Yun Sui Bo pulled his phone away from his ear and looked at his wife. "Qing Yuan has a personal lawyer?" he asked.

  Jiang Xin shook her head in confusion. "He never needed one, why?"

  Yun Sui Bo pointed to his phone.

  "I do not wish to talk to you without my son present. I doubt the validity of your claim," Yun Sui Bo said frankly.

  "Mr. Yun, you just called your son several times and he forwarded his words to me. He just wants you to know that if you wish to speak about financial matters, you will have to talk to either me or his power of attorney."

  Yun Sui Bo gulped. He had a bad feeling about this. "He set up a power of attorney?"

  "Yes."

  Yun Sui Bo exhaled deeply. "Yun Qian Meng?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

  "Yes, sir. You can ask me anything you wish to." Li Jun waited for a response but the other had already hung up.

  Yun Sui Bo stared off at the wall before turning to Jiang Xin. "She guessed my move. You were right… She guessed my move."

  "Qian Meng got Qing Yuan a power of attorney?" Jiang Xin asked, surmising from what she could hear.

  Yun Sui Bo huffed. "Who else would give Qing Yuan such ideas?" he barked. "He's an impressionable young man. I was wondering why he was interested in business all of a sudden… This was the case, I see." He looked furious, but he didn't yell.

  The words from Qian Meng were still fresh in his mind. The way she had slowly become brazen and rid herself of any conventional manners while talking to her family.

  "Qing Yuan is smart about most things. But he loves his sister," Jiang Xin tried to smooth over.

  "He hasn't been coming home from university recently either, has he?" he asked.

  "Yes, he told me he wants to be independent now that he is in college," she said in a small voice.

  "It's all part of the plan. We need to reform his believes and love for his sister before he turns against us. One child rebelling is enough. I can't handle two obnoxious ones in the same house."

  Jiang Xin bit her lip. "Qing Yuan is amicable. He goes with whatever people say. I am sure Qian Meng manipulated him into giving up his shares," she urged.

  If Qian Meng had heard these words she would have laughed until her stomach hurt. At least she was upfront about what she wanted. Her father had been toiling away, trying to use every possible connection he could to stay in his place. He could even exploit his own children. Then, she couldn't ask help from her own brother?

  She might have abandoned the rest of her family, but her brother wasn't included in that group.

  "I will find a way to turn the power of attorney rights. I am sure our lawyer can figure something out," Yun Sui Bo said half-heartedly. He turned to Jiang Xin in contemplation. "Actually, I might not need their shares. Your shares are enough."

  There was silence in the room. Seeing that Jiang Xin didn't respond to him, he froze. He turned to her suspiciously and stared.

  "Your shares… you have them, right?" he asked urgently.

  "I… do as the financial advisor tells me to," she responded with a hint of panic.

  "What… what did you do?" he asked, his voice raised slightly.

  "He… he said it wasn't salient to hold on to the shares right now," she muttered.

  "Yun Corporation shares? What did he say exactly?" he asked. He leaned forward and grabbed her shoulder to shake her.

  "He said there was a buyer interested. And that when the prices fall further, I could buy back more at less price!" she cried. "I only wanted to help you."

  His hand fell to the bed and he sagged. He pulled out his phone and dialled the advisor's number. The whole conversation took half an hour. During most of it, Yun Sui Bo shouted, all thoughts of propriety going out of the window.

  After he hung up the phone, he turned to his wife with urgency. "He asked you to consult me. Why didn't you consult me?" he asked desperately.

  "It was so late in the night and I called you several times but you didn't pick up my call!" she said. Her eyes were watery and red from fear. "I really wanted to help you," she said softly, urging him to understand.

  "If I didn't pick up my phone, you should have just waited until I called you back. Why did you sign that night? The papers were processed this morning at the government office. You don't even know who bought it!"

  She gulped. "They made a good offer and I wasn't willing to sell my shares," she defended. "But… but they informed that the offer was only valid for that night and that they would be dropping the offer if I wasn't interested."

  And it was true. In love and money, people felt most acutely when they lost precious objects, not when they possessed it.

  "So… you sold it?" All energy seemed to leave his body.

  "Don't get angry. We can always get it back," she said softly, sobbing.

  "Don't you understand?" he finally recognized defeat. "You were given a few hours to decide if you sold your shares or not. Coincidentally, I was unreachable at the time. The buyer was anonymous and the whole process was completed without twelve hours."

  Jiang Xin blinked.

  "Qian Meng… she used you."

  The two quietened down. "She knows well that you don't understand the stock market well and are prone to panic buying and selling. She made you panic and sell her shares without stepping into the ring."

  This was why Qian Meng was scary. She knew the people around her like the back of her hand and she could play them like a fiddle. She used every possible trick to aid her grand plan.