My Ex-Boyfriend's Name Was in the Chairman's Will - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

After the funeral of Fu Mingzhang, the chairman of Haisheng Group, the senior executives didn’t disperse. Instead, they moved directly into the small conference hall on the thirty-eighth floor of the headquarters.

I sat at the very end of the long table, flipping through the summary of the will sent over by the legal department. My eyelid was twitching violently. While the Board of Directors was fixated on the inheritance and equity, I was focused on only one thing: whether the tail end of the North River Phase 3 collapse from twenty years ago would appear in this will.

My father, Song Zhiyuan, died because of that “tail.”

He didn’t die at the site of the collapse. He was the project supervisor and had insisted on submitting a report about the cutting of corners and use of substandard materials. Two weeks later, he fell from the top floor of the old Haisheng office building. The police ruled it a suicide.

I didn’t believe it.

I had stayed at Haisheng all these years, working my way up from a low-level clerk to Public Relations Director, just to find an answer.

“Director Song.”

Shen Kening, the Legal Director, gave me a low-voiced reminder. “It’s starting.”

I looked up and saw the conference hall doors being pushed open. A tall figure walked in.

He wore a black overcoat and a white shirt, his features as cold as if he had just stepped out of the rain. He took off his gloves, revealing the hand I had once held countless times-slender, clean, with a faint mole at the web of his thumb.

My brain buzzed.

Luo Yuncheng.

Luo Yuncheng, who had been missing for eight years.

Eight years ago, he was just a newly practicing lawyer living in my old apartment, saying he would take me away from Haicheng once he made it through his internship. Then, he vanished overnight, leaving only a text message.

*I’m sorry. Don’t look for me.*

I searched for him for half a year. In the end, all I learned was how to get promoted with dignity, how to extinguish fires for Haisheng with dignity, and how to suppress all my embarrassment and hatred into the knot of my necktie with dignity.

But now, that dignity was shattered.

Luo Yuncheng acted as if he didn’t see me. He sat down directly next to the head of the table and opened a folder. “Commissioned by Chairman Fu during his lifetime, I am participating in the reading of the will and the subsequent supervision of its execution as a special legal advisor.”

Pan Yuming, sitting diagonally across from me, smiled at the words. “Director Fu certainly considered everything thoroughly, even inviting an outsider.”

Luo Yuncheng didn’t even look up. “Strictly speaking, I am not an outsider.”

The conference hall fell silent for a moment.

The elderly lawyer responsible for reading the will cleared his throat and began reading the clauses one by one.

The initial contents weren’t surprising. The two sons of the Fu family each received a portion of equity, the current wife received trust income rights, and several veterans and charitable foundations had established distributions.

Until the final item.

“The eight percent income rights of Haisheng Holdings under my name, along with the joint execution rights of the North River Phase 3 Aftermath Special Trust, are to be held jointly by Mr. Song Yucheng and Mr. Luo Yuncheng. The two shall have final decision-making power over the investigation, accountability, compensation, and public disclosure of said trust, free from interference by the Board of Directors.”

The old lawyer paused, then added, “There is a separate handwritten explanation from Chairman Fu in the appendix, which must be opened by the two of them together.”

Every eye in the room snapped toward me and Luo Yuncheng.

Shen Kening was the first to lose her composure; her pen dropped onto the table with a sharp clatter.

Pan Yuming slowly leaned back against his chair, the slight smile in his eyes finally turning sharp. “Joint execution rights? What kind of joke is Director Fu playing on us from his deathbed?”

I stared at the pages of the will, my fingertips numb.

North River Phase 3.

That was my father’s case.

And Luo Yuncheng was the person I least wanted to see again.

“I object.”

Pan Yuming closed his file. His tone was steady, yet it felt like the back of a blade pressed against a throat. “Director Song is a senior executive of the group, and Lawyer Luo is an old acquaintance of his. It’s hard not to suspect a conflict of interest with such an arrangement.”

“You’ve misunderstood.” I looked up, my voice sounding unexpectedly calm. “We aren’t old acquaintances.”

Luo Yuncheng finally looked at me.

Having not seen him for eight years, his gaze was still the same-as if he could peel a person apart layer by layer.

I curled my lip slightly. “He’s my ex-boyfriend.”

The room completely exploded.