Chapter 3 The Insider in the Ruan Family's Bankruptcy
The rain is still falling.
The lights of the Ruan family villa shone through the damp night, carrying a warm yellow hue.
The door to the entrance was pushed open, and Ruan Yao walked in.
The warm light and the aroma of food in the room instantly enveloped her.
It was her favorite dish, made by her mother.
"Yaoyao?" Su Wanqing poked her head out from the kitchen, her face showing undisguised surprise upon seeing her daughter. "Why are you back so early? Is Tangtang's birthday party over?"
Ruan Yao looked at her.
My mother's face showed no signs of illness or haggardness; her complexion was rosy, her eyes were gentle, and she was still a healthy and beautiful woman.
Instead of the frail, emaciated figure who could only survive on IV drips.
Ruan Yao felt a lump in her throat and couldn't hold back any longer. She rushed over and hugged Su Wanqing tightly.
"mom."
Her voice was muffled, buried in her mother's neck, and her body trembled slightly from suppressed sobs.
Su Wanqing stumbled from the bump, but quickly regained her balance and patted her back with a mixture of amusement and concern.
"How old are you? Still acting like a baby. Like a little cannonball."
As Su Wanqing spoke, she hugged her even tighter.
She caught a faint scent of rain and alcohol on Ruan Yao's body, and her brows immediately furrowed.
"What's wrong? Did someone bully you?"
"What happened?"
Ruan Minghui's voice came from the study on the second floor. He walked down the stairs and saw the mother and daughter hugging each other. The serious expression on his face softened.
The sound of crunching came from the stairs. Ruan Sheng, with a potato chip in his mouth, leaned out from the second-floor railing.
"Hey, what's wrong with our little princess? Who upset you? Tell me, and I'll get revenge for you."
His gaze fell on the long-handled black umbrella at Ruan Yao's feet, and he whistled.
"You even brought back other people's things. Whose are these?"
Her father's concern and her brother's teasing struck a chord in Ruan Yao's heart, making her feel even more real that she had truly been reborn.
In her previous life, after the Ruan family went bankrupt, her mother, who always loved beauty, fell seriously ill due to the betrayal of her relatives.
The once shrewd and capable father turned white-haired overnight, devastated by the betrayal of his family and the collapse of his career, becoming silent and aged.
And then there's the older brother, who had his leg broken when he went to confront Su Mingyuan, and he never recovered from that.
And now, everything is fine.
All the grievances and fears from my past life have transformed into immense relief at this moment.
Ruan Yao took a deep breath, lifted her head from her mother's arms, and gave a sweet smile.
"No, I just had a few drinks at the bar and my stomach wasn't feeling well, so I came back first."
She sniffed, looked towards the dining table, and her voice returned to its usual tone, with a touch of coquettishness, "It smells so good! I can smell the sweet and sour pork ribs."
"You little glutton." Su Wanqing gave her a reproachful look, then pulled her hand and walked towards the dining room. "Go wash your hands, we'll be eating soon."
At the dinner table, the family enjoyed a harmonious and happy time together.
Ruan Minghui took off his glasses, wiped them with a soft cloth, and asked her carefully where she wanted to go on her graduation trip.
Ruan Sheng chimed in, stuffing a big mouthful of rice into his mouth, saying he wanted to go to a tropical island to see bikini-clad beauties, only to be tapped on the head by Su Wanqing.
Warm lighting, family laughter, the crisp sound of clinking bowls and chopsticks, and the steaming aroma of food.
The warm atmosphere almost brought tears to Ruan Yao's eyes.
She ate her rice in small bites, feeling like a person drowning in the deep sea who had finally returned to a solid shore, each breath feeling grounded and precious.
She tried her best to play the carefree young lady of the Ruan family from the past, enjoying this hard-won happiness.
“We were just talking about this,” Su Wanqing suddenly remembered something, and smiled as she picked up a piece of fish and put it into Ruan Yao’s bowl, “Your cousin has been working really hard at the company lately. A few days ago, he even took several rounds of drinks for your dad and threw up when he got back. He’s really grown up and knows how to care for others.”
Ruan Yao paused in her act of picking up food.
"Him?" Ruan Sheng scoffed. "He's just incompetent and all he does is suck up. He's been pestering Dad to promote him again, hasn't he? He was saying the other day that he wanted to be the deputy manager of the project department. He doesn't even know his own limitations."
"Eat your food." Ruan Minghui glared at his son.
Su Wanqing also sighed, somewhat agreeing with her son's words.
“Your cousin is ambitious, but he still lacks the ability to improve and needs more experience. But we’re all family, so we’ll help him out if we can.”
Ruan Yao lowered her eyes, hiding all her emotions behind her long eyelashes. Her chopsticks unconsciously poked at the plump grains of rice in her bowl, and she remained silent.
After finishing her meal, Ruan Yao excused herself by saying she was a little tired and went back to her room.
The moment the door closed, it shut out the warm laughter and chatter from downstairs.
She sank into the soft princess bed, her face buried in the familiar, fragrant bedding, enveloped by the unique, comforting atmosphere of this home.
Everything here is exactly the same as Ruan Yao remembers.
Clean, warm, and full of traces of being loved.
Unlike later times, when the place was sealed off and all the precious furniture was sold off cheaply, leaving only a mess and a cold, empty space.
Ruan Yao closed her eyes, recalling the conversation at the dinner table.
My cousin, Su Mingyuan.
The culprit behind the Ruan family's bankruptcy.
In her previous life, the Ruan family developed a core technology with great potential, which caught the eye of the Zhou family, who were in the same field.
After the Zhou family's attempt to acquire the Ruan family was rejected, they began a series of malicious actions, but because the father acted cautiously, they could not find an opportunity to make a move.
Su Mingyuan was the breakthrough they found.
In his past life, Su Mingyuan was lured into a casino by the Zhou family, who set him up step by step, causing him to become addicted to gambling and incur huge gambling debts.
To repay his debts, he embezzled public funds from the Ruan family. Finally, under coercion and enticement from the Zhou family, he signed a huge guarantee contract with the company's official seal, which directly led to the Ruan family's cash flow breaking down, forcing them into bankruptcy and leaving them with an astronomical debt.
Each move is interconnected and deadly.
The Ruan family's company was thus hollowed out from within by this mole.
In their past life, their family was completely deceived by Su Mingyuan's eloquent words and feigned honesty, which led to their utter disarray and the disaster that followed.
Ruan Yao turned over and stared at the magnificent crystal chandelier on the ceiling.
Now, rush downstairs and tell your parents about Su Mingyuan?
no.
She nipped the idea in the bud as soon as it popped into her head.
Su Mingyuan is not yet involved in gambling. In his parents' eyes, he is just a relative with mediocre abilities but a sweet tongue and good at getting things done.
Accusing my cousin of having ulterior motives without any evidence will only make things worse.
Moreover, my mother has always valued family ties. After my maternal grandparents passed away, she often said that my uncle's family was her only family in the world.
Dad might get suspicious, but without evidence, he could at most give Su Mingyuan a few words of reprimand, which would only alert Su Mingyuan.
Ruan Yao sat up in bed.
She can't do that.
Even if Su Mingyuan is kicked out of the company, it won't solve the fundamental problem.
In his previous life, Su Mingyuan's downfall was not only due to his own greed and stupidity, but also inseparable from the resentment he had accumulated over the years.
He wanted to climb the ladder, but his parents always felt he wasn't capable enough and held back from getting a promotion.
Although my uncle's family didn't say it, they probably already felt that the Ruan family looked down on them.
Resentment in people's hearts, once given the opportunity, will grow like wild grass and become uncontrollable.
Most importantly, the Zhou family, the executioners who bankrupted the Ruan family, are the ones we need to be most wary of.
Since the Zhou family has their eyes on the Ruan family, they would have gone after Li Mingyuan or Wang Mingyuan even without Su Mingyuan.
By then, she will be unable to predict the Zhou family's actions and will only become more passive.
Moonlight filtered through the gauze curtains, casting a hazy glow on Ruan Yao.
She hugged her teddy bear, her gaze falling on the long-handled black umbrella beside the bedside table, when suddenly Huo Yanzhi's calm face appeared in her mind.
That man never makes unfounded defenses.
He always manages to pinpoint his opponent's weaknesses, setting up one intricate trap after another to lure his prey into walking into it, ultimately annihilating them completely, leaving not even a bone fragment behind.
Calm, precise, ruthless.
At the time, she only felt fear, but now, looking back, she sees it as a reassuring kind of strength.
She followed him around and learned some things from what she saw and heard.
Ruan Yao blinked, her moist eyes now clear and bright.
Rather than guarding against thieves for a thousand days, it's better to... let Su Mingyuan's knife, following the trajectory of his previous life, be held in the hands of the Zhou family.
This time, however, she is the one who holds the hilt of the knife.
If the Zhou family wants to take advantage of Su Mingyuan's greed, then let them reap what they sow.
More importantly, she wanted to show her parents Su Mingyuan's true colors and completely eradicate the hidden danger lurking around her uncle's family.
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