The male supporting character was actually myself.

At that time, the Ye Group must and can only be held in our own hands!

This venture into entrepreneurship is a perfect opportunity to put some of my ideas into practice. If it can become as popular and successful as Taobao, my father might see my abilities and extend an olive branch within three years.

There's no need to worry about losing control of the group; being free now is actually a good thing.

At the very least, I can spend time alone with An Muya. We can live together, start a business together, and be inseparable 24/7. Maybe our relationship can even take another step forward.

No more having to only be able to meet briefly and exchange a few words, enduring the agony of longing.

"Ah, this..." Surprisingly, An Muya did not happily accept the invitation; instead, she looked hesitant, conflicted, and embarrassed.

Ye Xingchen saw her expression and felt very sorry for her. "What's wrong? Did my request make things difficult for you?"

"Everyone knows that I was interning at the Ye Group and was even promoted to chairman's assistant. If nothing unexpected happens, I will be able to stay and work in Chairman Ye's assistant team after my internship."

An Muya frowned slightly, clutching the hem of her clothes with a troubled expression, and said, "But if I go to start a business with you, all our previous efforts will be wasted!"

Although I really want to start a new business with you, but…

She put it very tactfully, but what she really meant was—what if your business fails?

Owning half of a small company's shares if successful is indeed very attractive, but a company needs to put in a lot of effort in the early stages to grow and become strong, and the chances of success are still very small.

Even if you manage to achieve something by working outside for three years and then return to the Ye Group as its successor, too many things can change in three years!

What if... what if Ye Xingchen meets a prettier and more suitable girl, wouldn't it be as simple as just saying a word to kick me out?

Before seeing any tangible benefits, An Muya felt she wasn't that foolish to leave the Ye Group and give up her easily attainable position based solely on a description of a bright future.

Besides, since her younger brother is always getting into trouble, it's natural for the older sister to protect him.

Ye Xingchen's influence is not enough; he must cling to Chairman Ye's coattails.

There's also the young master she fell in love with at first sight. She hasn't seen him in a long time, and his image is in her dreams. How can she give up pursuing her beautiful love just because of Ye Xingchen, who is about to lose the halo of the Ye Group?

Even if I wanted to go with him, Chairman Ye might not let me go.

If they cause a scene later, they'll let the young master know that he's already siding with his father...

He'll definitely look down on himself!

When I arrived at the office today, I could tell from Chairman Ye's tone that he was disgusted that Yang Yingying hadn't had a child after being married for many years.

In addition, with her mother's subtle and overt teachings, she figured that since she was young and beautiful, and Mr. Ye was willing to stick close to her, even if she couldn't make the young master fall in love with her and marry her, following Mr. Ye might actually lead to having a child in a while, just like her mother said.

In wealthy families, a mother's status is always elevated by her son. If she can use the child as an excuse to act cute, Chairman Ye will definitely be willing to kick out Yang Yingying, who occupies the position of wife but doesn't have children and is old and faded, and help himself to take the position.

Becoming the new Mrs. Ye means that even twenty years later, when the child is an adult, Chairman Ye will still be under seventy. As the saying goes, people love their youngest child; perhaps easily having a child will bring complete stability to her life…

Even without love, having enough to live comfortably for a lifetime is good enough.

An Muya's mind was in turmoil, and her expression was unpredictable.

"It's still because I can't give you a sense of security." Ye Xingchen's bright eyes dimmed, and she sighed softly.

“I’m sorry, it’s not that I’m vain, it’s just… forced by reality, I don’t have the right to gamble like you.” Her long eyelashes drooped, with tiny, glistening teardrops clinging to them. “Second Young Master, I’m so sorry.”

An Muya's aura was already very weak, but it still enveloped him.

Ye Xingchen quickly hugged her and comforted her with heartache, "Don't cry, it's my fault! It has nothing to do with Xiao An."

Don't worry, just wait for me. I will definitely make the company bigger and stronger. Then you won't have to worry about anything, and we can be happy together!

"Second Young Master, you're so good to me!" An Muya rubbed her face against his chest and said in a soft, coquettish voice.

Encouraged by something unexpected, Ye Xingchen was full of energy. "Providing the girl I love with a stable life is the most basic thing I, as a man, must do. Xiao An, wait for me!"

"it is good!"

After a brief kiss, Ye Xingchen left the Ye Group with the cardboard box in her arms.

An Muya went to the restroom to tidy herself up before returning to the office.

After the meeting, Ye Zhong dismissed everyone and sat in the empty conference room to calmly reflect on the morning's events for a long time. Then he made a phone call to the person in charge of the villa's surveillance equipment.

Unexpectedly, the answer was that there was a problem with the storage of the surveillance equipment. A report had been submitted several days ago, but the equipment had not been replaced yet, so the situation in the villa early in the morning was not recorded.

"How could it be such a coincidence?" Ye Zhong couldn't help but become suspicious.

What if I've misjudged the situation, and there's no framing or slander involved, just pure, blatant chaos?

Wouldn't that mean having a huge grassland on your head?

Unfortunately, the crucial surveillance video was broken, leaving them with no evidence and only able to speculate based on existing clues. After much deliberation, Ye Zhong decided this matter was of paramount importance; better to kill three thousand innocent people than let one guilty person go free!

After making up his mind, he picked up the internal phone in the conference room and dialed the project department, saying, "Have your Minister Yang answer the phone."

Chapter Forty: An Unexpected Joy

"What?!" After lunch, Yang Yingying was getting a beauty treatment when she suddenly received a call from her nephew. After listening to a couple of sentences, she was so shocked that her face mask fell off. "What exactly happened? Why were you suddenly transferred away from the project department?"

Wasn't this real estate project your responsibility from the beginning?

So where have you been assigned now?

A packaging factory? Isn't that a run-down little factory that's barely making ends meet? They put you in charge of the factory and call it a test?

What on earth is your uncle up to?!

What kind of achievements can a small, run-down factory and a powerless government office possibly make?

Yang Qingwei, who had just received a last-minute notice and hurriedly handed over his work, carrying cardboard boxes and leaving Ye's Group, was still seething with anger when he finally dared to call his aunt. "What else could they be up to?"

I think he still doesn't quite believe us about what happened this morning!

First, they thought we had been framed and banished Ye Xingchen; now they've probably listened to that guy's clever excuses and dragged us into this mess too!

Auntie, you have to think of a solution quickly!

Although Ye Xingchen was kicked out, he did start his own business and remained in the city.

I was thrown into a packaging factory as the factory manager. That factory was in a desolate, godforsaken place in the suburbs of the next city. If I actually stayed there for a year or two, Ye Xingchen definitely wouldn't let such a good opportunity slip by, and we'd lose everything!

"Don't rush, let me think about it first."

"I have to get there right now. Ye Zhong told me to figure out the situation at the factory within a week and then submit a rectification report. Damn it, isn't this just deliberately making trouble for me?"

Auntie, I've looked into the situation briefly. It's all factory grounds there; there isn't a single decent restaurant or hotel. It's just the outskirts of a small, run-down county town. I don't want to stay there even for a single day!

Yang Yingying frowned slightly, sensing that something was amiss.

"Awei, pack your things and go wherever you need to go. I'll give you an answer by the day after tomorrow at the latest."

"Alright then, Auntie, you need to think carefully about what to say. This time, please be on the safe side and don't drag us into this mess again!"

After hanging up the phone, she got up and went to find the person in charge of the surveillance equipment.

Sure enough, Ye Zhong called to ask him about the surveillance footage!

It seems he became suspicious because there were no surveillance videos. But the early morning footage had to be removed, otherwise such a bizarre situation would surely confirm the baseless and sordid affair.

While the Yang family aunt and niece were on the phone, Jiang Chen stood behind Cat Boss, carefully comparing the new emails he received.

It has to be said that top-notch computer experts are indeed very useful; they collected a large amount of data and sent it over in such a short time.

Yang Yingying and Wang Daqiao are indeed from the same hometown.

Based on age, Yang Yingying is two years older than Ye Zhong; Wang Daqiao is three years older than her. The two attended the same middle school, but were two grades apart, making them alumni but not classmates.

Their paths crossed again after they graduated from university. Around that time, Yang Yingying, Ye Zhong's first love, was transferred out of Kyoto by the old lady's machinations and became a clerk in a small company in Yokogawa City.

Wang Daqiao passed the exam and entered a department in Henghe City, where he became a low-level, inconspicuous clerk.

About six months after their paths crossed in the same small city, the old lady intervened and separated Ye Zhong and Yang Yingying, forcing him to marry the daughter of the Gu family.

Yang Yingying left the small company under the Ye Group and returned to her hometown.

The reason for her resignation was that her mother was ill and needed someone to take care of her; after that, there was a long gap in her records.

Hospital inpatient records are usually kept for 30 years before being completely destroyed. Through extensive data screening, my cousin Mei Jin found a piece of information from a health center in a neighboring county of Jinxing County: less than six months after Yang Yingying resigned, she registered her own photo at the health center under the name Zhang Meijuan and gave birth to a full-term boy weighing 6 pounds and 4 ounces.

And Zhang Meijuan is Yang Yingying's sister-in-law's name!

"Back then, the management system wasn't strict, so it was easy to forge names, but the photos taken in the hospital had to match the person." Ye Xingluo, her eyes sparkling with excitement after hearing this juicy gossip, exclaimed, "So Yang Qingwei is Yang Yingying's biological son!"

It seems his brother and sister-in-law had no children after marriage, so they adopted him as their son, thus concealing the truth about his sister's premarital pregnancy.

Jiang Chen nodded, glancing at the little white cat clinging to its big tail and watching the drama unfold, and said meaningfully, "Yang Yingying is no simple woman."

We're pretty close to guessing. We need to find a way to keep a close eye on her; maybe we can find more clues by following the trail.

If we can successfully expose the accomplices behind your wrongdoing, then all the effort we've put into uncovering these clues won't have been in vain.

"Got it! Got it!" The fluffy ball licked its paws and meowed, "I'll go keep an eye on him right now, and while I'm at it, I'll gather evidence for your cat and try to bring down all those people who helped him screw over!"

The little white cat hopped and skipped away and disappeared from sight. Jiang Chen picked up his coffee cup, took a sip, and thought that having such a surveillance camera was really convenient.

"This is a wonderful surprise! Dr. Han, thankfully you are knowledgeable and saw through the truth at a glance. With this leverage, we can completely kick Yang Qingwei out of the game!"

Ye Xingluo slapped his thigh with joy, completely losing his aloof and domineering CEO demeanor.

Jiang Chen remained calm and asked in return, "If we dig deeper, I might even be able to find a way to secretly conduct a paternity test for them."

Young Master, have you decided how to deal with Yang Qingwei?

"He tried to kill me and seize the Ye Group, so I'll ruin his reputation and leave him with nowhere to stand. I won't kill him, but I'll make sure he can't live!"

"Hmm, we need to plan this carefully." Jiang Chen said thoughtfully, "As Wang Daqiao's illegitimate son, this is a big juicy story, but it's not guaranteed to be sweet. We need to find more leverage before we act, to ensure that nothing goes wrong."

The day passed quickly. Apart from An Muya being taken back to the villa by Ye Zhong in a domineering manner, everyone else lived their lives peacefully according to their own paths.

"The female lead's halo has weakened to almost nothing. Don't worry, host, her Mary Sue act is definitely over. She might even have changed her character design long ago."

Even with her halo at its maximum, it won't affect our Cat Boss. If nothing unexpected happens, she could actually achieve a good outcome thanks to her halo.

As soon as he got back to the villa that evening, the little white cat jumped onto his shoulder to report, "Yang Yingying was acting suspiciously. This afternoon she went to buy an anonymous phone card, sent a message, and then threw the card away."

She asked to meet the other person at the usual place tomorrow. I've got my camera ready; I'm going to follow her and film the inside story!

"I heard that Yang Qingwei has also been kicked out of the group headquarters. I guess Yang Yingying will have to find someone to help her." Jiang Chen stood on the balcony, looking at the moonlight outside the window, sensing the situation detected by the soul weapon, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

Ye Zhong stayed overnight in An Muya's room.

The more he thought about it, the more disgusted he felt. What if Yang Qingwei and his niece really had something going on?

Besides, Yang Yingying is really old and faded, how can she be as attractive as the youthful and beautiful An Muya? If she could give birth to another child for him, maybe the current predicament would be solved!