Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Ever since that day I nearly let the truth slip, I had been walking on eggshells.

Ju Bingyuan had been working overtime for several days straight. He nodded in approval at the document that had just been handed to him.

“Yuanjia’s new product line is indeed well-executed.”

Yuanjia was Ju Bingyuan’s rival company. They were a rising star in recent years, though there was still a slight gap between them and an established capitalist like Ju Bingyuan.

However, for a product line to earn Ju Bingyuan’s praise…

My hand paused slightly as I added incense to the burner.

I immediately made a secret investment in Yuanjia.

If Ju Bingyuan succeeded, I made money; if Ju Bingyuan failed, I still made money.

Excellent.

Being a double-dealer felt amazing.

These wonderful days lasted for over a month, until the day Ju Bingyuan summoned me to his office.

I pushed the door open, completely off guard, only to be met with a room full of the company’s senior management.

Ju Bingyuan sat in the head seat, a smile on his face that didn’t reach his eyes.

“Starting today, Ms. Tang Yu will be a member of our Strategic Investment Department.”

?

What was going on?

Scattered applause broke out in the conference room. I could see the disdain and scrutiny in everyone’s eyes.

Many people knew I was Ju Bingyuan’s Canary. Now that I was joining his company, they likely thought he had been blinded by my charms and was starting to lose his professional judgment.

But I knew better. It wasn’t like that at all.

I had been with Ju Bingyuan for so many years and had never once asked to join his company. Ju Bingyuan had always thought of me as someone with plenty of diligence but little talent, so he never took me seriously.

Moreover, I had my own job. For him to shove me into his company without warning and trick me into coming here over the phone-it couldn’t be that simple.

Besides, I was only pretending to be dull-witted; I still knew how to read the room.

Ju Bingyuan’s gaze at that moment seemed calm, but it was actually simmering with hidden rage.

If his eyes were cold arrows, I would have been pierced through the heart ten thousand times over by now.

After the meeting adjourned, I followed Ju Bingyuan back to his office, trembling with fear.

Once the crowd dispersed, the chill emanating from him became even more palpable.

He stood with his back to me in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, slowly and methodically finishing a cigarette.

It seemed this was the only way he could suppress his fury.

Just before my heart was about to leap out of my throat, he finally spoke.

“Yesterday, I ran into someone from Yuanjia at a social event.”

My heart skipped a beat.

He turned around and stroked my face with feigned affection.

“If he hadn’t mentioned it, I never would have known that my little bird has been serving one master while secretly pining for another.”

Ju Bingyuan’s fingers were ice-cold.

My heart was just as cold.

His fingers applied a bit of pressure, leaving a red mark on my face.

“I really want to peel back this skin of yours and see what kind of person is actually hiding behind that mask.”

I shuddered.

In this world, nothing is more important than declaring one’s loyalty.

“It’s all because you’re so brilliant and wise. You mentioned they had potential, and your enemy is my enemy. In order to snatch money away from them, I only invested a tiny bit.”

I held up five fingers. “I swear, my heart is with you.”

Ju Bingyuan let out a cold laugh.

“Your heart is indeed with me.

“Otherwise, why would you be holding so many shares of my company?”

He walked over to his desk and picked up a thick stack of asset statements.

“Ah Yu, how many more surprises are you hiding from me?”

It was over. Everything was over.

I had been stripped bare.

My heart felt like dead ashes. “No more. There really aren’t any more this time.”

Ju Bingyuan flipped through my asset details.

“Ah Yu has such clever methods. With this eye for investment and these tactics, staying at that small company was truly a waste of talent.”

He looked down at me, his voice frigid.

“And here I was wondering why you weren’t trying to secure a higher position by my side.

“It turns out you weren’t looking to move up-you were looking to take over.”