Chapter 30: Fall Into My Embrace

In the dead of night, the bitterly cold sea breeze whipped up wave after wave, relentlessly crashing against an abandoned cargo ship stranded by the shore.

Inside the ship, a small group huddled around a fire to keep warm, anxiously plotting their next move.

“We haven’t been able to reach the president for three days. There’s an eighty percent chance something’s happened to him.”

“So should we halt all our operations for now?”

“That’s right. Until headquarters sends a new president, we need to lay low and keep silent for a while.”

They were all remnants of the Hongying Society’s Mingzhu branch. Now that Chen Qi had lost contact, they were leaderless, every one of them on edge.

Knock, knock, knock.

A few crisp taps sounded on the rusted bulkhead.

Everyone inside immediately tensed up. “Who’s out there?”

A voice called from outside, “Food delivery!”

They exchanged bewildered glances. “Who ordered food? How could you lead someone to our hideout?”

Someone in the corner shakily raised their hand. “I did. I was really starving.”

The others scolded, “Damn it, don’t let it happen again!”

“We’d better all go out together to get it. Times like these, we need to be careful.”

“Let’s go.”

They filed out in a group. On the shore stood a young man in a yellow vest, astride an electric scooter, holding a food bag and waving from afar. “Over here.”

The Hongying Society members, suspecting nothing, immediately went up to take the food.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Several muffled explosions rang out in quick succession.

The food bag in their hands suddenly burst open, ejecting several nets of rope. In an instant, not a single one escaped; they were all ensnared and drawn together.

“Ha, didn’t expect the new gadget the bureau issued us would work so well,” Lu Ye muttered to himself, gripping one end of the drawcord and pulling hard. The net immediately tightened, squeezing them mercilessly until not a soul could move.

At that moment, a yellow minibus slowly pulled up to the scene.

Several young men in black tactical uniforms got out, greeted Lu Ye with a laugh, “Captain Lu, this should be the last batch, right?”

Lu Ye nodded with a faint smile. “Yeah. Sorry to trouble you guys, making you pull three nights of overtime.”

“Hey, we’re all here to serve the people.”

“Hahaha, let’s hurry up and take these guys in so we can get some rest.”

“Yes, sir!”

Lu Ye had been running around for three whole days, but at last, every Hongying Society member on Chen Qi’s list was in custody. Only a few off-the-books members remained at large for now.

After years of secret dealings in Mingzhu City, the Hongying Society had finally been uprooted—if not utterly destroyed, then certainly crippled.

That afternoon, during working hours at Yiren Group.

Suddenly, a black Maybach glided to a stop at the entrance of Yiren Group.

Out stepped a young man bedecked in jewels, followed by two burly bodyguards. With long strides, he marched into the building.

“I want to see your President Su!”

At the front desk, the receptionist greeted him with her usual gentle smile. “Sir, do you have an appointment?”

Before the young man could speak, his two bodyguards interjected, “This is Young Master Xu from the capital’s Xu family, a university classmate of your President Su. Does Young Master Xu really need an appointment to see her?”

Upon hearing that the visitor was from the Xu family in the capital, the receptionist immediately panicked.

“Please wait a moment, I’ll inform President Su.”

The young man waved her off impatiently. “No need, I’ll go up and find her myself.”

Though the Xu family was only a second-tier clan in the capital, compared to the local families in Mingzhu City, they were a towering presence—an entirely different league.

The current head of the Xu family had three sons; Xu Fugui was the youngest.

Su Qianqian had attended university in the capital, ending up in the same class as Xu Fugui.

Even back then, Xu Fugui had been utterly captivated by Su Qianqian’s beauty. Yet, despite every declaration and romantic overture, Su Qianqian remained unmoved, always keeping him at arm’s length.

Later, his family sent him abroad to study. By chance, he became involved with the Hongying Society and eventually rose to become a key member.

Xu Fugui had only just returned to the country when Chen Qi’s incident occurred.

Headquarters had dispatched him to Mingzhu to take over as the new president, hoping to rally the society’s remnants and make a comeback.

While gathering intelligence in Mingzhu, Xu Fugui learned of the old feud between the Zhang and Su families—and that his former goddess, Su Qianqian, had married a lowly security guard.

Xu Fugui refused to believe it.

Upon reflection, he concluded Su Qianqian must have entered a sham marriage with an honest man to avoid an arranged marriage.

Of course, how could his goddess possibly allow a mere security guard to sully her? Their marriage must be one in name only!

In fact, she was probably still untouched!

“Qianqian, just wait. Only I am worthy of you!”

With this conviction, Xu Fugui, ignoring all attempts to stop him, led his bodyguards directly into the elevator.

The receptionist, flustered beyond measure, grabbed the phone to warn Su Qianqian, “President Su, there’s a young master from the capital’s Xu family here to see you. I couldn’t stop him! He has two attendants and they’re already in the elevator!”

Su Qianqian’s elegant brows furrowed. She replied coolly, “Alright, I understand.”

After hanging up, Su Qianqian felt overwhelmed.

Why had Xu Fugui come to see her so suddenly? What was he after?

Click!

Without so much as a knock, the double doors to Su Qianqian’s office were pushed open.

Xu Fugui strode in, head held high, and immediately sat on the sofa, crossing his legs.

One bodyguard offered him a cigarette, the other lit it.

As Xu Fugui exhaled clouds of smoke, the room quickly filled with a choking haze.

“Qianqian, long time no see. You’re still as beautiful as ever.” Xu Fugui’s greedy gaze roamed over Su Qianqian, as if she were a masterpiece he was about to possess.

A look of utter disgust flashed in Su Qianqian’s eyes.

She rose and walked to the farthest corner from Xu Fugui, opening a window to let in fresh air.

But Xu Fugui paid no heed to her obvious loathing.

Because he knew the words he was about to say left no room for her to refuse.

“Qianqian, your marriage with that security guard is just for show, isn’t it?”

What the—how did he know?

Seeing Su Qianqian hesitate, Xu Fugui’s suspicions were confirmed.

He pressed his advantage, “If you married him just to avoid an arranged marriage with the Zhang family, there’s no need to degrade yourself any further.”

“Because now that I’m here, you no longer need that security guard as a shield!”

“Qianqian, marry me! Forget the Zhang family—if you want all of Mingzhu City, I could give it to you!”

Perhaps because Hongying Society’s Mingzhu branch had been wiped out by Lu Ye, their intelligence network had collapsed, failing to keep up with recent developments.

The information Xu Fugui had was already weeks out of date; he had no idea of the upheavals that had since occurred between the Zhang and Su families.

He still thought Su Qianqian feared Zhang family’s influence, which was why she hadn’t divorced the security guard.

Xu Fugui was supremely confident in his persuasion.

Wasn’t he the hero who had come to rescue Su Qianqian from her suffering?

This was the moment she needed him most; he was her salvation!

“Qianqian, aren’t you so moved you could cry?” he said, smugly rising with arms outstretched toward her. “Come, into my arms. I’ll be your support!”

He closed his eyes, utterly self-absorbed, waiting to embrace her.

But all he got was Su Qianqian’s merciless derision.

“Xu Fugui, I have no idea where you heard such nonsense, but my husband and I are deeply in love. We don’t need an outsider like you to worry about us.”

Xu Fugui, thinking she was just being coy, felt a flush of humiliation.

Never mind his role in the Hongying Society—just as the capital’s Young Master Xu, countless women would do anything to marry him!

And Su Qianqian? She was merely a Su family daughter barely tolerated by her own grandfather, with nothing but her face and figure to recommend her.

What gave her the right to look down on him?

Xu Fugui’s tone darkened. “So in your eyes, I’m not even as good as that lousy security guard? You’d rather marry him than spare me a glance?”

Su Qianqian nodded seriously. “That’s right. In my eyes, only my husband is the best. No one else can compare. Satisfied?”

She was going all out to make Xu Fugui so disgusted he’d leave, even if she felt disgusted herself.

But as the saying goes, what you can’t have is always the most desirable.

Su Qianqian’s repeated rejections only inflamed Xu Fugui’s possessiveness.

You wretched woman! The more you reject me, the more I must have you!

“Qianqian, I won’t give up.”

“Soon, you’ll know who the real man worthy of you is!”