Futile Devices Scans

“Who says I have no right to vote?”

A strong, aged voice cut through the heavy air of the meeting room. The doors slowly opened, and the sound of wheelchair wheels rolling over the floor made everyone abruptly turn their heads.

“Old… Old Jin!” everyone cried out in low voices.

Jin Hui, who should have been unconscious, was now sitting upright in a wheelchair as he was pushed into the meeting room. Several of his old subordinates stood up in agitation, and the chief financial officer even knocked over his thermos, the brown tea stain slowly spreading across the meeting minutes.

Zhou Ran Ming abruptly clenched the fountain pen in his hand. He had always hidden his emotions deeply, yet now his expression was actually frozen in something close to “dumbstruck.”

Only after quite a while did he find his voice again. “Old Jin, you’re awake? Your attending physician said…”

“Said I was going to become a vegetable?” Jin Hui’s bony fingers were bluish-white, and the bruises from the IV needle were faintly visible beneath his sleeve, but none of that stopped his sweeping gaze from lowering the room temperature by three degrees. He said flatly, “So I changed doctors.”

The old man waved a hand. The caregiver understood and pushed the wheelchair around the long, narrow conference table. Only when they neared the main seat did Zhou Ran Ming hurriedly rise, move aside the leather chair, and give up the position.

After the wheelchair was set straight, Jin Hui lifted his loose eyelids and continued the thread of the conversation from earlier. “Chairman Zhou, are you trying to cancel my voting rights?”

“No.” The weather in May was not hot, yet Zhou Ran Ming raised a hand to wipe his temple. “You… weren’t you unconscious?”

“What, did I wake up too early?” Jin Hui spoke as though joking, a bellows-like sound coming from his windpipe. Then his laughter ended abruptly. “But even if I hadn’t woken up, don’t I still have a proxy?”

Only then did the old man properly glance at Zhou Ruo An seated beside him. His shriveled lips parted, and he softly spat out one word: “Useless.”

The smell of disinfectant mixed with Yunnan Baiyao suddenly rushed into Zhou Ruo An’s nose. He clenched the coin in his hand.

Elio’s Notes: Yunnan Baiyao is a well-known Chinese medicinal powder/spray used for bleeding, bruises, wounds, pain, etc. 

His gaze skimmed over the gauze at the old man’s temple, then fell on the veins standing out along his withered neck. Beneath the daylight, the old man’s complexion was like aged ginseng soaked in medicinal liquor, stripped of all essence and nourishment, leaving only shrinking and decay.

Clearly, Old Master Jin was forcing himself to hold on.

Zhou Ruo An lowered his eyes and said quietly, “…I’m sorry.”

Zhou Ran Ming did not miss the slightest change in Zhou Ruo An’s expression, yet from beginning to end, he saw not a trace of shock on the young man’s face. He demanded sharply, “Zhou Ruo An, you knew long ago that Old Jin had already woken up?”

That single sentence made Zhou Ruo An remember, three days ago, the hand Lin Yi had placed on his shoulder in the hospital corridor.

The palm was rough and warm, the fingertips carrying thin calluses. It seemed to press down comfortingly, yet in the instant no one was paying attention, the fingers dug into the gap of his shoulder blade.

A familiar force, a familiar hint.

“Old Jin will be fine.” Lin Yi’s voice at the time had been very low, yet carried unquestionable certainty. “He’ll make it through.”

In that instant, Zhou Ruo An’s tense back suddenly relaxed, as though all the strength had been drawn from him.

He was too familiar with Lin Yi’s hints. Like the tangled electrical wires strung through the air above the shantytown, the past between Zhou Ruo An and Lin Yi was tangled and intertwined, causing them to understand every look and every hint from each other. Precisely because of this, the hand that landed on his shoulder allowed Zhou Ruo An to understand instantly that perhaps… there was still a turn for the better.

That day, after Lin Yi confirmed that the figure at the end of the corridor had already disappeared, he leaned against Zhou Ruo An’s ear and said in a low voice, “Old Jin’s injuries aren’t serious. He’s the one who doesn’t want to wake up.”

Zhou Ruo An considered it for a moment, then lifted his eyes toward the ward, the corner of his mouth curving slightly. “Old fox.”

Immediately after, he found the loophole. “The hospital is cooperating this much?”

“Cooperative and obedient.” Lin Yi’s fingertips brushed over the ends of Zhou Ruo An’s hair. “This hospital belongs to the Fu family.”

……

Withdrawing his thoughts, Zhou Ruo An lifted his eyes and met Zhou Ran Ming’s suddenly dark gaze. Smiling, he said, “Uncle and I found out this good news at the same time. I was also very pleasantly surprised, just not as fond of acting as Uncle is.”

Jin Hui’s awakening had completely disrupted Zhou Ran Ming’s plan. He stared at the project presentation still displayed on the screen, venting all his disappointment and resentment onto Zhou Ruo An.

Setting his own chair at the corner of the table and sitting down, he gritted his teeth and said in a low voice, “Since Old Jin has already awakened, the board meeting can naturally proceed as normal. However, I need to delay everyone by fifteen minutes.” He raised his wrist and deliberately revealed the watch face. “Police response time is usually within fifteen minutes. After they take away the fraud and murderer, it won’t be too late for us to begin.”

“Fraud? Murderer?” Jin Hui’s cloudy eyes slowly swept over everyone’s faces before finally settling on Zhou Ran Ming. “Who?”

Zhou Ran Ming sneered and pointed directly at the young man beside the old man. “Your equity proxy, Zhou Ruo An. He impersonated a Zhou family bloodline, defrauded property, and also…”

Jin Hui lifted a hand, his thin wrist bone exposed from his sleeve, with bruising from the indwelling needle still on it. He slowly cut off Zhou Ran Ming’s words. “This old man is old and has a poor memory. Let’s talk about one thing at a time.” Turning to Zhou Ruo An, his tone was calm to the point of being almost strange. “You didn’t explain clearly to them that you’re not of the Zhou family bloodline?”

There was not the slightest hint of shock on the old man’s face, and it made everyone present suck in a cold breath.

Zhou Ruo An lowered his head slightly. He looked somewhat wronged, and those eyes that were usually filled with calculations were now even covered in a faint mist. “Uncle insists on pinning the crime of fraud on me, and Dad and Second Brother also…” His gaze swept over the two people in the corner, and only after seeing their instantly nervous expressions did he say softly, “I… had no way to defend myself.”

Hearing this, Jin Hui suddenly laughed. He reached out and adjusted Zhou Ruo An’s perfectly smooth collar. “Children always do things without order.” He shook his head, his tone carrying the unique helplessness of an elder. “Since you can’t explain it clearly, then let this old man help explain for you.”

When he raised his head again, the smile in the old man’s eyes had vanished completely. He looked around at everyone, his voice steady and cold. “Xiao Zhou is indeed not of the Zhou family bloodline… but he is my grandson.”

This sentence was like a bomb, instantly blasting the meeting room into dead silence. One elderly director, unable to withstand these repeated explosions, pulled quick-acting heart pills from his pocket and swallowed them with his head tilted back.

Another gray-haired man beside him reached out a hand. “Give me two.”

Zhou Ruo An also abruptly looked at Old Master Jin, barely managing not to let his jaw drop.

He complained inwardly: What melodramatic storybook did he read this from? This is too forced.

Jin Hui, however, was fully immersed in it, even looking somewhat pleased. He cleared his throat and continued, “I have had thin family ties all my life and no children under my knees. When a person grows old, loneliness is unavoidable.” His voice suddenly lowered, carrying a trace of sighing emotion. “A few years ago, I happened to learn that a distant relative had lost a son more than twenty years ago. Until he died, he never managed to find him again, and it became the regret of his entire life.”

“I had nothing better to do, so I thought I might help him look. I didn’t expect…” He raised a hand and pointed toward Zhou Ruo An, his fingertip trembling slightly in midair. “That I really would find him.”

Zhou Ruo An: “……”

Even under such tense circumstances, this still did not stop him from sending Lin Yi a message: From now on, unplug the old man’s TV antenna. Don’t let him watch prime-time melodramas anymore.

Jin Hui was completely immersed in his own performance. When his gaze turned toward Zhou Jing Tao, it abruptly grew sharp. “Jing Tao, you were the one who brought Xiao An home in the first place. Afterward, when I asked you for him, you swore you would treat him well. Why have you now allowed the child to suffer grievances instead?”

Zhou Jing Tao, suddenly named, had a head full of question marks. He opened his mouth, but because he could not sort out the stakes involved and dared not refute Jin Hui, he could only sit stiffly in his seat in the end, fine beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.

“I asked you a question, Vice President Zhou.” Jin Hui’s tone grew heavier.

Elio’s Notes: Okay, so Zhou Jing Tao is Vice President too. That’s why they call An An Vice President Ruo An instead of Vice President Zhou. We changed it to Vice President Zhou in the previous chapters to make it sound formal. Moving forward An An will be called Vice President Ruo An if he’s called Vice President again.

The temperature in the meeting room seemed to plummet. Everyone knew clearly that although Jin Hui had not managed company affairs much these years, if one traced Shengkai back to its roots, it still ultimately bore the surname “Jin.” Jin Hui could allow the Zhou family descendants to sit back and enjoy the fruits of others’ labor, and likewise, he could reclaim everything overnight. Especially as far as the Zhou family’s Third Branch was concerned, if Jin Hui wanted to cut off their path of survival, it would be as easy as turning over his hand.

Zhou Jing Tao’s back was already soaked through. Under Jin Hui’s calm yet oppressive gaze, he finally rose slowly, his voice dry. “Old Jin is right… I—I was muddle-headed just now.”

Jin Hui smiled kindly, looking exactly like a generous elder. He lifted his chin, his gaze turning toward the corner. “That child over there… what was your name again? You’re Xiao An’s second brother, aren’t you?”

Zhou Zhe’s entire body shook when he was called on. He lowered his eyes and pondered for a moment, and when he raised his head again, the warm, gentle smile he usually wore had already appeared on his face. He stood and said respectfully, “Old Jin is right. Actually… Father told me about Fourth Brother’s background long ago.” He looked at Zhou Ruo An, his eyes full of gratitude. “He took care of my biological younger brother, and he is also your grandson. How could we bully him? It was just that earlier…” He glanced meaningfully at Zhou Ran Ming. “Second Uncle put too much pressure on us. Father and I were muddle-headed for a moment.”

After hearing Zhou Zhe’s words, Jin Hui unhurriedly accepted the hot tea Zhou Ruo An handed over and slowly took a sip. Only then did he lift his eyes to Zhou Ran Ming and ask, “Any other questions?”

Zhou Ran Ming’s breathing gradually grew heavy, and the hostility in his eyes continued to accumulate. “Let’s put aside Zhou Ruo An’s background for the moment. Old Jin, do you know that he is the mastermind behind your recent attack and injury?”

Jin Hui frowned slightly and did not agree. “I think you’ve made a mistake. Xiao An has no reason to harm me.”

“Old Jin, don’t be deceived by him. As long as he can keep you unconscious, he can keep holding your equity proxy rights.”

“Where is the evidence?” Jin Hui asked.

“We have a witness.” Zhou Ran Ming leaned slightly closer to the old man, hoping to see shock and disappointment on his face. “The person who struck you with the flowerpot is already preparing to turn himself in. He says everything was ordered by Zhou Ruo An.”

Hearing this, everyone in the meeting room held their breath, waiting for the old man’s reaction.

“Oh.” Old Jin Hui nodded, giving no reaction whatsoever. He only turned to look at Zhou Ruo An. “Look at my memory. What was the next step again?”

Zhou Ruo An smiled helplessly and gave a look to Ren Yu, who had been standing behind him all along.

Ren Yu nodded lightly, raised his arm, and pressed the remote control.

The image on the large screen changed instantly. A yellow-haired young man appeared in the surveillance footage. Wearing a baseball cap, he was lurking suspiciously near the Zhou family’s old residence. The scene switched, and he appeared again wandering beside Zhou Ran Ming’s car. In the next clip, he secretly slipped through the back door of a teahouse.

“Who was that again?” one director muttered quietly.

The person beside him narrowed his eyes and identified him for a while. “Isn’t that… the assailant who just accused Zhou Ruo An?”

“What is the meaning of this?” Zhou Ran Ming’s voice had already begun to tremble, and his face visibly turned deathly pale.

“Bang!” The meeting room door was suddenly pushed open with force. A tall man slowly walked in, dragging in his hand the very same yellow-haired man from the screen.

Under everyone’s stunned gazes, he lifted his foot and kicked the back of the yellow-haired man’s knee hard, making him drop heavily to his knees.

Lin Yi patted the nonexistent dust from his hands and said to Zhou Ruo An, “I was delayed on the way. I’m late.”

Ren Yu, standing behind Zhou Ruo An, had a bit of a hero complex and subconsciously whispered, “So handsome.”

Zhou Ruo An lifted his head and looked at his assistant, assessing his expression before lowering his voice. “Don’t you like fat ones?”

At this moment, Lin Yi’s gaze swept over Zhou Ran Ming, whose face was ashen. He said calmly, “Chairman Zhou, do you need me to help you recall how this ‘culprit’ received cash from your secretary at the back door of the teahouse?”

He stepped on the yellow-haired man’s hand, and amid the man’s howling cries of pain, his voice remained unchanged. “If you want to hear their recording, I can play it for you right now.”

Zhou Ran Ming fell back into his chair with a thud, his entire body collapsing as though his spine had been pulled out. His tie hung crookedly around his neck, and bean-sized beads of sweat seeped from his forehead, shining greasily beneath the ceiling lights of the meeting room.

Zhou Ruo An lowered his eyes and glanced at his watch, his voice icy. “Uncle said the police respond within fifteen minutes.” The metal watchband fell onto the conference table with a crisp sound. “Now, they should be just about here.”

“Haha…” Zhou Ran Ming suddenly let out a neurotic laugh, his fingers spasming as they gripped the edge of the table. “Even if I go to prison, I’m still Shengkai’s largest shareholder! Without my signature, none of you can do anything!”

“Chairman Zhou.”

A calm voice suddenly cut in. Standing behind Zhou Ruo An, Ren Yu adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and opened the folder in his hand. His slender fingers lightly tapped a notarized equity transfer document, his tone carrying formulaic indifference. “According to industrial and commercial registration records, three months ago, you signed a Share Swap Agreement with Fuguang International.”

Whispers immediately rose throughout the meeting room. Ren Yu continued, “You injected 10.2% of the Shengkai shares under your name into Fuguang International as equity investment, and at the same time obtained 12% equity in that company.”

“So,” Ren Yu delivered the key point, “Chairman Zhou, you currently hold only 37% of Shengkai Foreign Trade’s shares.”

“So what?” Zhou Ran Ming suddenly erupted, flipping over the teacup in front of him. “I still hold 37% of the shares. I am still the largest shareholder!”

Having watched enough of this farce, Zhou Ruo An finally lifted his brows slightly and said softly to Ren Yu, “Let him in.”

Judging from his expression, Ren Yu seemed extremely unwilling to make this call, but his movements were not affected by his emotions. He dialed the number and said flatly, “You may come in.”

……

The door to the meeting room was pushed open for the third time, and two men walked in.

The one at the front was tall and upright, yet was dressed unusually heavily in the warm May sunlight. His appearance made Zhou Zhe frown slightly, and he blurted out instinctively, “Fu Chun Shen? Why are you here?”

This former secretary, once modest and proper, now merely glanced coldly at his former master before turning his gaze toward Ren Yu standing behind Zhou Ruo An.

He looked Ren Yu over from head to toe before extending a hand toward Zhou Ran Ming. “Chairman Zhou, I am the actual controller of Fuguang International, Fu Chun Shen.”

The muscles in Zhou Ran Ming’s face twitched. “The person in charge of Fuguang International is clearly…” He looked toward the person behind Fu Chun Shen.

“Fuguang International is a holding subsidiary of Fu Group, and the legal representative is Director Chen here.” Fu Chun Shen calmly withdrew his hand after it had been left hanging in midair. “But through offshore companies, I actually hold 92% of the equity.”

Zhou Ran Ming’s Adam’s apple visibly rolled, and his voice was so low it could hardly be heard. “What are you here for?”

Fu Chun Shen directly found an empty chair and sat down. His accompanying staff immediately handed over a document envelope. He took out a thick stack of materials and said in the tone of someone discussing a contract, “Three months ago, you proposed that we jointly develop the South City land parcel through cross-shareholding.” He flipped to a page marked in red. “The specific method was: first, bid for the land parcel, then spread news claiming that the land designation did not conform to planning requirements, creating panic in the stock price. When retail investors sold off, we would jointly increase our holdings to over fifty percent.”

“You’re talking nonsense.” Zhou Ran Ming’s voice revealed his guilty conscience.

Fu Chun Shen glanced at his assistant, who immediately opened a tablet. “All of our company’s business negotiations are archived. Do you need us to play the recording from February 17th at two o’clock?”

Without waiting for Zhou Ran Ming to react, Fu Chun Shen continued, “After acquiring the stock, your plan was to transfer the land parcel to us to build an industrial park. That way, once retail investors regained confidence, the stock price would inevitably soar.” He closed the file. “This way, you would be able to control Shengkai while also making a fortune.”

The meeting room instantly boiled over. Someone slammed the table and rose. “This is manipulating the securities market! It’s illegal!” An old man pointed at Zhou Ran Ming with trembling fingers. “Are you going to destroy Shengkai’s decades of reputation in one fell swoop?”

“Shut up!” Zhou Ran Ming’s eyes bulged, blue veins rising at his temple. “Without me, Shengkai would have been dragged down by mediocre fools like you long ago!”

Fu Chun Shen seemed to have little patience. He lifted his head and looked at Zhou Ran Ming. “I came this time to inform Chairman Zhou on behalf of Fuguang International that your proposal is suspected of violating the law, and we refuse to cooperate with you.”

“You set me up!” Zhou Ran Ming turned toward Jin Hui and Zhou Ruo An, roaring loudly. “You just want to see me lose, don’t you? I’m telling you, I won’t lose. Even without that ten percent of shares, I still have four percent more than you. I am still Shengkai’s largest shareholder.”

“Not anymore.” Fu Chun Shen stood, and the gaze that should have looked at Zhou Ruo An instead shifted upward and landed on Ren Yu’s face. “The 10.2% of Shengkai shares in my hands have already been transferred into Zhou Ruo An’s name.”

“Into my name?” Zhou Ruo An frowned slightly.

Jin Hui, who had been silent all along, suddenly pushed himself up from the wheelchair. The old man’s hand pressed onto Zhou Ruo An’s shoulder, his voice trembling yet powerful. “Together with the 33.4% of shares I just transferred to him…” He looked around at everyone. “Mr. Zhou Ruo An now holds 43.6% of Shengkai’s equity.”

The meeting room fell so silent one could hear a pin drop.

Jin Hui’s hand trembled like a withered branch, yet it carried undeniable strength as it gently pressed Zhou Ruo An toward the main seat of the meeting room.

“Grandpa Jin…” Zhou Ruo An lifted his head to look at the old man, his throat tightening.

The old man smiled, the ravines carved into his face by the years filled with starlight. “Speak, child.”

In the meeting room, dozens of people were either seated or standing, but Zhou Ruo An instinctively looked toward Lin Yi.

Their gazes met, and the man understood the hesitation and unease in his eyes. He strode forward with his long legs, walking toward Zhou Ruo An. His shoes made no sound on the carpet, yet each step seemed to land with a tremor in every onlooker’s heart.

When he reached Zhou Ruo An’s side, he stood beside the chair. His distinct-knuckled hand slowly rested on the chair back, like a great dragon coiling over treasure. When those hawk-like eyes swept across the room, even the most arrogant director could not help shrinking his neck.

On his shoulder was Jin Hui’s aged, warm hand. Behind him was Lin Yi’s steady, powerful presence. Zhou Ruo An took a deep breath and said slowly, firmly, “Regarding the South City project, I vote against.”

“Go die!”

Zhou Ran Ming suddenly erupted, grabbing a Taihu stone ornament from the antique shelf and, amid everyone’s horrified gasps, smashing it toward Zhou Ruo An’s face with the sound of wind.

Lin Yi’s pupils contracted sharply.

“Watch out!”

He seized Zhou Ruo An’s wrist and pulled him into his arms. The instant Zhou Ruo An crashed into his chest, Lin Yi had already used his entire back to cast a shield of flesh.

“Bang!”

After a dull impact, the world suddenly went out of focus.

Zhou Ruo An’s eardrums seemed to fill with water, and all the screams and sounds of terror became a blurred buzzing. He saw the directors’ mouths open wide, saw Fu Chun Shen’s figure lunging forward, saw Jin Hui’s trembling lips.

But all of it became a silent film.

The only clear thing was the breathing pressed against his ear.

Lin Yi’s breathing.

Heavy, damp, carrying restrained pain, like the engine of a stranded ship on a stormy night.

Then he saw blood.

First, a single drop fell onto the collar of his suit, spreading into a purple-black circle on the navy-blue fabric. Then came the second drop, the third… They slid fiercely down Lin Yi’s jawline, turning Zhou Ruo An’s world into a blood-soaked red.

“Lin Yi!”

Zhou Ruo An’s voice changed pitch. The moment his trembling hand touched Lin Yi’s wound, blood soaked through the gaps between his fingers. Lin Yi’s body heat came through the sticky blood, burning his fingers and his heart.

“Lin Yi…”

The heavy breathing beside his ear suddenly grew somewhat disordered. The man behind him seemed to use the last of his strength to hold Zhou Ruo An tightly in his arms. He lowered his head, pressed close to Zhou Ruo An’s ear, and said with difficulty, “That day, I heard what you and Old Jin said. Sorry. From now on…”

His voice was as light as a sigh. “You won’t be able to use me anymore.”

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