If you walk by the river often enough, how can you avoid getting your shoes wet?

Rather than being a gift of nature, calling it a rejuvenation capsule would be far more accurate. Having obtained the coveted formula, the Fang family naturally would not launch it under the same brand name as the Bai family; otherwise, the Bai family, holding the patent, could use that as a pretext to sue the Fang family in a court of first instance. Obviously, the Fang family was not foolish enough to knowingly break the law.

With the same formula but a different name, the Bai family was left helpless. This was a textbook example of skating on the edge of legality. Such pirated marketing was a common sight in the market, as the law lacked any constitutional provisions addressing such tactics, leaving ample loopholes for wrongdoers to exploit.

By deceptively transferring twenty pharmaceutical sales agencies into their own name, the Fang family seized control of nearly ninety-five percent of the sales channels in Jinhai City. Then, by selling the drugs at absolute rock-bottom prices, they crushed the Bai family in an overwhelming price war. In such a competition, the Bai family's defeat was absolute and thorough.

One must remember that before the "Natural Beauty" capsules were even launched, the Bai family had procured a massive quantity of medicinal herbs at prices fifty percent higher than the market rate, utterly confident that this would crush their arch-rival, the Fang family. Yet, the Fang family, possessing far broader herb-sourcing networks, had acquired a vast batch of the identical herbs from out of town at wholesale bargain prices.

In the realm of raw materials alone, the Bai family had already suffered a crushing defeat.

With the Fang family holding the advantage in herbal costs and possessing the winning edge of the formula, the Bai family started far behind. Coupled with the fact that the Bai family had staked everything on "Natural Beauty" to turn the tables, effectively risking their entire foundation, the recent cold receptions and scandal-mongering defamation plunged them into an unprecedented crisis. Not a single capsule could be sold, and on top of that, there were massive waves of customer returns.

Troublemakers, refund-seekers, and even those taking the matter to court—this series of sinister maneuvers pushed the Bai family completely to the brink of ruin. Now, with the Fang family obtaining the formula, it was like a tiger growing wings; the moment the drug hit the market, it achieved an unprecedentedly strong momentum. It was hardly surprising that the Bai family was furious.

Listening to Bai Jing’s righteous and indignant recounting, Lin Yang felt a wellspring of intense agitation and gnashed his teeth in fury. If that scoundrel Fang Muren were standing right in front of him right now, he would likely be torn to pieces like shredded meat. Although he had mentally prepared himself beforehand, he never expected the Fang family's counterattack to progress with such staggering speed.

Report after report poured in, and to Bai Jing’s ears, every single one sounded like an obituary.

Ninety-nine percent of the news broadcasts were victory bulletins regarding the Fang family's rejuvenation capsules. Sales records were shattered in the blink of an eye. Even the opening-day record set by "Natural Beauty" upon its launch was ruthlessly broken. How could Bai Jing, who had invested immense time and effort, not be furious?

As a holder of a fifty percent stake, Lin Yang naturally did not want to see the Bai family go bankrupt because of this, but looking at the current situation, things indeed looked bleak.

"Jing Jie, I understand. It seems our plan must be put into motion ahead of schedule. If this continues, not only will our stockpiled 'Natural Beauty' capsules fail to sell, but Baifu Pharmaceuticals will likely collapse within a few days. Coupled with our bank loans, we are now at a complete disadvantage," Lin Yang summarized the grim situation with palpable resentment.

Bai Jing was well aware that their current predicament had reached a perilous, life-or-death juncture. However, the plan they had discussed together yesterday was altogether too risky. To silently eliminate a municipal bureau chief without a trace—anyone who thought that would be easy drastically underestimated the Fang family's influence. Moreover, Fang Muren was a coward who clung desperately to his life, constantly surrounded by personal bodyguards. It was rumored that even when he slept, several female bodyguards stood watch right by his side. Eliminating him would be no small task, to say the least.

"Let's hope Tiger Big Brother can pull off a swift success tonight! Otherwise, once he misses his target, it will be even harder to strike at Fang Muren, who will already be a bird startled by the mere twang of a bow," Bai Jing stated heavily, voicing the thoughts in her heart before hanging up the phone.

As the topmost floor of Baifu Tower, it naturally enjoyed distinct advantages. Leaving aside the sheer beauty of the environment, the well-known idiom alone was worth pondering.

"He who stands high sees far"—that saying was indeed true.

Rising from her chair, she turned and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling glass windows that spanned the entire wall. Gazing out at the brilliant sunshine that remained entirely unaffected by her family's crisis, and watching the bustling traffic and endless clamor on the streets below, Bai Jing, dressed in her professional attire, experienced a sense of defeat for perhaps the very first time.

Time passed swiftly. In stark contrast to the Bai family's desolation and the tense atmosphere permeating every corner, the Fang family, having secured absolute supremacy, wore triumphant smiles on every face. As the man wielding absolute power within the Jinhai Fang family, Fang Muren received so many phone calls his hands went numb, and he heard so many glowing reports his ears grew calloused.

One wave of good news after another almost caused this reclusive old fox to split his mouth wide open from grinning, his facial muscles twitching uncontrollably.

Hahaha! Hearty, uninhibited laughter echoed unreservedly inside the office of Jinhai City Police Bureau Chief Fang Muren.

Clap, clap, clap—three crisp rounds of applause rang out as Fang Muren excitedly clapped his hands in self-congratulatory delight. With every exclamation of praise, a fresh crease of joy formed on his face. Standing right before him was none other than Little Yu, the sycophantic deputy bureau chief who sucked up to him day and night. Little Yu's mouth split wide in a ingratiating smile, occasionally letting out hair-raising, obsequious chuckles to chime in.

"The Chief is brilliant! The Chief's divine might is peerless! The Chief is simply Zhuge Liang reincarnated in our time!" Such flattering rhetoric came as second nature to Deputy Bureau Chief Little Yu, who possessed a clever little knack for flattery and rolled off the tongue with practiced ease.

"Hmph, a mere Bai family? Naturally, this old man doesn't deign to place them in my eyes." Listening to these sweet words, Fang Muren naturally felt immensely gratified. After all, whenever he spoke with those arrogant elders of the clan whose heads were held high in the clouds, even when he had rendered monumental services, they would dismiss him with a mere two or three perfunctory sentences. Compared to this glib-tongued, clever-witted sycophant before him, he was more than happy to listen to a few flattering lies, even knowing full well they were completely fabricated.

"Indeed, indeed! A mere Bai family is naturally nothing in the eyes of the Chief." Exploiting a victory while the momentum was high was the hallmark of a skilled general, and as a professional flatterer, Little Yu understood how to unleash wave after wave of adulation. He poured tea and offered ingratiating smiles; an outsider stumbling upon the scene might easily have mistaken the two men in the office for lovers engaged in a homosexual affair.

"The Bai family is indeed not worth worrying about. However, that young man behind them is a headache. And then there's that girl from the Yinchuan Tang family who is practically designated as a successor, not to mention those large and small fleas scattered throughout Jinhai—to think that all of them are inextricably entangled with that boy. It's genuinely giving me a headache," Fang Muren muttered softly as he walked over to the glass window. His voice was so low that Deputy Bureau Chief Little Yu standing behind him could barely catch half a syllable.

The lesson learned at the scrapyard was by no means insignificant, yet at the time, it still failed to catch the attention of the haughty Fang Muren. It wasn't until he deployed five fierce warriors from the Special Assassination Squad—only for three of them to suffer a tragic defeat—that Lin Yang, a youth who initially seemed to pose little threat, finally caught Fang Muren's eye.

As the bureau chief, if Fang Muren specifically set out to investigate someone's private background, while he couldn't claim to get every single detail, he could certainly vouch for seventy or eighty percent of the information. Having suffered two major setbacks at Lin Yang's hands, Lin Yang had naturally been elevated to enemy number one. The moment the man in black handed over the formula, combined with his high evaluation of Lin Yang's strength, Fang Muren immediately ordered an investigation into Lin Yang's true identity.

You wouldn't know until you checked, and the truth was utterly startling. Upon first discovering Lin Yang's true background, Fang Muren had indeed been frightened. But an old fox remained an old fox; within the span of a single breath, he had regained his composure. After all, the Fang family's influence was not something a mere nobody could casually trample upon, especially since the Jiangning Fang family had clandestine collusion with the Jiang family, the sworn enemies of the Yinchuan Lin family.

Ruthless individuals would remain hidden in the shadows, watching like a tiger eyeing its prey even when encountering a tough nut to crack, only to launch a vicious counter-strike when the time was right. Fang Muren, and indeed the entire Fang family, were cut from this exact cloth. Though seemingly deeply wary of the Lin family's influence, in reality, they were itching to sink their teeth into this large and formidable bone.

"Hmph, the Lin family? With the Jiang family and other factions eyeing them, life probably isn't very comfortable for them either, right?" Fang Muren curved the corners of his mouth, casting a bloodthirsty, cold smile toward the steadily darkening twilight, looking very much like a blood-craving vampire.

Aside from having a silver tongue and acting as a sycophant, Little Yu also possessed exceptionally sharp situational awareness. The moment Fang Muren rose and walked toward the glass windows, Little Yu discreetly slipped out of the office. Whenever the bureau chief walked up to those windows, Little Yu knew the man was once again plotting some unfathomable, sinister scheme.

The tragic death of Fang Tianming, a capable subordinate, though not enough to cause Fang Muren to lose sleep or skip meals, had nonetheless planted a deep-seated hatred for Lin Yang in his heart. Moreover, upon learning Lin Yang's identity and background, his resentment only intensified. Yet, constrained by the Lin family's power, he could not help but feel a twinge of apprehension—after all, his Fang family did not possess the same capital to confront them as the Jiang family did.

Despite his wariness toward Lin Yang, it could not mask Fang Muren's desire to eradicate Lin Yang at the earliest opportunity. Skilled in schemes and plots, and bearing the title of an old fox, a vicious conspiracy flashed through his mind. Staring out at the gathering dusk, a wild, frenzied glint flickered in his eyes.

Using a borrowed knife to kill someone, and shifting the blame onto another—these had always been Fang Muren's specialty. Fang Tianming was a prime example of this tactic.

Just as Fang Muren was harboring evil intentions and plotting away, he remained entirely oblivious to the fact that a group of people were currently plotting against his very life.

Walk by the river often enough, and your shoes are bound to get wet. This phrase served as the ultimate verdict for scoundrels who constantly engaged in heinous, heaven-defying atrocities.

Clearly, Fang Muren belonged squarely in the category of scoundrels who made a habit of committing such unforgivable evils.

"Xiaodong, how is it? Have you got everything ready on your end?" Meng Hu asked in a low, muffled voice into the cell phone held in his right hand. The spot where he stood at that moment was precisely the street directly facing the Jinhai City Public Security Bureau, and his direct line of sight was fixed squarely on the bureau's grand entrance, above which hung a massive national emblem.

"Everything is prepared, all arrangements are set. Now we just wait for the fish to take the bait," Su Xiaodong's slimy, cheerful voice rang out from the other end of the line. It seemed this fellow thoroughly enjoyed the good show about to unfold. After all, for Su Xiaodong—a typical privileged scion who spent his days chasing women, flirting, drinking, and gambling—watching a good show had always been a favorite pastime, let alone participating in one firsthand. Naturally, he wouldn't let such an opportunity slip through his fingers.