Inside the conference room, the atmosphere was so tense it felt almost suffocating.
Wang Xiaodong sat at the head of the table with one leg crossed over the other, his fingertips tapping idly against the solid wooden tabletop. In the beam of the projector, more than twenty senior executives sat frozen in silence, barely daring even to swallow.
“Three days.” Wang Xiaodong suddenly spoke, his voice as casual as if he were discussing the weather. “It only took three days to uncover all this interesting stuff.”
The red dot of his laser pointer stopped squarely on the gleaming forehead of Procurement Director Zhang Ming. Wang Xiaodong smiled faintly and said, “Director Zhang, your son’s tuition at Cambridge arrives right on time on the fifth of every month. More punctual than a woman’s period, huh?”
“CEO Wang! Those are legitimate consulting fees…”
“Oh?” Wang Xiaodong pressed the remote control.
The image on the screen switched to surveillance footage from a construction site in the eastern part of the city. Substandard steel suddenly snapped apart with a deafening crash, nearly crushing several workers into pulp.
Wang Xiaodong looked at Zhang Ming and said lightly, “The materials from Xiangrui Building Materials are certainly impressive. Since when does consulting involve killing people?”
The temperature in the conference room seemed to plummet instantly.
The laser pointer moved onto Vice CEO Li. On the screen appeared the property deed for an ocean-view villa in Malaysia, and the registered owner was none other than his young mistress who studied art.
“Emergency funds for the old district redevelopment.” Wang Xiaodong opened the file in front of him. “3 million yuan. Enough to help twenty displaced families survive the winter.”
At the same time, the projector displayed a stark comparison. On one side were drafty temporary houses. On the other was a lavish pool party at the villa.
Vice CEO Li’s face turned deathly pale.
Suddenly, a loud clatter came from the corner. Administrative Supervisor Zhao had been so frightened that he slipped straight off his chair.
“Don’t be nervous, Supervisor Zhao.” Wang Xiaodong smiled pleasantly as he brought up another surveillance recording. “Your younger brother’s printing shop seems to be doing quite well. Are you enjoying using our group’s equipment?”
Then Wang Xiaodong abruptly slammed his palm onto the table and stood up. “Everyone, is the salary my Wang Group pays you not high enough?”
No one answered.
“Not enough, huh?”
With a violent motion, Wang Xiaodong overturned the conference table. Documents scattered through the air like snowflakes.
“Then none of you need to take another cent!”
The Marketing Department Manager forced himself to stand and said, “CEO Wang, you’re making things very difficult for us…”
Wang Xiaodong sneered. “Difficult? Then don’t do it at all!”
He pressed the button on his walkie-talkie, and security personnel immediately filed into the conference room.
Wang Xiaodong looked toward Zhang Ming and said, “Director Zhang, the Economic Crime Investigation Unit is holding a little tea party downstairs. They specifically asked you to be their keynote speaker.”
He then turned toward Vice CEO Li. “Vice CEO Li, your passport has already been added to the blacklist package.”
One name after another was called out, and before long, more than half the conference room had been emptied. Some collapsed like mud and had to be dragged away, while others clung desperately to the table legs and wailed.
“CEO Wang! I have an 80-year-old mother to support and countless beautiful women depending on me!”
Wang Xiaodong kicked him away. “Where was this concern earlier? Now you suddenly remember your family?”
Before he could finish, Wang Xiaodong grabbed an ashtray and hurled it at him. “You sure talk a lot!”
Ten minutes later, the conference room was finally quiet.
When Li Weiwei entered carrying the meeting minutes, she saw Wang Xiaodong standing before the floor-to-ceiling windows, lighting a cigarette. The morning sunlight outlined him in gold, and the terrifying aura he had displayed moments earlier had completely vanished.
“CEO Wang, this…”
“Put it there.” Wang Xiaodong exhaled a ring of smoke before suddenly smiling. “Tell me, aren’t these people asking for trouble? They could have earned good money honestly, yet they just had to play with fire.”
Li Weiwei glanced at the wreckage filling the conference room and secretly swallowed.
Meanwhile, Wang Xiaodong breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Fortunately, according to his memories, he had plenty of experience managing companies.
In the past, he had also been decisive and ruthless in the business world. It was only after he became a hopeless simp that he neglected the company’s management, eventually allowing things to deteriorate to this point.
Now that he had dealt with these parasites, he finally felt much more at ease.
Even if one of the protagonists somehow triggered a major scandal, it would not mean much to a colossal corporation like Dawn Group.
Still, even tiny fleas became irritating when there were too many of them.
Recalling the plotline, Wang Xiaodong remembered that Lin Chen also had a childhood friend named Chen Xiaoxiao.
Like Lin Chen, she had grown up in Sunshine Orphanage.
Chen Xiaoxiao possessed a stubborn resilience filled with contradictions. She was nothing like a two-faced woman such as Su Qingyue.
She worked three jobs at the same time. During the day, she worked as a nanny, and at night, she knitted sweaters. No matter how difficult life became, she never complained.
Later that autumn afternoon, dust billowed outside the entrance of Sunshine Orphanage.
Three excavators bearing the words “Wang Real Estate” rumbled loudly, while more than a dozen tattooed men roughly shoved the children who were desperately guarding the iron gate.
“Get out of the way, you little brats! Even if the king himself showed up today, this place is still getting demolished!” The bald man leading the group raised his foot and kicked at the little boy standing at the very front.
“Stop!”
A beige figure rushed out from inside the orphanage. Chen Xiaoxiao spread her arms and firmly shielded the children behind her. Her trench coat was stained with mud, while her ponytail whipped wildly in the wind.
Her voice trembled, but she refused to retreat even half a step. “Where are the demolition documents? Where is the compensation agreement? Without legal authorization, what you’re doing is a crime!”
The bald man grinned viciously and pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper. “Look carefully! Your director signed this himself!”
Chen Xiaoxiao snatched the document from him, and her pupils abruptly contracted.
The signature was obviously forged.
Rip!
Without hesitation, she tore the document in half.
“You want to demolish this place? Then run me over first!”
“You damn bitch, you’re asking to die!” A scar-faced man swung a steel pipe directly toward her head.
Bang!
A black figure flashed past. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
The bald man was suddenly sent flying backward and slammed heavily into an excavator.
Wang Xiaodong casually shook out his wrist. A few specks of blood stained the cuff of his custom-tailored suit. Behind him, more than twenty bodyguards dressed in black had already surrounded the demolition crew.
The bald man stared at him with his mouth full of blood. “C-CEO Wang? We’re only following the group’s development plan…”
“Plan?” Wang Xiaodong stepped down on his wrist. “Who gave you the courage to touch land that belongs to me?”
Chen Xiaoxiao stood frozen in place.
This man who had suddenly appeared had actually frightened the vicious demolition crew so badly that they were trembling.
“Take your men and get lost.” Wang Xiaodong ground his shoe down slightly, making the bald man scream like a slaughtered pig. “Go back and tell your supervisor that the deed to Sunshine Orphanage was transferred into my personal name this morning.”
Once the commotion finally settled, Wang Xiaodong turned around and met Chen Xiaoxiao’s wary gaze.
She was still standing protectively in front of the children, looking like an angry cat with all its fur standing on end.
“You’re… from Wang Group?”
“To be precise, I’m their boss.” Wang Xiaodong bent down and picked up the torn fraudulent document. “But I have no need to resort to such underhanded methods.”
A gust of wind swept through the courtyard, sending withered leaves from the old locust tree fluttering through the air.
Only then did Chen Xiaoxiao notice a fresh tear in the back of Wang Xiaodong’s suit. It had clearly been ripped when he intervened to block the steel pipe.
“So…” Chen Xiaoxiao hesitantly lowered the arms she had been using to protect the children. “You really came here to help us?”
Wang Xiaodong did not answer. Instead, he walked toward the rust-covered iron gate.
His fingertips brushed across the plaque bearing the words “Sunshine Orphanage.” Then he suddenly said in a quiet voice, “When I was a child, I envied places like this the most.”
Chen Xiaoxiao froze.
For the briefest instant, she caught a fleeting trace of loneliness in the eyes of this imposing man.
“Director Zhang!” Wang Xiaodong suddenly raised his voice. “Please calculate all the damages. I’ll cover every repair expense.”
Only then did the elderly director, who had been hiding in the kitchen, shakily hurry outside. Tears streamed down his aged face as he said, “CEO Wang, you…”
“Also…” Wang Xiaodong took a document folder from his assistant and handed it directly to Chen Xiaoxiao. “These are the property deed transfer agreement and the donation documents. From today onward, no one will be allowed to touch a single brick or tile here.”
The document folder felt heavy in Chen Xiaoxiao’s hands. The gold-embossed emblem of Wang Group gleamed brilliantly beneath the sunlight.
She opened the first page and immediately saw the words written in the beneficiary field, “All Children of Sunshine Orphanage.”
Her head snapped up.
However, Wang Xiaodong had already turned and was walking toward his car. The autumn wind tugged at the hem of his clothes, making the tear in his suit particularly conspicuous.
“Wait!” Chen Xiaoxiao suddenly ran after him. “Your clothes…”
Wang Xiaodong turned around and, for the first time, seriously examined the stubborn young woman before him.
Dust smudged her cheeks, yet her eyes were astonishingly bright. Her fingers were still tightly clutching the document folder.
“I’ll make it up to you.” Chen Xiaoxiao suddenly pulled a sewing kit from her bag. “I’m pretty good at mending clothes.”
Wang Xiaodong raised an eyebrow, took off his suit jacket, and handed it to her. “Much appreciated.”