Captivating Beauty 82p2

Chapter 82 p2

It was past midnight when the shareholders finally left, leaving only Lu Yun and Xu Jinnan in the hallway.

“Nannan, go home and get some rest. I’ll stay here. But you have to think about how to deal with Xu Li. She’s too confident. I suspect she has something else up her sleeve, besides the shareholders’ support,” Lu Yun said, her voice low and urgent.

Xu Jinnan had her suspicions as well, but there was something else bothering her.

“The doctors said it was a sudden heart attack, but he’s always been healthy. Has he been acting strangely at home lately?” she asked casually.

Lu Yun’s expression remained unchanged, but her eyelashes flickered slightly. “He might look healthy, but he’s been weak for a long time,” she replied, her voice flat, then added, “Nannan, as long as you’re determined, I’ll support you, no matter what those shareholders say.”

Support me, or support yourself? Xu Jinnan wondered.

She smiled faintly and nodded.

—

Outside the hospital, the cool autumn breeze sent a shiver down her spine, the midnight sky a deep indigo, the wind tugging at her long, dark green dress.

As she got into the car, her phone vibrated.

It was a WeChat call from Shen Shu.

The lingering scent of disinfectant, the sterile emptiness of the hospital hallways, the echoes of angry voices, the unsettling darkness of human greed… it all faded away, replaced by the sweet fragrance of Shen Shu’s pheromones.

“Hello?” she answered.

“You didn’t reply to my messages,” Shen Shu said, her voice slightly colder than usual.

“Oh, I didn’t see them. I just left the hospital,” Xu Jinnan explained, then added, “Don’t wait up. Go to sleep.”

She started the car and drove out of the parking garage.

The only sound in the car was the occasional rustling of paper as Shen Shu turned a page in her script.

Neither of them spoke.

After a while, Xu Jinnan, noticing Shen Shu hadn’t turned a page in a while, asked, “What are you doing?”

“Replying to Cai Ying,” Shen Shu replied.

“Okay.”

As they stopped at a red light, Shen Shu’s voice, slightly muffled by the phone, came through the car’s speakers. “She’s going abroad with her company for a weeklong training program. She said she’ll come over sometime before she leaves.”

“Good,” Xu Jinnan replied, smiling faintly.

Shen Shu’s birthday was on the 21st, and Cai Ying had mentioned wanting to celebrate early.

With the late hour and the light traffic, Xu Jinnan drove a little faster, reaching Xingcheng International twenty minutes later.

Shen Shu was waiting for her by the entrance, wrapped in a striped shawl.

Xu Jinnan paused, then hurried over. “Don’t wait outside alone. It’s cold,” she said.

“I knew you would be back,” Shen Shu replied, her voice calm, but her words warm and comforting.

Xu Jinnan had almost forgotten the sterile smell of the hospital.

She briefly explained what had happened.

“Xu Li seemed so confident. Does she have something? Like… a will?” Shen Shu asked.

While she wasn’t involved in the business world anymore, she had seen her fair share of family dramas.

The wealthy were often meticulous about their inheritance plans, preparing wills in advance.

Xu Jinnan had considered this possibility as well, and she suspected this was Lu Yun’s concern, hence her urgency.

She took Shen Shu’s hand and led her towards the elevator. “Even if she does, it doesn’t matter. She can’t handle the company,” she said. Xu Tao himself was struggling to manage those three major projects; how could Xu Li possibly handle it? She had been monitoring Xu Li’s activities since their encounter at the construction site. While Xu Li was intelligent and capable, her methods were still too… crude.

Xu Tao had given her many opportunities, but few major projects. She lacked experience.

Xu Jinnan was confident she could eventually wrest control of the Xu Corporation from her.

Just as they entered the apartment, Xu Jinnan’s phone vibrated.

A late-night call always made her anxious.

It was Li Lan.

Shen Shu, seeing the caller ID, paused.

Li Lan wouldn’t call at this hour unless it was important.

“Come to the Special Ward. Now,” she said, her voice curt.

Xu Jinnan had initially intended to go alone, knowing Shen Shu’s discomfort with such places, but seeing her concerned expression, she took her hand, grabbing a thicker coat and a mask for Shen Shu before they left.

—

At the North City Special Ward, Li Lan, as usual, offered Xu Jinnan a cappuccino, then turned to Shen Shu. “What would you like to drink?”

“Just water, please,” Shen Shu replied.

Li Lan nodded, placing the glass of water in front of Shen Shu, her gaze sweeping over her, a frank, open appraisal.

But perhaps because of the environment, and Li Lan’s uniform, it felt strangely… intimate.

Sensing Shen Shu’s discomfort, Li Lan said, “Sorry, I’ve just heard so much about you from Xu Yincheng. I was curious.”

Shen Shu simply shook her head.

“My brother? You’ve been in contact?” Xu Jinnan asked, surprised.

Li Lan leaned back in her chair. “Don’t be jealous. It was just a brief call, thirty seconds. Twenty-eight of those seconds were about you and your wife,” she said with a smile.

“…About what?”

Li Lan looked at them, then gestured towards her laptop. “Let’s get down to business,” she said, changing the subject.

Xu Jinnan, her mind not on playful banter, took a sip of her cappuccino, the rich aroma strangely comforting at this late hour.

As she was thinking, a faint rustling sound came from the laptop, followed by a familiar voice.

“It’s a shame Xu Tao didn’t die. Such a shame.”

Xu Li’s voice echoed through the quiet office.

Xu Jinnan’s eyes widened in surprise.

She hadn’t expected such blatant animosity from Xu Li, who, in her memory, had resented the original Xu Jinnan not just for the inheritance, but also for their father’s affection.

She had witnessed their seemingly close relationship firsthand.

The recording continued, and the other voice was unmistakable.

“Li-li, don’t worry. I told you I would help you,” Zhou Pei said.

“Help me? How? I’ve been trying to contact you for weeks to ask about Xu Jinnan, and it’s been impossible! I even had to change my number! You’re so timid! What good are you?”

Zhou Pei sighed. “I’m just being careful. Xu Jinnan is sharp. I think she suspects something. And she’s used surveillance before… that’s why I changed my number.”

Xu Jinnan glanced at Li Lan. That explained why the surveillance hadn’t revealed anything.

Zhou Pei was incredibly cautious.

Xu Li’s tone softened slightly. “Everything’s been a mess lately, but Xu Tao’s illness is a huge opportunity… Once I take over the Xu Corporation, Xu Tao, Xu Jinnan, and that bitch Lu Yun… none of them will escape my wrath.”

“But even with the shareholders’ support, you only have 1% of the shares.”

“You don’t understand,” Xu Li said. “Xu Tao drafted a will a few months ago, naming me as his successor. That’s why I said it’s a shame he survived.”

“Did you also…?”

Xu Li seemed to ignore the question. “Haven’t you found anything on Xu Jinnan? If we could find something to use against her now, it would be foolproof.”

“Nothing,” Zhou Pei replied.

The recording paused for a few seconds, and Xu Jinnan and Shen Shu assumed it was over, but then it resumed.

“The battery died,” Zhou Pei explained. “The listening device I planted in Xu Jinnan’s office was in a potted plant, but she replaced them. And Viola is always with her now. I didn’t want to risk it, so I haven’t planted another one. And…”

“She changed cars. She hasn’t been driving the Bentley lately. I can’t get any information. But I’ll find a way,” she added.

Li Lan clicked the mouse, stopping the recording.

“Xu Jinnan, I finally understand why your brother is so worried about you,” she said, taking a sip of tea. “You’re so oblivious. Someone planted a listening device in your car, and you didn’t even notice.”

Xu Jinnan: “…”

Before she could reply, Shen Shu said, “My wife isn’t exactly a spy.” The implication was clear – even you, a professional, just found out.

Xu Jinnan coughed, gently squeezing Shen Shu’s hand, a subtle gesture of reassurance.

Li Lan glanced at Shen Shu, then smiled. “Quite the protective wife, aren’t you? Alright.”

“With this recording, I can arrest them now, but…” she began, then paused.

Xu Jinnan understood. What good would arresting them do?

They would only be detained for a short time, a slap on the wrist compared to their crimes.

While they suspected Xu Li was behind everything, they had no concrete evidence, especially for the incidents in Rongcheng – Yin Xue’s suicide attempt, the drugging… If they were arrested, they would simply deny everything, and the surveillance would only be admissible for a limited time, a month or two at most.

Xu Li’s sentence would be even shorter.

Li Lan knew Xu Jinnan wanted more than just a temporary reprieve.

—

They left the Special Ward, having agreed to give Xu Li and Zhou Pei more time. Now that their true colors had been revealed, there was no rush.

But how to set a trap, to lure them into exposing themselves?

“We can use this to our advantage,” Shen Shu said, sitting in the passenger seat.

Xu Jinnan glanced at her, but Shen Shu didn’t elaborate.

“What do you mean?”

“Free advice?” Shen Shu asked, her voice playful.

The words sounded familiar, and Xu Jinnan remembered saying the same thing to Cai Ying in the group chat.

Was she being… teased?

Xu Jinnan unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned closer to Shen Shu. “Shu Shu, what should I call you?” she asked, her voice low, her gaze lingering on Shen Shu’s face, her long eyelashes casting shadows on her cheeks in the dim light of the car.

“What do you think?” Shen Shu retorted.

“I don’t know. You tell me,” Xu Jinnan said, her own eyes sparkling with amusement.

Shen Shu looked at her silently.

Xu Jinnan, emboldened, leaned even closer, her voice a husky whisper. “You seem to like ‘wife’ during the day, but at night, you prefer ‘jiejie’…”

Shen Shu suddenly leaned in and bit her lip, a playful yet slightly punishing nip.

Xu Jinnan winced.

After a moment, Shen Shu pulled away.

Xu Jinnan touched her lip, which still tingled slightly. Shen Shu’s bite had been surprisingly forceful.

She gently pinched Shen Shu’s earlobe, which was warm to the touch, a sign of her slight embarrassment.

She loved Shen Shu’s ears – small, delicate, and incredibly cute.

She didn’t move away, simply tilting Shen Shu’s head down slightly. “Jiejie,” she whispered, her voice husky, “tell me your plan.”