"Hello." Old Hao spoke calmly.
The person on the other side was obviously surprised that his call went through so quickly.
He expected that he would be ignored and only after persistent calling would he be answered.
However, he wasn't complaining so he hurriedly greeted Old Hao respectfully.
"Elder Hao. Good morning. I hope you're well." The deep voice of a middle aged man resounded.
"Good morning Fourth Master." Old Hao spoke calmly with a stoic expression. So calmly you'd wonder if he had grudges with the person he just addressed Fourth Master.
The person addressed Fourth Master who was none other than Zhou San hurriedly buttered up Old Hao like as if he had something he was looking for.
"There is no need for such high addresses for me Elder Hao. I am the junior here and my father would probably gorge my eyes out if he found out I dared to disrespect his good friend."
Zhou San said pleasantly.
Old Hao glanced at Zhou Ren who stood there with weeds in hands.
The look he gave Old Hao was questioning him whom it was.
Old Hao wordlessly mouthed.
"Fourth Master."
Zhou Ren scoffed in disdain and got back to tending to his plants completely losing interest.
'He'd be more interested if it was the Han Ziyou girl calling. She was a pleasant person to keep around.'
Old Hao returned his attention to the still blubbering Zhou San.
"What do you require Fourth Master that you have called so abruptly."
Old Hao asked getting straight to the point on Zhou Ren's behalf.
Zhou San coughed awkwardly before asking.
"Is father around? I'd like to ask him something."
Old Hao glanced at Zhou Ren who looked at him with no intention of intervening.
"Feel free to speak. The patriarch is listening."
Zhou San was obviously startled but he hurriedly paid his respects to his father.
"Father. Forgive me for not greeting you earlier. It is me Zhou San."
Zhou San spoke respectfully knowing he had to tread carefully with his father's obscure and unpredictable habits.
Zhou Ren's lips curled in disdain at the false show of humility.
Zhou San realized that he was being ignored and his further would probably not answer.
He could only curse internally.
'Curse you old man! Argh–if it wasn't because of that wretch this old man put in charge, I'd have never called but now I have to beg this stubborn old fool–'
Zhou San was seething internally after what happened in the morning.
He was so angry he almost got a heart attack. Today just like any other day, he had been preparing to head for work at the office.
Among all his siblings, he was among the lucky ones that were in charge of a major branch of the family business.
The position kept him well and made him outstanding even among his peers. The best fact was that since he was abroad, he didn't have to suffer the same amount of shame the family members within the country had to face since the little Han Ziyou runt took over the company.
He was living in bliss.
However, his cousins had asked him to help them overthrow the Han girl and his job was to get rid of her hence the accident plot but the little bitch survived.
And now she was retaliating and her retaliation was sharp, decisive and destructive.
This morning he had been informed that he had been dismissed from his duties as the branch head of the company in the United States.
He had thought it was a joke until he saw the documents proving it direct from the headquarters.
Zhou San had thought it was a ridiculous joke and he thought he would be safe since the power to change branch heads had been an exclusive right only their father had.
Not even the CEO could change the branch heads willy nilly since the documentation required their father's stamp to be official.
It was crazy but yes it was the only thing that gave Zhou San confidence when he attacked Han Ziyou.
He was sure that regardless of what he did, Han Ziyou would never be able to take his position of branch manager from him.
Their father would never hand out his stamp to anyone, surely not even to that runt right.
At least that is what Zhou San thought before he saw the documents with his father's stamp clearing the order for him to be dethroned.
Zhou San had nearly lost it. Was their father soo blinded by that parasite or maybe the little slut had seduced and charmed their father somehow.
It was already hard enough that they had to struggle without much dependence on the Zhou family name.
The competition for position of chairman had already been hard enough but that annoying Han girl showed up out of nowhere and took the seat just like that.
It was infuriating.
'Arghhh!!!!'
Zhou San clenched his phone hard. Did his father really allow that girl to suspend him or maybe he gave her his stamp and now they were like toys in her hands.
'No way! That Han girl had to go.'
"Father, I was requesting to know if you gave Han Ziyou the right to suspend me from my position as branch head."
Zhou San asked through gritted teeth after finding a suitable way of phrasing his question.
Zhou Ren who was working on his plants paused when he heard what Han Ziyou did to his son.
Instead of being infuriated, he smiled feeling amused.
"Clever, ruthless, perfect judgement and decisive. What a happy father I would be if I had such children!"
Zhou Ren mumbled in a low voice as he set his tools down and made his way to Old Hao.
He received the phone from Old Hao and spoke very much indifferently.
"The last I heard you tried to have her killed. Like I always say, bare the consequences of your actions on your own. Keep me out of it and maybe next time choose your battles wisely–"
"And oh yes son, try not to die. I hear Han Ziyou is quite ruthless."
With that Zhou Ren ended the call without giving Zhou San a chance to respond.
Old Hao kept a calm expression the whole time.
Zhou Ren set the phone back and returned to tending to his plants while totally changing the topic to something of his interest.
....
On the other side of the world, in a lavish mansion in the upper east side of New York City.
A man shouted in anger as he hurled his phone across the room. It crashed with a bang on the ground immediately breaking apart from force.
"I'm gonna kill that girl. I swear to God I'll kill her." A middle aged man kept raging.
"Did your father refuse to assist?" A lady in her late forties who remained seated elegantly asked with a deep frown.
Zhou San didn't even have the mood to answer her as he continued to pace around the room angrily.
"What do you think? That old coot wouldn't give a damn even if my dead body was dropped in front of his estate."
Zhou San seethed.
Zhou Meier, his wife could only clench her hands in anger as her face darkened. She also knew about that worthless Han girl, everyone in the Zhou family knew her.
The outsider that beat the Zhou family members and took their long covetted CEO position.
Zhou Meier's fingers dug deep into her skin. For years now, they had been secretly plotting on how to make their son the CEO of the company but all of that went down the drain because of that wretch Han Ziyou.
Her anger was unmatched and yet the wretch went as far as to suspend her husband from the position of branch manager.
That was a truly hard blow to them.
They had been living the all high life this whole time and now this was as good as being thrown on the streets especially for Zhou Meier.
She lived lavishly and always boasted to her fellow upper class friends about how rich her husband is and now this.
The news had already spread and currently almost all her friends who called her nearly every two hours were nowhere to be seen.
They were ignoring her like the plague.
"I don't know what I'm going to do–" Zhou San muttered in exasperation.
They were still trying to figure out a way when abruptly, the resident butler came running in.
He had a pale expression as he hurriedly bowed to Zhou San and Zhou Meier.
"Sir–madam. There is a serious problem you may want to take a look at." The butler breathed heavily.
It was obvious he came running.
Zhou San's heart instinctively skipped a beat after seeing his butler's expression.
"What's wrong Mayers." Zhou San asked but before he could receive an answer, a squad of fully armed men dauntingly entered the mansion.
They were dressed in official US ICE uniforms. A tall tanned man obviously American stepped forward. He was obviously the leader of the group.
"We are here looking for a Mr Zhou San. We are here with direct dispatchment by the US Immigration and Enforcement office. We have a detainment permit and Mr Zhou San is being detained for the financial crime of money laundering against the US government."
The man held the permit before him clearly showing it's authenticity.
"You can follow us peacefully or we will be forced to utilize force as per the legal order of detainment."
The man spoke calmly, clearly and swiftly but his words were like thunder in Zhou San's ears.
He took a step back looking pale.
"I–"
'What the hell was happening!!!'
....
–Beijing International Hospital–
Han Ziyou checked herself in the mirror as Qin Jun gave her the latest report.
"I contacted Mr Wilson from the US ICE yesterday boss and he said that with the evidence you provided to them against Zhou San, they can easily deport him from the US in three days time."
Han Ziyou nodded and turned around. She glanced at the bandage around her wrist and could only sigh. Indeed she hadn't fully recovered.
However, that wasn't stopping her from going to work.
"Let's go." Han Ziyou spoke as she turned for the doors of the hospital room.
She was dressed smartly in a knee length cream colored pencil skirt and black formal shirt which she tucked in.
She matched it with low cream kitten heels making her look the part of a business prodigy.
They left the hospital room and four bodyguards followed them.
Han Ziyou glanced at Qin Jun with a raised brow.
Qin Jun returned the questioning look with a smile. "You need to start taking your security serious boss. What if in the future you get a ruthless husband who cuts my fingers off because I didn't perform my duties of being your personal assistant well? Of which my duties include making sure you're safe."
Qin Jun defended himself with a smug and proud look as he envisioned himself with a future wife as awesome as his boss.
Han Ziyou scoffed at his cockiness. "Sorry to disappoint then since I don't plan on getting married and who said a woman needs a man to defend herself. I know how to protect myself thank you very much."
Han Ziyou said with a flip of her hair.
"Of course boss lady. You are definitely anything but gentle. I hope I find myself a woman as awesome as you."
Qin Jun said with a chuckle and determined look.
Han Ziyou's jaw twitched and she threw Qin Jun a narrowed stare.
Qin Jun nearly choked so he hurriedly pretended to be looking at the ceiling of the hospital as they approached the hospital lobby.
'Lovey ceiling.'
While the group left, onlookers couldn't help but be amazed at the cold goddess that had just bypassed them.
'Wow–what an angel.'
'Ahh~now I can die in peace. I have already seen heaven on earth. What an angel!'
'She may look cold as ice but her features are like a peak at paradise.'
"I think I've seen her somewhere. Isn't she the she devil of the business world, Han Ziyou."
"Wow. Indeed, she is the one. I never knew she was this beautiful."
"I am her loyal fan from now on. I wish she could visit the hospital everyday, I'm sure we'd all get well just from breathing the same air as her."
"Hahh"
(~_~,)
....