“Sorry, Wang Tai, I went to bed early last night and missed your call.” Li Yaru stifled a yawn. “Thank you so much for thinking of me so late. Next month when you come to Binhai City, I’ll treat you to a hot spring and a game of tennis.”
“Come on, don’t be so polite with me.” The other woman laughed. “That Director Fang you mentioned was taken away by the police in Qicheng, and tomorrow he’ll be sent to Binhai City. The case he’s involved in was originally handled by Binhai City back then.”
Wang Tai Tai briefly recounted the whole story.
Five years ago, Chunjiang Group, a publicly listed real estate company in Binhai City, was suspected of financial fraud.
The Securities Regulatory Bureau sent auditors, and the one in charge was Fan Zizhuo from Qi Rui Law Firm.
Wang Tai Tai didn’t know the details, only that the final report confirmed Chunjiang Group had financial loopholes.
Two internal financial staff and a deputy director were arrested, and the whole incident ended quietly.
Now, the case had resurfaced. The former CFO of Chunjiang Group, currently in prison, suddenly changed his testimony, insisting that the person in charge at Qi Rui back then took bribes to issue the report.
The real embezzler of three hundred million was still at large, and his father happened to be the head of a state-owned enterprise in Binhai City.
Wang Tai Tai sighed. “Your friend is really unlucky. It’s been five years, and that CFO is due to be released in another three years. Why change his story now? Who knows.”
“If this gets confirmed, how many years would he get?” Li Yaru parted her lips, speaking tiredly.
Wang Tai Tai replied, “The amount is huge. At least three to five years, maybe even seven or eight. But it’s still under investigation, so nothing is certain yet. Mrs. Zhuang, don’t worry too much. Just leave this kind of small matter to Mr. Zhuang. It’s nothing for him to pull some strings. No need for you to be troubled.”
Li Yaru rubbed her temples. “This has nothing to do with my husband. He doesn’t even know about it.”
Wang Tai Tai was surprised. “Really? Then I must have gotten it wrong. My husband said a lot of people are watching this case, including some bigwig from Hong Kong Island… What’s his name? Not sure. My husband only heard about it from his old boss at a dinner… Anyway, don’t mention it. If anything comes up, I’ll let you know. Looking forward to your invitation.”
After hanging up, Li Yaru took a few bites of lunch, didn’t go out, and sat alone for a long time in the camellia garden, surrounded by blooming flowers.
Camellias were Li Yaru’s favorite, especially the red ones. The garden had two famous Haiyunxia camellia trees transplanted from Yuncheng, both nine meters tall.
When in full bloom, the entire tree blazed with color, red as blood, spectacular and striking.
Which bigwig from Hong Kong Island would be interested in Fan Zizhuo?
Li Yaru toyed with a camellia blossom, unraveling her thoughts thread by thread.
Qi Rui Law Firm only started business in Hong Kong Island last year. Fan Zizhuo had worked on the mainland for years. In Hong Kong Island, he was a complete nobody.
Besides, Li Yaru simply didn’t believe Fan Zizhuo would take bribes. He wasn’t the kind of person who’d sell out his reputation for money, and he certainly wasn’t short of cash.
If he really needed money, why wouldn’t he have come to her earlier? The business connections and resources she could introduce would let him earn several times over.
If he needed emergency funds, she could easily lend him as much as he needed.
He would never risk everything and gamble his reputation in the industry. In his line of work, reputation was everything.
That CFO had been in jail for five years, and now suddenly changed his story at such a strange time. If there wasn’t someone behind this, she wouldn’t believe it.
Li Yaru’s head throbbed. A gust of wind blew, and camellia blossoms fell.
Camellias didn’t drop petal by petal, but crashed down whole, the entire flower head thudding to the ground— so fierce, so shocking to see.
Was it Zhuang Qiting who did this? Li Yaru’s heart trembled. If it was, she would find it terrifying.
Truly terrifying.
That would mean he knew all along about her reunion with Fan Zizhuo, watching her from the shadows, calm and collected on the surface, pretending to know nothing.
Even the day she met Fan Zizhuo for coffee at noon, he was well aware. That’s why he was so wild with her the night before, leaving his mark.
No— he took her to Macau precisely to keep her from seeing Fan Zizhuo.
So he was still watching her, controlling her, never letting up.
His depth and ruthlessness were beyond her reach. He was planning to quietly get rid of Fan Zizhuo, send him to prison, destroy his reputation and livelihood, so he’d never dare face anyone again.
The more she thought, the colder she felt. The warm sunlight fell on her skin, but the warmth only made the chill in her heart sharper.
All this, just because she had a meal with Fan Zizhuo and introduced him to some business? Did he really have to go this far?
What did he take her for!
Did he think she and Fan Zizhuo would rekindle old feelings? They’ve been married over twenty years! He still didn’t trust her.
He didn’t trust her— he always said one thing to her face and did another behind her back. He would never change his rules for anyone.
Deceiving her, toying with her, and still having the nerve to coax her with all those tricks—he always got all the benefits in this world!
Thinking back on these shameless days in bed with that old man, Li Yaru felt a surge of anger. Shame and fury tangled wildly inside her. She sprang to her feet and strode straight to Zhuang Qiting’s study.
If she found concrete evidence, she’d make that old man pay, at the very least make him personally get Fan Zizhuo out, apologize, and then abstain for three months.
Li Yaru rarely entered Zhuang Qiting’s study. He knew she wasn’t interested in his work and never avoided her.
The password to the study was their wedding anniversary. Her facial recognition was also registered, so she easily got in.
The man’s study was completely different from hers. The deep walnut walls made the whole space feel steady and restrained.
Li Yaru started rummaging around. Truthfully, she didn’t know what she was looking for, but she was sure she could find something valuable.
Zhuang Qiting never kept important materials on his computer—he thought it unsafe. He preferred paper documents.
Li Yaru found a safe. After several attempts, none of the passwords worked. Her birthday, wedding anniversary, and marriage certificate date— all wrong.
After three wrong tries, the safe went into a three-hour sleep mode.
Frustrated, Li Yaru gave it a hard kick. “Scheming old dog, of course you’re guarding against me! What, am I going to steal your company seal or your checks?”
Still not satisfied, she kicked it a few more times. In her frenzy, she accidentally knocked over a row of books on the shelf. Suddenly, a cold mechanical voice sounded in the study— “Di-di-di.”
Li Yaru froze. The bookshelf beside her slowly slid open on both sides, revealing a thick steel secret door, just like the ones in movies.
After more than twenty years of marriage, she was just now discovering there was a hidden mechanism in his study.
There was a password lock on the secret door.
Li Yaru pressed her lips together, thought for a moment, and entered their wedding anniversary. Error. Her face turned pale with anger. She bit her lip hard and entered their marriage certificate date.
“Di-di-di”—access granted, the door opened, and the lights came on.
Seeing the correct password, Li Yaru’s expression softened a bit. She cautiously stepped into the secret room she’d never set foot in, curiosity shining in her eyes.
The first thing she saw was the complex Zhuang Family Crest carved on the entry wall— a pair of copulating black snakes, symbolizing elegance and ambition, life unending.
The air here was fresh, with no hint of rot or staleness, proving the owner often came here. The space was huge, a completely separate, fully equipped study, with walnut shelves lining all the walls, crammed with black document boxes.
Seven or eight leather suitcases were stacked on the floor. She opened one, momentarily blinded by the neatly arranged gold bars inside.
The old man actually dared to hide private money from her!
So many glittering gold bars, worth at least several hundred million at a glance. Li Yaru rolled her eyes and closed the suitcase lid.
She immediately started rummaging through the document boxes, opening four or five.
They were all Zhuang Family’s private assets— property ownership certificates from various countries, houses, shops, land, mines, ports, forests…
Detailed lists and certificates of ownership and appraisals for jewelry, antiques, and artworks, overseas investment details and dividend contracts, stocks, funds, bonds, trusts, insurance policies, bulk commodities, all kinds of financial products with names she couldn’t even understand, huge deposit certificates from banks worldwide, long-term bank safe deposit box keys, a pile of company seals, secret keys, USB tokens, and lots of Hong Kong dollars, RMB, and US dollars.
She’d been married to Zhuang Qiting for over twenty years, but never seriously calculated how much property he owned. Faced with this roomful of enormous wealth, her heart couldn’t help but race.
The old man really was rich… and had so many businesses she’d never even heard of. No wonder, no matter how she tried to squeeze him all these years, it never fazed him.
Turns out, what he spent on her was just a drop in the bucket. She snorted, putting the boxes she’d touched back in order.
Li Yaru kept wandering around like a headless fly and soon found a locked cabinet in an inconspicuous corner.
In such a high-security secret room, even the huge deposit certificates and gold bars weren’t locked—what could possibly be worth locking up?
Li Yaru had a feeling this was what she was looking for. Her mind raced. The study used their wedding anniversary, the secret door their marriage certificate date, so maybe this cabinet…
She entered her own birthday, xx0413.
Two seconds later, the door popped open, and her heart thudded.
Inside were more document boxes, each labeled with a date—the oldest over a decade ago, the most recent just three days ago. Each date was preceded by the words “A’Rou”.
The vigorous penmanship in deep blue ink was Zhuang Qiting’s own handwriting.
Related to her? Li Yaru froze for a moment, breath catching. She cautiously opened one of the boxes, and after just a glance, she stood there in shock—
It was full of her photos and detailed daily itineraries. Every photo was taken from a hidden angle, each labeled with the time, place, and people she met.
“XX month XX day, 15:10-17:25, shopping at Landmark Plaza, afternoon tea.”
“XX month XX day, 20:30-23:50, attended XX birthday party at Macau XX Hotel President Suite 0788.”
“XX month XX day……………”
“XX month XX day, 14:50, met Fan Zizhuo at Star Top Hotel executive lounge, talked for ten minutes.”
“XX month XX day, 12:30-2:00, had lunch with Fan Zizhuo at Amelia Restaurant.”
“Oh my god—!!” Li Yaru screamed in collapse. “What is all this!”
Suspecting was one thing; seeing it with her own eyes was another level of devastation.
Li Yaru’s scalp tingled, her hair standing on end. The Zhuang Family Crest on the ceiling stared down at her coldly, the giant serpent seeming to move, slowly coiling around her body, slithering with icy chill.
She was afraid of snakes, and of that serpent crest. The first time she saw it at nineteen, she felt a chill in her bones. She never imagined, after so many years, she still hadn’t gotten used to it.
So all these years, every single day, she’d been under his control.
She was like a little bird caught in a net, a prisoner under constant watch, no matter how she struggled, always in Zhuang Qiting’s palm. She thought herself clever, thought she could tame this man, make him change his ways.
He had never changed. From the very first day she met him, he was forceful, never taking no for an answer.
The only thing that changed was he got better at deceiving her, coaxing her, hiding things from her, handling her gently. This feeling left her powerless, uncomfortable, ridiculous, offended, and furious!
What did he promise her? He said he wouldn’t have her watched anymore, and she actually believed it, foolishly hoping to make up with him.
After all the shameless things she’d done these days at his coaxing, she even ate his ugly thing! She should have bitten it off!
Li Yaru began to tremble uncontrollably, her fingers gripping the photos until her knuckles turned white.
Zhuang Qiting! Zhuang Qiting! Zhuang Qiting!!! You bastard!!!
She flung the photos to the floor in a rage. “Zhuang Qiting, you creepy old pervert who likes spying from the shadows! If I don’t divorce you this time, I’ll write my name backwards!”