Guide to Rising to Power as a Wife in Beijing's Elite Circle

The parking lot at the Li Family Mansion is on the third underground level.

As Chen Nuo got out of the car with Fang Jingxiu by the arm, her gaze was fixed on the silver-gray vintage car next to them.

The Mercedes-Benz 300SL's gull-wing doors gleam with a cold, metallic sheen under dim lighting.

That's not the point. The point is the license plate, which is just numbers.

It's worth noting that Jingjing stopped issuing purely numerical license plates after 96.

This vintage car paired with the Leopard logo isn't something money can buy.

This means that this person's family had been in a certain position since at least before the 1990s, a position that allowed them to obtain a license plate with the pure number "Jing A".

Jingjing is never short of hidden talents.

The person you think is the main character may just be a puppet on stage; the old man you think is insignificant may be able to shake half the system with a single phone call.

Chen Nuo looked away, her fingertips gently curling on Fang Jingxiu's arm.

"Nervous?" Fang Jingxiu asked, looking down.

"A little," she admitted honestly, "I'm afraid of embarrassing you."

Fang Jingxiu chuckled and tightened his grip on her waist: "What's so embarrassing about it? They're the ones who should be nervous."

The elevator goes directly to the top-floor private room.

When I pushed open the heavy mahogany door, the room was already full.

Shen Rongchuan was indeed in the main seat directly opposite the door, next to a girl in a white sweater who looked like a doll, with eyelashes so long they could hold snowflakes, and looked to be at most eighteen or nineteen years old.

But her eyes were calm as she quietly peeled an orange for Shen Rongchuan, her fingertips glistening with the essential oil from the orange peel under the light.

The other men at the table were also seated next to young women. Zhao Mingkai's girlfriend was a ballet dancer from an art school; her neck was like a swan's.

Lin Siming looked like he was of mixed race, with features so sculpted they resembled a sculpture; Zheng Zhiheng was the quietest, constantly looking down at his phone, but the Richard Miller watch on his wrist was dazzling under the light.

"Hey, Brother Xiu is here!" Shen Rongchuan was the first to stand up, and when his gaze swept over Chen Nuo, a hint of amusement flashed in his eyes.

The others also stood up, their eyes displaying different expressions—curiosity, scrutiny, contempt, and mockery.

Chen Nuo could read those eyes. She was just another pretty female college student, no different from the other girls present; she was just a disposable commodity.

Who would give up their family's wealth and status for a girlfriend with no background?

So she's too lazy to even call her sister-in-law.

Chen Nuo's fingers curled slightly.

Fang Jingxiu tightened his arms around her, pulling her closer, his voice calm but with an undeniable force: "This is my girlfriend, Chen Nuo."

Zhao Mingkai spoke first, smiling smoothly: "Miss Chen Nuo is here, please have a seat."

Using her full name plus "Miss" strikes a perfect balance, acknowledging that she was brought by Fang Jingxiu, but not acknowledging her true identity.

Chen Nuo's palms were a little sweaty.

Fang Jingxiu seemed oblivious, putting his arm around her and leading her to an empty seat. He looked around and said, "What are you standing there for? Call someone."

Chen Nuo asked in a low voice, "What's your name?"

"Say hello to Uncle," Fang Jingxiu said in a serious tone.

There was a moment of silence in the private room, followed by bursts of laughter.

Zhao Mingkai slammed his fist on the table: "Brother Xiu, you're fucking taking advantage, aren't you?!"

"Why should you call her 'uncle'?" Lin Siming chuckled. "We're not that much older than her!"

"Seven years older is still older," Fang Jingxiu said slowly as he poured tea for Chen Nuo. "According to seniority, would calling you 'uncle' be beneath you?"

Laughter shattered the invisible barrier that had been there before.

Chen Nuo clearly felt those scrutinizing gazes soften slightly; at least they were no longer scraping her skin like knives. She secretly breathed a sigh of relief and turned her head to look at Fang Jingxiu.

He was looking down as he mixed the dipping sauce, his eyelashes casting a faint shadow under his eyes, and the smile from before still lingering on his lips.

"Thank you, Brother Xiu," she said in a voice only the two of them could hear.

Fang Jingxiu didn't respond, but instead held her hand under the table, gently rubbing her thumb on the web between her thumb and forefinger.

The dishes were served one after another.

Li Family Restaurant's private kitchen is not open to the public and only caters to a select group. The crispy roast pigeon is smoked with 30-year-old tangerine peel, the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall soup base is simmered for three days, and even the stir-fried vegetables are organic produce directly from farms. Every bite tastes like money.

The men started talking about serious matters.

"Have you seen the new approval document from the National Development and Reform Commission recently?" Lin Siming started the conversation, "about tightening subsidies for electric vehicles."

"I've seen it." Fang Jingxiu scooped up a spoonful of bird's nest, not in a hurry to eat it. "Starting next year, subsidies will be canceled for all vehicles with a range of less than 400 kilometers. Your new brand needs to hurry up and upgrade its battery pack."

"It's already underway," Lin Siming sighed, "but we can't bring the costs down. Smart Construction Era is sticking to their prices!"

"Smart Building Era is nothing." Shen Rongchuan interrupted him, playing with a lighter in his hand. "If you really want to do it, I can introduce you to someone. It's a team from Jingguo Institute. Their solid-state battery energy density can reach 500Wh/kg, and the price is 30% lower than Smart Building Era."

Zhao Mingkai raised an eyebrow: "Is there really such a good thing? Is their background clean?"

"Clean," Shen Rongchuan laughed. "If it weren't clean, would I introduce it to you? Wouldn't that be blatantly ripping off my brother?"

Halfway through the meal, the king crab was served.

The enormous crab shells sat on an ice platter, their orange-red legs gleaming enticingly under the light. Just as the waiter was about to approach, Shen Rongchuan waved his hand, saying, "We'll do it ourselves."

Zhao Mingkai chuckled and teased, "Is Boss Shen going to personally serve us today?"

"Serve you?" Shen Rongchuan scoffed. "Dream on."

As soon as he finished speaking, the girl next to him picked up the crab claws and began to skillfully dismantle the crab.

The men sat at the head table, and the women sat around them.

The ballet dancers that Zhao Mingkai brought were using small silver spoons to scoop crab roe and feed it to him.

Lin Siming's mixed-race female companion was helping him remove fish bones, her movements as practiced as if she had done it countless times before;

The girl next to Zheng Zhiheng was the quietest; she just kept her head down, peeling pine nuts, and pushed a small plate of them in front of him after she finished peeling them.

The women at the table were merely decorative.

Young, beautiful, good at serving others, and knows how to behave appropriately.

This is the rule in this circle: men talk business, and women serve.

When a man drinks a glass, the woman has to fill it up;

Women should listen to whatever the men talk about, without interrupting or saying anything.

Chen Nuo sat next to Fang Jingxiu, his palms slightly sweaty.

The tableware in front of her was still clean and untouched.

It wasn't that she wasn't hungry, it was that she dared not. She was afraid that her movements would be inappropriate and that she would embarrass Fang Jingxiu.

Fang Jingxiu turned his head to the side, his voice low: "Want to eat crab?"

Chen Nuo hesitated for a moment, then leaned close to his ear, covering her mouth with her hand, and said in a voice only the two of them could hear, "I want to, but I don't know how to peel them... They all seem so skilled, I'm afraid I'll mess it up."

She was telling the truth.

The other girls at the table were all very skilled at dismantling crabs, clearly frequenting such occasions.

Before, her father would peel crabs for her.

Fang Jingxiu glanced at her, said nothing, but simply gestured to the waiter: "Crab eight-piece set."

The waiter brought over a set of exquisite silver tools. Everyone else at the table stopped what they were doing, their gazes sweeping over the table almost imperceptibly.

Zhao Mingkai laughed: "Brother Xiu, are you going to do it yourself today?"

Lin Siming raised an eyebrow: "That's rare."

Shen Rongchuan didn't speak, but simply picked up his wine glass, took a sip, and glanced between Fang Jingxiu and Chen Nuo.

Fang Jingxiu ignored the teasing.

He picked up the crab claws and skillfully began to dismantle the crab. First, he cut the joints, then gently tapped it with a small hammer, and finally used a thin hook to pick out the meat.

The whole process was smooth and effortless, no less impressive than any of the girls on the table.

In less than five minutes, a small plate of whole crab leg meat was placed in front of Chen Nuo.

"Eat up." Fang Jingxiu put down his tools and picked up a damp towel to wipe his hands.

This realization made her blush, and she whispered, "Thank you, Brother Xiu."

Fang Jingxiu hummed in agreement and leaned back in his chair, as if he had just done something completely ordinary.

But everyone at the table knew this was unusual.