Chapter 24 The Mastermind

Hotel Presidential Suite

The online meeting was finally over. Fu Jingchen loosened his tie, his movements revealing an almost violent frustration.

During the three-hour video conference, the constant English arguments in his headphones made his ears hurt.

He wearily swallowed a mouthful of espresso, the bitterness spreading in his mouth, which ironically made him feel a little more relaxed.

The assistant knocked and entered, his face seemingly beaming with excitement. "Mr. Fu, you're simply amazing!"

"You found it so easily?" The man pressed his fingers to his temples, unable to hide his exhaustion.

"Our overseas investigations yielded nothing. Domestically, we located the anonymous account through tracing and cross-referencing, but the investigation revealed it to be a random, fake IP address."

"So what?" The man's tone was already tinged with anger, having failed to uncover the key points of the investigation.

The assistant quickly produced the documents. "The key is that we investigated another anonymous account, and after comparison, we confirmed that it had the same behavioral patterns. The target of the operation was a high-ranking member of the Nguyen family, Nguyen Kien Minh."

The man's usually sharp and scrutinizing eyes showed a rare moment of hesitation as he took the documents from his assistant and quickly read through the investigation.

After a quick glance, I understood the other party's intentions.

This behavior clearly indicates that the other party is setting a trap for Ruan Jianming, and it is a fatal trap that will cause Ruan Jianming to lose everything.

Moreover, that person seemed to know Ruan Jianming very well, and had calculated that he would be blinded by greed and make the most avaricious choice. And unsurprisingly, the other party had already reached the point of closing the net.

"We will follow up with the investigation. It seems that this matter concerns the Ruan family. Should we remind Mr. Ruan Jianming?" The assistant asked cautiously, observing Fu Jingchen's expression.

"No need, just schedule a convenient time for me and Mr. Ruan to have a video call."

His original goal was to help Ruan Yingfang's forces bring down Ruan Jianming, but little did he know that someone had already taken action in the shadows, using even more ruthless methods, leaving Ruan Jianming no way out.

It seems that the Ruan family's shareholding structure is about to undergo a major overhaul.

It's unclear whether Ruan Ying considers the other party friend or foe, but to him, these underhanded tactics against NovaVoy undoubtedly indicate a vicious competitor.

He was never one to meddle in other people's business, but since Nguyen was now Nguyen's daughter, he couldn't afford to make any mistakes.

Otherwise, she will be sad.

In the video, Fu Jingchen explained Ruan Jianming's current situation to Ruan Ying, naturally omitting some of the truth, since not many people know the identity of the person in charge of NovaVoy.

"How could this happen? That useless Ruan Jianming actually gambled away his shares on his pipe dream." Ruan Ying's voice trembled slightly, filled with uncontrollable anger.

After ending the video call, Ruan Ying immediately launched an in-depth investigation.

Unsurprisingly, several months ago, Nguyen had shown a tendency to consolidate his scattered shares, with multiple shareholders making acquisitions, but none exceeding the maximum number of shares defined in the written report. Clearly, he wanted to operate discreetly in the shadows.

With these shares added to Ruan Jianming's shares, the conclusion is self-evident.

The treacherous mastermind, stepping on Ruan Jianming's flesh and blood, naturally became one of the core shareholders of the Ruan family.

Ruan Ying was so angry at Ruan Jianming that she slammed the investigation report onto the sandalwood table, causing the papers to fly everywhere.

Even this seemed unable to quell her anger, and she picked up her cherished, exquisite tea set and smashed it on the ground.

The porcelain cup cracked with twisted lines, and shards scattered everywhere. Amidst her heavy breathing, Ruan Ying suddenly froze.

Looking at the mess on the floor, a bitter feeling rose in her throat. The last time she lost control was the day she found out that Cheng Huaiyuan had cheated on her.

"What's wrong with me?" She's never been someone who can't control her emotions, but lately she's been getting irritable and easily angered too often, even though her last medical checkup showed nothing wrong.

Ruan Ying believes it's just that she's getting older and her temper has gotten worse.

The phone screen suddenly lit up on the desktop, and a bright wallpaper filled the entire screen, showing young Ruan Yi sitting in her lap.

She suddenly remembered how her daughter had playfully asked about her health and snuggled into her arms, and a tender feeling welled up inside her.

Ruan Ying took a deep breath and carefully picked up the scattered reports. When the secretary knocked on the door to inquire, her voice had regained its usual calmness.

"Contact cleaning services; they'll clean it in ten minutes."

She seemed to have regained her previous dignified demeanor, as if nothing had happened, but the bloodshot eyes were even more obvious and terrifying under the light.

The man in the hotel was also in a bad mood; he was exhausted but hadn't fallen asleep yet.

Fu Jingchen stared at the message chat box on his phone, which hadn't been updated in a long time, and his body, which was lying down, became a little stiff.

"What are you doing?" the man asked, clicking send.

The contact who sent the message didn't have any text notes, just two very cute emojis, a cat emoji followed by a heart.

The phone vibrated slightly but was not in its owner's hands.

The mute button was pressed, and her long, slender fingers skillfully entered the password for the girl's phone. Without any hesitation, she deleted the received message in a second.

Ruan Yi stopped eating halfway through her meal, and for some reason suddenly felt a tightness in her chest, and her pink ear tips felt inexplicably hot.

"Sister, are you out of food? Then give it to me."

The speaker's tone was gentle, seemingly with boundless indulgence, which soothed Ruan Yi's somewhat agitated thoughts.

Gu Zhi naturally took the sushi that the girl had just touched, looked down at the spot where she had taken a bite, and put the sushi in his mouth.

"I'm feeling a little unwell." Ruan Yi never held back when speaking to him, and she wasn't afraid of spoiling his mood.

After all, in her eyes, her younger brother would always be her most loyal servant.

The girl's voice sounded a little choked. Gu Zhi's slender fingers steadily held the bottom of the grapefruit juice cup and gently brought the straw to her lips.

When the straw touched her tongue, Ruan Yi subconsciously pursed her lips, but a hand gently supported the back of her neck. "Open your mouth, sister." She had no choice but to be fed a few sips.

He placed his palm on Ruan Yi's forehead to check her temperature, then touched her lower abdomen. It was very flat; her lower abdomen would be swollen during her period.

"It's not your period today. Where do you feel uncomfortable? Headache or stomachache? Let me rub it for you, okay?" His voice was full of concern.

"It's not that serious, I just feel a little tightness in my chest." Ruan Yi removed his hands that were checking everywhere.

Does it feel tightness in your chest? He wanted to help massage it, but he knew his sister would slap him if he said it.

"Ah Zhi, you even remember my period? That's amazing! I'm often late, and I can't even remember it myself." Ruan Yi was a little surprised.

"The regular delays are easy to remember."

He can remember and distinguish his sister's ovulation and luteal phases perfectly, not just her menstrual cycle.

He could even clearly distinguish which days Ruan Yi's scent would become more moist and alluring.

If there were a competition in this world titled "Who Understands Ruan Yi's Body Best"...

Then Ruan Yi herself definitely won't be the one to get first place.