“Lao Lu,”
“You’re looking for Meng Jie again? She’s not at the company. She went to Qingcheng with Xiao Jiang.”
Upon hearing this, Lu Linshen couldn’t help but frown. His dark, deep eyes flashed with a hint of light, and it was unclear what he was thinking. After the Tianxia Network incident, everyone at Xuyu recognized Lu Linshen and knew that he was working on new projects. Sometimes, people had an inexplicable admiration for intellectuals like him.

The man took the opportunity to chat casually.
“Mm.” Lu Linshen responded lightly, then seemingly casually asked, “When will she be back at the company?”
The man scratched his head. “It seems uncertain. There are still several cities left to inspect.”
“If it’s urgent, just call Meng Jie directly. No need to keep running to the company every few days,” the man added.

After a brief moment of silence, Lu Linshen replied, “Okay.”

Back at the dormitory, Lu Linshen took out his pager, his fingers lightly pressing on it, trying to dial her number, but then he stopped.
Qin Yu saw him staring blankly at the pager and thought he was still thinking about the project. He quickly reached out to grab the phone and stop him.
“Lao Lu, come on, don’t be so crazy, okay?”
“We agreed to take a day off.”
“No checking the phone!”
Just seeing the phone made his scalp tingle! Qin Yu complained.

Suddenly, the phone in his hand made a crisp sound. Beep—
Qin Yu: “?”
The next second, he looked at Lu Linshen in panic. “Am I imagining things? Did it just ring?”
Lu Linshen instantly reacted, grabbed the phone from his hand, and was about to hang up when a familiar female voice came through the receiver.
“Hello, who is this?”

Qin Yu was startled by the voice, staring blankly at Lu Linshen. Under his gaze, Lu Linshen slowly picked up the phone, his tone a bit unnatural.
“This is Lu Linshen.”
There was a moment of silence on the other end, followed by an astonished tone, “Is there a problem with the research?”
“The research is progressing smoothly.”
“Then why are you suddenly calling me?”

It couldn’t be helped that Meng Suihuan thought this way; after all, it was their first time talking on the phone. It seemed almost unbelievable.
“The chip research is going smoothly. The first stage results are out, and I wanted to report them to you.”
Meng Suihuan: “…”
Meng Suihuan: “Go ahead.”

Lu Linshen then proceeded to explain his research results, using the relevant professional terminology. After finishing, he realized there was no response from the other side.
“That’s the research outcome so far.”
He expected her to give him some directions, like she had in the past, but this time, her response was very official.
“Mm, good work. Continue to deepen the research.”

Lu Linshen was silent for two seconds. “Don’t you have any other feedback?”
This time, it was Meng Suihuan’s turn to fall silent. She wanted to give feedback, but after listening for a long time, it felt like she was listening to something completely foreign. Unfortunately, this was a highly professional matter, and as an outsider, it was strange for her to understand it.

Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but ask, “Do you have some misunderstanding about me?”
“Mm?” Lu Linshen didn’t immediately understand.
“With such a professional matter, do you think I can give any suggestions?”
Lu Linshen: “…”

At that moment, Jiang Chengxuan’s voice suddenly came through the receiver.
“Boss, everything you mentioned has been arranged. We’re just waiting to reel it in now.”
“Good job,” Meng Suihuan replied. “I’ll be there shortly.”
Soon, the sound of beeping came from the receiver. Looking at it, she saw that the other person had already hung up.

Lu Linshen looked at the pager in his hand for a moment, then turned and continued with his research. Qin Yu, who had witnessed the whole process, felt like something was off, but couldn’t quite put his finger on it. After a long while, he finally realized—Lu Linshen not only remembered Meng Jie’s number, but he also dialed it! He wasn’t thinking about the research after all! He was deciding whether or not to make the call!

Qin Yu: “!!”
He accidentally uncovered a big secret! He had planned to mock Lu Linshen, but the next second, he saw Lu Linshen immersed in his research. Forget it. It was better not to get involved now. He didn’t want to ruin this perfect holiday by being dragged into hard labor!

—

“Meng Suihuan!”
“I didn’t expect you to be this kind of woman, resorting to underhanded tactics!”
The man strode over, his attitude one of fury, as if he wanted to tear her apart.
Meng Suihuan gave him a half-smile, not looking concerned. “Oh, isn’t this Mr. Lin? What a surprise to see you here today. Xiao Jiang, quickly pour Mr. Lin a cup of tea.”

Seeing her nonchalant demeanor only made the man angrier, and his temper finally exploded. He threw a stack of contracts onto her desk with a loud slam.
“I can’t be bothered to argue with you. I’m transferring the land to you, but I ask that you don’t meddle in my company’s affairs!”

Recently, both internal and external turmoil had rocked his company. At first, he hadn’t taken it seriously, until the most important project under his supervision ran into problems. That’s when he realized someone was sabotaging him. A little investigation quickly revealed the culprit’s identity. In his rage, he confronted the person directly, but not only did he not get any satisfaction, his own company was nearly ruined by them.

In the end, he had no choice but to bow his head.

Meng Suihuan slowly picked up the contract from the desk, smiling as she spoke.
“What are you saying, Mr. Lin?”
“I have no intention of targeting your company. Everything I do is for the development of Xuyu. Sometimes, it just happens that my projects conflict with yours.”

Mr. Lin: “…”
He didn’t believe her at all! Their projects had nothing to do with each other, but he didn’t say it outright. After all, he had already suffered, and complaining further wouldn’t help! He just needed to avoid this woman in the future.

Clenching his teeth, he reluctantly said, “You’re right, Meng.”

Meng Suihuan didn’t rush. She looked at the contract in her hand, and when she got to the price section, she smiled at him.
“This price doesn’t seem reasonable, does it?”
“What do you think, Mr. Lin?”

Mr. Lin’s expression immediately darkened. He hadn’t expected that his small manipulation would be spotted so quickly. He took the contract without changing his expression, then pulled out another one, speaking smoothly and naturally.
“This is the contract I actually prepared.”
“I just grabbed the wrong one by mistake.”

Meng Suihuan took the contract with a smile, still shaking her head at him. She then picked up a pen and wrote a figure in the blank space.
“What do you think of this number, Mr. Lin?”

The man’s pupils constricted, and he instinctively stood up, his tone urgent.
“This price is impossible!”
“I spent a lot of money to purchase…”

He was about to argue when he heard the woman in front of him speak slowly.
“Mr. Lin, you must have a clear idea of how much you spent when you bought this. You can fool others, but I advise you to be honest with me.”

Upon hearing this, Mr. Lin immediately panicked, his tone becoming awkward.
“How do you know about this?”
Meng Suihuan smiled lightly and pursed her lips.
“There’s no wall that doesn’t let the wind through.”^[1]“There’s no wall that doesn’t let the wind through” means that secrets or hidden things are difficult to keep completely concealed; eventually, the truth will come out.

She then returned the contract to him.
“If you think it’s acceptable, I’ll redraft the contract, and we can consider it a pleasant cooperation.”
“If you think it’s not suitable, well, there’s always tomorrow.”

The last few words were drawn out, and the tone was deliberately slow. Mr. Lin immediately thought of the recent events he had gone through, and his body shuddered.
“… No need to wait for tomorrow, let’s sign the contract right now!”

“You’re a man of quick decisions, Mr. Lin. I do enjoy working with straightforward people like you.”
Mr. Lin: “…”

After the contract was signed, Meng Suihuan was about to wave him off, but he quickly slipped away, as though staying a second longer would cost him years of life.

Seeing this, Jiang Chengxuan couldn’t help but laugh.
“It seems Mr. Lin was scared off by us.”

Meng Suihuan innocently blinked and corrected him without mercy.
“No, he was just scared of you, it has nothing to do with me.”
How could a little fairy scare anyone? Clearly, it wasn’t her problem!

Jiang Chengxuan: “…”
It was the first time he’d seen someone so blatantly shift the blame!

—

In May, Lao He suddenly showed up at her office, looking serious as he said to Meng Suihuan,
“The listing is confirmed, the materials will be submitted for review in half a month. You need to take a look at the related content requirements.”

Upon hearing about the listing, Meng Suihuan couldn’t hide her excitement, and her eyes lit up. After all, this was something she had been eagerly awaiting for a long time. She took the materials from Lao He and started going through them one by one. The first part was fine, but when she reached a particular section, she almost gasped aloud.
“Are they going to review the available liquid assets?”
How come she wasn’t aware of this at all?!

Lao He nodded.
“I forgot to tell you earlier, but a new regulation has been added. The company’s listing will include a review of your operational status, and the available liquid assets are one of the items for review.”

“But you don’t have to worry about this. Since East Lake Huayuan made so much profit, this review standard shouldn’t matter to you.”

Meng Suihuan: “…”

After a brief silence, she asked cautiously,
“Lao He, do you have any idea how much money this review standard might require?”

“I think I heard them mention it, it’s not much, about 40 to 50 million.”

Meng Suihuan couldn’t help but take a sharp breath, her expression suddenly turning to one of pain.

Seeing this, Lao He immediately grew worried and cautiously asked,
“Is there going to be a problem on your side?”

Meng Suihuan bit her lip and nodded.
“I didn’t expect the liquid assets to be reviewed, so I’ve been spending quite a bit recently. I think I only have about 30 million left.”

She hadn’t gone through the process of a company listing before and never imagined such a bizarre requirement would arise! If she had known earlier, she wouldn’t have spent so recklessly!

Suddenly, she remembered something and, with a look of hope, turned to Lao He.
“But I have quite a few real estate assets. Can these be used for the evaluation?”

Lao He: “…”
Lao He: “No.”
Meng Suihuan: “…”