Chapter 17: Casting Aside the Scoundrel in Fury

“Li Jiuwei, you frightened Xinchun.”

Jiang Huaiting released Li Xinchun and stood up, placing himself between Li Jiuwei and her.

“She had the nerve to plot against me with others—do you really think she’d be afraid?”

“It wasn’t Xinchun’s doing. She was deceived by Yu Ruonan.”

“She said that?”

“Yes.”

Li Jiuwei looked at the man before her, her voice cool and detached. “You believe everything she says? Jiang Huaiting, is your head full of air?”

“If I don’t believe her, should I believe you? Xinchun isn’t you—she doesn’t have your malice.”

“Sister… I really didn’t hurt you.”

“Shut up!” Li Jiuwei snapped, instantly enraging Jiang Huaiting. He gripped her arm tightly. “Enough is enough, or I’ll show you what it means to—”

But in the next instant, Li Jiuwei summoned all her strength and slapped him hard across the face.

Jiang Huaiting’s eyes blazed with fury as he glared at her.

“You dare hit me?”

“That’s right. I hit you. I’ve wanted to do it for a long time.” Li Jiuwei smiled easily, completely unfazed by the murderous look in his eyes.

“Sister, that was cruel. He has a handprint on his face—how is he supposed to go to the office like this?”

“That’s easy.” As she finished speaking, Li Jiuwei landed another slap on Jiang Huaiting’s left cheek, swift and unexpected.

Jiang Huaiting stood there, stunned, having received two slaps in succession.

“Well, dear sister, now it’s symmetrical—one handprint wouldn’t do for the office, but surely two will. You’re welcome,” Li Jiuwei said, her smile gentle, almost tender.

Her actions left the other two utterly speechless.

Jiang Huaiting’s furious roar soon followed, his fists clenching and unclenching as he struggled to contain his rage.

“Li Jiuwei, you have a death wish.”

“No, you’re the one courting death. Let me warn you—if you can’t keep Li Xinchun in check, I’ll sell my shares in Jiang Corporation to someone else.”

Faced with her smiling expression, Jiang Huaiting dared not utter another word; his anger had nowhere to go.

After a long moment, he sneered coldly, “Li Jiuwei, you truly are repulsive.”

“The feeling is mutual.” Satisfied, Li Jiuwei swaggered away. Just as she exited, she ran into her mother and Li Jingbai.

She ignored them, leaving with elegance.

“Heavens, Huaiting, what happened to your face?” her mother exclaimed, shocked by the two clear handprints.

From her bed, Li Xinchun sobbed, “Mom, it was sister… she hit him…”

“That wretched girl—she’s turning the world upside down!”

Jiang Huaiting remained silent and walked out. In the ward, Li Xinchun’s crying grew even more pitiful as she recounted everything Li Jiuwei had said.

Her mother and Li Jingbai’s faces darkened.

“This is all the old man’s fault.”

“Mom… Grandpa is already gone. There’s no use blaming him. We should be thinking of ways to get the shares from Li Jiuwei.”

“It’s not that easy.”

“The best plan now is to have Jiang Huaiting marry Li Jiuwei. Once they’re married, the shares from both families will fall into his hands.”

“I don’t agree!” Li Xinchun protested, and Li Jingbai also knew it was far from an ideal solution.

But for now, it was the best option.

“Jingbai, they can’t marry, but they also can’t break off the engagement. You and Jingshen should think of another way regarding the shares.”

She couldn’t bear to see Li Xinchun wronged, especially since Xinchun was now pregnant.

“Alright, I’ll discuss it with my elder brother.”

“Thank you, second brother.”

“Foolish girl, you’re my sister. Helping you is never a burden.” Li Jingbai ruffled her hair.

Her family had always favored her. That was enough.

Li Xinchun smiled happily.

But her days of happiness did not last.

Problems soon arose with her collaboration with Feng Group. They had been most satisfied with the first draft of the design, but after Li Xinchun plagiarized and altered it, Feng Group repeatedly rejected her submissions.

When Li Jiuwei learned of this, she merely smiled without a word, ignoring the calls from both Jiang Huaiting and Li Xinchun.

Resting on her bed, Li Jiuwei scrolled through her social media and noticed a post from Feng Su, made half an hour ago.

“About to do something big.”

That boy—

What could he be planning?

Li Jiuwei felt something was amiss.

The next day.

She arrived at work on time.

The atmosphere at the office was tense. Zhang Bing hurried over. “Jiuwei, I’m afraid our collaboration with Feng Group is about to fall through.”

“Is it because of the design?”

“Yes…and no.”

Li Jiuwei paused, intrigued. “Tell me carefully—what’s really going on?”

“It’s just gossip, but I heard the young master doesn’t want to work with Li Xinchun. Jiuwei, is it possible he actually wants to work with you?” Zhang Bing fixed her with a suspicious look.

Li Jiuwei laughed. “You’re overthinking it. I don’t know the young master; we’ve never interacted. There’s no way he’d want to work with me. Gossip is the least reliable thing of all.”

Especially rumors about those at the very top.

Zhang Bing scratched her face, looking at Li Jiuwei’s departing back, lost in thought.

Her intuition told her that the young master was indeed interested in working with Jiuwei.

It was baffling!

Jiang Huaiting barged into her office.

She noticed that the marks on his face had mostly faded, though traces still remained, faintly visible even under concealer.

Li Jiuwei’s gaze lingered briefly on his face, making Jiang Huaiting even more uncomfortable. For the sake of his goal, he composed himself. “Feng Group wants a new design. Redraw it.”

“I’m responsible for the Li Corporation, not Jiang’s. You should find your darling.”

“Enough sarcasm. I’m being serious. We can’t afford to lose Feng Group’s partnership. Li Jiuwei, do you really want to see Jiang Corporation go under?”

What a shameless attempt at moral coercion.

Li Jiuwei fixed him with a penetrating gaze. “You’re the ones trying to ruin Jiang Corporation, not me. President Jiang, instead of wasting time on me, maybe you should find out why Feng Group wants to terminate the contract.”

She suspected there was more to this than met the eye.

Seeing her unmoved, Jiang Huaiting left.

After work, Li Jiuwei went out to eat, only to run into Feng Su again. This time, he was dressed as a waiter, bringing her lunch.

“Have you already spent all the money I gave you?” Li Jiuwei scrutinized Feng Su from head to toe.

“I saved the money you gave me. I like working part-time for experience.”

“Oh? In that case, shouldn’t you be busy?”

Feng Su sat down beside her, leaning in affectionately.

“I want to keep you company.”

“Keep me company? In what way?” Li Jiuwei put down her chopsticks; their faces were so close she could feel his breath.

“Any way you like, it depends on what you want.” Feng Su smiled obediently.

Whether his appearance was coincidence no longer mattered.

But he truly acted as if her words went in one ear and out the other.

She had never met such a stubborn man—impossible to drive away.

“Go out.”

Feng Su’s hopeful expression slowly faded.

Li Jiuwei focused on her meal.

After Feng Su left, his eyes darkened.

“Li Jiuwei.”

A soft voice called.

Li Jiuwei looked up, her gaze turning cold as her hand tightened around her chopsticks.

It was Gu Rufeng!