Unfamiliarity

Lin Ruoxi bit her lip gently as she glanced over at Yang Chen. She then said, “I’ve made preparations ever since Li Minghe started to pursue Wu Yue.”

Yang Chen was stunned. He knew Lin Ruoxi liked to have contingency plans. But he never expected for her preparations to be so thorough. How much planning must’ve been undertaken to be able to devise such an ingenious plan?!

“Why?” Yang Chen frowned as he said, “Li Minghe was handpicked by Li Muhua into Yu Lei International. What about him has set you off?”

“I went through Li Minghe’s background prior to this job. He was born and raised in America before moving over to Hong Kong to join Muyun Corporation. However, just a few short years after that, they sent him over to handle such a significant collaboration between both our corporations. Turns out Li Muhua didn’t agree to that move, but it was a clear majority of shareholders that sanctioned the act. This prompted Li Muhua to accept him against his personal will in the thought of keeping the major shareholders pleased. That’s why I kept my guard up the whole time.

“Furthermore, despite his position in the company, he has had no interest in any other woman except Wu Yue. It is noteworthy to say that he has eventually developed genuine feelings for her, but generally speaking, a man born and raised in the States would not have been that romantically inclined towards the frail and skinny Wu Yue.”

Yang Chen smirked upon her statement and interrupted, “Wow, the way you describe your assistant is depressing to say the least. But then again it doesn’t correlate with you predicting that he would be stealing confidential information.”

Lin Ruoxi smirked ever so slightly. “I never actually guessed that theft would be a problem for us.”

“Then why would you have alternate strategy proposals?” Yang Chen was even more perplexed at her rationale.

Lin Ruoxi teasingly answered, “Why do you think I’m paying tens of millions yearly to keep the Athena team? They don’t just assist me on financial matters, do they?”

Yang Chen was dumbfounded. “Wait, what you’re trying to say is that you have already involved the Athena team in all your strategy planning since the beginning? And you made them make two versions?”

“Two is an understatement.” Lin Ruoxi’s pupils brightened as she continued, “To be honest with you, every single time I let Wu Yue make a copy of confidential information, I would modify certain vital sections of the documents. I carry out the same practice with everyone else, which means every copy Mingyu or any other departmental executives have would be modified or generally wrong. Unless anyone decides to check the document word for word, no one would be aware of its legitimacy but me.

“Everyone in the company is required to bring their copy over to my office for evaluation and review before submission or implementation. It has been a mandatory regulation since my inauguration. Every time a copy is to be submitted to me, I will redirect it back to the original version. If anyone were to refer to the documents, they would be looking at false information.”

Yang Chen was deeply confounded.?No wonder she seems to have a never-ending workload on her hands. Does she even rest?

In other words, that would mean all major decisions made within the company, besides Lin Ruoxi herself at the helm, no other person would know the true direction of the company!

Lin Ruoxi seemed to have found joy from Yang Chen’s response. She continued, “You should understand by now, that the information Li Minghe stole from us had all been modified by me. This means that even in the absence of the Athena team, the leak would not have done much damage to the company anyway. After all, what good would fake news be to my competitors?

“The only reason I had exposed the Athena team’s proposals, was to ensure that everyone in the company was convinced that I have been honest to them.”

After her speech, Yang Chen stared blankly at that gorgeous, mesmerizing smile, while his mind flickered between blank and overloaded.

He recalled the incidents that had recently occurred in sequence when Lin Ruoxi ordered the accounting department to sparingly purchase the company stocks, to her reaction towards the threats of the major shareholders. Followed by the intentional exclusion of the auction bidding from Mo Qianni and the other executives. And her desperate decisions of remaining in command from the headquarters. All that just to fabricate a scenario of weakness and defeat, and ultimately directed the plot towards her goal.

A feeling of distance and unfamiliarity subconsciously rose in Yang Chen’s mind. The woman before him was closer to a stranger than family.

Approximately an hour after the revelation, Yu Lei International’s press conference was held with enthusiastic responses from the media.

Mo Qianni announced according to the orders of Lin Ruoxi, as she briefly went through the summary of the company’s direction for the second half of the year, before giving the most relevant example of their circumstances.

The media and the critics were left in a commotion. None of them had predicted that the leaked documents were in fact fake.

And in accordance with the Athena team’s strategy planning, every department resumed back on course. As the roles and responsibilities were allocated, the suspicion from external perspectives instantly dissipated.

The series of shocking revelations left the entire Zhonghai in a daze.

Far away in the United States, with the reputation of Yu Lei International cleared from rumors and invalidation, the market stocks experienced an unprecedented soar in prices.

Furthermore, what devastated their direct competitors was that they overwhelmingly believed the leaked strategies to be true, and based their plans on that, which eventually led to substantial losses in their part.

As a result, the gap between them and Yu Lei International had been cracked wide open. The companies who decided to play it underhanded suffered the most while the ones who refrained weren’t significantly affected.

As for many of the major shareholders of Yu Lei International, they could not resist smashing their heads through the walls after severe losses from their brash actions of dumping the stocks at substantially lower prices. All they could do was watch helplessly as the stocks returned into the hands of Lin Ruoxi.

Meanwhile, the stocks were flipped multiple times the original value, moments away from exceeding its previous record. It was predicted that their share price would reach new heights.

Consequently, Lin Ruoxi raked in thirty-five percent of the total market share at low prices, while at the same time rocketing herself to an additional thirty percent in net worth. She was now holding ninety percent of the company’s ownership.

The media, reporters, economists, entrepreneurs, and all other professions within the sector across the globe were in full acknowledgment of this event. It was an impeccable act of counter-infiltration that triumphs even the likes of blockbuster movies.

The young female entrepreneur who had led her company to cruise through two seemingly inevitable demises only to achieve new heights had now once again displayed the unthinkable.

Even the likes of Times magazine had nominated Lin Ruoxi as a potential Top 3 among the ’People of the Year’.

But like every good story, there is a loser for every winner.

Over at the beachside mansion, with all channels on the television in all praise for the brilliant mind of Lin Ruoxi, was Li Minghe pale and devastated.

“That’s impossible. It’s not possible..”

Li Minghe wobbled as he stood, ultimately losing his footing as he kneeled on the ground.

Crawling towards the television, his eyes were wide open as if he had suffered from extreme shock.

Wu Yue who was filled with hatred softened at the sight of her man. She embraced him as if he was dead. She was still in tears as she comforted him by saying, “Minghe, don’t do this. It’s going to be fine. You’re frightening me..”

Li Minghe stiffly turned to his back and abruptly grabbed her by the arms before violently shaking her as he ranted, “It’s not! And you know it! Were you even watching the whole situation unfold? That bitch has been using me since the beginning! She used me as a tool to rake in more money for herself and left me with literally nothing!”

Wu Yue wept as she shook her head but ultimately remained silent.

“Stop crying! All you ever do is to cry! You must be the reason she found out my motive, you stupid woman!”

As he yelled, his mind was succumbed by rage, causing him to slap her hard on the cheek!

Wu Yue was flung to a corner as she held on tightly to her consciousness. Her face was swollen red as she wailed even louder than before.

After that violent slap, he seemed to have gotten a grip on his actions. He suddenly remembered that the woman he mistreated was bearing his child, which prompted him to panic.

Li Minghe ran towards her and held her in his arms, his voice trembled as he realized his misconduct. “Yue’er.. I’m so sorry. I—I didn’t mean to hurt you. I...”

Li Minghe couldn’t seem to phrase his words correctly as his mind went blank.

Bang!

The door was slammed open by a dominating force.

Luo Cuishan, with a handbag hung by her shoulder, came crashing in as her heels clicked into the house. She was visibly enraged.

After she barged in, all she saw was the couple cuddled together on the couch, which further infuriated her. “Bloody idiot, I would compare you to a swine but I would just be praising you that way. At such a time like this one, you’re here weeping with that woman. Take a look at what’ve you become, you pathetic idiot!”

Li Minghe sluggishly stared up with his soulless eyes, before he broke into haunting laughter. “Haha.. you’re absolutely right. I am an idiot, there’s no denying that.”

Luo Cuishan’s lips twitched as killing intent surfaced in her eyes. “Well, look at you. I guess the world could do with one less idiot running around.”

As she spoke, she drew out a silver pistol and aimed right at Li Minghe’s brains.

Li Minghe was finally aware of the situation he was in. His pupils enlarged at the sight of the endless gun chamber.

A little more than ten minutes ago, in Lin Ruoxi’s office, Yang Chen accompanied her to the couch as they watched the live broadcast of the ongoing press conference.

The reporters’ bombardment of questions, paired with the absence of Lin Ruoxi on site kept the majority of reporters planted at their seats.

On Lin Ruoxi’s lap was the box of glutinous rice balls that Yang Chen had bought that noon. It was left unopened until now. Only when the incident pretty much settled itself could she eat in peace.

Yang Chen meanwhile was slightly frustrated as he kept his silence. The ambiance in the office was rather awkward.

Right then, Yang Chen’s phone started ringing. When he picked up the call, it was Adeline on the opposite end of the line.

“Your Majesty Pluto, Madam Luo has stopped by the mansion twice. It would seem like the condition is pretty much clear now. Should we take action?”

Yang Chen sneaked a peek on Lin Ruoxi by his side, before he replied in Italian, “Stay put for now. I think it is about time I intervene.”

“Okay.”

As he hung up, he informed Lin Ruoxi what he was about to do. “I need to go out for a bit. Don’t wait for my return.”

Lin Ruoxi stopped chewing as she put the glutinous balls aside, with unclear enunciation she mumbled, “I know you’re going to meet Li Minghe. Leave him to the police if possible. If Wu Yue is there, please don’t mistreat her. She has no affiliations to the plot whatsoever.”

Yang Chen replied, “You sure you have no intention of tagging along?”

Lin Ruoxi shook her head and answered, “I trust you. You’ve promised me that you wouldn’t kill at will. As for the others, I don’t really mind.”

Yang Chen relaxedly smiled before pinching one of the glutinous balls from her takeaway box, stuffing it into his own mouth, and going towards the exit.

historical

Lin Ruoxi frustratedly watched her husband go. She then looked back into her box before pouting dejectedly.

About a minute later, someone knocked on the door of her office. “Boss Lin, there’s a parcel for you.”

Shocked, Lin Ruoxi hurriedly hid the box of rice balls under a pillow before she straightened her posture and responded, “Bring it in.”

An anxious temporary assistant came in and brought the folder right in front of her, before instantly making her way out the room.