Chapter 1: Strange Phenomena in the Underworld

  Just as everyone was in disagreement, Qian Xiaohong took out a disc and asked the judge to have the court staff prepare a TV and a VCD player. The judge nodded in agreement and immediately gave the order. Before long, everything Qian Xiaohong needed was ready. The people present waited quietly and curiously for Qian Xiaohong's "video". Some of the spectators in the courtroom looked out their heads to take a look, and some even stood up. Everyone was discussing it, focusing their attention on Qian Xiaohong.

  Qian Xiaohong put the disc into the VCD player, and on the TV screen, Qian's every move was displayed. People saw him open the safe, take out documents, squat down beside a steel basin to retrieve a lighter, and even heard him say: "This lighter is specially made, there are only two in the whole of China. I had it custom-made by a lighter manufacturer I met on a business trip to Africa a few years ago. I think a successful person should have something that represents their uniqueness, and I like lighters. So I asked him to make two, and this lighter can proudly say that others can't buy it."

  At this point, Qian Xiaohong turned off the TV and said to everyone: "You all should have heard that, the lighter of Chou Xiaoqian is not mass-produced, but a specially made commemorative product. How can others have such a lighter? So, the two lighters that appeared in court are both Chou Xiaoqian's, one of which was found in the Lan Shi Group warehouse, so the arson case of the Lan Shi Group is actually done by Chou Xiaoqian."

  "I object!" shouted Zhou Qian's lawyer after hearing this. "My client was previously the general manager of Lan Shi Group, and it is normal for him to inspect goods in the warehouse. Maybe he lost something while checking the goods on a certain day, how can you conclude that my client took it to set fire?"

  The judge nodded in agreement.

  "'Lawyer Jia is right,' the crowd murmured, and some people who had previously thought that Qiu Xiaoqian would definitely lose began to feel that things wouldn't be so simple after all. The lawsuit was indeed getting interesting at this point, and Qian Xiaohong had nothing more to say."

  The case had reached a stalemate, and Lan Yutong and his lawyer were at their wit's end. Just as the arson case was about to be dismissed due to insufficient evidence, Chen Zhenhua stood up and said: "Your Honor, I have a video recording here that proves this lighter was dropped by Ou Xiaoqian when he set the fire."

  Then, he took out a disc and played it on the TV in the courtroom. The footage showed him sneaking into the Lan's Group warehouse, pouring gasoline on the goods, taking out a lighter to ignite the fire, and watching as the flames grew before turning around and leaving. As he was leaving, his lighter fell out of his pocket.

  The Lanzhi Group's warehouse originally had surveillance video, but in order to save the company, they almost forgot about it. Chen Zhenhua, being a police officer, thought of this aspect first. He obtained the surveillance video and secretly burned it onto a CD for himself. To avoid alerting anyone, he kept it hidden, waiting for the opportunity to present it in court.

  Everything has been revealed.

  The arson case and the misappropriation of funds were clear-cut, and in the face of all the evidence, Qiu Xiaoqian had no choice but to admit it. After a burst of loud laughter, he said: "That's right, everything was done by me. Since Lan Jingqiu died, I've been running and managing the Lan Corporation, earning so much money for them. But in the end, I'm just a general manager, and the final result is still to be handed over to that good-for-nothing spendthrift Lan Rutong. What does he have? Isn't it just because of the inheritance left by his father? Otherwise, what's he got? He's not even as good as a dog! I'm not willing to accept this, I want to take back what belongs to me, and that's all. What's wrong with that?"

  "You can say that after you're in prison," Qian Xiaohong sneered, retreating to the back seat to await the judge's verdict.

  The court, after deliberation, made the following judgment on Qiu Xiaoqian: Qiu Xiaoqian took advantage of his position to embezzle over 30 million yuan in public funds and was convicted of misappropriating public funds. After being discovered, he did not repent and set fire to retaliate, achieving the purpose of preventing Lansi Group from delivering goods on time, causing huge losses to Lansi Group. He was sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment for multiple crimes, effective immediately; compensation of 30 million yuan to Lansi Group and a fine of 1 million yuan. As for Baifu Company, according to the documents provided by Qian Xiaohong, Baifu Company is a subsidiary of Lansi Group. The court hereby issues a ruling and provides proof that it will be returned to Lansi Group from now on.

  The courtroom erupted in cheers as soon as the verdict was read out.

  Qiu Xiangqian heard the verdict and was escorted out of the courtroom by two bailiffs, shouting loudly as he walked: "I just took back what belonged to me, I am not guilty!"

  The judge stood up and said: "Apart from one's own life and health, apart from kinship and friendship and love, there is nothing in the world that belongs to oneself. If a person takes external things too seriously, then this person will have nothing, including life and health. People, don't envy others for their wealth and extravagance, everyone has their own suffering, people are envious because they don't understand." After saying these words, he shook his head and left the courtroom.

  The lawsuit was finally won, and Lu Xiao Ying Lan Yu Tong and others cheered. They came to Qian Xiaohong's side, saying thank you continuously.

  Qian Xiaohong smiled and said: "Don't rush to thank me now, today I want the chairman to take us to a nightclub for dinner, everyone celebrate, Chairman must not decline oh."

  "Today, as an exception, you can say what you want to eat and I'll agree to whatever you want to do." Lan Yutong was very excited. The company, which was about to go bankrupt, had been saved thanks to the help of these unrelated people. In his heart, he couldn't think of anything else to express except gratitude and a desire to repay them in any way possible.

  Then everyone hugged each other and walked out of the courtroom, going straight to Zhongyi Nightclub. Lan Yutong booked a private room, and everyone inside was shouting and crazy, in short, they had a great time.

  "Red Sister," Lu Xiao Ying and Qian Xiao Hong were tired from playing, they sat back down on the sofa. Lu Xiao Ying held up a glass of red wine, took a sip, then put down the glass and said, "Sorry, when I saw you with Chou Xiao Qian earlier, I thought you had betrayed us? I even scolded you for not being human, are you mad at me?"

  Qian Xiaohong smiled and said, "What's the big deal? I scolded you too. That day at Tianyu Company, I saw you guys and I still scolded you as a cheap person. If I didn't scold you like that, Chou Xiaoqian wouldn't have trusted me."

  "You're the cheap one!" Lu Xiao Ying pinched Qian Xiao Hong's back and ran off laughing.

  Qian Xiaohong picked up an empty plastic cup and threw it over, laughing and scolding: "You're dead."

  Others were also tired of playing, and everyone sat back quietly on the sofa. Lan Yutong sat down with a glass of wine in hand and sighed, saying: "Everyone, brothers and sisters, to be honest, I want to thank you all. If it weren't for you, I, Lan Yutong, wouldn't know what I'd be like now. Maybe I would have ruined my father's company and even gone begging for food. So, I sincerely thank you all. First of all, I want to thank Uncle Lan. Although you and my father share the same name, you're not my dad after all. Nevertheless, you've been working tirelessly for the company, and I think your help isn't just because of money. Giving you money can't express my gratitude, so I was thinking... if Uncle Lan doesn't mind, would you be willing to take me, a prodigal son, as your adopted son? Let me call you 'Dad', okay?"

  Lan Yutong said this, Lan Jingqiu was almost tearful, first a surprise, then a joy, and finally nodded excitedly, saying: "You are not a prodigal son, my son Lan Jingqiu is not a prodigal son." By this time, his throat was almost choked.

  "Thanks, Dad!" Lan Yutong stood up and gave Lan Jingqiu a hug.

  "You took my brother as your adopted son, I won't," Lan Yuxing said with a pout.

  "What's wrong?" Lan Yutong asked.

  "That Uncle Nalan also wants to adopt me as his goddaughter." Lan Yuxing said with a pout.

  Everyone laughed happily, and then Lan Jingqiu said: "I promised you, dear daughter, to see my son and daughter so well-behaved, of course, Daddy is happy."

  Qian Xiaohong and Lu Xiaoying both knew that Lan Jingqiu was originally the father of Lan Yutong and Lan Yuxing, but now it's also good. Although the father and son are separated by yin and yang and cannot recognize each other, they have finally reunited happily as a family, which is also a good thing. So, everyone toasted to Lan Jingqiu to congratulate him.

  Then Lan Yutong also held up his wine glass and said to Qian Xiaohong and Lu Xiao Ying: "I want to thank you two, if it wasn't for Little Sister Ying going to persuade me, I wouldn't have today. And you not only didn't abandon the company, but also worked hard for the company. Little Sister Hong endured humiliation and hardship, infiltrating Chou Xiong's side to help me find evidence. I don't need to say thank you, let's all drink this cup of wine, from now on we are one family."

  Everyone raised their cups and took a sip. Then Lan Yutong thanked Chen Zhenhua, followed by thanking Dugu Jinzhong, and finally thanked his sister.

  Lan Yuxing leaned her head on Lan Yutong's shoulder, coquettishly saying: "You don't have to thank me, after all we're family."

  Everyone raised their glasses again and said: "Right, we are all one family!"

  After drinking this cup of wine, Lan Yuxing suddenly asked Qian Xiaohong: "Hong Jie, how did you get the video of Qian Nai laughing and taking files?"

  Qian Xiaohong smiled slightly and said, "Actually, I had planned it all along. When I was with Qiu Xiaoqian, I always held my mobile phone to play games. Several times he didn't trust me, thinking that I would take pictures of him or record something. So I deliberately played mobile games in front of him, and after monitoring several times, he only saw me playing games, so he didn't care anymore. Later, when I went to his office, I always held my mobile phone. That time, he wanted to destroy the evidence, so I took pictures of everything and burned it onto a CD."

  "How did you know about witness Qiu Chuyun? And how did you get the letter of attorney later?" Lu Xiaoying asked Qian Xiaohong.

  Qian Xiaohong smiled and said: "Chou Xiaoqian asked me to go and ask about your actions, but after he finished speaking, he left. How could I come to ask about you? So I hid at the staircase exit, saw him leave the office and enter the elevator, and then quietly followed him. He's quite clever, hearing that there was a witness, he thought of Qiu Chuyun, because they were the ones who planned the misappropriation of funds together. However, later on, the two had a falling out due to disagreements over the spoils. Later, Zhen Hua found out about Qiu Chuyun's involvement and after several persuasions, Qiu Chuyun agreed to testify in court. After Chou Xiaoqian suspected Qiu Chuyun, he called him to negotiate, and they met at a mountain outside the city. When they met, Chou Xiaoqian wanted to silence him, so he took advantage of Qiu Chuyun's unguarded moment and hit him on the back of the head with a wooden stick. I saw that things were going badly, so I made a loud noise from afar to scare away Chou Xiaoqian. After Chou Xiaoqian ran away, I went up to take a look and saw that Qiu Chuyun was bleeding from the back of his head. So I sent him to the city hospital for emergency treatment and notified his family. The doctor managed to save his life, but he became a vegetable."

  "If he's become a vegetable, how can he possibly sign a power of attorney?" Lan Jingqiu asked.

  "The power of attorney was actually held by his wife, who had stamped it with his handprint, and the power of attorney was originally printed, so who would still care about the handwriting?" Qian Xiaohong said.

  "So it was like that!" Everyone nodded in agreement.

  "But all the bad luck is over, the Lan Group did not get the supply rights of Tiandy Company, but now the White Fox Company belongs to the Lan Group, which is equivalent to the Lan Group getting the supply rights. In the future, the Lan Group will become bigger and bigger, and business will be booming. Thank you everyone." said Lan Jingqiu.

  Lan Yutong said at this time: "We also have to thank Qiu Chuyun's wife. I plan to visit them in person another day. By the way, I have an idea. Didn't the judge say today that except for life and health, except for family and friendship and love, everything else does not belong to oneself? So I think in the future, the money our company earns, I plan to take out a portion of it to set up a poverty alleviation fund to help those who need help. What do you all think?"

  Everyone applauded in agreement.

  Just as they were celebrating, news came from the prison that Chou Xiao Qian had become so desperate and hopeless that he had smashed his head against a wall in an attempt to take his own life. When Hei Bai Wu Chang came to collect his soul, he was even injured by Chou Xiao Qian, who left behind a trail of resentment as his spirit rose into the air, vowing to seek revenge.