After breaking up with my boyfriend, I made a fortune and rose rapidly in my career.

Zhao Xilai.

President of the Jiangdong Zhao Clan Council.

Chen Ping gently tapped the name on the last page of the report with his finger.

The office was quiet, with only the faint hum of the central air conditioning. Zhang Chao stood opposite the desk, barely daring to breathe, his back already soaked with cold sweat.

This top-secret report was the first one he saw, and every word made his heart sink. The Provincial Construction Investment Company was a provincial-level state-owned enterprise with assets in the hundreds of billions, and its business spanned the entire province's energy, transportation, and real estate sectors.

Now, this company has its sights set on their fledgling Chipfire project.

"Director, this...this is aimed at us." Zhang Chao's voice was a little hoarse. He couldn't imagine what the consequences would be for the Chipfire project if those core companies in the supply chain were maliciously controlled. Supply disruption, price increases, technology leaks—any one of these could be fatal.

"They're after me." Chen Pingfang finally spoke, closing the report and casually tossing it aside, as if it weren't a risk assessment that could cause big trouble, but just an ordinary newspaper.

Chen Ping raised his eyes, his gaze calmly landing on Zhang Chao, a slight smile even playing on his lips.

"Using provincial state-owned enterprise platforms, they mobilized tens or hundreds of billions of yuan to conduct leveraged acquisitions in the secondary market through a complex matrix of shell companies. It was a huge undertaking, but also incredibly foolish."

Zhang Chao was stunned.

stupid?

Such a powerful move, which he considered almost impossible to solve, how did it become "stupid" in the director's mouth?

Chen Ping stood up, walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window, and looked down at the city below.

"They thought they were the hunters, setting a trap, but they didn't realize that from the moment they made their move, they had already fallen into my trap."

Chen Ping turned around, looked at Zhang Chao who was still in a daze, and slowly said, "Zhang Chao, why do you think the Provincial Construction Investment Group would do this? Is it worth it for Zhao Xilai, a deputy director-level official, to risk violating state-owned assets management regulations to deal with a mere director of a coordination center like me?"

Zhang Chao's mind raced, following Chen Pingfang's train of thought. A sudden thought sent a chill down his spine: "Director, you mean... he has someone backing him?"

"Of course." Chen Ping laughed. "Zhao Xilai is the patriarch of the Zhao family, but he is just a pawn on the chessboard. The people who really want to play chess with me are outside the chessboard."

Chen Ping put the document back on his desk, took another document, also in a blue folder, from the drawer, and tossed it to Zhang Chao.

"Take a look at this."

Zhang Chao's trembling hands opened the document, and the title made his pupils shrink: "Investigation Brief on the Infiltration of Domestic High-Tech Industry Supply Chains by Illegal Foreign Funds Through Offshore Companies".

The report details how several mysterious "foreign" funds recently posed as venture capital through Hong Kong financial companies and precisely injected capital into the accounts of shell companies under the provincial capital construction investment group.

The destination of the funds clearly points to several names.

The real source of these funds...

The report concluded with a printed photograph of a man around fifty years old who bore a resemblance to Zhao Xilai, but with a more ruthless gaze.

Below the photo is his personal information.

Zhao Bo.

The former chairman of Jiangdong Provincial Road and Bridge Group was exposed ten years ago for massive corruption and embezzlement of public funds. On the eve of the investigation, he fled with the money and is still on Interpol's Red Notice list.

The section on social relationships clearly states: Zhao Xilai, cousin.

Zhang Chao's mind went blank as all the clues connected at that moment.

Wang Weidong is the Zhao family's public proxy; taking him down would be tantamount to slapping the Zhao family in the face. The true core of the Zhao family lies with Zhao Xilai and the fugitive Zhao Bo brothers!

This financial attack was not a business competition at all, but a long-planned retaliation launched by the Zhao family against Chen Pingfang, using all their domestic and foreign resources.

"Director...this...how could you..." Zhang Chao's hands were trembling as he held the report. The accuracy and depth of this intelligence exceeded the capabilities of a municipal-level unit.

"When I went back to my hometown, I asked a friend from Anyang County to pry some words out of that Li Laosan," Chen Pingfang said casually. "The deputy director of the construction committee behind him had played cards with a deputy general manager of the provincial capital construction investment company. I just let them talk about what they saw at the card table."

One sentence sent a chill down Zhang Chao's spine.

While the director was dealing with family matters in Anyang County, he had already begun laying the groundwork for this scheme! His seemingly casual move actually uncovered such a huge secret.

"They want to strangle us with capital, then we'll turn their capital into R&D funding for our Corefire project." Chen Ping's eyes turned cold. "Zhao Bo has been overseas for so many years, he must have a lot of money. If such a large amount of foreign capital can be legitimately kept in Nanzhou to support our R&D, wouldn't you say that's a great achievement?"

Zhang Chao was speechless.

He finally understood why the director had called the other person "stupid".

Because what they thought was a covert operation was, in the director's eyes, completely transparent. They thought they were the hunters, but they didn't know that the target was bait set up by the hunters from the very beginning.

"Director, what should we do now? Should we report to the province immediately and freeze their accounts?" Zhang Chao asked hurriedly.

"No." Chen Ping shook his head, a smile appearing on his face. "Why interrupt them? Let them buy, the more the better. We can even deliberately spread false rumors about a tight cash flow, making them think they're about to succeed."

"Lure them out?" Zhang Chao instantly understood.

"Yes." Chen Ping's knuckles tapped lightly on the table, making a crisp sound. "Next month, isn't the province going to hold the annual Jiangdong Capital Expo? As the head of the provincial capital construction investment company, Zhao Xilai will definitely attend. At that time, I will give him a big gift in front of investors from the whole province and even the whole country."

What Chen Pingfang wanted was not just to thwart the Zhao family's conspiracy.

He wanted to completely overthrow the Zhao family, a household name in Jiangdong Province for many years, on the grandest stage, and then swallow all their assets.

Looking at his leader, who was even younger than himself, Zhang Chao felt nothing but admiration. This was no longer a scheme; it was a war without gunfire.

"Go ahead and call all the core members of the coordination center to a meeting. Tell them... we're out of money and need to bring in new strategic investment," Chen Pingfang instructed.

"yes!"

Zhang Chao turned around and walked out with firm steps. His back was ramrod straight.

Silence returned to the office.

Chen Ping picked up his phone and looked at the message Su Qingwan had sent a few days ago about "Yunding Club".

Just then, the phone screen suddenly lit up. There was no caller ID, only a text message popped up.

It came from an unfamiliar encrypted number.

The message was very short, just one sentence.

"Director Chen, this is Zhao Bo. It's time to settle our score."