Chapter 50

Seeing the words “Chi Corporation,” Qiao Jian was briefly dazed. He only snapped back when Qin Jing hurried over and locked the cabinet.
“I’m not going to snoop, why are you being so guarded?” Qiao Jian said with a look of disdain.
Qin Jing gave an apologetic smile. “A-Zhao told me before, these things are far too important. No one is allowed to see them. I didn’t even tell Zhenzhen. It wasn’t meant to be defensive towards you.”
“What is it?” Qiao Zhenzhen asked, playing along.
Qiao Jian snorted. “I’m not interested in your ‘important’ things even if you showed me.”
Qin Jing looked a little embarrassed.
Qiao Jian shot her a sidelong glance. “If it’s such an important project, put it away and don’t be pulling it out all the time. If someone sees it, can you imagine the consequences?”
“…You won’t be mad if I go help at Qin Corporation?” Qin Jing asked, surprised and pleased.
Qiao Jian snorted coldly. “When have you ever listened to me lately? Would me being angry do any good?” With that he strode out, and at the doorway he scolded Qiao Zhenzhen, “If you’re going to eat, sit at the table. Carrying a bowl around like that, what kind of manners are those?”
Qiao Zhenzhen stepped back innocently to give him space.
Qiao Jian glared at her again, then, as if remembering something, looked back at Qin Jing. “I’m in a bad mood. You can sleep with her tonight.” With that he walked into the bedroom without looking back.
Slam! When the door shut, everything suddenly felt calm.
Qin Jing, no longer so cautious, pursed her lips and put the documents back into the cabinet. Watching her expression change in an instant, Qiao Zhenzhen couldn’t help but give a thumbs-up: “Mom, your acting is amazing.”
"Is he the better actor?" Qin Jing asked, her face showing obvious disgust.
Qiao Zhenzhen thought for a moment. "He's just being himself. You're trying to reinvent your image, and your scheme is a lot more complicated."
"…Nonsense," Qin Jing scoffed with a laugh.
Seeing her mood lift, Qiao Zhenzhen finally breathed easier and hurried to the cabinet to rummage through the papers. "Did my uncle put this proposal together? I don't understand it, what if we can't make him fall for it?"
"You can't fool him with ordinary things. This proposal is real, and it does promise high returns. Mr. Chi is friends with your grandfather; your grandfather asked him personally to help, which is why he put this project forward as the bait," Qin Jing explained.
Qiao Zhenzhen's eyes widened. "Then isn't that like hurting the enemy a thousand and hurting ourselves eight hundred?"
Her plan had been for her grandfather to create a fake project to lure him in, while her mother would formally oppose it in writing and have it notarized. If Qiao Jian invested, her mother would have legal protection and take no risk; once he had lost enough, she would file for divorce. He would then have to pay for the failed project and half of the family's assets, and the previous transfers would be exposed.
But now they were using a real project, one with high returns… She found herself at a loss over what her grandfather was trying to do.
"You're overthinking it," Qin Jing said, seeing exactly what she was worried about. "Using your method is the 'hurt the enemy a thousand, hurt ourselves eight hundred' move, you might even go to jail. A fake project… only you could dream that up. Your grandfather and uncle didn't tell you it would be fraud because they couldn't bring themselves to crush you. Your sense of the law is really too weak."
Up until now Qiao Zhenzhen had been the one to tease Chi Shen about his poor grasp of the law; she never expected to be on the receiving end. After three seconds of stunned silence she asked, "If we bring this project out, will he fall for it?"
"Yes, he probably will. But grandfather said, just in case, Mr. Chi will come by in a couple of days, he'll be positively impatient to take the bait," Qin Jing said simply.
Qiao Zhenzhen nodded.
"Anyway, don't worry. With grandfather involved, it'll definitely be fine," Qin Jing said, ruffling her hair. "What you need to do now is study well, okay?"
"What I need to do now is drag you back to the room to sleep so he'll have the space to work," Qiao Zhenzhen said, then grabbed Qin Jing and ran for the room.
Qin Jing had no way to resist and followed her back, helpless.
The clock on the wall moved lazily, the hour hand sliding quickly toward two o'clock.
After a while, Qiao Jian came out of his room, glanced at Qiao Zhenzhen's tightly closed door, and hurried off to the study.
He went straight to the cabinet, tried the handle a couple of times, and when it wouldn't budge he frowned and went to look for the key.
The key wasn't in its usual spot; Qin Jing had clearly put it away.
"And you said you wouldn't lock me out," Qiao Jian sneered, then turned and went downstairs.
When the house was renovated, extra keys had been made for every door. Only one spare was left upstairs for each door; the others had been stored in the downstairs warehouse.
Qiao Jian didn't turn on the lights; he used his phone to light the way into the warehouse. It hadn't been cleaned in ages and was thick with dust, he sneezed as soon as he entered and began to itch all over.
He couldn't afford to linger. Pinching his nose, he rummaged through the warehouse until he finally found the study key and hurried back. By the time he stood again in front of the cabinet he was flushed red from a dust-mite allergy, like a boiled lobster.
Usually so fastidious, he didn't care at that moment, he focused on opening the cabinet, pulling out the project file and photographing it page by page. After replacing everything he went back to the bedroom, turned off the light and began to read carefully. By the second page his eyes had gone red with the lure of profit.
The quiet night passed quickly.
Well-rested, Qiao Zhenzhen woke in high spirits and joked with Qin Jing as they left the room. Just as the two stepped out, a haggard Qiao Jian emerged from his room.
Qiao Zhenzhen cried out, "Dad, why are you so red all over?"
"Allergic to dust mites again?" Qin Jing asked.
Qiao Jian's expression was awkward. "…Yeah, allergic. Ask the housekeeper to air out all the quilts today and give the place a good cleaning, see how filthy it's gotten."
"We really should have done a deep clean. I've been so busy lately I forgot," Qin Jing said apologetically. "What should we do now? Should I take you to the hospital?"
"No, I'm going to the office," Qiao Jian replied, and left.
The mother and daughter watched him go in silence. After a moment Qiao Zhenzhen said, "His eyes are bloodshot, he must have stayed up late reading the contract last night."
"Don't ask me, I don't know," Qin Jing said with a look of disdain. "How did we never notice he was this foolish before?"
"It's normal, everyone has blind spots sometimes," Qiao Zhenzhen consoled, speaking as if from experience.
Qin Jing sighed.
Once he had driven out of the compound, Qiao Jian sneezed and frowned as he sped to the office. He called his trusted aide into his office as soon as he arrived and stayed there for nearly eight hours.
Eight hours later, Qiao Jian was finally certain the project proposal was genuine.
The enormous potential returns made his heart race; his hand trembled while holding a pen, and a thousand thoughts flashed through his mind. One thought rose above all others,
He had to grab it.
"This project would be perfect for our company, too bad it's already been earmarked for the Qin firm," one aide sighed.
Another countered, "It's just a proposal, no contract signed. If we can offer higher returns than the Qin company, I don't believe Mr. Chi won't be tempted."
"The problem is, how do you know how much the Qin firm is offering?"
The debate went on until Qiao Jian, after a long silence, suddenly said, "I can get the data."
Everyone fell silent.
"You all put together the plan for this project. I'll handle everything else," Qiao Jian decided flatly.
Seeing his confidence, the others fell in line.
From that day on, Qiao Jian began coming home on time every day. Each time he either cooked dinner himself or brought Qin Jing a bouquet, courting her with the same attentive manners he showed when they first met.
His attentions only disgusted Qin Jing.
After holding out for a few days, Qin Jing finally retrieved the other documents. Qiao Jian worked through the night to record the exact figures, and when he heard that Old Mr. Chi was coming to City A he was thrilled. At dawn he summoned everyone to the office and spent the whole day preparing a proposal, then, when Old Mr. Chi and Qin Zhao had finished dinner and were preparing to return to City A, he intercepted him at the airport.
"Mr. Chi, hello. My name is Qiao Jian. You attended the wedding when I married Qin Jing. I have something to discuss with you about the Mid-Mountain Villa project," Qiao Jian said, restraining his excitement and nerves and speaking each word carefully.
Old Mr. Chi stared at him for a long moment, then slowly nodded. "All right."
Qiao Jian suppressed his delight and hurried into the VIP lounge with him, presenting the proposal he'd painstakingly prepared and watching the old man's expression warily as he read.
He hadn't seen Old Mr. Chi in years; at first he almost didn't recognize him, but the longer he looked the more the face seemed familiar, as if he'd seen him somewhere before.
After half an hour Old Mr. Chi put the proposal down. "Your terms are certainly tempting."
Qiao Jian's eyes lit up.
"But much of your proposal makes up for the shortcomings in his terms, you've obviously read his proposal," Old Mr. Chi said. His hair was white but his back remained straight; there was no accusatory tone, yet the words made one blush. "With that kind of character, I'm not sure I can trust you in a partnership."
"...Seeing that proposal was purely accidental. My character is beyond reproach, Mr. Chi, please believe me. If necessary I'm willing to concede another point of profit. I know you are close with my father-in-law, but business is business, surely you understand." Qiao Jian had worked so hard for days for this moment; he could not give up easily.
Old Mr. Chi studied him for a moment, then smiled once. "You're right that business should be handled as business, but if I don't trust you, how can I work with you?"
"Then tell me, what would make you trust me?" Qiao Jian asked, a little anxious.
Old Mr. Chi tapped his fingertips on the table unconsciously, then said slowly, "I could consider partnering with the Qiao firm, but you must personally guarantee it. Once the project begins, Qiao group must not harm our interests; otherwise I can cancel the contract at any time."
Qiao Jian was stunned. In all his years in business he'd never been asked to personally guarantee his own company. It didn't sound unreasonable, just odd.
"I'm not insisting," Old Mr. Chi said. Seeing he didn't answer, he assumed refusal and rose to leave.
"I agree!" Qiao Jian sprang to his feet.