When Lu Yanzhao was little, he used to call Yu Zheng “the eldest brother”... Back then, he thought the kind person sponsoring him was a middle-aged man. Yu Zheng even spoke like some big shot from the underworld, so Lu Yanzhao had always called him that.
Who would’ve thought they were the same age?
After they met in person, calling him “the eldest brother” started to feel a little awkward.
Yu Zheng edged closer and reached out as if to pat him on the shoulder.
Lu Yanzhao immediately dodged, glancing quickly toward the living room. “Fifth Young Master, don’t do that. I’m afraid your sister might get the wrong idea.”
Yu Zheng: “???”
Lu Yanzhao lowered his voice, perfectly serious. “Your sister still doesn’t know I’m the mole you planted. When we worked together before, we always pretended not to know each other. If she finds out now that you deliberately arranged for me to be by her side, what do you think she’ll think?”
Yu Zheng: “……”
“She’ll cut ties with you, the eldest brother.”
“Would she really…? All I wanted from the start was to win. I wanted to know how her mission was going. I never told you to sabotage her behind her back.”
Lu Yanzhao calmly reminded him, “But you did deceive her.”
Yu Zheng fell silent.
At the time, he hadn’t thought it was a big deal.
The siblings were competitors, after all. They were bound to use a few underhanded tactics.
He was sure his own siblings had planted people around him, too.
It was just that he had more people of his own, and he never let outsiders near the core of a mission.
When the competition began, his sister had only just returned from abroad. They hadn’t seen each other in years, and apart from exchanging a few messages in the family group chat, they never talked privately. They weren’t exactly close.
He’d also heard all along that his sister was fiercely competitive and always trying to get ahead, so he’d treated her as his biggest rival. That was why he’d sent Lu Yanzhao to keep an eye on her.
But now that they’d gotten to know each other again, they were the closest brother and sister in the world.
So he did feel a little guilty about planting a spy by her side.
After thinking it over, Yu Zheng said, “I should pull you off her team. Find an excuse to quit.”
“No.” Lu Yanzhao rejected the idea without a moment’s hesitation.
Yu Zheng shot him a cold look. “What do you mean by that?”
Lu Yanzhao argued his case. “I’m the assistant she trusts most now. A lot of her major decisions need me to follow through on them. Like the second term of the arts entrance exam prep course, and making sure Qizhi escorts the students to the national competition after renewing the contract…”
“If Fifth Young Master pulls me out now, she’ll be scrambling to keep everything afloat. And there’s something else…”
Lu Yanzhao brought up the video he’d taken at Qizhi yesterday.
“This reporter from Yuantiao News is clearly trying to smear us. Even when they filmed the breaking news, they only showed the part where things went wrong. They left before the situation was resolved.”
“The only reason this hasn’t blown up is that Qizhi immediately released the full video.”
“Could one of your competitors be behind this?”
“Fifth Young Master, you and your sister are under attack from both sides!”
“And you still want to pull me out and leave your sister at a disadvantage?”
After watching the video, Yu Zheng’s mood grew heavy.
That was true.
Yu Suisui was a piece of work—rotten to the core.
One New Year, when Yu Zheng was on the phone with his parents, they’d told him they had begged his uncle to send his sister abroad as soon as possible, just to keep her from hanging around Yu Suisui.
Yu Yuanchen was even worse.
If Yu Zheng pulled Lu Yanzhao away now, he’d only make things harder for his sister.
She’d probably lose, and then he’d be taken down too…
The current situation was clearly a three-way standoff.
He and Xingxing were on one side; Yu Yuanchen and Yu Suisui on another; and Yu Zhining and Yu Lingyi on the third. The eldest brother, meanwhile, was a loner.
They’d surely team up to eliminate the other groups first, then fight it out among themselves.
After thinking it over, Yu Zheng nodded. “Then keep helping her.”
Lu Yanzhao breathed a sigh of relief.
But he also felt a little guilty toward Yu Zheng. After all, Yu Zheng had raised him.
So he asked, “You’ve been sighing this whole time. Are you worried you’ll get a yellow card this time?”
At the mention of it, Yu Zheng’s expression grew troubled again. “Yeah. When I finished my mission first, I thought I’d won for sure. Only later did I realize how badly I’d done… And the only reason I finished first was because my sister helped me out with Shengde.”
Lu Yanzhao offered a suggestion. “If you get a yellow card this time, we can report the smear campaign and accuse someone of using unfair tactics to compete…”
Yu Zheng shook his head. “That doesn’t really count as evidence. The people smearing Shengde could be one of our rivals in the succession competition, or they could be another school at the same level as Shengde… Forget it. A yellow card is a yellow card. I can take a loss.”
As he spoke, he glanced through the floor-to-ceiling window toward the living room.
His sister was still sprawled on the sofa, radiating an easygoing, languid air.
She’d reached the point where no matter how many times she won, she could take it all in stride.
He’d been reviewing things too, trying to figure out how his sister had managed yet another last-minute comeback.
Then he realized that from the moment she got involved in Jiang Tinglan and her mother’s situation, every step she’d taken afterward had been part of her plan.
Jiang Tinglan had always been indecisive, and her family life was a complete mess. Even with a talent for chemistry, she wouldn’t have been able to make the most of it in those circumstances. So his sister’s first move had been to sort out her family problems.
Then, using the conflict at Qizhi as an opening, she’d been willing to lose the succession competition rather than back down, all to break through their condescending attitude.
After that, she’d helped save Qizhi’s founder, earning a favor first.
Then the case came to light. The reporters were bound to focus on Professor Zhong and Qizhi, which gave his sister the chance to launch the kind of public-opinion campaign she was best at!
Each step seemed unrelated, but together they formed an unbroken chain.
She was using the contract renewal mission to push Qizhi into changing how it allocated resources, while helping Shengde build a reputation as a school that truly respected its students and recognized their potential.
The admissions office at Shengde was probably being inundated with calls by now!
If she still didn’t come in first, it would make no sense!
Even Yu Zheng, her competitor, couldn’t accept the idea of his sister not taking first place!
After thinking it all through, a completely unqualified admiration for his sister welled up in him.
“My sister is amazing!”
Lu Yanzhao looked up at Yu Zheng.
He’d been standing there trying to help Yu Zheng figure out how to report their competitors, and then Yu Zheng suddenly blurted that out. It startled him.
“…” I have no idea what’s gotten into you.
Still, he tried to help Yu Zheng turn things around. “Fifth Young Master, we should investigate anyway.”
“Investigate what?” Yu Xiaxing’s voice suddenly came from behind them.
Lu Yanzhao immediately put some distance between himself and Yu Zheng, moving to stand beside Yu Xiaxing. “Those two reporters from Yuantiao News were obviously trying to smear us.”
He took out his phone, pulled up a video, and handed it to Yu Xiaxing.
“I knew you were resting, so I spoke to Legal about it first. I haven’t had a chance to tell you yet.”
Yu Xiaxing watched the video.
The two reporters were clearly working together, and their intention to stir up trouble was obvious.
Yu Xiaxing’s gaze slowly turned dangerous.
So! You two were the ones causing all this trouble!
If it weren’t for you two stirring up trouble, Jiang Tinglan wouldn’t have ended up being hailed as a “genius chemistry girl,” and Qizhi certainly wouldn’t have handed over ten million!
The reason she managed to turn things around this time was all thanks to these two!
She had to find out who had arranged for them to come.
“Just wait until I come after you next time!”
Yu Xiaxing said, “Send me the video.”
Lu Yanzhao immediately sent her the original video.
After receiving it, Yu Xiaxing forwarded it to Ruan Tian.
“Help me look into these two. Find out who they’ve been in contact with recently, whether any large sums of money have suddenly appeared in their accounts, and whether they’ve made any unusual purchases.”
Ruan Tian replied, “Got it, boss. I’m on it!”
Yu Xiaxing put away her phone and turned to leave.
Yu Zheng hurriedly asked, “It’s so late. Where are you going?”
