Chapter 156: Surface Effort
What?
The Zhuo family father and son in the room were both frozen to the spot.
Zhuoran was the first to react. His face turned deathly pale in an instant, and even his legs felt weak.
As the Patriarch of a first-rate family, he had seen it all. But hearing Xiao Ye's words still terrified him beyond belief!
This was a true master!
Faced with absolute power, their petty schemes were nothing.
What's more, Xiao Ye and the Lingxiao Daoist were true hermit masters, with a network of connections that was simply unimaginable.
Compared to their Zhuo Family, they were an absolute behemoth!
Zhuoran's son, Zhuo Qinglin, who stood beside him, naturally knew this as well.
He was also a little scared, but he still gathered his courage and spoke.
"Master... Master Xiao, we would absolutely never do such a thing!"
"There must be more to this story. We will investigate it thoroughly and give you a satisfactory answer!"
Hearing his son say this, Zhuoran breathed a sigh of relief.
'As expected of the family heir I personally groomed. His temperament isn't bad.'
Xiao Ye had originally thought the Zhuo Family was likely involved.
But seeing the father and son's reactions, they were clearly unaware.
Besides, knowing his true identity, they wouldn't dare do such a thing even if they had ten times the nerve.
"Fine, then investigate. But no matter what, he is one of your people. Since this happened, he may be spared a death sentence, but he cannot escape punishment!"
Zhuoran's heart relaxed slightly. "Master Xiao, please, just say the word. As long as it's something we can do, we will not hesitate, even at the cost of our lives!"
"Investigate it thoroughly first. If I need you to do anything in the future, I'll call and let you know."
"Of course, Master Xiao. Seeing as it's so late, why don't you stay the night? Our guest rooms are cleaned daily."
Xiao Ye glanced at the empty villa and nodded.
He was indeed a bit tired and didn't feel like rushing back. Besides, there weren't many people here, so it was quiet.
When Zhuoran heard this, he immediately smiled, quickly led the way to a guest room, and only then returned to his study.
"Dad, is he the disciple of that hermit master you mentioned?"
"Yes." Zhuoran nodded, subconsciously lowering his voice. "Qinglin, what I'm about to say is extremely important. You must listen to me carefully!"
"Don't be fooled by how young this Xiao Ye is. He is the Lingxiao Daoist's only disciple! I don't need to tell you how formidable the Lingxiao Daoist is."
"It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him the number one expert in the world today. Even the people at the very top treat him with the utmost respect. They even tried to go to great lengths to recruit him!"
"And this Xiao Ye is his one and only personal disciple! It's said that before Xiao Ye came down from the mountain, the Lingxiao Daoist personally said that he had nothing left to teach him!"
Zhuo Qinglin instantly understood. "So you mean he has already learned all of the Lingxiao Daoist's skills!"
"Exactly. Not only that, but he's also so young. In the future, the student will surely surpass the master. That's why we must absolutely not provoke him! Absolutely not!"
Zhuo Qinglin nodded heavily. "Dad, I understand!"
「The next morning.」
Xiao Ye had breakfast and then, at Zhuoran's invitation, went to the basement.
Zhuoran didn't have many hobbies, but he loved to collect all sorts of miscellaneous things.
"When I met Daoist Lingxiao back then, I finally realized how vast and full of wonders this world truly is!"
"So, from that point on, I started collecting these things."
In truth, he was mostly hoping to use these items to achieve certain goals, such as getting closer to the Lingxiao Daoist.
Unfortunately, no matter how rich he was, some things just couldn't be bought.
The collection in this basement was indeed impressive, but compared to his master's collection, it was still a far cry.
Xiao Ye looked left and right, finally nodding. "Not bad. These things will all appreciate in value. Even if your Zhuo Family has cash flow problems one day, you can use them to cover the gap."
Zhuoran's expression darkened for a moment. 'The Zhuo Family would never encounter such a situation!'
But he quickly returned to normal and asked cautiously, "Master Xiao, did you see something?"
"Does this mean my Zhuo Family will really face a crisis?"
Xiao Ye glanced at his face. Seeing that the man had a decent face—not that of a bad person—he didn't mind giving him a pointer.
"Within three months, the Zhuo Family's finances will definitely have a problem."
Zhuoran instantly stood up straight. If anyone else had said this, he naturally wouldn't have believed them, but this was Xiao Ye!
"Okay, I understand. Thank you so much, Master Xiao. From now on, the Zhuo Family will be your most loyal supporters!"
Xiao Ye waved his hand dismissively and then left the Zhuo Family's residence.
He still had to investigate the mastermind behind the scenes. A short rest was enough; he couldn't waste too much time.
「Xiao Family Branch Office.」
This was a small technology company.
As soon as Xiao Ye walked in the door, he received a warm welcome. It was clear everyone knew someone had been parachuted in.
However, it was all just for show.
Xiao Ye could tell with a single glance that this company was only impressive on the surface; internally, it was almost completely rotten.
He had the finance department bring him all the detailed reports and began to look them over.
「Outside the office.」
A few managers were huddled together.
"Do you think this young master of the Xiao Family can find the problem?"
"Find jack squat. I heard he grew up on a mountain and doesn't even seem to have any educational qualifications."
"For real? Don't tell me he didn't even finish elementary school?"
"Of course it's real. Would I lie to you about something like this? He didn't even finish elementary school. He's a total nine-year compulsory education dropout!"
"Then we really have nothing to worry about. He probably barely knows how to read. How could he possibly see the problems in the reports? He must just be putting on an act."
The men were no longer afraid, and relaxed smiles appeared on their faces.
「Three in the afternoon.」
Xiao Ye had someone call a meeting.
Once everyone had arrived, he threw the reports directly onto the table. "You all are really something else. Each of you managed to embezzle millions!"
The managers' faces changed instantly. "How is that possible! President Xiao, you can't just tell bald-faced lies!"
"Exactly! We've worked our hearts out for this company. Even if we have no great merits, we have toiled hard! You can't just slander us like this!"
"It's fine if you don't admit it. See for yourselves."
Xiao Ye tossed several documents over to them.
When they saw the notes inside, their faces turned deathly pale, and they nearly fell right out of their chairs.
'What was going on?'
'Didn't they say this young master didn't even finish elementary school?'
'How could he have found the problems so accurately?'
'Even his handwriting was exquisite, full of power, as if the ink could pierce the paper.'
'If they hadn't known beforehand that these reports were unmarked, they might have thought a master calligrapher had written on them!'
If Xiao Ye knew what they were thinking, he would probably laugh out loud.
It was true he had no formal education, as he had never attended a school, but that didn't mean he hadn't studied.
Back in the day, his teachers, besides Daoist Lingxiao, included the most renowned master calligraphers and literary giants of the current age.
'Trying to play clever tricks in front of him? They were still too green!'