Chapter 184 Collecting Evidence


    An hourter, dinner was finally ready. When James sat at the dining table, Mariadled out a bowl


    of minced pork congee with century egg and put it in front of him. "Here you go. It''s hot. Be careful


    not to scald yourself."


    She was smiling. He nced at her and realized that she wanted something from him. "Thank you,"


    he said casually.


    Maria picked up a piece of fish and put it into her mouth. After chewing it casually for a while, she


    swallowed it and asked tentatively, "Shall we talk about something?"


    James asked seriously, "About love?"


    Maria choked. She rested her elbow on the table and cupped her chin in her hand. "Love my butt.


    It''s about Jonathan." Of course, she also wanted to talk about love and romance with him, but she


    knew that he didn''t want to. What could she do?


    "Let''s eat," James said.


    Maria understood he was unwilling to talk about Jonathan yet. So she had to answer, "Okay."


    When they finished eating, James went upstairs to take a shower while Maria was left in the dining


    room cleaning up the table.


    She became less anxious this time. Actually, she could carry out her n by herself, and she didn''t


    have to ask James to do it for her. Maria didn''t know why, but she just wanted to listen to his advice.


    When James came out of the bathroom, Maria was already on the balcony, smoking. He frowned as


    he always thought that smoking was her bad habit.


    He threw the towel aside, strode towards the balcony, and grabbed the cigarette from her lips.


    "Don''t let me see you smoke again in the future," he snapped.


    Maria was speechless for a moment. Then she retorted, "But you smoke too."


    "It''s different. I''m a man, and you''re a woman."


    "And what''s the difference? We''re not living in a feudal society anymore. Nowadays, women''s


    status has risen, even surpassing men."


    "Let me tell you what''s the difference then." James took a drag on the cigarette, puffed out smoke,


    and stubbed it out in the ashtray.


    He then pulled her over and went back to the bedroom together.


    He threw her on the bed and pressed on her. "Men can fuck women. Can you?"


    Maria was at a loss for words. She couldn''t retort this time.


    James'' hands kept moving, and he continued what he was doing. Then he asked again, "Do you


    have such a function?"


    Maria was totally defeated now.


    After a long time, she felt that she would die if he still didn''t end it. Finally, he finished.


    He carried her in his arms, took her to the bathroom, and cleaned her up. He also cleaned himself


    before he carried her back to the bed. Then he lit a cigarette and sat down on the sofa. "Tell me!"


    However, Maria was totally worn out. Shey in bed drowsily and said, "I want to sleep."


    She felt like she was crushed by a truck. But why was James still so energetic?


    "You can sleep after you talk."


    Maria rolled her eyes. What else could she do?


    She turned over and faced him. "It''s about thend in the south of the city. Can you help me buy off


    the government officials?"


    "What do you want to do?" She wanted to buy off the government officials. How bold she was!


    "I''m afraid that they will be suspicious, so I have to do something to erase their doubts."


    ''They?'' James reechoed the word inwardly. He wondered who else had she framed aside from


    Jonathan.


    Flicking his cigarette, he asked, "Do you think Jonathan is easy to deal with? Do you think he can''t


    tell the difference between soft and hard soil? Or even if he can''t tell, how about those engineers


    doing the geological exploration?"


    Maria couldn''t agree with him more. Upon realizing that it was a big problem, she became


    energetic, and her sleepiness vanished. She looked at James seriously and asked, "What should I


    do then?"


    James thought for a while before he answered, "Since we have already started, we can''t leave any


    evidence."


    That night, several trucks loaded with hard soil pulled over on thatnd in the south of the city. The


    hard soil was then spread evenly over the entirend in a thickyer, creating an illusion that there


    was no problem with it at all.


    The next day, some residents in the vicinity also received red packets. The hush money was to


    prevent them from disclosing embarrassing or discreditable information about thend.


    Everything was done before Jonathan sent his men to inquire about thend.


    As for Mrs. Jiang, she insisted on suing Maria. Jonathan wasn''t able to do anything about it. After


    all, he only had a low status in his family. All he could do was watch Mrs. Jiang and herwyer go


    through the judicial process.


    As soon as Maria received the subpoena, James also heard about it. He made time to go to the


    coffee shop across the street.


    The fans who had been waiting for him for a few days were so excited that their eyes turned red.


    However, since they heard that he was a cold man, no one dared to go forward to ask for his


    autograph or take photos with him.


    They could only watch him enter a private room while taking photos of him secretly with their mobile


    phones.


    The second wave of hot searches hit the Inte again. And the topic was still about "Meeting


    James Xi."


    Many fans posted their photos on Weibo with captions about how handsome the bossy CEO was,


    how they couldn''t breathe when they saw his gorgeous face, and so on.


    Maria entered the private room with a cup of coffee in her hand. Everyone was so envious of her.


    James didn''t take the coffee she handed over. Instead, he asked, "Do you need me to handle it?"


    "You already know?" Maria still insisted on handing over the coffee to him.


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    "No, thanks," James refused.


    "Why not? It''s my personal mug. I made the coffee for myself. I just can''t finish it."


    James was rendered speechless. It turned out that she only wanted him to finish her leftover. He


    really needed to teach her a lesson.


    Determined to let him take the coffee mug, Maria continued, "I know that Jonathan faked the


    ounts, but I don''t have any evidence yet. I just knew it." She was sure that the ounts of YL


    Group were not clean. It was just that she was still collecting the evidence.


    James'' eyes darkened. He said in a deep voice, "You can do whatever you want. I have the


    evidence."


    Maria was slightly surprised. "You have? How?"


    A trace of uneasiness shed across James'' face. He lowered his head and took a sip of coffee to


    hide it. Then he said, "HL Group has cooperated with YL Group before. Knowing oneself and one''s


    enemy ensures victory."


    He had done some research on YL Group long ago, but it was only a rough investigation. Since the


    company''s shady deals didn''t affect their cooperation, he just ignored them.


    Later, he asked Summer to investigate again and found out that Jonathan had a lot of scandals and


    dark secrets.


    "Oh, I see." Maria believed in his words.


    "Call him. Let him know that you the evidence of his fake ounts and tax evasion," James said.


    Maria couldn''t help admiring James secretly. She looked at him with admiration in her eyes. "You''re


    awesome!" She had been trying to collect evidence for a long time, but she only got a little until now.


    The look in her eyes made James feel happy. Upon realizing that he couldn''t restrain himself from


    smiling, he immediately pulled a face and said, "Hurry up! I have another meeting to attend."


    Maria noticed the change in his expression. She silently endured his rudeness. After all, he had an


    advantage over her.


    As soon as she dialed Jonathan''s number, the call was answered at once.


    "Hello, who''s this?"


    "Mr. Jiang, it''s me."


    Jonathan recognized Maria''s voice. "Ms. Song, what can I do for you?" he asked.


    "I have received the subpoena that Mrs. Jiang''swyer sent." Maria leaned against the sofa and


    watched James took another sip of her coffee. Her lips couldn''t help curling up.


    "Well..." Jonathan sounded a little embarrassed.


    "You don''t have to say anything, Mr. Jiang. I just want to tell you that I have all the evidence of your


    fake ounts and tax evasion. If you don''t want them to be sent to the relevant departments


    tomorrow, please let her behave herself." Maria didn''t need to act in front of Jonathan anymore, so


    her voice sounded a little cold on the phone.


    As expected, Jonathan became really nervous. "What the hell do you want to do?" First, she


    defrauded him for twenty million dors. Now, she wanted to ckmail him.


    Maria replied with a smile, "Well, I don''t have any other purpose. I just owe tens of millions of dors


    recently, so I want to borrow some money from you. Last time, you didn''t seize such a good


    opportunity. So you can''t me me for anything."


    She owed tens of millions of dors? James sneered. He could see that she was talking nonsense.


    "You''re doing this just for money?" Jonathan asked.


    "What else do you expect?" Maria asked.


    As she spoke, she stared at James, who was sneering silently, wondering what he wasughing at.