Chapter 81: I’ll Give You 500 Million

“It’s a boy! Are you sure it’s true?” Fu Nan was overjoyed upon hearing the news.

“Absolutely certain. I personally extracted this information from the doctor who performed Rong Xiu’s prenatal checkup. I heard the young master was a bit unhappy when he found out it was a boy.”

“How could he be happy about having a money-losing commodity? If this son turns out like him in the future, hmph…”

“Although it’s a boy, that Fan Xia didn’t have much of a reaction. Couldn’t tell if she was happy or not,” the informant said.

Fu Nan snorted and glanced at the other person, saying, “That Fan Xia, relying on not signing a prenuptial agreement when she married Rong Xiu, now gives orders in the company all day. Would she care whether Rong Xiu is carrying a boy or a girl?”

The informant smiled flatteringly and said, “You’re right. Since the young master became pregnant, his career ambitions have greatly declined. He’s handed over almost all affairs, big and small, to Fan Xia. The young master rarely goes to the company to focus on his pregnancy. No senior executive or shareholder dares to go against her wishes. Now the board of directors has almost become Fan Xia’s one-woman show. If this continues, it’ll be disastrous!”

Fu Nan let out an arrogant cold laugh.

The informant, sharp-eyed, noticed Fu Nan’s anger and continued to add fuel to the fire, “Alas, if it were just this, it would be fine. But Miss Rong Yan is suffering.”

Fu Nan frowned, “What did you say? What’s wrong with Yan’er?”

The informant sighed, “It’s all because of that Fan Xia. Our Miss Rong Yan wasn’t content with Fan Xia controlling the upstream supply chain, so she secretly partnered with someone to open a factory, planning to go solo. Once she formed a complete supply chain, she’d break free from Fan Xia’s constraints and grow her own business.”

“This was originally a great thing, but somehow a business spy found out and secretly told Fan Xia. She immediately cut off Miss Rong Yan’s supplies. You should know that 70% of hyaluronic acid and other products in the country are supplied by the group and other partners. With this supply cut, Miss Rong Yan’s cosmetic surgery business suffered huge losses. To retain customers, she had to import from abroad at several times the price. Basically, she’s losing money every day, losing on every transaction. The more she does, the more she loses.”

“Bastard! Bastard!” Fu Nan slammed the table as he stood up, furious. “You, Fan Xia, you’ve occupied our Rong family’s business, and now you dare to turn around and force my daughter!”

“Don’t be angry!”

“How can I not be angry!” Fu Nan said angrily. Rong Yan was the apple of his eye; he had doted on her since she was little.

In Fu Nan’s eyes, although Rong Yan’s work ability was average, she was filial and sensible. Compared to Rong Xiu, that money-losing commodity who handed over the group to an outsider, she was incomparably better.

“Don’t upset yourself. Sigh, if I had known, I wouldn’t have told you about Miss Rong Yan’s predicament, causing you to worry and fret.” The informant brought a cup of clear tea to Fu Nan.

Fu Nan held the tea but didn’t bring it to his mouth for a long time.

Bang—

He suddenly slammed the teacup down. “Let’s go!”

Zhuang Nian was leisurely sitting at the front desk watching TV dramas, occasionally reaching for some seaweed snacks nearby, satisfying his cravings without gaining weight. Since he took this front desk position, work had become easier than before. He didn’t have to work overtime, could leave on time, yet his salary was about the same as before. Zhuang Nian was quite pleased. After all, he wasn’t very career-driven, and his wife-master was a talented middle-aged woman. Although not extremely wealthy, they were solidly middle class in the imperial capital.

Their older son was in elementary school, and their younger daughter was in the senior class of kindergarten. Now that work was easier, he could not only pick up the children from school but also spend more time with family, improving his marital relationship. Life couldn’t be more blissful.

Front desk life was so comfortable that Zhuang Nian was even considering playing a game of Fight the Landlord.

But just as he opened the game, the elevator chimed.

Zhuang Nian casually looked up, not paying much attention at first, but when he saw who it was, he was shocked.

“Mr. Rong! Mr. Rong, you really can’t go in. The CEO isn’t in the company today, only your daughter-in-law is in the office. If you want to find the CEO, go to his villa.”

“Get out of my way, I’m here to see her!” Fu Nan angrily pushed Zhuang Nian aside, knocking him to the ground. Fu Nan didn’t even bother to look down, instead looking down his nose and saying, “Fan Xia isn’t my daughter-in-law either. I don’t acknowledge her.”

With that, Fu Nan pushed the door open and entered.

Fan Xia had already heard the commotion outside. She leaned back in her chair, her slender fingers lightly intertwined on the desk, a polite smile in her eyes. “Mr. Rong.”

It had to be said, Rong Xiu was indeed born of Fu Nan; that cold aura was identical. The difference was that Rong Xiu wouldn’t be as arrogant and off-putting as Fu Nan.

Seeing that Fan Xia didn’t stand up when she saw him, Fu Nan glanced at her from the corner of his eye and said, “Not even standing up when you see your father-in-law, how ill-mannered.”

Fan Xia smiled and said, “Didn’t you say you don’t acknowledge me as your daughter-in-law?” So why should she stand up to greet him, pressing her warm face against his cold bottom? She wasn’t a masochist.

Fu Nan’s mouth twitched slightly, then he raised his chin disdainfully and said, “That’s right. I indeed look down on phoenix women of such ordinary birth like you.” Calling a woman a ‘phoenix woman’ was the ultimate insult, but Fan Xia didn’t mind. She had power, wealth, and people now, which indeed invited jealousy. Being scolded a bit was no big deal.

Therefore, Fan Xia was in no hurry to retort. Her fingertips lightly tapped on the desk as she asked, “So, Mr. Rong, what brings you to see me today?”

“Don’t play dumb with me. I’ve seen plenty of women like you. Marry a rich man and can’t wait to suck his family dry, chew up their flesh, even crack the bones to suck out the marrow. Deliberately setting up obstacles against Yan’er, you want to destroy our Rong family, don’t you?” Fu Nan said through gritted teeth, his eyes filled with malice.

Fan Xia’s lips curled slightly: “So it’s about Rong Yan. You misunderstand, I’m not targeting her.”

“You still deny it? You clearly monopolized the market, yet deliberately cut off Yan’er’s supply. If this isn’t forcing her onto a dead-end road, what is it!”

Fan Xia raised her head, her gaze calm: “You misunderstand. I have no grudge against Rong Yan, nor would I target her for personal grievances. It was she who partnered with others, attempting to squeeze the upstream supply chain of the Shanhai Group. The market is only so big. If they take a larger market share, naturally the group’s share will be less. The group’s interests are being squeezed. Even if I agreed, the other shareholders wouldn’t.”

Fu Nan sneered, “Stop using those high-sounding excuses to fool me. I’m not so easily deceived. Right now you’re just targeting Yan’er. After you deal with her, you’ll start gradually eroding Rong Xiu’s shares, until finally the entire Shanhai Group becomes yours. What a clever scheme you’ve hatched.”

“Since you won’t listen to my explanation, we have nothing more to discuss. Please leave,” Fan Xia said unhurriedly.

“You dare to drive me away? This group is the empire my wife-master built back then. You, an outsider, you think you have the right to drive me away!” Fan Xia’s dismissive attitude touched a nerve in Fu Nan, and he flew into a rage.

“Then don’t leave, sit down.” Fan Xia couldn’t be bothered to argue with him and just shrugged.

Fu Nan was stunned. “What did you say?”

Fan Xia pointed to the sofa opposite her desk and said, “Didn’t you say I have no right to drive you away? Then sit here. You can sit as long as you like. I’m going to continue working.”

Fu Nan opened and closed his mouth, feeling something wasn’t quite right. After struggling to speak for a while, he finally realized that he had been treated like a dog by Fan Xia. Leave when told to leave, sit when told to sit? Was she training a dog?

Fu Nan stared at Fan Xia and slammed his hand down on the document she was looking at: “You dare to order me around?”

The document was heavily pressed down. Fan Xia raised her delicate eyebrows slightly, her watery eyes shimmering: “I wouldn’t dare. I’m just respecting your wishes.”

Fu Nan sneered, “Respecting my wishes? Then divorce my son.”

“Divorce? Impossible. Rong Xiu is carrying my child. I won’t let the child be born into an incomplete family,” Fan Xia said calmly.

“It’s just a son. I don’t believe you really like him. Aren’t you just trying to please Rong Xiu, making up ghost stories to fool people?” Fu Nan said coldly. He suddenly took out a check from his briefcase: “I’ll give you 500 million. Divorce my son.”

Looking at the bright check placed in front of her, Fan Xia casually propped up her chin. She never thought that this classic scene from those 8 o’clock prime-time melodramatic idol dramas that househusband loved most would actually appear before her in real life.

Seeing her not speaking, Fu Nan thought she was stunned by the money. He said smugly, “So much money. For someone of your poor background, you’ve probably never seen this much in your life, right?”

“Indeed, I haven’t,” Fan Xia picked up the check and examined it carefully. Although since she temporarily took over managing the Shanhai Group in place of Rong Xiu, she had already made a fortune just by leveraging insider information, and didn’t care about this paltry sum at all.

But this idol drama scenario was truly rare to come by, and Fan Xia cherished it greatly.

Seeing this, Fu Nan became even more smug and looked down on Fan Xia even more, believing she had indeed married Rong Xiu for money.

He slammed the pen on the table with a bang and said sarcastically, “This money is enough for you and your descendants to live worry-free for generations. Take the money now and go live abroad. You won’t have to be pointed at and called a phoenix woman living off her husband.”

“I could indeed take the money and leave, but 500 million is too little. Rong Xiu is worth far more than 500 million to me.” Fan Xia’s fair, slender fingers picked up the pen to play with, but her watery eyes looked at Fu Nan, her meaning clear without words—she needed more money.

“Hahahaha.” Fu Nan laughed arrogantly.

He held up his phone, the screen showing he was in a video call with Rong Xiu.

“Did you hear all that, Rong Xiu? This is the true face of the good wife-master you married. You’re even carrying her child, yet I just need to offer her a few hundred million and she’d sell you out. You still want to stay devoted to this kind of woman?” Fu Nan glared coldly at Fan Xia, holding the phone screen towards her and speaking loudly.

He was prepared to watch Fan Xia make a fool of herself, to see how she would ridiculously try to cover up after her facade was exposed. To see Rong Xiu become disillusioned and determined to divorce her. Although the Shanhai Group would suffer heavy losses from the divorce lawsuit, at least it wouldn’t be given away to an outsider for free. Afterwards, he’d find a reason to call a shareholders’ meeting, let Rong Yan return to the group and take control. Rong Xiu could step down, letting Rong Yan take back what should have been hers.

In the video, Rong Xiu’s eyes looked somewhat tired, his thick eyelashes pressing down at the corners of his eyes, giving him a somewhat inexplicably wronged look: “In your heart, I’m only worth these few hundred million?”

“Of course not,” Fan Xia said.

“Then why didn’t you ask for more?”