15: Chapter 15: Exposed? A Single Sentence Matches the Female CEO's Secret Code

Lin Yan stood before the heavy solid wood door of the Presidents Office.

Cold sweat trickled down his temples, splashing onto the collar of his pure white shirt and blooming into an eye-catching water stain.

There were less than forty-eight hours left before Su Wanqing received that fatal bill.

He had to obtain the highest authorization for the urban village project's financing docking this afternoon.

This was his only bargaining chip to legitimately go to the Jianghai City Branch and contact Governor Liu.

He swallowed hard, his saliva tasting of blood, and raised his hand to knock on the solid wood door.

A cold, sharp syllable came from inside the room.

"Enter."

Lin Yan pushed open the door, and a blast of cold air hit him, making the hairs on his body stand on end.

Luo Qingcheng sat behind the large mahogany desk, her silver-gray high-end suit giving her an intimidating aura that warned strangers to keep their distance.

She kept her head down, her custom-made fountain pen gliding rapidly across the document with a rustling friction sound.

Lin Yan stopped two steps away from the desk and handed over the public relations and financing proposal for the urban village project, which he had rushed to complete overnight.

"President Luo, this is the media pre-heating plan for the next stage of the urban village project, with the preliminary letter of intent for financing docking with the Jianghai City Branch attached."

The fountain pen in Luo Qingcheng's hand stopped in mid-air. She looked up, her highly oppressive eyes scanning Lin Yan's pale face.

"The financing docking for the urban village project has always been led by the Finance Department."

She threw the document in her hand onto the desk, making a dull thud.

"Since when did it become the Public Relations Department's turn to meddle in capital operations?"

Lin Yan's heart skipped a beat, and his breathing rhythm was instantly disrupted.

He knew Luo Qingcheng was an extreme control freak with zero tolerance for overstepping boundaries.

But he had no way out and could only brace himself against that oppressive feeling.

"The Finance Department is indeed more knowledgeable about capital operations."

Lin Yan pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose, forcing his voice to sound professional and reliable.

"But this urban village project involves the emotional appeasement of a large number of relocated residents, and Governor Liu of the Jianghai City Branch places great importance on the project's social public opinion risks."

Luo Qingcheng leaned back into her chair, crossed her arms over her chest, and tapped her index finger, painted with bright red nail polish, lightly against the back of her hand.

"So you think you are more qualified than the Finance Director to negotiate this three-billion loan with Liu Jianguo."

The woman's rhetorical question carried extreme aggression, each word precisely stepping on Lin Yan's taut nerves.

Lin Yan's back was completely soaked with cold sweat, the damp, sticky shirt clinging to his skin, making him feel as if he were in an ice cellar.

He had to immediately find the breakthrough point in Luo Qingcheng's psychological defense.

His brain began to operate at super-high speed, and his innate, max-level Empathy Talent was forcibly activated under extreme pressure.

He stared intently at the index finger Luo Qingcheng was tapping against her hand, observing the frequency of her breathing and the trace of fatigue hidden beneath her strong exterior.

Recently, the Board of Directors had been very dissatisfied with the progress of the urban village project, and several old shareholders had even publicly questioned Luo Qingcheng's decision-making ability at the morning meeting.

She needed a perfect start more than anyone right now to shut those old guys up.

Lin Yan took a deep breath, put his hands behind his back, and pinched his wrist hard.

"Governor Liu is an extremely conservative person; he doesn't need to look at those flashy financial statements. He only needs to confirm that this project will not trigger any mass incidents."

Lin Yan lowered his voice and slowed his speaking pace, attempting to create an atmosphere of absolute safety for communication.

"The Public Relations Department can build momentum for the project this week, guiding public opinion toward the positive label of urban upgrading. With this foundation of public opinion, Governor Liu will have no concerns when approving the loan."

Luo Qingcheng stopped tapping her hand, leaned slightly forward, and those eyes, full of scrutiny, locked onto Lin Yan once again.

"How do you intend to ensure that public opinion is absolutely controllable?"

Lin Yan knew he had successfully piqued her interest; he immediately seized the opportunity and threw out his carefully prepared trump card.

"I have already contacted the three largest livelihood media outlets in Jianghai City, and they will simultaneously publish exclusive reports tomorrow morning about the urban village residents' anticipation for the renovation."

He looked into Luo Qingcheng's eyes and continued in a highly soothing tone.

"As long as the public opinion front is under our control, the Board of Directors will have no reason to interfere with your subsequent decisions."

Luo Qingcheng picked up the black coffee on the table and took a sip, then slammed the cup back onto the bone china saucer, making a crisp clinking sound.

"You certainly have a very thorough grasp of the minds of those old guys on the Board of Directors."

Her tone carried a warning, and the scrutiny in her eyes grew increasingly intense.

Lin Yan realized that Luo Qingcheng was somewhat swayed.

He had to administer the most potent psychological stimulant to Luo Qingcheng at this moment.

He had to completely dismantle her defenses against overstepping behavior in the shortest possible time.

In extreme panic and anxiety, Lin Yan's brain abandoned those complicated workplace tactics and directly accessed the deepest soothing logic within his Empathy Talent.

He looked at Luo Qingcheng's face, which appeared somewhat pale from long-term high pressure, and a perfectly smooth psychological guidance phrase slipped out.

"You don't need to prove your value to the Board of Directors; the market's reaction is the best answer."

The moment these words were spoken, the air in the entire Presidents Office fell into a deathly silence.

Lin Yan immediately realized he had made a fatal mistake.

This sentence was too personal, completely exceeding the boundaries that should exist between a superior and a subordinate.

He could even feel the blood vessels on his scalp throbbing wildly.

Luo Qingcheng's hand, which had been reaching for a document, hovered in mid-air, the custom-made fountain pen less than a centimeter from the paper.

She immediately looked up, her beautiful eyes staring straight into Lin Yan's.

One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.

Time was infinitely stretched at this moment; Lin Yan felt his respiratory system had completely paralyzed, the air in his lungs drained away.

The strength and scrutiny in Luo Qingcheng's eyes were gone, completely replaced by a sense of extreme shock and disbelief.

That late night four years ago, she had been pushed to the brink of collapse by the pressure of a family arranged marriage and a company power struggle.

She had locked herself in her room, holding sleeping pills in her hand, and typed a paragraph full of despair on that anonymous chat software called Spark.

The man on the other side of the screen had replied with a message in just half a minute.

The content of that message, and the sentence Lin Yan had just spoken, were identical, right down to the rhythmic pauses of the punctuation.

Luo Qingcheng stared straight at Lin Yan just like that for a full five seconds.

Lin Yan felt as if he had been stripped naked and thrown under a spotlight, all his disguises being peeled away layer by layer in those five seconds.

His hands trembled violently behind his back, his fingernails already digging into the skin of his wrists, drawing blood.

What exactly has this woman discovered?

Why is she looking at me with this hellish expression?

Could she be that top-tier hacker, Ghost, who has been tracking me on the Dark Web?

Countless terrifying thoughts exploded in Lin Yan's mind; his heart rate had already broken through his physiological limits.

Luo Qingcheng finally moved; she slowly withdrew her hand that had been hovering in mid-air and gripped the fountain pen tightly in her palm.

"Who taught you the words you just said?"

Her voice was very low, carrying a suppressed tremor, having completely lost its usual coldness and majesty.

A layer of cold sweat broke out on Lin Yan's back again; he knew he was standing on the edge of a cliff.

If he said one wrong word, he would immediately be shattered into pieces.