Chapter 22: Soul Splitting

  To give the desperate Akiya a chance to get close to Longbiao and thus escape the pain of longing, Jing'er made a painful decision for Longbiao. She simply hoped that Longbiao could normally deal with the emotional dilemma and face the mysterious and inexplicable curse calmly. She temporarily positioned herself as Longbiao's spiritual friend. She wasn't wrong because she was acting based on her understanding and recognition of the environment she was in. This behavior required courage, although this courage may not be rational.

  Qiu Ya was very happy to come to the headquarters office to work. However, it is said that in human emotions, there is a strange revenge factor for bad stimuli imposed on oneself by emotional objects, and this sentence is not wrong at all. Long Bao's split consciousness has this component. He simply carried out Jing Er's entrustment to the end, instructing the office to arrange work for Qiu Ya that was very simple, even meeting Qiu Ya's requirements, every day just helping Secretary Lin Yang handle uploading and downloading external links. As long as Long Bao was at headquarters, she could often see him, serving tea and water, preparing meals, and Long Bao also treated her with great care, even allowing Qiu Ya to sit quietly beside him when there were no guests visiting, watching him, and every time this happened, Long Bao would smile understandingly and chat with her for a few words.

  Qiu Ya's mood quickly brightened up, and her body also plumped up. After fulfilling her wish to meet Long Bao frequently, she couldn't help but want Long Bao to propose to her immediately. However, Jing Er repeatedly warned her that it was not the right time yet and absolutely could not mention this matter that would put Long Bao in an awkward position. She also wished that Long Bao could hold her in his arms every night like Jing Er did, but she didn't dare make any hints to Long Bao because she felt that he had not fully recovered and still occasionally showed symptoms of being dazed and distracted. Moreover, since she arrived, she noticed that Xue Bingying and Jiao Siwei were no longer as friendly and obedient to Long Bao as they used to be. According to Jing Er, Jiao Siwei definitely had ulterior motives towards Long Bao, and Xue Bingying didn't even have a good word for him, not even looking at him in the eye.

  Qiu Ya still felt that all the girls in the group were full of hostility towards her. It was true that the group's headquarters had been showing signs of yin and yang imbalance, perhaps because there were four beautiful female vice presidents on the board of directors, or perhaps it was because Long Bao was a big lecher who wanted to turn the group into his own harem, as Shi Wei said, or maybe it was because Long Bao was naturally wary of men who challenged his power, as Jing Er said. In short, the proportion of women holding managerial positions in the group's headquarters and subsidiaries was getting higher and higher, which was not a good phenomenon. Looking at those people's attitude towards Long Bao, she had to be extremely vigilant. However, she felt proud of Long Bao's performance in front of his female subordinates with their own unique charm, Long Bao always treated them as obedient subordinates, never treating them as instruments of temptation and killing power.

  The reason why this situation occurred is a secret known only to the top leaders. For this, there was once a debate at the group company's CEO meeting.

  Du Pingchun was the first to speak, saying jokingly that the number of beautiful women in the company was increasing and had already gained a reputation. Li Xiubai then asked why the company seemed to be biased towards women in personnel matters. Xue Bingying immediately retorted, asking if Li Xiubai thought that women were indecisive and lacked leadership ability, or if they were too narrow-minded and vengeful to be good managers. Qian Yuhui followed up by asking if he believed that women were emotionally weak and couldn't withstand major setbacks, and whether these three biases meant that women couldn't be appointed as company leaders.

  In this regard, Jiao Siwei had suggested to Long Bao from the very beginning for a reason of "killing two birds with one stone", and successfully persuaded him. Long Bao thought about his own experience and combined it with his research on various materials, accepted her suggestion, and also consulted with Qian Yuhui and Xue Bingying. So Long Bao said to them: Firstly, women are more sensitive and alert than men, and can play a preventive role in the group's minor changes; Secondly, women have thin skin, strong self-esteem, and a strong sense of responsibility, so they are naturally cautious and afraid of being criticized or looked down upon; Thirdly, although ordinary women may be weaker in taking charge of management and operation, excellent women will not be inferior to men, and they can more meticulously, enthusiastically, and attentively implement the group's high-level intentions, making it easier for the high-level management.

  At that time, Long Bao stopped talking on purpose after finishing his words, picked up the water cup and took a sip, then slowly lit a cigarette. After teasing Duan Pingchun and others' appetite, he said in a conspiratorial tone: The most important thing is that women are far more loyal than men, easy to produce a sense of belonging to the group, can cherish their own work opportunities, will not be too harsh on salary and treatment conditions, will not pursue environmental changes like men, will not seek to change their status and income, and will not easily provoke internal strife and form factions. This can make the group maintain and possess its stable and loyal human resources capital, and correspondingly save the group's investment in retaining excellent talents.

  Long Bao was extremely wary of the internal divisions that had occurred in Qian Lao's group at the time. He believed that men were naturally inclined to fight for power and form cliques, and their ambition was the root of all evil. From ancient times to the present day, politics and his own direct experiences and indirect book knowledge proved one thing: men were too easily dissatisfied with the status quo, liked constant challenges and stimulation, and were too willing to betray their current work environment for their own interests and purposes. The fact that headhunting companies' talent hunting activities proved that men were not easily moved by small favors from their bosses, they were all bold and reckless animals who could not resist better conditions and development opportunities. What was most needed in the future was stability, what was most needed was loyalty, this matter must be formed into a scale and a fixed concept before one's own death.

  In fact, Long Bao still concealed one point from Duan Pingchun, that is, women as managers are extremely beneficial to the group's business expansion. In socializing and negotiating, women have a psychological advantage over men by nature.

  Li Xiubo was puzzled why Long Bao didn't get married but could understand women so thoroughly. Long Bao smiled and replied that this was about analyzing people, events, and management, which had nothing to do with getting married. He continued to explain that women are naturally cautious with money, as long as the family structure is normal and private life is not a problem, they will not make mistakes in financial matters.

  Since then, the beautiful and intelligent women in the group have become more and more numerous, and with the expansion of the group, they have become a beautiful landscape. Many wealthy people who are keen on beauty must come to see it, as well as those business people who are good at high-level operation and have unique vision and mysterious talents, naturally come to pay homage.

  Although Li Heng's development has become more and more smooth and stable, Long Bao who can stand on a profound level to analyze the complex human nature and mind has not been able to clearly recognize what he is.

  As long as you calm down and think about it, you will realize that this world and the environment around us are changing without a doubt. Even the people around us, their thoughts, attitudes, behaviors, and words are all changing at any moment. Naturally, we are also full of changes, which must affect our soul that determines everything we do, say, and think. When everything around Long Po was constantly changing, he did not deeply realize that under the curse, his soul had already split apart. The split soul made him extremely ridiculous in dealing with human emotions and **.

  Jiao Siwei and Louise found that Jing'er always carried a small knife in her bag, so Louise secretly brought the treasure box to the office and waited for an opportunity to open it while Jing'er was away. She successfully opened the box and took out the dragon family's genealogy, which had been passed down for 64 generations. The image data of the genealogy was immediately transmitted to Goodrich for further research and analysis.

  The historical records of the past thousand years were written in the blood and tears of the ancestors of the Dragon Family, this is not a fabrication. The Guderians, although world-renowned psychologists, are also perplexed by such historical facts, which can no longer be explained by mere probability or strict scientific reasoning.

  What's going on here?

  In May 2005, one month before Long Bowen's 20th birthday, at 8:30 pm New York time, when Long Bowen and Jiao Siwei were attending a high-level manager meeting in the US to discuss the group's listing on the US stock market, Gao Zhiyong, who was responsible for overseeing road construction in his hometown of Shancheng, assisting the government with reservoir relocation and resettlement, and organizing villagers to join the High-tech Agricultural Development Cooperative, suddenly made an emergency call to Long Bowen, reporting that three graves had been robbed from the Long family ancestral tomb overnight, with two skeletons scattered around. The case was reported by a villager from Dafeng Village who got up early for work.

  He had been talking continuously for several hours, still showing no signs of fatigue, with a calm expression and confident gaze. Suddenly, Long Biao's face turned iron-gray, then from iron-gray to deathly pale, and finally from deathly pale to blood red. He abruptly stood up, his hands grasping the table, his whole body trembling violently, his teeth clenched tightly, his breathing heavy and irregular, his eyes turning ferocious and sinister yet empty and hollow, staring fixedly ahead, his lips moving in a low murmur, emitting a harsh, shrill, and almost indistinguishable sound: Who?! Who dares to dig up my ancestral grave?!

  His entire body seemed to be on the verge of exploding, he let out a mournful howl like a wounded beast, his face twisted in anguish and rage, he raised his hands with all his might and slammed them onto the table, sending his phone flying into the wall opposite him. He then grabbed the documents in front of him and tore them to shreds, unable to stop the tears of sorrow streaming down his face!

  Overly self-restrained Long Biao lost his composure upon hearing the news, and with both fists clenched, he pounded his own head with all his might. Then, in full view of everyone, he rushed to the wall and smashed his head against it with great force - Bang! Bang! Bang!

  A fierce impact sent him tumbling to the ground, with blood streaming down his face. Everyone was shocked by Long Bao's terrifying behavior and had no idea what had happened to cause the group's spiritual leader to harm himself so badly. Seeing Long Bao's horrific self-mutilation, all they could do was immediately stop him, calm him down, and rush him to the hospital for treatment as soon as possible to figure out what had caused this.

  Long Bao thought to himself in a daze: An enemy, it must be an enemy. Only an enemy would not let my ancestors rest in peace underground. Only an enemy would dare to dig up my ancestral grave in the mountain city! Jiao Siwei? Zheng Xue? Liao Ye? Chang Cheng? Hu Zide's father, Hu Deputy Secretary?...

  Long Bao fainted and fell unconscious. Upon learning the cause of the incident, high-ranking officials immediately requested that Kangding Village take a helicopter to rush to Shancheng, demanding that the police in Shancheng seal off the scene and all entrances and exits of the county town, and block and inspect all possible suspects. Long Bao's special identity and influence immediately took effect, and the Municipal Public Security Bureau also dispatched special case personnel to rush to the scene.

  After regaining consciousness, Long Bao's head was bandaged, and no matter how two brain specialists tried to persuade him that he had a mild concussion, an abnormal corpus callosum in his brain, and unresolved hematoma shadows that required immediate surgical treatment, he turned a deaf ear. Instead, he demanded that the hospital keep his condition confidential and warned the group personnel surrounding him that whoever dared to leak what happened that day to outsiders would bear all consequences.

  After dawn, Long Bao stopped all his work and boarded a flight back to the country. Jiao Si, who was also puzzled by this matter, suspected that Long Bao would suspect her, so she insisted on going back with him. She repeatedly explained to Long Bao that this thing had nothing to do with her, and she would never do such a despicable and unscrupulous thing that heaven would not tolerate.

  As soon as they arrived in Hong Kong, the group's helicopter came to pick them up. The helicopter was bought under Jiao Siwei's persuasion, with a total of three aircraft. With the helicopter, it is indeed much more convenient to travel. From Hong Kong to Shancheng, it only takes two or three hours by helicopter. After arriving in Shancheng, Long Bao listened to the report of the special case group of the Shancheng Public Security Bureau.

  The police believe that this is a malicious tomb robbery case based on the analysis of the remaining traces at the scene. The footprints at the scene were destroyed to varying degrees by villagers who came to watch, but it is estimated that there were more than four suspects, and the excavation action was very careful, otherwise it would not have been possible to steal three coffins in less than five hours without alarming the villagers of Dafeng Village. From the scattered bones, the tomb robbers were after the jewelry buried with the dead, because Longjia's tomb group is an ancient tomb group with a history, and there must be antiques inside. Several cigarette butts were left at the scene, which were White Sand brand, and the cigarette butts had fingerprints, tooth marks, and lip prints, which are believed to have been left by the tomb robbers. The police are currently focusing on investigating suspicious individuals in several towns around Tianlei Township, and have locked down some people in Shancheng who have committed tomb robbery crimes.

  Long Bao ignored all the villagers who came to offer condolences and went straight to the mountain slope tomb, where the surrounding villagers were kept at bay by the police. Long Bao knelt in front of his ancestors' tombs, identifying the stolen tombstones. He recognized one as his great-grandmother from the Ming dynasty's Wanli period, one as his great-grandfather from the Qing dynasty's Kangxi period, and another as a great-grandfather or great-grandmother from an unknown era whose tomb had long collapsed with only a small remnant of the tombstone remaining.

  The scattered bones were no longer white, but dark and charred. Some tattered clothing was strewn about, and the hair on the skull had not rotted away, but still clearly showed its original length. Long Bao picked up the bones one by one and placed them in a coffin that had already rotted beyond recognition. At this moment, he discovered a small piece of jade still inside the coffin, as well as over ten copper coins scattered among the dirt, even finding something shiny like gold in the rotten wood seams.

  Was it really a grave robber who intended to get rich? Who in the mountain city doesn't know my power, who doesn't know that those officials and police are like dogs in my eyes? Who dares to take the risk of being investigated for doing such a thing? Who doesn't know I will do everything in my power to investigate to the end?

  Jiao Siwei was the first suspect, but looking at her now standing beside him with tears in her eyes for the scene before them, it didn't seem like she was intentionally acting for his benefit. Long Bao began a calm analysis:

  "All along, Jiao Siyu has been wholeheartedly working for the group and herself, bringing in such a huge amount of funding to enrich the investment company's strength. She and I have a clear agreement, and I am also following her requirements. Moreover, she seems to have some vague romantic feelings towards me, so it doesn't seem likely that she would do something like this. And if she wanted to instruct someone to take revenge on me, why not just dig up my parents' graves? Dig up Grandpa's grave? That way, I would be even more heartbroken, and she would be even more relieved. Why not just plant explosives and blow up all the graves, exposing all our ancestors' remains to the elements?"

  "The second suspect was Zheng Xue, but Zheng Xue was still in prison and wasn't due for release until May 2006. He had no one to carry out the task and no funds, so it was impossible."

  "The third is that Chang Cheng and Liao Ye, according to Jing Er's information from Shi Wei's classmates, had a falling out last year. Chang Cheng's uncle drove Liao Ye away, and now Liao Ye is working in Beijing and has found a girlfriend with some money. Chang Cheng lives a life of luxury and has many girlfriends, his family business is also doing well, because making enemies will only bring him disaster, he has no reason to go after revenge and make himself a dangerous enemy again."

  "Vice Secretary Hu? He's a despicable, shameless coward, a loser who relies on bullying the weak and currying favor with the powerful to climb up the political ladder. I heard that a few years ago, he bribed people's congress representatives with 600 yuan per vote to become vice county head, and now he's using all his strength to fawn over the city leaders, even treating a small department head from the province like a god. I heard he's now making an all-out effort to become county head. Since discovering that he has some influence and connections in business and domestic politics, he knows that with just a little bit of pressure, he can't achieve his dream of becoming county head, and might even be stripped of his vice secretary position. So, he took the initiative to apologize to me several times, regretting what he had done to hurt me. This kind of person values their political status and future more than life itself, so logically, he has no reason to do such a thing."

  "Wu Xizhong? A greedy and cunning scoundrel, relying on his connections to bully others. After being dismissed as the village branch secretary by the villagers who were fed up with him and the wise leaders of Tianlei Township, he has been wandering around the county seat and surrounding towns, deceiving and cheating people. He hangs out with those second-rate characters every day. As the saying goes, 'poverty gives rise to thieving intentions.' Without money, he will steal, rob, or cheat. Now that the market for antiques is booming and more and more people are fond of collecting and buying cultural relics, it's no surprise that they would take risks to rob tombs under the temptation of money."

  Long Wan brought the hoe and rake, not allowing anyone to intervene. He alone covered all the soil dug up by the tomb robbers under the noisy gaze of the crowd, tamping it down bit by bit, and finally filling in the gaps with his hands.

  Many villagers, especially the women who have seen Longbiao grow up, couldn't help but burst into tears at this scene, constantly cursing those grave robbers as "killers with a thousand knives and chopped-off heads". A 70-year-old elderly man also shouted towards Longbiao in a crying tone: "Biao'er, which heartless bastard did this?! You are the most promising person from our Dafeng Village, Tianlei Township, and Shancheng! Isn't he intentionally trying to destroy your family's feng shui and fortune?! How can he be so heartless?! You've done so many good things for us... isn't he intentionally making it hard for us people of Dafeng Village to live in peace?! If I knew who that bastard was, I'd dig him to death with a shovel! Help you vent your anger!"

  Extinction of descendants? Yes, you're right, our Dragon family is going to be extinct! Feng shui dragon vein? Is this still a feng shui dragon vein? Long Bao shook his head and personally lit incense and burned paper money for each grave.

  He sat in front of his ancestors' tomb without drinking or eating until late at night, and from midnight to the next dawn. His icy personality made everyone dare not come to persuade him, and Jiao Siwei also accompanied him on the mountain with other employees for a night.

  At dawn, Long Bu got up and walked to Jiao Siwei's face and said a sentence "I believe this matter has nothing to do with you" and then went down the mountain.

  At 8:30 in the morning, the director of the Public Security Bureau personally called to say that Wu Xizhong and a young man named Erdogzi were caught at the bus station. Jade bracelets and gold ornaments were found in their pockets, which are now being urgently interrogated.

  Long Bao immediately boarded the helicopter parked on the playground of Tianlei Township Middle School and rushed to the Shan Cheng Public Security Bureau. Long Bao ignored the regulations of the public security bureau and directly broke into the pre-trial room, where he saw Wu Xizhong wearing handcuffs. No one dared to stop him. He stood in front of Wu Xizhong, pointing at the evidence on the police desk and said: "Where did you get this thing from?"

  Long Bao Ge Ge smiled and said: "Picked up? Found a golden ingot on the road? Good pick, good pick." After that, she turned around and left.

  Four hours later, the soil test results on Wu Xizhong's clothes came out, confirming that they matched the composition of the soil on the tomb. The fingerprints on the cigarette butts also confirmed that one of them was left by Wu Xizhong. The cultural relics expert concluded that the age of the artifacts in the tomb was consistent with the date of the ancestor's burial. Moreover, only the fingerprints of Wu Xizhong, Zhang Lao Wu, Er Gouzi and two other people who claimed to have seen or touched the artifact were found on it.

  Long Bao looked at the appraisal results and coldly said, "Damn it!" This sentence decided the fate of Wu Xizhong, Er Gouzi, and Zhang Lao Wu. Zhang Lao Wu was lucky, as he had been playing mahjong with others until 4 am that night, and someone could vouch for his alibi. However, Wu Xizhong and Er Gouzi were sleeping in a room together, and mud with the same composition as the tomb soil was found in their rented house. Despite their desperate denials of any involvement in grave robbing, the evidence against them was overwhelming, and they had no witnesses who could prove their innocence to the court's satisfaction. They were detained and later sentenced to four years in prison. Less than two months after entering prison, they mysteriously died one after another. Hu Deputy Secretary was also investigated by the provincial and municipal anti-corruption departments soon after, shattering his dream of becoming a county head. Under the efforts of his comrades, he received the punishment of having his party and government positions revoked.

  Long Bao had given up on the antique treasure box over a year ago, but this matter made him connect the box with the tomb raiding case again. He believed that there must be a close connection between the two. Meng Yuan Li Da Shan also had this idea, but Wu Xi Zhong refused to admit it no matter what. Later, under the tacit consent of the police, he secretly used a lie detector and hypnosis, but the conclusion was that Wu Xi Zhong was not lying. Long Bao neither confirmed nor denied it, believing that the treasure box would eventually surface. This is another story.

  The villagers of Dafeng Village felt guilty and thought they had not fulfilled their responsibility to take good care of the ancestral tomb of Longbiao, so they spontaneously organized Taoist priests, witches and wizards to prepare a three-day and three-night water and land Dharma assembly for these disturbed spirits.

  Long Bao refused, he didn't believe that the Taoist temple had any significance for his deceased ancestors. Although he couldn't let his underground ancestors return everything to nature like Jing Er's grandfather, he was determined not to let anyone disturb his ancestors again. He had already vowed to end the curse and make his family extinct after a thousand years of hardship, which was already a betrayal of his ancestors' wishes. The only thing he could do was to seal this land with the most solid cement stones, so that even if he died later and couldn't take care of the ancestral tomb, he could ensure that his ancestors would rest in peace forever.

  He personally drew the construction drawings, planning to dig a 4-meter-deep and 1-meter-wide trench around this area, pour concrete with stone cement mortar, and then build a 1.5-meter-high wall with crystal white Hanbaiyu marble. Then, on the surface of the tomb, a layer of 1 meter thick mixed soil, sand and gravel was poured, and on top of that, Hanbaiyu marble was paved, and around it, iron bars as thick as small arms were made into dense railings to prevent others from climbing over and desecrating the ancestors.

  Long Bao Ben wanted to engrave the names of all his ancestors on it, but after thinking about it, he felt that anyway, in the future, there would be no descendants to worship and such engravings would have lost all meaning. So he wrote a couplet with a brush: The upper line is: But return to the land office; The lower line is: And rest at the spring platform, In the middle is just one word "奠", signed: Filial piety Bao son weeps and stands.

  After returning to Chang'an from the mountain city, Qiu Ya reported a message to Long Bao that Liao Ye had died ten days ago. This was told by a classmate who called Shi Wei, and it was said that he died under very strange circumstances. Qiu Ya looked at Long Bao's expression and thought he wanted to know the details, she also wanted to take this opportunity to let Shi Wei come and tell Long Bao the details in person, so she carefully asked the silent Long Bao: "Long Bao, I'll have Shi Wei come and tell you himself, okay?"

  Although Long Bao surprisingly went to Singapore on Shi Wei's wedding day, at least all the high-level employees of Liheng Group gave face, and everyone who knew about it came to attend his wedding banquet and sent thick red envelopes. Shi Wei wouldn't hold a grudge against that stubborn old six because of the red envelope. After learning about Long Bao's ancestral grave being dug up, Shi Wei had been eager to comfort him, thinking that having one's ancestral grave dug up was the most painful thing. Since Long Bao was in pain, his iron brother had the responsibility to comfort him, which could prove the glorious friendship between brothers. Shi Wei appeared at the headquarters with a proud smile after receiving Autumn Ya's phone call, greeting every employee he met, and then stood in front of Long Bao with a very sincere face.

  He took one look at Longbiao's carefully bandaged wound on his forehead and immediately determined that this must be the result of Longbiao's own self-inflicted injury in a moment of madness. He wanted to laugh at how silly Longbiao looked, but he didn't dare. Instead, he puffed hard on his cigarette to cover up his smile and tried to speak in a calm tone: "You know that Wu Mingjian is from Beijing? He called me yesterday afternoon and told me that Liao Ye and his girlfriend, along with another couple, went on a road trip to Henan ten days ago. They had an accident on the country highway and their car flipped into a pond. It was completely submerged, but all four wheels were still sticking out of the water. And yet, all four people drowned - not one of them was rescued. Haha, that's just how evil this guy is - he deserved to die."

  Longbiao didn't say a word, but took out a cigarette and started smoking. Shi Wei had sharp eyes and noticed that Longbiao was no longer smoking the Baisha brand, so he chuckled and asked: "Chairman Long, why have you switched to Marlboro? You usually only smoke Baisha, don't you? Want one from me?" After saying this, Shi Wei prepared to hand a cigarette to Longbiao.

  Shi Wei didn't know that Long Bao hadn't smoked White Sand cigarettes since he found out the cigarette butts left at the tomb raid scene were from White Sand. He had switched to Wonton Road, which was even more pungent. When Shi Wei handed him a cigarette, Long Bao waved his hand and said lightly, "I don't smoke that anymore."

  Shi Wei pretended not to notice Long Bao's coldness and laughed: "Old... Chairman Long, Marlboro is great! From now on, I won't smoke White Sand anymore, I'll learn from you to smoke Marlboro, haha."

  Long Bao glanced at Qiu Ya sitting next to him, if it weren't for not wanting Qiu Ya to be uncomfortable, he wouldn't have met Shi Wei today. He now hoped that Shi Wei would quickly leave with a sense of propriety. Shi Wei had to seize this opportunity to make amends with Long Bao, after all, his accusations against Long Bao at the time greatly damaged Long Bao's face in front of his subordinates. With some flattery, he said to Long Bao: "Haha, I really want to know how that turtle bastard struggled in the car, damn it, don't know if he was drowned or suffocated, and don't know if he regretted his despicable behavior before he died, what would have been on his mind when he took his last breath! Haha!"

  Long Bao touched the wound on his forehead, stood up and paced back and forth in the office, his face expressionless, stiff and rigid, like a lifeless stone. He paced for a long time under Shi Wei and Qiu Ya's gaze before speaking slowly: "A person is dead, debts are paid, why say hurtful words about the deceased? Liao Ye is dead, so be it. Why do you look happy? Do you think death is fun?"

  Shi Wei was startled by Long Bao's icy tone, which sent shivers down his spine. He felt a sudden chill emanating from Long Bao, as if the air around him had turned into a grave. Shi Wei couldn't help but think: "Could it be that he's been possessed by the vengeful spirit of his ancestor in Xiongshan?" Why did he look so terrifying? This thought shouldn't have occurred to him, and he quickly muttered to himself, "Pfft pfft pfft! Good fortune and prosperity! Get out, lonely ghost!" However, his face didn't return to normal, and his tone was somewhat awkward as he explained, "Long... Chairman, I... I didn't mean it that way. Hehe, I spoke too quickly. Although Liao Ye has wronged us, thinking back, we were classmates after all, and even shared a dorm room. We've also exchanged vows of brotherhood... Hehe, I spoke too quickly." He stuck out his tongue at Qiu Ya.

  Long Bao didn't respond to Shi Wei's words, but instead called Lin Yang in and instructed her to immediately go get Jing Er. As soon as Jing Er entered, she spoke to Long Bao with a very respectful subordinate tone: "Chairman Long, you wanted me?"

  Long Bao glanced at Jing'er, who was wearing her work uniform and looked as beautiful and quiet as ever. He pointed to the sofa with his hand and said, "Sit down, I have a few words to say to you all."

  Jing'er saw Shi Wei's awkward expression, and then saw Long Bao being so calm and peaceful with them today, even wanting to talk to her. She realized that this was not a good thing. She calmed down, silently reciting the incantation passed down by her grandfather, and then focused her attention on Long Bao. Suddenly, Long Bao gave her an extremely strong feeling: Soul Departure!

  "Today, I'm only going to say this once, and I won't repeat it. I have a lot of things to do, I want to expand the group, use the group's money in the most meaningful way, and repay my hometown folks. From now on, I don't want to hear anything unrelated to the development of the company... Shi Wei, Du Ci is about to give birth soon, so you should focus more on your supermarket business and take good care of her, don't be like a stray cat running around everywhere... Su Jing'er, I heard that Director Kang wants you to write an autobiography for Old Money, from today on, you will no longer serve as Deputy Chairman Jiao's secretary, devote yourself wholeheartedly to writing the autobiography, and temporarily stop managing the group magazine... Huang Qiuya, don't spend all day in my office, use your time to familiarize yourself with the office business, that way you'll be worthy of your salary and won't be gossiped about by colleagues..."

  Shi Wei saw Long Bao's expression when he spoke, and only then did he realize that the news of Liao Ye's death was not a comforting message for Long Bao at this moment. On the contrary, it would make Long Bao even more convinced that his curse would backfire on his enemies and harm his friends. He deeply regretted his serious mistake. The three of them had originally wanted to take this opportunity to ask Long Bao about the wound on his forehead, and they also wanted to tell him that they knew about his inner suffering. They all wanted to tell Long Bao that they were not afraid of death or curses, as long as they could be with him to experience life's ups and downs together. However, in this situation, they did not dare to speak up, fearing that their words would further provoke Long Bao. They could only leave quietly, leaving Long Bao alone in the room to smoke heavily.

  Long Bao's people sent 200,000 yuan to Liao Ye's parents. He instructed the person not to tell Liao Ye's parents his name, only that he was a classmate of Liao Ye's.

  Shi Weiwei finally managed to get the truth out of Duan Pingchun's mouth about what had happened in America, and also learned about Long Bao's condition. So Jing'er and others, along with Hai Tao, made a decision after discussion: they would never stimulate Long Bao again, everything would remain the same, waiting for all things to calm down before finding an opportunity to comfort Long Bao. They were willing to pay the price of their lives to accompany this extremely painful friend, brother, and loved one. They even secretly begged Long Bao's bodyguard, Li Dashi, to protect him at all times, never letting him get hurt again.

  Jing'er followed Longbiao's instructions to write a biography for Qian Lao, she tried her best to collect materials and went to Hong Kong under the escort of a special person to interview those old employees who knew Li Heng. Qian Yu was also very cooperative with Jing'er. After being persuaded by Jing'er, Qiuya became obedient and would not disturb Longbiao without reason unless he looked for her. Shi Wei also behaved himself, honestly managing the supermarket where he served as the general manager, serving his wife and the little Shi Wei in his belly. Of course, he still occasionally drank wine, chatted with friends, and took Leopard to flirt with mother dogs. Longbiao wanting to be a monk was his own business, but for the hooligan master Leopard, flirting with women was a must. As the saying goes, no matter how poor you are, you can't live without meat, no matter how bitter you are, you can't make a dog serve as a substitute for a woman.

  After learning of Liao Ye's death, Jiao Siwei also felt a bit suspicious. She was absolutely not going to do anything murderous, and Louise had only been trying to scare Liao Ye at the time. Originally, she was worried that Liao Ye would leave behind some unfavorable words about her due to his concerns about her attempted assassination of him. More than ten days passed without any movement from Long Bao, and Louise also reassured her that based on their previous checks and probes of Liao Ye, they had not discovered any such behavior from him. Only then did she put her mind at ease. However, with Liao Ye, who had offended Long Bao and harmed him, now mysteriously dead, Jiao Siwei couldn't help but feel a chill run down her spine when she thought of the curse of the Long family. She felt that the curse of the Long family was truly beyond the realm of imagination, like something out of a fairy tale. Was it really possible for such mysterious things to exist? But if they didn't exist, then how could the historical records of the Long family over the past thousand years be explained? And what about the strange occurrences surrounding this young man in front of her?

  Dr. Goodrich told her in a timely manner: According to the genetic comparison study of the dragon scale hair she had presented, his genes were compared with those of normal people, and there was an abnormal gene sequence on a gene fragment on the Y chromosome, which was inherited due to genetic variation. Research has shown that this is the short-lived gene, and the main adverse consequence of this gene is that the owner of the gene is most likely to suffer from compulsive fantasy syndrome. This compulsive fantasy syndrome can produce hallucinations and auditory hallucinations during severe episodes, leading to schizophrenia, which is consistent with Long Bao's behavior in the United States. People with short-lived genes have shorter lifespans than normal people, and the only way to prolong their lifespan is to rest and calm their minds.

  Jiao Siwei thinks Gu De said it makes sense, Long Bao works too hard and suppresses his emotions too much. This foolish boy doesn't even take advantage of the opportunity with Qiu Ya who's practically throwing herself at him, nor does he make a move on Jing Er. Moreover, they've been on several luxurious trips together and he's successfully resisted temptation without laying a hand on her. Originally, such extreme self-control and overwork would be unbearable for any normal person, let alone someone with genetic deficiencies like him?

  Her hatred for Long Bao was growing more and more conflicted, the image of his self-inflicted pain was etched in her mind like a branding iron. She didn't know why she wanted to accompany him on the mountain that night, but under the dark sky, his sorrowful figure made her almost forget the grudge he held against her for killing her father. Especially after he said "I believe this has nothing to do with you" at dawn, she was moved to tears. She knew Long Bao had thought about it all night, and in that moment, she vowed that if he could really resist the temptation for three years, she would let go of her hatred and not try to seduce him into leaving his assets to her again. She would tell him that his curse was just a superstitious myth with no scientific basis, and the real reason was genetic deficiency.

  The following days were busy and calm again, Long Bao still managed the group in the same way, the CEOs of the enterprises worked diligently to get their salaries and enjoy the benefits, Long Bao merged more small and medium-sized enterprises with potential, the enterprise network gradually spread across the seven continents, the group's resource allocation was getting closer to perfection, the development of the group was going more and more in line with the original plan, the successful listing in the US raised $500 million for it, and the Li Heng Investment Fund grew with remarkable performance and became a widely watched excellent fund.

  Long Bao still followed Jiao Siwei's arrangement to attend several luxurious banquets, and saw what it means to spend money like dirt. However, he ate and played without showing any signs of being mesmerized or addicted. Louise was somewhat disappointed and commented that Long Bao was not human but a wooden stake.