“Shao Chen Feng, chairman of Jinggui Electronics, forty-two years old. Two months ago, he divorced his wife and left with nothing, then announced the company’s bankruptcy. Jinggui Electronics has now completed its liquidation, and Shao Chen Feng is currently negotiating with various companies regarding the transfer.”
Ren Yu closed the file and asked Lin Yi, “Mr. Lin, is there anything else you’d like to know?”
In the newly opened café, there was only one table of customers. Three people—yet the tallest man sat alone on the opposite side of the table.
Before Lin Yi could speak, Zhou Ruo An moved first.
He set down his coffee cup, tilted his head closer to Ren Yu, and whispered, “You haven’t dared look at Lin Yi all night. If you keep embarrassing me like this, I’ll go to the HR center and transfer Fu Chun Shen over to be my assistant—and then I’ll ask him exactly what kind of rumor he spread about you back then.”
After delivering his threat, Zhou Ruo An grabbed Ren Yu’s head and turned it thirty degrees to the right—forcing him to meet Lin Yi’s eyes.
The moment their gazes collided, the assistant who had just been putting on an elite front—gold-rimmed glasses hiding a trace of aloofness, voice laced with arrogance—shivered slightly.
Cursing inwardly, Zhou Ruo An had no choice but to speak himself. “There are already five companies openly competing to acquire Jinggui Electronics. Brother Lin, you said you have a way to help me. So—how exactly are you going to help?”
Lin Yi’s left hand was injured, wrapped in bandages. The injury had been caused days ago when Zhou Ruo An had crushed it under his shoe. Though mostly healed, it was still tightly wrapped and placed openly on the table.
Lin Yi lifted his cup with his injured hand and took a sip of coffee. Frowning slightly, he followed it with a sip of plain water before asking, “Can you trust him?”
Zhou Ruo An glanced at Ren Yu. “No choice. He’s the only one I can use right now. So far, he’s been fairly loyal—hasn’t caused any trouble.”
Under Lin Yi’s oppressive presence, Ren Yu’s mind wasn’t working well. It took him a moment to realize they were talking about him.
He clicked his tongue inwardly: Couldn’t you at least talk behind my back instead of right in front of me?
But whatever resentment he had instantly vanished when Lin Yi called his name. He subconsciously straightened his back and sat upright.
“Ren Yu, twenty-seven, from Zhejiang. Your parents are retired. You have a younger brother in high school.” Lin Yi pushed the coffee cup forward, his calm voice rippling outward like the water inside. “Your father, Ren Jia Sheng, has a serious heart condition and cannot handle excessive stimulation. Your mother, Zhang Qing, teaches volunteer classes at a senior university after retirement. She likes purple daisies and always buys a bouquet on her way home.”
Lowering his tone slightly, Lin Yi asked, “Am I right, Assistant Ren?”
The hand resting on the documents clenched into a fist. For the first time, Ren Yu glared at Lin Yi. “You investigated me? What do you want?”
Leaning back into his chair, Lin Yi’s voice carried a faint sense of control. “Don’t play dumb. You know exactly what I mean.”
Hearing this, Zhou Ruo An immediately understood—Lin Yi was helping him put pressure on Ren Yu. Playing the bad cop himself while leaving the chance to win loyalty to Zhou Ruo An. Zhou Ruo An didn’t want to accept the favor, yet he didn’t want to waste the opportunity either. Following the momentum, he patted Ren Yu on the shoulder, his expression sincere. “If I use someone, I trust them. I trust you.”
Having stabilized the situation, Zhou Ruo An turned back to Lin Yi. “Enough circling around. Tell me how you’re going to help me take Jinggui.”
This time, Lin Yi got straight to the point. “Half a year ago, Shao Chen Feng, the chairman of Jinggui Electronics, was set up and scammed. The other party lured him into a high-profit gray industry, claiming it was a joint venture—but in reality, it was a carefully designed trap. Not only was he scammed out of everything, but because the project crossed legal boundaries, he didn’t dare report it. He had no choice but to swallow the loss.”
Zhou Ruo An considered his words, idly flipping a coin as he asked calmly, “If even Shao Chen Feng doesn’t dare talk about this, how do you know?”
“In our line of work, information tends to come easier.”
Normally, Lin Yi would have stopped there, but because it was Zhou Ruo An sitting across from him, he added one more explanation. “Someone let it slip while drunk at a drinking session. The information wasn’t complete, so I investigated further.”
Zhou Ruo An took a sip of coffee, his tone light. “Even if he was forced to sell the factory because he was scammed into debt, what does that have to do with my acquisition?”
“If you were scammed into losing everything—debt-ridden, family broken—what would you want most?”
That one sentence struck Zhou Ruo An like a revelation. “You can help Shao Chen Feng recover his money?”
“If his money were recovered, he wouldn’t sell the factory anymore.”
“Then what do you plan to do?”
Lin Yi placed his injured hand flat on the table, curling his fingers slightly. “The bandage’s loose.”
Damn it. Zhou Ruo An cursed inwardly, leaning back in his chair without moving.
Ren Yu glanced between the two men, sensing the tension, and cautiously offered, “Mr. Lin, shall I tighten it for you?”
Lin Yi smiled. “Assistant Ren, why don’t you go pay the bill?”
Without his boss’s instruction, Ren Yu didn’t dare move. Fortunately, Zhou Ruo An quickly spoke up. “Ren Yu, go get my cigarettes from the car.”
As if granted amnesty, Ren Yu responded immediately and hurried out of his seat.
The coin landed on the table with a sharp, crisp sound. Simple, yet carrying a clear hint of displeasure.
Zhou Ruo An said coldly, “The bandage is loose? Want me to tie it for you?”
Lin Yi extended his hand forward. “Much appreciated.”
The moment Zhou Ruo An’s fingers touched the bandage, Lin Yi’s low voice spread softly between them. “The one behind the scheme has a powerful background—not someone Shao Chen Feng can easily deal with. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be this frustrated…”
His words cut off abruptly as he frowned.
Zhou Ruo An pulled out a faint smile. “Sorry—used too much force. Did I hurt you?”
Lin Yi smiled as well, lifting his uninjured hand to casually ruffle Zhou Ruo An’s hair.
This was something Lin Yi used to do often during the early days of their three-month agreement. Zhou Ruo An had gone from resisting and disliking it, to indifference, and eventually seeming almost accustomed to the light, fleeting touch.
That period had been one of the rare times of peace between them after Zhou Ruo An entered the Zhou family. He could trust and rely on Lin Yi as before, pouring out all his vicious and selfish thoughts without having to carefully package or disguise them.
Men often listened while smoking, speaking little, but listening attentively.
Sometimes Zhou Ruo An would ask, “Do you think I’m too despicable?”
Lin Yi would bite his cigarette and smile. “There’s no need to compare who’s more noble between us. Whether it’s despicable or not doesn’t matter. What matters is—whoever you want taken down, I’ll help you.”
Zhou Ruo An was unwilling to admit that during that period, he had actually felt relaxed—almost even content. With Lin Yi by his side, he didn’t feel lonely. The shadow on the ground had gone from one to two; on that precarious, solitary road, he was no longer walking alone.
Except when Lin Yi spoke those love words.
Those occasional love lines he threw out—awkward, half-classical, half-colloquial, mixed with dictionary definitions and fragments of prose and poetry—Zhou Ruo An would grit his teeth and listen, his ears nearly growing calluses from it. Yet somehow, he had endured it.
But now, Zhou Ruo An dodged the hand that reached out to stroke his hair. Lin Yi was too greedy—he even wanted to chew him up, crush him, and nail shackles onto him.
Zhou Ruo An could not satisfy that obsessive fixation.
He watched Lin Yi withdraw the smile from his face, lower his hand, and continue, “The person who set up the scheme is bold and ruthless—pushing people to the brink of ruin.”
Tying the bandage into a knot that was neither too tight nor too loose, Zhou Ruo An quickly pulled his hand back and asked, “So we help Shao Chen Feng take revenge on the scammer, let him vent his anger—but he still can’t recover his losses, so he can only sell the factory to me, the so-called righteous savior?”
Lin Yi nodded. “Exactly.”
“How do we take revenge on the scammer?” Zhou Ruo An cut straight to the point. “Brother Lin never talks big without action—you already have a plan, don’t you?”
Through the glass, Lin Yi saw Ren Yu returning with cigarettes. He spoke slowly, “Zhou Ruo An, you’re not that valuable. Sleeping with you once won’t get you all this. If you want me to work for you, it has to be an equal exchange.” He stood up and raised his injured hand. “Thanks for the bandage, Young Master Zhou.”
With that, he turned to leave, but was stopped by a cold, harsh voice. “At least tell me who the scammer is.”
Lin Yi turned back, his tone slightly cool. “If you hadn’t dodged just now, I might have told you. But now…” His voice paused deliberately. “Young Master Zhou will have to trade something for it.”
With that, he didn’t linger any longer. Lin Yi strode toward the door, and as he passed by Ren Yu, he said softly, “If you harbor any disloyalty, I’ll destroy your entire family.”
……
Zhou Ruo An had limited connections and repeatedly hit walls in the acquisition of the electronics factory. He even used Old Master Jin’s connections to privately meet Shao Chen Feng, but the man was utterly dejected—head lowered, speaking little. No matter how many words Zhou Ruo An laid out, Shao Chen Feng’s final response remained the same: “Highest bidder wins.”
The competing companies kept raising their offers. Even if Shengkai Foreign Trade ultimately won, it would be a deal with extremely poor cost-performance. Whether it was Zhou Bin, Zhou Zhe, or Zhou Ruo An, in the end it would be like drawing water with a bamboo basket—no one would gain any real credit.
As Shao Chen Feng escorted him to the door, Zhou Ruo An had run out of options. After hesitating several times, he finally tested the waters: “President Shao, have you heard of a ‘pig-butchering scam’? The schemes are extremely elaborate—they can target someone for a long time, until that person is completely trapped and loses everything.”
“What do you mean!” Shao Chen Feng suddenly shed his dejected demeanor. His drooping brows tightened, his gaze filled with vigilance and anger.
So Lin Yi had been telling the truth—Shao Chen Feng had been scammed out of all his savings.
Zhou Ruo An had found a breakthrough, yet he felt no joy. He casually made up an excuse to brush it off: “Nothing—I just have a friend who got scammed. Just making a comment.”
After taking his leave, Zhou Ruo An got into his car. The weather was gradually warming, and swallows were returning north. Zhou Ruo An disliked any creature with an excretory system flying overhead—just like he disliked bird droppings landing on his windshield.
He drove into an automatic car wash. Sitting inside, he watched as thick white foam covered the car, gradually blocking his view.
In the narrow, enclosed space, courage tended to gather. Zhou Ruo An picked up his phone and, as if afraid he might change his mind, quickly dialed Lin Yi’s number.
The call connected. A calm “Hello” came from the other side.
Zhou Ruo An’s courage seemed to extend only as far as making the call. His long breaths brushed against the receiver again and again, yet he didn’t say a single word.
Instead, the other side spoke first: “Tomorrow night at eight, Jinrui Hotel, Room 1601. Decide whether you’re coming. I’ll only wait fifteen minutes.”
The call was cut off from the other end. Zhou Ruo An held the phone for a moment longer before slowly lowering it. He looked up to see bird droppings mixing with foam under the spinning brushes—blending into one indistinguishable mess, no longer separable into clean or dirty. A truly filthy sight.
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Futile Devices Scans 
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