Chapter 365: Chapter 364: Wind and Water Rising
The winter winds in Beijing were fierce, chafing at one’s cheeks.
No matter how many winters passed, Jiang Nanshu always despised the cold.
It had been four months since she was released from the mental hospital.
She spent her days acquiring small companies, expanding her influence.
Every day was spent rushing between negotiating partnerships and attending boozy social functions.
In the world of business, after several months of exploring, Jiang Nanshu gradually mastered it, later emerging as a dark horse among Beijing’s newly rising elites due to her decisive decision-making.
Many of Beijing’s elites knew Jiang Nanshu; Zhou Yanxu, while he was still alive, always took her, his unrelated “sister,” to banquets.
In this circle, a sister without blood relation was no different from a kept lover.
As a young girl, she was frail, but as she grew up, that delicate face blossomed beautifully. Zhou Yanxu raised her to be refined and delicate; her moist apricot eyes were deer-like, and raising one’s voice seemed almost an affront to her.
Back then, many envied Zhou Yanxu for having such a beauty by his side, but alas, this man was blessed with neither wealth nor a long life, dying just as Jiang Nanshu was turning fifteen.
Such a beautiful girl, inheriting so much wealth, became a tantalizing target in the wolf-eat-tigress world of Beijing. Later, Zhou Yanbai came along; it was said he locked the young girl away to groom her. On her eighteenth birthday, she was given as a gift to Young Zhou of Port City by their bed, only for her to escape due to their brief oversight.
Later, when she reappeared in the public eye, her nature greatly altered—both crazed and wild—her allure heightened their desire to conquer. Beautiful she was, but getting too close could mean death by her hand. When she was locked up in the mental hospital, they had pitied her. Now free, was she to stand as their equal?
They could never respect a woman like Jiang Nanshu; what business did a woman have in business? Better she stay home, tend the children, and warm a man’s bed.
Thus, from the moment Jiang Nanshu reemerged into their sights, they shunned her, banding together in hopes of driving her away.
Not until they saw their projects slipping through their fingers, into her hands, did they realize they had grossly underestimated this “woman.”
Their dismissive attitude slowly changed; companies that opposed Jiang Nanshu found themselves silently failing within months, facing financial crises and being loudly acquired by her, slapping the faces of Beijing’s haughty elites. Now, when Jiang Nanshu appeared, even if reluctantly, they had to respectfully address her as “Young Ms. Jiang.”
With the new year, Jiang Nanshu’s career soared even further.
Her assets, now worth forty billion under her management, doubled. Beijing had a place for her voice, and under her leadership, Juneng Technology advanced to the next level.
President Dong initially was reluctant for Jiang Nanshu to parachute into Juneng Technology with the largest shareholding. Now, he almost wished he could give her some of his own, just hoping she would stay and not abandon the company!
Zhou Yanbai’s subordinates initially feared Jiang Nanshu would march straight into Port City to snatch the inheritance rights. They had set traps every step of the way to Port City, ready to abduct her if she dared step out of Beijing and kill her on the mountain to feed to the dogs.
But now, Jiang Nanshu showed no intention of leaving Beijing, and seemed to have forgotten the inheritance rights, focusing solely on her business.
A bearded security operative feared Jiang Nanshu’s growing momentum might block Zhou Yanbai’s financial path, so he sent a message to Zhou Yanbai, “Boss, it’s been half a year since Jiang Nanshu left the mental hospital. She’s really too smart. In just half a year, she’s grown a small company to this extent. If we let her continue growing for a few more years… She might not need the inheritance to be worth a hundred billion.”
At that moment, Zhou Yanbai received the message while in his company’s top-floor office in Port City.
On a carved rosewood desk, several photos were spread out.
Zhou Yanbai’s pale but distinctively jointed hand gently picked up one of them.
It was a photo of Jiang Nanshu.
A photo taken when she was pressed against the wall in the mental hospital.
The ferocity in those eyes was both stubborn and cold.
Indeed a tough bone to chew, Jiang Nanshu.
Zhou Yanbai picked up another photo, this one taken around October after Jiang Nanshu was discharged from the hospital, dressed in a long red gown with a black long-sleeved cardigan draped over it.
Her whole demeanor exuded a noble and beautiful charm, yet was much more composed and restrained.
Zhou Yanbai knew why she still wore such thick clothes under the sun—to cover the mass of bruises across her body.
She was like a cockroach that couldn’t be killed, left half-dead yet still able to survive, hiding in the shadows, biding her time to strike back.
His gaze was tightly fixed on Jiang Nanshu’s face, ever since Jiang Nanshu was discharged from the hospital, he’d been having strange dreams every night. He dreamt that in another world, he was obsessively in love with a worthless woman like a madman. That woman was pregnant with his child, but the child was not lucky. When the woman insisted he marry her, he accidentally pushed her and killed the baby, then tried to compensate her with money, not once mentioning marriage.
In his heart, such a woman did not deserve him. His uncle should have died long ago yet he still lived, constantly opposing him, making his life increasingly difficult.
He had also found his biological daughter, planning to groom her into the next heir of the Zhou Family.
Zhou Yanbai closed his eyes, a very cold smile curling up the corners of his lips.
So disgusting, but fortunately, he was living in this world where he was the one in control.
Only now, these dreams had merged with his current memory.
No wonder, he felt a sense of déjà vu the first time he saw Jiang Nanshu in that world.
But Jiang Nanshu, despite having memories of two worlds, held back from killing him—should he praise her for her kindness? Or had her so-called “love” developed a conscience?
That was the most useless thing.
Zhou Yanbai pulled out an urn from his drawer, took a small portion of the ashes, and sprinkled it into a burning incense burner beside him.
Poor brother.
Even in death, he was only good for incense burning.
If he did this in front of Jiang Nanshu, she would surely go mad.
Zhou Yanbai’s eyes widened with excitement.
Originally, he worried that just Zhou Yanxu wouldn’t be enough to break Jiang Nanshu’s composure, but now it seemed he had a few more things to torment that crazy woman.
Zhou Yanbai indulged in the fragrance of sandalwood filling the air.
Mixed with his brother’s scent.
This feeling was truly wonderful.
This was the price for not giving him the inheritance but to a stranger.
He wanted his brother to have no peace even underground.
The ashes were carelessly tossed on the table, he stood up, walked outside, and saw his female secretary guarding the door. He slightly tilted his head, a shallow smile on his lips, “Take that dirty thing on the table with you, I’m going to Beijing.”