Chu Lingzhi let out a cold laugh, the corners of her mouth curling into a contemptuous arc. "Acting recklessly? What do you mean by acting recklessly?"
She pulled out a chair and sat down, her gaze icy as she swept her eyes over them. "Storming into my company and shouting at me—isn't that acting recklessly?"
Chu Jianjue's expression darkened, his eyes dim. He knew very well himself that his wife was to blame for the Chu Corporation's current state.
"Lingzhi, I'm begging you as your father—please save the Chu Corporation?" Chu Jianjue looked at Chu Lingzhi urgently, a desperate plea flickering in his eyes.
Chu Lingzhi regarded him coolly. "I can save the Chu Corporation, but..."
She deliberately dragged out the last word, wearing an expression that clearly said she had conditions as she looked at them.
Li Meirong watched her, gritting her teeth in secret, seething with irritation. This damned woman!
Chu Jianjue's heart tightened, and he asked anxiously, "As long as it can save the Chu Corporation, I'll do anything you ask!"
Chu Lingzhi smiled faintly, thought for a moment, and met Chu Jianjue's gaze directly. "I want you both to swear a solemn oath in front of me!"
"A solemn oath? What kind of oath?" Chu Jianjue and Li Meirong exchanged glances, both looking guilty, as if they'd done something wrong and lacked confidence.
"From now on, you are never to mention that fire in front of anyone. The Chu Lingzhi from back then died in that blaze!"
Chu Jianjue was taken aback for a moment but quickly agreed.
Chu Lingzhi's gaze turned ruthless and stern. "If you reveal to anyone that I survived that fire, I will make the Chu Corporation vanish completely, and Chu Mengling will die a miserable death!"
Li Meirong's face was filled with undisguised hatred upon hearing this.
"Of course, we agree. As long as the Chu Corporation survives and Mengling lives well, we'll do whatever you want."
"Swear the oath!"
Chu Jianjue didn't hesitate and immediately swore the solemn oath in front of Chu Lingzhi.
"What about you?" Chu Lingzhi sneered, looking at Li Meirong, who was fuming silently.
Li Meirong shot her a venomous glare and reluctantly swore the oath.
Fine, fine, swearing an oath is just swearing an oath. She didn't like Chu Lingzhi, but she didn't wish her dead either.
Besides, now that she was tied to Nangong Yehen, who in T City or P City would dare oppose him?
Seeing that they had both sworn, Chu Lingzhi was satisfied. "You can leave now."
"And the Chu Corporation..."
"As long as you remember what I just said, the Chu Corporation will only get better, not decline."
Li Meirong's expression softened slightly at that.
Chu Jianjue nodded and bowed with a smile, saying "good" several times before pulling Li Meirong out.
Once they were far away, Chu Lingzhi's cold demeanor gradually turned somber.
She returned to her office, locked the door, and sat down, overwhelmed with a fierce longing for her mother, grandfather, and grandmother.
If only they hadn't left—
The more she thought of them, the more her heart ached, her face covered in deep sorrow and grief.
The past was like smoke, gone and never to return, but the memories of them would remain in her heart until death.
Their family life had once been warm and happy, but that fire...
Had mercilessly taken the lives of her entire family. She knew it was murder—
She opened a drawer and took out an iron tea canister.
The body was made of alloy, smooth and unadorned, with a lid engraved with a lifelike phoenix against a backdrop of an indistinct landscape.
It was an ordinary, unremarkable box—even if a thief broke in, they wouldn't notice it.
She gently stroked the lid, her face etched with sorrow and heaviness.