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

2:00 AM, Shen's Group headquarters building.

The chairman's office on the top floor was still brightly lit, but this time, no one was there to give orders.

Financial Director Lin Lanfeng sat at the large desk that didn't belong to him, the dim light from the computer screen reflecting on his slightly pale face.

On the screen, a progress bar is slowly moving to the right: 98%... 99%...

"Uncle Lin! Is it not done yet?"

The office door was violently flung open, and Shen Wanshan, reeking of alcohol, stormed in, his tie askew and two buttons undone from his shirt.

He was holding a half-empty bottle of Louis XIII, his eyes unfocused yet revealing a ferocious glint of impending death.

"Those old guys are all demanding dividends! And the bank is going to audit the accounts first thing tomorrow morning! You have to balance the books! Do you hear me? The old folks have been supporting you for so many years, not just letting you sit around doing nothing!"

Lin Lanfeng's fingers paused on the keyboard for a moment before gently pressing the Enter key.

The progress bar disappeared.

Data transmission complete.

He closed his laptop, slowly stood up, pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, and said in a calm tone, as still as a stagnant pool: "Young Master Shen, the accounts cannot be settled."

"What do you mean 'can't be settled'?!" Shen Wanshan slammed the bottle onto the carpet, the brown liquid splashing onto Lin Lanfeng's trouser leg. "You said you could cover up the embezzlement of those 300 million to Macau with the construction funds? And what about the money from the logistics park mortgage? Can't you just rob Peter to pay Paul?"

Lin Lanfeng looked down at the wine stains on his trousers, a self-deprecating smile curving his lips.

Yes, it's like robbing Peter to pay Paul.

For the past twenty years, he has been like a paperhanger, desperately using all sorts of fake accounts and shell companies to fill the bottomless pit that the Shen family, grandfather and grandson, have squandered.

"We were able to build it before because the Shen family still had a good reputation." Lin Lanfeng raised his head, his eyes no longer showing any timidity, but only a cold indifference born of relief. "Now that the wall is about to collapse, how am I supposed to fix it?"

"What the hell did you say?" Shen Wanshan rushed forward and tried to grab Lin Lanfeng by the collar. "You old dog, trying to rebel? Believe me or not, I'll make sure you can't stay in Beijing!"

Lin Lanfeng sidestepped, deftly pulled a letter from his briefcase, and slammed it on the table.

"Resignation letter"

There are only three words.

"Furthermore," Lin Lanfeng straightened his collar, the very uniform for a senior executive at DeepBlue Technology that Bai Jingyou had specially sent over—exquisitely tailored and making him appear exceptionally dashing—"Young Master Shen, please watch your words. I am now the CFO of DeepBlue Technology. If you continue to launch personal attacks against me, DeepBlue's legal team will sue you within ten minutes."

"Shen Lan... Bai Jingyou?!" Shen Wanshan froze on the spot as if struck by lightning, instantly sobering up considerably. "You... when did you...?"

"Just now." Lin Lanfeng picked up his briefcase, stopped at the door, and glanced back at the once arrogant rich second-generation. "Young Master Shen, let me give you some advice. Don't even think about transferring your assets. I've already handed over the financial channels for those overseas properties under your name to the China Securities Regulatory Commission and President Bai as a pledge of allegiance."

"Lin Lanfeng! I'll kill you!"

Shen Wanshan let out a fierce roar, grabbed the ashtray on the table, and smashed it.

"Bang!"

The ashtray smashed into the heavy solid wood door, leaving a deep dent.

Outside the door, Lin Lanfeng's figure had already disappeared at the end of the corridor.

Shen Wanshan was left alone, standing amidst the mess, listening to the howling wind outside the window, feeling as if all the blood in his body had frozen.

……

The following morning, DeepBlue Technology.

The receptionist felt like she might not have woken up properly today.

At this time of day, there's usually not a bird in front of the company, except for a few breakfast deliverymen.

But today, the company lobby is packed with people.

Moreover, she had seen these people on television or in financial magazines.

The bald man is Mr. Wang, the building materials tycoon; the one in the cheongsam is Mr. Liu, the chairman of a chain restaurant; and the one who keeps wiping his sweat seems to be a human resources vice president under the Shen Group.

"Has President Bai arrived?"

"Please let me know, I'm Lao Wang from Chenghui Building Materials. I'd like to discuss a collaboration with Shenlan on smart warehousing..."

"I don't need to discuss cooperation! I'm here for a job interview! I'm even willing to take a pay cut!"

The crowd was bustling, as lively as a vegetable market.

The elevator doors opened with a ding.

Bai Jingyou walked out dressed in simple casual clothes, holding a cup of soy milk in his hand.

Chen Mo followed behind, expressionless, blocking several bosses who tried to rush forward.

"Wow, it's so lively." Bai Jingyou took a sip of soy milk, his gaze sweeping over the anxious, fawning, and fearful faces.

Many of these people were sharing Shen Zhenyang's article "Declaring the Chaos in the Industry" on their WeChat Moments just a couple of days ago, as a way of showing their loyalty to the Shen family.

Now that the wind has shifted, they're running faster than anyone else.

"President Bai! President Bai!" Shen's HR vice president squeezed to the front, waving a stack of documents. "I'm Zhang Qiang from Shen's HR department! I have the list and contact information of all the core technical personnel at Shen's Logistics Park! As long as you nod, I can get them all to jump ship immediately!"

The entire room fell silent for a moment.

This is blatant selling out for personal gain, and so thoroughly and shamelessly at that.

Bai Jingyou stopped and looked at the middle-aged man who was covered in sweat.

"Vice President Zhang," Bai Jingyou smiled, "I remember three days ago, you said at an internal meeting at Shen's that DeepBlue Technology was just a shell company that made toys?"

Zhang Qiang's face instantly turned a deep shade of liver: "That...that's what Shen Wanshan forced me to say! My heart was with Liu Bei even though I was in Cao Cao's camp!"

"Your heart is with Han?" Bai Jingyou handed the empty soy milk cup to Chen Mo, took out a wet wipe from his pocket to wipe his hands, and said in a flat tone, "Deep Blue Technology is indeed short of people, but we only want talent, not lackeys. Especially... lackeys who betray their masters for personal gain."

He didn't look at Zhang Qiang again, turned around and walked towards the turnstile: "Chen Mo, see him out. From now on, put this kind of person directly on HR's blacklist."

"Yes."

Zhang Qiang collapsed to the ground, and the people around him quickly stepped back, as if he were carrying some kind of plague.

Bai Jingyou walked into the office, where the atmosphere was completely different.

Zhang Yi was sitting on the sofa counting money—not real money, of course; she was looking at a real-time earnings report on her tablet.

Shen's stock price opened at the daily limit down, and the options she shorted last night tripled in value.

"Twenty million." Zhang Yi didn't even look up. "I've eaten too much this time; I'm afraid I'll get indigestion."

"Are you full already?" Bai Jingyou hung his coat on the hanger. "The food Uncle Lin brought is the real feast."

Lin Lanfeng was sitting at the conference table with three laptops in front of him, his fingers flying across the screen.

Upon hearing Bai Jingyou's words, he raised his head, his expression solemn.

"President Bai, the situation is more serious than we anticipated." Lin Lanfeng pulled up a complex financial flow chart and projected it onto the large screen. "The Shen family's problems in recent years aren't just limited to the logistics park's losses. Shen Zhenyang has been running a Ponzi scheme under the guise of a charitable foundation."

"A Ponzi scheme?" Ye Lingqing, who was touching up her makeup, trembled, almost smudging her lipstick. "Is he crazy? He'd actually touch that kind of money?"

"He's not crazy, he's just too greedy." Lin Lanfeng pointed to the red node on the screen. "He raised nearly 5 billion yuan from the public under the name of a smart logistics industry fund, promising an annualized return of 12%. But this money wasn't invested in research and development at all; instead, Shen Wanshan used it to pay off gambling debts in Macau and purchase assets overseas. Now this bomb is about to explode."

A brief silence fell over the office.

If it were purely business competition, the Shen family would at most go bankrupt.

However, if it's illegal fundraising combined with a Ponzi scheme, then you really could end up working on a sewing machine, and might even spend the rest of your life in jail.

"Fifty billion..." Feng Rui gasped. "This old bastard, he's playing the game even more extravagantly than I am."

"This is no longer business competition." Bai Jingyou stared coldly at the alarming red line on the screen. "This is sucking the blood of shareholders and investors."

"What do you plan to do?" Zhang Yi closed the tablet, the greed in her eyes fading, replaced by a hint of seriousness. "If this thing gets out, the entire business district of Beijing will be shaken. The Shen family's creditors will go crazy."

"Let the earthquake happen, it's better than letting it fester at the root."

Bai Jingyou walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked down at the city below.

In the distance, the Shen Group building loomed in the morning mist, resembling a crumbling tombstone.

"Chen Mo."

"exist."

"Notify the legal department to prepare all the evidence." Bai Jingyou's voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable resolve. "Also, contact Captain Zhao of the Beijing Economic Investigation Detachment. Tell him... I want to be a law-abiding citizen and file a formal complaint against the Shen Group for serious economic crimes."

Ye Lingqing watched Bai Jingyou's retreating figure, a complex light flashing in her eyes.

This man doesn't just want to win. He wants to uproot the Shen family completely, and send that stubborn old man, Shen Zhenyang, and his corrupt old-fashioned rules to the dustbin of history.

"Oh, right." Bai Jingyou suddenly turned around, revealing a bright smile, "Before that, let's give Old Master Shen a big gift. Send the video of his precious grandson gambling in Macau to the email address of every employee in the Shen Group. The title will be—'Your owed wages are all here.'"

……

Half an hour later.

The Shen Group was in complete turmoil.

The employees, who were already in a state of panic due to unpaid wages, erupted in anger like a volcano when they saw the high-definition video in their email showing Shen Wanshan gambling away money at the casino and having women on both sides of him.

"We can't even afford the rent, and he's gambling away our hard-earned money?!"

"Smash it! Smash this lousy company!"

"Let's go settle accounts with that old bastard!"

The angry crowd surged out of their workstations and headed for the chairman's office. The security guards exchanged bewildered glances; no one stopped them, and some even took off their uniforms and joined the protest.

Meanwhile, at the Shen family villa.

Shen Zhenyang was about to have his morning tea when his phone suddenly rang. It was a call from an old contact he had at the Municipal Public Security Bureau.

"Old Shen..." The voice on the other end of the phone was filled with weariness and detachment. "Just turn yourself in. The economic crime investigation team is already on their way. This time... I can't protect you either."

pat.

The purple clay teapot in Shen Zhenyang's hand fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.

He stood up unsteadily and looked out the window. Several police cars, flashing red and blue lights, were speeding through the gates of the Shen family manor.

It’s over.

It's all over.

The old man's eyes rolled back, and he fell straight backward.

At the same moment, Bai Jingyou stood on the top floor of Deep Blue Technology, watching a wisp of non-existent smoke rising from the direction of the Shen family in the distance, and gently shook the pen in his hand.

"Whether you're a villain or a protagonist, if you don't use your brain, the outcome is the same."

He turned around and looked at his three stunned allies inside the room.

"Alright, the cleanup is done." Bai Jingyou tapped the table. "Now, we can talk about how to divide... oh no, how to reorganize this 5 billion market share."