bayedsolid Chapter 261 Seizure
Chapter 261 Seizure
Grandma took the jade bracelet, as happy as a child: "That's wonderful! I'll wear it to see Old Song tomorrow!"
I opened my mouth, but in the end, I didn't tell the truth.
That evening, Jiang Yichen mysteriously pulled me into his study and handed me a document.
"What is this?" I asked, opening it with a puzzled look, then my eyes widened in surprise.
It was a proposal from an "Anti-Counterfeiting Charity Foundation," which detailed how to help consumers identify counterfeit goods and protect their rights.
“You…” I looked up at him, my eyes welling up with tears.
He smiled and ruffled my hair: "Consider this foundation a gift from me to you."
I threw myself into his arms, tears welling up in my eyes.
On several evenings, the desk lamp in the study cast a warm yellow glow on the solid wood table. As I was stuffing the last piece of evidence into the file folder, a pair of hands suddenly stopped me.
"It's time to rest." Jiang Yichen placed the warm ginger tea beside me.
She gently stroked my reddened knuckles with her fingertips, saying, "You can't stay up late in early pregnancy."
I looked up at him. Two buttons of his shirt collar were undone, and his chin was stubbled. He was nothing like the sharp-tongued man I'd seen at the market supervision bureau hearing earlier that day. Back then, as a platform consultant, when the Jin family's legal team questioned the sampling procedures, the three sets of evidence he presented in court caused an uproar—backend logs showing the Jin family's manipulation of the short video algorithm, joint testimonies from thirty-seven merchants, and financial statements from an overseas shell company.
I grasped his hand in return, feeling the thin calluses on his palm from the pen. "Once I file this pre-litigation preservation order, you'll see that the efficiency of the Internet Court is even faster than I imagined."
He leaned down to look at the documents in my hand, his breath brushing against my ear: "The fake recording will be taken down from all online platforms within 48 hours, and the account funds will be frozen..." His soft laughter made my earlobes burn. Suddenly, raindrops pounded against the windowpane; the early summer downpour came unexpectedly.
Jiang Yichen got up to close the window, his suit trousers still stained with coffee that had been splashed on him by radical businessmen during the hearing.
I watched his retreating figure, "Thump—"
The same sound startled me back to reality; he was placing the file box on the corner of the table. "Don't worry about what the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection is up to," he said, taking the file from my hand. "The key list for the anti-gang and anti-crime campaign was just added this morning, along with the Jin family."
My phone screen lit up at that moment, and Xu Sisi sent me a screenshot: Under the trending topic of an anti-counterfeiting livestreamer receiving an anonymous threatening letter, verified blue-V accounts from local market supervision bureaus were taking turns posting pictures of their uniform shoulder insignia. I zoomed in on the image; a young woman from a certain county bureau even had celery leaves from the market stuck to her shoulder insignia.
“The public opinion team did a good job.” Jiang Yichen glanced at the screen and turned up the air conditioner temperature by two degrees. “But the real thank you is to the Anti-Monopoly Bureau—” He pointed to one of the screenshots, a picture posted on the WeChat Moments of a bag factory owner, showing piles of counterfeit trademarks exposed by a smashed wall. “These merchants’ applications for leniency are more effective than a hundred announcements.”
Amidst the sound of rain, a special notification tone broke the silence as Jiang Yichen unlocked his tablet and handed it to me. Inside the encrypted email lay an investigation report from a Ministry of Justice expert; the nested structure of the Jin family's offshore companies was peeling away layer by layer in the 3D model.
I noticed that the posting time was 3 a.m., and the accompanying text was his mentor's usual phrase: "The chain of evidence is closed, and it can be used as a hidden weapon in court."
"When did you contact Professor Zhang?" I turned and glared at him.
He was draping a wool cardigan over my shoulders when he heard this, and paused for a moment: "The night last week when your morning sickness was at its worst."
A warm hand enveloped my cold fingers. "While you were crying while hugging the toilet, I was having an overseas video conference in the study next door. Look how diligent your husband is."
My nose tingled with emotion.
"Don't cry, pregnant women shouldn't get emotional."
Her tone, however, was softer than a down feather, "Shall I let you stew coconut chicken tomorrow?"
Before he could finish speaking, his phone vibrated. A meeting notice from the Provincial Federation of Industry and Commerce popped up, and sure enough, companies affiliated with the Jin family were excluded from the "Platform Economy Compliance Seminar."
As I watched him quickly reply to emails, something suddenly occurred to me: "That section chief from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission..."
“We’re old classmates.” He smiled slightly.
"The meeting 'inadvertently' revealed the need to regulate shadow banking, and the Jin family should be receiving a run on their bank by now."
The filing cabinet suddenly made a soft creaking sound. Jiang Yichen followed my gaze and abruptly wrapped his arms around me from behind. His chin rested on the top of my head, and his voice came from above: "Actually, when you're working so diligently, I think..."
A piercing ringtone abruptly ended the call; it was from the Anti-Money Laundering Center. He answered the phone, and I watched his profile flicker in the cold light of the screen, hearing the key phrase "private equity change."
After he hung up, I raised an eyebrow: "The second young master of the Jin family?"
He sneered, "They just received investment from a national-level industrial fund and started investigating a long time ago. He's just someone who can't get any real power."
We both looked down at the push notification—"Old K Talks Stocks," a financial blogger who had been bribed by the Jin family, was being escorted into a police car wearing an electronic ankle bracelet. He was the same person who had spread rumors about the Jiang family's stocks.
Under the high-definition lens, the ink on the cover of the case file, which reads "defamation," smudged in the torrential rain.
Jiang Yichen suddenly reached out and closed the laptop: "Go to sleep." Before I could protest, he picked me up and carried me in his arms. "You're two people now."
As he fell onto the bed, his fingertips brushed against my lower abdomen, where there was still no visible rise and fall. The threatening letter I received this morning was on the bedside table, now weighed down by a paperweight, and on top of it was the hush money check returned by the driver—the donation receipt read "First donation to the Small and Micro Enterprise Compliance Support Fund".
"Once the case is over..." He tucked me in, "you can finally relax. You can get some rest now."
I nestled into his arms, finally escaping the heat of his body behind me. His heartbeat pressed against my back, each beat shattering the torrential rain.
In the study of the Jin family's old house, Old Master Jin slammed the purple clay teapot he was holding onto the ground, scattering shards everywhere.
He roared, veins bulging on his forehead, "Useless! All of you are useless! You can't even handle Jiang Yichen, what's the point of keeping you around!"
The eldest son, Jin Mingyuan, stood to the side, his face ashen. He had just received news that the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission had begun a thorough investigation into the Jin family's cash flow, and several partner banks were demanding early repayment.
"Dad, now is not the time to lose your temper," he said, barely suppressing his anger. "What about my second brother..."
"Don't mention that ingrate!" Old Master Jin slammed his hand on the table.
"He dared to sell his private equity stake to an outsider; he was determined to ruin this family!"
He recalled the news he received that morning: his second brother, Jin Mingxuan, had reached an agreement with the Anti-Money Laundering Center and voluntarily handed over the accounts of the Jin family's overseas companies. What alarmed him even more was that those accounts contained records of his embezzlement of public funds.
The secretary rushed in, "Old Master,"
Her voice trembled, "The people from the Market Supervision Bureau said they might seal off the warehouse..."
Jin Ming took out his phone and found more than a dozen missed calls, all from company executives. The latest message was from his secretary: "Mr. Jin, the suppliers have collectively cut off supplies, and the production line has stopped."
His vision went black, and he managed to stand up only by grabbing the desk for support.