314: The Fisherman’s Profit

[T/N: Title refers to folk story where an oyster and snipe fight, and the fisherman catches them both. Basically, when a third party benefits from the two other parties fighting]

When Wang Cheng said that Wu Jia of the Chinese Department was Gu Li's sister, there were several onlookers outside in the hallway. So, this matter could not be concealed and soon spread, causing trouble for Gu Li as expected. Besides some students who still didn’t recognize the most popular students of Beijing University, most others had heard about Gu Li. After all, he was one of the school grass, and it was normal for many to pay attention to him. However, as Wang Cheng guessed, Gu Li was afraid that others would learn that he was just an outer grandson of the Gu family, and never mentioned it. Still, this was not the reason for the criticism. What really made everyone think that this matter might not be so simple was Wang Ziyu's identity. The fact that Wang Ziyu was the granddaughter of Old Man Gu from the Gu Group had also spread. Although there were reports in the newspaper some time ago related to this, there was no mention of Wang Ziyu, so not many people knew about this. Now that they did know, some people couldn’t help but suspect that Gu Li had hidden reasons for approaching her.

If one wanted to say that Gu Li was acting like siblings towards Wang Ziyu, the familial ties between the two were actually quite distant. Putting that aside, if someone did assume that Gu Li really only approached Wang Ziyu because they were relatives, his behavior of pleasing a distant relative yet disowning his sister gave one something to think about.

After Wu Jia found out about this, she didn't recklessly run to find Gu Li. She also knew the situation of the Gu family. Her mother and second uncle had discussed in front of her, on more than one occasion, how to let Gu Li join the Gu group. She also had to consider the situation of the other branches. So, she thought for a moment, then ran to the rooftop to call her mother, Gu Yanru.

Gu Yanru was with Gu Tianming at this time. After Wang Hongxin and Wang Ning’an went to the ancestral house and recognized their family, Wang Ning'an surpassed Gu Ping in becoming Gu Li’s biggest threat. Both the brother and sister felt that they had to change their plans and let Gu Li enter the Gu Group directly.

Before the two could finish speaking, Gu Tianming's cell phone rang.

When he gave it a glance and saw that it was his third uncle calling, Gu Tianming quickly signaled for Gu Yanru to keep quiet. His third uncle rarely called him personally, so he couldn't help but be a little excited. Perhaps Gu Li finally reached the eyes of his third uncle. The hope in his heart immediately dissipated after hearing what his third uncle said.

"Tianming, pass something on to Gu Li for your third uncle: do not go near Xiao Yu again. You can just tell him this directly, that's all."

"Wait a minute, third uncle."

Gu Tianming wanted to ask who Xiao Yu was, but the other end had hung up.

"Second brother, what did our third uncle say?" Gu Yanru asked, surprised to see his strange expression.

Gu Tianming frowned and said, "He said to tell Gu Li to stop approaching a girl named Xiao Yu."

Gu Yanru's eyebrows twitched just as her cell phone rang. The person who called her was none other than Wu Jia, who was asking if Gu Li was her real brother. However, without waiting for Gu Yanru to answer, Wu Jia told her about how Gu Li had approached Wang Ziyu, and since she was on the topic, how Wang Cheng had gone to the school to find Gu Li.

Gu Yanru was stunned upon hearing this. She abruptly stood up, startling Gu Tianming. He continued to listen as his sister's voice became shrill.

"What is your brother doing, approaching that Wang Ziyu? What are the details?"

When Wu Jia heard her mother directly say 'your brother', she confirmed that the rumors at school were true. She understood what her family had planned by doing that in the past. Whether Gu Li was her brother or not, she felt that Gu Li had some hidden purpose for approaching Wang Ziyu. Sometimes she really didn’t understand; those properties belonged to her third granduncle. Her third granduncle could decide whoever he wanted to be the heir. Without permission granted from him, what was the use of everyone fighting? However, she was unable to sway her family about this matter.

After this phone call, Gu Yanru and Gu Tianming finally knew who the Xiao Yu that their third uncle mentioned was.

What happened just yesterday was passed on to their third uncle very quickly. Both of them knew that Gu Li had made a wrong move; any goodwill they’d accumulated in the past would probably be lost because of this incident.

Gu Yanru couldn't help but feel disillusioned. "Second brother, our third uncle has already spoken. He doesn't seem to like Gu Li anymore, does Gu Li still have a chance to join the Gu Group in the future?"

Since the beginning, Gu Li had taken a much riskier route than Gu Ping. Not joining the Gu Group was already a precarious move. Now that he’d taken a wrong step and drawn Gu Shouzhuo’s disgust, it would be even more difficult for him to join the Gu Group in the future. Gu Li’s ambition motivated him to take risks. However, when he took one more risk this time, his sense of crisis spurred by Wang Ning'an's appearance, it turned out that he had made the wrong move.

Wang Cheng, Wang Ning'an, and Gu Shouzhuo all implicitly understood that they didn't want Wang Ziyu to be involved in any family feud. Gu Li's mistake was pulling Wang Ziyu into the water. Gu Tianming was unable to think of a solution.

This matter could not be hidden from Gu Ping. He later called Gu Li and viciously ridiculed him, saying that he tried to steal a chicken but ended up losing rice, and that it would be impossible for him to enter the Gu Group in the future. Gu Li was so incensed that he smashed his phone. Wang Ning'an didn't have any special reaction after learning about this matter, he simply accelerated his speed of swallowing Shenghui Pharmaceutical.

Both Shenghui and Li Enterprise had suffered in their recent battles. At first, Yu Hongming had been caught off guard by Li Xin’s ruthlessness. Li Xin had played a part in helping Shenghui Pharmaceutical become so successful. When Yu Hongzhi later entered the company to study, Li Xin felt at ease and became the housewife ‘Mrs. Yu’. Nonetheless, Li Xin still retained a certain understanding of the company.

Yu Hongming had thought that Li Xin was just temporarily angry. After all, Yu Hongzhi was sitting in prison for a mere six years, so he would only be in his early thirties when he came out. However, she didn't care. Yu Hongming tried talking to her, but she beat him with a hard purse. Yu Hongming's mistress and illegitimate child were also unable to live in peace. In addition to making Yu Hongming’s life more difficult, Li Xin found someone to teach the illegitimate child a lesson. In the end, Yu Hongming had to find someone to protect him. This farce at home left his heart twisted and also took up most of his attention. However, since he gave the company to Wang Ning'an to watch, he didn't need to worry about those other things too much.

Because of Yu Hongming's neglect, Wang Ning'an had won over most of the high-level executives and held the power of the company in his hands. That was just one part of it. Yu Hongming had miscalculated the jealousy of women. The real reason why Li Xin was so cruel to Shenghui was because Yu Hongming had brought his mistress and illegitimate son back to the Yu house. This move was equivalent to announcing to everyone that he was going to give up Yu Hongzhi as a son. This time, his move also severely slapped Li Xin, the mistress of the house, and made her the laughingstock of the upper class. For this reason, she returned with a move that almost killed Shenghui.

Li Xin sold her shares of Shenghui Pharmaceutical. Although it wasn’t much, once the shares of the Yu family spilled out and fell into the hands of malicious people, it wouldn’t be good for Shenghui. Cold-hearted towards Shenghui Pharmaceutical’s outcome, Li Xin even instigated Yu Jing to sell her shares, which Yu Jing herself also agreed to.

Yu Jing was also very angry at Yu Hongming's actions. Just a few days after her younger brother entered prison, her father brought back the illegitimate child from outside - she almost felt as if this was premeditated. So, she just couldn't tolerate her father's mistress and illegitimate child, and from time to time, she’d make trouble for the mother and son. However, Yu Hongming caught her once. After Yu Jing was slapped, she ran to Li Xin and cried. Li Xin took this opportunity to persuade her daughter to take revenge on Yu Hongming with her.

Now, Wang Ning'an was the person in the company with the most power besides Yu Hongming. Not too long ago, Yu Hongming had given him a lot of rights, no less than the real president, Yu Yong.

Yu Yong was also a member of the Yu family; he was Yu Hongming's younger brother. Although he sat in the position of Shenghui's president, his position of president was inversely proportional to his ability.

Yu Hongming didn't want this important position to fall into the hands of outsiders or to be voted on by the shareholders. Therefore, his younger brother Yu Yongzhu was actually placed there as a decoration. Many things were handled by Yu Hongming himself.

Although Yu Yong was an idiot, he wasn’t stupid.

He could see the gradual changes in the company. When documents should have been brought to him to be signed, the secretary actually handed the documents to Wang Ning'an. He let someone ask about it, and as a result, they said that this was per the chairman’s request. Yu Yong didn't believe that.

The reason why the Yu family had fallen to this stage was definitely related to Wang Ning'an. That man was not truly dedicated to the company. He even suspected that Wang Ning'an might be planning to swallow Shenghui Pharmaceutical. However, when Yu Yong called Yu Hongming to complain, Yu Hongming confirmed that he himself really did give Wang Ning'an most of those rights.

Wang Ning'an kept the company in order, and he personally resolved the mess that Li Xin made. Yu Hongming also checked the accounts, and last month’s profit was obviously several percentages higher than the month before. Under such circumstances, he had no reason to doubt Wang Ning'an.

Yu Yong didn't know what kind of bewitching soup Wang Ning’an had given his brother that caused his brother to put so much trust in him. No matter what, he would never let Wang Ning’an get his way.

The next day at work, Yu Yong asked his assistant to intercept all the documents that were heading to Wang Ning'an, with no room for argument. Even if he was only president in name, as the saying went, high-level officials bore immovable weight on those below them. No matter whether or not he had the right to make such actions, his identity as president was still greater than Wang Ning’an’s as vice president. Most importantly, he was part of the Yu family.

[T/N: Updates are probably gonna be pretty spaced out from now on. BUT, there's not that many chapters left!]

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