At the beginning of summer, the lawsuit between Shennong and Chenchen Hospital had reached the point where further negotiation wasn't possible. The judge scheduled the case to proceed into the courtroom. The civil court wasn't as dynamic as criminal court cases, but it was highly dependent on the judge.
After what had happened with Governor Ning and Mr. Bai, a good portion of the judges around the area and the province were placed on probation. An inexperienced judge was assigned to the case. Although he was known to be fair, medical cases were complex and required many expert witnesses and testimonies. Even a good judge would have a difficult time understanding the nature of the case.
Li Yun couldn't rely entirely on winning the case. He would rather make the hospital submit and since they had refused to back down, he could only strike back. On Chenchen's hospital server, an email was sent out to everyone from the press and law enforcement officers. Almost everyone in the hospital saw their dirty laundry displayed over the internet for everyone to see. The Chenchen Hospital was in panic mode, and everyone was trying to prevent their reputation from tarnishing further. As there were multiple doctors and administrators involved in bribes, red envelopes, and sex scandals, the government had to intervene. However, the locals were already aware of the situation and called for everyone to resign.
The head administrator and director tried their best to handle the situation. They didn't think Li Yun had information on so many people. Whether the administers were fired or not, the new employees would inherit the lawsuit. The chances of settling out of court were higher, but they both knew it was the Galba Group who was behind the lawsuit, not them.
"Damn it, what am I supposed to do?" Asked the director. "My wife is already requesting a divorce."
"Well, you already saw that coming, just divorce her already," the administrator replied. There were ledgers that had revealed his embezzling schemes from the hospital, but he could easily deny it. Even with written evidence, he could say it was forged or pin it on one of the auditing staff. "It looks like Shennong is desperate if they pull this sort of stunt."
The administrator and director were not aware that this wasn't a desperate measure, but a verdict. Li Yun simply didn't care about the lawsuit anymore. One thing he had learned from dealing with the Horsemen and running the Abyss was that the law only kept order for people who believed in it. For corrupt businessmen and politicians, the law couldn't handle them.
An email from the hospital board announced that the administrator and director were both fired for illegal dealings. There was evidence and recordings involved. The administrator and director both knew the mole as soon as they saw the audio.
"What's going on?" The director didn't think there would be recordings of their conversation. "Was it our conversation with Dr. Xuan?"
The administrator and director immediately called him up to question him. "Dr. Xuan, what is the meaning of this!?" The Chenchen's administrator called up the doctor angrily. "I thought we have agreed to keep this between just!?"
"It was only agreed between you two," said Dr. Xuan. "I don't care if my involvement or affair is brought to light, but I don't want to dig my grave deeper. You don't know who you're messing with, but Dr. Li isn't a simple person. Give up soon, the lawyers at Galba Group aren't doing too well either, you should start reading international news."
The administrator and director were both confused about what had happened to the Galba Group. They quickly searched for the news on their phone. They had been too caught up with their own mess to realize that a bigger mess was happening in Imperial City and around the country. After news about the Horsemen, many officials applauded the swift handling of the cases in Imperial City. It also set off another series of anti-corruption campaigns against major political players. Several moves were made in Imperial City by the Chairman and long-standing party members. Moves that Li Yun did not participate in or anticipated. It indirectly affected the managing partners at Galba Group where half the employees were disbarred.
The political schemes happening in the background were something Li Yun couldn't interfere with. He should be glad his organization didn't function in Imperial City, but it was only a matter of time before it became his business. From the living room, Li Yun turned off the TV.
"How much of this is Song Taiji's doing?" Li Yun asked Rouxi.
"Not much actually," said Rouxi. "Song Taiji isn't bound to a political ally. He keeps his role as an advisor and everything he does is for the sake of the country's development. Whether he keeps his alliance with an old chairman or new chairman is dependent on who he sees as the bigger potential. A lot of elders in the party look to him for direction because they know of his insights and ability. So you can see that he has aligned with the new chairman in this scenario. The Xia couldn't completely cut ties with the old chairman and they lost some assets. So although the main family is fine, some of their shell companies and connections like the Galba group are broken. They lost a limb, but it's better than being destroyed completely."
"Are you aware that Song Taiji might name you as his successor?" Li Yun asked. Political schemes were dangerous and it would be something Rouxi would be pulled into if she took on the Song's family mantle.
"He's just toying with the idea, he won't really do it until after the other two grandkids have completed their test," said Rouxi. She had never met Song Ahi or Mugen, so she wasn't able to assess their potential. "I haven't met them, so it's possible for them to still be in the running."
"But have you thought about it?"
"I have, but I don't know... It doesn't seem interesting to me," Rouxi turned away to look at the new email. "Yun, Sister Suah said you should check your email."
Li Yun had been so busy that he hadn't checked his email for a few days, but Rouxi should already know what it was about. "What is it?"
"They are going to air the first episode of the Great Chef soon!" Rouxi giddily announced; she had been waiting for a while to see her husband-to-be on the small screen.
Li Yun looked at the air date. The show was going to air in two different stations in the span of three weeks on the weekends. As there were only twelve episodes, two episodes on Saturday and two on Sunday. TV show programming in China was very sporadic since almost everything could be streamed through the internet.