Chapter 28 - The reason

"Mr. Su, here are the reports" It was harder than drinking poison for Chen Feng to report it to his boss. His face looked like he had been stabbed by a thousand poisoned swords as he spoke. "The reports of the stock price of Jun construction company."

After he handled them and walked out, he heard the hushed whispers of dozens of the employees that worked under him. Their eyes held mocking and satisfaction at his failure.

"It is the first time his predictions went wrong."

"Hah! Suits him right for all the arrogance he had!"

"What did he say? Tang company would go bankrupt within a year. Look at it where they are right now. The company was in such a dire state but with Jing Lihua taking office, within three weeks, she reversed everything. What did he call her again? An ignorant novice?"

"I suspect the CEO would trust him with everything after that."

"If will lose his position in his heart forever."

And so they continued. It was the years of resentment gathered because of Su Liwei's favor that fueled them. But the other thing that worked as a factor was the certainty with which Chen Feng asserted that they didn't need to fear Jing Lihua. He was proved wrong. Though holding resentment towards Jing Lihua, he couldn't help but hold a certain degree of admiration towards her. The woman... she had made something impossible possible all the time fooling her enemies by hiding her true form.

As someone who had as much experience as him, he could recognize potential with a single glance. It was true he made a mistake once. But he couldn't be wrong again. Jing Lihua was a gem.

She wasn't someone to be taken lightly. His heart trembled suddenly. His boss Su Liwei... Was he rivaled by that sort of woman?

...

In the office, Su Liwei's eyes coldly swept through the files. In the end, his eyes were burning with anger.

"What is it?"

"We underestimated her"

Su Jiayi snatched the files from Su Liwei's hands somewhat insolently and read them. She was not very happy to found what the reports revealed to her. With a slender figure, she wasn't exactly an outstanding beauty but her looks were well maintained. It could be observed from a single glance that millions were spent to keep her in form. As the only daughter of the great Su family, she was spoiled since childhood. She was used to getting what she wanted and always treated like a princess and saint no matter what she did.

"We didn't underestimate her." She threw the files on the table. "You did."

"What are you implying?"

"Do I need to explain" She sneered at her elder brother. Su Liwei was calm as ever, not at all affected by her temper.

"I would like it if you explained because I'm not really understanding what you mean" Su Liwei had a small smile.

"You did it on purpose. Do you think I don't know what runs through your mind, big brother." Su Liwei's smile vanished once he listened to his sister. Su Jiayi continued. "You try to hide it. But you can't... Not from me. You still have feelings for her. That is why we failed in our first step. We failed to break her foundation. And now she is free to climb higher." Su Jianyi was fuming, "You remember when I had taken matters in my hand? I played my first part best. I made the greatest universities in the world to expel her with just one move, without leaving any evidence. And what did you do? You fail. But you are better than me... a thousand times. How could you fail? It must be because you were lenient."

"I don't have any feelings for her."

"You don't? Prove it. Let's do it, brother. Let's do what I proposed earlier. Let's have our men abduct her before she climbs higher. I know you are capable of that much now that she has married you. You are capable of getting her alone and vulnerable, away from all the protection. Abduct her and bring her to us and we will have her r.a.p.ed, tortured and humiliated. We will kill her slowly and painfully. We will avenge our mother."

"I wouldn't consent to that"

"Why?"

"What do you think will happen after that? Tang Liuwei, he will know exactly who did it. That old man might look stupid, but he is not. If we killed his only grand-daughter, he will find out it was us one way or another. And then he will fight us till death. He'll not have anything to fear any longer. Imagine a man presiding over a big corporate, who doesn't fear the decline of his own company and his sole aim is to make us suffer. We might be the biggest corporate but we are not invincible."

"Then we kill her grandfather too."

"We can't."

"Yes, we can. All we need is..."

"Would you be reasonable for once? We can't do that. Not till he is in that Mansion in the middle of that vast forest guarded by thousands of mercenaries."

"Coward!" Su Jianyi was angry, "You are just a coward! A coward and an unfilial son, who will succ.u.mb to a woman's seduction and forsake his family."

"I have already told you that I'm not..."

"Do I look stupid to you brother? I have my men everywhere. I know what Jing Tian planned to humiliate her. Even though that move was stupid and impulsive on her part, it was good for us to watch and enjoy. But you stopped that... You saved Jing Lihua from that. What excuses you have for that?"

Su Liwei fell silent.

"This is it? Does your silence confirm it? Will you betray us for her? For that c*nt? Have you forgotten the promise you made to our mother when she was dying? You promised to destroy..."

"I want her trust." Su Liwei stood up; his face was expressionless. "She has been cautious from the very beginning. I don't know how but it seems, she knows about our motives. She has successfully countered our first attack. Only by gaining her trust, we can manage to find an opening to make a lethal attack."

Su Jiayi looked unconvinced.

"It better be the reason. If it isn't, I will have no choice but to tell our uncle (Su Donghai) about it. You could forget our mother's suffering but our uncle... he would never forget how Jing Lihua's mother tortured our mother to the point she decided to end her own life. After all, you might be the CEO but our uncle is the real force behind Su enterprise"