Volume 13
Chapter 13: Black Gold
The skin on Yan Rujun’s face, which was like the bark of an old tree, trembled. She glared, her eyes wide, as if she wanted to swallow Lu Li whole. She didn’t regret giving the order to kill Zhu Qiao, only regretted not having used all her strength when she first sent people to kill Lu Li. Her granddaughter, Zhu Xi, should have been a person without any weaknesses, a pure machine of revenge, a cold-blooded executioner. It was Lu Li who had brought her eighteen years of effort to naught!
“Yan Rujun,” Zhu Xi called her grandmother by her full name. “Although you wanted to harm Zhu Qiao, you also have the kindness of having raised me. Since that is the case, I will not kill you, but only send you to Australia to live out your old age. From now on, our grievances will be offset, and we will owe each other nothing.”
Lu Li was not surprised by Zhu Xi’s decision. If Zhu Xi could really have coldly sent Yan Rujun to her death, then it would have been Lu Li who would have had to worry about his own future. Moreover, compared to killing the Yan Matriarch, placing her under house arrest abroad would make it easier to eliminate the resistance to Zhu Xi inheriting the Yan family.
Seeing that the situation was lost, the Yan Matriarch began to play the victim again. “Xi’er! Xi’er! It was just that grandmother was emotional just now! Don’t be angry! Grandmother really didn’t know who took it upon themselves to harm Zhu Qiao! Someone is trying to drive a wedge between us! Xi’er!”
Zhu Xi shook her head. “Yan Rujun, you taught me not to believe a single word an enemy says on the eve of victory, because it is often the last minute before the dawn that is the most dangerous. This sentence, I return it to you in full.”
“Xi’er! You…”
Zhu Xi no longer listened to the old woman’s roars, but turned and walked out of the Yan Matriarch’s bedroom. Lu Li looked back at the old woman, who was unable to move on the bed. Her hysterical appearance had completely lost the dignity of a superior.
After having people guard the door of the Yan Matriarch’s room, Zhu Xi and Lu Li walked quickly through the Yan family mansion. The mansion was in an uproar; it was Zhu Xi and Zhu Youcheng’s people subduing Yan Rujun’s supporters. Zhu Xi’s methods were swift and decisive. The moment she escaped the pursuit, she immediately killed her way to Yan Rujun’s front, and in the next second, she took advantage of the time difference to control the Yan family, who hadn’t yet reacted.
“This alone is not enough. The limbs of the Yan family are the senior executives of the Shenzhou Energy Group, as well as agents in various industries scattered throughout the country,” Zhu Xi explained to Lu Li. “They probably haven’t received any news yet. I plan to summon them to the capital for a meeting in Yan Rujun’s name and control them at the meeting.”
“Will they come?”
“Given their fear of Yan Rujun, they have no choice but to come.”
…
At two in the afternoon, the senior executives and local agents of the Shenzhou Energy Group simultaneously received an urgent notice from the Yan family in the Capital City, requesting that the executives and agents immediately go to the capital to report on their recent work. These people didn’t notice anything unusual, because this kind of boisterous notice was precisely Yan Rujun’s neurotic style. After receiving the notice, they boarded a plane to the Capital City without any suspicion. By the time they arrived at the Yan family residence, they finally noticed that today’s Yan residence was exceptionally quiet. The first person they saw was Zhu Youcheng, looking at the rockery in the garden. Although they didn’t know why this enemy of Yan Rujun was safe and sound in the Yan family’s main camp, they still continued forward with apprehension.
They took their seats in the spacious conference room. The host was late, and they began to whisper among themselves. Someone suggested leaving, and someone was trying to contact Yan Rujun. Just as everyone was growing more and more anxious, Zhu Xi and Lu Li arrived late. This was actually a very clichéd tactic: deliberately delaying their arrival to create an uneasy atmosphere and put them at a psychological disadvantage. The sharp-eyed ones noticed that the seat at the head of the conference table, which was always empty and belonged only to Yan Rujun, had been removed, replaced by two chairs side by side.
“Your Highness, is the Matriarch still holding the meeting by sending messages?” one of them asked Zhu Xi.
Zhu Xi didn’t answer immediately, but sat down at the head of the table with Lu Li, one on each side. When this person asked again, it was Lu Li who answered, “Yan Rujun is not feeling well and will not be coming today. Zhu Xi will be presiding over the meeting.” They looked at each other, not knowing who this unfamiliar boy was. They dared not answer, nor did they dare to refute. They quietly observed Zhu Xi’s face and saw that Zhu Xi was closing her eyes to rest, not saying a word.
“Yan Rujun is old and needs to recuperate. She will no longer be managing the Yan family’s affairs in the future. This meeting is mainly to discuss the distribution of authority within the family.” Lu Li was also a little nervous. It was his first time speaking in front of so many superiors. But nervous as he was, if he got stage fright at a time like this, he would have wasted Zhu Xi’s good intentions. “If there’s nothing to say, then the meeting will begin.”
“Wait a minute.” Sure enough, as Lu Li had expected, a troublemaker jumped out. “I can’t contact the Matriarch. I have reason to suspect you have placed her under house arrest. And, Young Miss, who is this pretty boy? What right does he have to preside over a family meeting?”
Lu Li’s face didn’t change. “Are you saying that Zhu Xi, the sole heir of the Yan family and the Fourteenth Princess of the empire, has done wrong by placing Yan Rujun, who planned a terrorist attack in the city, under house arrest?”
Zhu Youcheng stepped into the conference room at the same time, found an empty seat, and, under the surprised and uncertain gazes of everyone, said, “Yan Rujun organized assassins to attack me in public. The assassins have already confessed. According to the law, Yan Rujun should be sentenced to life imprisonment. It was only because Zhu Xi pleaded for her that I showed leniency and allowed Yan Rujun to spend the rest of her life in the Yan family. The facts are clear, and the evidence is conclusive.”
Lu Li nodded slightly to his prospective father-in-law in thanks. “Now, is there anyone else who is an accomplice of Yan Rujun?”
No one spoke.
Lu Li looked at the troublemaker. “Also, I’m not a pretty boy. My name is Lu Li. Whether I have the right to preside over the meeting is not for you to decide. You can sit down now. Please.”
That person’s face was a mixture of light and shadow. “I will not sit! In the affairs of the Yan family, what face does an outsider with the surname Lu have to sit here?” His words had scolded Zhu Xi, Zhu Youcheng, and Lu Li all at once. Zhu Xi opened her eyes. “Then do I have the right to sit here?”
“…Of course, the Young Miss is an exception.”
“Then does what I say count?”
“…Naturally, it counts.”
Zhu Xi took the microphone, tapped it. The microphone was dead. She changed it for another one. “Then I can tell you now, from today on, Lu Li’s opinion is equal to my, Zhu Xi’s, will. His word is my word. I’ve said my piece. Who agrees, and who objects?”
One stone stirred up a thousand waves. These core members of the Yan family were all older than Zhu Xi. It was unrealistic to try and suppress them with just her status. Immediately, someone slammed the table and stood up. “I object!” However, in the next second, they all heard the sound of magazines being detached outside the conference room. With a bang, the wooden door was kicked open, and more than twenty fully armed soldiers neatly ran into the conference room, standing silently behind this group of people.
Only behind the middle-aged man who had spoken out against them, the barrel of a soldier’s gun was already aimed at his head.
His legs were trembling, and he stammered, unable to speak.
“Hello,” Lu Li nodded. “What did you say just now? We didn’t hear you clearly. Could you please repeat it?”
“I… I-I agree.” A wet patch appeared in his crotch. He had peed himself.
