In their four-member group, he was undoubtedly the one with the dirtiest past.

In his youth, he was aggressive and often got into fights, hurting others repeatedly, which landed him in prison three times. Later, he got smarter, gathered a group of idle people from society, and operated from behind the scenes, bullying his way into the market. He started controlling the vegetable and fish markets, earning his first fortune smoothly.

Before a major crackdown, he quit these activities in time and began to clean up his act by contracting a sand quarry, getting into legitimate business.

After that, he established a demolition company, collaborating with relevant departments, making significant contributions to the old city renovation project.

Eight years ago, he transferred the sand quarry. Seven years ago, he shut down his demolition company. Five years ago, he closed his loan company.

He then established numerous logistics companies and became the regional representative for Divine Power Express in Xiu Zhou. Later, he founded a transportation company, truly turning over a new leaf.

Still, without a doubt, his dark history was difficult to erase, and the record of three imprisonments put invisible shackles on him, making it hard to blend into the true upper-class social circles.

Even now, he was undoubtedly the lowest-ranked in their four-member group, often being assigned to do some unsavory and tiresome jobs.

Due to his past imprisonment, he was even more afraid of people like Tao Yaoyang. After the previous negotiations failed, he worried about retaliation from the opposite side.

Sure enough, retaliation came swiftly; before they could react, Ma Wenjiang, the leader of their group, was directly arrested.

Li Bingcong felt somewhat fortunate for being fine, yet had a great fear in his heart, fearing that Tao Yaoyang might continue to target the remaining three of them.

Now that Chen Feng agreed to help persuade Tao Yaoyang to step down, he was undoubtedly the happiest one.

"I believe Chairman Chen can persuade President Tao." Guan Yongsong remained relatively calm, but a smile appeared on his face.

Compared to Li Bingcong's dark history, his rise to prominence was rather clean.

But having rolled around in business for so many years, how could he have avoided doing anything illegal or disorderly?

Needless to say, he evaded taxes a few years ago, and also issued fake VAT invoices.

These are some of the original sins unavoidable for their older generation of businessmen.

In recent years, he has been doing business honestly and paying taxes according to the law. However, if someone were to investigate, they would certainly find some issues; this too is unavoidable.

If he could avoid being investigated or targeted, of course, that would be best.

Only Ma Wenjiang felt somewhat depressed, asking: "Do you think you can also plead with President Tao on my behalf, let me off the hook?"

Chen Feng shook his head directly: "I said earlier that this involves a criminal case, I don't have such power, and Brother Tao is likely unable to influence it. If you are truly innocent, I think all you need to do is cooperate well with the police investigation, and also hire a skilled lawyer, then you should be able to get through this smoothly."

Chen Feng's words were quite fair; if he was truly innocent, cooperating well with the police investigation would ensure that they wouldn't frame or falsely accuse him, right?

However, upon hearing Chen Feng's words, Ma Wenjiang's face instantly turned sour; he forcefully suppressed his anger and shame, saying solemnly:

"Chairman Chen, I hope you can help me through this crisis. Whatever conditions you propose if you agree to help."

Zhou Qianru also spoke up: "Chen Feng, please don't stand by and watch us perish, okay? I know you have the ability to help my husband; I'm truly begging you."

Chen Feng looked deeply at Zhou Qianru, then shifted his gaze, sighed, and said: "This matter is really difficult for me. I don't even know the specifics of this case; I'll find people to understand it after I go back, and then we'll see."

Chen Feng's words counted as a concession, making Ma Wenjiang and Zhou Qianru's expressions better.

"Chairman Chen, if you can help me get through this successfully, I will consider you a brother."

Ma Wenjiang once again said solemnly.

Chen Feng nodded noncommittally, raised his cup, and drank two sips consecutively, finishing off the remaining Longjing tea.

"Let's leave it at that for now. I'm going to find Brother Tao and inform him right away, asking him to step down; otherwise, I don't know if he has already started targeting you all."

Chen Feng said as he stood up.

The few people, upon hearing Chen Feng's words, dared not keep him any longer. Li Bingcong immediately responded nervously, saying: "Right, right, right, Chairman Chen, you'd better contact Mr. Tao promptly and convey our intentions to him, talk to him properly. We've already given in, hoping he can show mercy."

"Alright, let me take my leave first."

Chen Feng said and then walked out. Everyone present got up together to see him off.

The atmosphere was more grand than when Chen Feng first arrived.

They escorted Chen Feng all the way to the door, watching him drive away before returning to the living room.

"Do you think he will keep his promise and help us persuade Tao Yaoyang to step down?"

Li Bingcong asked worriedly.

Sun Yanhong said: "Don't worry, Chen Feng is not the type to brag."

Zhou Qianru asked: "Then do you think it's true that he's powerless regarding my husband's case?"

Except for the depressed-looking Ma Wenjiang, the rest were all at a loss, unable to answer for a while.

...

Chen Feng did not go find Tao Yaoyang; instead, he drove straight home. After arriving home, he called Tao Yaoyang.

On the phone, Chen Feng directly told Tao Yaoyang about his visit to the Ma Family, relayed Ma Wenjiang and the others' words, and finally asked Tao Yaoyang for a favor not to target the remaining group members.

Tao Yaoyang responded promptly after hearing Chen Feng, saying: "I never had the intention to target each of them. Especially Sun Yanhong; truth be told, her father is somewhat related to my mother; how could I possibly target her? As for the other two, Guan Yongsong has a clean background and has been keen on charity in recent years, so I wouldn't do anything to him either. As for Li Bingcong—he used to have a less clean background, but he's been quite honest in recent years, not engaging in illegal activities anymore. The main thing is, his daughter is a socialite who recently connected with a prominent figure in Beijing, so unless necessary, I don't want to offend this individual and get into a conflict with his daughter."

"Oh, it seems he's most afraid of you." Chen Feng speculated, "It appears he doesn't know about his daughter connecting with a prominent figure."

"That should be the case. His daughter is quite rebellious, rarely home, and doesn't seem to have a good relationship with him."

Chen Feng shifted the topic, asking: "Do you think there's a possibility that Ma Wenjiang is really being framed in the young girl's fall case?"

Tao Yaoyang laughed heartily: "You wouldn't honestly believe his nonsense, would you? Among the four of them, this Ma is the least decent. According to my investigation, he's had a habit of playing with young women, especially virgins. You know what I mean."