As Zhi Ruo drove, she kept pushing Zhi Biming to spill the beans about his love life. This made Zhi Biming helpless and a bit uncomfortable.
"You're already 23, why haven't you got a boyfriend? Even your sister and older cousin's got boyfriends! When will you get one?"
Zhi Biming widened his eyes and turned to look at Zhi Ruo. "Jiejie, what are you talking about? I'm not gay."
Zhi Ruo suddenly stepped on the brakes. She turned to him and said, "What?! You're gay?"
Zhi Biming grabbed her arm. "I'm not! I just told you! I don't swing that way!"
Zhi Ruo frowned. "Stop clinging on to me." she brushed off his arm. "When did I ever say you were gay?"
Zhi Biming also frowned. "But you said when will I ever get a boyfriend."
Zhi Ruo looked at her little cousin in disbelief. "You're an airhead! Don't misunderstand ah! I meant when are you gonna start dating. My god! How can someone have such high IQ but low EQ?!"
She turned to look at the road and resumed driving. An awkward silence befell the car.
Zhi Biming tugged at the collar of his shirt. "Oh it's hot, can I roll the windows down?
Zhi Ruo raised a brow. "The air conditioning is on three [1]."
"Ah? Well… I mean... Fresh air is better though?"
Zhi Ruo suppressed the hint of a smile forming. "We're in the middle of traffic with cars all around us. Are you sure you want to roll down the windows?
Zhi Biming looked outside and saw all the smoke that the cars around them emitted. 'What rotten luck!'
It was not usually traffic in downtown but because today was a weekend, the road was packed. This made him blush.
"Ah nevermind then," Zhi Biming whispered as he sank into the leather seat. 'Wah… So embarassing…"
Zhi Ruo cast a side glance and smiled. This little cousin of hers was really cute.
…
After about an hour of driving, they had arrived at Fukang [2].
It took another ten minutes from the gate of their land to the mansion. Dropping off the keys to the valet, Zhi Ruo went in with Zhi Biming who wheeled in his luggage.
"Nobody's here yet so you can drop off your luggage in your room," Zhi Ruo turned to leave to the kitchen.
Zhi Biming nodded and proceeded upstairs to his room.
The kitchen was large with a huge island in the center. Zhi Ruo grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. She saw a large platter of cookies on the island and looked around.
'Since no one's here, I'll just have a teeny tiny bite…' Zhi Ruo reached out her hand to grab a cookie.
But before she could, a frail hand slapped hers away. "Those are for dessert!"
Zhi Ruo pouted and looked up at the elderly woman. "Mrs. Chow! I was just going to have a bite, can't I?"
Mrs. Chow shook her head. "This foodie ah! No eating until everyone is together. Besides, you cannot eat these cookies."
"Why not?" Zhi Ruo caressed her hand.
"This child!" Mrs. Chow smoothened the wrinkles on her forehead. "You are lactose intolerant!"
Zhi Ruo's eyebrows furrowed. "So?"
"Stupid child! These cookies were specially made with lactose!"
"Again, I repeat. So?"
"You cannot eat them!"
"Correction! I can eat them but at a cost."
Mrs. Chow smacked her head. "That's why you can't eat them!"
Zhi Ruo felt aggrieved. She only wanted to eat the cookies! Why did she get smacked on the head.
Mrs. Chow sighed. "Go wait in the living room. I will prepare a new platter. Butler Hu is there on standby."
As soon as she heard Butler Hu, Zhi Ruo's eyes lit up and dashed out to the living room.
Mrs. Chow saw her leave like the Flash and shook her head. Their madam was really eccentric.
Zhi Ruo spotted Butler Hu looking out the window and smiled. She lightly knocked on the coffee table and sat down on the sofa.
Butler Hu turned to look at her. His aged face crinkled with a smile. "Welcome back, Young Miss."
"I'm back." Zhi Ruo relaxed and sat in an lotus position [3]. "How did the other families handle the rejection?"
Butler Hu suddenly recalled those people's dejected expressions. And while some of them were angry, still repressed the feeling and left with clenched fists.
Butler Hu smiled lightly. "Everything went smoothly."
Zhi Ruo sensed the hidden intent in his words and laughed. "Don't worry about them. Now I have a new mission for you."
"I will gladly follow any order you have, Young Miss." Butler Hu bowed deeply.
Zhi Ruo scratched her head at the sincere gesture. "Stop, that's embarassing. Butler Hu you're older than me by three generations."
"Anyways, I want you to focus your attention on Zhi Biming. Let him handle all the documents and proposals starting today. Though I will still be in position formally, all documents will be forwarded to him. Likewise, all data will also be sent to him. Meetings will be held by him. Everything."
Butler Hu frowned. Was it really wise to leave the largest company in China to a mere child who just graduated from university? Dumping such a large responsibility was very risky and might even harm the company.
Zhi Ruo noticed his contemplating face and laughed. "I can see the worry in your eyes. But don't worry, I trust my cousin. After all, he's been trained by uncle and grandfather.
And even if he does fail…" A dangerous glint flashed in her eyes before it returned to normal. "Well... Then he's just worth that much."
Butler Hu shivered. To be able to suppress such thick killing intent meant that what she had to go through was not easy. The miss had really changed in temperament since five years ago. Butler Hu sadly smiled. "The Young Miss has really grown up."
…
Zhi Biming hurriedly went down to the living room and caught the two figures discussing something serious.
He knocked on the door. "Hello, what are you guys discussing?"
Zhi Ruo turned to look at him and smiled. "Oh nothing. Just talking about your schedule starting today."
Zhi Biming frowned. "Why so fast?" he approached them and sat on the armchair on the opposite side. Then he jokingly said, "Can't a man rest for a little while?"
A smile adorned his slightly tanned face and laughed. But before he could laugh, he suddenly felt his shirt being gripped by a strong force.
Zhi Ruo did not hesitate to threaten this little cousin of his. This was the only way to force him to abandon this lax attitude of his.
But despite this, Zhi Ruo still smiled lightly as she calmly gripped his collar with her fist. "Maybe you don't understand what I just said."
Zhi Ruo stared down at her cousin who grew up more sheltered than gold locked up in a vault. He had hardly faced any hardships in the 20 years he had lived.
"This company had been standing even before you were born. And I will not! I repeat, I will not have it collapse while I'm still alive. You may not understand since you've been sheltered by aunt and uncle but this is cutthroat world.
The strong prey on the weak! The strong have everything and the weak has nothing. This is a principle that has been an indisputable truth since the Bible was made!"
Zhi Ruo's grip turned tighter and tighter till Zhi Biming felt his eyes widened. He turned to Butler Hu for help, but the man only shook his head in dismay and refused to get involved.
Tears threatened to spill his eyes. He was indeed a sheltered child. All those months of simulation his father gave him was forgotten by him the moment he stepped on his territory. It all came back to him.
'Son, you can make anyone angry, but by no means does that mean you can anger your eldest sister cousin. What she had to go through… Is far more worse than you could ever imagine.'
He remembered his father shaking his head. When he asked what happened, he refused to talk and punished him to finish a proposal in three hours. Now he realized, this eldest cousin of his, was a force to be reckoned with.
He could see the killing intent in her eyes and found no hesitation. Her words were like a sharp knife that pierced his sore spot, stabbing at it like a piece of meat.
Zhi Ruo saw her little cousin about to pee his little pants and loosened her grip a bit. "I cannot afford to lose the one thing I tried so hard to protect because of your lax attitude. Do not ever forget that if I can lift you to the top of the world, I can also destroy you and make you fall so hard you'll never be able to stand up again. Understood?!"
Zhi Biming hurriedly nodded. Zhi Ruo smiled wide and said, "See? Now that wasn't so hard now was it?"
Just as she released him, Mrs. Chow quietly approached them and put down a silver platter towering with cookies made specially for her.
Zhi Ruo returned back from being her normal self. "Ah, thank you Mrs. Chow."
Zhi Biming massaged his neck by instinct and still felt the faint sensation of having been choked.