The Guide to Rising to Power: The Ultimate Schemes of a Green Tea Beauty

Shen Yao bit her lip.

The man's words, coupled with his gentle and refined appearance, created a striking contrast.

Despite his refined and gentle face, he possessed a quiet, understated desire for control. There was something strangely sexy about him.

Shen Yao was just joking at first, but looking at Fang Yunci's current appearance, she suddenly felt that he was seducing her.

Without a second thought, she jumped out of the water and grabbed the bathrobe hanging on the wall to wrap herself in it.

Before he could even fasten his belt, he was pulled back by a strong arm.

Fang Yunci chuckled softly, his smile carrying an undisguised warning: "Running away will also get you punished by Daddy."

"...Fang Yunci!"

The man sat calmly on the edge of the bathtub, his large hand bending down on Shen Yao's waist without warning, taking the initiative.

The girl was held tightly in the man's arms, her bathrobe mostly open, her wet hair clinging to his shirt, leaving dark water stains.

"I don't feel well..." Shen Yao tried to struggle a little more.

……

A sound like a wind chime came, clear, delicate, and soft. By the time she gritted her teeth and glared at him, it was too late.

"Is this uncomfortable?" Fang Yunci lowered his head slightly, his voice darkening. "Still uncomfortable?"

Shen Yao gave up struggling completely. She simply reached out and ripped open his shirt, two buttons popping off.

This jerk, anyway, he's her lover, her massage tool...!

Shen Yao cursed inwardly, but her hands didn't stop.

Fang Yunci looked down at her wet eyes, his throat moved slightly, but he swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

He actually wanted to say a few words to Shen Yao.

To manage or not to manage?

She's so young, only in her early twenties, what's with her taking turns messing around with men?

Doesn't she know what her face looks like? She's born looking like a vixen. Those men outside may look glamorous, but how many of them are decent people underneath?

They're all bastards with ill intentions.

She, on the other hand, nonchalantly moved closer, like a carefree cat pacing back and forth on the edge of a cliff.

Fang Yunci was really exhausted.

One after another, unwanted suitors kept popping up, and after she got involved with them, he was always the one left to clean up the mess.

Shen Yao kissed him at that moment.

Forget it.

Those words were never spoken.

What difference does it make whether you train them or not?

In the time that followed, the girl was bullied in every way. Her hands, which were resting on the man's shoulders, were scratched with red marks. In the end, she could only grab his hair and cling to him.

That behavior was truly offensive, but she was self-righteous and showed no remorse, only panting heavily in his arms, her voice escaping in fits and starts:

"Quick... I'm not feeling well."

Fang Yunci chuckled softly, his eyes appearing even more profound under the warm yellow light.

_

The meeting room door was tightly closed.

Lu Xiuting, dressed in casual clothes, stood at the top of the long table. His eyes, beneath his thick eyebrows, were sharp and deep black, making people afraid to look directly at him.

He raised his hand and pressed it on the table, his voice deep and steady, silencing the restlessness in the room: "Before we take action, let me give you a brief briefing on the situation."

The man's gaze swept over every face in the room.

"The suspect, Liang Zhenghe, briefly stopped in Mexico after traveling through ten countries."

"I once secretly sent people to search for him, but during the search, I alerted him and he escaped again. Since then, he has never been seen again."

Zheng Wenrui sat to the side, his expression unchanged.

After much mediation and proper negotiation, the USB drive has been officially handed over to Lu Xiuting.

With the evidence personally handed over by Liang Xiheng, Lu Xiuting could finally rightfully label Liang Zhenghe as a "suspect".

He no longer needed to search for people in the dark; he could openly mobilize all his forces to hunt down Liang Zhenghe.

"Liang Zhenghe possesses exceptional counter-surveillance capabilities and an unimaginable wealth to pave the way for him. Every time he senses danger, he has the means to disappear immediately."

Lu Xiuting's voice carried a warning, "So I must say, be extremely careful and don't overlook any corner."

The meeting adjourned.

Another whole month has passed.

Hengxin, this behemoth, collapsed day by day without a leader.

The day the seizure order was issued, the once bustling headquarters building was 70% empty overnight.

Most of the assets had already been transferred abroad, leaving only an empty skeleton in the country.

The executives were powerless to resist, and countless red eyes were fixed on Hengxin's crumbling body. The public opinion on the trending topics exploded into a sea of ​​fire, and the sense of capital was more sensitive than that of vultures.

Even if the legal entity has not yet been formally determined by the court, society and capital have already sentenced it to "death".

The once-powerful empire has entered the bankruptcy reorganization process, and its prime assets are being gradually dismantled and devoured by its competitors.

Those who once called each other brothers at the dinner table are now sitting at the table with knives and forks, sharing the food cleanly and efficiently.

Shen Yao felt a mix of emotions upon seeing this, unable to describe the feeling in her heart.

When her grandparents called, she only omitted the mention of Liang Xiheng. She didn't know how to bring up those things yet.

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone.

Madam Wei sighed, "You can't judge a book by its cover. Let Xiheng stay abroad... He shouldn't have come back."

Shen Yao gripped her phone tightly.

She heard the complexity in the old man's voice, as if he had expected something, or as if it was too late to salvage anything.

"Why isn't Xiheng answering his phone when we call him?"

Both Liang Xiheng and Shen Yao knew that although the two elders might indeed favor Shen Yao, they certainly didn't have no feelings for Liang Xiheng.

Shen Yao forced a smile, trying to keep her voice steady: "Maybe... I'm just unhappy."

His words carried a hint of probing.

She always felt that there was something between her grandparents' attitude towards Liang Xiheng and something she couldn't see through. It wasn't disgust, but rather like being separated by a frosted glass, making everything blurry.

On the other end of the phone, Mr. Wei tapped the ground with his cane, his voice deep and resonant:

"Your brother is cold-hearted and doesn't care about many people, just us, his family. It's normal for the child to be angry when Liang Zhenghe abandons him."

Shen Yao sensed the undercurrent beneath the surface: she wasn't surprised by Liang Xiheng's extremism. This made her even more certain that something was hidden between her grandparents and Liang Xiheng.

She finally couldn't hold back:

"Grandpa and Grandma, has Xiheng done anything wrong? You two seem... like you don't like him very much."

The elderly couple fell silent.

Shen Yao waited quietly.

Finally, Old Madam Wei spoke first, her voice sounding both relieved and troubled: "If our daughter doesn't like this son, how can we possibly like him from the bottom of our hearts?"

Shen Yao did not speak.

"Moreover," Mr. Wei continued, "your younger brother has been different from other children since he was little."

"We rarely see children like that. He can pretend in front of strangers, but he can't hide his true self in front of his family."

"Xi Heng is far more cold-blooded and intelligent than most people. If he were kind by nature, that would be one thing, but he..."

The two elders were somewhat embarrassed, and in the end, they only gave her a simple example. Madam Wei slowly said:

"We witnessed it firsthand. When he was little, he was particularly fond of a kitten. But that kitten preferred to play with other children, and not long after, it died at his feet."

Her voice was very low. "When we asked him, he was so young, yet he could already lie without batting an eye."

Shen Yao held her phone and listened quietly to the whole thing. It turned out that his obsessions and madness had already begun to show signs in his youth.

"Actually, I understand," Madam Wei sighed again, "He was afraid of being disliked, so he lied. But to destroy a life simply because it's not his alone. This child is fundamentally flawed."

After hanging up the phone, Shen Yao sat silently for a moment.

Days passed, and Liang Zhenghe remained missing, while Xue Huaiqing's case remained unresolved.

It wasn't until three months later.