Zhu Yun encountered Wu Zhen before Li Xun did.

That morning, when Zhu Yun arrived at work, she spotted a blue BMW in front of the building. She had seen that car once before, outside the Jili building.

She went upstairs. Wu Zhen was, as expected, waiting outside Feiyang’s office door. Wu Zhen had dressed with particular care that day — waves in her hair, a long flowing dress, and vivid red lips. She stood with her arms crossed in front of Feiyang’s office, her hair on the right side swept back behind her ear, looking as though she had stepped out of a magazine spread.

Zhu Yun walked over. Wu Zhen spotted her too and said with cool arrogance, “Where’s Li Xun?”

Back when Li Xun was at his busiest, he had practically lived at the office every day. But ever since Zhu Yun had started forcing him to exercise, his routine had improved considerably and he was sleeping at home at night again.

“He hasn’t arrived yet. Do you need something?” Zhu Yun asked.

Wu Zhen looked Zhu Yun up and down. “What’s your relationship with him?”

Zhu Yun said, “Ms. Wu, why not just tell me the reason for your visit?”

Wu Zhen gave Zhu Yun an imperceptible roll of her eyes. “I’m not here for you.”

Neither woman had any particular warmth for the other — mutual distaste ran both ways. Zhu Yun unlocked the door and went in, and Wu Zhen followed her inside, dropping herself onto the sofa.

Zhu Yun poured herself a cup of warm water, opened her computer, and glanced at the time — just seven o’clock. Li Xun should be arriving in about another half hour.

“Why won’t you drop the suit?” Wu Zhen asked from the sofa.

Zhu Yun didn’t turn around and replied with a question of her own: “Why should we drop the suit?”

Wu Zhen said, “You’re both being foolish. This is a losing proposition from the start. Even if you ultimately win, whatever you recover won’t cover your legal fees.”

Zhu Yun said, “You’d also need to factor in the indirect gains — such as the losses you’d incur from a failed listing.”

Wu Zhen stood up. “So you really are targeting our listing! Harming others with no benefit to yourselves — you’re utterly despicable!”

Zhu Yun said, “That description is hardly one we deserve.”

Wu Zhen said, “Business is about mutual benefit. Even if Jili’s listing fails, that money won’t flow into your pockets. You chase people around like rabid dogs — what exactly is the point? “

Zhu Yun kept typing at her keyboard and said nothing.

Getting no response, Wu Zhen pressed on, “Old Gao is at least your old classmate. You can’t even honor a shred of past ties? You’d rather suffer eight hundred losses yourself just to drag someone else down with you — how can you be so heartless?” She looked at Zhu Yun’s back and gave a contemptuous laugh. “With a heart that cold, I don’t know why he only got six years — sixty years would have been better.”

Zhu Yun turned around. “Say that again.”

Wu Zhen raised her voice defiantly. “I said he should have gotten sixty years! He should be locked up for life!”

Zhu Yun strode over. “Get out!”

Wu Zhen flung her bag to the side and glared at Zhu Yun, shouting, “You dare touch me and see what happens?!”

Zhu Yun grabbed her by the arm and started dragging her toward the door. Wu Zhen hadn’t expected her to actually lay hands on her, and immediately struck back — a hard slap landing on the back of Zhu Yun’s head. Zhu Yun’s fury flared. She abandoned any thought of throwing Wu Zhen out, spun around, and went straight for Wu Zhen’s throat.

“Who gave you the nerve to make a scene here?!”

Wu Zhen was livid, the whites of her eyes shot through with red. She hurled insults as she fought back against Zhu Yun with every ounce of her strength.

Out in the corridor, Li Xun, Hou Ning, and Zhao Teng had all squeezed into the same elevator and were making their way up. The moment the doors opened, they could hear the sounds of a struggle and shouting from down the hallway.

Zhao Teng frowned. “Hey — isn’t that Team Leader Zhu’s voice?”

They turned the corner into the hallway and found a cluster of people gawking in front of the Feiyang office. Zhao Teng went over first and dispersed them.

“Are you all Feiyang employees? What are you all standing around for? Get back to work!”

Inside the office, Zhu Yun and Wu Zhen were locked in a full-blown brawl, both women fighting like they wanted to finish each other off. Zhao Teng stared wide-eyed and immediately moved to break it up, but his arm was pulled back. He turned to Li Xun and asked, “You’re not going to step in?”

Li Xun said with a rakish ease, “Have a little faith in your team leader, won’t you.”

Zhu Yun and Wu Zhen were similarly built — neither was the frail, willowy type, and Wu Zhen’s energy was even more volatile than Zhu Yun’s. However, Zhu Yun had been well-nourished since childhood, and considerable strength was concealed beneath her fair, soft exterior. Her physical constitution was exceptional. After the initial chaos settled, she slowly gained the upper hand and ultimately pinned Wu Zhen to the ground.

Li Xun’s lips curved involuntarily. He let go, allowing Zhao Teng to go in and separate them.

Wu Zhen had lost the round, her eyes red as she caught sight of Li Xun. She shouted at him, “You scheming little worm! Always calculating against everyone!”

Hou Ning turned and shut the door behind them. Li Xun walked over to his own desk. Wu Zhen got up off the floor, her chest heaving dramatically from the exertion.

Li Xun leaned against the desk and lit a cigarette. Hou Ning and Zhao Teng both returned to their seats and started working. Zhu Yun went to the restroom to tidy herself up — Wu Zhen had scratched a red mark across the back of her neck.

Li Xun said, “Fang Zhijing sent you?”

Wu Zhen said, “Never mind who sent me. Name your price.”

Li Xun smiled. “What price?”

Wu Zhen said, “Dragging this out helps neither of us.”

Li Xun exhaled a relaxed breath of smoke. Wu Zhen looked at him. After the scuffle with Zhu Yun just now, her hair was disheveled, her clothes were dirty, and her makeup was smeared. She had come with some vague notion of perhaps catching his attention, but clearly that ship had sailed. She would have to use Fang Zhijing’s method after all.

Wu Zhen picked up her bag and pulled out a sheaf of papers from inside, tossing them in front of Li Xun. Li Xun didn’t pick them up — he just looked on expressionlessly.

Zhu Yun was just coming out of the restroom when she heard Wu Zhen say, “These are Gao Jianhong’s medical records. And his CT scans.”

Zhu Yun stopped in her tracks.

Wu Zhen said, “Fang Zhijing didn’t send me. I came on my own. I didn’t want to bring this up, but I really have no other choice. Gao Jianhong is about to go in for surgery. With things the way they are, how can he have any peace of mind? Can’t you leave us a way forward?”

Li Xun smoked heavily, without a word.

Wu Zhen took half a step forward. “Think of it as doing a good deed. Old Gao was your classmate, after all. I’ve heard that you two were even on the same team for competitions.”

Li Xun laughed coldly. “Who told you that?”

Wu Zhen said, “I didn’t need anyone to tell me. He’s kept the group photo of the three of you all this time.”

Li Xun’s expression grew even colder.

“Zhao Teng.”

Zhao Teng rose from his seat. Li Xun said, “Show her out.”

Zhao Teng said, “Of course.” He came over to escort the guest out. Wu Zhen was already at the door when she shouted back at Li Xun, “Settle this with us! Come to the office on Friday — we’ll talk properly. Come see Gao Jianhong! Can’t you give him one chance?!”

The door closed again. The room fell quiet.

Zhu Yun picked up the medical records Wu Zhen had left behind. Li Xun said quietly, “Throw them out.”

Zhu Yun looked at him, then tossed the records into the wastebasket.

Li Xun asked Zhu Yun with a cold laugh, “Do I look like a kind person to you?”

Zhu Yun shook her head.

Li Xun said, “Then where does Fang Zhijing get the confidence that I’d play along with him?”

Zhu Yun said, “You think it was Fang Zhijing who sent her?”

Li Xun said, “Of course. Gao Jianhong has his pride — he wants to defeat me on his own terms. He would absolutely never bow his head to me because of an illness.”

Zhu Yun studied his expression and said, “So there’s no point in going on Friday either. I’ll send an email declining right now.”

“Don’t,” Li Xun said coldly. “Of course we’re going. Why wouldn’t we? If they’ve gone to the trouble of branding me as ‘despicable and cold-blooded,’ then I may as well live up to that reputation and enjoy my moment of triumph.”

He said this, then ground out his cigarette and turned to leave. His expression was so dark that Zhao Teng didn’t even dare look up at him.

Zhu Yun found it difficult to read Li Xun’s true feelings. She had a vague sense that Li Xun was not as furious as he was making himself appear, yet she also knew that he had not yet swallowed this particular grievance.

Zhu Yun called Jili’s legal team and informed them that Li Xun would be coming Friday. The legal team relayed this to Fang Zhijing, and Fang Zhijing, upon hearing the news, loosened his tie with the satisfaction of someone who felt certain of victory.

Wu Zhen asked Fang Zhijing, “What if he’s just coming to mock us?”

Fang Zhijing laughed. “Li Xun wouldn’t waste his time on something like that. If he had truly made up his mind to drag this out to the very end, he wouldn’t have given you any chance to speak at all. The fact that he’s coming means he’s already wavering.” He instructed Wu Zhen, “On Friday, neither of us shows up. Let Gao Jianhong meet with him alone.”

Wu Zhen was somewhat worried. “Old Gao is a stubborn man. He’s dead set on proving himself against Li Xun in a head-to-head. I’m afraid he won’t be able to bring himself to back down.”

Fang Zhijing said, “You don’t need to worry about that. I’ll go talk to him.”

The process by which Fang Zhijing persuaded Gao Jianhong was remarkably brief — three minutes, front to back.

“If the surgery goes wrong and something happens to you, what becomes of Wu Zhen?” That was Fang Zhijing’s opening line. “She was a minor celebrity in her own right before all this. She followed you — the least you can do is ensure she has no financial worries for the rest of her life. If the company goes through with the listing successfully, she won’t have to worry for the rest of her days. As for Li Xun — as long as you keep the mountain standing, you’ll never be without firewood. Once we’ve weathered this stretch, there will be other opportunities to deal with him. You must not act out of spite.”

Gao Jianhong said nothing. He sat quietly in his chair, looking out the window. Fang Zhijing waited a moment, took the silence as implicit agreement, and left.

On Thursday evening, before leaving, Li Xun said to Zhu Yun, “Come pick me up tomorrow morning.”

Zhu Yun looked at him. “You want me to come with you?”

He gave an affirmative sound.

That night Zhu Yun slept fitfully. She had a dream. In it, she was back at the very beginning of her first year of university — she had overslept during an afternoon nap and was rushing to the teaching building in a panic. She slipped in through the back door of the classroom and sat down beside a young man who, instead of following the lecture, had his head bent over a keyboard, entirely absorbed in writing code. When the teacher called on him to answer a question, he didn’t even hear it. Just as she was about to nudge him, the young man sitting beside him spoke up first.

The afternoon sunlight was beautiful back then. Quiet, and warm.

On Friday morning, Zhu Yun drove to pick up Li Xun from where he was staying. He and Hou Ning were living together, having moved out of the original small residential building into an apartment closer to the office. Zhu Yun had bought breakfast and left it in the car. Li Xun appeared to have no appetite and didn’t touch it.

Li Xun liked to take care of things early. They had arranged to meet at eight in the morning, and most of Jili’s employees hadn’t even arrived yet. Zhu Yun remembered that quite some time had passed since her last visit to this building. The receptionist at the front desk had changed as well. Seeing them come in, the receptionist asked, “Do you have an appointment?”

Li Xun stood to the side with a cold expression. Zhu Yun stepped forward and said, “We’re here to see Gao Jianhong. We have an eight o’clock appointment.”

The receptionist made a call to confirm, then said, “Please go upstairs. Mr. Gao is in the conference room on the sixth floor.”

As they arrived at the conference room door, Zhu Yun asked Li Xun, “Do you want me to wait outside?”

Li Xun gave a cold laugh. “Why would you wait outside? Don’t you want to come in and see his expression?” He strode into the conference room with large steps, and Zhu Yun followed quietly behind.

There was only Gao Jianhong in the room. He was sitting in a chair and looked to be in decent enough condition — not at all like someone gravely ill — only his complexion was somewhat pallid.

Li Xun sat down across from Gao Jianhong, lit a cigarette, and waited at ease for the other man to speak first.

Gao Jianhong pushed a few documents across the table.

“Are you willing to settle?” He spoke first, his voice carrying the unmistakable strain of someone holding themselves together by sheer effort. “If you’re willing, we can discuss a compensation figure. There’s no need to drag it out — this is Jili’s weak period. You still have leverage now. Once the regulatory review period passes, no matter how it turns out, we won’t be willing to settle with you under any circumstances. If it truly comes to a war of attrition, you won’t gain an inch. You’d be better off seizing the moment to take what you can.”

Li Xun smoked unhurriedly, paying no attention to the substance of his words. He tilted his chin slightly.

“Do you submit?”

Gao Jianhong’s thin lips pressed tightly together.

Li Xun leaned forward and asked again, “I’m asking you — do you submit?”

Gao Jianhong gritted his teeth and said nothing. Li Xun said, “Do you remember what it was like the last time we met in this room? Has it been satisfying, keeping tabs on me this past year or more? Did you enjoy setting those traps? You can use me as a benchmark — there’s nothing wrong with that. But if you’re climbing a mountain, you can’t afford to forget how high the mountain is. From the day we first met, you have not won against me even once.”

He fixed Gao Jianhong with an unrelenting stare, his voice growing louder with every sentence.

“Whether it was exams within the school or projects outside it, whether it was systems software or a small game — you never beat me. You couldn’t win in the past, and you won’t be able to win in the future!”

Zhu Yun sat to one side, her hands beneath the table, her fingertips trembling slightly at Li Xun’s words. She rarely saw Li Xun like this — so emotionally charged, as though every sentence he spoke was incontestable.

Li Xun said, “I gave you a chance to choose, and you chose to stand against me. You want to settle? Fine. But first tell me — do you regret it?”

With each sentence Li Xun spoke, Gao Jianhong’s face grew a shade paler. He stared back at Li Xun intently, the pain in his head becoming excruciating.

By the end, Li Xun was nearly shouting —

“I’m asking you — do you regret it?!”

His voice cut through the entire floor. Every employee in the two large offices nearby put down their work, and people who happened to be in the corridor stopped where they stood. The surrounding air went utterly still — so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Gao Jianhong was jolted by the shout. He flung the documents in his hand to one side, casting aside all sense of responsibility and obligation, and slammed both hands down hard on the desk, screaming back with everything he had —

“No!”

The two men faced each other across the conference table — neither willing to admit fault, neither willing to back down.

Zhu Yun lowered her eyes. Her heart was pounding furiously.

“Good! The fact that you can say you don’t regret it right now — I can barely respect you for that!” Li Xun pointed at him and delivered his final words, “I remember you once said I couldn’t climb the mountain alone. You remember what I’m about to tell you — I have never needed to climb any mountain. Wherever I stand is the summit!”

The room remained silent for a long time. Zhu Yun lifted her head — and was startled to see that Gao Jianhong had a nosebleed. She stood up. “Gao Jianhong, you—”

Gao Jianhong knew his own condition. He wiped haphazardly with his hand, but the blood wouldn’t stop. Zhu Yun looked toward Li Xun. Li Xun still wore that same dark, fierce expression, and seeing Gao Jianhong bleeding seemed, if anything, to sharpen the savage edge in his eyes.

The blood wouldn’t wipe clean. Gao Jianhong gave up trying and simply left it, bracing himself against the edge of the table. His suit and the tabletop were quickly stained with spreading red. He clenched his jaw and stared unwaveringly at Li Xun — nothing in the world could have made him look away.

The first to leave was Li Xun. He seemed to have reached his limit with all of it. He slammed the door and walked out. The moment Li Xun left, Gao Jianhong could no longer hold himself upright. He tilted back and collapsed to the floor.