Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The Nan’an Project ran into trouble in early April.

A core supplier suddenly pulled out, and the design drawings were held up in review.

I spent an entire day digging into it, and in the end, I found Gu Cheng’an’s shadow behind it all.

He hadn’t made a move openly.

He had only passed a few messages to our partners behind the scenes.

He said the project leadership inside Wen Corporation was unstable.

He said my marriage had been rushed, and sooner or later I would be swallowed whole by the Zhou Family.

He said taking sides now was too risky.

That night, I held a meeting at the company until after midnight.

Everyone was waiting for me to come up with a plan.

But I knew very well what this was.

A trap.

My family wanted to use outside pressure to force me to hand over my authority.

Gu Cheng’an wanted to prove that if I didn’t marry him, I wouldn’t be able to protect the project.

I couldn’t back down.

And I couldn’t panic.

At one in the morning, someone knocked on the conference room door.

I thought it was my assistant and didn’t even look up.

“Come in.”

The door opened.

Zhou Yubai walked in.

He was carrying a paper bag.

Inside were porridge and warm milk.

Everyone in the conference room froze.

Zhou Yubai acted as if he didn’t see their stares. He set the paper bag in front of me.

“Eat something.”

I lowered my voice. “What are you doing here?”

“Picking up my wife from work.”

His voice wasn’t loud.

But it was loud enough for everyone in the conference room to hear.

My face warmed.

“Zhou Yubai.”

“Mm.”

He looked down at me, his tone calm.

“I looked into it. What got held up wasn’t the drawings. It was the supplier qualification re-evaluation.”

I froze.

“Gu Cheng’an submitted a replacement list to the evaluators. The first supplier on that list has a legal representative with cross-shareholdings tied to the Gu Family.”

Someone in the conference room sucked in a sharp breath.

I looked at him.

“Why are you telling me this?”

He pushed the milk closer to my hand.

“You can’t fall yet.”

I laughed.

“That sounds nicer than ‘mutual benefit.'”

Zhou Yubai finally lifted his eyes.

The conference room lights were glaringly white.

But his gaze wasn’t cold.

“I can lend you my structural consultant for the re-evaluation, but you have to be the one who signs off on it. Tomorrow morning at eight, take the re-evaluation opinion into the board meeting.”

After a pause, he added, “Wen Yi, eat first. You can’t go to war on an empty stomach.”

All my exhaustion suddenly surged up at once.

I picked up the spoon.

The porridge was still warm.

Very plain.

No scallions.

No celery, either.

I clearly didn’t want to overthink it, but my mind refused to obey and remembered anyway.

On the first day I moved into his house, I had mentioned only once that I hated celery.

I didn’t sleep for the rest of that night.

I led my team in taking apart the supplier contracts, the re-evaluation opinion, and the replacement list submitted by the Gu Family.

At eight the next morning, Zhou Yubai’s structural consultant arrived.

At nine thirty, I spread three documents across the boardroom table.

One re-evaluation opinion.

One supplier breach notice.

One equity penetration chart for the Gu Family’s affiliated company.

My father looked at me, his expression terribly dark.

“Wen Yi, are you sure you want to blow this up like this?”

I said, “They were the ones who treated the project like a dowry first.”

That board meeting lasted a full four hours.

The Nan’an Project wasn’t approved on the spot.

But the Gu Family’s replacement list was pushed back.

And for the first time, I made every director sign written minutes stating that the leadership of the project could not change because of my marital status.

Gu Cheng’an called me.

“Wen Yi, you’ve gotten very good at borrowing the Zhou Family’s power.”

I stood at the end of the corridor, looking out through the glass at the city beyond.

“As long as I’m not borrowing yours.”

Gu Cheng’an gave a short laugh.

“Zhou Yubai isn’t a good man. He’s helping you only because he wants to use you as a shield against the Su Family.”

“I know.”

I said, “We’re a contract couple.”

After I hung up, I turned around.

Zhou Yubai was standing not far away.

I didn’t know how much he had heard.

I felt a little guilty.

“Was I wrong?”

He looked at me for a few seconds.

“No.”

He said, “You were stating the truth.”

But after we went home that day, he didn’t speak to me again.

There was still warm water on the dining table.

Only the sticky note was gone.