The day before Zhang Chengyou was summoned for questioning by the police, he rushed to the research center to confront Han Weicheng.
"You better make sure I walk away from this unscathed." Zhang Chengyou slammed his phone onto the table in front of Han Weicheng.
"Look at these news reports online. Didn't you say that as soon as the police got involved, the Mu family would suppress the whole thing? And what happened?"
"Not only did they not suppress it, they seemed eager to let more people know. They even invited reporters for full coverage. They're not afraid of being investigated at all."
"You also said that even if Mu Corporation's freckle cream passed inspection, there'd definitely be issues in the production process—missing ingredients on the label or something."
"But what now? The police have been investigating for a while, and several testing agencies got involved. What did they find? The more they dig, the cleaner the Mu Corporation looks. The more they check, the more reputable the Mu Traditional Medicine Hospital becomes."
"And now I've been dragged into this mess because of your idiotic plan. You said we just had to fabricate some counterfeit products to stir up confusion and the Mu family would get dragged down with it."
"So what now? I'm telling you, Han Weicheng, if this doesn't end with me walking out of that police station without blame like you promised…"
"You're not walking away from this either."
At this point, Zhang Chengyou wanted nothing more than to wring Han Weicheng's neck. Fast cash, sowing chaos, dragging Mu Corporation down—what kind of second-rate schemes were these?
This guy called himself a university professor? A senior researcher?
In Zhang Chengyou's eyes, Han Weicheng was worse than a street thug—his head was full of malicious thoughts, ruthless and vicious to the core. A born villain.
He should never have partnered with someone like this.
Han Weicheng's face was as dark as ink.
He hadn't expected the Mu Corporation to be this clean either. Even Mu Side's new company was operated so strictly and by-the-book that there wasn't a single loophole to exploit.
Calling them law-abiding citizens didn't even cut it. They were practically the model of lawful conduct. Who even does business like this? It was baffling.
Were they not losing money with this level of honesty?
And now, with the investigation clearing them, the Mu Traditional Medicine Hospital and Mu Side's cosmeceutical brand had received a wave of publicity. They'd turned a scandal into free marketing.
They didn't even need to pay for advertisements—suddenly, everyone knew their name.
Han Weicheng thought maybe he should spell his name backward out of shame—but thankfully, no one else knew that.
He glanced at Zhang Chengyou, trying to calm him:
"Don't be rash. Just listen to me. Complaining about me won't help now. I underestimated how clean the Mu Corporation really is, I admit it."
"What matters now is clearing your name. Sure, you invested in the factory, but you weren't involved in its operations, and you had barely any contact with the owner."
"As long as you insist you knew nothing about what was going on, you can dodge responsibility. At most, they'll confiscate your earnings and fine you a bit."
Zhang Chengyou stared at Han Weicheng. As much as he wanted to skin the man alive, things had reached this point. He had no choice but to follow Han's advice again—do whatever it took to extract himself from the case.
When he was called in for questioning, Zhang Chengyou still refused to believe that the Mu family's factory and Mu Side's brand were completely clean.
In his eyes, the Mu family were deceitful scoundrels. They used medicine to fool people. They had caused his father's death, destroyed the Zhang family, sent some to prison and scattered the rest. Even after fleeing abroad, his relatives had struggled.
All of it was the Mu family's fault. And now, while the Zhangs barely scraped by, the Mus were thriving again—still relying on their old medical trade.
He was determined to expose them, to reveal their true faces to the world.
Whether it was the Mu Corporation, their herbal remedies, or their acupuncture techniques—it was all just a scam to get people's money. It was harmful, through and through.
That belief was why he trusted Han Weicheng so completely. He thought Han had seen through the Mu family's façade more than twenty years ago.
He believed Han held the key to destroying the Mu family's reputation. That's why he blindly supported Han, believed in what Xiao Anning said, invested in Han's research, and secretly opened the factory to dig a trap for Mu Corporation.
But in the end, he was left stunned as the officer questioned him.
"There really weren't any violations in the Mu Corporation case? They really committed no crimes at all?"
"There were reporters documenting our entire investigation," the young officer said with a smirk. "Even without the reporters, you should believe in our ability to conduct a proper investigation."
Zhang Chengyou still didn't buy it. "But this is the Mu family. Mu Corporation is a major pharmaceutical company in Shen City now. They work with several top hospitals. Who knows if you guys were—"
"Watch what you say." The officer's tone sharpened. "Precisely because they have ties to so many hospitals and companies, we were more cautious. We looked even harder."
"Hospitals are vital to people's lives. We all get sick. We all need medicine. Even if we're not shouting slogans about serving the people, we still have to think about ourselves."
"And our friends and family. That's why we investigated this case thoroughly. No favoritism. You can question Mu Corporation if you like, but you do not question our fairness."
"Instead of focusing on them, maybe you should come clean about your own issues. That factory…"
…
Just like Han Weicheng instructed, Zhang Chengyou stuck to his story—claiming he knew nothing about the factory's operations. All fraudulent activities were solely the work of the factory owner and had nothing to do with him.
Following that summons, he did indeed walk out of the police station unharmed.
The case was eventually closed, and the police summoned him once more to sign some paperwork.
Outside the station that day, he ran into Mu Side and Shu Lanzhou.
Seeing Mu Side's calm, dignified demeanor, Zhang Chengyou was consumed with jealousy. Back when the Zhang family fell apart, he had been even younger than Mu Side was now.
He too had once been a proud, dashing aristocrat in Shen City. Everyone had called him "Young Master Zhang." But times had changed. He wasn't even forty, yet he already looked old.
In a city as vast as Shen City, who still remembered the Zhang family? Who still remembered "Young Master Zhang"?
And all of it, all the suffering and humiliation—was thanks to the Mu family. The old man who killed his father may have died early, but did that mean everything was forgiven?
The Zhang family had never been restored. Why should the Mu family get to flourish? Why should their deceitful medicine be allowed to rise again?
Not a chance.
With a cold snort of disdain, Zhang Chengyou strode into the police station.
He thought he'd just be signing a few papers and leaving. But instead, he was taken straight to the interrogation room.
"Mr. Zhang, we called you here today not only to sign the closure documents for the Mu Corporation counterfeit case, but also to assist with another investigation."
The officer handed him a case file.
"During our investigation into the incident of group assault at the Traditional Medicine Hospital, we discovered that one of the troublemakers received a sizable transfer from an overseas account belonging to a relative of yours."
"Wha… What do you mean?" Cold sweat broke out on Zhang Chengyou's back. That transaction had been done with utmost secrecy—how could the police have uncovered such detailed information about an overseas account?
How had it been exposed so quickly? Besides, he'd heard that Shu Lanzhou hadn't even pressed charges. The police hadn't officially opened a case. What investigation?
He composed himself and said flatly, "I don't know what you're talking about. What relative? What transfer? What does that case have to do with me?"