CHAPTER 389: CHAPTER 226: THE MORE YOU THINK, THE SCARIER IT GETS_2

This is unavoidable, because the difference in their backgrounds is significant. He was born into an aristocratic family, and by his father’s generation, they had moved up another level. For decades, his family had been deeply rooted in Xiu Zhou, and their status and influence were renowned locally.

Especially since the old man of his family still holds his position.

Therefore, he naturally had a psychological advantage facing Chen Feng, a wealthy upstart from Lu City, and in his heart, he somewhat looked down on Chen Feng. This is a completely normal mentality.

Initially, he genuinely wanted to bring Chen Feng into the circle to act as his protege. After all, Chen Feng had money and seemed to lack any foundation, making him most suitable for some scapegoat work.

Or he could borrow some funds from Chen Feng when he had projects he wasn’t confident in.

In this manner, it counts as the common operation for someone of his status dealing with someone like Chen Feng, an upstart. It’s not necessarily trying to set Chen Feng up, but not having any intention to deceive him is also uncertain.

In the end, it depends on Chen Feng’s luck and self-control. For instance, when a project urgently needs funds, Tao Yaoyang finds Chen Feng and invites him to join. Whether this project eventually profits or loses, Tao Yaoyang can’t guarantee 100%. Otherwise, their company wouldn’t have spent big on two projects that seemed guaranteed to profit, but ended up bleeding money.

Tao Yaoyang’s past attitude towards Chen Feng is secondary. The main issue is that they found someone to investigate him this time and directly uncovered his insider trading, which severely violated the taboos.

If the other party finds out, it will be very troublesome. If they use their relationships and power for revenge, there’s a great chance they’d be on their knees, and for Tao Yaoyang, it might even implicate his father.

As for Cai Zhixin, who directly hired someone to investigate Chen Feng’s background, that’s even worse. If the other party uses their connections for revenge, he has absolutely no capacity or power to resist. Even his family’s old man is completely vulnerable in the face of certain forces.

This is the reason for his alarm. He is really regretting it now, and he is very dissatisfied with Brother Tao in his heart, but since he has to rely on him for meals, he can only bear it.

From the beginning, he felt that Chen Feng was someone impressive, so whenever they interacted, he always treated Chen Feng with equality and friendliness, never harboring any ill intentions towards him.

If it weren’t for Tao Yaoyang’s urging, he wouldn’t have spent money and connections to find someone to investigate Chen Feng thoroughly, leading to uncovering such astonishing insider information.

After a long time, Tao Yaoyang finally exhaled deeply, ignoring Cai Zhixin’s proposal to return money to Chen Feng, and instead asked solemnly, "Who did you get to investigate this? Are they reliable?"

Cai Zhixin said gravely, "It’s my cousin. You probably know him too. He happens to work at the 11 and has internal access. This time, he complained to me to death, asking me to burn it after reading. He is already trying to erase traces. We should all act like this never happened. But I’m afraid the securities company might inform him, which means it might be exposed."

Tao Yaoyang frowned and said, "Didn’t your cousin instruct the securities company to keep this confidential?"

Cai Zhixin said somewhat annoyed, "Of course he did. But Chen Feng is their big client, which cannot be guaranteed 100%."

Tao Yaoyang continued to frown, patiently asking, "How many people at the securities company know about this?"

"My cousin directly contacted their manager and asked this manager for investigation and reporting. But he didn’t anticipate the matter being so complicated at first, so he didn’t specially instruct the manager to keep it confidential. We don’t know if the manager handed it down to the subordinates. Anyway, in this regard, I’m very worried. If by any chance Chen Feng finds out that we investigated him and happened to uncover this matter..." Cai Zhixin sighed, unable to finish.

At this moment, Tao Yaoyang’s expression wasn’t good either. He thought Chen Feng would be at most a coyote; instead, he turned out to be a tiger, perfectly disguised.

Thus, it explained why Chen Feng disdained joining their circle, disdained entering Xiu Zhou’s high society.

For a simple reason, you thought he was in a pigsty, but actually, he was in a prairie; he naturally wasn’t interested in your small farm.

"Don’t panic. If you suddenly try to return money to him now, wouldn’t it raise suspicions? Besides, where else can you borrow, apart from him?"

Tao Yaoyang’s words were indeed true; he couldn’t directly lend money to Cai Zhixin, as it didn’t align with the principle of working together for profits.

"Then... How about we confess to him before this is exposed and sincerely apologize?" Cai Zhixin hesitated.

Tao Yaoyang immediately shook his head, denying it: "That definitely won’t work. If someone knows about your crimes, can you act like friends with him?"

Upon hearing that, Tao Yaoyang gritted his teeth and said, "Now we have two options before us. The first is directly exposing this matter, or reporting him, hitting him with a club, but the risk here is too great. We don’t know who is behind him. If you can’t strike him down, we’ll be hit to death in return;

The second is using every means to keep this matter secret, preventing him from knowing we know about it. Although this seems difficult, the risk is smallest. Additionally, we must find ways to befriend him, quickly becoming genuine friends, so if the matter surfaces in the future, there’s a chance for leniency because of friendship."

Cai Zhixin nodded in agreement after a long silence, saying, "Brother Tao, you’re right. We can only try our best to cover it up now and get close to him, hoping he owes us a favor. Being friends with someone like this only benefits us, no harm."

Tao Yaoyang picked up the cigar on the table that hadn’t been smoked for a long time, took a deep drag and slowly exhaled a smoke ring, squinting as he said, "There’s no time to lose. Try to arrange to meet with him tonight, saying we’re having dinner with Zhang Yuxi together; I think he should come."

Zhang Yuxi is a rising new-generation female star in the country; beautiful, long-legged, with a great figure. Having debuted only three or four years, she has already made it to the ranks of A-list stars in the entertainment industry, excelling in both singing and acting. She has released three albums with decent success, and has representative works in both film and TV. Especially on TV, she starred in a popular historical drama two years ago, still discussed with relish, with significant influence.

And Zhang Yuxi now signing with the entertainment company is one where Tao Yaoyang is a major shareholder, and coincidentally, Zhang Yuxi is currently in Xiu Zhou.