Chapter 116 Meet and Greet

"I'm going to the group today."

The next morning, Liu Ruyan, who rarely wore makeup, had surprisingly applied a rather heavy look.

This was quite something; Liu Ruyan, who already had the air of a cold, aloof CEO, suddenly looked even more like a powerful, distant 'big sister' type.

Actually, to be more precise, she had instantly transformed into an ice-cold female CEO. That aura of keeping people a thousand miles away became even more intense after she applied her makeup.

"Oh..."

Hearing this, Chen Yan nodded and then looked up at Liu Ruyan.

Unexpectedly, that one look gave him a jolt, and he immediately straightened his posture.

"WTF. What happened? You were already cold enough, and now you've put on such a cold, dominant makeup style. What, do you think the central air conditioning at your group isn't cold enough, so you're going there to add some extra frost?"

Chen Yan spoke up immediately.

"What do you mean 'what happened'? What, has it been so long since last night—not even twenty-four hours—that you've already forgotten?"

"Pulling up your pants and refusing to take responsibility, is that it?"

Hearing this, Liu Ruyan's willow-leaf brows shot up, and she immediately became displeased.

*Pfft...*

Unexpectedly, upon hearing those words, Chen Yan almost spat out a mouthful of milk. Luckily, he reacted in time and covered his mouth, avoiding a tragedy.

*Cough, cough, cough, cough—*

Chen Yan was badly choked by the milk, coughing several times into his hand until tears nearly came to his eyes. He waved his hand while coughing to show he hadn't meant it, but in Liu Ruyan's eyes, his disheveled state looked exactly like a guilty conscience.

Liu Ruyan crossed her arms over her chest, her chin slightly raised, looking down at him as he coughed.

With her makeup so cold it could freeze someone to death combined with that posture, she looked exactly like a queen interrogating a prisoner.

But if one looked closely, they would see the corners of her mouth twitching slightly; she was holding back a laugh.

"Pull... pulling up my pants and not taking responsibility?" Chen Yan finally caught his breath, his voice cracking. "Liu Ruyan, can you watch what you say? You were the one who pounced last night, and I didn't do anything. Where does 'pulling up pants' even come from?"

"I'm still a pure, innocent young man."

"Oh?" Liu Ruyan dragged out the sound, the 'oh' twisting three times on the tip of her tongue. "So what you're saying is, you feel regretful that you didn't do anything last night?"

"When did I say I was regretful!"

"You didn't say it, but it was written all over your face."

"What expression? Nothing was written there!"

"It was." Liu Ruyan extended her index finger and pointed at his face from a distance. "Right now, your face has four big words written on it: 'A Clear Conscience.' But let me tell you, Chen Yan, people with a clear conscience usually aren't in such a hurry to explain themselves."

Chen Yan opened his mouth, realizing he had been talked into a corner.

He decided to shut up.

This was a survival instinct he had rapidly developed in just a few days: when you realize you can't win an argument with Liu Ruyan, the best strategy is to shut up and eat.

So he lowered his head and continued to deal with the fried eggs on his plate.

Seeing his defeated look, Liu Ruyan's mood clearly improved significantly.

She pulled out a chair and sat opposite him, picking up her cup of black coffee and taking a sip. Her posture was as elegant as a cat that had just caught a mouse but decided to set it aside for a moment before eating.

"Wait a minute."

Chen Yan suddenly looked up, a bit of egg yolk still stuck to the corner of his mouth.

"What did you just say? Tell me, you're going back to the group?"

"Yes."

"What does that mean?"

"It means you're going too."

"Today?"

"There's an extraordinary board meeting at two o'clock this afternoon." Liu Ruyan set down her coffee cup, the bottom hitting the porcelain saucer with a crisp clink. "It was supposed to happen last week, but the timing wasn't right. It's fine now. The team I hired has its own information channels; there will be a surprise inspection this afternoon."

Chen Yan was silent for a few seconds, poking the remaining half-sausage on his plate with his fork as if pondering some profound question.

"You can just handle these things yourself."

"Why should I go? I don't understand your company's affairs."

"You don't need to understand." Liu Ruyan picked up a napkin and wiped the corner of her mouth, her movements calm and unhurried. "You just need to stand there and let everyone see you."

"See what about me?"

"See that I, Liu Ruyan, am not alone."

Chen Yan's fork stopped moving.

Liu Ruyan's tone was very flat when she said this, as if commenting on the nice weather, but the weight behind her words left Chen Yan's fork suspended in mid-air.

"The board of the Liu Corporation," Liu Ruyan continued without waiting for his reaction, "has a few old foxes in it who have always felt uncomfortable with a young woman like me lording over them. When my father was still around, they didn't dare say anything. Now that he's gone, they've started getting crooked ideas."

"What kind of crooked ideas?"

"Nothing more than wanting to plant people around me or pull me down from my position." Liu Ruyan gave a cold, short laugh, like a blade scraping a whetstone—a spark that vanished instantly. "This afternoon, isn't my dear cousin Liu Haoran just waiting for this moment..."

Hearing this, Chen Yan put down his fork.

"Are you sure of yourself?"

"Sure?"

Liu Ruyan brought the coffee cup to her lips but didn't drink. She just let the rim touch her lower lip, an action that made it look like she was savoring an answer she hadn't yet spoken.

"Chen Yan, do you know that in the business world, being 'sure' is different from gambling?"

"How is it different?"

"In gambling, you don't know what the cards are, but you still have to bet." She put down the cup and looked up at him. "In business, you know what the cards are, but you still have to pretend you don't."

Chen Yan frowned. "You're talking in circles. Say it simply."

"Simply put..." Liu Ruyan leaned forward slightly, lowering her voice. "I know what Liu Haoran is going to do today. He's been waiting for this day for three years, ever since the day my father passed away. He'll use 'Empress' and the falsified accounts he prepared beforehand to make a scene at today's board meeting."

"And you're still going to head straight into it?"

"If I don't, how can I get him to show his hand?" The smile at the corner of Liu Ruyan's mouth deepened slightly, but it didn't reach her eyes; there was something even colder in them. "Do you think the team I spent money on is useless? It's called 'leading the tiger into the trap.'"

Chen Yan's pupils contracted slightly.

"You've been waiting for him to make the first move?"

"Yes." Liu Ruyan took a slow sip from her cup. "There's an iron rule in business: the one who shows their hand first loses half the game. Liu Haoran thinks today's board meeting is his home turf. He'll be the first to attack, making an issue of the financial reports and uniting others to force me to step back. Once he's played all his cards, I'll throw down the evidence."

"Taking him out in one wave."

She used her fork to pick up a cherry tomato from her plate, holding it up to examine it like a chess piece.

"When the time comes, it won't be him forcing me to step back; it'll be me forcing him out of the game."

Looking at her, Chen Yan suddenly felt a chill down his spine.

This woman was too patient. She had set the stage just to wait for her opponent to jump out and expose all their weaknesses, then take them down in one fell swoop.

But perhaps that was exactly why she could sit in the position of CEO of Liu Corporation.

"Then why do you still need me to go?" Chen Yan asked. "You can handle this alone."

"What else?"

"There are also private matters." Liu Ruyan's tone softened, like plain water added to a cup of strong tea—the color remained, but the flavor thinned. "Liu Haoran is my cousin. Director Zhou was my father's partner when he was alive. There will be at least three other directors at the meeting today who are uncles who watched me grow up. On public matters, I can turn my back on them, but on private matters—they'll use their status as elders to pressure me, using phrases like 'it's for your own good' to blackmail me."

Chen Yan understood.

"So you need someone standing by your side to let them know you're no longer that little girl who can be suppressed by their seniority."

Liu Ruyan looked at him without speaking, but the meaning in her eyes was already clear.

"Fine." Chen Yan picked up his cup and drained the remaining milk as if to bolster his courage. "I'll go with you at two o'clock."

Liu Ruyan's expression relaxed slightly, like someone finally putting down a long-standing burden. But the change was subtle—so subtle that if Chen Yan hadn't been looking right at her, he wouldn't have noticed.

"One more thing." Liu Ruyan stood up and spoke as she walked toward the walk-in closet. "Today's board meeting is at the Banyan Tree Hotel owned by the Liu Corporation, not at the group building. Liu Haoran specifically chose the venue, saying it's convenient for a post-meeting dinner. In reality, it's because the hotel's surveillance system was just upgraded last week. He's familiar with the old system but not the new one, and there are things he doesn't want recorded."

It was already morning.

The two of them finished getting ready. Liu Ruyan had changed into a dark gray professional suit. The skirt was shorter than the one she tried on last night, ending just above the knee, paired with dark red stiletto heels. Her makeup was still that ice-cold 'big sister' look, but she had added a pair of pearl earrings that swayed gently with her movements, like two drops of morning dew hanging on a sheet of ice.

Chen Yan changed into a navy blue suit that Liu Ruyan had prepared in advance. The fit was so precise that even the distance from the cuff to his thumb was perfect. He looked at himself in the mirror, feeling for a moment like he was putting on a costume to perform in a play for which he didn't know the lines.

But when he saw Liu Ruyan standing at the entryway, adjusting her earrings in the mirror with her fingers trembling slightly, he felt that this 'costume' wasn't so awkward after all.

So she could get nervous too.

This discovery made Chen Yan feel inexplicably relaxed. When one discovers that another person who seems invincible actually has weaknesses, they feel that they themselves aren't so bad.

"Let's go." He walked over and reached out to open the door for her.

Liu Ruyan looked up at him, her lips curving into a rare smile.

"You just opened the door for me."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Nothing, just letting you know that this is what a husband should do."

Chen Yan's movements faltered for a beat, then he continued walking out as if nothing had happened.

The way she said the word 'husband' was already a bit more natural than yesterday. It was like breaking in a new pair of shoes; they feel awkward everywhere at first, but after a few more steps, the soles begin to mold to your feet.

It's good to adapt.

The Banyan Tree Hotel was located halfway up a mountain on the east side of the city, a manor-style hotel designed with traditional Chinese garden elements. A row of black business sedans was already parked in the lot, sunlight filtering through the sycamore leaves to dapple the car roofs like broken pieces of old records on the ground.

As soon as Liu Ruyan's car came to a stop, a waiter ran over to open the door. The smile on the waiter's face was standard, but Chen Yan noticed that when he opened the door, his gaze only lingered on Liu Ruyan for a split second before he lowered his head, not daring to look further.

Presumably, everyone working here knew CEO Liu's temperament and knew that one look too many might result in frostbite.

"CEO Liu is here." The lobby manager came to greet them—a woman in her early thirties wearing a proper professional suit and a smile. "The other directors have all arrived; they are in the Wanghu Hall on the third floor."

"Thank you." Liu Ruyan nodded and hooked her arm through Chen Yan's as they walked inside.

The lobby manager's gaze lingered on Chen Yan for an extra second. Her expression didn't change, but Chen Yan could feel the astonishment in that look—CEO Liu had actually brought a man, and she was even holding his arm.

They were the only two in the elevator.

Liu Ruyan pressed the button for the third floor and only let out a soft breath once she saw the elevator doors close.

"After we go in, just sit next to me. No matter what they say, you don't need to answer for me."

Liu Ruyan spoke with a calm expression. At this moment, her demeanor was reserved; she had entered the state of the CEO of Liu Group. Combined with today's makeup, that aura of an ice-cold, glamorous female CEO was fully present.

"I'll just be eye candy then."

Chen Yan gave himself a role.

"You are not eye candy." Liu Ruyan turned her head to look at him. "You are Chen Yan."

"Your 'Empress' opened up a completely new market segment and directly brought us massive profits."

"Today is actually also a meet-and-greet for you to meet our top management. Incidentally, it's to let those old fogies who are used to resting on their laurels see that the new generation is surpassing the old. If they don't start feeling a sense of crisis, they're going to be washed away one by one."

By the end, Liu Ruyan's tone had become extremely serious.

*Ding-dong*

Just then, her phone chimed with a text message notification.

Liu Ruyan took it out to look, and a smile appeared on her face.