"That person last night?"
Shen Wanyin leaned back in her chair, her eyes still indifferent, her tone calm and unruffled.
It was as if she didn't understand what Zhou Zihao was saying.
"Stop pretending, you bastard!"
Zhou Zihao roared, his voice somewhat distorted due to his cold: "Where is that mongrel who barged in last night and took you away? What's his name? What's his background?"
Shen Wanyin gently rubbed the rim of her cup: "I don't know what you're talking about. I was drunk last night and don't remember anything."
"Don't remember? Do you think I'm an idiot?"
Zhou Zihao said furiously: "Last night... last night you were poisoned. If a man hadn't helped you detoxify, you would have already died, bleeding from all seven orifices!"
"Since you're able to sit at home perfectly fine and answer the phone now, it means someone got into your bed last night and slept with you!"
Hearing this blatant insult, Shen Wanyin's face instantly turned a few shades paler.
Although she had long prepared herself mentally, having the wound ripped open by the culprit in person still filled her with a suffocating anger.
"Zhou Zihao, you're truly shameless!"
"I'm shameless? Hahahaha!"
Zhou Zihao laughed wildly and unrestrainedly as if he had heard a joke: "The victor is king, the loser is bandit. I only care about the outcome. If it weren't for that mongrel messing things up last night, you would be kneeling before me singing 'Conquer' right now!"
"You're a smart person. Tell me that man's name and information, otherwise..."
Shen Wanyin suppressed the disgust in her heart and interrupted Zhou Zihao: "I told you, I don't know any man."
Zhou Zihao seemed to have anticipated her reaction and wasn't annoyed. He merely slowly threw out his final chip.
"You won't say it, huh? Fine, then don't expect the thirty million final payment!"
"It's written in black and white in the contract; if you don't pay the final payment, it's a breach of contract!"
"Breach of contract? Then sue me!"
Zhou Zihao sneered confidently: "A lawsuit will drag on for a year or a year and a half. My Zhou Family can afford to wait, but can you, Shen Wanyin? By the time you win the lawsuit, your company will have long been bankrupt and liquidated!"
The sound of a lighter igniting a cigarette came from the other end of the phone. Zhou Zihao exhaled a puff of smoke.
"My demand is very simple. As long as you tell me who that person was last night, I'll transfer the thirty million final payment to your account immediately, without going through company procedures!"
"Do you want to protect that wild man with whom you only had a one-night stand, or do you want to protect the company you've worked so hard to build? You should be able to calculate this account, right? I'll give you one night to think it over. Tomorrow morning, I'll wait for your call."
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The call was abruptly cut off. Listening to the busy signal, Shen Wanyin was furious... Zhou Zihao's move was vicious.
Because there was a loophole in the contract, the specific settlement time for the final payment was not stated, so if it really went to court, dragging it out for a year or a year and a half wouldn't be a problem.
By then, let alone her company, even she herself would probably have to work to pay off debts.
But the person from last night was not only Xiao Chen's friend but also her savior. She couldn't possibly be ungrateful, could she??
On one side was Fang Ming, who saved her life, and on the other side was her decade-plus of hard work. Shen Wanyin was caught between a rock and a hard place.
She looked up at the crystal chandelier on the ceiling and muttered to herself.
"Am I really going to watch my decade-plus of hard work be destroyed?"
"Ding-dong."
Her phone screen suddenly lit up. Shen Wanyin numbly picked up her phone.
Seeing the simple period nickname on the screen, her heart, which had been like dead ashes, inexplicably skipped a beat.
It was him? The mysterious man who took her first time, yet also saved her life.
[.]: "I'm returning to Rong City tomorrow. Is there anything you need help with?"
Looking at this message, Shen Wanyin bit her lower lip, a complex warmth rising in her heart.
Though it was just a few words, at this moment of being abandoned by everyone, it felt especially precious.
She instinctively wanted to reply: "No," after all, this was a commercial dead end, involving tens of millions of funds and complex contractual disputes, which could not be solved by fighting.
But her finger hovered over the keyboard, and she suddenly remembered her nephew Lin Chen's words: "Brother Ming is a very good person. He is a Master's disciple."
Although reason told her it was absurd, people in despair subconsciously try to grasp at the last straw.
After hesitating for a full minute, she typed out a line.
[Shen Wanyin]: "What can you do?"
After sending the message, she regretted it.
What was she doing? Last night, her consciousness was completely unclear. Even after two or three hours, she didn't know what Fang Ming looked like.
But now... she was actually pinning her hopes on a man whose face she didn't even know? It was too naive.
[.]: "I'm a jack of all trades, I know a little bit of everything. Why don't you tell me first? What if I can solve it??"
Looking at the internet meme "a little bit" on the screen, Shen Wanyin's tense mood inexplicably improved.
Perhaps wanting to confide in someone, she hesitated for a long time before truthfully explaining her situation.
[Shen Wanyin]: "Zhou Zihao set me up. I have thirty million in final payment in his hands. There's a loophole in the contract, and a lawsuit would drag on for at least a year, but my company's cash flow can't last beyond this week."
[Shen Wanyin]: "If I can't get this money back, my company will face bankruptcy liquidation."
After sending it, she put down her phone, not holding much hope.
This kind of economic dispute is unsolvable unless there's enough capital to throw in, or enough power to make Zhou Zihao bow down.
In the hotel room, everyone else had gone to the lounge on the first floor for afternoon tea. Fang Ming looked at the WeChat message in front of him and pushed up the glasses on his nose.
Shen Wanyin hadn't contacted him proactively all day, but she was Lin Chen's aunt after all, and they had been 'friends' for a night.
It didn't feel right for Fang Ming to just walk away, so he casually asked before leaving Yanjing.
"Thirty million final payment? Zhou Zihao?" Fang Ming thought for a moment, then quickly replied.
[.]: "Wait a moment, I'll give him a call."
[Shen Wanyin]: "You can solve it??"
[.]: "Let's give it a try. What if?"
Shen Wanyin was a bit confused, but at this point, she had no other options.
Fang Ming had already gotten Zhou Zihao's phone number. After sending that message, he immediately used the Chat Group's phone connection feature to dial through a virtual number.
"Beep... beep..."
The phone rang five times before being answered.
"Who is it? Spit it out!"
Zhou Zihao's irritable voice came from the other end of the phone. The background noise was a bit chaotic, and the faint sound of a nurse's voice could be heard.
He's at the hospital?
"Young Master Zhou, quite a temper, aren't we?"
Fang Ming's voice was calm, even with a hint of a smile: "It seems you didn't get enough of those socks last night?"
The other end of the phone instantly fell silent, a deathly quiet.
That silence lasted for a full three seconds.
"You... it's you?"
Zhou Zihao's voice suddenly became sharp: "Who the hell are you? Do you know I've been looking for you all over the world?!"