Su Ran was momentarily stifled. He certainly knew how to pick out the important parts. “For the time being” was just a polite way of saying it; the meaning was affirmative.
Seeing that Su Ran hadn’t touched the room card, Lu Jingxing said indifferently, “Ten million isn’t a large sum. You haven’t finalized an investment intent after nearly two months—is there a hidden story?”
Hah, as expected, he’s using the financing to pressure me.
Su Ran remained neither humble nor arrogant. “I’ve spoken with a few firms, and they were all very interested initially. However, my father is the legal representative and general manager, and his personal credit report has some issues.”
Lu Jingxing lifted his eyelids to look at Su Ran, remaining silent as he waited for her to continue.
Su Ran met his gaze. “A few years ago, my family bought an apartment in an unfinished development. My father is somewhat stubborn and stopped his mortgage payments. But he is a responsible man of integrity; aside from that, he has no other bad records.”
Lu Jingxing stroked his forehead with his index finger, his tone skeptical. “A credit report is just a pretext. A bank might care, but most investment firms wouldn’t look too deeply into such a thing. I suspect you’re still hiding something.”
Just as Su Ran was about to speak, there was another knock on the conference room door.
Zhang Sheng, the Vice President of the Industrial Investment Department, walked in. “President Lu, there are some matters regarding Tianlei that I need to report to you.”
Lu Jingxing didn’t move, not even bothering to look at him directly. He merely shifted his dark pupils slightly, gesturing for him to continue.
Zhang Sheng was in his forties and a veteran of the company. He was extremely humble toward Lu Jingxing, standing almost at attention. “The legal representative, Su Tianlei, is on the bank’s lending blacklist. Furthermore, the average age of their workers is too high. Miss Su has also firmly stated that she is unwilling to replace employees over the age of forty.”
Su Ran immediately explained to Lu Jingxing, “Those employees are all skilled workers who have been with us for over a decade. Middle-aged people’s ability to learn isn’t poor, and they are more stable because they need to earn a living.”
The Su family valued sentiment and loyalty; they would not “slaughter the donkey once the grinding was done” or mistreat their veteran employees.
Zhang Sheng’s peripheral vision swept over the room card on the table. He deliberately adopted a disdainful tone. “Miss Su is using a small workshop management philosophy to run a medium-sized company. The risk is a bit high…”
Before Zhang Sheng could finish, Lu Jingxing suddenly glanced at him, his gaze like a sudden frost.
The climate-controlled conference room suddenly felt cold. The temperature and pressure seemed to drop by ten degrees in an instant. A chilling, invisible weight descended.
Zhang Sheng shut his mouth immediately and involuntarily took a half-step back.
Su Ran sat opposite Lu Jingxing, her head slightly lowered, no longer offering further explanations.
Lu Jingxing tapped his fingertip lightly on the table, his voice merciless and even a bit fierce. “You’ve wasted three minutes of my time. If you have time to talk, go do your work.”
Zhang Sheng was already used to the CEO’s harshness and sudden outbursts. He nodded and bowed repeatedly, retreating respectfully toward the door. “Yes, yes, I’ll go work on a solution right now.”
The moment he closed the door, he stole a glance through the crack at the room card in front of Su Ran, his eyebrows arching slightly.
Lu Jingxing withdrew the displeasure from his face. “Let’s continue.”
Su Ran took a deep breath and lowered her eyes to answer his previous question. “My ex-boyfriend is deliberately causing trouble. His uncle is the Vice President of the Jicheng branch of Fuda Bank.”
With Lu Jingxing’s status, he was someone all major banks courted. There was no need for him to disrupt a relationship with a bank executive for the sake of a little dalliance.
But even if she didn’t say it, Lu Jingxing would find out soon enough. If she hid it, it would make her seem insincere and give him a reason to refuse.
“What’s your ex-boyfriend’s name?”
Su Ran said in a low voice, “Xue Yi. Xue as in the surname, and Yi as in ‘ungrateful’.”
Lu Jingxing seemed to lose interest in the conversation. “Understood. Go back and wait for news.”
Su Ran’s heart trembled. She had a very bad feeling.
Knowing that saying more would be pointless and might even annoy him, she bit her lip and took her leave.
Behind her, Lu Jingxing’s gaze shifted to the room card lying quietly on the table, his eyes flickering.
There was a knock on the conference room door. A lean man walked in and tossed a USB drive to him from a distance. “The information on He Lujie from Fuda Bank. Everything is there, both legal and illicit.”
Lu Jingxing didn’t move his body, catching the drive deftly with one hand. “Thanks for the trouble, Ye.”
Wang Ye sat down lazily opposite him, crossing his legs with zero decorum. “A Vice President, just a small fry. I can’t believe you’re personally looking into him.”
Lu Jingxing replied, “I’m keeping it to use as a favor.”
Wang Ye looked at Lu Jingxing with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “I saw a cold, glamorous beauty in the hallway just now. She looks a lot like that girl in the video who was drugged.”
Lu Jingxing rubbed the USB drive between two fingers. “Oh, really?”
Wang Ye raised an eyebrow and leaned forward. “I checked the surveillance on the eighth floor. She entered your room afterward and didn’t come out until noon the next day.”
Lu Jingxing curled the corners of his lips, his dark eyes fixed on Wang Ye as if inviting him to keep asking. “It was indeed her.”
Wang Ye looked like he’d been given a shot of adrenaline, instantly becoming energized. “Such an obvious ‘honey trap.’ Did you fail to resist, or did you just play along?”
Lu Jingxing smiled faintly. “Both.”
Wang Ye’s eyes shone with a sly light. It was said that a man would never forget the woman who took his first time. “Caught feelings?”
Lu Jingxing’s eyes deepened slightly. “Hardly.”
He hadn’t caught feelings, but it was fun.
Distant and stubborn, cold and rebellious—she wouldn’t make him addicted. Yet with a curvaceous body and a daring nature in bed, she certainly wasn’t boring.
Truly interesting.
Walking out of Gaoshan Tower, a gust of late autumn evening wind blew past. Su Ran shivered, exhaling a faint mist as she turned up the collar of her wool coat.
Initially, because her father trusted the century-old foundation of the Lu Group the most, this was the first place Su Ran had approached.
To showcase their products’ quality, she had even specially made pastries for Gaoshan Capital’s anniversary celebration for free. In the end, aside from the kitchen and the garden, she hadn’t even had the chance to enter the main hall.
Not only had she failed to catch so much as a glimpse of Lu Jingxing’s back, but she had received a rejection from Zhang Sheng just two days later. Since then, it had been a series of red lights.
She still remembered the last thing Zhang Sheng had said to her: “The Tianlei project can be considered small or large; it all depends on you, Miss Su.”
She hadn’t understood then, but she understood now.
She had rejected Xue Yi, and now she had offended Lu Jingxing.
She had the skills and the ability. But being beautiful yet untouchable was her original sin.
Those people were right—her personality was stubborn and rigid, truly unsuitable for being out in the field doing business. If someone else had been running the financing, perhaps there wouldn’t have been so much trouble.
Su Ran felt a chill in her heart. She was the one holding the company and her family back.
She was usually confident, but now she felt a wave of distress and grievance that made her want to cry.
She hadn’t eaten all day and her mind was preoccupied. By the time she returned to Lizhu Garden, Su Ran had little strength left.
Lizhu Garden was a small, run-down apartment Su Ran had bought two years ago; she had been renting it out to pay the mortgage. She had only moved in recently for the convenience of seeking investments.
The motion-sensor light in the hallway had been broken for nearly a week, and the property management still hadn’t fixed it.
The building lacked soundproofing and smell insulation; in the darkness, she could smell the scent of her neighbors cooking. The greasy smell of fried fish and the smoky scent of cured meat made her empty stomach feel even more sour and uncomfortable.
Su Ran lowered her head, fumbling to open the door. Suddenly, a dark figure forced its way inside, pinned her against the hallway wall with one hand, and lowered its head to kiss her forcefully.