Chapter 2: The Conspiracy Behind the Velvet Curtain

He Junjie asked Miaomei to meet him at his law office. By then it was nearly midnight. He was a middle-aged man with a stern face but sincere eyes, the only person Song Yongkang had trusted to manage the family’s important legal documents before his death.

“Miaomei,” he began gravely, “I have to apologize for not telling you sooner. But I needed to be certain before making any accusations.”

He set a thick file on the desk. Inside were copies of share transfers, board meeting minutes, and internal emails he had quietly gathered over the past six months.

“Zhou Yingyue has been secretly negotiating with the Chengfeng Group for more than a year,” He Junjie explained. “Not for a simple business partnership, but for a backroom deal: if you married Bai Chengkang, your shares would automatically be transferred into a joint trust managed by both families. In other words, real control would fall into her hands and the Bai family’s.”

Miaomei clenched her fists, fury rising in her chest. “And Chengkang and Kewei…?”

“That may have been a variable outside the original plan,” he replied. “But in my view, it’s possible Zhou Yingyue knew about it beforehand and deliberately let it happen. She may even have set it up herself. If Chengkang married Kewei instead of you, the assets and the ties to Chengfeng would still stay with her side of the family, while you, the largest shareholder, would be pushed to the margins. A pitiful jilted bride in the public eye, stripped of the support you’d need to fight for control of the company.”

Miaomei closed her eyes. The last pieces had clicked into place. For three years she had naively believed her stepmother truly wanted harmony, that her sister truly saw her as a sister. It had all been a carefully calculated game, and she had been the piece meant to be sacrificed from the very start.

“So what do I do now?” she asked, her voice calm again.

“You still legally hold fifty percent of the shares,” He Junjie said. “Under your father’s will, as long as you don’t voluntarily transfer them, no one has the right to take them. But the problem is that most of the current executive team are people Zhou Yingyue has planted over the past three years. If you want to take back real control, you need a strong enough ally and a sharp enough strategy.”

At that moment, He Junjie’s phone rang. He answered, and his expression slowly changed to surprise. When he hung up, he turned to Miaomei with a complicated look.

“Here’s an interesting development,” he said. “The Yuelong Group, Chengfeng’s biggest direct competitor in real estate, just contacted my office. They’d like to meet with you privately tomorrow morning.”

“Yuelong?” Miaomei frowned. “How did they find out about me so fast?”

“The video of your broken engagement tonight has gone viral on social media,” He Junjie replied, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly. “The entire Lincheng business world is talking about it. Maybe this is exactly the opportunity you need. Yuelong wants to know whether you could work together against Chengfeng.”

The next morning, Miaomei arrived at Yuelong’s headquarters as arranged. She was shown into a luxurious meeting room on the top floor, where a man stood with his back to the door, looking out over the whole city.

When he turned around, Miaomei couldn’t help being stunned for a moment. It was Gu Yichen, the youngest CEO in Yuelong’s history, whom the media liked to call “the iceberg” of Lincheng’s business world for his cold, decisive manner and the way he almost never showed emotion in public.

“Miss Song,” he said in a steady voice, his sharp eyes sizing her up from head to toe, “I watched the video last night. The way you handled that situation was… impressive.”

“I don’t think you invited me here to compliment my public acting skills,” Miaomei replied evenly, not intimidated in the least by his piercing gaze.

Gu Yichen’s lips curved slightly, as if pleased by her directness. “That’s right. I have a proposal that could benefit us both. Yuelong has been watching unusual movements inside the Song Group for a long time, and I believe that if we work together, you’ll be able to take back what belongs to you.”

“And in return, what does Yuelong want?” Miaomei asked bluntly, without beating around the bush.

“A long-term strategic partnership with the Song Group once you’ve regained control,” Gu Yichen replied. “And Chengfeng’s influence wiped out of the real estate market in the north of the city.”

Miaomei considered it for a moment. It was a huge gamble: partnering with a group she barely knew, staking her entire future on a man she had only just met. But she also understood that if she didn’t seize this chance, she would forever be a pawn in the hands of the people who had betrayed her.

“All right,” she said, holding out her hand. “I agree to work with you.”

Gu Yichen shook her hand, an unreadable glint in his eyes. “Then, Miss Song, brace yourself. The battle to take back your empire is about to begin.”