“My good lass, what are you saying? In my heart, you are this family’s future daughter-in-law, but with Pei Ge’s pregnancy, I can only let you suffer a bit. Don’t worry; auntie will definitely treat you as my daughter. Even though she is pregnant and may one day marry my son, you can still stay with us. You can stay for as long as you want.”


  “Thank you.” Qu Jingwan’s red lips curled up, the affection in her eyes touching the older woman.

  She hugged her and put her head on the latter’s shoulder, secretly showing a smug smile. “Auntie, you truly treat me the best. You’re even dearer than my mother to me.”


  “You’re truly the best at coaxing me. Speaking about your mother, I should find a time to speak with her about you and my son. Once we’ve understood Pei Ge’s situation fully, I’ll make a visit to your house, alright?”


  “Alright. I can’t wait for auntie to come visit my home. Still, you must promise me not to tell mom about my misunderstanding with your son here. I’m scared of her worrying.”


  “Sigh…… A daughter is still the best. My son only knows how to worry me.”


  Madam Ji patted her back reassuringly and then dragged out her words meaningfully. “No matter what, I acknowledge you as my daughter.”


  The smile on the young lady’s red lips deepened. Her plan was slowly playing out.

  Inside Red Star’s meeting room, Cheng Liqing hurriedly chased the row of beauties in cheongsam out of the room and berated them in the hallway loudly. None of the ladies dared to speak at all as they wept with their heads lowered.

  Ji Ziming sat on the sofa and crossed his legs. His clean and sparkling Veilisr leather shoes enhanced his nobility as he looked at Pei Ge with a smile. Meanwhile, the latter had her head lowered and was reading the file in her hand, checking for any errors.

  He already knew the acquisition by heart. Four times the price was way too high, and he had already reached an agreement with this company’s chairman to acquire it at two times the price. Still, the chairman had his request, too, and that was for him to find the spy in this company. He must find who had leaked the company secrets to their competitors, causing it to be unable to receive a bank loan and to be on the verge of bankruptcy.

  The only way out for them was to be acquired by a bigger company.

  Ji Ziming’s gaze scanned the meeting room, which was about fifty square meters. None of the employees seemed to be a spy, but all were also suspicious.

  This was especially so of the man standing outside the door, berating the employees using his position of authority.

  His eyes twinkled. The first time he saw Cheng Liqing, he knew that the man was no spy. An actual spy would not be this dumb to expose their weakness to others. This was a taboo to their profession. Clearly, that guy did not understand this concept; hence, it made the spy even more mysterious.

  “Sir, my apologies for the farce you had to witness. Those ladies were insensible and used the same method when our chairman was around. Now that I’ve scolded them, this won’t happen again.”


  “If you chase them out now, how will you be able to increase the stakes in the future when discussing business?”


  He derisively revealed the manager’s intention, making the latter feel stunned and awkward. His back was drenched in sweat.

  “Sir is right. I’ll have to consider whether to continue this practice.”


  “Leave it. After all, those women are useful for some people.” The man’s cold eyes were akin to sharp knives laced with poison as they directly dug into the manager’s chest.

  Cheng Liqing quickly grabbed some tissue from the table to wipe his sweat. “Sir is right.”


  In his eyes, the man was definitely a demon. He was rumored to be a cold and aloof businessman with a high IQ. Having finally met him, he was even more frightened of him. He did not dare to speak nonsense or even bend facts in front of him.

  He lowered his head. “Our chairman has agreed to madam’s suggestion for the acquisition to be twice the price. If it is fine, we can sign the contract now.”


  “Manager Cheng, why are you not raising your head? Is there something dirty on my wife’s face?”


  Ji Ziming’s cold voice made the guy not dare to raise his head even more. The former’s eyes were like CCTV, making him feel as though his every move was being monitored. He was even regretting being forward toward the woman earlier.

  “Sir is so humorous. Ma’am is such a noble person, so how can there be anything dirty on her? It’s just that my neck isn’t feeling well…… Yes, my neck is no good. I may have strained it from a wrong sleeping posture last night. Please don’t mind me.”


  “Hmph. If you aren’t feeling well, you should go see a doctor. It isn’t good for your health to drag it out. How about going to the hospital to look at it after we finish our discussion of this contract?”


  The man’s light snort was like thunder in Cheng Liqing’s ears. The worst thing he had ever done was ogle the woman. He finally understood that this man was not only cold and aloof but also a crazy wife-protector. His biggest mistake was acting sleazy before this man.

  “Manager Cheng, I brought the contract with me and have already checked it. If there are no problems, we can sign it now.” Pei Ge could see that the poor guy was being tortured by Ji Ziming so much so that he did not even have the courage to look up anymore.

  “Yes, we can sign it now!” The manager raised his head slightly. When he met the man’s sharp and cold gaze, the sweat glands on his back immediately became active again. Luckily for him, he was wearing a black suit, or else if others in the company were to see his back drenched in sweat from signing a contract, he might end up as a laughingstock.

  “Ma’am, I’ll go get a pen. Please wait a moment.” He stood up and took a fountain pen from another table. Ji Ziming could identify that this fountain pen was not something someone with this manager’s status could use.

  Just as the woman moved to receive it from the guy, he stopped her. “Use mine.”


  He then took out a pen; it was a black Aurora fountain pen with his English initials carved on its cap. The woman was slightly taken aback, for this pen was a limited-edition worldwide. It was considered the Rolls-Royce of the pen community. It was only sold to aristocrats, and there were only two hundred of it globally.