Morning sunlight filtered through the blinds of Shen Yiqiao's apartment. Lu Wenjing was asleep on the couch, a blanket half-draped over him, shoes still on. Shen Yiqiao moved with her usual precision, pouring herself tea and checking her schedule for the day.
He stirred, blinking slowly. "Uh… good morning… I..." he began, fumbling over his words, clearly flustered.
Shen Yiqiao cut him off with a brisk motion. "Save it. I'm late for work. Get up and let's set off."
He sat up, muttering incoherently as she handed him a bottle of water. She ignored his rambling and returned to her laptop. "Drink, then follow me. No more talking."
He complied, drinking quietly, still trying to process the morning after the night before.
By mid-morning, Shen Yiqiao was at the hospital, though not for typical duties. Qin Ruyan remained hidden there, keeping a low profile amid the ongoing fraud investigation. Shen Yiqiao's task was delicate needing to manipulate the optics of the case so that authorities would direct their attention away from the mother company under scrutiny. The plan was elaborate, involving a subsidiary firm, a separate but financially intertwined company as a strategic buffer. Shen Yiqiao exploited intercompany transactions, redirected funds through shell entities, issued carefully timed press releases, and manipulated minor accounting discrepancies to make the irregularities appear confined to the subsidiary.
She created a trail of seemingly routine audit logs and intercompany loans that could pass internal review but would draw regulatory attention if pursued too aggressively. Coordinating with select contacts in auditing and compliance, providing partial information while withholding the bigger picture. Using Shadow companies to reroute funds temporarily, ensuring that any forensic investigation would hit dead ends. Every move required precision: too slow, and authorities might notice; too bold, and she risked exposure herself.
While walking outside the CEO's VIP hospital room to make a call, she spoke in hushed tones, just enough for nearby staff to catch fragments. Lu Wenjing, passing by to deliver a report, froze at the name "Yuwei." He hadn't intended to eavesdrop, and he certainly hadn't heard details—only that the woman who had been coldly efficient in his presence mentioned the cousin he secretly admired. Something about the emphasis and secrecy ignited a thread of suspicion in his mind.
That afternoon, Lu Wenjing's curiosity and concern drove him to dig deeper. He didn't have power or influence like Qin Ruyan or Shen Yiqiao, but he did have access to family connections, legal consultants, and financial analysts who could quietly trace transactions and monitor corporate filings. Working late into the night, he cross-referenced intercompany transfers, shell company structures, and boardroom movements. Gradually, he began to see patterns that led him back to Shen Yiqiao, she was at the center of a carefully orchestrated plan to shield the mother company, using Yuwei's family as an unknowing buffer. The realization hit him like a blow: someone he had begun to trust, someone who had shown him competence and efficiency, was implicated in something that endangered someone he cared about.
He confronted her in a hospital corridor, tension unspoken yet palpable. Shen Yiqiao was absorbed in her tablet, indifferent, eyes sliding past him as if he were an inconsequential presence in her world.
"You're orchestrating this?" he asked, voice shaking with urgency.
She didn't look up. Her tone was flat, detached. "I'm busy. Step aside."
"I heard Yuwei's name!" he pressed, frustration cracking through his control. "You're using her family as a scapegoat!"
She stared at him , her gaze almost making him feel inconsequential.
Lu Wenjing's chest tightened. "This isn't just concern, it's… it's betrayal! You know I care about her! And you're putting her family in the crossfire without a second thought!"
Shen Yiqiao returned to her tablet, expression unchanged. "What makes you think i care about you or how you feel?"
Anger and helplessness surged through him. "I don't have your resources or connections, but I can still act! I can trace transactions, redirect investigations, protect her using what little influence I have! You're not untouchable!"
Her eyes flicked toward him, indifferent, and then back to her work. "Do what you must. But understand this: every move outside my control risks exposure. Mistakes have consequences. "
Lu Wenjing's hands clenched, jaw tight. Helplessness, frustration, and moral outrage battled with his sense of responsibility and care for Yuwei. She didn't justify herself, her indifference only magnified his turmoil. He realized then that any confrontation with her was one-sided: his emotions, her calculation, and an invisible wall between them that no amount of reasoning could breach.
Lu Wenjing's phone buzzed with an alert: a flagged transaction linking the shell companies to Qin Yuwei's father. Shen Yiqiao, unaware that he had traced it, continued her work, her indifference unbroken. Both silently acknowledged that the stakes had escalated, and any misstep could trigger disaster for everyone involved, including themselves.