“…The Xu family has gone way too far!”
“Ayu must’ve been set up by that little bitch!”
“It was clearly just a misunderstanding—why did they have to force him to apologize like that? Who do they think they are?!”
“I didn’t raise my son just so he could be humiliated by others!”
“No, I’m going to talk to Father about this. This is bullying!”
Listening to his mother rant tearfully in the back seat, Shen Yu’s irritation kept building.
When she started dragging his grandfather into it, he felt a jolt of alarm. His expression darkened, and he slammed his fist against the passenger-side window button.
Startled, his mother immediately fell silent and asked cautiously, “Ayu… are you okay?”
But her voice was drowned out by the rush of wind from the open window.
Shen Pei took a few deep breaths to suppress his frustration and told the driver to roll the window back up.
Silence returned to the car.
“Ayu, how can you lose your temper at your mother?” Shen Pei said, putting an arm around his wife as he reprimanded him.
Shen Yu frowned, about to respond, when his mother hurriedly spoke up first.
“Don’t blame him, he was tricked by that little bitch. Of course he’s in a bad mood…”
Any trace of sympathy Shen Yu had just felt vanished instantly.
He couldn’t understand why his parents insisted on belittling Gu Nianqing like this.
Didn’t they realize that insulting the person he liked wouldn’t comfort him in the slightest? It only made him question his own judgment—again and again.
Did they really think dragging her name through the mud would affect her?
It wouldn’t.
That woman’s heart was as hard as steel. As long as it didn’t interfere with her making money, she wouldn’t care if people cursed her to her face. Hell, if the price was right, she’d probably even write out a few different versions of insults herself and hand them to his mother.
The only thing that could truly hurt her… was losing money.
That was exactly why Shen Yu had mobilized considerable resources and leveraged the Shen family’s influence to pressure others in their circle—making himself Qimeng’s biggest client over the past two years.
Then, just as their contract was about to expire, he placed a massive additional order—timed precisely with the production cycle.
This kind of move wasn’t unusual. Long-term partners often handled expiring contracts mid-production by signing supplementary agreements or renewing early to avoid breach of contract.
But Shen Yu deliberately didn’t bring it up.
He was forcing Gu Nianqing to bow her head.
For products with rapid technological updates, sitting on inventory for even a year or so would render them practically worthless.
With such a large order, Gu Nianqing had only a few options:
Either swallow the loss and let him continue using the products beyond the contract period…
Or take back the finished goods and find another buyer—which was impossible, since Shen Yu had already made it clear in their circle that no one would risk offending the Shen family for the sake of an illegitimate daughter.
Otherwise, she’d have no choice but to come to him first—to negotiate a renewal.
No matter which option she chose, Shen Yu would benefit.
Of course, personally, he hoped she’d choose to renew.
Not just to avoid tarnishing his company’s reputation—but because renewing meant he’d get to see her again.
Ever since she tricked him into going abroad six years ago, she’d been avoiding him. No matter what he tried, he’d never managed to catch her once.
…But what he never expected was—
She actually dared to sue him.
Was she really willing to tear apart the cooperation between the Shen and Xu families like this?
Where did she even get that kind of confidence?
Thinking of the unexpected variable that ruined his plan, Shen Yu clenched his teeth in fury.
Who the hell had the guts to interfere?!
Steal his project, touch his woman—did they think the Shen family was dead?!
The mark on Gu Nianqing’s collarbone had already faded, but in his memory, it burned bright red—like fresh blood—mocking him openly.
Irritated again, Shen Yu slammed his fist against the car door.
“Can you two stop making things worse for me?!”
His voice was sharp with anger. “And now you’re dragging Grandpa into this too? Mom, do you really want me to lose face in front of Shen Ling and the others?!”
His mother stared at him, stunned, then stammered, “B-but Ayu… I’m just upset that you were wronged by that woman…”
“If you don’t know how to speak, then don’t,” Shen Yu cut her off with a cold laugh. “You keep calling Qingqing a bitch—so what does that make me? Trash who’s on the same level as her?”
Normally, Shen Yu’s mother would never argue back. But this touched on what she saw as her biggest threat.
She snapped.
“Ayu!” she shrieked. “How could you be on the same level as her?! Why are you still thinking about her?!”
Shen Pei’s face darkened with anger.
“So that’s why, two years ago, you insisted on taking Feixian from Shen Ling—it was all for that vixen!”
“Taking it?” Shen Yu let out a cold laugh. “That’s only because you couldn’t get it yourselves. Otherwise, why would I need to ‘take’ anything?”
“You—”
“The Xu family is willing to back the ‘bitch’ and ‘vixen’ you keep talking about, giving her the freedom to focus on R&D. Qimeng’s projects are even tied to national-level opportunities now. Who in our circle doesn’t want to get close to Gu Nianqing?”
He paused, then added with a sneer:
“Fine, say she’s an outlier. But what about Shen Ling? You respect her, don’t you? Her parents poured money into building Feixian for her—but without working with Qingqing, would she have achieved anything worth Grandpa’s attention?”
Looking at his parents’ uncomfortable expressions reflected in the rearview mirror, Shen Yu felt a surge of pent-up frustration.
“And you? No influence, no money, no vision! If it weren’t for me, Grandpa wouldn’t even remember you two exist! And even like this, you still drag me down!”
His mother covered her face and burst into tears. Shen Pei clutched his chest, unable to say a word.
The most composed person in the car—the driver—quietly raised the soundproof partition.
“Young master,” he asked calmly, “are we heading back to the main residence?”
Shen Yu raked a hand through his hair, visibly annoyed.
He took out his phone and saw more than a dozen missed calls from Qiu Nannan.
He froze for a moment before remembering—he had left her at the airport.
A headache crept in.
He had only chosen Qiu Nannan because she resembled Gu Nianqing. Now that the real one was back, he had no interest in wasting effort on a substitute.
But with Gu Nianqing being so unyielding—humiliating him twice in one day—he was starting to worry he’d develop high blood pressure before ever winning her over.
Compared to that, it was easier to keep Qiu Nannan around for now.
At worst, he could just give her some money later and part ways cleanly.
“Drop me off at the next intersection. I’ve got something to do.”
He sent Qiu Nannan a voice message, telling her to wait at his newly bought apartment. Then he glanced at the rearview mirror again.
“And don’t let my parents come bother me. Otherwise, you can hand in your resignation.”
The driver: …
Money was hard to earn, and dealing with this kind of nonsense was even harder.
The young master’s upbringing wasn’t something a nobody like him should comment on. His job was simply to follow orders.
After getting out of the car, Shen Yu ignored his mother calling after him and walked into a roadside café.
Calling a taxi? Not a chance.
With so many drivers in the Shen family, he could just have another one pick him up.
Not long after making a call, a Bentley pulled up by the curb.
Shen Yu casually opened the back door and got in—but the moment he stepped inside, his expression changed.
Someone was already sitting there.
A middle-aged man who looked strikingly similar to Shen Pei—about five or six parts alike—was staring at him coldly.
Shen Yu’s scalp tightened.
“…Third Uncle, what are you doing here?”
He instinctively reached for the door, but with a soft click, it locked—cutting off any chance of escape.
Under Shen Yao’s calm yet icy gaze, Shen Yu stiffly fastened his seatbelt.
“Back to the main residence,” Shen Yao said.
Shen Yu panicked. “Third Uncle, I have something to do somewhere else—”
His reply was a slap.
Shen Yu was stunned, clutching his face in disbelief.
“My daughter is cleaning up the mess you made,” Shen Yao said coldly, “and you’re thinking about going to see your little canary?”
He didn’t spare his nephew any dignity, laying bare his intentions without hesitation.
A flicker of resentment flashed in Shen Yu’s eyes, but he didn’t dare argue.
…
Meanwhile, as the Shen family’s young heir was about to face a storm of consequences—
Elsewhere, Qiu Nannan sat alone in the apartment for hours, eventually ordering takeout just to fill her stomach.
Staring out at the city lights, she finally accepted the truth:
That young master had stood her up. Again.
“…What the hell is wrong with him?!”