brought the Cheng family a wealth of liquid funds as you wished, but what did you bring to my Cheng family?”
“Gambling, and drugs!”
Cheng Junfeng’s eyes bulged, and the curve of his lips was parallel to his nostrils: “If it weren’t for you, my Cheng family wouldn’t have been dragged into this!”
Zhou Shancheng backed away repeatedly, only to find his back against a chair. At that moment, Cheng Junfeng suddenly became emotional and grabbed him by his collar.
Cheng Junfeng was a young man. Although he had been driven to his wits’ end by company business and lawsuits this past year, he was more than capable of handling an old man who was frail and in decline.
Zhou Shancheng was lifted entirely off his feet. His cane fell to the ground. The few remaining servants of the Cheng family quickly gathered around.
Zhou Shancheng looked to the servants beside him for help, his old voice sounding heartbreaking: “Help me, quickly.”
Zhou Shancheng never imagined that in the last moments of his life, he would have to ask for help from the very servants he looked down upon.
The Cheng family’s servants looked at each other, but no one dared to step forward.
Ever since the Cheng Group went bankrupt, Cheng Junfeng’s mental state had been poor. They were afraid of accidentally triggering the young master’s anger.
The fist came down hard on Zhou Shancheng’s fragile bones.
The bones made a cracking sound that was extremely horrifying.
Punch after punch, at first the servants could still hear Zhou Shancheng’s pleas for mercy, but then his voice grew weaker and weaker, and dark red bl00d began to drip from his temple.
“Young Master!”
The servants finally realized that something was wrong.
The butler walked over, his voice calm: “Young Master.”
Cheng Junfeng’s fist-swinging motion paused. The butler reached out and checked Zhou Shancheng’s breathing.
“He’s dead.”
The butler’s tone was indifferent as he made his judgment. A servant suddenly began to scream.
“Oh,” Cheng Junfeng was stunned, seemingly not comprehending what the butler had said.
If the Cheng family was a setting sun, then the Zhou family was a small boat leaking water on a vast ocean. Any wave could capsize this leaking boat.
“Young Master,” the butler’s voice was a little firmer, “he’s dead.”
Cheng Junfeng finally came to his senses.
Zhou Shancheng’s body was half-slumped in the chair. His cane had fallen to the ground. There were new bruises and swelling on his face, but a deadly paleness covered a larger area, making the bl00d flowing from his forehead even more gruesome.
Cheng Junfeng glanced at the butler waiting nearby. The butler understood and gestured to the servants to carry the dead man into a car.
The butler asked, “How do you plan to handle this, Young Master?”
After his fit of rage, Cheng Junfeng regained his calm: “Just find some deserted place and dump him there.”
“Go to a dog meat restaurant and buy a few dogs that are about to starve to death. Zhou Shancheng never did anything good in his life. Saving a few dogs after his death can be considered accumulating some good karma for himself.”
“Yes.”
“Young Master Cheng!” A man dressed as a secretary walked over and handed a document to Cheng Junfeng.
Cheng Junfeng’s hands were still stained with bl00d, but the secretary didn’t seem to mind: “We’ve found Zhou Ziyan’s address!”
Cheng Junfeng quickly took the document: “Hurry, hurry, take me there!”
He quickly grabbed a coat from a servant’s hand, put on his leather shoes, and walked towards the car.
The butler calmly stopped him: “Young Master, you can’t go to see Miss Zhou like this.”
Cheng Junfeng was stunned. He looked down at the bloodstains on himself. The butler walked into the cloakroom, took out a brand new suit, and opened the bathroom door.
Downstairs in the apartment building.
Zhou Ziyan, who had returned from buying groceries, was blocked at the entrance of her apartment building. Her expression was indifferent, as if the person standing in front of her was not her fiancé, but a complete stranger.
“Ziyan,” Cheng Junfeng’s tone was a little rushed: “Why didn’t you reply to my messages?”
Zhou Ziyan looked at him, her eyes cold. Cheng Junfeng was eager to get to the point: “Did you call Wen Jiao?”
“With you pleading for us, Wen Jiao will definitely agree to buy out the Cheng Group.”
“I only need a 30% share of the profits. No, 10%!”
“As long as the Cheng Group can survive, I’d be willing to take even just 1%.” Cheng Junfeng’s eyes were bloodshot, his expression was fanatical, and his gestures were increasingly exaggerated.
Zhou Ziyan noticed his strangeness and frowned at him.
It was only after he finished talking to himself that she slowly spoke: “Cheng Junfeng.”
“We agreed two years ago that we wouldn’t interfere in each other’s affairs.”
“But—” Cheng Junfeng’s expression was agitated.
Zhou Ziyan tiredly lowered her eyes: “Wen Jiao and I broke up a long time ago. You know what the situation was back then. Wen Jiao hates me. Even if I went to plead for mercy, Wen Jiao wouldn’t really let go of the Zhou and Cheng families, and besides…”
“I’m really tired. I just want to live a peaceful life.”
“No, listen to me.” Cheng Junfeng grabbed the woman’s shoulders, forcing her to look up at him: “Wen Jiao has been secretly asking about you all these years. She cares about you. She’s always cared about you.”
“And, she’s about to return to the country.”
“What?” Zhou Ziyan’s fingers, holding the groceries, suddenly clenched.
She looked up, her expression surprised.
Cheng Junfeng tried to entice her: “Zhou Ziyan, Wen Jiao is coming back. She’s been thinking about you. Don’t you want to see her? Don’t think I don’t know, you order a foreign financial and tech newspaper every month. You miss Wen Jiao too, don’t you? After all, you two were so in love back then.”
“Cheng Junfeng!” Zhou Ziyan’s face turned pale, her expression was angry: “You’ve been spying on me!”
“Don’t you want to have a chance to see her?”
Her voice trembled: “I’ve forgotten her a long time ago.”
Cheng Junfeng snatched the cheap canvas bag from her arm.
Zhou Ziyan’s expression was panicked, and she tried to snatch it back. Cheng Junfeng had already quickly found the latest foreign newspaper inside.
Cheng Junfeng found a page with an interview with Wen Jiao and spread out the photo, placing it in front of Zhou Ziyan.
“Stop lying, Ziyan. You haven’t forgotten Wen Jiao at all.”
“Even the apartment you’re living in right now is the same one you rented with Wen Jiao all those years ago. You specifically bought it and you’re here, feeling sorry for yourself and reminiscing about a lost love, aren’t you?”
Zhou Ziyan snatched the magazine back and bit her lower lip: “That’s enough. Whether I’ve forgotten Wen Jiao or not is none of your business!”
Cheng Junfeng’s tone softened: “Ziyan, I’m begging you. Wen Jiao still has feelings for you. As long as you plead with her and get back together with her, she’ll definitely let go of the Cheng and Zhou families.”
Zhou Ziyan’s gaze turned towards the sky, which had suddenly become cloudy.
A white bolt of lightning flashed before her eyes, followed by a deafening clap of thunder. The rain was getting heavier and heavier.
The sudden downpour soaked the groceries she had bought.
Zhou Ziyan carefully held the newspaper close to her.
Cheng Junfeng looked at her stubbornly.
That enticing voice rang in her mind again.
“You want a reason to see her too, don’t you?”
The man’s words kept swirling in her ears.
“You want a reason to see her too, don’t you?”
Zhou Ziyan’s clenched fingers slowly relaxed.
Zhou Ziyan’s voice was drenched by the heavy rain, with a damp, humid quality.
“How can I see her?”