Shadow Empire

Chapter 477: Falling into the Water While Fishing
At ten o'clock in the morning, the chairman of the board of directors of Liji Group drove out of his home wearing a cotton coat that was not thick but very warm.

Today is the day of court hearing, but he is not too worried about it. After all, for the group company, the worst case scenario is to pay compensation of four million.

He knew that someone had recently been shorting the group's stock. He had discussed this issue with the board of directors and shareholders, and everyone believed that these people would not become a problem for the company.

The reason is simple, this is not the first time that Liji Group has done this, they have done it many times before.

Although the stock price will indeed decline due to their business ethics issues, it will immediately rise after the annual report comes out.

After all, the capital market is determined by the profitability of enterprises, not moral issues.

If the success of a business is judged solely by whether it has business ethics, then the entire federation is poor!
This is just a small accident. As long as the lawsuit can be dragged out, the stock price will not only not fall, but may rise instead.

Because they have expressed to shareholders and investors through practical actions what they want to say - don't even think about taking even a penny from their pockets!
So he didn't care about this matter at all. Yesterday he made an appointment with an old friend to go fishing in the suburbs together today.

He likes fishing.

He liked to play games with the fish beneath the calm water surface while looking at it. When he finally pulled up the fishing rod and watched the fish shaking its body weakly in the air, that kind of satisfaction made him more satisfied than if he had slept with a female star!
He loves fishing more than anything else.

So when someone asked him out, he came out immediately.

He drove his beloved pickup truck and brought his fishing gear worth thousands of dollars to a river on the edge of the city.

At this time, the water surface has begun to freeze, and if you want to fish, you must first drill a hole in the ice.

Winter fishing is actually very interesting, especially in winter when the fish at the bottom of the water are particularly fat, which makes it easier for anglers to break their previous records.

Either it's long or it's heavy.

There were three people in total. The other two were old friends of his and they had gone fishing together before.

They even have a house by the river just for fishing.

So many people cannot experience the happiness of rich people. Just for the convenience of fishing, they spent more than 100,000 yuan to build this house.

After fishing, they can change their clothes here, process the fish they caught, drink some wine and eat some delicious food.

This is fun.

After the three people changed into winter clothes for fishing, they came to the ice with smiles on their faces. They used a special drilling machine to drill several holes in the ice, and finally broke it into pieces.

This is an irregular hole with a diameter of about three to four meters. After the water surged up, it dropped slightly. The three of them placed customized comfortable chairs, a fire pot and several windshields, and started fishing.

There was some pre-ground coffee on the brazier, bubbling inside.

There are some food next to the brazier, such as fruits. The skin gradually shrinks and becomes very hot and delicious after a while.

"Your company's affairs have been all over the media these days. Why is the impact so big this time?"

The chairman of the board of directors prepared the bait and put the hook into the pond. "Some people are shorting the group company's stocks. It is very likely that they are doing it. They just want to make a fortune from this kind of thing."

"Hyenas are everywhere in Detlan, it's no surprise!"

Detlan is a famous financial street in Xinjin City. More than 70% of the federation's financial companies are gathered on both sides of the road and even in the surrounding area.

A large number of foundations are also here, forming a special financial industry atmosphere.

Some people say that Detlan is the place with the strongest financial atmosphere in the Federation and even in the world, and the streets are full of financial practitioners who calculate their income in seconds.

They joked that if someone lost a dollar on the streets of Deterand, it would still be there twenty-four hours later!

Because no one will bend down to pick it up, and just the process of bending down to pick it up may cause people to lose many times more income!

This is actually a very exaggerated statement, but people in the Federation and even outside the Federation believe this.

They just believe that everyone in Detlan is making money, making money from the financial capital market, but they ignore the essence of the financial game.

In order to gain more benefits, there are some people here who specialize in taking advantage of legal loopholes to make profits. These people are the Detlan Hyenas.

Once they find their prey, they will create contradictions and conflicts and make a fortune by leveraging the power of media and public opinion.

Although there are failures sometimes, overall there are still more people who make money, because people will not pay attention to those who don’t make money.

Another red-hatted man showed a slightly gloating expression, and when he spoke, he sprayed white mist to cover part of his face. "It sounds terrible. If these hyenas target you, they will definitely bite a piece of meat off you."

The chairman of the board shook his head with a calm expression, "No, it was from those stupid investors!"

He emphasized, "We don't make money through the financial market. What makes us profitable is the real industry. And as long as we achieve our profit target this year, the environment they create will not affect the recovery and rise of stock prices at all."

“We are very confident in this regard!”

Another friend wearing a fur hat asked again, "Is the four million real?"

“Come on, I’m just here to enjoy my fishing time!”, the chairman of the board complained, but still explained.

"We suspected that this was the result of them setting us up, so we appealed, and luckily for us, the Supreme Court accepted the appeal."

"Okay, let's stop discussing these things that affect our mood and let's just enjoy fishing!"

They use the best bait and fish in the river sections with the most fish in winter, which in itself is a form of cheating.

The number of fish underwater obviously began to increase, and they also started to lift the rod more frequently.

Every time they close the cast, there is an expectation full of surprises. Maybe they can catch a super big fish that breaks their career record!

At noon, the three of them ate something in the house by the river and then took a nap.

After all, they are old, so after a nap until about 3:30, they got up and continued fishing.

They won't leave until five o'clock, so the morning and afternoon together will be at least four hours, which is enough for them to have a good time.

In the afternoon, the chairman of the board had good luck and caught several big fish in a row. Although it did not break his record, it also made him feel excited!

As the sky gradually darkened, it was almost time to end today's fishing.

At this moment, the float on the water suddenly sank, and he lifted the rod.

At the moment the fishing line was tightened, he felt that this was a fucking big fish!
He was fully focused underwater, constantly struggling with his prey in the water.

This is a very interesting process and also a gaming process.

The older people get, the more they like gambling.

Two cars came from a distance, stopped next to their car, and some people got out.

The chairman of the board just took a glance and then turned his attention back to fighting his underwater prey.

He was fully focused and did not relax at all. He had a strong feeling and confidence that this would be the biggest fish he had ever encountered in his life!

A voice in his heart told him that he must catch this fish, and it would be his honor!

Lance got out of the car wearing thick clothes. The two old men glanced at them and then looked away.

They stood around the chairman of the board, seemingly watching him fight with the splash in the water.

Perhaps it was the influence of these people watching him that made him more and more excited. Both his mental and physical strength reached the peak of his ability at this stage at that moment!

After more than ten minutes of competition, the surging torrent under the pool finally disappeared. The chairman of the board of directors began to quickly reel in his pole, panting slightly, and said, "Get ready for the net. I feel like I'm going to break the record!"

Red Hat stood up and held the fishing net at the water's edge. Soon, a big fish floated up.

"Hurry!" he shouted.

Red Hat quickly scooped up the fish, but the already large scoop net couldn't even hold it!

Then it was thrown onto the ice, and everyone, including Lance, couldn't help but exclaim in their hearts, it's so fucking huge!
The smile on the chairman's face could no longer be hidden, he couldn't help but burst into laughter. Only those who love fishing know how happy he was at that moment!
"I want to stuff it and put it in my villa!" He said as he walked towards the fish and took out a tape measure from his pocket. He wanted to measure it.

"I broke the record!" His face was full of excitement and pride, but soon he felt a little uncomfortable.

Because of the long-term effort just now, he was a little exhausted, and at the same time, he was sweating all over, sticky and very uncomfortable. He glanced at the sky and then said, "Let's stop here today, and it seems that you have other things to do."

He thought these people were looking for his two friends, but Red Hat said, "They are looking for you."

The chairman of the board, who was puncturing a fish, was stunned for a moment. He turned around and looked at the young people. He didn't recognize any of them. "I don't know you."

Then he looked at the red hat with some resentment.

Anyone would definitely feel uncomfortable being introduced to so many strangers without their consent, especially in such a private setting.

Although this is a public area, their current entertainment is very private and no one else is invited, so he feels that these social activities should not be done in such a private occasion or at private time.

But since the other party was here and he was not feeling well, he could only express his gratitude slightly.

"I'm all sweaty. Let's go inside the house. It's warm there. There are drinks and I can change my clothes."

"We'll talk about anything later."

As he bent down and tried to handle the fish again, a pair of legs walked in front of him.

He slowly raised his head, his eyes moving along the legs to the young man's face, which was very rude.

Because when he bent down, the other person walked towards him, as if he was bowing to the other person. There was no good expression on his face, he just looked at the young man who disturbed him.

"My name is Lance. Lance White."

The young man stretched out his hand. The chairman of the board was slightly stunned. He seemed to have heard of this name somewhere.

As long as he had heard of it, then this young man must not be someone who has no fame.

After all, people are from different classes. You can't expect the President to have heard of an ordinary person's name. Those who sound "familiar" to the President must be characters from his class, or slightly worse, but the difference is not that obvious.

Out of politeness, he reached out and shook Lance's hand, "Have we met before?"

He was a little unsure, and Lance smiled and said, "We haven't met before. This is the first time we've met."

The chairman of the board was even more confused. "I don't know where I heard your name. Sorry, what do you do?"

Only when you are strong will you not care about what others think or consider whether you have offended others.

He asked Lance to introduce himself. Lance still had that simple and clean smile on his face, which made the chairman of the board feel a little more favorable towards him.

People who love to laugh are never that annoying, unless the smile on their face is too damn fake and can be seen through.

Neither of them let go of each other's hands. Lance continued, "I'm from Jingang City. Maybe this reminds you of something?"

The chairman of the board looked confused for two or three seconds, and then an expression of disbelief appeared. He turned to look at his two friends and tried to shake off his hand, but his hand was held tightly by Lance!

"let me go!"

"Eggs!"

"Call the police, call the police!"

He tried to escape in panic and used his other hand to pry Lance's fingers apart, but he couldn't pry them apart no matter how hard he tried!

Lance's hand was like a pair of pliers, pinching his wrist so hard that it hurt.

He turned around and glanced at the two old friends beside him, "Go call for help!"

"Fake!"

But soon he turned back, because he saw his two old friends standing beside him, smoking without moving, and the look in their eyes was completely different from when they were fishing just now.

No matter how slow his reaction was, he realized that something was wrong!
He looked at the two old friends in disbelief; they had known each other for more than forty years and had no conflicts; their relationship had always been good.

If the relationship is not good, they won't come out fishing often.

There is no difference between these two people and his social level, and their reputation and influence are similar.

He really couldn't figure out why they were like this!

The intensity of the board chairman's struggle is decreasing, and he is even giving up a little.

He looked at Lance and forced himself to calm down, "What are you going to do?"

"kill me?"

"Who gave you the courage?"

When he asked these questions, his heart was actually beating violently, because he knew that since the other party had come, he must have made sufficient preparations.

Lance shook his head. "It doesn't really matter who it is. You'll never know anyway."

The chairman of the board swallowed his saliva and said, "It's just a matter of four million. Is it worth it?"

He spoke quickly, "I can give you four million... no, six million, together with your loss last time, and this matter ends here!"

"I won't bother you, it's all our fault!"

"I can also publicly apologize to you and ask them to withdraw the lawsuit. This is our problem!"

Lance looked him in the eyes and showed no sign of being impressed, he knew he was getting old and knew that he probably only had a decade or so left in the future.

But the more this happened, the more afraid he was of death.

Because he has so many things, these things make it impossible for him to give up everything he has and leave this world.

He could no longer control the expression on his face and became panic-stricken.

Lance shook his head, "It's not just about money now!" He tilted his head, and the other two young men grabbed his arms and clothes from behind.

Lance let go of his hand, and he fell to his knees on the ice because someone kicked him in the knee!

He let out a scream of pain. His knee, which had been worn out for a lifetime, was almost at its limit. After being hit like that, it was obvious that there was something wrong.

His two friends turned away from the ice and stood further away.

Lance nodded slightly, and Hiram pushed his head directly under the cold water!
In an instant, the freezing cold water made him struggle violently, but he was no match for the two young and strong men!
He had inhaled large amounts of cold water several times because of panic. The cold water stimulated the contraction of his blood vessels, making his feeling of suffocation even more intense!

He was unable to break free, and movement accelerated his oxygen consumption, and his desire to "breathe" became stronger and stronger!
Even though he knew he couldn't breathe at this moment, he couldn't help it in the end!

Seeing that he had no response after twitching violently for a few times, Lance did not let them let him go. Instead, he waited for a while and made sure that he was completely "dead" before letting the two of them push him into the pool.

The entire river bank is frozen. If you "fall" into the water at this time, even if you survive, you will eventually suffocate to death!
After doing all this, they quickly returned to the shore. Lance shook hands with the two old men and said, "It's up to you from now on. Remember to make yourself look as embarrassed as possible."

"do you need my help?"

The two old men quickly shook their heads, "No, Mr. Lance, we can do it ourselves!"

Lance smiled and shook hands with each of them, "Then we'll be leaving first."

The old man in the red hat let go of his hand and whispered, "Please give us a good report to the Senator!"

Lance nodded, "I will!"

Then they got in the car and drove away quickly.

The two old men were silent for a while, and then began to wet themselves with the river water. They glanced at the long fish, put it back on the hook, and threw it into the river together with the fishing rod.

Half an hour later, two police cars and two rescue vehicles arrived at the scene...

==
①: The "egg" here does not refer to children.

(End of this chapter)