Chapter 81: I Feel Sorry for You

"Wu Ya? Didn’t you leave already? And how do you even know my private home number?"
When Lan Yaoming heard Wu Ya’s voice, his scalp instantly tightened.
A stranger from another city actually knew his private home phone.
How did he get it?
In his preconceived notion—already suspecting Wu Ya to be part of a scam ring—this was a serious problem indeed!
If a group of criminals could get hold of his private number, what did that mean?
It meant that if they wanted his home address, it would be child’s play to obtain.
Could it be...
He was using the pretense of inviting him to a show to deliver a final warning?
Isn’t that how it always goes in the movies?
A so-called "good show" is meant to make your heart race, to expose your soft underbelly so you’ll yield obediently!
Thinking of this,
"Wu Ya, I suggest you drop the thought of cooperating! Even if my factory collapses, I will never work with a scam ring! If you dare harass me again, I’ll call the police right away!"
Lan Yaoming’s tone turned sharp in an instant.
He fired a warning into the receiver.
But—
"Heh, Director Lan, I’m afraid you’ve misunderstood! The reason I didn’t leave is because I feel sorry for you!"
Wu Ya not only didn’t get angry, but his tone was filled with a kind of pitying sympathy.
Lan Yaoming—
A man wise all his life, yet blind in this moment.
To be bewitched by someone like Mo Xiao, utterly out of his senses.
Had he never seen a beautiful woman before?
But for Lan Yaoming, these words instantly provoked his fury.
"Wu Ya, what are you? Who are you to judge me? Don’t forget, you’re a scam artist! I am a private business owner!"
A scam artist, living in constant fear,
How dare he feel sorry for a private entrepreneur?
This was blatant personal insult!
A display of ultimate contempt for Lan Yaoming!
Outrageous.
"Heh..."
Wu Ya only laughed, not angered.
Facing a man so deeply entangled, so blinded that there was no room in his eyes for anything but Accountant Mo,
He could only feel pity—nothing more.
For it simply wasn’t worth any emotion.
"What are you laughing at?"
Unexpectedly, that reaction only provoked Lan Yaoming even further.
Already, he was struggling at every step.
Wu Ya’s sudden appearance had shown him a glimmer of hope at the edge of despair—
The world and the sky, still so beautiful!
But who could have known—
One dinner banquet, and he was thrown back into the abyss!
Wu Ya, this generous young man,
Was actually a key member of a scam ring!
He had come to win his trust, then steal his equipment!
The whiplash of hope and disappointment left him in a state of acute anxiety.

His already gloomy mood was now set aflame, on the verge of losing control.
"Director Lan, I laugh because you’re being fooled and don’t even realize it! Did it ever occur to you, why I never defended myself when accused?"
"Why?"
Lan Yaoming blurted the question before he could think.
Indeed—
Faced with the accusation of being a scammer rather than a major client, Wu Ya had not said a word.
Normally, even if he was a scammer,
He should at least have pretended to explain, to try and keep the possibility of succeeding in his scam.
Shouldn’t he have tried to defend himself at least a little?
But he had been completely silent—oddly so!
Now, Wu Ya had hooked Lan Yaoming’s curiosity.
But unfortunately—
"Heh, Director Lan, you’ll understand everything once you come to the Morningstar Hotel. You want an explanation? Sorry, I don’t have that much time, nor is it my obligation!"
Wu Ya had lost all patience.
He had come as a true VIP customer with real money to buy equipment,
But this fool, blinded by greed, had taken him for a scammer!
That he didn’t stoop to argue was generosity on his part.
But after all, he was only human—how could he not feel a little displeasure?
Explain things to you?
You really think you’re so important!
In less than a month, in Wu Ya’s eyes, you’ll be nothing but a junior!
In terms of status, he could leave you ten blocks behind!
Explain things to you?
Do you even deserve it?
"I..."
Lan Yaoming wanted to say more, but was cut off by the busy tone on the line.
Morningstar Hotel.
Should he go?
Or not?
What kind of "good show" awaited him?
Torn, Lan Yaoming reached for a cigarette he hadn’t touched in ages, lit it, and took several harsh drags.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Thick white smoke and violent coughing filled the living room.
"What’s wrong? Are you facing some problem you can’t solve? You’ve even picked up smoking again after quitting."
Just then,
A woman in her thirties with a well-proportioned figure emerged from the bedroom.
It was Lan Yaoming’s wife, Fang Huayan.
Though she’d had a child, she still maintained her slender figure.
Beneath the semi-transparent nightwear, her elegance was even more pronounced.
"Why are you up? Did the smoke bother the baby?"
Lan Yaoming quickly stubbed out the half-burnt cigarette.
He had quit smoking the moment his wife became pregnant.
If he weren’t so troubled tonight, wild horses couldn’t have made him smoke at home.
"No, I closed the door. Yaoming, is there trouble at the factory?"

Fang Huayan sat beside him, her voice soft as she looked at him.
"Oh... I..."
Lan Yaoming hesitated, unsure where to begin.
They had achieved so much together, united in their efforts as husband and wife.
But after his wife had the baby, he had led the factory into this predicament.
How could he explain?
Yet if he said nothing,
She would worry and certainly go to the factory tomorrow!
In the end, he would not be able to keep it from her.
So...
"Recently, at the factory..."
Lan Yaoming confessed everything except his relationship with Accountant Mo!
Including Wu Ya’s phone call just now.
Fang Huayan listened in silence.
Lan Yaoming lowered his head, at a loss for words.
The room was silent for a long time.
At last—
"Who would have thought? I’ve been away from the factory for just three years, and it’s come to this! You can’t even pay the workers’ wages!"
Fang Huayan’s voice was heavy with disappointment.
This made Lan Yaoming, already wracked with guilt, feel as if he were being stabbed with needles—pain all over.
"Huayan, I’m sorry. It’s all my incompetence..."
"Then what are you waiting for? If you don’t go to the Morningstar Hotel now, when will you? Do you really want to watch the factory fall into someone else’s hands?"
But before Lan Yaoming could finish, Fang Huayan cut him off sharply—this time her tone full of angry reproach!
Even though Lan Yaoming had hidden his relationship with Accountant Mo,
How could the sharp-witted Fang Huayan not notice?
Just from the dinner scene, she could tell something was wrong!
Mo Xiao was clearly scheming.
And Lan Yaoming was letting her do as she pleased!
Their family’s business had actually come to be controlled by an outsider!
Naturally,
Fang Huayan could guess why Wu Ya wanted Lan Yaoming to go to the hotel!
A hotel.
And to watch a "good show."
What "good show" could there be in a hotel?
Nothing but the dirtiest of affairs!
But she didn’t spell it out.
Her purpose, in fact, was the same as Wu Ya’s...
Only by letting Lan Yaoming witness it with his own eyes would he give up for good!
Otherwise,
Even if she pressured him into cooperating with Wu Ya,
In the end, he would still fall to the pitiful, manipulative Mo Xiao!