The beautiful CEO falls in love with me
Chapter 742 - 718:

Chapter 742: Chapter 718:

"Haha, like I said, special times call for special measures, but this mess is your doing, so you’d better handle it yourself!" With a laugh, Jiang Zhonggen turned and walked away. Ye Chen coughed and then shouted loudly, "Colleagues from Si Yang Group, please hear me out. Someone among you is deliberately stirring up trouble within the company, so please don’t fall for their tricks. Today, I’m going to root out the traitor. I want to see who has the gall to stab me, Ye Chen, in the back!"

"Hmph, the Si Yang Group is just unfair! We strongly demand that Si Yang Group makes up for the salary gap with Tianya Group over the past six months!" The man leading the charge shouted immediately. There seemed to be a few voices in agreement from the crowd, but not many responded. I believe that most of the employees from Si Yang Group would have their own judgment on this matter.

Ye Chen could no longer contain himself; he dashed forward in a few swift steps and then raised his hand—slapping the man hard across the face.

Smack...

There was a crisp sound as the slap landed, causing the man to yelp in pain, "This is bad, Chairman Ye is hitting someone, Chairman Ye is hitting someone!"

The man seemed to be acting deliberately; he simply lay on the ground, started feigning insanity, and playing the fool. People around him gathered together, and the media reporters also pushed their way to the scene. Everyone saw Ye Chen hitting someone, but nobody sympathized with the fellow.

"Colleagues from Si Yang Group, if you trust me, Ye Chen, then return to the office immediately to work. Don’t fall for the machinations of villains!" Ye Chen declared, thumping his chest, "As I said, starting this month, salaries will increase. They will definitely match Tianya Group’s level. The announcement is just a few days away!"

"Forget it, Chairman Ye has been good to us too. Let’s just trust him!"

"Right, let’s go. Let’s not cause trouble anymore. If people from the petition office come, it will be too late to run!"

Some people started to side with Ye Chen. Many were fairly rational, maintaining restraint and not heeding provocations. In fact, they were aware of the petition office’s existence, having seen or learned from the television and newspapers about their ruthlessness. No one wanted to risk their lives.

Soon, the crowd was about to disperse, but those hidden in the crowd were not willing to let go, shouting, "Don’t go, don’t go, don’t trust what Ye Chen says!"

When the crowd finally dispersed, those individuals stood out in their loneliness. Standing there, they looked around as if waiting for something. However, in the end, they waited in vain. The ringleader looked back, his face darkening, and muttered angrily, "All cowards, a bunch of useless weaklings!"

"Is that right?" Ye Chen, with a smirk, walked over and stood in front of all the media. He swung his fist, and with a powerful punch, he smacked the leader’s face. The man staggered from Ye Chen’s punch, eventually losing his balance and falling to the ground.

Ye Chen quickly stepped forward, placing his foot on the man’s chest and coldly asked, "Buddy, what’s your name?"

"Damn you, how dare you hit me?" the man said through gritted teeth.

"Heh, not only do I dare to hit you, but I’m also ready to kill you!" Ye Chen’s every word was no joke. In the middle of speaking, he had already pulled out a dagger. The blade, glinting coldly in the light, dazzled menacingly.

Hiss...

Everyone inhaled sharply, especially Fang Qin. Just as she was about to rush over, she was held back by Li Ruo. Li Ruo gave Fang Qin a look and said, "Captain Fang, let him handle it. He’ll know how to measure his actions, and even if it results in killing, he can bear the responsibility on his own!"

Fang Qin looked at Li Ruo, sighed, and then watched from the sidelines. She only hoped that Ye Chen wouldn’t cause too much trouble, praying secretly that everything would remain under the police’s control.

"Three seconds for you to think," said Ye Chen, with a cigarette in his mouth.

"I... I’ll talk!" the man quickly said, "My name is Xu Dong."

"Who told you to lead this trouble? And, did you gather these people?" Ye Chen seemed to have understood it all already. The man hesitated for a long time and then said, "No one instructed me, everything was organized spontaneously by ourselves!"

"Spontaneously?" Ye Chen immediately raised the dagger and viciously stabbed it into the man’s arm.

Ah...

The man let out a miserable scream that sent chills down one’s spine. In desperation, he pleaded, "Don’t, don’t kill me, I’ll talk, I’ll talk!"

"Hmph, next time if you’re not honest, this knife won’t be here, but in a place that will kill you!" Ye Chen snorted coldly and demanded, "Spit it out, now!"

Just as the man was about to confess, suddenly a hoarse muffled sound rang out. Immediately after, a burst of blood bloomed on his forehead, and then a thick, white fluid slowly trickled down from his forehead. Ye Chen was instantly dumbfounded, not just him, everyone else froze too. The onlookers were shocked in an instant, and then, everyone fled in panic.

"There’s an assassin!" That was Ye Chen’s first thought. Fang Qin quickly pulled out her handgun, came over, and asked tensely, "Ye Chen, did you see anything?"

"Nine o’clock direction, quick, get someone to search there now!" Ye Chen urged. Without any hesitation, Ye Chen unerringly pointed out the assassin’s location. Finding the assassin would be tougher than reaching the heavens, as they might have been hiding among the crowd just now, or perhaps several hundred meters away in a building. Ye Chen needed to make a careful assessment—he immediately approached the body and glanced at the hole in the forehead, muttering, "Damn, now we can’t find the person!"

The other party had used a Type 62 military pistol, obviously fitted with a silencer, otherwise the muffled sound just now couldn’t have been so faint, so that even Ye Chen couldn’t determine where the shooter was positioned. Moreover, since it was a pistol, it couldn’t have been fired from hundreds of meters away—the distance was too great, even for a sharpshooter to hit the head. Therefore, the assassin must have blended in with the crowd and then used clothing or a newspaper to cover the pistol.

Fang Qin led a large group of people to spread out and search for the target.

Ye Chen immediately had the vigilant security from the City Government take control of those who were left. Unfortunately, after Ye Chen’s detailed questioning, it turned out that the dead man was their ringleader, and also the one who had paid them. According to these people’s accounts, they each received thirty thousand yuan from Xu Dong, which is why they agreed to help Xu Dong gather people and spread rumors inside Si Yang Group to stir up dissatisfaction.

"Damn it!" Ye Chen cursed softly, "They actually killed Big Head!"

With Xu Dong dead, all leads were cut off, and Ye Chen was quite helpless. Soon after, Fang Qin rushed back, looked at Ye Chen, then shook her head, no words needed—Fang Qin had also returned empty-handed. Without finding the assassin, it was as if all clues had vanished.

"Forget it!" Ye Chen waved his hand and said, "Take the body away."

Fang Qin immediately ordered her people to remove Xu Dong’s body. Before leaving, Fang Qin, her face flushed, asked Ye Chen, "Ye Chen, there’s something I want to ask you, and you have to answer me truthfully!"

"What is it?" Ye Chen was startled.

"When will Feng Zhixiao return?" Fang Qin asked with her head down.

"Ah, haha..." Ye Chen burst into laughter on hearing this. He had completely forgotten that Fang Qin and Feng Zhixiao were involved. Since Feng Zhixiao had taken three months to win her over, she had been unwilling to leave his side. Feng Zhixiao also seemed to have intentions of marrying Fang Qin. The two were willing participants and had secretly been calling each other.

Ye Chen’s laughter made Fang Qin feel even more embarrassed. She had mustered the courage to ask this question, but to her surprise, Ye Chen was now mocking her. Fang Qin gritted her teeth and said, "Forget it, just pretend I didn’t ask!"

"Wait!" Ye Chen immediately reprimanded, "Don’t worry, once I go to the United States, I’ll make sure he comes back to develop his career in the country!"

"Forget it," Fang Qin quickly shook her head and said, "Men should prioritize their careers. If he knows I asked him to come back, he will definitely hate me. I understand him well—he’s a person who’s always immersed in his business!"

"Mm, not bad, women should have such awareness!" Ye Chen nodded and gave her a thumbs up, then smiled and said, "I’ll give him some vacation time, then let him come back and see you! Have a short meeting, how about that?"

"Really?" Fang Qin was immediately surprised.

"Of course, I wouldn’t lie to you!" Ye Chen affirmed with a nod.

"Mmm-hmm, what kind of awareness should a woman have?" Li Ruo came over with a dark expression. Ye Chen was taken aback, then looked at Li Ruo with a beaming smile and said, "Nothing, nothing, Captain Fang, you’d better get busy!"

"Mm!" Fang Qin quickly nodded, then left the scene with the body.

The crisis in Si Yang Group was resolved, but the root of the problem was not eradicated. Ye Chen was still entangled with who wanted to deal with Si Yang Group, who was inciting the strife between Si Yang Group and Tianya Group. While Ye Chen was bringing Li Ruo back to Tianya Group, in a building in Jianghuai City, a black-clothed man was scanning around. After confirming there was no suspicious person tracking him, he immediately slipped into the building.