Super Rich: It all started when I met a young woman in a sleeper car.

The office lights were on, and the door was closed.

Chen Xun sat in a chair, Li Qian leaned against the wall by the door, and Lin Xinyue and Yang Xiaotao moved stools and sat opposite the desk.

None of the four spoke, and the air still carried the tension from the earlier negotiations.

"So," Chen Xun spoke first, tapping his finger on the table, "Jiang Tianxiong believes it."

"I trust him completely," Li Qian replied calmly. "That guy with glasses, the representative surnamed Wang, kept his eyes glued to your face when he was making his demands, trying to see if you panicked. You acted hesitant quite well; he clearly relaxed later on."

"When I was doing the accounting, his assistant next to me was moving his hand under the table," Lin Xinyue added. "He was probably secretly recording. Sister Qian noticed."

Yang Xiaotao nodded immediately: "Yes! Sister Qian touched me, and I noticed! They're so sneaky!"

"Let them record it." Chen Xun smiled. "The clearer the better. The more 'miserable' we are, the happier they'll be."

【Ding! 】

[A preliminary agreement has been reached in high-risk investment negotiations (with Jiang Tianxiong's forces).]

[The other party has initially accepted the false intelligence that the host is experiencing financial difficulties, and the investment risk and potential return coefficients have been adjusted upwards accordingly.]

[Current negotiation progress assessment: 40%]

[The rebate rate is continuing to rise due to the increased risk level...]

[Please maintain your strategy and lure your opponents to increase their bets.]

The system notification sounded in his mind, and Chen Xun's smile deepened.

"What about the shop here?" He looked at Lin Xinyue.

"Everything is normal, and it's still booming." Lin Xinyue immediately reported, "Today's revenue is two percentage points higher than yesterday. The online positive review rate is stable at over 4.8. I told the staff to continue with their work, and I especially emphasized the service attitude and speed of food preparation, so that they can give the impression that 'we are doing great and have not been affected at all.'"

"Yes, put them in a bad mood." Chen Xun nodded. "Xiao Tao, how's it outside?"

"There are more suspicious vehicles." Yang Xiaotao took out her phone and opened a few photos. "Just this afternoon, on the street outside the store, there were three or four cars that I've never seen before. There were people sitting inside, but they didn't get out. They were just staring at our store. One black minivan stayed for almost two hours before leaving."

She handed the phone to Chen Xun.

The photo is a bit blurry, but you can make out the car model and the general outline of the people.

"Did you write down the license plate?" Chen asked.

"I got it!" Yang Xiaotao said with a hint of pride. "I secretly took pictures of them and sent them to Sister Qian."

Li Qian nodded: "We've done a preliminary check, and they're all cars from rental companies. We haven't found the renters' information yet, but they were most likely sent by Jiang Tianxiong to confirm whether our store is truly 'having normal customer traffic' and whether we've been affected by the reports and negotiations."

"Looks like they're confirming things on two fronts." Chen Xun handed the phone back to Yang Xiaotao. "They're talking to me on one hand, and sending people to check it out on-site on the other. Fine, let them see as much as they want."

He paused, then looked at the three men: "The bait has been taken, but not deep enough. Jiang Tianxiong is a paranoid person. He now believes there are problems with our financial chain, but he's still testing us, setting those harsh conditions to see how long we can endure and how weak our cards really are."

"Then we..." Lin Xinyue asked.

"Take it a step further," Chen Xun said. "Give him some more juicy bait. Make him feel that if he doesn't act quickly, the cooked duck will fly away."

He took out his phone, found Zhou Wenbin's number, and started typing.

"Brother Zhou, are you asleep? There's something urgent. I talked to Jiang Tianxiong's people today, but the conditions were too harsh, so I didn't agree. But I really can't wait any longer. I just asked a friend to contact two other investment institutions and we've arranged to have a preliminary discussion tomorrow. You see... if President Jiang is sincere enough, could you give me a definite answer as soon as possible? I'm under a lot of pressure."

The text message was sent out.

The office was quiet; the only sound was the faint hum of the air conditioner.

About three minutes later, my phone vibrated.

Zhou Wenbin replied: "Understood. I'll pass the message on immediately. Brother Chen, that was a ruthless move."

Chen Xun didn't reply, but showed his phone screen to the three women.

"The fake news has been sent out," he said. "'Chen Xun has contacted other investors,' and 'very urgently.' If Jiang Tianxiong really wants my shop, or really wants to take advantage of my weakness, he'll have to speed things up, raise his price, or... reveal his hand directly."

"Will he believe me?" Yang Xiaotao was a little worried.

"He has no choice but to believe it," Li Qian said. "It's a fact that our store is operating normally; he had someone see that. It's also a fact that Chen Xun hesitated and delayed during negotiations; he recorded that. Now, with the 'urgent message' from Zhou Wenbin, this 'insider,' it's all set of three points. He'll most likely believe it. At the very least, it will make him even more anxious."

Lin Xinyue thought for a moment and said, "So, all we do next is wait?"

"Yes, wait." Chen Xun stood up. "But we also need to be prepared. Li Qian, you continue to keep a close eye on the online and offline news. Pay attention to any rumors about our store's cash flow or new investment institutions. Xin Yue, the store's operations can't be relaxed; it needs to keep booming. Xiao Tao, occasionally 'accidentally' show your face in those cars outside and let them take pictures. You can make sure your expression is a little 'worried'."

"Huh? We have to act too?" Yang Xiaotao said with a bitter face.

"That's what you're best at," Chen Xun laughed. "Didn't you put on a great show dealing with the business authorities during the opening last time?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Xiaotao immediately puffed out her chest: "No problem! Leave it to me! I guarantee I'll portray that 'the boss seems to be running away, I'm panicking but I have to stay strong' feeling!"

These words made Lin Xinyue and Li Qian laugh.

The atmosphere became a little more relaxed.

"Alright, that's enough for today." Chen Xun waved his hand. "Go back and rest. There'll probably be more to see tomorrow."

The three women stood up, ready to leave.

Li Qian walked last, her hand on the doorknob. She paused, then turned to look at Chen Xun: "There's one more thing."

"Um?"

"During today's negotiations, Representative Wang went out to take a phone call," Li Qian said. "It wasn't long, about three minutes. But when he came back, the way he looked at you was different. Before, it was probing and scrutinizing, but after he came back, there was more... certainty, or rather, urgency."

Chen Xun raised an eyebrow: "What was the content of the phone call?"

"I can't hear it." Li Qian shook her head. "But I think it might be a new instruction from Jiang Tianxiong. Combined with the false information Zhou Wenbin just sent out... they might be more anxious than we think."

Chen Xun thought for a few seconds and nodded: "Understood. This is a signal. If they get anxious, then we might have to move up our closing time."

Li Qian didn't say anything more, opened the door and went out.

Chen Xun was the only one left in the office.

He turned off the main lights, leaving only a table lamp, sat down in the chair, and opened his mobile banking app.

The balance has increased again.

The high-risk investment pre-assessment rebates from the system have been gradually credited to your account. Although it's only a "pre-assessment" and not the final payout, the amount is already quite substantial.

The money is piling up, but the drama is becoming increasingly dangerous.

Jiang Tianxiong is no pushover; one failure wasn't enough, he had to try again. This time, he was going to go all out, with even higher stakes.

But high risk comes with high reward.

That's what the system says, and that's how reality unfolds.

He turned off his phone, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes.

I went through today's negotiations in my mind, Zhou Wenbin's brief message, the three women's reports, and the detail Li Qian mentioned at the end.

The bait has been put in and added, and the fish have come attracted by the smell.

Next, we'll see when the fish can't resist and bites the hook.

What he has to do is to steadily lift the fish up the hook the moment it bites.

There was a very soft knock on the door.

Chen Xun opened his eyes: "Go in."

The door was pushed open a crack, and Li Qian poked half her body in, holding a tablet in her hand.

"I forgot to mention," she turned the tablet screen toward Chen Xun, "I just received this. I had someone check the traffic surveillance footage from several intersections near our store during the evening period. After those suspicious vehicles left our store, they all ended up heading towards the west of the city. There's a hotel under Jiang Tianxiong's name there."

Chen Xun took the tablet and looked at the route map marked on it.

"hotel……"

"Hmm." Li Qian nodded. "It might just be a meeting point. But it also shows that they mobilized quite a few people today, and that it was organized."

"Okay." Chen Xun handed the tablet back to her. "Keep an eye on things. Also... you should get some rest too."

Li Qian glanced at him, gave a soft "hmm," closed the door, and left.

The sound of footsteps gradually faded away in the corridor.

Chen Xun sat back down in his chair and turned on the desk lamp.

A halo of light illuminated a corner of the desktop.

He picked up a pen and wrote two words on the sticky note:

"Close the net."

Then, a question mark was drawn below those two words.

Timing is important.

Too early, the fish haven't taken a firm bite and are likely to get off the hook.

If it's too late, the fish may become alert or be lured away by other bait.

The urgent signal discovered by Li Qian, the false information relayed by Zhou Wenbin, the increased number of surveillance vehicles outside...

All these fragments are pointing in the same direction:

The fish is getting more and more anxious.

Perhaps the day of closing the net is not far off.

He tore off the sticky note, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it into the trash can.

Then he turned off the desk lamp, got up, and left the office.

The corridor was dark, with only the safety indicator lights emitting a faint green glow.

The city nights are still long.

And his plan had only just reached its most crucial juncture.