Falling After Marriage - Chapter 39

Chapter 39: You Must Stroke the Cat’s Fur the Right Way

The afternoon sun was not gentle.

It brought a relentless force, determined to squeeze into the air-conditioned living room, casting irregular patterns of light and shadow on the white walls.

The shadows were animated by time, appearing unpredictable as the sun moved westward.

Inside the tightly closed room, the spirit-relaxing atmosphere existed only on the surface.

Lin Jin lay lazily on her side on the sofa, eyes closed, dozing. One hand rested on her pale, slender leg, lightly tapping a rhythm to the pure music playing on the speakers.

She was draped in the camellia-patterned robe, the loose neckline exposing her delicate collarbone. A chestnut curl of her long hair fell naturally, as if accenting that corner of beautiful sight.

The two people standing by the coffee table, however, experienced a different atmosphere. The indescribable low pressure made them glance at each other, communicating only through their eyes, afraid that suddenly speaking might disturb the fragile peace.

Secretary Zhou held a stack of documents under her arm needing the boss’s signature. Due to the urgency of the work, after some hesitation, she carefully asked: “President Lin, these documents require your review and seal.”

“Bring them over.” Lin Jin feebly beckoned with her finger, offering no further instructions.

Secretary Zhou half-crouched to hand over the documents, considerately uncapped the fountain pen, and then diligently pointed out some important content for her to note.

Lin Jin slowly sat up, took the thick stack of documents, and silently reviewed the content.

No one can achieve true and eternal freedom, and the billionaire Lin Jin was no exception.

A busy workload was her normal state. Documents were endless, meetings were perpetual, just like making money—it was a never-ending cycle with no foreseeable end.

Zhou Ran returned to stand beside Sheng He. Having completed the task of delivering the documents, her tense state was slightly better than before.

She clasped her hands in front of her, quietly observing the boss’s every move, and couldn’t help but fall into deep thought.

Although the boss wasn’t the type to neglect sleep and meals for work, she was very astute about the priorities of business. However, her recent actions were becoming increasingly incomprehensible.

For example, today, it was extremely rare for her to call people home for work reports. Unless she was sick, this kind of thing almost never happened.

Thinking of this, the face of Cheng Sangluo naturally flashed through Zhou Ran’s mind.

She chuckled inwardly with gossip, wondering if the iron-hearted boss had fallen in love?

In the living room, there was another prolonged silence.

Even Sheng He, a typically steady person, couldn’t endure the atmosphere and reached up to loosen his tie knot to catch his breath.

“How is the situation over at Zhongyao Technology recently?” Lin Jin suddenly spoke, not about the content of the documents.

The rarely mentioned name caused a slight shiver down the two people’s spines, as if that technology company was some unspeakable secret.

Lin Jin buried her head, scrawled her signature on the documents, and then picked up the official seal from the coffee table and stamped it.

After applying the red ink, she stared at the seal on her fingertip, lost in thought. A deep smile suddenly curved her lips, as if she had thought of something amusing.

When she handed the documents to Zhou Ran, her eyes became a little sharper, seemingly dissatisfied that the secretary hadn’t responded quickly enough.

Zhou Ran hugged the documents, quickly replying: “Engineer Jin sent an email this morning, inviting you to inspect the progress of the R&D project at Zhongyao Technology. When are you free so I can reply and inform him?”

“No rush. Tell him that project should continue as planned, I won’t be going for the time being. Also…” Lin Jin finished instructing Secretary Zhou and turned to look at Sheng He, “This is a sensitive period. Arrange more personnel to ensure the safety of the relevant staff. I don’t want to hear news of anyone getting into trouble at this juncture. This project is too special; security and confidentiality must be ensured.”

“Rest assured, Boss, I will arrange it cautiously.” Sheng He promised in a deep voice, then asked: “You’ve been staying at Linxitai recently. Do you need me to arrange some people to guard the area? After all, you said it’s a sensitive period.”

“No need.” Lin Jin waved her hand, smiling meaningfully, “To get the people who are ready to move to expose their flaws, we must appear to be unsuspecting prey.”

Sheng He frowned. Regardless of the boss’s potential reaction, he insisted on arguing: “I have never supported your plan. Using yourself as bait introduces too many variables and is too dangerous!”

Lin Jin looked at his emotionally fluctuating face, smiled, picked up the red wine on the coffee table and took a sip. Only after satisfying the craving in her throat did she state firmly: “Never question me.”

Her tone didn’t reveal any anger, but when her gaze turned to Sheng He’s face, her eyes were cold, as if wrapped in ice.

Sheng He knew he had lost composure and quickly adopted a subservient attitude, “Apologies, I was too presumptuous.”

Seeing the atmosphere was awkward, Zhou Ran interjected: “President Lin, is there anything else I need specific instructions on?”

Lin Jin held the glass and thought for a moment, then instructed: “I won’t be visiting the company often during this period. Arrange important meetings online. Aside from major projects, delegate everything else to Vice President Mu. You may leave first, I need to speak with Sheng He alone.”

“Understood.” Zhou Ran acknowledged the order and quickly left the living room.

Sheng He waited quietly for a while, and only after hearing the door close did he ask: “Boss, is there anything else important you need to brief me on?”

“Go to my bedroom first and clean up the things on the floor.” Lin Jin savored the red wine. Her expression became extremely displeased when mentioning the items in the bedroom.

Sheng He didn’t dare ask more, he simply hurried to the bedroom to clean up.

Before long, he organized the scattered banknotes into a pile. When he returned to the living room, his face carried an expression of wanting to laugh but not daring to, in short, an unreadable look.

After all, he had clearly read the writing on the brown paper envelope.

Lin Jin propped her head with one hand. In the blink of an eye, she had already drunk most of the bottle of red wine.

She glared at Sheng He’s expression and scoffed: “Is it funny?”

“I wouldn’t dare.” Sheng He placed the money on the coffee table and pressed: “You kept me here, it can’t be just to pick up money, right?”

“Sigh…” Lin Jin let out a long breath. Her shrewd demeanor instantly turned into frustration, “Tell me what on earth is going on in that scoundrel’s head? I simply can’t figure it out.”

“It seems Miss Cheng has displeased you again.”

Lin Jin heavily set down her glass, venting angrily: “Am I only worth one thousand dollars?”

“Uh… this…” Sheng He stammered, inwardly wailing: What does this have to do with me?!

But on second thought, the boss was probably at her wit’s end with Cheng Sangluo and was looking for someone to vent to.

He hesitated for a moment, then sighed softly: “Since even you can’t handle her, I, a simple-minded person, probably can’t come up with any good ideas either.”

“That’s not necessarily true.” Lin Jin pouted and explained: “You’re a former mercenary and share some similarities with her. Don’t let your usual deference fool you; I know you are very proud deep down. If you were me, what would you do to her?”

Sheng He smiled faintly, suddenly feeling that the boss had become more human. After all, the business world is like a battlefield, and she, always planning every move, usually only talked about profit, not affection.

Miss Cheng was the most unpredictable piece on the board, capable of making this profitable and astute businesswoman feel melancholic, and also making her a little more flesh and blood.

“If I were you…” Sheng He thought seriously, then suddenly revealed a rare, relaxed demeanor.

An idea came to him, and a brilliant smile appeared on his lips: “If I were you, I would follow her lead. The principle is very simple: you must stroke the cat’s fur the right way…”

“Oh? That’s an interesting perspective.” Lin Jin knew she hadn’t asked the wrong person, her eyes shining with excitement, “Tell me more. If it proves useful… your bonus will be doubled…”

Lin Group Tower was also located in the Zhouhai Financial CBD, only a few office buildings away from Lin Jin’s Senyao Group.

The businesses of the two groups didn’t intersect much.

The Lin family ancestors started their business in transportation, initially through land transport, and later expanding to shipping.

During the decades when national infrastructure was booming, the Lin family bought many mines, earning real gold and silver. After quickly accumulating capital, they began to venture into real estate development.

Today, the Lin Group encompasses raw material mining, production, intermediate transportation, land acquisition, development, and construction.

This entire complete process allowed them to firmly control the profit-making opportunities in nearly every step.

The Lin family had a very high degree of sensitivity in judging the trends of the times, almost always benefiting from the era’s dividends, so every transformation was extremely successful.

Of course, the smoothly sailing Lin Group was currently facing the issue of transition between generations.

During the years Lin Zhen managed the family business, he wanted the decision-making power to remain firmly in the hands of the family, so he insisted on not going public, despite strong internal opposition.

Lin Sheng was more ambitious than his father, with only one goal: the Lin Group must go public.

Lin Jin’s reason for establishing Senyao Capital seemed to align with Lin Sheng’s goal, but it was not just about waiting for the Lin Group to go public.

In the parking garage of the Lin Group Tower.

Cheng Sangluo was dressed entirely in black, even specially wearing a black baseball cap. She seemed prepared for a particularly important operation. Clearly, this simple outfit was convenient for nighttime activities and concealment.

She was currently hiding near a white BMW, seriously flipping through the documents Wei Yun had given her.

She read the Lin Group’s background over and over, constantly pondering the relationship between the Lin Group and Senyao.

However, she wasn’t good at grasping complex business competition dynamics. Looking at the dense content, she couldn’t find any issues.

She had a terrible headache and could only wearily rub her temples to relieve the discomfort.

During the interval of waiting for someone to arrive, she opened the documents again, wondering why the information regarding Lin Jin’s founding of Senyao was so scarce, even giving a sense of being abruptly cut short.

Cheng Sangluo gazed at Lin Jin’s name in the documents, somewhat lost in thought, and couldn’t help but mutter: “To be able to build such a large business at this age, she is truly capable.”

She hadn’t even realized that she was unconsciously praising the extraordinarily capable madwoman.

“Come to my place tonight, I’ll make you so satisfied you’ll scream.”

Unpleasant conversation suddenly drilled into her ears. Cheng Sangluo quickly put away the documents and pressed her back against the wall.

She cautiously peered around and saw Xu Songheng opening the door of the BMW.

That scoundrel was speaking dirty words to some woman, smiling lewdly, making anyone who saw him feel sick.

Cheng Sangluo felt polluted, subconsciously rubbing her ear, cursing the shameless filth in her heart.

She made this special trip today just to confirm Xu Songheng’s car and his general itinerary for the evening.

Once she figured out this person’s movements after work, future tracking would become much easier.

Based on just one sentence of dialogue, Cheng Sangluo knew that this filthy man would be spending the night reveling at home.

A good idea suddenly sprouted in her mind. She decided to hop onto the rented electric scooter and prepare to follow him closely.

Let’s go. Tonight, she would visit that scoundrel’s house and be an uninvited guest.

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