"She's late." Zhao Jing murmured, taking another gulp of his water. For some reason, he was particularly parched today.

"Technically, everyone is supposed to arrive at nine in the morning. Right now, it's barely half-past eight in the morning. She's not too late."

"We're waiting for her." Zhao Jing groaned, wishing the meeting would just start already. Everyone had arrived here two hours earlier than the starting time.

"Well, we're also waiting for President Yang. His entire decision can tip the scale." Zhao Xingxing calmly responded, twirling the pen in her hand.

"Sometimes I want to know which country's history books will have a picture of Zhao Lifei. She must've saved a country at some point in time. Maybe she's a commander of an army in her past life." Zhao Jing said while making eye contact with one of his supporters. He offered his uncle a slight smile to which the man nodded in acknowledgment

"Or maybe she's just genuinely a good person." Zhao Xingxing retorted, leaning her small face onto her hand.

She found it amusing how everyone here seemed to underestimate her. Previously, before she entered the room, a few of her relatives had vented their frustration to her. Because of her naturally welcoming face, people always felt as if their secrets were safe with her and her understanding personality. Little did they know, Zhao Moyao was not the only fox in this room. It was just that, this one was better at pretending to be a rabbit than a predator.

"I know she is...it's just, her luck is quite amazing. Don't you think so?"

"I wouldn't call it luck, but sure." Zhao Xingxing realized her words hurt a lot more than she intended. She turned to face Zhao Jing and just as she had predicted, he looked a bit offended by her sarcasm. "She worked hard to get where she is now. Luck might've been a factor, but there are a lot of other primary ones. For example—"

"Being born a girl destined to be doted on by grandfather because she was the first to reach out to him." Zhao Jing interrupted her with his blunt sarcasm. He wished his younger self wasn't so adored by his parents. Maybe then, like her, he wouldn't have been afraid of approaching Zhao Moyao.

Zhao Xingxing was baffled by his words. What does gender have to do with this? "Jing-ge, you don't mean to say—"

"She's here." Zhao Jing turned to the door where Zhao Lifei strutted in as if she hadn't made everyone wait for her. If she had arrived early, the meeting would've started early.

Zhao Xingxing's eyes lit up the slightest bit when she saw Zhao Lifei. She was dressed in a black cape-sleeved blouse with strings tied into a casual bow-knot and a pair of white trousers. Her white-strapped heels made her appear taller and more powerful than usual. There was something different about her… she was glowing in ways that Zhao Xingxing couldn't pinpoint.

With her hands tucked into her pockets, Zhao Lifei was assertive and confident in every way possible. When her relatives had expected her to come in shambles from the news a few days ago, she behaved like she wasn't affected by it. And perhaps she truly wasn't, for she never bothered to check the news about Xia Mengxi's humiliation.

The man accompanying her was an equal match to her dominating presence. He was dressed in a formal three-piece suit as always, but this time, there was a light blue handkerchief tucked in the chest pocket. They matched and the thought couldn't help but make Zhao Xingxing smile. What a cute pair. She wished her future would be as fortunate as Zhao Lifei's current life.

"Xiao Fei, you're late." Zhao Moyao interrupted everyone's thoughts. He ignored the mixture of glances thrown her way. Only a small percentage of the emotions were positive, the rest was too insignificant for him to care.

"If I'm correct, the meeting starts in fifteen minutes. I'm actually early." Zhao Lifei chuckled, her eyes flickering to the empty seat to the left of her grandfather. Wu Yuntai was sitting to his right. And to no one's surprise, Yang Feng's seat was on the opposite side of the curved table, where he was facing her, but couldn't touch her. Even at a time like this, her grandfather chose to be petty with the seating.

"Is that the correct way to speak to the President?" Zhao Moyao's voice seemed disapproving, almost as if he was reprimanding her.

Zhao Lifei pursed her lips, suppressing the smile threatening to break out. "You seem to forget, President Zhao, I am also a CEO." She walked to her seat, ignoring the stares thrown her way.

Yang Feng cleared his throat and everyone coughed before looking away. No one wanted to get on his bad side, especially when he had one of the highest shares in this room.

"Arrogant as always." Zhao Moyao sighed, shaking his head.

"I learned from the best." She smugly commented before sitting down.

"I'm sure you did." Zhao Moyao let out a bark of laughter that sliced the heavy atmosphere. People thought he would lash out from her constant talk-backs, but they didn't know that was what made her so special. Unlike the people who struggled to maintain their composure under his intense stare, she still had the time to crack jokes and make small, harmless jabs.

"I suppose the meeting should begin." Zhao Moyao nodded towards Li Xuan who shut the doors. He walked forward with the deciding papers in his hands. Previously, before everyone walked into the room, they had to vote on the most likely candidate for the position. In the end, the shares of each person voting would be added up, until eventually, one outweighs the other and a victor was crowned.

Zhao Lifei looked around and saw a lot of familiar faces in the rows of people. Everything here was orderly and the seats were evenly spaced out. She could feel the heavy stares of people behind and in front of her. Everyone was quiet. She saw the gears in their heads move.

"Since we don't have all day and I'm not known to be a traditional man, let's cut to the chase." Zhao Moyao took the paper from Li Xuan. A projector was set up and there was a presentation behind him showing the numbers.

"Usually, we're supposed to spare the lowest supported people a few cents of sympathy by going from lowest to highest." Zhao Moyao waved his hand towards the screen where the names were seen. "That's too much of a bore. Let's cut to the top three most likely candidates."

Zhao Jing.

Zhao Lifei.

Wu Yuntai.

No one here was surprised by the rank. If Zhao Lifei was upset or happy at the ranking, she didn't show it. Her eyes glanced at Zhao Xingxing and she saw the pale woman's skin was paper-white. For the briefest second, she almost looked disappointed. Then it went away as she turned to Zhao Jing, ready to congratulate him.

"The votes aren't adding up. Who here has not voted?" Zhao Moyao chillingly asked, his eyes snapping to the new couple who just arrived.

Yang Feng glanced at Zhao Lifei. They had already spoken in the car.

"Of course you two rascals would wait until the last minute." Zhao Moyao sighed, pinching his brows. He didn't admit that he was the one who voted for Zhao Lifei. No one here would publically voice who they voted for. And he certainly didn't want to show any more shameless bias.

"Hurry up and write down your choices."

Zhao Lifei stared at Yang Feng before nodding her head. She scribbled a name down on the paper and then handed it to Li Xuan who accepted it and then walked to Yang Feng. With the two deciding papers in hand, he typed it into the computer, his brows rising.

A new candidate was brought to the top and her name was none other than Zhao Xingxing.