Chapter 263: A Starved Camel is Bigger Than a Horse
"Don't forget, I was the Patriarch! So what if I'm lying in bed now? A starved camel is still bigger than a horse. Even if I can't deal with the second branch, dealing with you is a piece of cake."
"To keep you from harming anyone else, I'll use every bit of my power to send you abroad and make sure you can never return!"
Yuan Tianjiao, of course, knew what Yuan Tiancheng was capable of. The moment she heard this, she panicked, but she also grew angrier!
She was a typical fool—all bark and no bite, completely incapable of admitting when she was wrong.
"I'm warning you, Yuan Tiancheng! If you dare to come after me, Second Brother won't let you get away with it!"
Yuan Tiancheng sneered. "If you want me to let you off the hook, fine. Tell me, who betrayed me?"
"Do that, and I won't send you abroad. Otherwise, do you really think your precious Second Brother will protect you? He's still busy investigating my people right now."
"If he found out that sending you abroad would expose all of them, he'd probably come to you himself and ask you to play along."
"Besides, your very existence is a stain on the Yuan Family. It's only because I'm kind-hearted that I haven't kicked you out. If it were him, he would have sent you abroad in a heartbeat just to protect the Yuan Family's stock price!"
Yuan Tianjiao staggered back a step in shock. She knew how terrible her reputation was... You could say she was the black sheep of the Yuan Family.
Since her reputation was already in the gutter, she had simply given up on herself. But that didn't mean she was willing to be abandoned by her family!
Only as the eldest daughter of the Yuan Family could she force others to do her bidding.
If she lost that title, who knew how many people would come looking for revenge!
"No, this can't happen!" Yuan Tianjiao kept backing away until her back hit the cold wall, making her jump.
Yuan Tiancheng knew everyone in this family inside and out, so he wasn't the least bit surprised by her reaction. "In that case, tell me who betrayed me."
Normally, this was something she couldn't say.
But then she remembered that Yuan Tiancheng was already a cripple. The second branch had seized most of his power. He was a grasshopper in late autumn, unable to cause any more trouble.
Only then did she say, "It was Ming Lan!"
Ming Lan was Yuan Tiancheng's fiancée. Although they weren't married yet, they had a good relationship.
Yuan Tiancheng knew she was the best match for him, so he'd never thought about looking for "true love." Instead, he focused on cultivating a relationship with his arranged fiancée.
He thought he had done a good job. 'So why would Ming Lan do this?'
Yuan Tiancheng clenched his jaw, barely managing to keep his composure. "Why!"
"And here I thought you knew everything!" Yuan Tianjiao revealed the reason. "It's because Ming Lan has fallen for Second Brother, of course."
"How is that possible!" Yuan Tiancheng had never noticed a thing.
Yuan Tianjiao suddenly regained a bit of her confidence. "So what if you, Yuan Tiancheng, were once the genius of the Yuan Family?"
"You've still been brought down by a woman! Second Brother was meeting with Ming Lan in private all the time."
"Second Brother is way more romantic than you. He took Ming Lan stargazing, street racing, and even to places like amusement parks."
"You're not like that at all. All you do is work, work, work. At most, you'd have dinner with her. Let me ask you, have you ever given Ming Lan any gifts?"
He had, of course, but not often—just on holidays and special occasions.
Yuan Tianjiao continued, "Second Brother gives her a gift every time they meet, and it's always a surprise! You're nothing compared to him."
'So that's how it was...'
'The fiancée I'd trusted all this time had actually fallen in love with another man, even helping him drag me down!'
For the first time, Yuan Tiancheng felt utterly ridiculous. Not even when he'd lost all feeling in his legs had he felt this much pain.
It wasn't because he was so in love with Ming Lan, but because he regretted being such a poor judge of character.
Yuan Tianjiao snorted. "So you see, you lost from the very beginning. You didn't even notice that Second Brother and Ming Lan had been seeing each other for so long."
"And it's not just your fiancée. A few of your subordinates are my Second Brother's people, too. But I can't tell you who."
Yuan Tiancheng suddenly remembered something. Right before his "accident," Ming Lan had started visiting him at the company frequently.
And he'd run into her several times talking with some of the department managers.
'It seems they were already making their final preparations back then!'
Seeing him silent, Yuan Tianjiao turned to leave.
"Wait!"
"What now? I'm warning you, don't you dare send me abroad! Or else... or else I won't go down without a fight! I'll definitely fight back!"
"If you push me too far, I'll kill you!"
Yuan Tiancheng completely ignored her threats. "Don't forget to close the door."
BANG!
The door slammed shut!
Yuan Tiancheng was now locked in his room every day. With no phone, he had no way to contact the outside world.
However, that didn't mean he had no one left on his side.
Before, he couldn't get a message out of Shanghai. But now, Xiao Ye had unexpectedly shown up. 'Heaven has not abandoned me!'
'My condition can definitely be cured!'
Thinking of this, Yuan Tiancheng found an unimportant document and used a pen to write a letter on the back.
He folded it carefully, placed it under his pillow, then deliberately knocked over a bowl, shattering it on the floor. He shouted, "Someone! Get in here!"
A few moments later, a maid entered.
She kept her head down, carefully closing the door behind her before starting to clean up the mess on the floor.
Yuan Tiancheng ordered, "I need you to keep an eye on Yuan Tianjiao. If she leaves the house, have Zero Three follow her immediately!"
"If you find Yuan Tianjiao harassing a young man who bears a passing resemblance to Xiao Ye from the Imperial City, and whose name is also Xiao Ye, then you are to give this envelope to him."
After speaking, he passed the item from under his pillow to the maid.
The maid took it and, with lightning speed, stuffed it into her apron.
Then, she silently finished cleaning up the mess and left.
The reason this maid was allowed in Yuan Tiancheng's room was that she was mute and couldn't speak.
People tended to feel a natural sense of security around someone like that, never worrying about what she might do.
The reason Yuan Tiancheng trusted her was that he had once, in a fit of kindness, paid a large sum of money for her mother's medical treatment.
From that day on, the maid had become the person he trusted most in the house.
「In a room on the second floor.」
Yuan Tianjiao was on the phone with her good-for-nothing friends. "I want all of you to find this person for me!"
"Whoever finds him and gives me his exact address, I'll give them a million!"
"Whoa, Sister Yuan, you're really something! Alright, we're on it!"
Yuan Tianjiao hung up the phone and watched the video of Xiao Ye, grinding her teeth in anger. "No one has ever dared to treat me like this!"
"Just you wait! I'll make you pay!"
「Outside the door.」
The maid, under the pretense of cleaning, knocked on the room door.
Yuan Tianjiao had no defenses up around her at all.
So, the maid easily planted a listening device in the room.
Since arriving in Shanghai, Xiao Ye had put on a simple disguise, but he hadn't made any effort to hide his whereabouts.
However, for now, the only ones who knew he was from the Xiao Family were the Yin Family.