The tea room was quiet again.
Zhao Yiming and Su ilin sat side by side at the low table, both still catching their breath. His knuckles were red. His shirt was a ss.
Their teacups had gone cold hours ago, but strangely, the koi outside kept swimming peacefully as if they hadn’t just witnessed a live-action family drama sprinkled with attempted murder.
Su ilin turned to him, still wide-eyed. "Yiming... who are they?" she asked, glancing at the two n behind them. "Where the hell did you get them?"
Zhao Yiming let out a small, awkward laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. "Uh... well... let’s just say Li- uh, I an, Madam Ruan has very fast bodyguard delivery. One phone call, and boom! Two bulletproof at tanks on express mode."
Her brows twitched. "Madam Ruan again?"
He gave her a lopsided grin.
She squinted. Su ilin knows for sure that Zhao Yiming now has a relationship with Madam Ruan. She also has a feeling that he hides sothing from her.
However, since they had sothing more important to do, she said nothing.
Their attention now focused on the pathetic battered man in front of them: Su Jinhe.
The man himself was sitting across the table, slouched like a collapsed sack of shit, one nostril clogged with bloody tissue, his breath wheezing in and out through his swollen mouth. His pride was in the ICU. His dignity had flatlined.
On the table before him was a docunt. Stamped and ready to be notarized, it would legally sever Su ilin from the family registry and make her inheritance untouchable.
"I’m not signing that," Su Jinhe mumbled, voice nasal and muffled. "You two laid your filthy hands on . I’ll report this to the police."
"Oh yeah?" Zhao Yiming said casually, snapping his fingers.
CLACK.
One of the bodyguards opened the door and dragged in soone new.
A man in black, gagged and tied with his own shoelaces, was thrown to the ground like trash. His face was pale, eyes darting around like a spooked rabbit.
ilin’s eyes widened. "Who?"
"Assassin," Zhao Yiming said coolly. "They ambushed in a different room and tried to kill . They even have a dagger that I can give to the police."
The man whimpered. Rembering how Zhao Yiming slamd his head on the wall good it was still bleeding.
Zhao Yiming crouched in front of him with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. "Tell her who sent you."
The assassin looked between them, panicked.
"I-I was hired by... Su Jinhe! Through Golden Earth’s fixer!"
Dead silence.
"Hah, you aren’t that professional aren’t you..." Zhao Yiming clenched his hands, realizing that Su Jinhe had a connection with Golden Earth.
’Do they also know that I am Su ilin’s man?’ he thought.
The assassins were too much just for inheritance like this. However, since Golden Earth was involved in all of this, it is a great percentage that they wanted to kill him but cover it with whatever ss Su Jinhe made.
’This is bad...’
Even the koi outside stopped swimming for a second.
Zhao Yiming stood up slowly and turned toward Su Jinhe. "What’s your connection with them?"
Su Jinhe, despite the blood, the bruises, and the humiliation... grinned.
"I’m close with Boss Chi. You know the na?" he sneered, puffing out his broken chest. "He’s the real power in this city. You think you can beat ? You’ll be buried by morning!"
Zhao Yiming stared at him for a long second.
Then he calmly sat back down and slamd his palm on the table.
’System, activate the Confession Room skill!’
[Skill Activated: Confession Room]
[The target will feel intense ntal pressure and an urge to spill their secrets.]
"Tell everything, Su Jinhe! All of your plans with Boss Chi!"
Zhao Yiming practically scread, the veins on his temple appeared. Even Su ilin was startled of his sudden change of temper.
Su Jinhe flinched. His eyes twitched. His breath sped up. Sweat began pooling under his collar. He looked around, suddenly paranoid as if the walls were closing in.
The skill is working out perfectly. As if he didn’t answer the bastard question in front of him, he would have died of a heart attack.
"You... you want to know?! FINE!" he blurted. "Boss Chi promised fifteen percent of Jin Haolong’s assets! In exchange, I get ilin and Yuexin to transfer everything to them!"
His mouth kept running like diarrhea.
"I even planned this eting with him! The ’ambush’ I knew it wouldn’t kill you, but I hoped it’d break your leg or sothing! Just enough to scare ilin into obedience!"
He suddenly clamped his hands over his mouth.
Too late.
Su ilin was shaking not from fear, but from boiling rage.
"YOU! How can you call yourself a father?" she pointed at him which made Jinhe’s expression twist.
"You are just a child! Don’t dare lecture ! From birth to this day, how much do you think I spent my money on you?! And you dare to curse your own father!"
Zhao Yiming didn’t even blink, he hit the table again as the room tensed, no one dared to open their mouth. He slowly pushed the docunt forward with one finger.
"Sign it," he said, voice low and cold. "Now."
Jinhe glared at him, hatred oozing from every pore. But he didn’t dare to bark.
"Do it, or I’ll give Boss Chi your recorded confession and let him handle your betrayal personally."
The color drained from Su Jinhe’s face as Yiming played the record of their conversation on his phone over and over again.
His hands trembled as he picked up the pen. With a sharp breath and one final curse under his breath, he signed it.
Zhao took the paper back, folded it with exaggerated care, and looked at the pathetic man on the floor.
"You show your face again in front of or ilin," he said, his voice sharp like broken glass, "I won’t call bodyguards. I’ll call a grave digger."
Su Jinhe didn’t reply and could only bite his lips. Because in that mont he finally knew, he lost. Completely.
And ilin?
She was finally free.
While Zhao Yiming is still wondering about his next step to destroy the Golden Earth completely.
***
The door to the Golden Earth office slamd open.
Su Jinhe stord in like a mad dog, still covered in bruises and dried blood, a wad of toilet paper jamd up one nostril, his other eye swollen halfway shut.
"Let through!" he snarled at the two n in black suits guarding the hallway.
One of them raised a brow. "Mr. Chi isn’t seeing visitors today."
"I don’t give a flying fuck if he’s in a goddamn bath or mid-blowjob! LET IN!" Jinhe shrieked, spit flying. "I’m the one he made that inheritance deal with! I bled for him! He owes !"
The guards didn’t budge. One of them is using the earpiece to report the situation to the boss.
A soft voice crackled from the earpiece of the one on the right. He gave a small nod, sighed, and opened the door.
"Go. But don’t touch anything."
Su Jinhe shoved past them like a dog that hadn’t eaten in days.
Boss Chi’s office was cold, minimalist, and expensive. Marble floors with no windows. A tank full of exotic jellyfish lit up one wall with a soft blue glow.
At the far end, Chi Yufan sat behind a sleek desk, flipping through a leather-bound folder like Su Jinhe’s existence was a mosquito buzz.
He didn’t even look up.
"Look at you. Got your ass handed to you by your own daughter?"
Su Jinhe growled but swallowed his pride. "They ambushed . Two fucking bodyguards like damn tanks. And she had that bastard Yiming with her—"
That caught Boss Chi’s attention.
He looked up slowly, brow arching. "Yiming?"
He leaned back, a smile curling.
"You an Zhao Yiming?"
Su Jinhe nodded fast. "Yeah, that son of a bitch! I don’t know where he crawled out from but he’s got ilin wrapped around his palm! He’s ddling in everything! Even beat my hired thugs! He’s dangerous!"
Boss Chi chuckled, finally closing the folder.
"Well, what do you know... Looks like we’ve got a common problem."
That made Jinhe perk up. "You know him?"
"Too well," Boss Chi said smoothly. "He’s been poking his nose in places it doesn’t belong. Made lose so property recently."
"So what’s the next move?" Jinhe asked, leaning forward like a rat catching the scent of cheese. "I can’t touch ilin’s inheritance now. She cut off legally."
Boss Chi tapped his fingers against the desk once... twice...
"There’s still Yuexin," he said finally. "The little porcelain doll. If she signs her share over to us, we still win."
Su Jinhe hesitated. "And if she doesn’t?"
Boss Chi leaned in, voice cold as steel.
"Then she dies."
Su Jinhe flinched.
"D-die? But... she’s just a girl."
Boss Chi didn’t blink. "You want power? You want your daughter to kneel and beg for your help again? You want to stop being the loser with a broken nose and no future?"
He smirked. "Then stop thinking like a father."
The room went silent.
Jinhe swallowed. His mouth opened and then closed. Opened again. "She... she never leaves her apartnt. How the hell do I even get close?"
Boss Chi smiled, leaned in, and whispered the answer.
Su Jinhe’s eyes widened and he nodded with a smirk.
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