Chapter 1281: Various Schemes

He was much more polite to Zhu Qingrui than to others, the reason being that Zhu Qingrui deserved the greatest credit for being able to dodge so many assassination attempts.

It was thanks to the layers of mechanisms he set up in the Presidential Palace that so many assassins never returned.

Now on the black market, the price for Qi Heng's head has been bid up to 100 million US dollars, his "market value" doubling.

There must be brave men under heavy rewards; this world has never lacked people who want money more than their lives.

The time was ripe.

Zhu Qingrui began to negotiate terms.

"I want to be Vice President."

"No."

Qi Heng refused point-blank, smiling without warmth as he said: "You are actually the Office Director in name, but the power you hold in reality is not much less than mine; why be Vice President? A tall tree catches the wind."

"Your family's ancestral teaching has always been to keep a low profile; back in the day, your father only asked for the position of Minister of Commerce, even though he was more than capable of being President."

"If it weren't for keeping a low profile, the Zhu Family wouldn't have been kept in mind by so many people and still remained standing for years, don't you think that's the logic?"

Saying a whole lot just meant he didn't agree.

Zhu Qingrui was not Liu Min; he was not so easily controlled by Qi Heng.

Moreover, it was Qi Heng using him now, so the initiative was in his hands.

He stood before Qi Heng with lowered eyes and a submissive expression, saying: "The President is right; it is this subordinate who was greedy." After finishing, he turned to leave.

"Where are you going?"

Zhu Qingrui: "I am going back to write a profound self-criticism to reflect on my mistakes."

His posture was very well-executed, and his tone held not a hint of disrespect.

But Qi Heng knew the negotiation had collapsed; it seemed that if he didn't let him be this Vice President today, he really wouldn't offer any ideas.

Qi Heng felt both love and hate for Zhu Qingrui.

He was truly talented, just disobedient.

"Fine, I agree to your terms; tell me your idea."

Zhu Qingrui smiled slightly, leaned his body forward, and moved close to Qi Heng's ear...

The matter of the Sheng Family hiring assassins to go to L Country to assassinate the President spread like wildfire, quickly becoming the biggest piece of gossip in world-class headlines.

When this reached Jiangzhou, Shi Ran laughed: "I didn't expect Qi Heng to have such a brain, knowing how to divert the disaster? Daring to spout nonsense about things without evidence; who did he learn this skill from?"

She thought only she knew how to do it; although Qi Heng was no good person, he still followed the path of a good person and didn't take such crooked paths.

Her husband reminded her: "Don't forget he still has a Military Advisor like Zhu Qingrui by his side; they are colluding together and are very difficult to deal with."

Zhu Qingrui had been fleeing for his life since he was a child, running here and there.

Having crawled back from the gates of hell several times, he had accumulated a lot of experience in saving his own life.

Reminded by her husband, Shi Youxuan remembered that it was indeed so.

"What do we do now?"

Sheng Hanyu: "I didn't agree to use this method in the beginning; you all said it could be used and there was no problem, but now the problem has come, and I don't know how to solve it either."

Shi Youxuan:...

If he didn't know how to solve it, he should shut up, yet he still had to complain; men really would climb onto the roof and tear off the tiles if they weren't beaten for three days; she would have to educate him properly when she had time.

The problem hadn't just arrived; it was also not small.

The International Criminal Police found the Sheng Family to understand the situation.

Those people were all assassins; if the Sheng Family had connections with the assassins, they would be the masterminds.

This matter had nothing to do with them; the people were hired by Ji Yingjie, so the Sheng Family cleared their suspicion, but they still suffered quite a few losses.

First was the sharp rise in stock prices, their market value doubling.

Over the years, both institutions and retail investors had gained experience—when the Sheng Family had trouble, one must not sell off stocks, but buy them instead.

In any case, their family would definitely turn bad luck into good fortune and encounter disaster only to find peace.

When the stocks rose back up, one back-and-forth resulted in quite a loss.

Later on, a bizarre scene appeared: the number of people buying stocks when the Sheng Family had trouble not only didn't decrease, but actually increased.

It wasn't good for stocks to rise too much, as it formed a price bubble that would burst sooner or later, and the one suffering the loss would still be the Sheng Family.

Shi Youxuan gritted her teeth and took out a sum of money to stabilize the stock premium.

This money had to be counted on Qi Heng's head; sooner or later, she would make him pay it back with interest.

The stock matter was settled, but the affair did not end because of it.

Qi Heng pressured the Jiangzhou government, saying they were protecting their own people in buying murder, and demanded the government give an explanation.

Give an explanation my foot; spreading rumors and slandering while still wanting an explanation—such a shameless thing didn't need thinking to know it was a rotten idea thought up by Zhu Qingrui.

The Sheng Family refused to apologize.

Why apologize for something without evidence? If there was to be an apology, Qi Heng should be the one to apologize to the Sheng Family and the Yun Family first!

Shi Youxuan was not a pushover; being beaten passively without fighting back was not her character.

So she exposed everything, including the kidnapping of her daughter and everything recorded on the black box from Yun Qitian's helicopter.

Wasn't it just about going all out?

Who was afraid of whom?

The exposure would damage the Sheng Family's reputation, but compared to Qi Heng's reputation, it was still much better.

It was just a case of "injuring the enemy by a thousand and losing eight hundred"; she was going all out.

Qi Heng's reputation fell to the bottom once again; he was already married, yet he still pursued others relentlessly, even going so far as to hunt down their husband.

This was not something a President should do.

Just as his subordinates had worried in the beginning, Qi Heng not only suffered damage to his reputation but also received a heavy blow to his political career.

After Shi Youxuan exposed the matter of the black box, Jiangzhou listed Qi Heng as an unwelcome person and demanded that he not be allowed to enter the country for five years.

He wanted to take his younger sister back, but this request was also rejected.

The Jiangzhou government stated that Qi Shiwen was living very well with her adoptive parents in Jiangzhou, and for the sake of her healthy growth, she should be left there.

This was just an official excuse; in reality, Qi Shiwen was being detained as a hostage.

Keeping the younger sister Qi also served as a deterrent to Qi Heng; next time he wants to act wildly, he should think twice—not stooping to his level does not mean there is no way to deal with him.

Qi Heng was furious and smashed everything in his office!

He roared angrily, "Shi Youxuan, you are going too far; I will definitely not let you off."

Zhu Qingrui stood quietly to the side without stopping him; only after he had finished venting his emotions did Zhu Qingrui step forward and hand him a bottle of water: "Drink some water to cool your temper. Now you can understand how I felt back then, right?"

"The most detestable person in the Sheng Family is Shi Youxuan. That woman has too many schemes, making her impossible to guard against. If she isn't eliminated, there will be endless trouble!"

Zhu Qingrui had mentioned such things before, but Qi Heng had flatly rejected them.

Now he listened, falling into deep thought.

It was several days later when Liu Min found out that Qi Heng had issued a wanted warrant for her.

Everyone had been keeping it from her, trying their best not to let her know.

With her temper that exploded at the slightest spark, she would have caused a huge scene if she had known.

But such things could not be hidden; despite Wang Yong's strict precautions, she still discovered it.

"I want to go back. That goddamn Qi Heng is not a human, he is a beast. I want to go back and kill him with my own hands."

"I was so stupid, truly stupid. Why did I believe his words? My father killed his parents, how could he possibly be good to me? He was just using me; he killed my father and still wanted to use me as a weapon. I am such a fool..."

Liu Min was incredibly remorseful, pulling hard at her own hair with both hands.