Chapter 107: No Other Choice!

Chapter 107: No Other Choice!

Su Qingying woke with a jolt, because she had been startled. The first thing she saw was the side of Wu Chen’s face, and instinctively she began, “Hon—mm!”

She didn’t get it out. Wu Chen covered her mouth in time.

“Qingying, your mother’s on the phone. Take it…” Li Ruobing, in pajamas, came quickly over from the doorway, shooting her meaningful looks. Su Qingying looked at her and only then caught up with the situation.

Because she had smashed her phone, her mother had no way to reach her directly, and so had called Li Ruobing first thing in the morning.

Li Ruobing handed her the phone.

As she took it, Su Qingying also drew a deep breath without letting any sound out. Only then did she put the phone to her ear. “Mom.”

“Qingying, you’re still not up? Do you know what time it is?” Madam Su asked.

With her right beside him, Wu Chen could faintly hear the voice coming through.

Su Qingying had indeed woken late. Her routine was even more regular than Wu Chen’s. Asleep at ten every night, awake at six thirty, out for morning exercise first, back a little after seven to wash and eat breakfast while looking through company reports and documents, makeup after eight, out the door at eight thirty without fail, and at the company before nine thirty without fail.

“We talked too late yesterday, so I slept late,” Su Qingying said into the phone, still fairly composed.

“Did your talk with Miss Li go well yesterday? You went to her house?” Madam Su asked.

“Yes. At her house. It went very well. Ruobing… she’s a very good person,” Su Qingying said.

“That’s good. As expected of my daughter—everyone who meets you likes you.” There was a note of pleasure in Madam Su’s tone, and a note of pride.

“Mom, I need to go wash up. I’ll be at the company before nine,” Su Qingying said. She wanted the call over quickly.

“Mm. Don’t be late…” Madam Su said, then asked, “What’s wrong with your throat? Why is it a little hoarse? Don’t tell me you’ve caught a chill.”

“Cough, cough.” Su Qingying cleared her throat quickly. “Mm… it’s nothing. I only just woke up. It’ll be fine once I’ve had some water.”

“All right. I’ll wait for you at the company. There are some things we can discuss once you arrive. Ah—that’s right, I’ll have clothes sent to Miss Li’s house. They should be there before eight. Remember to change properly. Don’t come to the company in a tracksuit.”

“All right, Mom.”

She hung up and let out a breath, the phone still in her hand. Her mother’s questioning had left her nervous, because she had lied to her.

She hadn’t slept late from talking with Li Ruobing. She had slept late from making trouble with Wu Chen.

Nor was her throat slightly hoarse from having only just woken. It was from crying out too much and too loudly. Of course her throat had suffered, though it was a small matter and would soon mend.

“Thank you, Miss Li.” Su Qingying handed the phone back.

But Li Ruobing was looking at the pair of them with a distinctly odd expression. Because… she had heard it last night. Her master bedroom was also on the second floor, and so was this guest room. Last night a good deal of noise had carried out of this room.

It had left her horribly irritated, and it had taken her a long while to fall asleep.

“Get up, both of you,” Li Ruobing said, then glanced once at the nightdress Su Qingying was wearing before turning and going out.

Su Qingying was wearing her nightdress.

It had dirty things on it.

As she left, Li Ruobing was already weighing whether that nightdress could be kept at all…

Get up.

Wash.

Breakfast.

They set out a little after eight, but went to Huancai Fashion first. Jinhui Manor was very close to the CBD, so leaving Li Ruobing’s house they could reach Huancai on the way and still have time to get to Jinfu Building afterward.

The main point of going to Huancai first was to drop Wu Chen off.

Yesterday, before the three of them went to Qingyuan Teahouse, they had gone to Huancai Fashion and changed cars before setting out again. Wu Chen’s Lamborghini was still in the underground parking of CBD Tower Seven. And besides… for taking Su Qingying back to the company, Li Ruobing alone was enough. Wu Chen going along would only look strange.

Around eight fifty in the morning.

Jinfu Avenue, North City, Donghai. Jinfu Building.

This was where Jinfu Group’s headquarters stood. The forty-two-story skyscraper was imposing beyond compare. The whole building belonged to Jinfu Group. It wasn’t leased—Jinfu had acquired the land and built it here years ago. It was a fixed asset of the company, currently valued at more than three billion.

Li Ruobing’s motorcade stopped at the curb outside the entrance.

Su Qingying got out, then turned back. “Thank you, Miss Ruobing.” She reached to close the door absently as she spoke.

Li Ruobing leaned across to stop her. She paused, and only then said to her through the open door, “Good luck.” And she smiled a little, the way Wu Chen did.

“I will. Thank you.” Su Qingying nodded and shut the door.

Turning back around, she lifted her head to the Jinfu Building rising more than a hundred meters above her, then looked toward the entrance and the people coming and going. Her gaze hardened. She knew that whether she managed today would decide the fate of her entire life.

She had no other choice.

Su Qingying drew another deep breath, then took up her bag and walked toward the building.

Before she reached the doors, people were already coming to meet her. Several of them, documents in hand.

“President Su, this is the proposal that was sent back for revision last time. Please take another look—if it’s all right, you can sign here…”

“President Su, on the plan for raising brand value, the budget is…”

At the roadside.

Li Ruobing lowered the car window and turned her head, watching Su Qingying be surrounded and escorted into Jinfu Building. Her brows drew together, and her eyes were full of worry.

Could she do it?

Could Su Qingying succeed?

How could she possibly succeed?

Wu Chen had said yesterday that today they only had to watch the show—that waiting for news would be enough.

Could they truly expect news that Su Qingying had seized power at the board meeting? Li Ruobing doubted it deeply. There weren’t enough people. How could it work?

“Let’s go. Back to the company,” she said to the driver. She turned for one last look at the entrance of Jinfu Building, then raised the window.

At the same time.

The southern coastal region.

One of the country’s few top-tier super first-tier cities: Nanguang City.

Ruilong Group headquarters, president’s office.

With the curtains drawn, the light in the office was dim. A thin man of about thirty in glasses sat behind the desk, staring at a blurry video playing on his computer. Veins stood out on his forehead, his breathing grew heavier and heavier, and his eyes were shot through with red.

He was the man who had gone mad with the determination to marry Li Ruobing—Ding Ruilong.

At this moment he was watching a video that was driving him very nearly out of his mind.

The video was blurred because it had been filmed from a long distance, and at night.

It was shot from the angle of a covert recording.

In it, a man and a woman stood inside a villa in front of a floor-to-ceiling window. The tall woman hung her whole body off the man, who had already showered and was wearing a bathrobe, and she was kissing him with the most lingering intimacy.

They kissed and kissed, without end. The whole video ran only six minutes, and the image of the two of them kissing took up five of them.

At five minutes and thirteen seconds, the man and woman finally stopped. They faced each other, very close, and said something. Then the woman pulled the curtain shut.

The light inside cast both their shadows onto the curtain. You could see the man carrying the woman inward.

The video ended.

Snap. A crisp sound.

Ding Ruilong had broken the gold-inlaid steel pen in his hand without realizing it. The fractured edge cut his finger and blood dripped down, and he seemed not to feel it.

“Die. He has to die at once. Wu Chen!” Ding Ruilong forced it out through his teeth, a low growl like an animal’s.

He shot to his feet.

He picked up the phone on his desk and dialed a number fast.