Chu Yiran stared at that line of text, feeling as if her heart had stopped beating for a full two seconds.
Then it began to race wildly.
He checked. He actually checked.
Chu Yiran’s hand holding the phone started trembling.
Her mind was spinning at high speed, trying to find a plausible explanation within seconds.
Chu Yiran closed her eyes, her palms slick with sweat.
Three seconds, five seconds, eight seconds.
She pressed the voice message button.
“Brother, I didn’t go to a top-tier hospital.”
Her voice was low, carrying an unnatural hoarseness.
“I actually went to a private clinic recommended by a friend, because I didn’t want you to find out which hospital I was at. I was afraid you’d drop everything and come see me.”
“I know you would definitely come, but I really didn’t want you to see me like this—the rash on my neck is ugly, and my face is swollen.”
Her eyes grew slightly warm, not from emotion, but from fear.
“I just wanted to recover properly before seeing you, to stand before you looking beautiful.”
After sending the voice message, she added a text message.
“I can tell you the name of the private clinic, but can you promise not to go?”
This was a high-stakes gamble.
If Shen Yu demanded the clinic’s name, she would have to make one up on the spot.
And with Shen Yu’s capabilities, verifying whether a clinic existed would only take a few minutes.
But Chu Yiran was betting on something else.
She was betting on that tiny bit of softness Shen Yu showed in matters of emotion.
When a woman says, “I don’t want you to see me looking ugly,” the statement itself is an expression of vulnerability and trust.
For someone like Shen Yu, who has an extremely strong need for control, the more the other person shows weakness, the less likely he is to apply pressure.
Not out of soft-heartedness, but out of the conqueror’s innate protective instinct toward the conquered.
At least, as long as he still believes in the relationship.
The phone remained silent for a long time.
Chu Yiran sat motionless on the sofa, even her breathing softened.
Three minutes later, it felt like three years had passed.
Shen Yu replied with a voice message.
With trembling hands, she tapped to play it.
“No need to say it.”
His voice was still cold, but it lacked the suffocating pressure from before.
“Come see me once you’ve recovered.”
After listening, Chu Yiran slowly placed her phone on the coffee table.
She lay back on the sofa, covering her face with her hands.
Another narrow escape.
But this time, it was more dangerous than ever before.
Shen Yu had already begun to verify her words through action.
He was oscillating between patience and suspicion.
With each passing day, the scales tipped further toward suspicion.
Chu Yiran wrote a line in her notes.
“Expiration date of lies: at most two weeks. Must meet or cut ties completely within two weeks.”
Meeting was impossible.
The face tied to the persona of Moli Hua was Song Qingwan’s—what face could she possibly use to meet him?
The only option was to find a reasonable excuse within two weeks to permanently end this relationship.
But cutting ties too abruptly would anger Shen Yu, and doing it too gently wouldn’t make him let go.
She needed a perfect exit strategy.
Death? Too extreme, and secrets can’t stay hidden forever.
Going abroad? Possible, but Shen Yu’s reach extends overseas.
Disappearing completely, deleting all contact methods?
That would be leaving without a word. With Shen Yu’s personality, he would turn Hecheng upside down to find her.
Chu Yiran thought for half an hour but came up with nothing.
She decided to sleep first. She still had work tomorrow and the external audit team to deal with.
Over the weekend, Chu Yiran didn’t go anywhere. She stayed in her apartment and did two things.
First, she reorganized all the documents the administrative department had handled recently, ensuring every quotation, contract, and payment voucher was clearly placed where it should be.
If the external audit team wanted to check, she could produce the most complete set of materials in the shortest time possible.
The benefit of doing this was that if someone tried to tamper with or hide any documents during the audit, the archives she had prepared in advance would serve as insurance.
Second, she hand-copied all the key data from the three abnormal procurement records she had discovered earlier and locked them in a drawer at home.
Not to expose anyone, but to protect herself.
If this matter ever blew up in the future and accountability fell on the administrative department, she would need evidence to prove she wasn’t an accomplice.
After finishing these tasks, she felt much more at ease.
On Monday morning, Chu Yiran arrived at the company as usual at eight o’clock.
The atmosphere in the administrative department was a bit tense.
As soon as she entered the office area, she could feel the air was tight. Everyone was buried in their work, and even colleagues who usually chatted occasionally kept quiet.
When Lin Yuan passed by her workstation, he lightly tapped her desk twice.
“The external audit team has moved up their schedule. They’re coming in this afternoon.”
Chu Yiran looked up at him.
“Wasn’t it supposed to be Tuesday?”
“Last-minute adjustment,” Lin Yuan lowered his voice. “Rumor has it it’s an order from above. I don’t know whose idea it was, but President Sun looked very upset just now.”
Moved up.
Chu Yiran’s mind immediately started racing.
If the external audit team was coming in earlier, and this was an order from above, tracing it to the very top, there was only one person who could have given such a command.
Shen Yu.
If the owner of the Shen Group wanted to audit his own company ahead of schedule, there was only one possibility: he had received some information, or he had observed something unusual himself, and felt the need to verify it as soon as possible.
And procurement in the administrative department happened to be a potential area for scrutiny.
Sun Wanqing’s grim expression meant she had realized this too.
For the rest of the morning, Chu Yiran organized all the materials she could get her hands on, creating three backup folders on her computer and rearranging them according to the categories the audit might require.
She didn’t go to the cafeteria for lunch, instead eating a sandwich at her desk.
At 1:30 PM, three people appeared at the elevator entrance on the 35th floor.
Two men and one woman, all dressed in sharp suits, each carrying a briefcase.
The woman walked at the front, looking to be in her early forties, with neat short hair, a serious expression, and eyes that scanned the entire office area like a scanner.
Sun Wanqing came out of her office to greet them.
“Welcome, everyone. Thank you for your hard work.”
Her smile was standard and appropriate, showing no signs of anything unusual.
The female leader of the external audit team shook hands with Sun Wanqing, exchanged a few brief pleasantries, and then said something that made Chu Yiran perk up her ears.
“President Sun, the scope of this audit includes all procurement and supplier management records from the administrative department over the past six months.”
“Please arrange for a point of contact to assist.”
Sun Wanqing nodded and turned to look at the office area.
Her gaze landed precisely on Chu Yiran.