That night, Chu Shangluo saw a faint glimmer of light flickering in Ren Jiaoming’s deep eyes. He wasn’t sure if Ren Jiaoming’s heart was wavering like that small glimmer. Ren Jiaoming didn’t speak, but Chu Shangluo knew that Ren Jiaoming had agreed to him.

When Ren Jiaoming was leaving, Chu Shangluo leaned against the wall and watched him put on his clothes by the entrance. With a smile, he asked, “Secretary Ren, will you have time to treat me to dinner tomorrow?”

Ren Jiaoming hesitated for a moment before replying, “Sorry, I have an appointment.”

Chu Shangluo knew Ren Jiaoming would be like that! He suppressed the urge to kick Ren Jiaoming and told himself to let it go. Ren Jiaoming was just the type who warmed up slowly, and he couldn’t rush him.

After Ren Jiaoming left, Chu Shangluo searched for information on the jade pendant again, but found nothing.

On the seventh day of the new year, the first day of work for the Chu family after the holidays, Lin Zhi came in holding some documents and saw Ren Jiaoming pouring coffee for Chu Shangluo. Chu Shangluo, focused on the documents, casually took the coffee, his demeanor natural.

Lin Zhi couldn’t believe his eyes. Secretary Ren was finally doing something a secretary should do?!

Chu Shangluo rubbed his brow, took a sip of the coffee, and then loud voices came from outside.

“What are you blocking me for?! I want to see Chu Shangluo! I want to see Ren Jiaoming!”
“You don’t have an appointment, sorry, you can’t go in.”

Chu Shangluo looked toward the door, and then it was suddenly pushed open with force. Jiang Jia, eyes red, ran in front of Chu Shangluo and shouted, “Chu Shangluo!”

The security guard looked helplessly at Chu Shangluo. “President Chu, we couldn’t stop him. He’s too strong.”

Chu Shangluo set the coffee cup down and waved at the security guard. “You can leave now.”

The security guard nodded and exited, closing the door behind him.

Chu Shangluo looked at Jiang Jia, who was disheveled and dirty, and asked with a smile, “What happened? Did the young master of the Jiang family fall while skydiving again?”

Jiang Jia clenched his fists, tears streaming down his face as he cried, “My company’s gone. That guy from the Su family betrayed me. Can you help me? I’ve lost everything, I’m penniless!”

Chu Shangluo already knew about this situation from a few days ago. After all, the circles they moved in were small, and the news that Jiang Jia had been betrayed by Su Ran and lost his company had spread widely.

The day Chu Shangluo found out, he wasn’t surprised at all. Without Ren Jiaoming, it was only a matter of time before Jiang Jia lost the company.

Jiang Jia wiped his tears away and said in distress, “I can’t lose the company my father left me!” He grabbed Chu Shangluo’s hand and begged, “Please, have Ren Jiaoming help me! He’s been managing my company for so long; he must have a way!”

Chu Shangluo gently removed Jiang Jia’s hand and looked at Ren Jiaoming, who had been silent by the side, asking, “Are you going to help?”

Ren Jiaoming glanced at Jiang Jia and replied coldly, “It has nothing to do with me anymore.”

Jiang Jia urgently said, “Ren Jiaoming, don’t forget that my father saved you! If my father hadn’t helped you, how could you be the person you are today, so well-dressed and dignified? I don’t care, you have to help me!”

Jiang Jia, as expected, acted entitled, even when begging for help. Chu Shangluo got irritated, picked up the phone, and called security. Soon, the security guards came in and forcibly escorted the crying young master Jiang out of the office.

However, just after being escorted out, Jiang Jia broke free from the security guards and rushed back into the office, pushing Lin Zhi aside and throwing himself onto Chu Shangluo’s lap, refusing to let go. He wailed, “Chu Shangluo, please help me! I really have no way out. Please convince Ren Jiaoming to help me! I’m begging you!”

Chu Shangluo looked at Jiang Jia, whose tears and snot had stained his pants, wondering what was going through his head. Was this kid completely shameless? The security guards, now completely shocked, called for reinforcements and with great effort managed to drag the crying Jiang Jia out again.

Lin Zhi, watching the farce unfold, felt helpless. Jiang Jia was already eighteen or nineteen years old—how could he be so shameless? But soon, even more shameless behavior occurred.

The front desk called Chu Shangluo to report that Jiang Jia was outside the company, crying loudly. A crowd had gathered around, some even taking photos. Lin Zhi looked out the window and sighed. “Well, look at that. He’s rolling around out there like a fool.” He said, “Boss, let me take some people and throw him even further away.”

Chu Shangluo calmly took a sip of coffee, showing no signs of impatience. “No need. Let him make a scene.”

Lin Zhi was confused. He didn’t understand why the boss was letting Jiang Jia cause such a disturbance. It could hurt the company’s reputation if this continued.

Jiang Jia made a scene in front of Chu Shangluo’s office for two days, and the entire high-society business circle soon knew about it. Everyone was waiting to see how Chu Shangluo would handle it. But Chu Shangluo wasn’t in a hurry to address it, he just let Jiang Jia continue his tantrum.

Jiang Jia, however, did not give up. Since Chu Shangluo was his last hope, every time he saw him, he would rush to beg, only to be cruelly kicked aside by Chu Shangluo. Even when he was beaten black and blue, feeling wronged, the next morning, Jiang Jia would still be waiting at the company entrance, throwing himself on Chu Shangluo’s leg.

On the fourth morning, Chu Shangluo frowned, looking down at Jiang Jia, who was lying on the ground like a stray dog, and finally spoke, “I’ll ask you again. Who made you steal my wine?”

Jiang Jia, excited to finally have Chu Shangluo talking to him, almost fainted. He quickly replied, “I really don’t know. That day at the bar, I was complaining about you, and someone suggested to me that you had a box of expensive wine. They said I should steal it and not let you drink it, to get back at you. I agreed without thinking and had my men steal it. But I didn’t expect it to go so smoothly. After they stole it, the guy holding the wine saw someone chasing him and threw it away. But I really don’t know who gave me the idea; I drank too much that night.”

Chu Shangluo, seeing that Jiang Jia seemed sincere, took out his phone and played an audio recording. “Is this the voice?”

Jiang Jia nodded frantically, “Yes! Yes! That’s the one!”

Chu Shangluo’s gaze turned colder as he bent down and lifted Jiang Jia up. “Come with me to the office.”

In the office, Lin Zhi was surprised to see that Chu Shangluo had brought Jiang Jia back. He didn’t understand why the boss would do such a thing but still poured a cup of hot water and handed it to the dirty young master sitting on the sofa.

A while later, Ren Jiaoming walked in, glanced at Jiang Jia, and asked Chu Shangluo, “You’ve thought it through. Helping him means going against the Su family.”

Jiang Jia’s eyes immediately lit up as he stared at Chu Shangluo. “Really? You’re going to help me?”

Chu Shangluo scoffed, “What’s so bad about going against the Su family? We’ve always been at odds. It’s just that we haven’t made it public. Since Su Ran instigated Jiang Jia to steal my wine, it’s no problem for me to take something that doesn’t belong to the Su family, right?”

Lin Zhi understood now. It was Su Ran who had been scheming behind the scenes about the missing wine.

Chu Shangluo turned to Jiang Jia and said, “I’m not helping you for nothing. If I help, your company belongs to me.”

“What?!” Jiang Jia was confused. “How is that helping me?”

“I’ll give you a position where you don’t have to do anything. Your salary won’t be less, and you’ll have shares. You either do it willingly or leave.”

Jiang Jia was surprised—getting paid without having to work? “I’ll do it! I’m very willing!”

Jiang Jia stopped crying, wiped away his tears, and ran over to Chu Shangluo, throwing his arms around him. “Thank you! You’re so good to me!”

“If you’re going to thank anyone, thank Secretary Ren,” Chu Shangluo said, already used to Jiang Jia’s sudden hugs. But Lin Zhi was shocked and immediately rushed over to pull Jiang Jia away. “Let go of the boss!”

Jiang Jia, though thin, had surprisingly strong strength, and Lin Zhi couldn’t pull him off. After calling in a few security guards, they finally managed to drag him off Chu Shangluo.

When they did, Chu Shangluo felt a sharp pain in his waist. He lifted his shirt and found a large red handprint.

Chu Shangluo: “…What kind of person is Jiang Jia?!”

*

In just two days, Ren Jiaoming turned the situation around. Originally, Su Ran had a great opportunity to manipulate Jiang’s stock and cause it to plummet, but since Ren Jiaoming knew the company better than Su Ran, when Jiang’s stock returned to normal, Jiang Jia immediately signed the agreement for Chu’s company to acquire Jiang’s.

Jiang Jia’s reward was that Chu Shangluo agreed to give him 3% of the shares in Chu’s company. Chu’s was a large listed company, much bigger than Jiang’s, and after acquiring Jiang’s, its market value rose even more. The 3% shares were enough for Jiang Jia to live comfortably for the rest of his life without lifting a finger. He was so happy he almost bowed to Chu Shangluo.

The fact that Jiang’s company eventually ended up in Chu Shangluo’s hands caused quite a stir in the high society. Some people said that Chu Shangluo had better methods than Su Ran, after all, it was Jiang Jia, who had cried and caused a scene for several days, who willingly handed over the company. Others thought that Chu Shangluo had been planning this from the start—first, he poached Jiang’s core secretary, Ren Jiaoming, and then used this relationship to swallow Jiang’s company.

But what made this even more intriguing was that Chu Shangluo had offended the Su family. The Su and Wen families were both powerful in the business world and had always been allies. Over the years, they had been working behind the scenes to push Chu Shangluo out. Now that Chu Shangluo had taken such an active step, it could be seen as declaring war on both families.

Who would win in the end was anyone’s guess.

Chu Shangluo knew the rumors about him were spreading and that many were waiting for him to fail. He sat in the massage chair, holding his coffee, and looked at Ren Jiaoming, who was handling the follow-up affairs of Jiang’s company, before speaking, “Actually, if I don’t make a move on the Su and Wen families now, I’ll have to do it sooner or later. You might have noticed it in the company’s reports over the years, but the company has been stagnating because the Su and Wen families have been blocking my financial opportunities. So, no matter what relationship you have with Wen Yan, you must be fully aligned with me.”