Chapter 102 Shen Qingqiu's Confession Melts the Iceberg of Wealth

"Tell them, not a single share of Xinghai Technology is for sale, not even to a dog."

These words landed heavily on the wool carpet at the entrance of the private room.

Chu Xuan's mouth dropped open.

He gripped the crumpled tissue in his hand, forgetting to wipe the oily sweat from his face.

"L-Lu, President Lu."

Chu Xuan swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty.

"Those are Sequoia and Blackstone from Wall Street. They said we could name any price."

Lu Jingming ignored him.

He released the thumbwheel of his plastic lighter, and the deep blue flame extinguished with a soft "puff."

He casually shoved the lighter back into the pocket of his faded jeans.

"I said it's not for sale, so it's not for sale. Tell them to take their dollars and go beg elsewhere."

Shen Qingqiu stood half a step away.

She tilted her head slightly, watching Lu Jingming's nonchalant profile.

The light from the private room's crystal chandelier hit his sharp canine tooth on the side.

It exuded an arrogance capable of piercing the sky.

Shen Qingqiu suddenly felt her heart rate quicken.

Alcohol surged through her veins, burning a flush onto the corners of her eyes.

She turned around.

The tip of her black high heel kicked, with unerring precision, right against the edge of Lu Jingming's old sneakers.

"Let's go, take me back."

Shen Qingqiu didn't look back, walking toward the elevator with the "click-clack" of her high heels.

Ten minutes later, in the hotel's underground parking garage.

Old Li and Dazhuang were already asleep like two piles of mud.

Chu Xuan, tugging at his floral tie that had slid to the back of his head, shoved the two of them into the backseat of a taxi.

"President Lu, drive safely! I'll go urge the production line tomorrow morning!"

Chu Xuan waved at the beat-up Jetta, letting out a hiccup reeking of alcohol.

Lu Jingming pulled open the car door and slid into the driver's seat.

He didn't rush to start the engine, instead turning his head to look at the passenger seat.

Shen Qingqiu was leaning against the yellowing fabric seat.

The air in the garage was stifling, mixed with the smell of car exhaust and mildew.

She reached out, her distinct, bony fingers pinching the top button of her white shirt.

With a sharp tug.

The button popped out of the buttonhole.

The collar opened instantly, revealing a large expanse of pink-tinted collarbone.

"Hot?" Lu Jingming raised an eyebrow.

"Stuffy." Shen Qingqiu spat out the single word.

She took off the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of her nose and tossed them into the storage compartment.

The usual iceberg aura that kept people at a distance had now completely melted into water.

It even carried a lingering trace of alcohol.

Lu Jingming turned the car key.

The beat-up Jetta's engine let out a cough similar to someone with chronic rheumatism acting up.

The car body shook three times before slowly crawling out of the garage.

Donghai City at two in the morning.

The elevated highway was empty, not even a ghost in sight.

The orange light beams from the street lamps swept across the windshield one after another.

Lu Jingming rolled down the window.

The cool late-night breeze poured into the cabin, dispelling the smell of cheap leather.

It also blew apart the long hair that Shen Qingqiu had kept in a meticulous bun.

Strands of hair swept across her cheeks, with a few sticking to her moist lips.

"It's one trillion now."

Shen Qingqiu stared at the light trails rushing past outside the window and suddenly spoke.

Her voice wasn't loud, just enough to drown out the road noise from the Jetta's leaky tires.

"Yeah." Lu Jingming rested one hand on the steering wheel, his knuckles tapping to the rhythm of the music on the radio.

"The day I just returned to the country."

Shen Qingqiu turned her head, her gaze fixed directly on Lu Jingming's profile.

"In that dilapidated factory, you couldn't even afford the electricity bill for the following month."

Lu Jingming pulled up the corner of his mouth in a smile.

"What's the matter, President Shen? Trying to dig up old history to dock my pay?"

Shen Qingqiu didn't smile.

She sat up straight, her white shirt pulled tight by the seatbelt, revealing a breathtaking curve.

She reached out and opened that cheap faux-leather bag.

Her fingers rummaged inside for a moment.

"Slap."

Several A4 sheets of paper folded together were slammed heavily onto the plastic dashboard by her.

Lu Jingming's eyelids twitched.

"What's this? A resignation letter?"

He glanced at the papers. "Xinghai has a trillion-dollar market cap now, are you really willing to pack up and leave?"

"See for yourself." Shen Qingqiu bit her lower lip, her teeth pressing a white mark onto it.

Lu Jingming took advantage of the straight road to reach out and take the document.

As soon as he scanned the title, his foot on the gas pedal faltered.

By the light of the street lamps.

Black and white, it was all in that sharp, distinct handwriting Shen Qingqiu used when signing financial reports.

"Xinghai Technology Chief Financial Officer Lifetime Binding Agreement."

Lu Jingming's Adam's apple bobbed twice.

He moved his gaze down, scanning the content that could be called draconian terms.

Party A: Shen Qingqiu.

Party B: Lu Jingming.

"Party B must unconditionally hand over all assets and corporate equity earnings under their personal name to Party A for full management."

Lu Jingming read it aloud, his voice sounding a bit strange.

"This isn't a binding agreement, this is you trying to raid my house, Shen Qingqiu."

He continued to read.

Flipping to the breach of contract clause on the last page.

It didn't list any compensation of hundreds of millions in liquidated damages.

It only wrote four characters, the strokes so forceful they pierced the paper, almost tearing it.

"Cost of breach: Lu Jingming's life."

Lu Jingming stared at those four characters for a full three seconds.

He couldn't help it, a low, muffled laugh rolling out of his throat.

His chest vibrated.

"President Shen."

Lu Jingming slapped the agreement back onto the dashboard.

He freed one hand and fished out that one-dollar plastic lighter.

His thumb pressed down on the wheel.

"Click."

The deep blue flame flared up, illuminating the cramped space of the car cabin.

"If those finance guys on Wall Street knew about this way of confessing, they'd be terrified and go burn incense overnight."

Lu Jingming turned his face to look at her.

The firelight reflected in Shen Qingqiu's eyes, now unobstructed by her gold-rimmed glasses.

They were filled with a desperate, all-in gleam.

There was no romantic testing.

Nor was there any buildup of red wine and roses.

For a market-protecting war goddess like Shen Qingqiu.

Tying herself and the other person's remaining life together with a stamped contract.

Was the most hardcore romance she could give.

"You're not signing?"

Shen Qingqiu furrowed her brows.

She suddenly leaned toward the driver's seat.

The seatbelt was stretched to its limit, making a "creak" of friction.

The distance between them instantly closed.

Close enough that Lu Jingming could smell the faint scent of red wine on her, mixed with the cool fragrance of high-end perfume.

Shen Qingqiu did not retreat.

Her nose was almost touching Lu Jingming's cheek.

Her face, without the glasses, exuded a breathtaking aggressiveness at this moment.

"Lu Jingming, I don't care how many world-shattering black technologies you have hidden in your brain."

Shen Qingqiu reached out a finger and poked the chest area of Lu Jingming's faded black T-shirt.

Her fingertip felt the powerful heartbeat underneath through the fabric.

"Even if you're going to blow up The Pentagon tomorrow."

Her tone was resolute, carrying an irrefutable hardness.

"Your messes can only be cleaned up by me. And your accounts can only be calculated by me."

The night wind poured in furiously through the crack in the window.

The paper agreement on the dashboard rattled loudly.

Lu Jingming turned off the lighter in his hand.

The cabin went dark again.

Only the dim yellow street lamps flashed by outside.

"I'll sign this."

Shen Qingqiu looked at Lu Jingming's silhouette in the darkness, her voice carrying a slight tremor.

But her tone remained domineering.

"You and your company belong to me from now on."

"Screech—!"

As soon as the words fell.

A piercing screech of friction suddenly erupted on the elevated highway.

Lu Jingming slammed the brake pedal to the floor.

The four tires of the beat-up Jetta locked up instantly, leaving four black skid marks on the asphalt.

The car body shook violently before coming to a steady stop on the side of the road.

A strong smell of burnt rubber drifted in through the window.

Shen Qingqiu was thrown forward by the inertia.

And then yanked back into the seat by the seatbelt.

The bit of romance and drunken haze in her mind was kicked away by this sudden brake.

"Are you crazy!"

Shen Qingqiu clutched her painful collarbone, her eyes full of panic.

She turned to glare at Lu Jingming.

But she saw Lu Jingming pulling the handbrake in a leisurely manner, emitting a series of "click-clack" gear sounds.

He turned around, his elbows resting on the center console.

A bright smile pulled at the corners of his mouth, revealing his sharp canine tooth.

He rummaged through the passenger storage compartment.

He fished out a black gel pen used for signing gas receipts.

"Swish, swish."

He signed his name on the last line of the agreement.

Lu Jingming tossed the pen aside and shoved the paper in front of Shen Qingqiu's face.

"I've signed it. I'm yours, and the company is yours."

He spread out his right hand, palm up, and extended it under Shen Qingqiu's nose.

His fingers rubbed together twice.

"President Shen, since you're in charge of the accounts, I have no objections."

Lu Jingming looked at her, his smile fading a bit, replaced by a serious, debt-collecting expression.

"Then that ten-thousand-dollar personal card of mine that I left with you... are you going to give it back to me?"