Upon hearing the butler's words, Chen Yan couldn't help but feel a shock in his heart.

He asked, "What did you say? Zheng Juan was kidnapped? And all the traces were cleaned up?"

The butler nodded anxiously and said, "Yes."

"And all the people I had arranged are gone without a trace."

"President Chen, do you think it might be Zhao Qingtian who found out about this and then silenced them?"

Upon hearing the butler's words, Chen Yan didn't speak but began to ponder with his head bowed.

To be honest, upon hearing this news, his first thought was not that the situation was messed up, nor to find a way to deal with it, but... Sister Rou was indeed Sister Rou.

Zhao Qingtian's move wasn't as simple as just launching a media assault on Zhao Xuan.

It was a combination punch.

First, use the media to hype up the matter, then make Zheng Juan disappear into thin air, neutralizing Zhao Xuan's trump card, leaving her no chance to turn the tables against all odds.

That way, with the public opinion against her and no way to prove her innocence, Zhao Xuan would definitely fall into trouble.

Realizing this, Chen Yan stopped his train of thought from wandering off. He looked at the butler standing before him, jittery like an ant on a hot pot, and comforted him, "Don't worry. Don't be too anxious. This matter actually isn't as bad as you think."

Over the years, Chen Yan had established his reputation in the circle of wealthy individuals on Qindong Peninsula. Even the people around them had heard of the capabilities of this rising star.

Therefore, once Chen Yan spoke up, the butler calmed down somewhat, as if he had found his backbone.

After calming the butler with a few words, Chen Yan activated his "Headphones" while asking the butler, "Now, I'll ask and you'll answer. Don't hide anything."

The butler quickly nodded.

Chen Yan asked, "In the two years before today, was Zheng Juan really under your control the whole time? You didn't lie to me?"

The butler said earnestly, "Yes."

After verifying the butler's statement with the "Headphones," Chen Yan breathed a slight sigh of relief.

The butler was telling the truth.

The last time the butler talked about Zheng Juan, Chen Yan could only roughly verify it, knowing only that Zheng Juan hadn't died back then, but he was unclear about more detailed information.

Through this conversation, Chen Yan reconfirmed Zheng Juan's situation in the recent period.

Chen Yan said, "During these two years, did she live alone, or was she accompanied? Did she have contact with the outside world?"

Hearing Chen Yan's question, the butler hesitated for a moment, then said, "She lived with two bodyguards and a nanny."

"Normally, she couldn't leave the villa and could only move around inside."

Saying this, he quickly added an explanation, "However, inside the villa, Family Head had provided her with various entertainment facilities. There's a complete home theater system, television, PS4, Switch."

"And there are many board and card games."

"So, she wouldn't feel bored."

Chen Yan: .....

This isn't about whether she was bored or not, okay?

This is essentially house arrest with a twist.

Chen Yan held his head in his hands.

Maybe sensing Chen Yan's speechlessness, the butler quickly said, "The main reason is that once she goes out, she might be seen, leading to the discovery that she isn't dead."

"To be safe, we had to do this."

"And... she agreed to it voluntarily."

Chen Yan: ....

Nowadays, even 996 is 'voluntary', as is staying in place for the New Year. Can we not make this word a "pejorative"?

While internally grumbling, Chen Yan said, "I'm not trying to learn about your actions over the past few years, but I want to tell you that because of your form of house arrest, now there's no one who can prove she really lived there all these years."

"Because, apart from your people, no one has seen her."

"Even...now your people have disappeared. There's even less chance of proving it."

Having said this, Chen Yan paused, then a lightbulb went off in his head, and he asked, "Right. You mentioned earlier that Zheng Juan and two bodyguards disappeared?"

The butler nodded.

Chen Yan asked, "But you just said that Zheng Juan was accompanied by two bodyguards and a nanny?"

"What about that nanny?"

The butler said, "I confirmed over the phone just now, she felt a bit under the weather these past few days, so she took a few days off. As a result, she luckily missed this incident."

Chen Yan nodded and said, "At least we still have a chance."

Saying this, Chen Yan thought for a while with his head down, then raised his head to tell the butler, "Now, you must protect that nanny well, don't let her meet with any accidents."

The butler, a bit anxious, asked, "President Chen, as long as we protect her, will Family Head be alright?"

Chen Yan shook his head.

The butler couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed.

Then, he heard Chen Yan say, "It's not that if we protect her well, Uncle Zhao will be safe. Even if we don't protect her well, Uncle Zhao won't be in trouble."

Hearing Chen Yan's words, the butler looked at Chen Yan with surprise, clearly not understanding.

Chen Yan said, "Our country is a society governed by the rule of law, practicing the presumption of innocence."

"If there is no evidence that Uncle Zhao committed murder, then the case officers won't convict him of this crime."

"The only disadvantage is that the case might not end as quickly as we anticipate. The case officers might keep investigating it."

Having said this, Chen Yan fell silent and said no more.

With the reassurance provided by Chen Yan, the butler visibly relaxed.

Having messed up such a big issue, he was evidently panicking. Now that Chen Yan said the problem wasn't serious, his guilt, self-reproach, and panic could be slightly alleviated.

Watching the butler gradually calm down, Chen Yan, however, slightly shook his head internally, then silently added another line: However, this premise is that the case officers aren't swayed by public opinion...

After settling the butler, Chen Yan gave him several tasks, including but not limited to bringing the nanny to Tiandu for protection, and reporting to the Qin Island case officers that his friend and employee had gone missing...

After arranging a series of tasks, the butler hurried off to get busy.

After he left, Chen Yan's brows deeply furrowed.

For a moment, he picked up his phone and called Yang Rou.

They discussed the matter of Zheng Juan's disappearance, exchanging opinions.

Both had similar thoughts: the case of Zheng Juan's disappearance should be handed over to the case officers, and their haste was useless.

After all, they weren't professionals, and even if they wanted to help, it wouldn't make Zheng Juan appear any sooner.

Therefore, what they should do now was: launch the plan in advance, to encircle Wei to save Zhao!

Now that Zhao Qingtian had made his move, if they gave him enough time and energy, no one could predict the subsequent developments.

Thus, Chen Yan and his group couldn't afford to give Zhao Qingtian any time!

They had to act now, catching him off guard!

Luckily, Chen Yan and Yang Rou had already prepared the necessary steps in the past two days, and now they just needed to set it in motion.

After finishing the call, Chen Yan hung up, didn't even put the phone down, and called Cao Weiguo directly.

Cao Wei was obviously waiting for Chen Yan's call all day.

As soon as Chen Yan's ringtone sounded, Cao Wei answered immediately.

Before Chen Yan could ask, Cao Wei hurriedly explained, "President Xiao Chen, this matter really has nothing to do with me."

"I was dumbfounded myself when I saw the trending topic this morning."

"I think this should be Zhao Qingtian's doing."

"But I don't know what to do about it."

He shared his thoughts, "At first, I thought about withdrawing from it. But then I feared that Zhao Qingtian's plan might be the same as yours. Once I withdrew the trending topic, then he would turn around and manipulate public opinion to attack us for withdrawing it."

"Even prompting official media to speak out."

Cao Weiguo babbled for a while, which essentially amounted to this having nothing to do with him. He wanted to handle it after seeing it but feared making a bad situation worse, so he had been waiting for Chen Yan.

Of course, he didn't explain why he didn't contact Chen Yan proactively to inform him of this matter, nor why he didn't try to lower the profile of the incident or use his connections to talk to the media.

Chen Yan ignored his inner scheming and directly discussed business, "Brother Cao. Our agreement is still valid, right?"

Hearing Chen Yan's words, Cao Weiguo eagerly asserted, "Of course."

"We've agreed on it, and I certainly won't back out."

Chen Yan "Hmm"ed, then said, "Then have you found the right official media?"

Cao Weiguo said, "It's sorted. A very authoritative official media with lots of followers on Weibo."

"The person in charge of their new media has a very good relationship with us."

"I've already promised that after the success of the issue, I'd arrange for his girlfriend to join our company, and after he retires, we would invite him to be a consultant."

Hearing Cao Weiguo's words, Chen Yan "Hmm"ed again, and then said, "Alright. Then let's launch our plan ahead of schedule."

"While Zhao Qingtian has stirred up the matter with Zhao Xuan, let's both mobilize our internet troops and also hype up the issue with his son."

Startled by Chen Yan's words, Cao Weiguo exclaimed, "Pouring fuel on the fire directly?"

"What about Lao Zhao?"

Chen Yan said calmly, "Don't worry. I have a plan. Just do as I say."

After that, he hung up, leaving Cao Weiguo listening to the dial tone in the phone for a long time, wordless.

To tell the truth, since entering the workplace, Cao Weiguo's style has been steady and cautious, striving to not make mistakes in any situation. Conservatism was his greatest management trait.

He was indeed an excellent defender of a city.

Thus, Chen Yan's aggressive approach inevitably left him feeling a bit out of sorts.

However, even so, after hesitating for a while, he decided to do as Chen Yan had said.

Of course... while he would do it, he still had his own thoughts: that was to wait for Chen Yan to make the first move.

He wasn't a fool. Chen Yan was currently locked in a struggle with Zhao Qingtian, and there was no need for him, a supporting character, to rush ahead too quickly.

History had proven time and again that those who rushed too far ahead ended up as cannon fodder.

And... they wouldn't be remembered by others.

Like this morning's incident, acting on his own initiative to handle the matter was a different concept from Chen Yan coming to him for help, whether regarding Chen Yan or Zhao Qingtian...

Of course, though he had his own careful considerations, he would still do what he had promised.

After all, in his view, Chen Yan's investment value was much greater than Zhao Qingtian's...

He was simply insuring himself, rather than thinking about not making an effort.

...

After delegating tasks to Cao Weiguo, Chen Yan and Yang Rou began their operation.

Chen Yan had long understood Cao Weiguo's character through their interactions during this period, so he hadn't expected Cao Weiguo to rush to the forefront.

Therefore, the first wave of the media onslaught was primarily initiated by people arranged by Yang Rou's side.

And since Zhao Qingtian had pointed the finger at Zhao Xuan first, Yang Rou cleverly utilized this fact during the media battle.

She first had a secondary account repost the news about Zhao Xuan and commented: Why does Zhao Group always produce such trash? It seems not only this director has issues, but I've heard that the chairman and his son are also notorious.

Then she had people manipulate the data of this Weibo post.

After that, she instructed the same secondary account to expose Zhao Jie's high school entrance examination fraud.

Afterward, things followed naturally.

This incident had already made waves last year with Chen Yan and Yang Rou's efforts. The internet had memory, and many people remembered it.

They just hadn't connected this incident to Zhao Xuan's case.

Now, with someone pointing it out, many people were suddenly surprised to find out: These two individuals are from Zhao Group!

Why does this company keep producing "disgraces"?

Media will follow hot topics, and even though some were bought and controlled by Zhao Group, facing such evident newsworthiness, most media rushed to repost and investigate.

Zhao Qingtian probably never imagined that the hype he worked so hard to create would end up backfiring on him.

And Cao Weiguo was quite efficient; as soon as the media started to follow up, he labeled it as a [Bombshell] and pushed it onto the trending topics.

As this topic trended, the secondary account started leaking more and more information, including Zhao Qingtian luring young girls, harassing female subordinates.

There were also deals with some unspeakable individuals behind the scenes.

These pieces of information had all been painstakingly collected by Yang Rou over the years. Some had solid evidence, while others only had scattered bits of corroboration.

But regardless of the nature, with the current momentum, all this information became wildly popular...

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