Chapter 95#
Ji Yang neither livestreamed nor gave any interviews.
He simply took the paper test report that You Li had sent for testing—the one he should have been taking the medication for—compared it, photographed it, and posted it to his own account.
His caption read: At the time, I really wanted to stuff this piece of paper down your son’s mouth. How is that not being sick?
Since the water was already muddied, Ji Yang didn’t mind making it muddier.
But he didn’t just stir up mud blindly.
He struck with precision.
Sure enough.
The post detonated almost immediately.
【!!!!!! Didn’t watch the interview, thought it was just being artsy, but I asked my friend who’s a doctor and they said these test results are a hundred percent real!】
【Why hasn’t anyone called the police???】
【If it were me living in a family like this, would I even survive three days? And this bitch and bastard are too shameless—turning around and playing the victim. That saying really is true: get a stepmother, get a stepfather.】
【Before, people were saying Ji Yang always targets the Ji family. If it were me, I’d twist every last one of their heads off!】
【That Third Young Master had a pretty good reputation before, didn’t he? In these wealthy family power struggles, could he really go so far as to take someone’s life?】
All kinds of opinions poured out.
Some people raised doubts, arguing that a single report couldn’t prove anything.
Huge numbers of bystanders flooded in.
Related topics were pushed to the front page one after another.
The Ji family, having already withdrawn from the commercial stage, now endured this aftershock. The fire that started from Chang Shou’s youthful debts of dalliance all the way back to the Ji family’s original founding history—not to mourn the glories of the past, but to let the world see clearly: beneath the crumbling walls and broken ruins, were the things hidden there human or ghost?
Yiyuan Office Building.
Peng Jiaying asked Ji Yang: “Public opinion has already swung entirely one way. Are you sure you still want the paid commenters to go in?”
Ji Yang sat behind the office desk, chin propped on his hand. “Do it.”
“Aren’t they saying Ji Chengyi is a wanted criminal now?” Peng Jiaying was a bit worried. “Once the fire of public opinion burns high enough to draw an official statement, wouldn’t we go from having the advantage to being at a disadvantage?”
Ji Yang rolled a signing pen under his right index finger, chuckling softly. “Let’s not say the authorities will necessarily get involved—my target isn’t Ji Chengyi alone.” Ji Yang looked up. “I’m tearing down the Ji family itself. Let’s start with the first wave of information. We’ll release topics from the smallest ones first. Call it #SomeStoriesAboutTheGenerationOneShippingTycoon#. Like how Ji Yansong relied on his father-in-law in his early years to get his first private ship, and how he betrayed his own brothers. And how, in his old age, he publicly claims he never remarried his whole life, yet he’s been tangled up with the family’s housekeeper.”
Peng Jiaying: “…These scandals were all consistently silenced back in Fanzhou’s media circle back in the day. The man is two generations above you, isn’t this a bit… amoral?”
Ji Yang shrugged. “Do I have any morals? The Ji family now isn’t the Ji family of a year ago. Even if someone signed an NDA, I just declare it expired and it’s expired. Trust me—we’re only getting started. What the media wants is buzz. We might even end up serving up melons we didn’t even know about.”
Peng Jiaying paused, then said quietly: “You know what you look like to me right now?”
Ji Yang: “What?”
Peng Jiaying: “A little devil with two horns on his head.”
Ji Yang’s mouth twitched. “That description clearly carries personal bias. A little devil? For all you know, I’m a full-blown devil.”
After all, none of this was what Ji Yang truly wanted.
Ever since obtaining that test report, he had kept every piece of useful information about the Ji family.
Since he was already wading through filthy water, who was afraid of getting even dirtier?
How had the Ji family risen?
Through filthy and despicable means, reaching the pinnacle of power in a short span of time. Then, over the next long decade and a half to twenty years, they sucked the marrow from bones and, through packaging and fabrication, constructed a flourishing family prosperity.
Nie Xu had spent over a decade tearing it down into ruins.
But Ji Yang felt it was far from enough.
He had seen the filth beneath that prosperity. He had waded through paths carved out with human lives.
A man with half a leg ruined—how much worse could he get?
However you packaged yourself back then, that’s exactly how I’ll tear it all apart, piece by piece, now. So what if it’s disgraceful? The boundary between morality and law? Different people will draw different conclusions.
Ji Yang didn’t care what the world thought. That sea holding thirteen hundred and twenty souls would have its own verdict.
Sure enough, with topics driving the traffic, within a single hour, the heat reached an unprecedented new peak.
The world might not understand corporate power plays, nor did they have the authority to uncover every truth in real time.
But what people loved to watch was nothing more than thieves and whores, the unsavory things kept below the table.
Ji Yang had lit this fire with surgical precision, and it was burning fast.
In a short time, dirt kept being unearthed, more and more of it. Finally, people went from re-examining the Ji family’s founding history to linking the recently resurfaced “Qiming” case with the Ji family.
Ji Manor, main building, bedroom.
“Idiot! Idiot!!” Ji Yansong cursed “idiot” twice in a row. With nothing in his hand to smash, he slammed his back hard against the headboard in fury.
Ji Chang Shou knelt on the floor, his face a mask of embarrassment. “Dad, calm down. Your health comes first.”
“How am I supposed to calm down?!” Ji Yansong leaned against the headboard, trembling, his finger pointed at Yao Zhaoling who stood one step behind Ji Chang Shou. “How many times has this woman ruined you, and you still dare to listen to her?! If you weren’t my, Ji Yansong’s, son, do you think she’d follow you so wholeheartedly?!”
Ji Chang Shou was indignant. “Dad, can we not bring her up every time? This was definitely Ji Yang’s doing. His company’s a master at driving traffic.”
“You know that and you still dared to provoke him?!” Ji Yansong was so angry he broke into violent coughing.
Seeing the old man coughing like that, Ji Chang Shou finally started to panic. He knew his father valued reputation above everything else in this life, so he immediately shuffled forward on his knees and leaned against the bed, speaking urgently: “Dad, Dad, I was too rash, but we still have ways to deal with him—”
A sharp light flashed in the old man’s eyes, so piercing that Ji Chang Shou shrank his neck.
Ji Chang Shou stammered: “Dad…”
The old man was about to speak when no one expected Yao Zhaoling to suddenly stand up.
Ji Chang Shou turned to look at this woman he had protected his entire life—who in his eyes had always been meek and without opinions of her own—and a flicker of shock crossed his eyes. He had no idea where she got the courage to stand up in front of the old man.
Yao Zhaoling suddenly let out a cold laugh.
Ji Chang Shou reached to grab her, barking: “What are you doing?”
“What am I doing?” Yao Zhaoling slapped her husband’s hand away, pointing at him. “If it weren’t for your weakness, incompetence, greed, and lust, would I have had to grovel and bow for all these years in the Ji family, living off the Second Madam’s scraps?!”
With that, ignoring Ji Chang Shou’s expression of utter shock, she turned and pointed directly at Ji Yansong on the bed: “And you! Reputation, reputation—always just reputation! The Ji family is in this wretched state now, and you think reputation is worth more than my son’s life?! I know it was you—it was you! If it weren’t for you, how did my son become a wanted criminal, where even contacting me, his own mother, he can only send anonymous emails? I just hate that you’re not dead yet! Every last one of you should die!”
The woman’s hair was disheveled, her eyes bloodshot, her manner bordering on madness.
But Ji Yansong, as if suddenly grasping something, demanded urgently: “Anonymous email? What anonymous email?”
At this point, Ji Chang Shou no longer cared about anything else. He answered first: “It was from Chengyi. He said he urgently needs a sum of money. Fortunately, he and his mother had a contact method no one else knew about. But right after the money was sent, he couldn’t be reached again. His mother was truly worried about him, so that’s why—”
Ji Chang Shou stopped mid-sentence. Because he saw the old man suddenly appear unable to breathe.
His emotions surged too violently; he could only emit rasping, gurgling sounds from his throat.
“Dad! Dad!” Ji Chang Shou panicked, shouting: “Doctor!”
Yao Zhaoling was also somewhat frightened, her expression at a loss.
The old man’s eyes were wide, fixed on them. It took him a long time before he managed those words: “Being used by others without even knowing it… Get—get out!”
Yao Zhaoling’s face drained of all color.
This string of blows had already left her completely unsteady. She ran out of the room barefoot.
She saw the security guards stationed outside.
In her desperation, she grabbed one’s arm and said: “Where’s Nie Xu? Call him here. Doesn’t he get to call the shots in the Ji family now? Call him!”
The guard’s face remained solemn and impassive, as if he hadn’t heard a word.
Yao Zhaoling collapsed to the ground.
But when the commotion at the manor reached Nie Xu, he was waiting in the car downstairs at Yiyuan.
About ten minutes later, people from the company began leaving one by one.
Because the news online was blazing hot, the matter had progressed to the point where people were coming forward to confirm things—specifically, that the Nie family’s severing ties with the Ji family had occurred not long before the “Qiming” incident. The seemingly conspiratorial guesses were actually closing in on the truth.
So, the employees leaving work gathered in twos and threes, discussing with fervor.
When they reached the ground floor, they couldn’t help but linger.
It was mainly because that modified Hummer was far too eye-catching.
When Ji Yang came downstairs, he saw several colleagues curiously wondering whose car it was.
Ji Yang walked straight toward the car through the gauntlet of gazes. The window rolled down, and Ji Yang asked: “Why are you here?”
Nie Xu gestured for him to get in. “Picking you up from work.”
Ji Yang deliberately said: “The water pipes downstairs at my place have been fixed.”
“Is that so?” Nie Xu tilted his head. “Want me to drive you back?”
Ji Yang met his gaze, remembering that he had just been saying “let the bullet fly for a bit” before turning around and launching an online war. A strange pang of guilt crept in. He looked away, affecting an air of nonchalance. “Actually, that won’t be necessary. I left something at your place last night.”
Nie Xu stared at him for a moment, then looked away and started the car.
They drove out a few dozen meters before Nie Xu said: “The police have locked onto the general range of Ji Chengyi’s location.”
“That fast?” Ji Yang was a bit surprised.
Nie Xu said: “The authorities have their methods. But there are likely armed forces around him. The arrest will be complicated.”
Ji Yang asked: “So you’re confirming he’s sneaked back to Fanzhou?”
Nie Xu: “The broad range is correct. The specific location is still being determined.”
Ji Yang nodded. He looked ahead, suddenly realizing this wasn’t the road back to Borman, nor the road back to his own place.
“Where are we going?” Ji Yang asked.
Nie Xu: “They say there’s a meteor shower tonight. Taking you to have a look.”
Ji Yang: “…”
He looked at Nie Xu several times over.
Nie Xu: “What?”
Ji Yang: “I thought dating someone like you, you not making me do morning drills every day was already being merciful on account of my bad leg. Doing stuff like this—Brother Xu, you’re seriously breaking character.”
Nie Xu gave him a sidelong look. “You want to practice?”
“Haha.” Ji Yang laughed awkwardly. “That’s not necessary.”
When they reached a mountain on the outskirts, Ji Yang realized there really was a meteor shower. There were quite a few people at the summit—some having picnics, some setting up tents, each with their own way to pass the time.
Ji Yang turned his head and found someone halfway up the slope waving at him.
Ji Yang froze momentarily.
Nie Xu was taking the tent and other gear out of the trunk, and glanced back too. He said to Ji Yang: “Dr. Yu came with a colleague. I thought an occasion like this would be more relaxing for both of you.”
Ji Yang turned back to look at him. Nie Xu nodded at him: “Go say hello. I’ll set up the tent.”
But Ji Yang didn’t move. Instead, after a two-second pause, he walked over and wrapped his arms around Nie Xu’s waist.
Two men—in this broad daylight, in front of everyone.
Ji Yang heard quite a few excited gasps around them.
“I don’t care,” Ji Yang said, pressed against him. “I want to hold you right now.”
Nie Xu chuckled low. “Aren’t you afraid of making headlines?”
“Haven’t I been on them already?” Ji Yang’s arms tightened. “I thought you were going to scold me.”
Nie Xu set down what was in his hands, one arm circling around his neck. He spoke right by his ear: “I really wanted to. You’ve once again forgotten our previous agreement—that any decision must go through me first. You’re too disobedient.”
Ji Yang tilted his head up: “Then why didn’t you scold me?”
Nie Xu looked down at him. “I couldn’t bear to.”
He understood Ji Yang’s intention.
Using himself as an anchor, riding the current to wedge open this breach.
He wanted the Nie family to truly step forward into the open, standing in the sunlight. In his own way.
How could he bear to?