Chapter 222 – The End of Zhou Tongpeng
After the Discipline Inspection Director respectfully sent Wei Chen over, he returned to the office and convened an emergency meeting regarding Zhou Tongpeng.
It was clear this time that Zhou Tongpeng had intentionally framed Wei Chen. Since they had the audacity to use the Discipline Inspection Committee as a tool, they needed to be prepared for the consequences. Besides, they had already collected enough evidence about Zhou Tong Peng and were ready to launch an arrest operation.
Regardless of the relationship between Wei Chen and Old Master Qu, they had offended Wei Chen by inviting him this time. If Wei Chen were a narrow-minded person, then the Discipline Inspection Director would have a hard time later on. So, they needed to make a statement this time. Since Zhou Tongpeng and Wei Chen belonged to opposing factions and they had evidence against Zhou Tongpeng, they needed to take Zhou Tongpeng down while he was still in the company.
The actions of the Discipline Inspection Committee were very fast. After a brief emergency meeting, they immediately took action.
Meanwhile, Zhou Tongpeng also began to act.
Upon hearing that Wei Chen had been brought in for investigation by the Discipline Inspection Committee and then quickly released, Zhou Tongpeng’s feeling of unease grew. He also realized that the evidence given to him by Chen Yunzeng earlier couldn’t withstand scrutiny; it was fake! That was why Wei Chen was taken for questioning but was quickly released.
But why did Chen Yunzeng give him fake evidence? Zhou Tongpeng couldn’t understand. He was pacing anxiously in his office, not knowing what to do, when Chen Yunzeng entered his office.
Upon seeing Chen Yunzeng, Zhou Tongpeng immediately rushed towards him, grabbing Chen Yunzeng by his collar and fiercely interrogating him, “Why did you give me fake evidence? This could kill me, don’t you know?”
Chen Yunzeng stopped pretending. He pushed Zhou Tongpeng away. Zhou Tongpeng lost his footing and fell to the ground, gasping for breath, clearly agitated, his eyes red, almost wanting to flay and devour Chen Yunzeng!
Chen Yunzeng dusted off his collar that Zhou Tongpeng had grabbed and positioned himself beside Zhou Tongpeng, wearing a consistently elegant smile on his face, but the cruelty in his eyes couldn’t be concealed.
“Do you want to know why?” Chen Yunzeng said softly, then burst into laughter, “Because you’re useless. Look, under your ‘reign,’ how much influence of the Chen family in Changfeng Group has been eradicated by the Sheng family? If you were to continue to sit in that position, would there still be a place for my Chen family in Changfeng Group?”
Zhou Tongpeng’s pupils contracted. He knew that he had been steadily retreating in this period due to being beaten by Wei Chen, which had displeased the Chen family. However, he did not expect that the Chen family would dig a pit to bury him.
After catching his breath on the ground for a while, Zhou Tongpeng finally found words, “Even if that evidence is fake and they can’t pin anything on Wei Chen, I haven’t suffered any losses in this matter. Your calculations were wrong.” Indeed, even if Zhou Tongpeng reported this matter, and even if it turned out Wei Chen was innocent after verification, how he would be treated after the disciplinary committee released Wei Chen was set in stone. It was an unnecessary move.
Chen Yunzeng patted Zhou Tongpeng’s face and smiled wider, “Do you know the source of those two transactions? One was initiated by the Sheng family, and the other was by Old Master Qu.”
Zhou Tongpeng instantly understood; the Chen family was going to abandon him! Sacrificing a pawn to protect the king!
Sheng Guoqi, the cousin of Sheng Jiaqi, was currently the director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, vigorously pursuing corrupt officials. The reason Sheng Jiaqi stirred up such a big wave in Changfeng Group was to support Sheng Guoqi’s work.
The disciplinary committee was onto Zhou Tongpeng. They should have enough evidence, but they hadn’t taken him in for investigation yet. They were following this lead to uncover the big fish behind him.
And the big fish behind him was the Chen family!
That’s why the Chen family was in a hurry. They needed to find a reason to have the disciplinary committee arrest him first, temporarily halting the investigation to buy time for the Chen family to eliminate evidence. This was the Chen family’s maneuver after sacrificing Zhou Tongpeng.
That’s how today’s events unfolded.
As Zhou Tongpeng understood all of this, a fire surged in his heart. He tasted a metallic tang in his throat, and a clot of old blood got stuck, neither going up nor down.
Considering Zhou Tongpeng had served the Chen family as a loyal servant for most of his life, the outcome he now faced was infuriating, yet profoundly sorrowful.
Zhou Tongpeng already had high blood pressure, and now it was skyrocketing. His trembling hand reached into his clothes to fetch his blood pressure medication. He couldn’t die. He wanted to save his last breath to expose the Chen family. Even in death, he would drag the Chen family down with him!
Chen Yunzeng understood Zhou Tongpeng’s intentions. He squatted down and snatched the pill bottle from Zhou Tongpeng, squinting and saying with a smile, “Lately, have you felt that even taking blood pressure medication doesn’t relieve your dizziness and vertigo?”
“You… you all…” Zhou Tongpeng’s speech was now slurred. His whole body trembled, and he hadn’t fainted yet; a lingering resentment kept him hanging on.
Recently, Zhou Tongpeng had indeed been experiencing dizziness and vertigo. The blood pressure medication he took didn’t seem to have any effect. He attributed it to the stress from the disciplinary committee’s investigation, which disrupted his sleep at night. He never imagined that someone would have switched his medication!
Chen Yunzeng twisted open the medicine bottle and poured the contents onto Zhou Tongpeng. He laughed recklessly, saying, “Eat, eat. Eat a bit more. Maybe your blood pressure will come down.”
Zhou Tongpeng stared at Chen Yunzeng intensely, as if trying to etch this person into his soul. “Chen Yun… Zeng, your Chen family… will meet a terrible end…” Resentful words came out, but they became increasingly feeble due to the fading clarity of his mind, making the words inaudible.
Chen Yunzeng didn’t hear. He lightly kicked Zhou Tongpeng, who was now powerless and slumped on the ground, and exclaimed in surprise, “Dead already?” Then he left with a smile.
Naturally, he couldn’t let Zhou Tongpeng be caught. After all, Zhou Tongpeng knew too much. He had to die; only a dead person would keep a secret forever.
Of course, to make Zhou Tongpeng’s death seem more natural and less suspicious, he orchestrated all of this. Later, the public would only know that Zhou Tongpeng was infuriated and ended up dying himself, how amusing, isn’t it?
Zhou Tongpeng stared fixedly at Chen Yunzeng’s retreating figure, even clenching his teeth to try to stay more alert. However, given his already high blood pressure and the fake antihypertensive medication he had taken for a few days, coupled with the anger he felt now, his blood pressure had shot up. The blood vessels in his brain were probably ruptured. So, Zhou Tongpeng only watched as Chen Yunzeng’s figure faded away, his vision becoming increasingly blurred until he finally fell into darkness.
In the last conscious moment, Zhou Tongpeng knew that everything in this world had left him.
When the Discipline Committee pushed open Zhou Tongpeng’s office door and rushed in, what they saw was Zhou Tongpeng lying silently on the ground, and antihypertensive pills scattered all around.
The Discipline Committee called an ambulance and rushed Zhou Tongpeng into the vehicle for rescue. However, it was already beyond the golden rescue time. Ultimately, the rescue efforts were in vain, and he died.
Zhou Tongpeng was dead.
All information related to Zhou Tongpeng was cut off along this line. The Discipline Committee’s plan to pull out a bigger fish along Zhou Tongpeng’s trail came to an abrupt end.
The autopsy report came out quickly. Zhou Tongpeng died due to a sudden spike in blood pressure, leading to a cerebral hemorrhage and death. It could also be summarized as dying from anger.
Upon hearing this news, Sheng Jiaqi fell into a long, deep silence. It was only at this moment that he realized he had been played by Chen Yunzeng. He had underestimated the ruthlessness of the Chen family. He thought the Chen family only wanted to quickly bring Zhou Tongpeng down using Wei Chen’s incident. However, he didn’t expect that the Chen family’s true intention was Zhou Tongpeng’s life!
Sheng Jiaqi took a deep gulp of water, then dialed a phone number. Soon, the call was answered.
“Big brother,” Sheng Jiaqi said, “Zhou Tongpeng is dead. This line is cut.”
“I understand,” came a very steady voice from the other end of the phone. It was Sheng Jiaqi’s cousin, Sheng Guoqi, the current director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, and his political future seemed bright.
“It’s my oversight,” Sheng Jiaqi took responsibility proactively. Indeed, it was his oversight. If he had noticed the intentions of the Chen family earlier, he would have saved Zhou Tongpeng no matter what he had to say.
But Sheng Guoqi said, “It’s not your fault. Even if this matter eventually implicates you, it doesn’t necessarily implicate the Chen family. They have extraordinary methods, and this outcome isn’t surprising.”
Sheng Guoqi never intended to bring down the Chen family through this incident, but it served as a warning. Presumably, the Chen family would behave for some time in the near future.
Afterwards, the two brothers exchanged a few more words before hanging up the phone.
Sheng Jiaqi no longer had a smile on his face at this moment; his gaze was sharp.
Chen family, one day, you will fall from the pinnacle, to console the spirit of my sister in heaven!
When Wei Chen heard the news of Zhou Tongpeng’s death, it was already in the afternoon. He was stunned for a moment before digesting the news.
Zhou Tongpeng died? Just like that?
At this moment, Wei Chen couldn’t describe the feeling in his heart, but he quickly regained his composure. Actually, upon careful consideration, given the Chen family’s methods, this outcome was normal, wasn’t it? After all, a dead person can’t speak. Once Zhou Tongpeng was taken down, the disciplinary committee could dig out a lot of incriminating evidence against the Chen family from Zhou Tongpeng’s mouth.
So, whether Zhou Tongpeng died now or a little later, it was inevitable. How could the Chen family let Zhou Tongpeng live? That would be giving others a handle.
However, Wei Chen couldn’t help but feel a sense of lament in his heart. Zhou Tongpeng had served the Chen family like a horse for so many years, and now he was gone just like that. Living his whole life like this was not worth it.
This inadvertently reminded Wei Chen of his past life. He had only slightly blocked the path of the Chen family’s attempt to swallow the Wei family, and a car accident had struck out of nowhere. And the person behind this accident was, in his past life, someone he considered a sweetheart and his bestfriend! In the last few days of his previous life, Wei Chen not only lost his family but also endured a double betrayal, leaving him filled with resentment.
Fortunately, Chen Li appeared, taking care of him in every possible way, tending to his needs. Over these few days, Chen Li’s attentiveness dispelled the darkness in Wei Chen’s heart, but the hatred still lingered within him.
If it weren’t for Chen Li’s appearance, Wei Chen knew that even if he was reborn, the distorted version of himself would not have carefully planned like he does now. He would have recklessly taken on the Chen family, even if it meant perishing together.
But Chen Li did appear, shining like a beam of light. For the sake of his and Chen Li’s future, Wei Chen had to plan meticulously, ensuring that after the downfall of the Chen family in the future, he could come out unscathed.
Thinking of Chen Li, Wei Chen’s gaze softened unconsciously, and his features came alive.
Wei Chen’s gaze lingered on the calendar for a moment, and he circled tomorrow’s date in red.
On this day last year, he had been reborn from five years ahead.
And today, this very day, marked the first anniversary of his rebirth and the first birthday of Chen Li, after they got together.
Yes, perhaps it was a twist of fate, or perhaps it was a coincidence. The day Wei Chen was reborn happened to be Chen Li’s birthday.
So, in a way, Wei Chen and Chen Li shared the same birthday.
Thanks for the chapter!
happy birthday and anniversary!
thx for the chp!