Chapter 212: The Despair of the White Moonlight! The Price of Salvation!
"What I asked you to do, you handled it well."
Shen Anyu sat on the Italian leather sofa, swirling a crystal glass of amber liquor. He looked at Situ Yueying, the charming proprietress of the Dream Night Bar, with a gaze of unmasked satisfaction.
He had to admit, this woman was very capable in all aspects. Whether it was managing the underground intelligence network or serving him in private, she was a top-tier talent. The matter regarding the destruction of Xu Ping'an's mental state had been handled flawlessly.
"As long as Young Master Shen is satisfied."
Situ Yueying smiled gracefully. She stood before him in a purple cheongsam that clung to her voluptuous curves like a second skin, the high slit revealing a glimpse of her snow-white legs. Her posture was submissive, her eyes filled with a fanatical devotion that went beyond mere loyalty.
Shen Anyu was in a good mood.
He took a sip of the vintage brandy, letting the burn settle in his chest. He really had to thank the Dragon King Son-in-law, Han Qi—that self-righteous Child of Destiny—for the "gift" he had personally delivered to Shen Anyu's doorstep.
In Han Qi's script, this was supposed to be a brilliant "Honey Trap."
Han Qi believed that by sending his trusted subordinate, Situ Yueying, to approach Shen Anyu, he could plant a spy next to the villain. He thought Situ Yueying would use her beauty to charm Shen Anyu, steal intelligence, and eventually help Han Qi destroy the Shen Family from within.
It was a classic protagonist strategy.
However, Han Qi, who thought he was playing 4D chess, didn't know that the game board had been flipped long ago.
Situ Yueying had already been completely corrupted. She had signed the [Fixed Light Joy Zen Contract]—a supreme binding technique from the System that enslaved the target's body and soul to the Host.
Now, every beat of her heart, every breath she took, existed solely for Shen Anyu. The spy Han Qi thought he had placed by Shen Anyu's side was actually Shen Anyu's most loyal pet.
Han Qi had literally sent his own capable subordinate to warm Shen Anyu's bed. He had lost both his wife and his army, yet he was still smugly counting his chickens in Jinling.
"Speaking of which, it's time to close the net!"
Shen Anyu narrowed his eyes, a dangerous glint flashing within them. He placed the glass down on the marble coffee table with a soft clink.
He hadn't had time to actively pursue Liu Qingyue, the Dragon King's wife and the "White Moonlight" of this narrative, recently. He had been busy harvesting other crops. But that didn't mean Shen Anyu hadn't done anything.
A qualified villain never waits for opportunities; he creates them.
With Shen Anyu's status as the Young Master of the Shen and An families, he didn't even need to act personally. Just one casual word, one hint dropped at a business dinner, would bring countless people rushing to work for him like eager dogs.
Under Shen Anyu's remote instructions, the Liu family's lifeline—the Liu He High-End Lighting Factory—had been dragged into a meticulously crafted abyss.
It was a slow, suffocating strangulation.
First, the supply chain was contaminated. A batch of high-end lighting products, worth millions, suddenly developed severe quality issues. The circuitry was faulty, the materials substandard. This led to a catastrophic wave of old customers returning goods, canceling contracts, and demanding triple refunds for breach of contract.
Then came the financial strike.
To make matters worse, the Liu He High-End Lighting Factory was suddenly approached by the bank's risk control department. The friendly loan officers who used to drink tea with Liu Xingsheng suddenly turned into cold-faced executioners, demanding additional collateral immediately or threatening to freeze all assets and withdraw the loan.
A two-pronged approach. Misfortunes never come singly; they come in a coordinated assault.
The Liu He High-End Lighting Factory suddenly fell into a precarious situation, teetering on the verge of bankruptcy and collapse.
Liu Qingyue and her parents, Liu Xingsheng and He Xuemei, had been overwhelmed with anxiety recently. Their hair was turning white overnight, their dignity stripped away layer by layer as they begged for mercy from creditors who only sneered in response.
And where was the husband? Where was the "Dragon King" Han Qi?
He had already been dispatched by Shen Anyu to Jinling to "consolidate the underground world of Jiangnan." It was a magnificent errand, a quest for power. Even his godfather, Tianfeng Ichiro, and his closest aides had almost all gone with him.
Han Qi was currently dreaming of becoming the Emperor of the Underground, completely unaware that his backyard was on fire.
Only Situ Yueying was left to "hold down the fort" in Magic City (Modu).
Han Qi trusted Situ Yueying greatly. He saw her as a sister, a comrade. He entrusted her with all matters in Magic City, and even specifically asked her to "take care" of his wife Liu Qingyue's family affairs if any trouble arose.
It was the ultimate irony.
"He wants to use my name and the power of the Yanxia Shen Family to use a chicken to lay eggs... to develop and strengthen his Dragon King Society? And then, after his wings are fully grown, break away from me and establish his own power to slap my face?"
Shen Anyu's lips curled into a chilling, mocking smile. He stood up and walked over to Situ Yueying, lifting her chin with a finger.
"I'm not some fat cat licking dog from those third-rate novels. And Han Qi... you're not some peerless beauty who can charm the world. Dreaming of using my name to grow your wings is simply a pipe dream!"
"Overly clever. In the end, you've lost both your wife and your army!"
Upon hearing the disdain in her Master's voice, Situ Yueying shivered with excitement. She looked up at Shen Anyu with her charming face flushed pink, her eyes swimming with misty adoration.
She opened her red lips slightly, her voice husky and alluring:
"Han Qi is indeed no match for Young Master Shen. He is like a firefly trying to outshine the moon. But... my younger brother, Situ Yuehe, is loyal to Han Qi. He is young and foolish. I hope Young Master Shen will spare his life when the time comes to slaughter the Dragon King."
This was her only selfish request.
Shen Anyu smiled. He didn't answer immediately.
His gaze swept over her body, from her elegant neck to the curve of her waist, and finally to the high slit of her dress. The air in the room suddenly grew heavy, charged with a thick, suffocating tension.
"That depends on whether you can satisfy me."
Shen Anyu's voice dropped an octave. It wasn't a question; it was a command.
Situ Yueying's long, alluring eyes tilted upwards. She understood immediately. There was no hesitation, only a rush of heat in her lower abdomen.
She gave Shen Anyu a playful, seductive look, biting her lip gently. Then, slowly, gracefully, she lowered herself.
The fabric of her cheongsam stretched tight as she sank to her knees on the thick Persian carpet. She looked up at him, her eyes filled with surrender, before she reached out with trembling hands to unbuckle the belt of the man who held her life, her soul, and her brother's fate in his hands.
...
On the other side of the city.
The Liu Family Residence.
In stark contrast to the luxury and pleasure of Shen Anyu's suite, the atmosphere here was frozen to the core.
It was extremely oppressive, like a tomb before the final seal is placed.
The living room was filled with a choking haze of blue smoke. The smell of cheap tobacco was overwhelming, sticking to the curtains and the furniture.
"It's over... It's all over. The bank gave us an ultimatum this morning. We have to increase collateral by next month—twenty million Yuan! Or they'll withdraw the loan and auction off the factory. We can't afford it at all. We're going to go bankrupt…"
He Xuemei had lost her usual feisty, snobbish, and fierce demeanor. The woman who usually strutted around bragging about her daughter's beauty was now slumped on the sofa, distraught and ashen-faced. Her eyes were swollen from crying, her makeup smeared.
Liu Xingsheng sat opposite her. His brows were tightly furrowed, forming a deep 'Chuan' character on his forehead. He smoked incessantly, his fingers stained yellow. The crystal ashtray on the coffee table in front of him was overflowing with cigarette butts, spilling ash onto the polished wood.
He looked like he had aged ten years in a week.
Liu Qingyue sighed softly. She couldn't stand the suffocating air anymore.
She stood up, her movements graceful but weary, and walked to the window to open it. The cold night wind of Magic City blew in, dispersing some of the smoke but none of the gloom.
She turned around, her beautiful face pale but determined. She was wearing a simple home outfit, but her temperament as the "Campus Belle" and "White Moonlight" was still undeniable.
"Mom and Dad, there's always a way out. There will be a solution. Don't worry too much."
She tried to keep her voice steady, to be the pillar of the family.
"There's still a month. As long as we win back those old customers and get the payments, we'll definitely be able to overcome this difficulty. I'll go visit them one by one tomorrow. I'll beg them if I have to."
Liu Xingsheng shook his head helplessly. He stubbed out his cigarette, his hand trembling.
"How can we win them back, Qingyue?"
"The raw material supplier's goods had problems. Fatal problems. The high-end lighting products we produced didn't meet environmental standards—they contained toxic materials! The old customers found out immediately. We didn't just lose money; we lost our reputation. We can't win them back."
As he spoke, Liu Xingsheng felt even more despair, a crushing weight on his chest.
The raw material supplier, with whom they had cooperated for many years, actually provided problematic raw materials. It was a stab in the back.
Even their quality control team hadn't been able to discover it until it was too late.
As a result, an old customer detected it and maliciously spread the word in the industry group chat. It led to a tsunami of refunds and returns, which dealt a fatal blow to the Liu He High-End Lighting Factory.
Even the bank found out about this instantly—as if someone had tipped them off—and directly came to demand additional collateral.
Adding insult to injury! Hitting a person when they are down!
They couldn't bear it at all!
It was like falling dominoes, a chain reaction of destruction.
Liu Xingsheng only felt utterly unlucky. He wanted to go to a temple to burn incense, to ask the Buddha what sin he had committed in his past life. Perhaps that would give them a better chance of overcoming the difficulty than relying on business logic.
He Xuemei also gave a bitter, hollow smile. She hugged a throw pillow, looking at the ceiling with dead eyes.
"Banks... Hmph. Banks only offer umbrellas when it's sunny and take them away the moment it rains. They are vampires! The bank won't give us any buffer time."
"It's hopeless. The Liu He High-End Lighting Factory, which your father and I worked hard for twenty years to establish... it's finished. We'll be on the streets. We'll be beggars!"
Looking at her parents, who were pessimistic and despairing, looking as if the sky had collapsed, Liu Qingyue's delicate brows furrowed deeper. She felt a pang of pity and a surge of helplessness.
She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again.
She couldn't offer any comforting words, because empty comfort was useless now.
The key was money!
Hard, cold cash!
But now, where was the money?
They needed at least fifty million Yuan to plug the hole and restart production!
No one could help them. The bank couldn't give it. The customers wanted money from them. Relatives and friends? They were hiding like rats, afraid the Liu family would ask to borrow money. Even if they did help, it would be a drop in the bucket.
They couldn't possibly ask relatives to sell their houses to fill their family's black hole, could they?
As for her husband... her nominal husband, Han Qi.
Liu Qingyue didn't even count on him.
Although Han Qi recently said he found a job and his career was progressing smoothly in Jinling, boasting about "big projects," Liu Qingyue knew the reality of the world.
He was just an office worker, a security guard, or maybe a small-time manager. At most, he earned a few thousand or tens of thousands in salary. How could he fill a hole of tens of millions?
It was like asking an ant to lift an elephant.
Liu Qingyue hadn't even mentioned this to Han Qi, because there was no need to burden him with a problem he couldn't solve. It would only hurt his fragile self-esteem.
Of course, she didn't know the terrifying truth.
Even if Liu Qingyue wanted to mention it, Han Qi wouldn't know.
Because her phone had long been hacked by Shen Anyu's [God-Level Hacking Skill].
Any messages containing keywords like "Bankruptcy," "Money," "Help," or "Crisis" sent to Han Qi were automatically blocked, deleted, or converted into casual daily greetings like "Did you eat yet?"
Shen Anyu had built an invisible wall around her, isolating the White Moonlight in a tower of silence.
Just then, He Xuemei stopped crying. She sat up straight, wiping her face with a tissue. She looked intently at her daughter Liu Qingyue, her gaze shifting from desperate to calculating.
She hesitated for a few moments, weighing her pride against her survival, and then spoke, her voice trembling with a strange mix of hope and shame:
"Qingyue... should we... should we ask Young Master Shen for help?"
The name hung in the air like a thunderclap.
"At the previous banquet, I saw it. I saw how he looked at you. He clearly had a good impression of you. He treated you differently."
He Xuemei stood up, grabbing her daughter's hand, her grip tight and desperate.
"If we get his help... just a word from him... the difficulties of our Liu He High-End Lighting Factory will be no problem at all! The bank will bow down, the suppliers will beg us. He is the sky of Magic City!"
Liu Xingsheng was startled. He looked up sharply, frowning.
"Xuemei! What are you saying? That's..."
He wanted to stop her. He wanted to say it was inappropriate. He wanted to say they had dignity.
But the words stuck in his throat. They felt like dry sand.
Because... perhaps this was the only hope for their family at the moment. The only lifeline in a drowning sea.
But the price...
He looked at his beautiful daughter, standing there like a delicate flower. He couldn't say it aloud, nor did he dare to think about it too deeply.
Why would a man of Young Master Shen's prominent status, a man who could have any woman in the world, favor a married woman like Liu Qingyue?
There is no free lunch in this world. Especially not from a man like Shen Anyu.
Being a man himself, how could he not guess what Shen Anyu would want in return?
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