Yu Zheng took one look. The woman was wearing a faded denim shirt and cargo pants, her hair cut extremely short, exposing the distinct outline of her skull.
From behind, she looked very much like a man, but from the front, it was obvious she was a woman around thirty.
There was a sly look in her eyes. A large bag hung from her shoulder, and she kept glancing around warily.
Yu Zheng had no choice but to intervene.
He had only just defused a crisis that could have completely ruined his reputation, and public opinion was still extremely sensitive.
This woman was acting suspiciously in the residential compound. If something happened, all the hard work he had put into changing his fate could be undone.
He kicked up a piece of broken brick about half the size of a fist.
Smack!
The brick landed right in front of the woman.
“Holy crap…” The woman jumped.
She was Ruan Tian, the private detective Yu Xiaxing had hired.
When she had snuck into Old Zhao’s house to take pictures, she had planted a camera there. It had been ridiculously expensive.
She had been waiting for a chance to go back in and retrieve it, which was why she had stayed in the compound until so late.
Ruan Tian looked up.
The man beside the car was extremely tall, probably around 190 centimeters. Although he was dressed casually, the young master’s aura about him—an intimidating mixture of menace and wealth—was still overwhelming.
“Thief?” he asked.
“No!” Ruan Tian instinctively hid her bag of equipment behind her.
Yu Zheng couldn’t be bothered to waste words. He simply held out his hand. “Give it to me.”
Ruan Tian said, “These are my personal belongings…”
Yu Zheng suddenly pulled a small pistol from his pocket and pointed it at her. “I’ll count to three.”
“…”
Damn, damn, damn!
If she had known this job would be so dangerous, she would have demanded more money from the client!
She looked at the young man in front of her. Although he was handsome, the ruthlessness between his brows was definitely not an act.
Having spent years struggling at the bottom of society, she was very good at reading people.
This man was not someone to provoke. If she really angered him, she definitely wouldn’t come out ahead.
“…Three.”
“Here, here, take it!”
Ruan Tian immediately handed all the equipment over to Yu Zheng.
Yu Zheng put the gun away, opened the bag, and checked its contents to see whether she had stolen anything from the compound.
There were all kinds of cameras, listening devices, tracking devices…
He turned on the external player to see what she had recorded.
…It was actually the same video he had received!
Yu Zheng abruptly raised his head. His gaze shot toward Ruan Tian.
“Was it you who emailed me the video?”
The intensity of his stare made Ruan Tian’s whole body prickle. She instinctively shook her head. “No! My client told me to record it!”
“Who’s your client?”
Ruan Tian said with deep anguish, “I have professional ethics! There’s no way I would betray my client—unless you paid me enough to buy out my ethics!”
Yu Zheng desperately wanted to know who his benefactor was, but he refused to be blackmailed. He pulled out the gun again.
Ruan Tian said, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I was wrong!”
Seriously, were all overbearing CEOs this stingy nowadays?
In short dramas, weren’t they always saying things like, “Swipe the card as much as you want” or “Fill in the amount yourself”?
These days, even the fantasy of wealth had been downgraded…
Ruan Tian sold Yu Xiaxing out, then immediately pulled out her phone.
She showed Yu Zheng everything: the number Yu Xiaxing had contacted her from, the account that had transferred the money, the chat history detailing the assignment…
As Yu Zheng scrolled through the messages, his heart began pounding harder and harder.
How could this be…?
When he had been at his wits’ end and was on the verge of falling into an abyss, the person who had pulled him back from the edge had been his younger sister—the very sister he had been at odds with for more than a decade?
Why?
Yu Zheng’s mind was in complete turmoil.
Along with his disbelief came a happiness he couldn’t put into words.
Was his tsundere little sister hoping to make up with him all along, but too afraid to say so, and therefore secretly helping him behind his back?
Because that was exactly what he himself had been doing…
Every time he saw his sister, he would encourage himself to take the initiative and talk things out with her.
But every time, he would see the rejection in her eyes and retreat once again.
“Boss, is there anything else? If not, could you give me my phone back?” Ruan Tian asked cautiously.
Watching Yu Zheng’s expression shift unpredictably, she felt her heart pounding and only wanted to leave as quickly as possible.
“Nothing else.”
Yu Zheng came back to himself, returned the phone to Ruan Tian, and immediately drove home.
—
The Yu residence.
Yu Xiaxing saw someone livestreaming online how her Fifth Brother had put on an impressive show.
It looked like the old man’s dead end had already been turned around.
And he had dumped all his scandals onto Manager Ma, washing himself completely clean.
He had some brains, after all.
This move would surely turn public opinion around and earn him the reward for Mission One!
Satisfied, Yu Xiaxing went to sleep.
When Yu Zheng returned and learned that she was already asleep, he decided to find a chance to ask her about the video the next day.
But he didn’t wake up until nine in the morning. When he asked the servants, he learned that Yu Xiaxing had left at seven.
Why had she gotten up so early…? Was she working overtime for the competition?
Yu Zheng wasn’t about to fall behind her, either.
He genuinely wanted to reconcile with his sister.
But winning first place in the competition was essential too.
So he immediately hurried to Kangle Compound to assess the situation.
—
There was no way Yu Xiaxing would work on a weekend. In reality, she had gone out to take care of her health again.
Yoga in the morning, an organic farm lunch at noon, and fishing by the lake with Diandian in the afternoon.
The main reason was that she really didn’t have much money at the moment.
She couldn’t afford activities that cost money, like concerts or art exhibitions.
All she could do was take up something like fishing—a relaxing pastime that cost practically nothing.
It wasn’t until after nine that night that she slowly made her way back to the Yu residence with Diandian in her arms.
Diandian immediately leaped from her embrace and raced into the garden to play.
Yu Xiaxing felt both expectant and nervous.
Once midnight passed, the Special Committee would announce the points for the first mission of the inheritance competition.
The person ranked first would receive an additional sum of operating funds.
There was also a monthly ranking, which came with an individual cash prize, but that would only be paid in one lump sum after the competition ended.
She was short on money at the moment, but the operating funds came from the company’s public accounts and wouldn’t end up in her hands anyway.
They would go into the school’s public account, and then she would have to think of a way to squander another sum.
She hoped Fifth Brother really could pull off a dark-horse comeback and take first place by turning public opinion around…
She had just stepped into the foyer and hadn’t even changed her shoes when a lazy voice drifted over from the living room.
“Where have you been? Why are you only getting home now?”
Yu Xiaxing thought she was seeing a ghost. She looked up.
Yu Zheng was dressed very casually today, in a simple brown T-shirt and gray sweatpants. The outfit toned down the murderous edge he usually carried outside, making him look like an ordinary older brother sitting on the sofa and waiting for his sister to come home.
Yu Xiaxing calmly looked away, bent down to change her shoes, then turned back toward the sofa.
Suddenly, she took two steps backward in shock and exclaimed, “Oh, it’s you. Next time, don’t wear brown and sit there. I thought Diandian had pooped on the sofa.”
Yu Zheng: “…”
She really was his sister. Her opening move was an insult, with absolutely no warning whatsoever.
But when he thought about how much she had helped him, he wouldn’t take a little teasing like that to heart.
He patted the seat beside him. “I’ve been waiting for you. Come sit down. We need to talk.”
Yu Xiaxing didn’t say anything. She simply pinched her nose with one hand and fanned the air in front of her with the other.
All the while watching Stranger Things, she hopped backward toward the stairs.
