When Jiang Lai arrived downstairs at Minlai Apartment, she saw a text message that 8 million yuan had been credited to her bank card.
She deleted the message in satisfaction, humming softly as she unlocked the door and went inside.
Pei Jingchuan was sitting in the living room dealing with company documents. Seeing the smile she couldn’t suppress, the chill in his voice softened a little.
“Picked up a treasure?”
“Nope.” Jiang Lai changed into the pink rabbit slippers he had specially prepared for her at the entrance. “Ran into a big fool and extorted a sum.”
She hadn’t expected that just a few words would bring eight million straight into her pocket.
Even if the money didn’t come from Song Qin, her sister’s money was basically the same anyway.
Jiang Lai walked further inside. “By the way, President Pei, could you free up the Lan Ting 1663 private room for me tomorrow night?”
“Mm.”
He replied briefly.
“From now on, call me by my name. If we’re putting on a show, we should at least make it look real, Jiang Lai.”
She nodded and went back to the guest room, sending a message to Ya about changing Song Yue’s fate tomorrow.
She wasn’t planning to reveal her identity yet — if she showed all her cards at the start, how could she watch them regret everything later?
The next day, Jiang Lai went to work as usual.
As soon as she reached the apartment entrance, Gu Xingyun’s cold voice came toward her.
“When did you move out?”
He strode toward her, his whole body radiating displeasure.
“I called you so many times last night. Why didn’t you pick up?”
Jiang Lai yawned lightly. “I moved out two days ago. Didn’t Big Brother notice when you went back to Maple Lotus Villa?”
Gu Xingyun valued family greatly — unless he was extremely busy with work, he always went home and ate breakfast with the family every morning.
She had been absent for two full days, yet he only realized it now and came to question her.
Gu Xingyun paused. “The company has been very busy lately. Answer my question.”
“I’m busy too.”
Jiang Lai opened her phone and glanced at the missed calls.
Next to “Big Brother” there was a number: 29 — from 9 p.m. until 2 a.m.
She said coldly, “You kept calling while I was sleeping. It was annoying, so I blocked you. If you have something to say, say it now.”
Blocked?
Gu Xingyun frowned deeply.
Jiang Lai used to throw tantrums, but they were always childish — never serious.
What game was she playing this time?
He softened his tone slightly. “When are you going to hand over the Zhuang Group project to the company? We’ve invested heavily in R&D to enter the medical equipment field. If follow-up projects don’t come in, our capital chain will break.”
“So?” Jiang Lai walked past him.
Her attitude angered him. He grabbed her arm.
“Gu Group is the result of our whole family’s effort — are you really going to destroy it like this?!”
She shook his hand off.
“Has President Gu ever treated me like family? Don’t dump all your problems on me.”
She had already done enough for the Gu family.
Before, she had been willing to give for the sake of kinship, but they treated her kindness as something she owed them.
If it weren’t for Old Madam Gu, she could have ruined them with just a few talismans.
Gu Xingyun felt both furious and disappointed. “Since when did you become so short-sighted?!”
Jiang Lai stepped back slightly.
“Didn’t President Gu always praise Sister for being ‘considerate of the bigger picture’? Why don’t I see her giving up her shares? Instead, you want an outsider like me to worry about your business.”
“Unreasonable.”
Gu Xingyun stood in place, his voice low.
Where had things gone wrong? How did Jiang Lai become like this?
“Is this how President Gu treats his younger sister?”
Pei Jingchuan walked out from the building, stepping behind Jiang Lai and gently pulling her slightly back.
“President Pei.” Gu Xingyun tried to suppress his anger. “This is a family matter of the Gu family.”
“I’m Lai Lai’s fiancé.”
Pei Jingchuan replied calmly, placing his hand on her shoulder.
“Her business is my business.”
Gu Xingyun was momentarily at a loss for words.
He found Pei Jingchuan’s hand on Jiang Lai’s shoulder extremely grating — they had only known each other for how long? Yet they looked closer than blood siblings.
After a moment, he tried another approach.
“I’d like to discuss the Zhuang project with President Pei. If you’re willing to make concessions, Gu Group will compensate you generously.”
Pei Jingchuan lowered his head slightly. “What’s going on?”
Zhuang Group’s business had nothing to do with Pei Group — he had no idea about any collaboration.
“I’ll explain later,” Jiang Lai coughed softly. “Help me stall him for now?”
“Fine. We’ll settle this later.”
Pei Jingchuan raised his eyes again.
“This project is entirely handled by Lai Lai. Her conditions are Pei Group’s conditions. President Gu, think carefully.”
Gu Xingyun was speechless.
Just then, a sharp pain hit his back — Old Madam Gu struck him with her cane.
“Who told you to come bully Lai Lai?!”
She struck him again.
“Can’t you even handle company matters yourself?”
“Grandma, listen to me—”
Gu Xingyun felt a headache coming on. One Jiang Lai was already difficult enough, and now Old Madam Gu had joined in.
“You forced Lai Lai to move out and live alone, and you still expect me to recognize you as my grandson?!” Old Madam Gu snapped.
Jiang Lai had always told her that things at the Gu family were fine — clearly, she had been suffering in silence.
Gu Xingyun sighed helplessly. “Grandma, she wants 5% of Gu Group’s shares in exchange for the project. Where am I supposed to get that?”
Old Madam Gu looked at him as if he were foolish.
“Just transfer Qianhe’s shares to Lai Lai.”
Gu Xingyun’s expression hardened. “That would be unfair to Qianhe.”
Hearing this, Old Madam Gu almost rolled her eyes to the sky.
“Then tell me — with your hand on your heart — is this fair to Lai Lai?”