Who's going to be the female lead's simp? Aren't the supporting female characters mor

The air in the warehouse seemed to freeze.

A dozen cold, impersonal instruments were pointed at Bai Jingyou, but he acted as if he were strolling in his own backyard, even having the leisure to flick his cigarette ash.

Scarface's palms were sweaty as he gripped the shotgun.

The man in front of him was so calm that he felt like the one being held at gunpoint.

"Bai Jingyou, stop playing tricks!" Scarface gritted his teeth, pressing the gun forward slightly. "Fifty million in undercover money, all for your life. We brothers are just trying to make a living. The grievances have their source, the debts have their debtors. Don't blame me when we get down there."

"Fifty million?"

Bai Jingyou chuckled softly, his slender fingers holding a cigarette, drawing a circle in the air. Amidst the swirling smoke, his eyes held a hint of pity.

"The butler from the Chu family quoted you fifty million. But as far as I know, Chu Cang approved a settlement fee of one hundred million."

Bai Jingyou exhaled a smoke ring, his tone as calm as if he were discussing the price of cabbage at the market.

"The middlemen make a huge profit, this cut is ruthless. You work your butts off, only to end up with half, and you're even facing murder charges and having to flee. No matter how you look at it, you're losing out."

Scarface's pupils constricted sharply: "How did you know...?"

"I'm a businessman," Bai Jingyou interrupted him, waving his hand behind him.

Chen Mo walked forward expressionlessly, carrying a black briefcase.

With a click, the box opened.

There were no neat stacks of banknotes, only a thick pile of documents and a few plane tickets to Southeast Asia.

"Here are 60 million in overseas bearer bonds and a dozen clean new identities," Bai Jingyou pointed to the box. "Enough for you to buy a manor in the Golden Triangle, become rich landlords, and live out the rest of your lives."

Under the greedy gaze of the group of desperados, Bai Jingyou slowly buttoned up his suit jacket.

"I don't buy lives, I buy information."

"Who contacted you? How much money did they give you? Did you record it? Hand over this evidence to the police, then take the money and your new identity and get lost."

[Why resort to violence against villains of this caliber when money can solve the problem? They've stained my bespoke suit; dry cleaning is expensive. Besides, keeping these guys around as witnesses is more useful than killing them.]

The scarred man's eyes flashed with a fierce light, but ultimately, driven by his enormous wealth and survival instinct, he slowly lowered the hunting rifle.

"Young Master Bai... is a man of great taste."

Scarface took a deep breath, pulled a USB drive from his pocket, and threw it on the iron table. "These are call recordings and transfer records. The butler's name is Old Ghost; he runs an underground bank in the south of the city."

Bai Jingyou didn't take the USB drive, so Chen Mo stepped forward and put it away.

"This car is for you; it's a bit far to the airport."

Bai Jingyou turned around, not even glancing at those people again, and walked straight towards the warehouse door.

I heard whispers and the sound of packing behind me.

Only after stepping out of the warehouse and letting the sea breeze dispel the smell of tobacco from his clothes did Chen Mo ask in a low voice, "Boss, sixty million, is that too much?"

"Is it a lot?" Bai Jingyou got into another black sedan that was already waiting by the roadside, rubbing his temples. "This 60 million is equity pledge bonds of a subsidiary of the Chu Group. If the Chu family's stock price crashes tomorrow, this pile of paper won't even be worth 6 million."

Chen Mo's fingers, which were pushing up his glasses, froze.

[Making money out of thin air is a basic skill of capitalists. Those fools will only realize they're holding worthless paper when they try to cash out abroad. As for what happens then… that's none of my business.]

"Let's go back to the city. Also, notify the police to arrest that old ghost. Remember to make a big splash; I've already thought of the headline—'The Chu Group is Involved in Organized Crime and Money Laundering; Evidence of Hiring Murderers Is Conclusive.'"

......

The following day, Haicheng.

The next day, the weather in Haicheng changed.

If last night's summit was a harbinger of an earthquake, then today's news is a magnitude 9 earthquake.

Shen Zhuo was arrested on suspicion of transnational financial fraud.

The housekeeper of the Chu Group is under investigation for alleged involvement in organized crime.

Chu Cang suffered a sudden cerebral hemorrhage and is currently undergoing emergency treatment in the intensive care unit.

Chu Group's stock price immediately plummeted to its daily limit upon opening, leaving countless shareholders in despair. Meanwhile, the area outside Bai Group's building was packed with suppliers seeking cooperation.

An autumn rain fell without warning, shrouding the bustling port city in a hazy mist.

At nine o'clock in the morning, the large screen of the Haicheng Stock Exchange was a grim green.

Affected by the breaking news last night—"Police cracked a major underground bank case, and several senior executives of Chu Group were taken away for investigation on suspicion of money laundering"—the three listed companies under Chu Group immediately fell to their daily limit at the opening.

A commercial aircraft carrier with a market value of hundreds of billions of dollars seemed to have hit an iceberg overnight, making a teeth-grinding cracking sound.

The CEO's office on the top floor of the Bai Group Building.

Standing in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window, Bai Jingyou held a cup of warm milk in his hand, looking down at the bustling street below.

Rainwater meandered down the glass, reflecting his calm and composed face.

"Boss, this is today's morning paper."

Chen Mo pushed open the door and entered, holding a stack of newspapers that still smelled of ink, as well as a tablet computer that was playing the news.

"The public relations department of the Chu Group is paralyzed. That middleman called Old Ghost has come clean, not only confessing to hiring a killer, but also handing over all the accounts of how the Chu family has transferred assets overseas through underground banks over the past few years."

Chen Mo pushed up his glasses, his tone unusually tinged with admiration, "The banks have now frozen all of the Chu family's credit lines, and suppliers are protesting outside the Chu Group building with banners demanding payment."

"As expected."

Bai Jingyou took a sip of milk, turned around, walked to his desk, sat down, and tapped his fingers lightly on the surface.

"What about Ye Lingqing?" Bai Jingyou asked.

"President Ye acted swiftly." Chen Mo tapped on a photo on his tablet. "At eight o'clock this morning, all of Ye's retail outlets in the north simultaneously removed the products distributed by Chu's Group from their shelves, and applied to the court for property preservation, sealing off Chu's three central warehouses in Beijing."

Bai Jingyou looked at the warehouse doors with seals on them in the photos, a playful smile curving his lips.

When the wall falls, everyone pushes it, and when the drum breaks, everyone beats it.

This is a shopping mall.

"Prepare the car." Bai Jingyou stood up, straightening the wrinkle-free hem of his suit jacket. "Old Master Chu was in the ICU, yet he still managed to get up and hold a board meeting. As a junior, how can I not go and visit him?"

Chen Mo was taken aback: "Boss, are we going to the Chu Group headquarters now? It's full of reporters and debt collectors there right now, isn't it a bit unsafe?"

"The most dangerous place is the safest place." Bai Jingyou picked up the car keys on the table and tossed them in his hand. "Besides, I'm going there to be a savior."

……

Conference room at the headquarters of the Chu Group.

The atmosphere was oppressive and suffocating. The air was thick with the smell of tobacco and an aura of despair.

The long conference table was surrounded by people, each with a mournful expression on their face.

Chu Cang sat in the main seat, his face ashen, with an IV drip in his hand and yellow medicine hanging on the IV stand next to him.

The businessman, who was usually so imposing, now looked like an old man on his deathbed.

This blow was clearly significant.

"Can anyone tell me why the police acted so quickly?!"

Chu Cang suddenly slammed the teacup in his hand to the ground, shattering it into pieces.

His voice was hoarse, his chest heaving violently, "Old Ghost has been with me for twenty years! His mouth is tighter than a dead man's! How could he have revealed everything overnight?!"

The meeting room was deathly silent; no one dared to speak.

Clearly, the Chu family was not a monolithic entity. When sharing the spoils, they fawned over each other, but when disaster struck, they all followed their hearts.

"And Shen Zhuo!" Chu Cang's gaze swept over the crowd, his eyes sinister. "What's the situation in the capital? Is the Shen family just going to watch Shen Zhuo get taken away? Are they just going to abandon him?"

A middle-aged executive wearing glasses stood up tremblingly: "Chairman... they've received a reply from Beijing. The eldest son of the Shen family said... that Shen Zhuo's mess overseas is too big, and he's suspected of manipulating the stock market and insider trading. The US has already issued a red notice for his arrest. To avoid suspicion, the Shen family has... has already issued a statement expelling Shen Zhuo from the family register."

"puff--"

Chu Cang couldn't catch his breath, a strange sound came from his throat, and his body trembled violently.

Abandoned pawn.

This is the cruelty of the wealthy.

People who have no value, even if they are one's own son, will be sacrificed without hesitation.

But for the Chu family, while the Shen family had a way out, they had no such way out.

"Good... very good..." Chu Cang chuckled bitterly as he leaned back in his chair, his cloudy old eyes filled with desolation. "I, Chu Cang, have dominated Haicheng for forty years, never expecting to fall into the hands of a mere brat. That Bai Jingyou... is he a devil?"

Just then, the heavy doors of the conference room were pushed open from the outside.

"You flatter me, Elder Chu."

A clear voice rang out, tinged with a hint of languor and mockery, "The word 'devil' is too heavy; I prefer to call myself a cleaner."

All eyes turned to the doorway.

Bai Jingyou, dressed in a well-tailored dark gray bespoke suit, strolled in with one hand in his pocket.

Chen Mo followed behind him, carrying that familiar black briefcase.

"Bai Jingyou! You dare to come here?!"

Upon seeing the newcomer, Chu Cang's previously ashen face flushed an unnatural red. He struggled to his feet, shouting, "Security! Where's security! Throw him out!"

"Stop shouting, Old Chu."

Bai Jingyou pulled out a chair at the end of the long table, sat down with an air of authority, casually took a document from Chen Mo and tossed it onto the table, saying, "Your security guards are busy blocking reporters at the gate right now, they don't have time for me. Besides, don't put on airs in this situation."

Just looking at Bai Jingyou made Chu Cang feel a rush of blood to his head.

His eyes looked like he wanted to devour Baek Kyung-woo.