Chapter 471

Chapter 471 Brought to Justice

Xia Qing watched Qin Yueran leave, covering her mouth to hide a quiet smile. In her eyes, her best friend and Su Rui were still at odds with each other, sparring both openly and behind the scenes.

　　At that moment, Ma Lan and Xia Min exchanged a glance and asked, “Su Rui, what exactly do you do?”

　　Although the atmosphere was a bit awkward, they believed that given Su Rui’s performance just now, he would absolutely not take Xia Min’s few barbed remarks to heart.

　　Hearing Ma Lan’s question, Su Rui gave a light smile and said, “Auntie, I really am just an ordinary sales rep in the marketing department at Bikang.”

　　Shi Cheng sneered with barely concealed irritation, “An ordinary sales rep would get treated like that by Junlan’s queen Qin Yueran? Are you taking yourself for a fool, or are you taking all of us for fools?”

　　The tone of those words clearly reeked of sour grapes.

　　Xia Min had completely lost faith in this junior Shi Cheng. It was now clear that he was not only vain and arrogant, but utterly without any magnanimity — narrow-minded to the core, with nothing remotely upright or honorable about him.

　　Su Rui looked at Shi Cheng with a smile and said, “I have always said I’m a sales rep. I have never said I know Qin Yueran.”

　　Of course, Su Rui’s unspoken implication was — some people don’t know Qin Yueran at all, yet insist on putting on an act like they’re close with her.

　　Shi Cheng clearly caught the undercurrent in those words, and his face instantly turned beet red.

　　Su Rui looked at Shi Cheng and shook his head. Someone like this truly wasn’t worthy of being his opponent. Even trading barbs with him here made Su Rui feel like he was lowering himself.

　　”How you ended up as the president’s assistant at Tenghui Group — you know full well what’s behind that. Don’t go around flaunting it anymore, or I can very easily have you removed from that position.”

　　Su Rui’s words were calm and understated, yet within that composed delivery lay a quiet authority — the kind that could determine another person’s fate.

　　That suddenly revealed aura of someone who stands above others gave even Xia Min a slight start.

　　Hearing this, Shi Cheng’s face burned like it was on fire, looking utterly wretched.

　　It was absolutely true that Shi Cheng had become the president’s assistant for the Greater China region of Tenghui Pharmaceuticals not because of any exceptional personal ability, but because Tenghui Pharmaceuticals had acquired three thousand acres of land in Jianghe City for a new development project and had reached a certain understanding with a city official — as a gesture of goodwill, Tenghui Group had directly promoted Shi Cheng several levels to the position of president’s assistant.

　　It was much like how many foreign banks, upon entering China, had promoted the children of numerous officials straight into senior management roles — all for the sake of leveraging connections and opening doors when the time came.

　　Xia Min had worked in government for many years and understood this kind of back-room dealing better than anyone. Now that Su Rui had brought it up, he finally realized that this old acquaintance’s son was nowhere near as capable as he had imagined.

　　Su Rui’s words were like a sharp blade, cutting straight to Shi Cheng’s core and stripping away every last shred of his dignity.

　　”You’re slandering me — I can sue you for defaming a foreign company executive!” Shi Cheng said through gritted teeth.

　　Having lost face again and again throughout the evening, and with the Xia family’s door now completely shut to him, he had completely boiled over in shame and rage.

　　”Slander? You’ve got quite the talent for gilding your own image.” Su Rui gave him a contemptuous glance. “I don’t even need you to tell me — everything you have today, you owe entirely to your father the mayor. But how exactly your father clawed his way to that position — I doubt you even know the full story, do you?”

　　Hearing those words, Xia Min felt a jolt run through his entire body. Events from many years ago surged back into his mind.

　　Shi Cheng’s face erupted with fury as he slammed the table. “Say what you just said again if you’ve got the guts!”

　　The force of that slam was so loud it drew the attention of every other diner in the restaurant.

　　In a high-end establishment like this, making a scene like that was an absolutely inexcusable breach of conduct.

　　Su Rui narrowed his eyes, raised his head, and said lightly, “I could say it a hundred times and there’s nothing you could do about it. And another thing — I really don’t like people slamming tables at me.”

　　With that, Su Rui shot out a foot and sent Shi Cheng flying, chair and all.

　　Nobody could say just how much force went into that kick, but Shi Cheng actually traced a parabolic arc through the air, flew more than ten meters, and then tumbled off the elevated terrace, landing in the sea below with a loud splash.

　　The entire scene froze.

　　Nobody had expected Su Rui to act so swiftly — he hadn’t even given the other person time to react.

　　”Is he going to be alright?”

　　Xia Qing knew Su Rui’s style, and she stood up with some concern. Seeing Shi Cheng thrashing about in the water, she finally relaxed.

　　”Brother, well done — that’s exactly the kind of dominance you need when dealing with a rival!” someone at a nearby table cheered loudly for Su Rui.

　　Xia Min didn’t spare even a glance at the man who had fallen into the sea. His eyes were fixed squarely on Su Rui as he said, “What you said just now — is there any basis for it?”

　　What he was referring to, of course, was how Shi Huabin had risen to power.

　　Shi Cheng’s father had once been Xia Min’s deputy. The two had worked together very well. But after Xia Min was sidelined due to an accident and Shi Huabin successfully took his place, Xia Min had noticed a change in Shi Huabin’s conduct — aggressive, glory-seeking, and no longer grounded. Even so, out of respect for years of friendship, Xia Min had never said much about it.

　　But Su Rui’s words just now had shaken him deeply.

　　This young man would never fire without aim. Whatever he had said, he must have had a particular purpose behind it.

　　”Dad, what’s wrong?” Xia Qing looked at her father’s expression and felt that something wasn’t quite right.

　　”You don’t need to look at me like that.” Su Rui smiled faintly, his gaze carrying a cool, measured quality. “I can say with certainty that the incident back then was no accident — there was someone pulling strings behind the scenes.”

　　”You mean…” Ma Lan let out a sharp gasp. Only now did she grasp what the sudden shift in the conversation between Su Rui and her husband truly meant.

　　”Whoever stood to gain the most from that incident is the most likely suspect.”

　　”Shi Huabin!” The answer was right on the tip of everyone’s tongue.

　　Su Rui tapped the table lightly. “Uncle Xia, it all comes down to whether you want to reclaim what you lost back then.”

　　Back then, had that accident never happened, Xia Min would certainly have entered the city-level leadership, and it was entirely possible that he might be the mayor of Jianghe City today. But after the accident, everything went the opposite way — his career was destroyed outright.

　　”So many years have passed. Whether I reclaim it or not hardly matters anymore. But I do want to know the truth.” Xia Min looked steadily at Su Rui and said, “I hope what you’re saying is backed by solid evidence.”

　　”Just wanting to know the truth — is that really all?” Su Rui opened his phone’s email app and handed it to Xia Min. “That’s no problem. I hope you can make a decision after reading this.”

　　As Xia Min read through the documents in the inbox, his expression grew heavier and heavier. Finally, unable to contain himself, he slammed the table hard. “What a disgrace!”

　　”You can know a person’s face but not their heart. Uncle Xia, I’m afraid he’s been deceiving you for many years.”

　　Ma Lan tugged anxiously at her husband’s sleeve. “Are you alright? What happened?”

　　”In that accident back then, more than twenty workers died. The compensation payouts alone came to nearly twenty million. Shi Huabin was the on-site head of the accident response team.” Xia Min’s eyes showed a flash of fury. “If the contents of this email are true, then it means those twenty-some people were deliberately sacrificed.”

　　Su Rui nodded.

　　”More than twenty lives — just like that, gone.” Xia Min’s expression turned to one of anguish. After the accident, he had blamed himself for a long time, believing he had failed to properly supervise workplace safety. But looking at it now, even if he had done that work as thoroughly and carefully as possible, it would have made no difference — someone would always find a way to exploit that kind of gap.

　　In this world, there are always too many people who, when faced with enormous gain, will stop at nothing — even losing their humanity entirely.

　　Su Rui could see clearly that Xia Min was an upright official. Upon learning the truth, his first thought was not to immediately seek redress for his own losses, but to feel grief and outrage for those more than twenty innocent lives.

　　”If what’s in this email is true, I want to bring them to justice.”

　　After a long silence, the silver-templed Xia Min finally spoke in a grave, measured tone.

　　He had been ready to settle into a peaceful retirement. The pension of a full department-level official was decent enough — he could quietly enjoy his grandchildren without any trouble. But the moment he said those words, it meant his later years would no longer be peaceful.

　　Looking at this man with the resolute expression on his face, a trace of admiration flickered in Su Rui’s eyes.

　　”Uncle Xia, this matter will likely be very difficult.”

　　The resolve was admirable, but truly acting on it would require considerable capability and courage. Su Rui had to make sure Xia Min understood the risks and challenges involved.

　　”First, the evidence in this email came to me through unofficial channels. Even though I can confirm it’s authentic, China’s official authorities may not necessarily recognize it.”

　　”Second, Shi Huabin is now a full bureau-level official. You’ve been out of the picture for years, and he has far more leverage than you do — that’s an undeniable fact. You may not even get close to touching him before he turns the tables on you completely.”

　　”Third, given China’s current circumstances, you know better than I do how many steps it takes and how much effort is required to bring down a full bureau-level official.”

　　”Fourth — and this is the most critical point — when such a major accident occurred back then, every agency that investigated it, whether public security or oversight departments, all maintained the exact same conclusion. That shows just how wide-reaching this matter is. Looking at it now, there’s absolutely no way Shi Huabin alone could have had that kind of reach.”

　　This was the most crucial point of all.

　　To leverage an incident like that to rise to power, Shi Huabin must have had someone above him. Pull one thread and the whole web moves.

　　Taking down Xia Min alone would never have warranted such an elaborate operation, which meant there had to be other reasons behind all of this.

　　”Uncle Xia, do you still intend to bring these people to justice?”

　　It was precisely because Su Rui saw the terrifying chain of interests lurking behind this matter that he felt compelled to ask.

　　”Shi Huabin may have… some connection to the Bai family in the capital.” Xia Min sat in thought for several minutes before finally speaking in a low, measured voice.