Chapter 177

Upon hearing this, Xiao Hailong, who was kneeling on the ground and scared half to death, hurriedly cried out, "Grandma, tell the truth! Hurry up and tell Ye Chen the truth! Otherwise, I might lose my life, Grandma!"

Xiao Changgan was also afraid of getting into trouble, so he hurriedly pleaded, "Mom, just tell the truth."

Old Mrs. Xiao had already given up struggling at this point. She sighed, like a defeated rooster, and said, "Ye Chen is right. I did come here this time wanting to use a 'bitter meat scheme' to trick you all into going back, to trick Churan into returning to the Xiao Group."

After finishing, Old Mrs. Xiao wanted to whitewash herself again and blurted out, "But I..."

Ye Chen interrupted her rudely and directly, "There are no 'buts.' You've finished speaking, you can go now."

Old Mrs. Xiao looked at him with resentment and said, "You should at least let me finish what I have to say. I also have my own hidden difficulties..."

Ye Chen said coldly, "You have no hidden difficulties, only bitter fruits! You planted these bitter fruits yourself, so you can only eat them yourself!"

After finishing, Ye Chen added, "If you few are sensible, shut your mouths now, tuck your tails between your legs, and get lost far away. We'll treat this matter as if it never happened. Otherwise..."

Having said this, Ye Chen roared at Hong Wu on the phone, "Hong Wu, if you hear another old woman here nagging me, immediately issue a 'Jianghu Kill Order' for the father and son, Xiao Changgan and Xiao Hailong!"

Hong Wu blurted out, "Master Ye, rest assured. Your orders, Hong Wu would never dare to disobey!"

Old Mrs. Xiao was extremely dejected. She nodded to herself, completely accepting her failure. She waved her hand at the others and said powerlessly, "Let's go."

Xiao Changgan, Xiao Hailong, and Xiao Weiwei, who had been silent the whole time, heard this and hurriedly helped her up, quickly leaving the hospital ward.

After they left, Xiao Changkun sighed heavily and said very despondently, "I thought my mom had finally awakened, but I didn't expect that, in the end, it was still just a scheme."

Ma Lan sighed with a face full of grief, "If the Xiao Group collapses, our retirement funds will have no source either..."

Xiao Churan looked at Ye Chen and said softly, "Ye Chen, thank you. If it weren't for your reminder, I might have been fooled."

Ye Chen smiled slightly and said, "I'm your husband, why are you being so polite with me?"

As he spoke, Ye Chen added, "These few days, let Dad rest well in the hospital. I'll take care of him. You should focus on getting the company started; you absolutely cannot let the Xiao family look down on you!"

Xiao Churan nodded hurriedly and said earnestly, "I know! I will definitely give it my all!"

Upon returning home, Old Mrs. Xiao was in a trance, her mental state on the verge of collapse.

Who could have imagined that not long ago, because she had secured a partnership with the Emgrand Group, she had held a grand banquet at a hotel and was at the peak of her glory.

However, in the blink of an eye, the Xiao family was now destitute and on the verge of bankruptcy.

The Emgrand Group had stopped the partnership and also conveniently blacklisted the Xiao Group. Now, the Xiao Group had lost all its partnerships, and the company had absolutely no income.

But at the same time, the company was still facing massive capital expenditures.

For example, the rent for the group's office building, the salaries for everyone in the group, the construction fees for project contractors, and the material costs for suppliers.

Now, the Xiao Group was like a rice bag with a hole in it; there wasn't much rice inside to begin with, and it was pouring out, and it looked like it wouldn't last much longer.

What was even more infuriating was that her most beloved granddaughter, Xiao Weiwei, originally had the chance to marry the Wang family's young master, Wang Yunfei, but now, the Wang family was avoiding the Xiao family like the plague.

The Wang family's final reliance had also vanished into thin air.

Thinking of all this, Old Mrs. Xiao couldn't help but shed tears of an old woman.

In the years since her old man passed away, she had held the power of the household, but she never expected that she would actually manage the family business to this state.

If things continued like this, the group would not only go completely bankrupt, but she would also face huge debts. By then, she was afraid she wouldn't even be able to keep this old villa.

And all of this stemmed from her own selfishness.

If it weren't for wanting to seize the villa the Wang family gave to Ye Chen back then, how would Xiao Changkun and Xiao Churan, father and daughter, have broken ties with her?

If it weren't for Xiao Churan leaving the Xiao Group, how could the Emgrand Group have turned against the Xiao Group?

Her eldest son, Xiao Changgan, was also on the verge of collapse at this moment.

The family business was in imminent danger, his daughter had lost her happiness, his son had no future, and he had been repeatedly humiliated by that loser Ye Chen...

He wanted to do something to turn the tide, but he couldn't see a glimmer of hope.

Xiao Weiwei had been crying ever since they returned, crying heart-wrenchingly, which made his heart ache terribly as well.

He couldn't help but ask Old Mrs. Xiao, "Mom, is there no hope for the future of the Xiao family?"

Old Mrs. Xiao shed two lines of muddy tears and said painfully, "There's no way, Changgan. If the company doesn't declare bankruptcy soon, the subsequent debts will crush us to death..."

Xiao Changgan choked up and said, "Mom, can you find some old friends from before and see if anyone can invest a sum of money into the Xiao Group to help us get through this crisis?"

"Invest?" Old Mrs. Xiao gave a bitter laugh, "Now that the Emgrand Group has blacklisted us, who would dare invest money in us? Those old friends from before are all avoiding me now, not even answering my calls. I've finally seen through it; in this world, where are there any friends? There is only profit!"

Xiao Hailong said in a muffled voice, "Grandma, if you say there are no friends, only profit, then why can that loser Ye Chen make friends with so many big shots, and why do those big shots give him so much face, calling him 'Master Ye' one after another? What profit can Ye Chen bring them?"

Old Mrs. Xiao sighed, "Don't look at this Ye Chen as a penniless loser; he really does have the ability to say what people want to hear. I heard that the reason these big shots are so polite to him is because he has some skills in fortune-telling and physiognomy. In my eyes, that's not a skill at all; it's all just fooling people, no different from the old men fortune-telling under the trees on the side of the road!"

Xiao Hailong asked in confusion, "Then why do so many big shots believe him?"

Old Mrs. Xiao said, "They believe him because he hasn't been exposed yet. People like this are just like those Qigong masters and Tai Chi masters from back in the day; they are all particularly good at bluffing, making everyone stunned. But when they turn around, when everyone finally wakes up, don't these people all become scammers that everyone wants to beat up?"

Speaking of this, the old lady said with a cold expression, "In my opinion, it won't be long before Ye Chen is exposed. When those big shots realize they've been played by him, they will definitely skin him alive and feed him to the dogs!"

Xiao Hailong said with a face full of expectation, "I can't wait! I can't wait to see the miserable state of Ye Chen being chopped up and fed to the dogs!"

Old Mrs. Xiao said with a face full of resentment, "You will! Rest assured, that day will come!"