The last trace of color drained completely from Bai Weiwei’s face.
The composed smile she had maintained all this time finally collapsed.
Shen Zhixing’s voice drifted from the projection screen, each word striking her like a blow.
The plan she had spent years orchestrating had been utterly destroyed.
“Fake.”
Her lips moved, her voice so faint it was almost inaudible.
“It’s all forged.”
She suddenly lunged toward the laptop controlling the presentation on the desk, her sharp nails glinting coldly.
Before she could even touch the edge of the desk, someone grabbed her wrist.
It was Fu Yechuan.
He hadn’t even stood up. Leaning casually against the desk, he gripped her wrist with enough force to make her bones ache.
“Bai Weiwei.”
His voice was flat and emotionless.
“Have you made enough of a scene?”
Bai Weiwei trembled violently, her face flushing red.
With her free hand, she snatched up a glass from the desk and hurled it directly at Fu Yechuan’s head.
Su Ran’s pupils contracted.
Fu Yechuan didn’t dodge.
He simply raised an arm and caught the glass steadily.
Water sloshed out, soaking half of his sleeve.
He took the glass from her hand and gently placed it back on the desk with a dull thud.
Not once did he blink.
“If you’re going to break things in my office, you’ll have to pay for them.”
Su Ran’s lazy voice drifted over from behind the desk.
Bai Weiwei finally tore her gaze away from Fu Yechuan and fixed it on Su Ran.
The innocence she had always carefully disguised in those beautiful eyes was gone, replaced entirely by surging hatred.
“Su Ran, do you really think you’ve won?”
She laughed, the sound harsh and grating.
“You think this little bit of evidence can bring me down? The rules of South City have always been written by me.”
“Maybe they were before.”
Leaning back in her executive chair, Su Ran folded her hands calmly over her abdomen.
“But times have changed, Miss Bai.”
Bai Weiwei’s smile froze.
“Show her out.”
Su Ran lifted her chin toward the door.
Two tall security guards entered and grabbed Bai Weiwei by the arms.
“Don’t touch me!”
Bai Weiwei screamed and struggled desperately.
“Do you know who I am? Let go of me!”
Her resistance was meaningless against professionally trained security personnel.
As she was dragged to the doorway, she suddenly turned around, her gaze locking onto Fu Yechuan’s face.
“Fu Yechuan! You’re treating me like this for a woman who came out of nowhere?”
Her voice was shrill with desperation.
“You’ll regret this! I swear you’ll regret this!”
Fu Yechuan released her wrist and pulled a handkerchief from his suit pocket. Unhurriedly, he wiped the water from his sleeve as though cleaning off something filthy.
He never looked at her.
Not even once. That indifference cut deeper than any insult.
The last glimmer of light in Bai Weiwei’s eyes went out.
The guards dragged her away. Her high heels scraped harshly across the floor as her screams echoed down the corridor, until the office door finally shut and sealed them outside.
Silence descended instantly.
The sweet, cloying perfume Bai Weiwei always wore still lingered in the air, making it almost nauseating.
Fu Yechuan tossed the used handkerchief into the trash and looked toward Su Ran.
She was staring down at her own hands. Her fingertips were trembling.
When Bai Weiwei had lunged at her earlier, she hadn’t been afraid.
She had only felt that it was absurd.
The favored daughter of heaven who had once ruled South City with a wave of her hand and manipulated everyone around her had become nothing more than a tantrum-throwing woman once her halo was stripped away.
“Got weak in the knees?”
Fu Yechuan’s voice came from beside her.
Su Ran shot him a glare.
“Mind your own business.”
She rose and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, staring at the traffic below that looked no larger than ants.
The confrontation had drained all her energy, leaving behind only exhaustion.
“What do we do now?”
she asked. “We wait.”
Supporting himself with his cane, Fu Yechuan walked over and stood beside her.
“Wait for what?”
“For Bai Weiwei’s next move.”
He looked out at the city.
“She’s a trapped beast now. She’ll do anything to break out of the cage. She can no longer use legal or business methods against us. That leaves only one option.”
Violence! The word surfaced immediately in Su Ran’s mind.
“Bai Jingshan.”
“Exactly.”
A knock came at the office door again.
This time it was the assistant carrying two cups of coffee, her expression still unsettled.
“President Su, Miss Bai just started arguing with the reception desk downstairs.”
“Let her argue.”
Su Ran accepted the coffee and took a sip, immediately wincing at the bitterness.
“She also said…”
The assistant hesitated.
“She said our company is an empty shell that’s come to South City to scam people, and she’s demanding that building management throw us out.”
Su Ran nearly choked on her coffee.
A low chuckle escaped Fu Yechuan.
She shot him a sideways look, and he instantly suppressed the smile, returning to his usual expressionless demeanor.
“Got it, you can go.”
Su Ran waved her away. After the assistant left, she set her coffee cup down heavily.
“Has she lost her mind? She’s actually resorting to this kind of street-level tantrum?”
“She’s not throwing a tantrum.”
Fu Yechuan sat down on the sofa and propped his injured left leg on the coffee table.
“She’s sending a message to the entire South City business world. Fengxing Technology is her enemy, and anyone who works with us is working against the Bai family.”
Making an example of them. Su Ran immediately understood.
“So we’re going to have a hard time moving forward?”
“She thinks so.”
Fu Yechuan held his coffee cup in both hands.
“But she’s miscalculated one thing. In business, there are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests. As long as we offer enough profit, plenty of people will be willing to oppose the Bai family.”
He looked at her. “How much cash does Fengxing Technology have left?”
“After clearing the three million in debt and paying rent and salaries, we still have 4.1 million.”
“That’s enough.”
Fu Yechuan said, “Use it to do one thing.”
“What?”
“Acquire a logistics company.”
Su Ran blinked. “The Bai family’s foundation is real estate and retail. Neither can function without logistics.”
Fu Yechuan’s thoughts were precise and clear.
“Of the three largest logistics companies in South City, two are deeply tied to the Bai family. The only independent one left is called Jietong Logistics. Its owner is a stubborn man who has refused to be absorbed by the Bai family. Recently, his cash flow has collapsed, and he’s looking for someone to take over.”
“You want to cut off one of the Bai family’s logistics channels?”
“We’re going to turn it into a blade against them. The Bai family needs Jietong’s transport capacity. Fine. If they want to use it, they can pay extra, or trade something else in return.”
Su Ran’s eyes lit up. A move that struck directly at the foundation.
This was a true counterattack.
“I’ll contact the owner of Jietong right away.”
She grabbed her phone.
“Not yet.”
Fu Yechuan stopped her. “Bai Weiwei’s next move should be arriving soon.”
The moment he finished speaking, Su Ran’s phone rang.
It wasn’t a call. It was a multimedia message.
The sender was an unknown number.
Su Ran opened it. It was a photograph.
The background was the hallway of the short-term rental apartment they had once stayed in at Hai City. The walls were plastered with advertisements for drain cleaning services, and the lighting was dim.
The landlady, the middle-aged woman who always had a cigarette hanging from her mouth, was sprawled at the foot of the stairs. Her eyes were wide open. A fruit knife protruded from her chest, and blood covered the floor.
In the lower right corner of the image, a line of red text had been added.
“You’re next.”
Su Ran’s hand jerked violently, and her phone nearly slipped from her grasp.
Fu Yechuan snatched the phone away.
The moment he saw the image, the temperature around him seemed to plunge below freezing.
This was a blatant declaration of war, bought with the life of an innocent person.
Bai Weiwei had gone completely insane.
Su Ran’s stomach churned.
She rushed into the restroom, gripping the sink as she retched. Nothing came up except bitter acid.
That landlady, despite her unpleasant attitude, had done nothing wrong.
All she had done was rent them a room.
And because of that, she had lost her life.
Su Ran splashed cold water onto her face.
The reflection staring back at her in the mirror was deathly pale, with not a trace of color left in her lips.
She walked back out.
Fu Yechuan was still standing where she had left him, clutching her phone so tightly that veins bulged across the back of his hand.
“Fu Yechuan.”
She stopped in front of him.
He looked up. Rage churned in his eyes, fiercer than anything she had ever seen before.
“She deserves to die.”
Every word seemed squeezed out through clenched teeth.
Su Ran looked at him, then stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him.
Her slender arms encircled his tense waist through the fabric of his suit, and she pressed her face against his chest.
She could hear his heartbeat.
Fast, powerful. Each thud seemed to pound against her ears.
“I know.” Her voice trembled.
“But not now. You can’t let her provoke you. Losing control is exactly what she wants.”
Fu Yechuan’s body was as rigid as iron.
After a long moment, he finally lifted his arms and held her in return.
His embrace was strong, completely enclosing her. His chin rested lightly atop her hair.
“Su Ran.”
His voice was hoarse.
“Mm.”
“I won’t let her touch you.”
Nestled in his arms, Su Ran nodded softly.
Outside, the sunlight was brilliant. Golden dust drifted through the air.
The office was so quiet that a pin dropping would have been audible.
Only the rhythm of two intertwined heartbeats remained.
And outside the window, a drone carrying a massive billboard advertisement was slowly rising into the sky.
Displayed across the giant screen was an enormous photograph of Su Ran.
It showed her standing beside the floor-to-ceiling windows of Fengxing Technology.
Beneath it, in blood-red letters, was a single line: “A life for a life, Su Ran.”