In the middle of the night, what happened?

With a trace of grogginess and irritation from being woken up, Ye Chen groggily answered the phone, half-asleep.

"Ye Bro, something big happened! Something huge!"

On the other end, Zhang Jingshan's agitated voice shouted.

"What happened?"

Ye Chen's sleepiness disappeared instantly at Zhang Jingshan's outburst. He sat up straight on his bed.

"Ye Bro, just now, the entire Maple Leaf Grand Hotel was raided. Sun Tianqi was taken away, and his operations were wiped out! Also... do you remember that idiot Li Mu? Doesn't he have a second-in-command uncle in the city police department? Well, he was invited by the inspection team for a late-night chat too. He's done for, 100%!"

Zhang Jingshan spoke in a hurried, almost incoherent tone.

"And then? What does this have to do with me?"

Ye Chen feigned ignorance, his tone nonchalant. But beneath that calm facade was a surge of elation.

Sure enough, the inspection team did not disappoint him!

After all, how much profit he could rake in from the acquisition in Jinzhong Village largely depended on how quickly the inspection team acted. If they delayed for ten days or so to ensure an airtight case, he'd have no choice but to pull out the 20 million from the stock market that Li Changfeng was holding.

After all, shorting the Sihai Group would only yield about 20 million in profits. But acquiring Jinzhong Village's properties had the potential for a tenfold increase!

Even if he only had 20 million in capital, that would still be better than missing such a golden opportunity.

So he had already made up his mind. If the inspection team delayed another three to five days, he'd withdraw from the short position, even at a loss of a few million.

Fortunately, his concerns didn't materialize—the inspection team acted even faster than he had anticipated.

"Ye Bro, this is a huge deal! Haven't you heard that Maple Leaf Grand Hotel is a strategic partner of the Sihai Group? Also, the chairman of Sihai Group, Li Sihai, and Sun Tianqi are practically joined at the hip. Maple Leaf is down, Sun Tianqi is down, and even He Jinjun is implicated. Do you know what this means? It means Sihai Group is on the brink of disaster!"

"You can imagine, once the stock market opens, Sihai Group's stock price is going to plummet. Our short position is going to make us a fortune! Ye Bro, did you foresee this beforehand? Damn, this is incredible!"

Zhang Jingshan's enthusiasm grew so intense that even Ye Chen found it slightly excessive.

What Ye Chen didn't realize was the depth of Zhang Jingshan's resentment towards the Li family.

Though Zhang Jingshan had only invested 20 million in the short position and would likely only make about 10 million in profits, his excitement wasn't just about the money.

What thrilled him more was seeing He Jinjun's downfall and Sihai Group's impending collapse. Over the years, the He family and the Li family had bullied his Zhang family relentlessly. They had made countless derogatory remarks, and his incompetent father had often been the subject of their ridicule.

Add to that his long-standing feud with Li Mu, and it was no wonder Zhang Jingshan couldn't suppress his schadenfreude at their misfortune.

While reveling in their downfall, he was also awestruck by Ye Chen's near-prophetic intuition to short the Sihai Group. To Zhang Jingshan, Ye Chen was nothing short of divine.

"It's not prophecy; I just had a feeling Sihai Group was heading for trouble," Ye Chen said lightly, deflecting Zhang Jingshan's fervent praise.

After all, he had lived through these events in his previous life. He couldn't muster the same excitement as Zhang Jingshan.

Changing the topic, Ye Chen asked, "Let's talk about how much you put into shorting Sihai Group's stock."

"Uh... Ye Bro, not much, just 20 million. By the way, from now on, you're a god to me! Whatever you say can make money, I'll follow you to the end!" Zhang Jingshan exclaimed.

"20 million, huh? Not bad!" Ye Chen smiled faintly.

Even though Ye Chen knew this was essentially a golden opportunity, finding people who believed him was no small feat—aside from Zhang Jingshan and Li Changfeng, there was hardly anyone else he could count on.

"By the way, Ye Bro, I suddenly thought of something."

"Hmm? Go ahead." Ye Chen prompted.

Zhang Jingshan hesitated before asking, "Ye Bro, if Li Mu hadn't provoked you that day at the jade betting event, but instead tried to befriend you, would you have helped his family through this crisis?"

Ye Chen chuckled, "There's no such 'if.' This is the Li family's fate, understand? Even if I had warned him, do you think he would've believed me? Even you didn't believe that Sihai Group, which seemed to be thriving, could face a crisis. Do you think he would've?"

"Yeah, that's true..." Zhang Jingshan replied sheepishly.

"Alright, if there's nothing else, I'm hanging up. It's the middle of the night; I'm going back to sleep."

With that, Ye Chen hung up the phone.

The next day.

Ye Chen, as usual, continued his role as a stay-at-home dad, making breakfast for his wife and daughter and dropping his child off at school.

He paid no attention to the previous night's uproar. It was only while casually scrolling through social media that he saw news about Jiangzhou's deputy police chief He Jinjun being investigated. The scandals involving the Maple Leaf Grand Hotel and Sun Tianqi had already made headlines.

Unsurprisingly, Sihai Group was also dragged into the spotlight.

Its partnership with Maple Leaf Grand Hotel, the close ties between Li Sihai and Sun Tianqi, and Li Sihai's connection as He Jinjun's brother-in-law—all these relationships were laid bare for public scrutiny.

Calls to boycott Sihai Group and demands for investigations erupted like a tidal wave.

Even though Sihai Group's PR department tried desperately to distance itself from the scandal, the public backlash couldn't be stopped.

Adding fuel to the fire, Sihai Group's past misconducts were dug up, making it a prime target for criticism. Before long, the company was teetering on the brink.

When the Hong Kong stock market opened, Sihai Group's stock price immediately plunged by 10%.

But everyone knew this was just the beginning.

Under the mounting pressure of public opinion, commercial investigation teams, Jiangzhou's economic crime division, and tax authorities launched a full-scale investigation into Sihai Group.

By the market's close that day, Sihai Group's stock had plummeted by 32%, wiping out tens of billions in market value.

"Ye Bro, where are you?"

At the gate of Zijing Kindergarten, Ye Chen had just picked up his daughter and was about to hail a taxi when he got a call from Zhang Jingshan.

"My kid just finished school; I just picked her up. What's up?" Ye Chen asked.

"Ye Bro, to celebrate our victory, I've arranged a dinner with Changfeng! How about we meet up and talk?"

"Uh, I still have to cook for my wife and kid. Maybe next time," Ye Chen replied.

"Changfeng's company is having a team dinner tonight. Why would your wife go home for dinner? You and your kid can just join us!" Zhang Jingshan insisted.

"Changfeng's company is having a team dinner?" Ye Chen was taken aback.

"Yeah, didn't your wife tell you? Anyway, Ye Bro, I need to take care of some things first. To save time, I'll send a driver to pick you up, and we'll meet Changfeng together. Sound good?"

After a moment's thought, Ye Chen asked his daughter, "Yuyou, do you want to go out for dinner with Daddy?"

"Yes! Yes!" Yuyou replied excitedly. Although she loved her dad's cooking, the idea of eating out thrilled her.

With his daughter's approval, Ye Chen agreed. "Fine, I'll ask Yinuo first. If she's not coming home, Yuyou and I will join you. But no need to send a driver; we'll just take a cab."

"Alright, that works!"

Just as Ye Chen hung up, his wife, Chen Yinuo, called. She confirmed she wouldn't be home due to the company dinner.

With that settled, Ye Chen took Yuyou to Zhang Jingshan's company, Yunshan Network.

Upon arrival, a receptionist greeted them warmly.

"Mr. Ye, welcome! Mr. Zhang instructed us to escort you to the VIP lounge to rest while he wraps up a meeting."

"Alright," Ye Chen nodded.

As they headed toward the elevator, a middle-aged man with a briefcase stepped out, smiling as he walked past Ye Chen.

Something about the man's face struck Ye Chen, stopping him in his tracks.

A sense of déjà vu washed over him. He turned instinctively to watch the man walk away.

"Mr. Ye, is something wrong?" the receptionist asked, confused.

"Who was that just now?" Ye Chen asked.

"Oh, I'm not sure. I only know he was here to see Mr. Zhang—one of his clients," the receptionist replied.

"A client? Zhang Jingshan's client?" Ye Chen