Beijing. The Liang Family!
Jiang Longcheng and Ye Jianhua both looked utterly stunned. To others, Li Yi’s words seemed rather baffling.
But they had both witnessed Li Yi’s capabilities firsthand. He wasn’t the type to speak without reason; on the contrary, when he did speak, there was certainly a reason behind it.
And more often than not, it wasn’t good news.
After the initial shock subsided, Jiang Longcheng immediately whispered, “Brother-in-law, will Yang Laowu try to harm us?”
“He certainly won’t!” Li Yi replied.
Hearing this, Jiang Longcheng’s expression changed again. If Yang Hua wouldn’t harm them, and considering what his brother-in-law had just said, it meant that Yang Hua was in for trouble—and serious trouble at that.
If they remained close to him, they might get dragged into it.
With that thought, Jiang Longcheng swallowed hard. He glanced around to make sure no one was paying attention to them, then cautiously asked, “Brother-in-law, is that Yang Laowu guy… involved with that Du family kid…”
Before he could finish, Li Yi nodded, but said nothing.
Some things are best left unsaid—voicing them would ruin the point!
But Li Yi was confident that Jiang Longcheng and Ye Jianhua would understand what he meant.
Actually, the moment Yang Hua walked in, Li Yi had felt he looked familiar, but he couldn’t place where he’d seen him before.
But once he heard his name, Li Yi knew it was him, and he realized where that inexplicable sense of familiarity had come from.
The newspaper—specifically, the report on his execution!
That’s right—the reports on Yang Hua’s execution.
As a prime example of the crackdown during that special operation, the death sentence handed down to Yang Hua—the son of a high-ranking official—was undoubtedly a major national event. In his previous life, the media had covered the incident in great detail.
Yang Hua’s photo had graced the front pages of major newspapers more than once and had even appeared on the national news broadcast. Whether by choice or circumstance, Li Yi had seen his photo before.
He just never imagined that one day he’d actually meet this “privileged son” in person—and alive, at that.
By then, Jiang Longcheng had recovered from his shock and looked at Li Yi, asking, “Brother-in-law, is there any room for leniency in Yang Hua’s case?”
“Third Brother, let’s discuss this later, but no matter what, you must stay far away from him!” Li Yi warned once more.
It was no wonder Li Yi was so serious. Back then, the Yang Hua case had far-reaching consequences—not only did it affect his colleagues, friends, and classmates, but a whole group of third-generation Beijing elites had suffered collateral damage as well.
Although Yang Hua’s actions were indeed deserving of death, there were certainly innocent people among those around him—at the very least, a large portion of them didn’t deserve to die.
In fact, if one were to be honest, Ye Jianhua’s conviction in his previous life was, to some extent, connected to that man—though not in a direct way.
To prevent Jiang Longcheng and Ye Jianhua from being implicated, Li Yi had no choice but to warn them.
“Alright…”
Knowing this wasn’t the place for a detailed discussion, Jiang Longcheng immediately changed the subject and began talking about the situation at their Second State-Owned Cotton Mill.
Li Yi was actually quite interested in this, as the performance of State Cotton Mill No. 2 directly affected his own interests.
Upon learning that State Cotton Mill No. 2 had opened 180 new branches in a single year, bringing the total number of branches nationwide to 500, and that total profits for the first seven months had exceeded 64 million yuan, Li Yi was very pleased.
After all, according to the agreement he had signed with the Beijing Municipal Government and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, he was entitled to 12% of that 64 million yuan.
More importantly, this was just the profit from the first seven months; at this rate, State Cotton Mill No. 2’s total profit by year-end would very likely reach 100 million yuan.
He had previously promised Jiang Longcheng that he would help him build a company with annual profits exceeding 100 million yuan—he hadn’t expected it to happen so quickly.
As they chatted, guests kept arriving, and before long, the courtyard was filled with people.
As time went on, the guests’ ranks grew higher and higher, and even senior military and political leaders from the older generation began to appear.
As the clock neared twelve, amid a burst of commotion, Old Master Jiang and Old Master Ye arrived, accompanied by Jiang Shiying and Ye Lingyun.
Seeing this, Li Yi, Jiang Longcheng, Ye Jianhua, and the others immediately stood up to greet them.
The two elders didn’t linger long with the younger generation; after a brief exchange, they were escorted inside by Old Liang, who had come out personally to welcome them.
However, Jiang Shiying and Ye Lingyun stayed behind and took seats at Li Yi’s table.
As soon as Jiang Shiying and Ye Lingyun took their seats, Li Yi noticed that more people were paying attention to their table; quite a few were glancing their way, whether intentionally or not.
After a short while, someone came over to greet his in-laws.
This seemed to serve as a signal, as a steady stream of people began to approach to greet them—including representatives from local families and socialites from Beijing whom his mother-in-law knew.
Actually, Li Yi didn’t mind people coming over to greet his in-laws, but what he hadn’t expected was that every time someone approached, his father-in-law, Jiang Shiying, would introduce him to them.
Before long, Li Yi realized he had seemingly become the center of attention.
And indeed, that was the case. The Jiang and Ye families were already formidable in their own right, and their growth over the past two years had been nothing short of meteoric.
The Jiang family, in particular, had seen its second-generation members receive promotions one after another since last year, while the third generation had also made significant strides.
With Old Master Jiang serving as the family’s rock, the Jiang family’s future looked limitless.
With the family at its peak, everyone naturally paid close attention to the other members of the Jiang family as well.
More importantly, rumors had been circulating since the year before last that the third son of the Jiang family had found his long-lost daughter and brought back a son-in-law.
However, since both Li Yi and Jiang Xue are exceptionally low-key, aside from those closest to the family, most people have only heard their names but never seen them in person.
That’s just how people are—the more something is kept hidden, the more everyone wants to know about it.
Regarding the Jiang family’s strict secrecy about their only son-in-law, the Beijing social scene was abuzz with all sorts of rumors. Some claimed the Jiang family’s son-in-law was a lowly peasant with little education, and that he wasn’t approved of by the family.
Others say the Jiang family considers him incompetent, but since the young couple already has a child and their relationship is strong, the family doesn’t want to break them up, so they plan to keep him as a son-in-law living in their home.
Still others claim the Jiang family keeps the mysterious son-in-law’s identity under wraps because they’ve secretly sent him to serve in the military…
In short, the major aristocratic families of the capital were quite curious about Li Yi’s identity; the flames of gossip burned fiercely, yet very few people actually knew the truth about him!
Of course, aside from Li Yi and Jiang Xue’s own discretion, the more significant reason was the information blackout imposed by higher authorities.
After all, Li Yi is the Foreign Exchange Bureau’s cash cow, bringing in over a billion dollars in foreign exchange for the country every year—his influence is immense, so naturally, no one can just go around prying into his affairs.
However, what no one expected was that at today’s Liang family engagement banquet, not only did Jiang Shiying attend in person, but she also brought along that mysterious son-in-law of the Jiang family.
This inevitably sparked speculation: could the Jiang family be preparing to officially bring this son-in-law into the public eye?
As for Li Yi, although he was no stranger to rough waters, being the center of attention—especially with so many familiar faces among the crowd, including some well-known veteran generals—still made him feel somewhat uneasy.
It wasn’t exactly like sitting on pins and needles, but it certainly wasn’t comfortable!
Fortunately, Old Master Jiang, who was the star of the show, had arrived late. Shortly after he arrived, the engagement banquet began.
Since it was merely an engagement banquet, it didn’t involve the same complex rituals as a wedding.
When the time was right, the high-ranking dignitaries inside, accompanied by Old Master Liang, stepped outside and took their seats at the table at the very front.
Immediately afterward, the soon-to-be bride and groom emerged from the room, accompanied by Jiang Xue and several other young women.
However, when Li Yi saw the groom-to-be in his military uniform, his expression changed once again…
………