[Chi Yumo: This person’s name in Pinyin is “Lin Yuan.” The exact characters might not be these two.]
[Chi Yumo: She was one of Li Longfeng’s lovers that she toyed with back in the country. She’s an A-Grade Alpha in her early twenties, around 170 cm tall. She had long black hair, a cool and aloof facial expression and voice, skin that wasn’t particularly fair, and a prominent mole on the left side of her neck. Her family’s financial situation was currently very poor; she had a younger brother in school, and her father had been seriously ill for years. Li Longfeng gave her money every month.]
This character information came from what she had seen with her own eyes that day at the villa, along with some things she had heard firsthand.
—”Lin Yuan, if you want this month’s money to arrive on time, call out louder. It only gets interesting if the person soaking in the water outside can hear it, got it?”
—”Think about your brother’s tuition and your father’s medical bills. Your whole family is waiting for you to support them, and you can only survive thanks to me.”
—”You were eighteen—no, not even eighteen yet—when you started following me. You know, you’re the one I’ve played with the longest. Don’t disappoint me today.”
[Chi Yumo: What I’m saying is, Li Longfeng might be suspected of forcing an underage girl into a relationship with her. Not necessarily Lin Yuan.]
Once this crime was proven, it would be even more outrageous than drug use or organizing orgies. It would utterly destroy Li Longfeng’s reputation, make her reviled by the public, abandoned by society, with no chance of recovery.
At that point, even her father’s influence couldn’t protect her.
Initially, she had thought that no matter how Li Longfeng played with women, as long as it was consensual—like she and Shi Youwan had been back then—she wouldn’t interfere or take it to heart. She had naively believed that winning that bet would show Li Longfeng her unyielding resolve, allowing them to step back and live in peace from then on.
But she had overestimated Li Longfeng’s character. Li Longfeng was rotten to the core beneath a glamorous exterior. What courtesy or reason could one expect from such scum?
She wouldn’t be a pushover or a goody-two-shoes anymore.
They needed to gather more evidence of Li Longfeng’s illegal and unethical activities in the country. As long as they had the evidence, if Li Longfeng dared to return and stir trouble, she believed Shen Muxi or Shi Youwan could send her straight to prison.
And that woman named Lin Yuan, whose dignity Li Longfeng had trampled, might become their breakthrough.
[Shen Muxi: Okay, I’ll pass it on to Nianhua and have her look into it.]
[Shen Muxi: Little Mo Mo, I have to remind you—stay calm in tough situations. No matter how angry, wronged, or hateful you feel, stick to the legal line.]
[Shen Muxi: Someone’s already vented this anger for you. You’re abroad, so you’re limited in every way—be cautious in your words and actions. But I promise you, things won’t go beyond three strikes. If Li Longfeng shows any more signs of malicious intent, whether she’s MENAS’s Fifth Miss or the daughter of some emperor, we won’t accept any reconciliation. We’ll use every means to hand her over to the law.]
[Chi Yumo: Mm, I’m very calm.]
Throughout history, power struggles and clashes between equals often ended in mutual destruction.
She fully understood and empathized with Shen Muxi’s difficulties and Shi Youwan’s constraints. Now, they—who had once been carefree—were risking everything to protect her and share her fate. How could she selfishly focus only on personal vengeance while ignoring their own situations and concerns?
That was why she had acted normal in front of Shi Youwan, eating and drinking as usual without mentioning Li Longfeng at all. She feared Shi Youwan, the non-victim, might not hold back her anger as well as she did.
Shi Youwan loved her deeply.
She no longer doubted it.
Just as she had once deeply loved Shi Youwan and wanted to kill Lu Xinming, Shi Youwan surely wanted to kill Li Longfeng too.
But absolutely not.
She absolutely could not let Shi Youwan’s hands be stained with “blood.”
…
In the study next door, separated by just a wall, Shi Youwan met Zhang Kai alone and listened to his report.
Li Longfeng was quite tough. After “voluntarily” making her choice and then entering Susceptible Period involuntarily, she soaked in an ice-cold bathtub for three hours first, then spent the entire night in a high-heat, pitch-black escape room. By morning, she even suffered a drug relapse.
Her disheveled state from the emotional heat, naked and begging them for heroin on her knees, writhing and crawling in all sorts of undignified ways—it was all captured on her own phone.
Zhang Kai hadn’t kept any copies of the videos; he had just left them for Li Longfeng to view herself.
At dawn, they drove the half-dead Li Longfeng and her sports car to a designated remote wilderness spot and used her phone to notify Xiao Wei to pick her up.
Their group were all betas, masked throughout, fully geared up without even exposing their eyes. They used voice changers when speaking, revealing no information.
As for Li Longfeng, after being forced to stop and realizing resistance was futile, she resigned herself to being blindfolded without struggling.
Because they had said they wanted neither money nor her life—just to invite her as a guest for a chat.
“‘During the game,’ she was very cooperative, and we were friendly to her too. All the injuries on her body were from her own collisions.”
The sky was overcast, and a light rain began to fall again.
The rain curtain hung heavy, quietly pattering against the window frames, turning the freshness into dampness amid the rustling.
Shi Youwan lounged relaxed on the sofa, right up against the armrest, propping her head with her right hand, her gaze idly fixed on the water droplets on the glass window. “She didn’t say anything about getting revenge?”
“She did.”
Zhang Kai chose his words carefully. “While soaking in the cold water, she guessed we were avenging Miss Mo. She said if we didn’t kill her today, she’d have a thousand ways to deal with Miss Mo later. Once her drug addiction kicked in, her arrogance faded. I hinted at some unfavorable evidence we already had on her domestically and internationally, and said we had the strength for a prolonged war with her and the forces behind her. As long as she behaved as MENAS’s Fifth Miss in Lan Wei and didn’t provoke people she shouldn’t, all would be peaceful.”
“A thousand ways, huh…” The key point Shi Youwan latched onto was Li Longfeng’s unchangeable nature. This Li Longfeng was even trickier than Lu Xinming.
“President Shi, should we do anything more?”
“Not yet. Let’s wait out this storm first, then plan long-term.” She had to consider the safety of Xiao Mo, Qiao Ke, Zhang Kai—everyone close to her. Lan Wei wasn’t their home turf; she couldn’t rush into a battle with uncertain odds.
“Yes.”
“Keep some people around these next few days.”
“Understood.”
After Zhang Kai left, Shi Youwan messaged Sheng Yingfei: [Crisis resolved. I owe you one.]
It was midnight back home, so Sheng Yingfei was probably asleep. Shi Youwan didn’t wait for a reply.
But the thanks had to be given.
Lan Wei was the country where Sheng Yingfei had studied abroad and walked the “wild path” for four years, mingling with both underworld and upper world.
The channel to hire top-tier bodyguards came from Sheng Yingfei after she had “asked for help,” which was why things went so smoothly and quickly.
In the year since they connected, she had picked up some of Sheng Yingfei’s “wild path” essence, more or less. But credit also went to Chi Yumo; it was Xiao Mo who had tied her together with Sheng Yingfei and Wen Ruoyi.
Qiao Ke knocked and entered the study. “President Shi, Miss Mo and Assistant Chen are heading out. They say it’s to meet Unique’s creative director Dino—a work assignment from Miss Shen.”
“Now?”
Qiao Ke nodded. “They have a nine o’clock appointment.”
Shi Youwan glanced at the time on her phone. To arrive early, they couldn’t delay. “Have Zhang Kai drive them. Don’t be late.”
“I was thinking of having Brother Kai stay to protect you while I take them. They insisted on calling a car themselves.”
“No. Going to Unique is too conspicuous—there’s risk. Zhang Kai must go with them.”
“President Shi,” Qiao Ke said urgently, “you can’t just worry about Miss Mo’s safety and ignore your own. What if Li Longfeng wakes up, investigates, ignores the threats, and brings people… This is Lan Wei; she has connections everywhere, underworld and otherwise, including desperados…”
Knock knock knock.
It was Chi Yumo at the door.
Qiao Ke hadn’t closed the door fully when she entered, so Chi Yumo and Chen Qiuxue knew she was outside, and there were bodyguards in the shadows. Even if some were sent with Zhang Kai to protect Chi Yumo, at least ten would remain nearby guarding Shi Youwan.
She had said those words deliberately for Chi Yumo to hear. Being a “loyal protector” wasn’t over the top, right? These days, if she had eight hundred schemes, at least seven hundred were forced out by the two leads’ abusive love.
“Xiao Mo? Come in.” Shi Youwan stood from the sofa, not wanting to greet her in a “boss” posture.
Chen Qiuxue stayed at the door without moving. As Chi Yumo walked in, Shi Youwan met her halfway. “Qiao Ke told me. Zhang Kai will take you.”
Seeing Shi Youwan thinking entirely of her safety, and hearing Qiao Ke’s “loyal” words, Chi Yumo couldn’t help but be moved.
She worried about Shi Youwan’s safety too. She typed with her head down: [I heard Unique HQ is close to Monnas Bridge. Want to check it out after meeting Dino? Come with?]
The unexpected invitation made the corners of Shi Youwan’s lips curve up. She agreed with a “Good,” and finally gathered the courage to hook her arm around Chi Yumo’s, leading her out. “It’s cool here, and it just rained. Grab an extra jacket from your room before heading out.”
…
Outside, a fine misty rain fell, romantic whether under an umbrella or not.
In the seven-seater business van, Shi Youwan boarded first but went straight to the back row. Qiao Ke quickly tugged Chi Yumo’s sleeve and whispered, “I’ll sit in the middle with Assistant Chen.”
Afraid she’d pretend not to get President Shi’s hint and sit in the middle herself, leaving the eager President Shi hanging in the back.
Chi Yumo nodded.
She naturally understood Shi Youwan’s intentions and obediently got in beside her. The moment her butt touched the seat, a slightly cool hand covered the back of hers.
Shi Youwan’s body temperature was lower than hers.
But why was Shi Youwan… so clingy? Clingy like a girl in the heat of new love.
Clingy in the bedroom was one thing—attributable to post-Marking dependence. But now outside, with so many eyes on them.
Chi Yumo felt conflicted inside but didn’t pull away or turn her hand over, letting Shi Youwan’s four fingers interlace into her palm.
A little contact was fine; Alphas and Omegas comforting each other would give her extra calm for meeting Dino later.
The two places were a bit far, over half an hour by car. Chi Yumo closed her eyes to rest, while Shi Youwan took a work call handed over by Qiao Ke. The hand she held never let go.
Upon arrival, Chi Yumo typed: [Snow Jie and I will head up. Wait for me?]
