Chapter 204 Chu Yunfei Submits

Tangdi Pharmaceutical, temporary office.

Qin Zheng pushed open the door, stepped aside, and gestured for them to enter.

Chu Yunfei clenched her fists and went inside.

Inside the house, the woman named Bai Shu was standing with her back to the door, by the window, holding an enamel cup and sipping hot water.

Hearing the noise, she slowly turned around.

Chu Yunfei's heart skipped a beat.

It was still that face, very much like Su Wantang's. But now, that face no longer held the gentle, harmless smile it had in the Lu family compound; instead, it held an almost cold calm.

The woman's gaze fell upon her from head to toe, devoid of any emotion, as if she were examining an inanimate object.

This scrutiny made Chu Yunfei extremely uncomfortable.

"Sit down." Bai Shu pointed to the only wooden chair opposite him for guests, and then walked behind the desk and sat down.

She picked up the thermos on the table, poured half a cup of hot water into a clean, empty cup in front of Chu Yunfei, and pushed it over. The whole process was unhurried and elegant.

"Captain Chu, what are your thoughts on the future of our 'Tangdi Pharmaceuticals'?" Bai Shu asked softly, with a hint of a smile in his voice.

This abrupt remark left Chu Yunfei speechless, all the questions she had prepared stuck in her throat. She felt like a clown punching cotton.

"Don't give me that!" Chu Yunfei forced herself to maintain her composure, sitting upright, and demanded sharply, "Who exactly are you? Weren't you supposed to be dead in Shanghai? Why are you in Beijing? What is your purpose in approaching Jiang Fan? And what is your relationship with Lu Jingyan?!"

A barrage of questions came out like a machine gun.

Bai Zhu did not answer immediately, but simply picked up his enamel cup and took another sip of water.

The office was eerily quiet, with only the ticking of the second hand on the wall clock.

Chu Yunfei felt her aura being gradually worn away in this silence.

"Captain Chu." Bai Shu finally put down his cup, raised his eyes, and looked at her with clear eyes, asking in return, "Do you think that with Lu Jingyan's standards, he would fall in love with a woman who only depends on men?"

Chu Yunfei was taken aback.

This question voiced the deepest confusion in her heart. Yes, how could someone like Lu Jingyan be interested in Su Wantang, a pretty face with nothing to offer?

"I……"

Before she could organize her thoughts, Bai Shu continued, albeit in a modified version.

“When I left the Su family, I was penniless. My only belongings were a small bundle that Wang Ma had packed for me.”

"When I arrived in Shanghai, I used the connections my mother had left me to take over a restaurant that was about to go bankrupt. To gain a foothold, I personally oversaw the renovations and slept only four hours a day. To make a name for myself, I silenced the entire Shanghai food scene with just one dish."

“Qin Zheng,” she glanced toward the door, “when I found him, his leg had been broken and he was left to die in a stinking ditch in the slums. I pulled him back from the brink of death. Now, he is the head of the security department of Tangdi Group, in charge of hundreds of people, all of whom are tough guys who have been through the war just like him.”

Bai Shu's gaze returned to Chu Yunfei's face. Her eyes were calm, but they made Chu Yunfei feel a strange sense of unease.

"I started planning this move in Beijing the moment I decided to head north. I bought these hundreds of acres of land, got the factory permits, and sorted out all the relationships in just one month."

She extended a slender finger and gently tapped another document on the table.

"This is the equity certificate of 'Haitang Technology'. Zhou Jimin, do you know him? He's a leading figure in the domestic semiconductor industry. Now, he's my Chief Technology Officer. What we're developing is at least ten years ahead of its time."

“Jiang Fan, that’s right, I was the one who approached him. Because it would be a waste for him to spend his brain arguing with those old academics in college. With me, he can get back everything his parents lost in less than three years.”

Every word Bai Shu said was like a bombshell, exploding in Chu Yunfei's mind.

She had considered countless possibilities, but she never imagined that the truth would be like this.

The weak woman she had always thought of, clinging to Lu Jingyan, the Su Wantang who could only stand firm in the compound because of her family background, had actually... actually built such a huge business empire on her own, in places they couldn't see.

This is simply a fantasy!

Bai Shu leaned forward slightly, placed his hands on the table, and looked at Chu Yunfei, whose face had turned deathly pale, his tone still gentle.

"All that I've done isn't to be worthy of anyone, but to help myself and the people I care about stand taller and live more safely. Lu Jingyan loves me not because I'm pretty, nor because I can cook a few dishes to please him. It's because we're the same kind of people, comrades who can entrust their backs to each other and fight side by side."

She paused, then finally uttered the most hurtful words.

"And you, Captain Chu, your world is too small."

"boom--"

Chu Yunfei felt as if her world had completely collapsed.

"Your world is too small."

These words shattered all the pride and confidence she had built up over the past twenty years.

Yes, it's too small.

What was she doing? She was fiercely competitive in the army, even rolling around in the mud with male soldiers for a promotion. She tried to get Lu Jingyan's attention by showing off her supposed cleverness. She even held a grudge against a student for being unruly.

Her vision and her perspective were limited to the military compound and to matters of personal relationships.

But what about others?

He started from scratch in Shanghai, is now making waves in Beijing, and is laying the groundwork for a technological landscape that can influence the future of the country.

What one is so proud of about their family background may just be a resource to be exploited in the eyes of the other party. What one is so proud of about their military rank and abilities may seem so ridiculous and naive in the face of the other party's strategic planning and decisive business tactics.

She always regarded Su Wantang as a rival in love and was scheming to outdo her.

But in the end, she realized that the other party had never taken her seriously.

I felt like a child playing in the mud on the ground, showing off to the eagles in the sky how beautiful the clay figurines I had made were.

A wave of immense shame and frustration overwhelmed her.

She could no longer hold on; her shoulders began to tremble uncontrollably, and tears streamed down her face without warning. These were not tears of grievance, but rather the utter collapse of shame after her pride had been completely shattered.

A clean handkerchief was gently placed on the table in front of her.

Su Wantang had already stood up and walked to her side without her noticing.

“You can continue to like him; that’s your freedom.” Su Wantang’s voice regained some warmth. “I never interfere with other people’s feelings.”

“But,” her voice suddenly turned cold, “if you turn this affection into harassment and threats against me and my family, then I will make you and the Chu family behind you pay an unbearable price. I mean what I say.”

These words were not a threat, but a statement.

An ultimatum from an existence so powerful she could not resist.

Chu Yunfei hastily wiped away her tears with the back of her hand, picked up the handkerchief, blew her nose forcefully, and then suddenly stood up.

She looked at the woman in front of her, the woman who had made her admit defeat, and spoke in a hoarse voice.

"I...I will still like him."

She took a deep breath, as if using all her strength.

"But I won't bother you anymore. You two... are a good match."

After saying that, she didn't even dare to look at the other person again. She turned around, opened the door, and fled the suffocating office in a disheveled state.

Watching the fleeing figure, Su Wantang slowly withdrew her gaze, a barely perceptible smile curving her lips.

A love rival?

No, Chu Yunfei was never like that.

She was merely a harmless scene in Lu Jingyan's life journey.