Chapter 121: A Betrayal of the Gravest Kind!

Chapter 121: A Betrayal of the Gravest Kind!

Madam Su could hardly believe it.

If other people had supported Su Qingying—one or two who had originally listened to her husband Su Ruiwen and suddenly chose to listen to Su Qingying instead—then although it would have been unexpected, although it would have angered her, on reflection it would still have fallen within reason.

Su Qingying had been in the company five or six years. If she didn’t have even one or two directors she was close to, that would be strange indeed; her interpersonal relations would have to be appallingly poor. And everyone understood she was certain to take over one day. There was no helping it—she was the only daughter. So it wasn’t impossible for one or two people to support her. Supporting Su Qingying didn’t amount entirely to betraying Su Ruiwen.

But what in the world was Yao Honglin doing?

Yao Honglin had come over from Meiyuan Jewelry along with the second-largest shareholder, Xu Zhenyuan. More than ten years ago Jinfu Group had acquired Meiyuan Jewelry outright with part cash and part equity. The two of them had been Meiyuan’s largest and second-largest shareholders. After receiving their shares they had joined Jinfu Group, and from that day on the pair had always moved in lockstep.

For all these years, at every board meeting, Yao Honglin had advanced and retreated in step with Xu Zhenyuan. Whatever Xu Zhenyuan supported, he supported.

What was happening today?

Madam Su whipped her head around to look at Xu Zhenyuan. Her first instinct was to suspect he was playing some trick behind her back—backing her in the open while quietly sending others to support Su Qingying.

But one look at Xu Zhenyuan’s face and Madam Su dismissed the idea at once.

Xu Zhenyuan was dumbfounded.

He was staring at Yao Honglin with pure disbelief written across his face.

He was signaling wildly with his eyes, and Yao Honglin appeared not to see a thing.

Before the vote, Xu Zhenyuan had already taken the lead in declaring his support for Madam Su. And now Yao Honglin was the first man out of the gate against both him and Madam Su, in support of Su Qingying.

A great many of the directors in the conference room were stunned.

Because Yao Honglin being the first to raise his hand for Su Qingying was simply… bizarre.

Hand up, position declared, Yao Honglin wore an expression of perfect calm—and something of a man whose mind had drifted off somewhere else entirely. He lacked only the final touch of tipping his head back to study the ceiling. He didn’t want to meet anyone’s eyes, and he didn’t want to see Xu Zhenyuan’s signals. He was going to support Su Qingying.

There was no other way. His problems were far, far too grave. Refuse, and he died. Support her, and there were enormous benefits instead.

It’s worth mentioning that the “murder and arson” Yao Honglin had committed back then was bound up with Meiyuan Jewelry, and with Xu Zhenyuan.

It had happened on the eve of Jinfu Group’s acquisition of Meiyuan Jewelry. The two sides were still in negotiation, and the deal was close to being struck. Once it was struck, the Meiyuan Jewelry being acquired would undergo asset liquidation.

At the time, in order to destroy the evidence of the money he had been skimming and pocketing inside the company before that liquidation, Yao Honglin had done a great many things—including setting fire to a warehouse.

That warehouse was Nanhe Warehouse, the one Wu Chen had mentioned on their first phone call. The fire had also burned a warehouse security guard to death by accident. That guard was Liang Yuan, the man Wu Chen had named on the phone.

Because he had watched Liang Yuan burn to death with his own eyes… for many years afterward Yao Honglin woke from nightmares. He couldn’t forget the sight of Liang Yuan thrashing and screaming inside the flames.

Afterward the incident was classified as an accidental fire, and security guard Liang Yuan was ruled to have died fighting it.

That…