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In an apartment in Lujiazui, Shanghai, the morning sunlight filters through the sheer curtains and falls onto the solid wood floor.

Suning, wearing a bathrobe belt, watched as Qi Dongcao placed the third cup of coffee on the coffee table.

The Queen's sudden appearance dampened Su Ning's spirits, leaving him frustrated and forced to get up in the middle of the night to drink coffee.

"Is she still crying?" Su Ning glanced at the tightly closed guest room door.

Qi Dongcao adjusted the collar of her bathrobe: "I got up three times in the middle of the night, and each time I stood outside your bedroom door."

She hesitated for a moment, "Su Ning, Ban Jin really cares about you. She was almost going crazy in the first two years after the accident, and I took her abroad because I was afraid she would do something rash."

The coffee cup clinked softly on the glass coffee table.

Su Ning felt increasingly irritable; ever since the Queen entered his life, this symptom had become more and more frequent.

“Three conditions,” he suddenly said. “First, you are not allowed to call me Eight Liang or Zhao Jiadi; second, you are not allowed to inquire about my private affairs; third…”

He pointed to his temple, "Never mention the Zhao family again."

Qi Dongcao's eyes lit up, and the jade bracelet flashed in the morning light: "Great! I'll go tell her right away!"

The guest room door was gently pushed open.

The queen huddled in the corner of the bed, clutching a blanket and weeping bitterly.

Hearing the noise, she hurriedly wiped her face, her bloodshot eyes particularly striking.

"Dongcao, he agreed, didn't he?" The voice was hoarse, like sandpaper being rubbed.

Qi Dongcao sat down on the edge of the bed and gently took her hand: "Well, but there are a few conditions..."

When Qi Dongcao finished repeating Su Ning's requirements, the Queen's face showed undisguised joy, and her shoulders trembled violently.

This is not a cry of sadness, but an outpouring of emotions that have been suppressed for many years.

"Don't worry! I'll be good..." She looked up, her swollen eyes shining with a strange light, "Just like when he was sick when we were little, I didn't sleep for three days and three nights taking care of him..."

Qi Dongcao suddenly felt a pang of sadness.

This girl's obsession with Suning goes far beyond that of childhood playmates; it's more like a protective instinct ingrained in her very being.

Su Ning, who was in the living room, glanced at the time and saw that it was only a little past four in the morning. She then impatiently called out to Qi Dongcao in the guest room, "Dongcao, I'm sleepy! Come back and catch up on some sleep with me."

"Okay! I'll be right there."

"Dongcao, when did you start dating Suning?"

"Not long ago! I came to him for help a few days ago, and then he stayed and told me to stay by his side from now on."

"No! I want one too."

"Ah? This..."

"What? Wintergrass, you're not happy about it?"

"No! I'm not afraid that Suning won't agree."

"How could that be! I don't believe he could refuse after I've practically thrown myself at him."

"..."

Qi Dongcao then had no choice but to stay in the guest room, giving this good opportunity to the Queen.

However, she was indeed quite tired from what Su Ning had done, so she graciously granted the Queen's request.

However, when Su Ning saw that it was not Qi Dongcao who entered, but the equally beautiful Queen, he did not say anything.

Su Ning beckoned to the queen, whose eyes were red, and the queen closed the door, overjoyed and weeping.

"Eight... Su Ning, you've accepted me?"

"Shh!" Su Ning didn't want to say anything more, so he picked up the Queen and kissed her.

At this moment, the Queen seemed to be in a dream, cooperating fully with Su Ning until dawn before finally falling into a deep sleep.

However, Su Ning got up and went to the bathroom, then went into the guest room and carried the sleeping Qi Dongcao back to the master bedroom.

"Huh? Su Ning, what are you doing?"

"I can't sleep without you by my side."

"Where's the queen?"

"Here she is! From now on, I'll have her on both sides."

"Hmph! I just can't do anything with you."

"..." Then, without saying a word, Su Ning carried Qi Dongcao back to the master bedroom.

Then, nestled between two beautiful women, he drifted off to sleep, feeling quite pleased with himself.

……

In the arrival hall of Hongkou Airport, Lin Xiaoyu dragged her suitcase and hurried through the crowd.

She wore the same beige coat she wore on their first date, and her hair was adorned with a crystal hair clip given to her by Suning.

"Suning, I miss you so much."

"Me too! I thought you'd forgotten about me."

"How could I! I will never forget you."

"Let's go! I'll personally take you home."

On the way home, Lin Xiaoyu sat in the passenger seat and kept looking at Su Ning.

“Suning, in the six months I was away from Shanghai, did you do anything behind my back?”

"Nonsense! What could I possibly do behind your back?"

"Didn't you try to seduce a female senior at Shanghai International Studies University?"

"How boring! When did you become so suspicious?"

"Hmph!" Lin Xiaoyu naturally couldn't believe that Su Ning didn't steal food.

But she also knew that some things were beyond her control; after all, she wished she hadn't taken the exam in the capital.

"Suning, take me to your house first!"

"Okay! It's at your parents' place?"

“I’ve already messaged them, and they know I’m with you.”

Then Su Ning took Lin Xiaoyu to their secret place, and then went straight to the master bedroom of the mansion.

The moment the master bedroom door closed, Lin Xiaoyu hugged Su Ning tightly.

Su Ning's kiss was full of masculine hormones, and his fingers skillfully unbuttoned her coat.

"Wait..." Lin Xiaoyu gasped as she pushed him away, "You really didn't cheat on me?"

"It's not important." Su Ning loosened his shirt collar. "What's important is that I miss you right now..."

"..."

Lin Xiaoyu wanted to resist, but found that she was powerless to resist and soon completely succumbed.

It wasn't until an hour or two had passed that Lin Xiaoyu finally hugged Su Ning with satisfaction.

"Su Ning, do I regret it?"

"What do you regret?"

"I shouldn't have applied to schools in Beijing in the first place."

"Little Fish, maybe you never intended to stay with me all this time?"

"I……"

"Little Fish, you don't need to think about too many things. As long as we're both happy, that's all that matters."

"Hmph! That's just typical scumbag talk."

"Hehe...that's a good idea! If I ever quit the translation agency, I'll just publish a book of 'scumbag quotes'."

"Shameless."

"Little Fish, I want it again now."

"what……"

……

In the conference room at Jiuzhoufang headquarters, the data curve on the electronic screen soared.

"Our GMV for Double Twelve exceeded 3 million RMB in a single day!" The operations director's voice trembled with excitement. "62% of that came from newly joined small and medium-sized merchants!"

Suning twirled his pen, his gaze sweeping over the department heads: "What's the payment success rate?"

"98.7%!" The head of the technology department pulled up a comparison chart. "Taobao is 82.2%, and our 'UnionPay' payment has two fewer steps than Alipay."

Applause erupted in the conference room.

In just six months, this e-commerce platform founded by college students has already entered the top ten in the industry.

What's even more alarming is user stickiness – "Jiuzhoufang" boasts a repurchase rate of 45%, far exceeding the industry average of 28%.

"Yes, we must focus on making UnionPay payment simple and convenient, and we must not let it become a hodgepodge."

"Understood! Our R&D team has always paid close attention to this issue."

"Payment software is ultimately about customers' money, and trust is the most fundamental basis. Therefore, influence and security are the most important things."

"clear."

"How's the Campus Manager program going?" Suning asked the marketing department. "It covers 72 universities nationwide!" the young female manager reported excitedly. "Each Campus Manager helps 30 nearby merchants join, and we provide traffic support and commission rebates. We're adding over 500 new merchants every day now!"

"Excellent! Continue to accelerate the pace; the market is the key to our success."

"Yes, Mr. Su."

After the meeting, Suning stood alone in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.

Across the Huangpu River, Alibaba's neon logo gleamed in the night.

He recalled the secret meeting with senior UnionPay executives last week, during which they proposed an exclusive cooperation agreement on the condition that "UnionPay Pay" be renamed "UnionPay·Jiuzhou Pay".

Today, UnionPay Jiuzhou Pay has a large number of technology patents, including biometric identification, making it an absolutely leading new technology company.

……

The conference room at Alibaba's headquarters in Hangzhou was filled with smoke.

"UnionPay's facial recognition payment response time is 0.3 seconds faster than ours." The technical director tapped on the projected screen, "The key is this biometric algorithm..."

Ma Yun put down his teacup: "Speak like a human being."

“Mr. Ma, in plain terms, they may have mastered some kind of… special biometric recognition technology.” The director wiped his sweat. “Like fingerprints, they are unique, but the sample is…”

"Eyes," someone suddenly interjected from the corner.

Everyone turned around and saw a middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses, a professor from the Department of Electronics at Zhejiang University.

"To be precise, it's the distribution pattern of blood vessels in the iris." He adjusted his glasses. "Theoretically, this technology requires specific genetic markers to achieve."

"Strange! How did such a small company manage to do that?"

“Mr. Ma, according to our investigation, ‘Jiuzhoufang’ and ‘UnionPay Jiuzhoupay’ are not small businesses. They are controlled by major domestic banks.”

"Hmph! Aren't they afraid that if they grow too big, the bank will take over their place?"

"Perhaps...their owners don't care about these things?"

"Sigh! This is probably what it means to have a selfless heart and a broad mind. Anyway, I, Ma Yun, could never do that."

Meanwhile, at a private club in Shanghai's Hongqiao area.

Chen Hongxiong threw a stack of photos on the coffee table and said, "Look closely! This is Zhao Sanjin's eldest son, Zhao Balang, now called Su Ning."

"Brother Xiong, what do you want us to do?"

"Tie him up again."

"clear."

……

At the annual meeting of Jiuzhoufang, the entire audience erupted in cheers when Suning announced the completion of its Series B financing.

With a valuation of $5 million, led by domestic banks, this figure is nothing short of miraculous for a startup that has only been established for a year and a half.

Moreover, Suning absolutely will not allow its "Jiuzhoufang" to have impure lineage, after all, the Chinese market is about to enter the e-commerce market.

"Next year's goal: GMV exceeding 10 billion!" Suning raised a glass of champagne, his left eye glowing eerily red under the spotlight.

A new intern from the marketing department secretly filmed this scene from below the stage.

At the celebration banquet, Suning enjoyed the spotlight and received envious glances from all sides.

The Queen and Qi Dongcao, acting as assistants, stood in a corner, one engrossed in eating dessert, the other constantly checking her phone.

"Dongcao," the Queen suddenly leaned closer and whispered to Qi Dongcao, "Did you see that person staring at Ba... staring at Su Ning?"

Qi Dongcao looked in the direction she pointed and was surprised to find that the other person was a waiter, but the tattoo on his wrist indicated that he was not a simple person.

Qi Dongcao immediately felt a pang of anxiety, realizing that something was about to happen tonight. "There might be some danger today. I'll go and warn the security personnel to be on the lookout."

"it is good."

……

At the Jiuzhoufang annual meeting, crystal chandeliers illuminated the banquet hall as if it were daytime.

Suning walked among the guests with a champagne glass in hand, a barely perceptible red glint flashing in his left eye as he clinked glasses.

"Congratulations, Mr. Su." The waiter with a tattoo on his wrist handed over a specially made cocktail. "It was specially prepared for you by Assistant Qi."

Suning accepted it with a smile, not noticing anything unusual.

As he took his third sip, his body suddenly swayed, and the champagne glass shattered on the crystal floor with a "crack".

"President Su!" Qi Dongcao exclaimed as she rushed over, her jade bracelet clanging against the bodyguard. "Call an ambulance!"

Amid the commotion, two "medical personnel" in white coats pushed aside the guests, saying, "Make way! Suspected food poisoning!"

They deftly lifted the unconscious Su Ning onto a stretcher. The Queen tried to stop them, but Qi Dongcao held her wrist tightly.

"Don't be impulsive..." Qi Dongcao whispered in her ear, her nails almost digging into her flesh, "Proceed according to plan."

As the stretcher passed through the fire lane, the unconscious Su Ning reached into his pocket with his right hand and activated the tracking device he was carrying.

At the Pudong Branch Command Center, a flashing red dot suddenly appeared on the electronic map.

The van sped through the suburbs, its interior filled with a mixture of medical alcohol and sweat.

Suning was handcuffed to a metal chair with an electrode pad on his forehead, appearing to be unconscious.

The man in the white coat took off his stethoscope and said, "Brother Xiong, mission accomplished."

Chen Hongxiong emerged from the shadows, the scars on his face gleaming purplish-red under the emergency lights.

He used his pistol to lift Su Ning's chin: "Zhao Balang, hello! My name is Chen Hongxiong."

The gun barrel slid down to his left eye. "I heard your eyes are quite special?"

The truck suddenly braked, and Chen Hongxiong stumbled.

The driver's panicked voice came through the walkie-talkie: "Brother Xiong! There's a police car following us!"

"What's the panic!" Chen Hongxiong spat. "Follow Plan B and take the Husong Highway!"

He didn't notice that Su Ning, who was "unconscious" on the metal chair, had a slight upturn at the corner of his mouth.

In the abandoned chemical plant, when Su Ning was woken up by the splash, the first thing he saw was Chen Hongxiong's distorted smiling face.

"Surprised?" Chen Hongxiong brandished the stun gun. "Your father killed my father back then, and today it's your turn to pay the price."

Su Ning weakly raised his head, his gaze sweeping over his surroundings—six armed thugs, a swaying incandescent light overhead, and a surveillance camera flickering in the corner.

Great, the chain of evidence is complete.

“Chen Hongxiong…” His voice was hoarse, “According to my investigation, the car accident in Beicheng in 1994 was entirely your father’s fault for driving under the influence of alcohol.”

"Bullshit!" The stun gun slammed into Su Ning's abdomen. Amidst the crackling of the high-voltage current, Chen Hongxiong screamed hysterically, "Zhao Sanjin bribed the traffic police to tamper with the report! My father was burned alive in the car!"

Su Ning curled up in pain, but suddenly sprang up as Chen Hongxiong bent down!

The handcuff links snapped, and a precise chop to the gunman's carotid artery followed.

He turned and elbowed another thug, the bridge of his nose cracking.

“You…” Chen Hongxiong retreated in fear.

“I was able to break free from this kind of toy when I was twelve.” Su Ning flicked her wrist, her left eye starting to redden. “By the way, the police have completely surrounded this place.”

The sound of sirens could be heard faintly in the distance.

Chen Hongxiong laughed wildly and raised the remote control: "Then let's all die together! I've buried enough bombs in this building to flatten it..."

Before he could finish speaking, his right hand was suddenly severed at the wrist!

Amidst splattering blood, the Queen leaped from the ventilation duct, her military knife dripping with blood: "This strike is to avenge Eight Ounces for the kidnapping you suffered back then!"

"Impossible!" Chen Hongxiong clutched his severed wrist and staggered backward. "My men were clearly watching you..."

"Your men are all at the police station for tea right now." Qi Dongcao burst in through the front door with a gun, followed by fully armed special police officers.

She glanced at the subdued thugs and suddenly exclaimed, "Su Ning, are you alright?"

"It's nothing! They're just some third-rate scum."

Chen Hongxiong looked up, his eyes bloodshot as he stared at Su Ning, feeling that Su Ning was even more despicable than Zhao Sanjin.

"Idiot! Have you ever considered that the car accident in Beicheng back then was all a setup, or that Zhao Sanjin was just an unlucky guy who was tricked by someone else?"

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible."

"If it really was Zhao Sanjin who did it! Logically, he should have eliminated all traces of the culprit. Do you think you would still be alive and well?"

"..." At this moment, Chen Hongxiong also stared wide-eyed as if waking from a dream.

Then Su Ning slowly approached, each step feeling like it was treading on Chen Hongxiong's heart: "Who else was involved in the kidnapping case back then besides Xu Zhenhong?"

"It was Nalan Changsheng! He's the one who ordered Xu Zhenhong." Chen Hongxiong suddenly realized, like a shrimp whose tendons had been pulled out, that he might have really gone in the wrong direction.

“Nalan Changsheng…Very well! Then let him suffer a fate worse than death.”

The siren sounds from far to near.

The next morning, the aroma of coffee filled the Suning Apartment.

Television news is broadcasting reports on last night's raid: "...the main suspects have all been apprehended. It is understood that the gang is linked to multiple commercial crimes..."

"Take your medicine." Qi Dongcao handed over the specially made inhibitor, the gold thread on the jade bracelet shimmering in the morning light. "What you did last night was too risky."

Suning put down his coffee cup and suddenly laughed: "Dongcao, the real show has only just begun."

...(End of chapter)