165: Chapter 165 Chen Zihao's End

The Chen Family Mansion, Imperial Capital.

The atmosphere was so oppressive it felt like water could be wrung from it. Chen Jianguo and Chen Tianyou had been sitting in their huanghuali wood grandmaster chairs since returning from the National Economic Forum, their faces ashen and silent. The air felt like solid lead, weighing heavily on everyone's hearts.

Bang!

The second-floor door was slammed open. Chen Zihao, dressed in a well-tailored designer suit but with an unnatural flush on his face, rushed down the stairs in a few strides.

"Grandpa! Dad! I heard about what happened at the forum! How dare that bastard!" His eyes were bloodshot, and his voice was full of frantic hostility. "Deploy the 'Dragon Guards'! Our Chen family has supported them for thirty years; it's time for them to act! I want Chen Fan to vanish from the Imperial Capital forever!"

Chen Jianguo slowly raised his eyelids. Those eyes, which usually commanded respect without anger, were now as murky as a pool of stagnant water, devoid of any warmth.

He ignored his grandson's shouting and didn't even give him a glance. He simply turned to Chen Tianyou beside him and gave an order in a completely emotionless tone.

"Send out the notice. Convene an emergency family meeting."

"Every member, from the main line to the branches, must be at the ancestral hall within half an hour."

Half an hour later, the Chen Family Ancestral Hall.

The atmosphere was solemn and chilling. Dozens of Chen family members stood in two rows, silent. The cold ancestral tablets looked down upon the crowd from above, as the green smoke from the incense burner rose straight up before slowly dispersing.

Chen Jianguo stood in the center of the hall, his gaze sweeping over everyone present. Finally, like two sharpened ice picks, his eyes pierced straight through Chen Zihao, who was being held by two guards and still looked indignant.

"The disaster the Chen family faces today was caused by one person."

His voice wasn't loud, yet it echoed clearly in everyone's ears.

"To appease the wrath of the Huihuang Group and to preserve the family's final foundation, someone must take responsibility for this."

Chen Jianguo paused, every word sounding as if it were squeezed out from between his teeth.

"I declare that as of today, Chen Zihao is stripped of all positions and shares in the Chen Group. All assets under his name are to be reclaimed, and his name is to be removed from the genealogy!"

Buzz!

Chen Zihao's mind went blank, as if he had been struck by a bolt of lightning.

He couldn't believe his ears and suddenly turned his head to look at his father.

Chen Tianyou's face, however, was like a stone sculpture. He coldly turned his head away, avoiding his son's gaze.

"No! Grandpa! You can't do this to me!" Chen Zihao finally reacted, screaming like a madman. "I did it for the honor of the Chen family! I am the eldest grandson of the main line!"

His struggling appeared utterly pathetic before the two family guards, who were built like Iron Towers. A strip of cloth was quickly stuffed into his mouth, blocking all his explanations and curses.

The surrounding family members—the uncles and cousins who used to flatter him in every way—now looked at him with indifference, pity, or a subtle hint of schadenfreude.

Not a single person stood up to say a word for him.

That night, Chen Zihao, who was under house arrest in his room, smashed the window with a desk lamp and scrambled down from the second floor. He evaded the patrolling guards, rushed into the garage, and drove off in the last Bugatti Veyron under his name that was about to be repossessed.

The engine let out a beastly roar, piercing through the quiet night of the Imperial Capital.

Only one thought remained in his mind: even if he died, he would take Chen Fan down with him!

The headquarters of the Huihuang Group stood like a sword piercing the sky in the middle of the capital's busiest CBD.

"Screech—!"

The piercing sound of brakes rang out as the Bugatti Veyron drifted and came to a halt in front of the building. However, the sturdy hydraulic bollards acted like an insurmountable chasm, stopping him a hundred meters away.

Chen Zihao jumped out of the car with bloodshot eyes and stumbled toward the entrance.

"Get out of the way!"

He tried to force his way in but was stopped by two security guards whose physiques far exceeded those of ordinary men. They wore crisp black uniforms, and the 'Huihuang' emblem on their chests glinted coldly under the lights.

One of the guards reached out with a standard gesture and a polite tone, yet it carried a mechanical detachment.

"Sir, do you have an appointment?"

Chen Zihao laughed out of sheer anger, his laughter sounding shrill and wretched.

"An appointment?" He shouted at the top of his lungs, pointing at his own nose. "Look closely! I am Chen Zihao! The Chen Zihao of the Chen family! Go tell that bastard Chen Fan right now that I've come to settle the score!"

He thought that by announcing his name, he would at least cause the entire building to tremble.

However, the guard merely spoke a low inquiry into the walkie-talkie on his collar.

A second later, he looked up and gazed at Chen Zihao calmly, with a look as if he were seeing a lunatic.

"Sorry, no such person found."

Those words were like four invisible slaps across Chen Zihao's face.

"What the hell did you say!"

He was completely enraged. His reason snapped, and he reached out to shove the guard.

In the next second, the guard simply raised a hand casually, grabbed his wrist as easily as picking up a chick, and gave it a forward shove.

Chen Zihao lost his balance entirely, stumbled, and fell heavily onto the marble floor.

People were coming and going at the building's entrance, all polished financial elites. Seeing this scene, they stopped in their tracks. Some recognized this once-high-flying 'Prince of the beijing elite circle' who had recently graced the covers of financial magazines. With mocking smiles, they pulled out their phones and began taking photos.

The camera flashes went off, stinging Chen Zihao's eyes so much he couldn't open them.

Just then, a security captain with different shoulder tabs walked out holding a tablet. He glanced at the pathetic Chen Zihao on the ground and confirmed his identity against the photo on the screen.

His voice was even colder than the previous guard's, devoid of any human emotion.

"Mr. Chen Zihao, I presume?"

"At nine o'clock this morning, we officially received a formal notification from the office of Mr. Chen Jianguo of the Chen Group."

The security captain turned the tablet screen toward him, showing a red-headed document stamped with the official seal of the Chen Group.

"According to the notice, you have been blacklisted by your group as a 'Prohibited Entry Person' at the highest security level."

"Please leave immediately. Otherwise, we will call the police to handle this as a case of malicious harassment."

Grandpa...

It was a ban personally issued by Grandpa!

These words were the final straw that completely broke Chen Zihao's spirit.

He slumped on the cold ground, his mind a total blank. He looked up at the skyscraper that seemed to be mocking him, then at the undisguised mockery in the eyes of the people around him and the constantly flashing phone lenses.

Not only had he lost, but he had also been thrown out by his own family like a filthy, used rag.

"Ah—!"

A subhuman wail erupted from deep within his throat, like a cornered beast filled with endless despair and malice.

He was finished.