HLnovel Chapter 606: Go Their Separate Ways
Chapter 606: Go Their Separate Ways
Time unconsciously slipped into late February. Logically speaking, Su Qing and Lu Wanting should have already boarded their flight to the United States. They hadn't delayed because Zhou Yuwen was still in Jingcheng and they wanted to see him one last time; rather, it was because Su Qing rarely returned to the country and wanted to spend more time with her mother.Coming back this time, Su Qing had intended to take Pan Min abroad with her. Zhou Yuwen had already arranged everything in the United States, wielding significant power and influence. His plan for the next two years was to first get acquainted with Elon Musk, and then use that connection to meet Trump.
When the time came, if Elon Musk became a modern-day kingmaker, it wouldn't be bad for Zhou Yuwen to secure a lucrative position of power as well.
However, Pan Min was just experiencing a second spring in her career. As for the planning company, it was originally something Su Qing started in her free time. Although it had flourished over the past two years, faintly becoming the top wedding planning company in Jinling, its ceiling was simply too low. Last year's total revenue was three million yuan; it might increase a bit this year, but the growth was limited.
Zhou Yuwen completely disregarded such a paltry income. Yet, Pan Min, who had spent her life as a teacher, had never imagined that making money could be like this. An income of three to five million was already astronomical to her. Last year, she had even personally recruited a few newcomers. Now, they all respectfully called her "Sister Min," cementing her transformation into a strong woman in the workplace.
Therefore, no matter what was said, she refused to follow her daughter abroad. She even told Su Qing to focus on studying overseas, assuring her that she would keep an eye on things at home.
Su Qing tried to persuade her for quite a while, but seeing that her mother truly had no intention of leaving, she decided not to force the issue, figuring that as long as Pan Min was happy, it was fine.
By now, Su Qing had already returned to their hometown with Pan Min, planning to stay there for a few days. Meanwhile, Lu Wanting had been busy working at the company. Hearing that Zhou Yuwen had arrived, she hurried over in her high heels.
Lu Wanting was now twenty-five years old. With two years of workplace experience under her belt, coupled with the time spent under Zhou Yuwen's tutelage, she had undoubtedly matured significantly and developed a much more alluring charm.
The main difference was that she was no longer a young lass, but a grown woman, giving her a completely different aura. She wore her shawl-length hair down, paired with a white chiffon blouse and a black hip-hugging skirt. Beneath the skirt, she wore hollowed-out nude stockings, finishing the look with a pair of pointed small high heels.
When she arrived at Zhou Yuwen's office, she didn't even have time to put down the document in her hands.
She found him leaning casually against his desk, reviewing the company's recent files. Overjoyed to see him, Lu Wanting walked right up and wrapped her arms around his neck, asking in a sweet, coquettish voice, "I heard you were eager to see me the moment you got back to the company? What's wrong? Did you miss me?"
Zhou Yuwen chuckled at her words. "Miss you? Do you really not know what mistake you made?"
As he spoke, he pulled Lu Wanting directly into his embrace.
Sitting at an angle on the desk, it would certainly be inconvenient to have her sit fully on his lap to hug her. Instead, Zhou Yuwen let her rest half her body against his chest.
Her buttocks rested half on the desk, allowing a pair of stunning, pale thighs to lean elegantly against the edge of the table.
Hearing his tone, Lu Wanting immediately understood what he meant. She quickly put on a pitiful expression. "You can't blame me for that, Brother. I called you, but you didn't answer, and it was urgent at the time."
"Is that an excuse?"
In truth, Zhou Yuwen wasn't angry. He knew he bore some responsibility for the matter. However, as the man of the house, he still felt the need to teach her a little lesson.
Lu Wanting understood this perfectly well, so she blinked pitifully and asked, "Then, Brother, how are you going to punish me?"
Seeing her eager expression, Zhou Yuwen felt a bit helpless. "Why do I get the feeling you're looking forward to this?"
"Uh, am I?"
"Look at you now. Who would have thought you almost became my sister-in-law?"
As he spoke, Zhou Yuwen began to unbuckle his belt.
Seeing how fierce he was being, Lu Wanting was startled for a moment. She couldn't help but say, "Wait, Brother, are we doing this right here? Uh, even though I don't mind, I'm worried it'll get too loud later. It might look bad."
Zhou Yuwen pulled off his belt. Naturally, Lu Wanting cooperated. She reached down to unzip her small skirt, turning her back to him and gripping the edge of the desk.
Watching her, Zhou Yuwen couldn't help but laugh. He gave her buttocks a symbolic tap with the belt. "Wait, what are you doing? I was just going to spank you a couple of times over your clothes. Why did you just strip?"
"Ah? Over my clothes? Spank?"
Lu Wanting froze. She had clearly let her imagination run wild. It wasn't until she looked back and saw him holding the belt that realization dawned on her, leaving her utterly exasperated. "You aren't really just going to hit me with that belt, are you?" she asked, deeply disappointed.
"What else did you expect?" Zhou Yuwen retorted. "Did you think I was going to reward you?"
Upon hearing this, a smile involuntarily tugged at the corners of Lu Wanting's lips.
Truth be told, it really was a reward.
The problem was that her skirt was already halfway off. That half-hidden, coy allure was genuinely captivating. The white-collar office lady outfit, paired with the flash of her snowy, slender waist and the half-slipped small skirt, created a stunning picture.
Fine, a punishment was necessary.
But Lu Wanting's actions this time also had their merits. At the very least, she had coordinated exceptionally well with Su Qing, allowing him to effortlessly gain six billion yuan out of nowhere.
Alright then, he would reward her just this once.
Otherwise, she would have assumed the position for nothing.
After all, she was already gripping the desk and slightly lowering her waist. It would be rude of Zhou Yuwen not to play along from behind.
So, Zhou Yuwen didn't let her down.
Right there, in front of the desk.
Facing the large windows, the two of them began their game.
As they carried on, Lu Wanting was soon dripping with fragrant sweat, clearly thoroughly enjoying herself.
But right then, Zhou Yuwen delivered two firm slaps to her curvy hips.
The first two weren't heavy, and Lu Wanting thought he was just joking around, playfully teasing her. But then, he followed up with two much harder smacks.
The sharp sting made her cry out with an "Ah!"
She shot him a wronged look, asking why he had hit her.
Looking at the misty tears welling in the corners of her eyes, Zhou Yuwen let out a soft laugh. "You silly lass, did you really think I didn't know? Tell me the truth. How long have you and Su Qing been targeting the Jiang family?"
"Huh?" A flicker of panic flashed through her eyes, but she quickly replaced it with a look of pure confusion. "What are you talking about? I don't understand."
Hearing her denial, Zhou Yuwen didn't pamper her. He said bluntly, "You don't understand?"
With that, he completely halted his movements.
He even pulled back slightly, freezing in place.
Lu Wanting, who had been floating on cloud nine just a second ago, suddenly felt a frustrating emptiness. Turning her head to see his stern expression, she felt immensely wronged and couldn't help but complain, "How can you do that? You're so mean!"
Zhou Yuwen simply demanded, "Are you going to tell me or not?"
"I'll tell you! I'll tell you! Just hurry... hurry up..."
For Su Qing and Lu Wanting to mobilize such a massive amount of capital in such a short time to suppress the Jiang family, they had to have been investigating them for a long time.
Lu Wanting didn't keep anything from him.
She explained that when she and Su Qing were consolidating their assets earlier, they had taken notice of the Jiang family. Lu Wanting had no personal grudge against them, so she naturally wouldn't have paid them much attention. However, Su Qing was different.
Because of her past conflicts with Liu Jing, Su Qing had kept a close eye on the Jiang family's situation.
She discovered that every year, right before the new year, the Jiang family would engage in a wave of venture capital investments.
This specific venture capital move was actually very low-risk—unless someone actively targeted them. With just a little malicious plotting, one could easily snipe over a billion yuan of the Jiang family's assets.
As someone working in finance, this naturally made Lu Wanting's heart stir. But at the time, Su Qing felt that since Zhou Yuwen and Jiang Xinyi had already broken up, there was no need to drive them to the brink.
Who could have predicted that returning to the country would lead to another run-in with Liu Jing, which ultimately triggered this entire operation?
Lu Wanting explained everything to Zhou Yuwen in breathless, broken sentences. Hearing it all, things finally clicked for him. No wonder the entire process had gone so smoothly.
Still clinging to the desk, Lu Wanting gasped out, "We didn't expect it to go this smoothly either. Actually, Su Qing and my original plan was just to make seven or eight hundred million at most. But who would have thought Jiang Xinyi's father was such a heartless scoundrel? He practically handed over his family's entire six-billion-yuan fortune on a silver platter... Mmh..."
Zhou Yuwen hadn't anticipated that part either. He then asked if there was any issue with the contract they had provided. Turning her head, Lu Wanting shot him a gaze as seductive as silk. "Do you want there to be a problem? If you want one, there can be a problem at any time."
Zhou Yuwen replied, "How would I know if there's a problem?"
"It's not like I'm abroad right now."
"Whether there's a problem or not depends entirely on a single word from you and Boss Su."
"Ah, Big Boss, it's not right to say that. We're all just making a living working under you."
"Under me? Are you working under my hands, or under something else?"
"You're terrible..."
Even though she and Zhou Yuwen had thoroughly explored every inch of each other, his sudden dirty joke still brought a furious blush to her cheeks. However, Zhou Yuwen had no intention of letting her off the hook so easily.
Even though Lu Wanting and Su Qing's scheme had netted him six billion, it was ultimately detrimental to their reputation.
Zhou Yuwen made sure to lift her fully onto the desk, punishing her ruthlessly.
Naturally, Lu Wanting begged for mercy over and over again—while cheekily admitting she would absolutely dare to do it again next time.
That day, the two of them carried on in the office for who knew how long.
Later, Lu Lin tried to come in to get Zhou Yuwen's signature. She ended up waiting outside for ages without either of them emerging. She was utterly speechless, thinking to herself, 'How is this a punishment? This is clearly a reward.'
Left with no other choice, Lu Lin just knocked on the door and walked right in.
Seeing Lu Lin walk in, wearing long boots that exposed half of her thighs, Zhou Yuwen didn't let her go either.
Since she was already here, she might as well join in.
In early March, Lu Wanting and Su Qing finally boarded their flight back to New York.
Meanwhile, Zhou Yuwen steadily took over the Jiang family's business operations.
Although Zhou Yuwen claimed he would return all of the Jiang family's assets to Liu Jing, what was lost was lost, and taking it back felt meaningless to her.
Furthermore, even though she and her husband had been separated, they were still legally husband and wife, and Jiang Liming had been the true backbone of the Jiang family. Now that Jiang Liming had fled, what was the point of her bitterly guarding the fortress alone? She wanted to pass the family wealth to Jiang Xinyi, but Jiang Xinyi outright refused it.
Thus, Liu Jing invited Zhou Yuwen to her home for dinner to discuss the matter.
She wanted to transfer all of the Jiang family's remaining assets into Zhou Yuwen's name. However, there was a prerequisite condition: Zhou Yuwen and Jiang Xinyi had to hold a formal engagement ceremony.
"Yuwen, I know you are a responsible man. Asking you to give up your other women is something you would definitely never agree to. But our Jiang family consists of prominent figures in society. You can't just leave us without a proper explanation, can you? I know that everything the Jiang family currently has was given back to us by you."
"But..."
"Just consider it as Auntie begging you... You have to leave us with some decent dignity."
By the time she finished speaking, Liu Jing genuinely looked ready to kneel before him. She knew perfectly well that the Jiang family had already lost everything to him. However, outsiders were unaware of this reality. Rather than being subjected to public gossip and mockery, it would be far better to have him and Jiang Xinyi get engaged, allowing the family assets to be transferred to his name naturally and logically.
That way, when outsiders brought up the Jiang family in the future, they wouldn't use mocking tones to claim the family fell apart due to internal discord or that Jiang Liming squandered all their wealth.
Liu Jing spoke with raw sincerity. It was clear that if he refused, she would immediately drop to her knees.
Seeing her in such a state, Zhou Yuwen finally sighed. "Aunt Jing, since you've put it like that, what else can I say? We'll do as you suggest."
Hearing his agreement, the deep sorrow that had plagued Liu Jing for days finally gave way to a faint smile.
Consequently, the Jinling media soon broke the news: Zhou Yuwen and the wealthy daughter of the Jiang family, Jiang Xinyi, were set to hold their engagement ceremony at the Grand Metropark Hotel in the coming days. It was reported that following the engagement, the Jiang family would establish a joint venture with Zhou Yuwen, where he would serve as the Chairman of the Board and Jiang Xinyi as the General Manager.
The moment the news broke, it sent shockwaves throughout the entire Jinling business community.
After all, this newly formed company consisted entirely of the Jiang family's assets, with a market valuation approaching ten billion yuan. These assets encompassed nearly everything the Jiang family owned, yet Zhou Yuwen was being handed the reigns as Chairman?
From the business community down to Zhou Yuwen's school, absolutely everyone who heard the news couldn't stop gossiping about it.
People had heard plenty of news about Zhou Yuwen over the past two years, but the Jiang family was a deeply rooted, old-money establishment. This completely baffling marriage alliance essentially meant that Zhou Yuwen was becoming the new patriarch of the Jiang family. The union between a powerful upstart and a traditional heavyweight permanently cemented his status as a local Jinling business magnate. Following the engagement announcement, a series of further updates proved that Zhou Yuwen was poised to dramatically expand his empire in Jinling. First, his new Headquarters Building was slated for completion very soon. Second, the reconstruction plans for the Jiang family's old office buildings were revealed. Finally, the newly merged conglomerate established a brand-new e-commerce company and a live streaming company under its umbrella.
Industry watchers also realized that after getting engaged to Jiang Xinyi, Zhou Yuwen's net worth would surge once again. This time, he would directly surpass Liu Dongqiang and the Milk Tea Couple, claiming the eighth spot on the national rich list.
Back at the school, the April weather brought a sense of hurried anxiety to the junior-year students.
In just a few short months, these students would be leaving the campus behind to go their separate ways and embark on new journeys.
Their most common topic of chatting lately revolved entirely around where they would go for their internships.
Over three years of university life, some had reaped bountiful harvests, while others had simply squandered their time.
Among the four girls in Zhou Yuwen's class, Ma Tian and Li Jing, who spent their days doing nothing but sharing gossip, discovered that the average internship salary was pitifully low. Offers ranged from a mere 1,800 to 2,200 yuan, without covering room and board. They figured they would just wait and see, deciding there was no need to rush.
Meanwhile, Liu Yue had yet to recover from her heartbreak. She realized she had fallen for their counselor, You Changjin. However, every time she cooked a meal and brought it to his dormitory, he would resolutely shut her out.
This left her feeling deeply defeated.
As the internship period loomed closer, the conversations in their dormitory always circled back to what everyone planned to do in the future.
"Heavens! Lin Xue, you're actually going to take the postgraduate entrance exams?"
Ma Tian and Li Jing were completely shocked.
Lin Xue offered a gentle smile. "Yes. I feel like I still have a lot of shortcomings, so I want to spend more time studying."
"That's so nice. Honestly, I'd love to just slack off for another two years as well," Ma Tian said with pure envy.
Li Jing chimed in, "Then just keep slacking off."
"I can't. My parents are making me go back home for blind dates," Ma Tian replied, sounding a bit helpless. After all, everyone's family background was different. It was hard to notice during their freshman year, but after three years, the disparities had become glaringly obvious. Clearly not wanting to discuss her family any further, Ma Tian pivoted the topic. "By the way, Liu Yue, where do you plan on going?"
"Me?" Liu Yue, who had been avoiding the topic, had been secretly praying they wouldn't ask about her.
But in the end, she couldn't escape it.
Over the past three years, she had indeed made a decent amount of money. But because she had trusted the wrong person, she was ultimately left with neither love nor wealth.
She felt that her entire university experience had been a miserable failure.
"I don't know..." Finally, Liu Yue lowered her normally optimistic head.
Hearing this, a sudden sense of superiority washed over Ma Tian. She chuckled and said, "Sigh, honestly, if you hadn't focused so much on romance, you'd have at least thirty thousand yuan saved up right now."
Lin Xue looked at Liu Yue's distressed expression and asked gently, "Liu Yue, do you really not know?"
"Know what?" Liu Yue looked up, confused.
"Mr. You gave you an internship recommendation for Zhongshe Group," Lin Xue explained. "Did he not tell you?"
"???"
After Lin Xue spoke, everyone in the room froze in stunned silence.