Chapter 31: Company Upheaval

Lu Lanxiao didn’t go to school today, nor did he go to the company.

He turned off his phone and stayed alone in his house near the campus for the entire day.

Only when the door was unlocked from the outside did he finally cast a cold glance toward the entrance.

Zhou Yaoming looked haggard.

As soon as he stepped inside, he got straight to the point.

“Lanxiao, he’s still your brother after all. If he can get your forgiveness, his sentence could be reduced… For my sake—”

“Brother?” Lu Lanxiao repeated the word.

“He’s not my brother. He’s the child you had with your mistress. I’ve never considered him my brother, and he’s certainly never treated me as his younger brother, has he? What kind of brother hires thugs to kill his own sibling?”

The following parts of the text will be scrambled to prevent theft from aggregators and unauthorized epub making. Please support our translators by reading on secondlifetranslations (dot) com. If you are currently on the site and and you are seeing this, please clear your cache.

Hbsw Zysxkdt ckv bkp zkr.

“Zsw nyd’v… vyzj ycswv bla zkjl vbyv. Fbl… pbl’p Ckcs’p… ckavb xsvbla.”

Nw Nydmkys pweeldzu zywtble.

“Xb? Mbld obyv pbswze R nyzz bla? nsdnwckdl xsvbla?”

“Zsw—!” Alkdp cwztle sd Hbsw Zysxkdt’p qsalblye.

“Zsw’al fwpv zkjl uswa xsvbla—blyavzlpp!”

“Eblvbla pbl byp y blyav sa dsv eslpd’v xyvvla,” Nw Nydmkys pdllale.

“Jwv pbl bszep 65% sq vbl nsxrydu’p pbyalp yde kp vbl nbykaosxyd. Mbyv’p ldswtb. Hbsw Zysxkdt, obld pbl oyp raltdydv, usw caswtbv bsxl vbl nbkze usw bye okvb uswa xkpvalpp—eke usw vbkdj vbyv xyel usw alprsdpkczl?”

“I—”

“Of course you never expected that her methods would be far more cunning than yours!”

Lu Lanxiao sighed.

“I’d love to know how you felt when, after giving birth, she announced her controlling stake in Feiye, took over as chairwoman, and divorced you. Hah. All these years, she let your illegitimate son run amok in the company just so the executives could see how utterly incompetent the Zhou family is!”

“I…” Zhou Yaoming wiped sweat from his brow.

“But you’re still my son…”

“My surname is Lu. I have nothing to do with you or the Zhou family. So… don’t show your face in front of me again.”

Lu Lanxiao’s gaze grew even colder.

“Believe me, I have the power to turn your shares into worthless scraps of paper.”

Cold sweat dripped from Zhou Yaoming’s forehead.

In the end, he said nothing more and left.

Displeased, Lu Lanxiao made a call.

“Steward Sun, change the locks! If Zhou Yaoming gets a key again, you’re fired.”

“Y-Yes! I’ll have them replaced with an electronic lock within an hour—no, thirty minutes!”

Steward Sun stammered nervously.

A few days later, in the conference hall on the 12th floor of Feiye Group.

The company’s executives had gathered early for a meeting.

President Lu had warned them it would be a long one.

They assumed it was about Zhou Qibo’s situation, but the meeting proceeded as usual—Lu Lanxiao outlined routine work plans and gave directives for the future.

For the past five years, the executives had grown accustomed to following the young CEO’s lead.

At first, they called him “Young Lu,” but over time, the “young” was dropped.

In their eyes, Lu Lanxiao had long been their true leader.

Everyone had to admit that Lu Lanxiao was a business prodigy.

At just fourteen, he took over the massive Feiye Group and steadily guided executives decades his senior to bring the company to where it was today.

Originally, the company had planned for Lu Lanxiao to officially replace Zhou Qibo after graduating university.

Zhou Qibo would have been compensated with 5% of the company’s shares—a fortune large enough to last him a lifetime of luxury.

Unfortunately, Zhou Qibo wasn’t satisfied.

He tried to kill Lu Lanxiao, and now he had nothing.

Manager Zhao raised his hand.

“President Lu, why appoint Vice President Han as acting CEO? Why not take the position yourself? Before, you were too young to appear publicly, but now you’re nineteen—an adult. You can step forward now.”

Other executives murmured in agreement.

Han Haoyuan looked flustered.

“Y-Yes, Chairman Lu! I’m not capable… How could I handle this?”

Lu Lanxiao explained seriously, “Because I’m busy. I don’t have time for tedious daily social obligations.”

Manager Zhao couldn’t help but laugh.

“You mean your studies at Qingdao University? Graduating should be easy for you, right? I heard you’ve already earned over half the credits needed, and it’s only your second year—all while running Feiye!”

“Studies aren’t the issue. It’s something else.”

Lu Lanxiao straightened in his seat.

The executives immediately perked up.

So there was a big reason for the extended meeting.

Then Lu Lanxiao said, “I’m going to participate in Legendary Journey.”

The executives collectively lost their minds.

“Chairman Lu, you can’t be serious! How could you join a variety show?”

“Yeah, this must be a joke, right?”

“The company still needs you! Should we just buy the production team instead?”

Lu Lanxiao remained firm.

“I’m not joking. I’m asking if any of you have connections to get me on the show.”

“Well… we do have connections. It’s not like you’d believe us if we said no…”

“But why join a variety show?!”

“Good. Make the arrangements.”

Lu Lanxiao stood.

“Meeting adjourned.”

With that, he left.

The executives were left in disarray.

No one left immediately.

Instead, they whispered theories about Lu Lanxiao’s decision.

“Steward Sun hinted that President Lu pursued a senior for a year, only for someone to steal her away in less than two weeks. Maybe he’s acting out of frustration?”

“I heard the guy who took her is one of Legendary Journey’s guests!”

“Ah! That explains it. Chairman Lu is still young—hot-blooded. He must want to crush his rival on the show!”

“What kind of man could steal a girl from our President Lu? I can’t even imagine… Steward Sun wouldn’t say much. We only got this much because he was drunk.”

“President Lu kept a low profile. He probably never revealed his identity, so he got played.”

“He’s only nineteen. Some girls prefer older, smoother-talking men.”

As they chatted, Steward Sun entered with security guards carrying large boxes.

“These are books the president has assigned for your reading. Each of you must finish at least one per month and submit a reflection of no less than a thousand words.”

Han Haoyuan led the applause.

“Understood! Corporate culture—lifelong learning! The chairwoman is so thoughtful. Speaking of which, we haven’t seen her in a while. Is she well?”

Steward Sun nodded.

“Madam is in good health, though she’s been worried about the young master. She hasn’t been sleeping well since the recent… incident. Fortunately, the young master is unharmed. Otherwise…”

Han Haoyuan shuddered.

“She would’ve… killed that father and son?”

Steward Sun suddenly smiled.

“How could she? Madam always emphasizes obeying the law. She wouldn’t kill unless absolutely necessary.”

Han Haoyuan: “…”

So normally law-abiding, but push her too far and she’ll murder?

The executives exchanged uneasy glances, sweating.

They all thought the same thing:

If anything had happened to Lu Lanxiao, Lu Yan would have killed that father and son. No—that was the conservative estimate. No one knew how far that woman would go if truly enraged.

A woman who, while pregnant, discovered her husband’s infidelity—who silently schemed to seize company shares, take control, and then divorce him—might appear gentle, but the executives never dared breathe too loudly in her presence.

Steward Sun cheerfully waved, and the guards opened the boxes.

The executives noticed the colorful book covers inside.

As the guards distributed the books, their expressions seemed to be holding back laughter.

When the executives saw the titles, their eyes nearly popped out.

“The CEO’s Contract Lover?”

“Romance novels?!”

“Is this a mistake?”

“What’s the president’s… intention here?”

“He must have a deeper meaning! How could we question him?”

Steward Sun only smiled mysteriously and left with the guards.

The executives’ meeting wasn’t over—they had to figure this out.

“We found Legendary Journey’s confirmed guest list! Sent it to you. Which one’s the bastard who stole President Lu’s girl?”

“Eliminate the women, the older ones, the ugly ones…”

“Fan Shuhao! It’s got to be him! He looks like a scumbag!”

“Brothers, let’s ruin him!”

“Uh… he’s muscular. We might not win in a fight…”

Just then, a voice came from the doorway.

“Muscles? I’ve got muscles. I’m great at fighting. Who needs beating?”

They turned to see a young man passing by.

He had an intelligent face and wore a short-sleeved shirt that showed off his well-defined arms.

He peeked into the room curiously.

“Who are you? How’d you get up here?”

Han Haoyuan stood.

“The 12th floor isn’t open to just anyone.”

“Oh, I’m new. Looking for HR to finish onboarding.”

The young man grinned.

“I’m Du Shuo. Steward Sun said I’m to be President Lu’s bodyguard—oh, but I’m not supposed to call him ‘President.’ Pretend you didn’t hear that!”

The executives: “…”

Du Shuo: “Also, where’s HR? I think I’m lost. This place is huge.”

Han Haoyuan stiffly pointed upward.

“16th floor.”

“Thanks—”

As Du Shuo turned to leave, Han Haoyuan stopped him.

“Here.”

Han Haoyuan pointed at the books.

“Take a few. Corporate culture!”

Du Shuo obediently grabbed a stack.

“I’ll study hard! I’m very diligent!”

The pile looked heavy, but he carried it as effortlessly as if it were a pillow.