Rules of Civility - Chapter 11

Shao Yiqing lowered his brows.

Sheng Tingzhou said with pitch-black pupils, “What you said is entirely correct. That was originally my plan as well, to retain the talent that could be of use to me. However, suddenly, I no longer wish to do that.”

Shao Yiqing stared closely at him. The Alpha before him exuded a deep, heavy aura, with a blade hidden behind his eyes. He stood up.

“Someone warned me long ago not to go soft on Ruirui. I originally thought that once Xu Daoquan was locked away, I wouldn’t push the remaining orphans and widows of the Xu family too hard. But Xu Wenhui actually dared to play tricks behind my back and tried to double-cross me. In that case, I have no choice but to accompany her to the end and pull the rug out from under them.” Sheng Tingzhou lingered behind Shao Yiqing, looking down at the spot where a rose neck ornament was tied. A blocking patch was applied over the gland area, but Sheng Tingzhou could still smell that exotic fragrance.

Before the other party laid his cards on the table, Shao Yiqing did not speak rashly. He sat quietly, unaware of the profound gaze fixed upon him from behind.

“Behind seemingly complex networks of relationships, it is actually people pulling the strings. Ruirui is merely a silent empty house; whatever people are placed inside it will dictate the sounds it emits. Pulling the rug from under them, the consequence of an absolute, one-size-fits-all approach is certainly severe. The Sheng family will be chewed to pieces by public spit, but it will also completely resolve those enemies hiding in the shadows. After the acquisition, all of Ruirui’s employees will be cleared out unconditionally, restoring this building to its most primitive state.” Sheng Tingzhou picked up the documents on the table. “These things will then cease to exist.”

Shao Yiqing looked over. The lighting in the room traced Sheng Tingzhou’s contours. Anxious to get things done, he hadn’t carefully admired this face before; only now did he realize that compared to the photos circulating online, the actual oppressive aura of this face was far more intense.

“Xu Daoquan managed Ruirui for thirty years. Some people benefited from him and want to protect him, while others were oppressed by him and want him dead. At the end of last month, a batch of inspection personnel arrived from the capital. Ruirui has been targeted for a long time, and certain high-ranking officials with grand positions can barely protect themselves. Is anyone still daring to extend a helping hand to Xu Daoquan right now just for petty gains?” Sheng Tingzhou challenged.

This was news Shao Yiqing had not heard; it had not been transmitted to him.

“Coming to Xu Wenhui, she actually abandoned her hopeless husband long ago. She sent word through someone, hoping I would grant her a share of silent partnership shares after acquiring Ruirui, enough to secure the future of herself and her son. She promised to find a way to make Xu Daoquan take the blame for all crimes and clean up Ruirui’s internal affairs so I wouldn’t face any negative impact after the acquisition.”

Shao Yiqing’s brows knitted slightly. This information, lying completely outside his control, had not been communicated to him by anyone. Events had deviated from their trajectory, and for a moment he could not tell whether Xu Mingfu had intentionally concealed it from him or if Xu Wenhui was simply too cunning.

Clearly, matters had already been arranged for the better, yet he, the entrusted party, had received zero notification.

He had been sidelined into an awkward position.

“However, I don’t plan to cooperate with her,” Sheng Tingzhou stated. “Not only will I refuse to grant her these partnership shares, but I will also make her spend the rest of her days living in constant anxiety.”

Granting a portion of silent shares to resolve all trouble was the lowest-loss solution, and a normal person would undoubtedly choose it. Yet Sheng Tingzhou flatly rejected it, intending instead to exterminate them completely and drive Xu Wenhui to a dead end. This indicated two things: first, Sheng Tingzhou was an extreme individual who would rather suffer the maximum loss than let anyone profit off him, the complexities of such a person’s mind aside for the moment; second, the enmity between the two families stemmed from other causes, far more complicated than a mere surface clash of interests. Otherwise, businessmen always understood the wisdom of leaving a way out, yet Sheng Tingzhou was determined to push them to annihilation, provoking the Xu family to fight him to the death, a move both vicious and foolish.

Regardless of which reason applied, it could not change a single outcome: Shao Yiqing, a master of navigating the human network, had lost.

“A one-size-fits-all approach of pulling the rug from under them, aren’t you afraid this will invite even more hidden perils for the Sheng family?” Shao Yiqing was still striving to negotiate. He didn’t understand Sheng Tingzhou as a person, but wielding such massive power should prompt even greater caution. Yet in this matter, the other party appeared somewhat spiteful and self-defeating.

“Afraid?” Sheng Tingzhou’s tone was sarcastic. “If I were afraid, back when Ruirui was at the peak of its power, my Sheng family should have cowered behind it like grandsons instead of smashing its rice bowl in the very domain where it reigned supreme.”

Shao Yiqing looked over. Sheng Tingzhou’s expression was exceedingly complex and profound, his pupils emitting a sharp radiance. While he didn’t know how Ruirui had provoked him, he had already grasped the extraordinary nature of this man.

“Since President Sheng already had a countermeasure in mind, why bother inviting me in?” Shao Yiqing stood up with his composure entirely intact, retrieving the documents. “Clearly, today’s meeting shouldn’t have happened.”

Shao Yiqing said, “I simply wanted to find out what kind of petty stunts Ruirui was pulling against me again. You are not their first lobbyist.” Over these past few days, Sheng Tingzhou had seen plenty of people coming to speak on Ruirui’s behalf; those blocked outside numbered close to eighty, if not ten. Today’s visitor originally should have been blocked outside as well, but unfortunately, a mole had leaked his whereabouts from within his own circle.

“I am not a lobbyist. I am representing the Xu family to negotiate with you,” Shao Yiqing corrected. “Although the outcome of the negotiation may not be ideal, before you make your final decision, I still want to ask: do you truly intend to pull the rug out from under them?”

To strike down everyone in Ruirui with a single stroke, abandoning all talent indiscriminately? Xu Daoquan’s actions did not erase the merits of others. The Sheng family was also a tech enterprise; there were plenty of more humane ways to resolve this.

Did Sheng Tingzhou genuinely choose the most ruthless route?

Before the other could answer, Shao Yiqing added fuel to the fire: “Always leave a way out for others when you can. Although Xu Mingfu lacks his mother’s wisdom, he will remember who made life difficult for his family. You are young, and he is young too. When will the cycle of vengeance end? Unless you can guarantee that the Sheng family will stand undefeated for eternity.”

Shao Yiqing smiled with a dagger hidden in his smile. He looked straight into Sheng Tingzhou’s eyes and asked, “President Sheng, can you guarantee that?”

The education Shao Yiqing had received all his life taught him to leave room for maneuver in all things and avoid being overly aggressive. He couldn’t take such advice to heart in his youth, but looking now at the example of Ruirui’s collapse, he finally understood how correct his father’s educational philosophy truly was. If Xu Daoquan had been willing to maintain humility and tact when Ruirui was at the height of its glory, perhaps Ruirui wouldn’t have been swallowed whole by the Sheng family so swiftly.

Resulting in the current state of helplessness.

Today, the person wrangling with Sheng Tingzhou shouldn’t have been an outsider unrelated to Ruirui. The consequence of Xu Daoquan’s overbearing tyranny was that he had left neither himself nor the people of Ruirui any retreat.

“Of course I cannot,” Sheng Tingzhou replied stubbornly, full of resolute conviction. “Thirty years in the east, thirty years in the west; the Sheng family will have its day of collapse as well. But I can guarantee you that as long as I am standing, it will not fall. The old do not depart, the new do not emerge, a new era has begun.”

Hearing this, Shao Yiqing found himself utterly speechless.

Yet it made sense. This wasn’t yet the greatest era for the Sheng family, but its golden days had arrived. Soon, this Xiangjiang would bear the surname Sheng, meaning Sheng Tingzhou wasn’t entirely wrong.

“I admire your confidence.” Shao Yiqing wasn’t lying; from the bottom of his heart, he genuinely liked confident people. Even in failure, he could still maintain a fair perspective on Sheng Tingzhou as a person. “Then I wish you and the Sheng family enduring prosperity.”

With that, Shao Yiqing picked up his documents and prepared to leave.

As he was about to depart, Sheng Tingzhou did not change any of his decisions, but offered a kind reminder: “Your boyfriend is not sincere with you.”

Xu Mingfu hadn’t even mentioned the fact that his mother had met with Sheng Tingzhou and engaged in a transaction. Shao Yiqing’s identity had thus shifted from a negotiator to a lobbyist; the nature had changed, and his standing had changed along with it. He had come to negotiate with Sheng Tingzhou, not to beg for mercy.

Even his opponent had caught onto this detail.

Helpless, Shao Yiqing paused his steps. Unwilling to reveal any trace of dejection, after all, his relationship with Xu Mingfu was hardly deep enough to warrant anger, he responded in a leisurely, relaxed tone: “Indeed. I’ll discipline him when I get back.”

No one liked to lose.

Shao Yiqing disliked losing as well, especially in front of strangers. Navigating the romantic arena with effortless brilliance, it had been a very long time since he last experienced what losing felt like. Wherever he appeared, he was always the most dazzling focal point. It wasn’t that he insisted on being the center of attention every single time, but rather that in any situation, maintaining a balanced upper hand was ideal.

Looking down on others, and being looked up to by others, neither was interesting enough in the end.

Xu Mingfu probably knew nothing about this; the one pulling the strings behind the scenes must have been Xu Wenhui. Once he calmed down and thought it through, Shao Yiqing stopped worrying. Still, he couldn’t afford to be too naive; he didn’t want a repeat of being used as a pawn, so upon returning, he would still have to hold Xu Mingfu accountable.

“You have a better candidate,” Sheng Tingzhou remarked, purely out of an evaluation of that appearance. He had seen Xu Mingfu when Xu Wenhui paraded him around her office. “You are very young.”

And striking.

Though Sheng Tingzhou left that last part unsaid.

He felt it was somewhat rash and inexplicable.

Shao Yiqing suddenly smiled.

He turned around, walked up to Sheng Tingzhou, lifted his wrist, and removed the rose neck ornament from his collar. With a smile and the grace of a gracious loser, he said, “I am hardly young anymore. My son is almost as tall as I am.”

Smiling, he wound the ribbon around Sheng Tingzhou’s wrist. The Alpha’s clear and distinct tendons and veins looked as though the rose had grown powerful roots upon them.

“Is that so?” Sheng Tingzhou did not stop the other’s bold action. “That is truly unexpected.”

“There are many things President Sheng has yet to expect.” Once the rose was fully wrapped, Shao Yiqing released his grip. “Until we meet again.” With a smile, he took the lead and walked out of the room.

That rose, which had been stared at for a long time, rested in Sheng Tingzhou’s hand. The ribbon coiled around his forearm, and the rose blossom brushed against his index finger. Lowering his gaze, he watched for a moment before forcefully shoving his thumb right into the petals of the rose. The fragrance grew heavier, presumably because it had rubbed against the gland for too long.

Sheng Tingzhou lightly lifted his wrist, and the fragrance intensified, resembling a garden scorched by a raging wildfire. Every single flower cried out in desperate plea, the sea of flames blazing intensely, weaving a long, melodious song composed of sorrowful weeping, the agonizing cries of a thousand arrows piercing the heart, touching and moving beyond measure.

The fragrance lingering at his fingertips.

It was the scent of his favorite tuberose.

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