After several trips back and forth, it was already four or five in the afternoon. Fu Ming Group’s headquarters was located in the outskirts of the city, occupying a large tract of land. Li Weiyi gazed at the building gleaming brilliantly in the sunlight, her heart filled with emotion.

The parking spaces below were full, so Zhang Jingchan parked the Ferrari in the open space right in front of the main building. Li Weiyi hesitated: “Isn’t it bad to park here? We’ll get scolded.”

“I don’t want to waste time looking for a parking spot. No one will dare scold us.”

Li Weiyi: “What if someone asks me what I’m here for later? How should I answer?”

“You don’t need to acknowledge anyone or answer anything.”

Li Weiyi understood. So this person, as the group’s heir apparent back then, already held a transcendent position—it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he was second only to one person but above ten thousand others.

She immediately lifted her chin, her eyelids drooping coolly, and asked quietly: “Is this attitude okay? Should I tilt my nostrils up toward the sky a bit more? Chairman Zhang, I’m really afraid my abilities aren’t sufficient to capture that essential spirit.”

How could Zhang Jingchan not hear her third jab of the day? He turned back to see the handsome youth before him wearing an arrogant expression, yet his eyes flickered with warm, teasing laughter. It made you want to press her down on the ground to make her behave and stop being so cheeky, yet you couldn’t actually bring yourself to do it.

Zhang Jingchan finally tapped the back of her head: “Act normal!”

“Oh…”

Sure enough, just as Zhang Jingchan had said, the two of them took the elevator straight to the top floor. All along the way, secretaries, department heads, and assistants all greeted them with smiling faces. No one dared ask what they were there for.

Zhang Jingchan led her directly to the door of Zhang Moyun’s office. Zhang Moyun was on a business trip and had taken his secretary with him, but Xu Yi had been left behind to supervise some work. Xu Yi had already received word and hurried over, smiling: “Achan, what brings you to the company? Your father is on a business trip.”

Just like last time, Xu Yi wore a black suit with a white shirt and blue striped tie, along with a pair of gold-rimmed thin-framed glasses. He was tall and slender, fair-skinned and refined. Li Weiyi felt he had an extremely gentle and stable quality about him that naturally drew people’s affection. She smiled: “Brother Xu Yi, I’m not here to see my dad. I have a school assignment that requires looking up some Fu Ming information for a case study, so I came to use the computer in my dad’s office.”

Xu Yi understood: “All right, go ahead in. You know the password. There’s fruit and drinks in the refrigerator. Just call me if you need anything. And this is?”

Li Weiyi: “My girlfriend… the newest one. She came along with me. I’ll just grab a random book for her to read later.”

Xu Yi had previously been helping arrange Cheng Ruiyan’s birthday party venue, but the excellent special assistant’s expression showed not the slightest hint of confusion as he smiled slightly at the young woman. Zhang Jingchan also nodded calmly at him.

The two entered the office and Zhang Jingchan locked the door behind them before sitting down at the computer. Li Weiyi’s mouth got a bit loose whenever she was working. She first went to the refrigerator to grab two bottles of juice and a box of cookies before pulling over a chair to sit beside Zhang Jingchan.

Zhang Jingchan had already opened the company’s internal system to check the accounts. Li Weiyi watched while asking: “You still haven’t told me this morning—what other identity does this Xu Yi have?”

“You still haven’t figured it out?”

“…What am I supposed to figure out?”

Zhang Jingchan smiled. Seeing the juice at hand, he was thirsty too. He unscrewed a bottle, tilted his head back and drank more than half of it, then pulled out a tissue, wiped his mouth, and tossed it in the trash can.

Li Weiyi was nibbling on a small cookie, watching his series of movements—smooth and handsome. When she looked again at that familiar face, she snapped back to her senses. Oh my god, I zoned out looking at myself.

“What’s the name of Muchen Group’s founder?” Zhang Jingchan asked.

Li Weiyi: “Xu Conglan!” After saying it, she froze.

She worked at a subsidiary company under the group. During new employee training, she had seen photos of the various executives in the handbook, but they were so far above her station that she’d only glanced at them and paid no attention. As a lowly grassroots accountant, she naturally had no opportunity to meet the chairman in person either. But with Zhang Jingchan’s question, she increasingly felt Xu Yi looked familiar.

“Could Xu Yi be a relative of our chairman? Son? Brother? Don’t tell me he’s an illegitimate child?” How old was the chairman anyway?

“Good eye.” Zhang Jingchan said, “Xu Conglan once had a name—Xu Yi. After Fu Ming ran into trouble, he bore no responsibility, went abroad to study, came back with a new name, and founded Muchen. In 2022 he should be thirty-four years old, unmarried, and without children.”

Li Weiyi: “!!!!!!”

The little assistant who had been running errands for her today would become her company’s super big boss eight years later!

“Then he’s really capable!” Li Weiyi exclaimed in admiration. Recalling that Zhang Jingchan had been to Muchen headquarters to discuss cooperation, she asked hesitantly: “So later on, did he want to help you?”

Zhang Jingchan answered: “In business there are only eternal interests. He wanted the project I had in hand. I wasn’t necessarily going to choose to cooperate with him.”

Li Weiyi blinked her eyes. Oh my, look how proud he is.

“However, he didn’t kick us when we were down back then, and he lent the company one and a half million, never pressing us for repayment. His money was in the first batch I paid back.”

That meant Xu Yi’s character was genuinely good, and things with the Zhang family ended on decent terms. No wonder he could become a big shot in the future.

Zhang Jingchan printed out several data sheets, and Li Weiyi calculated beside him with paper and pen. By the time she finished calculating, her brow was tightly furrowed, and Zhang Jingchan’s expression had also darkened.

“How much?”

Li Weiyi: “Negative four hundred million, and new projects are still under continuous construction. If they’re to be completed, at least another three hundred million will need to be invested. But the group only has just over ten million in liquid capital left in the accounts.”

Zhang Jingchan laughed coldly, pushed away the keyboard, turned his head to look out the window, and said: “Perfect, just perfect!”

Li Weiyi thought of the Zhang family’s current glamorous and luxurious lifestyle and also felt her heart turn cold. She said quietly: “Don’t be angry, Chairman Zhang. You’re a business genius—think about what to do.”

Zhang Jingchan sat with his back ramrod straight, his entire silhouette looking cold and hard. He said: “What kind of genius am I? I’ve just been racking my brains day and night to fill holes…”

Probably feeling he’d revealed too much emotion, he stopped speaking. He grabbed those reports again, looked them over, and said: “Things have already reached this point. Even if a deity descended, they’d be powerless to reverse the situation. We can only advise him to cut losses and protect what remains. What’s already been invested—treat it as money down the drain. What needs to be auctioned should be auctioned, what needs to stop construction should stop construction, so the hole doesn’t keep getting bigger. This way we might at least preserve Fu Ming as an empty shell.”

Li Weiyi understood. If Zhang Moyun pulled out now, Fu Ming Group probably wouldn’t have much left—years of hard work would vanish in an instant—but at least there would be no major debts. The question was, as a self-made entrepreneur, would Zhang Moyun listen? Would he choose to preserve himself with nothing, or would he choose to continue taking risks and going all in?

Li Weiyi’s heart felt heavy. The look she gave Zhang Jingchan also carried sympathy.

The anger on Zhang Jingchan’s face faded, restored to calm composure. He said: “I’ve already booked tickets. We’re flying to Shanghai tonight and going to see him first thing tomorrow morning. We’ll eat dinner at the airport.”

With that, he shut down the computer, took those data sheets, grabbed his jacket and was about to leave. Li Weiyi: “Uh… wait a minute. I’m a carefree top student college student—it doesn’t matter if I don’t go home for a few days. But you’re still a high school girl. How can you stay out all night?”

Zhang Jingchan: “…”

“Not even for one night?” Zhang Jingchan recalled that when he was in high school, he’d stayed at his friends’ houses for many days without anyone caring.

“No. I go home on time every day.”

The two sat facing each other, momentarily at a loss.

After a while, Zhang Jingchan spoke: “What if we say you’re going to Shanghai to participate in the national biology competition? I saw biology competition award certificates in your room.”

“That could work… No, my mom would definitely accompany me.”

Zhang Jingchan pondered briefly: “Have your sister accompany you. I’ll book her a plane ticket.”

“That could work!” Li Weiyi’s eyes rolled. “How about… we call Zhong Yi along too? Kill two birds with one stone.”

“Fine.”