Guangzhou. Lotus Pier!
With a long, drawn-out blast of the ship’s horn, a passenger ferry slowly pulled up to the pier.
After disembarking, although seasickness left him feeling a bit queasy, Li Yi was still in high spirits.
Because he was about to see Jiang Xue and the children.
Li Yi was both surprised and thrilled that Jiang Xue had brought the children south to find him, yet he also felt a twinge of guilt.
He had once said that he didn’t want this life to be like his previous one—where he became nothing more than a money-making machine. He wanted to focus his life on his family, on his wife, children, and parents.
But now that he’d been gone for months—unable to attend to Jiang Xue’s emotional needs or be there to watch his children grow—he felt he had completely strayed from his original life plan.
However, he also knew that plans were just plans; there were simply too many variables in life.
Take Jiang Xue’s status as the heiress of a wealthy family, for instance—whether in his past life or this one, this was something Li Yi had never anticipated.
If his wife weren’t the “little princess” of the Jiang and Ye families, he would never have entered the international capital market so early, nor would he have come to the attention of the higher-ups and been entrusted with such a crucial role.
They say that with great power comes great responsibility. Often, it’s not that he couldn’t take the lead, but rather that he felt certain matters simply couldn’t be shirked.
As soon as he stepped out of the port, Li Yi spotted Zhou Rui standing at the exit with a few people.
Upon seeing them, he immediately waved to signal his approach.
Stepping up to Zhou Rui, Li Yi smiled and said, “Director Zhou, why did you come personally? It’s truly humbling to have a director of your stature come to pick me up!”
“Haven’t seen you in months—how come you’ve gotten so smooth with your words?”
Zhou Rui continued, “I heard those foreigners were planning to lay a trap for you. The higher-ups were worried something might happen to you, so they sent me to be stationed here, ready to provide reinforcements at any moment!”
Li Yi smiled and said, “They’re just a bunch of nobodies. They wouldn’t dare trouble a big shot like you. We’ve already taken care of them!”
“Hmm, I’ve already received Comrade Yan Guangming’s report. You did a great job!” Zhou Rui said.
“Those guys had no idea how strong we are. They totally underestimated us!”
“Right. Never mind them. Get in the car first—Comrade Xiao Jiang is waiting for you at the provincial government compound!” Zhou Rui said.
“Alright…”
The group then got into the car and headed straight for the city center…
By the time they returned to the small villa belonging to his father-in-law, Jiang Shiying, it was already 5:30 p.m.
When Li Yi pushed open the door, he saw Jiang Xue and his older sister playing with the children in the yard.
Hearing the commotion at the front gate, they all turned to look.
When they saw it was Li Yi returning, Jiang Xue was taken aback for a moment, then quickly set Little Yunjin down on the ground and hurried toward the front gate.
Seeing their mother run off, Yunrui and Yunjin immediately set off after her on their little legs.
After months of longing, Jiang Xue wanted to throw herself into her husband’s arms and pour out her feelings of missing him.
But after running just a few steps, she spotted Zhou Rui, Zhang Ziqiang, Zhou Wen, and the others trailing behind Li Yi, and her newly picked-up pace couldn’t help but slow.
Li Yi, of course, knew exactly what was on her mind. He quickened his pace and, under Jiang Xue’s shy and delighted gaze, pulled her into his arms.
Held in Li Yi’s arms, breathing in the familiar scent of her man, Jiang Xue felt both delighted and thrilled.
However, before she could speak, a high-pitched, childish voice came from behind them: “Hug me…”
Li Yi looked in the direction of the voice and saw his son’s chubby figure beside Jiang Xue’s pant leg. The little bundle was holding onto his mother’s pant leg with one hand while looking up at him with big, watery eyes.
The charm of an adorable, clumsy human baby is immense—especially when it’s your own son. That charm is bound to be super-doubled!
Li Yi immediately let go of Jiang Xue, then bent down, swept his arms out, and scooped Yun Rui right up.
Next, he took a step forward and scooped up his precious little girl as well.
After planting a kiss on each of the little ones’ cheeks, Li Yi asked with a smile, “Do you still remember Daddy?”
Yun Jin tugged at Li Yi’s collar with one hand and stroked his face with the other, saying, “Daddy… Daddy…”
Yun Rui also kept calling out “Daddy” over and over. Clearly, both children still remembered him, which made Li Yi particularly happy.
Just then, his mother-in-law, Ye Lingyun, came out of the house. She took a moment to look at the heartwarming scene of the family of four, then motioned for Zhou Rui and the others to come inside…
………..
Just as Li Yi was reuniting with his wife and children, Dowson was fretting over the conditions Li Yi had put forward.
Faced with these three conditions, Dalson not only felt put on the spot but was also deeply alarmed.
These conditions were simply too harsh. Transferring 43% of the shares in New Territories Warehouse for just one Hong Kong dollar was tantamount to forcing the Sassoon family to directly give up assets worth tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars.
This wasn’t a matter of tens or hundreds of dollars, but billions.
Faced with such a massive sum, Dowson naturally dared not make a decision on his own; he certainly didn’t want to be made a scapegoat for Gustaf.
But Li Yi’s demand that Gustaf apologize in the mainstream media was even more ruthless—it would force Gustaf to personally admit to hiring a hitman, effectively turning the evidence against himself.
This would not only damage Gustaf’s own reputation but also severely tarnish the prestige of the entire Sassoon family—a truly devastating blow.
If this had happened a few decades ago, they might not have cared about such matters.
But now, with societal progress, public tolerance for such matters is waning. If a corporate family’s reputation is ruined, their future will be a difficult one.
As for sentencing Gusta to five years in Hong Kong Island Prison, this effectively amounts to holding him hostage, ensuring the family dares not make any rash moves.
Every single one of these conditions was laced with hidden danger.
Therefore, Dalson dared not act on his own initiative; he could only relay the situation back to Europe once more and seek a decision from the family’s leadership.
Naturally, the Sassoon family would not sit idly by and wait for their doom; upon receiving Dolsen’s telegram, they were furious.
In their view, by taking the initiative to negotiate with that Asian man, they had given him face, yet he was still trying to manipulate them.
Since the other side showed no sincerity in negotiating, they immediately adjusted their strategy and decided to confront Li Yi head-on.
The only silver lining was that Gusta was currently in the hands of the British Hong Kong government, not Li Yi’s, which gave them significantly more room to maneuver in handling the matter.
After some deliberation, the Sassoon family decided to mobilize their family’s influence to have London extradite Gustaf back to Europe to stand trial.
As long as Gusta returned to London, they could fully leverage their family’s influence within the British Empire to sway the judicial verdict.
It’s even possible that Gusta could return home without ever being sentenced.
And even if he were sentenced, given their family’s power in Europe, there were countless ways to secure his release.
Subsequently, the Sassoon family sent a telegram to Dolsen, instructing him to stall Li Yi while immediately dispatching agents to London to set things in motion.
What they didn’t know, however, was that Li Yi had already anticipated their moves. Before taking action, he had contacted Sandy and asked him to intervene.
Consequently, the Sassoon family’s plan was doomed to fail…
……..