Chapter 80: Gut-Rotting Poison
The thought made Chen Bohua shudder. "Name your price. The Chen Family will do anything you ask!"
'I'll just get rid of Xiao Ye for now. Once he's gone and the crisis is averted, I'll figure out another way to handle this!'
Xiao Ye stood up and spat the fruit pit onto Chen Bohua's face. "It's simple. From this day forward, everyone in your Chen Family will obey my commands!"
"You..."
Chen Bohua wanted to tell him to dream on, but the thought of Xiao Ye's methods made him swallow his words.
"Fine. The Chen Family will obey you from now on!"
'As for whether I'll actually obey, that's a different matter entirely.'
'I'm one of the Provincial City's four titans. How could I possibly listen to some country bumpkin!'
Xiao Ye sneered and took out a porcelain vial. "I knew you wouldn't obey so easily."
He stood, stepped forward, pinched Chen Bohua's mouth open, uncorked the vial, and tossed a pill inside.
The pill dissolved instantly, sliding down his throat and into his stomach.
Chen Bohua panicked. "You... What did you make me swallow!"
"Poison. The kind that rots your guts from the inside out. You'll need an antidote every three months, or you're guaranteed to die!"
"And don't even think about finding someone else to cure you. I'm the only one who can neutralize my poison!"
Chen Bohua clawed at his throat, trying to vomit, but it was too late.
Xiao Ye repeated the process, forcing the poison down the throats of the Elders. He didn't even spare the younger generation of the Chen Family.
By the time he was done, the vial was empty. Not a single person present had been missed; everyone had been poisoned.
The looks on their faces were as foul as if they had just eaten shit.
Xiao Ye clapped his hands together and nodded in satisfaction. "There. Obey me, and your Chen Family will live. Otherwise... you're all dead!"
"And when you die, the rot will start in your internal organs, spreading from the inside out. I guarantee it will be the most painful death in the world!"
"Spread the word that you will no longer be causing trouble for the Lin Family. Any companies that planned to terminate their contracts, as well as those up for renewal, must continue to cooperate with the Lin Family."
Xiao Ye walked over to Chen Bohua and patted his sagging cheek. "If I find out you haven't done as I said, you won't get a single dose of the antidote!"
"Three months from today will be the death anniversary for every member of the Chen Family!"
With that, he swaggered off.
Chen Bohua stood frozen, his face ashen.
Only after Xiao Ye had completely disappeared did an Elder dare to speak. "Patriarch, what do we do now?"
"What else can we do! Get the doctors here immediately! Run a full check-up!"
The lights in the Chen Family estate burned all night long.
The family's personal physician was the first to arrive. After a preliminary examination, he found nothing out of the ordinary.
But to be on the safe side, they needed to undergo a comprehensive physical exam.
When the Western medical exams came back clean, the Chen Family breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Chen Ming, who was terrified of dying, said, "Patriarch, I've heard many poisons can't be detected by modern instruments. Why don't we find a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner to take a look?"
Chen Bohua agreed and immediately summoned a renowned traditional Chinese medicine practitioner from the Provincial City. After examining them, the practitioner shook his head.
"Patriarch Chen, you have indeed been poisoned. But this toxin is hidden very deep, so I'm afraid there's nothing I can do."
"What do you mean there's nothing you can do?!"
The practitioner's skill was beyond question, which made Patriarch Chen frantic. "If you can tell we've been poisoned, can't you cure it?"
The practitioner shook his head. "Detoxification in traditional Chinese medicine isn't as straightforward as in Western medicine. We must prescribe a specific remedy for the specific poison."
"All antidotes, in essence, possess some toxicity themselves. This is the principle of fighting poison with poison."
"If I don't know what kind of poison is in your system, how can I possibly devise a cure?"
Patriarch Chen grew anxious. "What about a blood test?"
The practitioner still shook his head. "That won't work. Many of the most potent poisons are complex concoctions of many different ingredients."
"Based on my experience, this is certainly a compound poison. A blood test will be useless because it won't be able to identify all of its components."
"And even if it could, without knowing the precise dosages, creating a complete cure is impossible."
Several of the Chen Family's Elders collapsed onto the sofa. They had been feeling smug after the Western doctors told them everything was fine.
They never expected the traditional practitioner to deliver such a crushing blow!
The practitioner shook his head and left, but not without offering a final piece of advice. "You'd best find the person who administered the poison and have them tell you what it is."
"Do not attempt to cure it on your own, or you could make things much worse. The toxin is currently stable, which is why there are no symptoms. If it destabilizes, saving you will be incredibly difficult."
With that, he strode quickly out the main gate of the Chen Family estate.
Patriarch Chen sat on the sofa, his face ashen.
'To think I've hunted geese my whole life, only to have my eye pecked out by one today!'
After a long silence, he spoke through clenched teeth. "First, spread the word. The Chen Family is no longer targeting the Lin Family. Do exactly as Xiao Ye instructed."
"The rest of you, find a way to get more traditional practitioners here. I refuse to believe no one can cure this poison!"
"If the Provincial City has no one, then go to the Imperial City! If the Imperial City fails, then we'll search abroad!"
「11:00 PM.」
Xiao Ye returned to his hotel.
Seeing that Lin Chuyue was sound asleep, he quietly undressed and lay down beside her.
'Her soft body in my arms... this is heaven on earth!'
「The next morning.」
When Lin Chuyue woke up, Xiao Ye had already prepared breakfast.
She was listless. The thought of the unrenewed contract and the loss of a major client had ruined her appetite.
"Let's just head back today..."
Before she could finish her sentence, her phone suddenly rang.
Lin Chuyue answered it. "President Li... What did you say? Okay, I'll head over right now!"
A smile broke out on her face as she looked at Xiao Ye excitedly. "This is fantastic! President Li changed his mind! He wants me to go and renew the contract!"
Xiao Ye, who had expected this all along, wasn't surprised. "No rush. Let's eat first."
After breakfast, the two of them arrived at the company's offices.
This time, President Li wasn't in a meeting. In fact, he was far more welcoming than before, having prepared not only hot tea but also an assortment of desserts.
"President Lin, I'm so sorry about what happened. It wasn't that I didn't want to sign with you. When it comes to finance in the entire Provincial City, your Lin Family is the most professional."
"But unfortunately, the Chen Family had issued a command, so I didn't dare renew. Thankfully, they've taken it back, so I was able to contact you again."
Lin Chuyue was taken aback. She had suspected the Chen Family was pulling the strings.
'But why would they suddenly retract their command?'
Her thoughts immediately turned to Huo Wenhao. 'Could he have done this?'
Whatever the reason, it was a good thing.
Lin Chuyue signed her name. "President Li, here's to a pleasant partnership."
President Li beamed and nodded. "To a pleasant partnership, President Lin! With you on board, the Lin Clan has a limitless future!"
After exchanging a few more pleasantries, she left.
Lin Chuyue returned to the hotel, ecstatic. Not only had the renewal secured a stable partnership, but more importantly, President Li had actually offered her more favorable terms.
With this, the Lin Family's business was finally on solid ground.
Seeing her radiant smile made Xiao Ye happy as well.
His phone vibrated. He glanced down and saw the call was from the Chen Family.