Sowing discord

As night fell, Gu Nan and the police chief fought a fierce battle, with Gu Nan ultimately winning by driving the police chief outside.

Before lying down, I habitually open all the systems and check them.

The main account has several long messages about Ye Xu.

[It's over. Our big boss finally started to act like a decent person, but somehow he offended the Lu family. Lu Yushi has ordered all businesses to be permanently barred from cooperating with any company that moves into the new West District development.]

[The companies that received similar notices from the Lu family last time are long gone; our company might go bankrupt.]

When are you going to deliver the three nautilus shells you promised me? I'll be relying on them to make a living from now on.

Gu Nan frowned more and more, propped herself up, pulled over the computer, and hurriedly opened it. The screen was full of unread emails, one of which stood out the most.

[Sister Nan, the Lu family insists on seeing you. If they can't do it openly, they'll try something covert. The sales rate for the West District property development was 69% on its opening day, and 40% of those sales have already been confirmed as defaults. For the rest, they are trying to minimize the penalties for breach of contract.]

The West District is likely doomed.

Gu Nan gritted her teeth, her heart sinking. She raised her hand and rubbed her lips hard, her expression cold and fierce, squeezing out a few words through her teeth.

"Lu Yushi, you're awesome."

She switched her phone to a different system, and coincidentally, Lu Yushi's message appeared at the top, asking her to schedule the next hypnosis session.

She closed her eyes to compose herself.

Clenching my fist tightly, I suppressed the wicked thoughts surging within me.

The Lu family has declared that the western district is indeed facing significant challenges in its development.

If a newly built building profits from breach of contract penalties, it would be a laughing stock.

Lost in thought, I noticed a new email notification on my computer.

The West District project has consumed enormous financial, material, and human resources. If we can't hold onto it, the project's losses will exceed 100 million, directly impacting next year's plans and future reputation. Perhaps I should visit the Lu family and sound them out?

After a restless night, Gu Nan replied to the email the next day with a somber expression.

【Need not. 】

We've always kept to ourselves with the five great families, so the Lu family's actions are simply a way of blaming us for not giving them face and deliberately causing trouble. I'll go there; the outcome won't be worse than it is now. If the Lu family is willing to be lenient, there might still be room for negotiation.

Gu Nan scoffed inwardly, "Why should I?"

The Lu family is probably used to being domineering in Beicheng. They do whatever they want. If the other party cooperates, everyone is happy. If they don't cooperate, they will force them to their death.

Gu Nan's expression grew increasingly cold. After a long moment of contemplation with lowered eyelashes, she dialed a number and asked, "Who is Shen Ming?"

"The eldest son of the Shen family."

Gu Nan's eyes flickered, and her tapping on the notebook stopped abruptly. She stroked her chin and murmured, "The Shen family..."

It wasn't unfamiliar; the Shen and Lu families were locked in a fierce battle behind the scenes, but both were powerful and influential clans, and no matter how fiercely they fought each other in private, they always maintained a harmonious facade.

She fell into silent contemplation; the room was quiet.

The sheriff opened the door and came in. His four paws landed silently, and he jumped onto the foot of the bed, curled up, and went to sleep.

The bed suddenly sank, bringing Gu Nan back to her senses.

After a moment, his brow relaxed, and a slight smile slowly curved his lips. He looked up; the screen was black, reflecting a sinister smiling face.

I thought to myself, since you're so free, I'll help you find something to do.

"Arrange a pre-sale banquet for the West District property development and send an invitation to the Shen family."

The person on the other end hesitated, as if wanting to say something but stopping themselves: "You want to win over the Shen family to deal with the Lu family? That probably won't work. The Shen family won't break ties with the Lu family for the time being, and with the warning given by the Lu family, probably... not many people will come to the banquet."

Gu Nan's tone was playful, her eyebrows slightly curved, and her smile didn't reach her eyes, "You just need to exaggerate the publicity about sending the invitation to the Shen family, you don't need to worry about anything else."

After hanging up the phone, she opened her laptop, switched IPs, and her fingers flew across the keyboard. Five minutes later, the progress bar loaded at a steady pace and stopped at the last 99%.

She pinched the bridge of her nose, released the keyboard, and gazed out the window.

The sun grew more scorching each day, the cicadas' chirping sounded weak and listless, and even the flowers in front of the window could hardly withstand the heat, drooping their heads withered.

A "ding-dong" sound.

I snapped back to reality. Loading was complete, and the page displayed the Lu Group's internal system.

Gu Nan rested her chin on her hand, scrolled through the menu with the mouse, and finally clicked into the encrypted system. She found a number and lazily typed it in.

Good morning, Mr. Lu.

【Who are you? 】

Gu Nan raised an eyebrow. Unlike Lu Yushi, who would ask such a question, it was probably his assistant.

[The light of the righteous path.]

[Knowing that your young master Lu has done many wrong things, I've come here specifically to help him pass on to the afterlife.]

【You're welcome. 】

The time in the lower right corner ticked by, but the other party did not reply for a long time. The number of times the firewall was attacked increased frequently, and the cumulative number of attacks was approaching three digits.

She felt sorry for Qiangqiang and kindly advised, "Don't waste your energy."

What do you want to do?

In the blink of an eye, two more attacks were launched.

Gu Nan smiled wryly, mentally refining the internal message she had just seen, and typed: "Our AI research and development is not easy. If Young Master Lu interferes again, I won't be polite."

[Are you N? Did the Shen family send you?]

The login time displayed at the top was 9 minutes and 10 seconds. Gu Nan did not reply, closed the interface, and logged out.

The cursor blinks; a new email has been delivered.

[Sister Nan, the dinner is scheduled for August 13th.]

Gu Nan: [Yes, let's get more media outlets to promote it.]

The email was sent, the interface automatically returned, and the remaining unread emails continued to flash. Gu Nan glanced at them quickly from top to bottom, shut down the computer, turned on her phone to ignore the 99+ unread messages, found the chat window with Xiaohua's profile picture, and started typing.

On the evening of August 9th, I purchased an apartment in the Xingzilou West District development.

After finishing everything, he opened the chat box with Ye Xu. She hadn't replied last night, but added a few more messages today.

She scrolled up a few pages of chat history.

His expression was mixed: "I remember there were two pieces."

Ye Xu didn't dwell on the few dollars and called to complain: "Our boss seems to be brain-dead. Instead of trying to beg the Lu family at this critical moment, he's foolishly hosting a banquet and inviting the Shen family. Please, who does he think he is? Why does he think the Shen family would stand against the Lu family for his sake?"

Gu Nan curled her lips into a cold smile, saying that the Shen family had no choice but to agree.

"I can already picture the banquet being completely empty. Losing money is one thing, since it won't affect me, but it's so embarrassing, so incredibly embarrassing. I want to quit my job."

"Want to resign?"

Ye Xu solemnly said, "Before resigning, first drill into the big boss's brain and see if it's full of parasites!"

Gu Nan paused, pursed her lips, and silently retorted, "Your brain is just a big worm, and you've grown a head on a big worm."

"Hang up."

"Hey, when will I cash out my Nautilus?"

"Next life."

The sound of cleaning could be heard outside the door. Gu Nan lowered her head and thought to herself that she needed to find an excuse to go to Beicheng.

While aimlessly scrolling through my phone, Wan Yi's name caught my eye.

She pondered for a moment, no wonder she felt much quieter lately, it seemed like Wan Yi hadn't bothered her for a long time.

"Brother, how's your wound healing? Where are you? I'd like to come visit you."

Wan Yi: "Thank you for your hard work. I was in the hospital for a month, and you finally remembered me on the first day after I was discharged."

Gu Nan tapped her phone: "Why don't you go back and stay another day?"

"?"

Gu Nan earnestly recommended herself: "Give me a chance to show my skills."

"So you're going to take those spicy snacks and milk tablets that you can't get rid of?"

"What? The orange wasn't sour enough that you don't even remember it?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of fabric rustling came from the other end of the phone, followed by a soft hiss. Wan Yi tried his best to suppress the trembling in his voice as he spoke: "What do you want?"

A few groans were still clearly transmitted through the voice.

Gu Nan asked in surprise, "You had someone do it so early in the morning?"

Wan Yi took a deep breath, chuckled, and sounded to be in a good mood: "Help me get revenge?"

Gu Nan clicked her tongue: "When will you get rid of your overconfidence?"

Wan Yi snorted but didn't reply.

After a while, he asked again, "What happened?"

Gu Nan: "Can't I chat with you for no reason?"

Wan Yi said disdainfully, "Can you find our communication history on your phone since we met? Go and see if the number of times you contacted me first is one to one with the number of times you contacted me for something."

Gu Nan remained silent and lowered her head.

The call duration gradually increased.

Wan Yi waited a while, but didn't receive a reply. He laughed and said, "Are you being tormented by your conscience?"

"I wonder if your enemies haven't had enough to eat. You're so talkative, but you haven't been heavy-handed enough."

Gu Nan rubbed her ears, wondering if she was hallucinating, but she felt like there was a grinding sound coming from the other end of the phone.

And the sound of inhaling that is squeezed out of the throat due to pain.

Her expression tightened slightly. Wan Yi had been in the boxing ring for many years, and he was constantly suffering from minor injuries and pains. Although he was confident that he could challenge all the champions, given the disparity in strength, his self-awareness came out even earlier than his punches, and he never suffered a loss in the short term.

Therefore, he has not suffered any serious injuries over the years.

"Give me your address, I'll come see you tomorrow."

Wan Yi paused for a moment, then refused: "No, given our relationship, I'm afraid you'll bring my enemies with you."

"Stop talking nonsense, here's the address."

After he finished speaking, there was no response from the other side.

After waiting a while, Gu Nan frowned and put her phone away. The call time was still accumulating, but the person on the other end didn't speak.

She let out a sigh of relief, declaring that her patience had run out.

Without saying a word, I opened the laptop, and soon a red dot appeared on the blue screen.

"Wait, I'll find you tomorrow."

Once again, it vanished without a trace.

After catching his breath twice, Wan Yi still didn't speak.

Just as she was wondering if Wan Yi had fainted, she finally heard human voices.

"Could you help me contact J?"

"You have insomnia?"

"I've heard that you can see the people you want to see after being hypnotized."

Gu Nan wanted to say that was hypnosis, proper learning content. Being able to see whoever you want is called hallucination, and that kind of thing is illegal. She wouldn't do it.

Seeing Wan Yi's low spirits, she licked her lips, swallowed the words on the tip of her tongue, and readily agreed.

"OK."

Promising to Wan Yi was easy, but figuring out how to make J appear in front of Wan Yi in a reasonable way was more of a brain drain.

When meeting others, you can simply put on a mask and sunglasses. But having spent too much time with Wan Yi, even a casual gesture can reveal your identity.

She searched through her contacts for a long time, finally finding Sister Yan's number. Her finger hovered over the dial button, but she didn't dial it for a long time.

Sister Yan has the backing of the Wan family, but she doesn't know Wan Yi. Judging from Wan Yi's reaction, he doesn't seem to remember Sister Yan either.

After much deliberation, I still felt it wasn't safe enough, so I gave up.

The contact list was scrolled through from beginning to end again. Finding a woman who was easy to fool or not very curious, and who would never cross paths with Wan Yi in this lifetime, was much more difficult than imagined.

"Knock knock knock".

Gu Shuping knocked on the door.

"Nannan, are you up? Breakfast is ready."

Gu Nan responded loudly, "I'm changing my clothes, I'll be right there."

After taking off my pajamas, the daisy pendant clung to my chest, bringing a slight coolness.

She stroked the necklace, and a thought flashed in her eyes.

Switch the phone's operating system, find Lu Yu, and dial his number.

"It's urgent, please help me. Send me the contact information for fake J."

The other side remained silent.

"Can't a grown man stop being so petty?" Gu Nan pouted and muttered under his breath, "No wonder he's so old and no one wants him."

After waiting for a while, there was still no sound. Gu Nan picked up the phone and saw that the call had been disconnected.

She laughed in exasperation, pressed her tongue against her back teeth, and dialed the number again.

"Give me your contact information. I'll just consider it a dog bite and not hold it against you for kissing me."

"No."

Gu Nan frowned as she watched the phone hang up again, not understanding why Lu Yushi sounded so angry when she had been so magnanimous. What right did he, someone who had taken advantage of her, have to be angry?

The people in the small conference room of the senior department of Lu's Group were equally puzzled. Young Master Lu did not seem like the kind of person who would molest a girl, but judging from his icy profile, it seemed that the girl on the other end of the phone was not lying.

It seemed like he was angry out of embarrassment?

Meeting adjourned.

Qiu Jingxun swallowed hard, glancing at Sun Qian out of the corner of his eye and giving her a reassuring look.

Question: "Did you kiss her?"

"Cough cough."

Sun Qian pounded his chest, struggling to swallow the saliva that had almost choked him. Lu Yushi glanced at him coldly, and Sun Qian's eyelids twitched. He gave Qiu Jingxun a resentful look, then silently stood up and said in a low voice, "Young Master Lu, I'll go get the meeting minutes first."

Qiu Jingxun stared blankly as Sun Qian slipped away, then saw Lu Yushi's cold face and silence. He raised his voice incredulously, "You really kissed her?"