The Peculiar and Mischievous Gong Bingyan

At 11:00 AM on Truth Road.

Gong Bingyan stepped out of the car and walked straight toward the upscale entrance of the neighboring villa complex.

Recalling Chen Che's instructions, she forced herself not to look back, verified her identity, and walked inside the residential area.

This villa complex was an early residential project developed by Bangyuan Real Estate, and also their only villa project.

After walking for about ten minutes, Gong Bingyan stopped in front of a single-family villa with red brick walls.

This was the home of her uncle, Gong Yaowu. She had lived here for a period of time, so she still had the keys and access card.

Just as Chen Che had guessed, she indeed owned shares in Bangyuan Real Estate, and she was the largest shareholder.

Over the past two years, Gong Yaowu had cashed out 20 percent.

Now, Gong Yaowu only retained 1.7 percent of the shares (having given away 4 percent to appease his subordinates).

In other words, Gong Bingyan was actually the majority shareholder of Bangyuan Real Estate, albeit a hidden one.

She was Gong Yaowen's illegitimate daughter.

She had been raised in the United States since she was a child, and it wasn't until she turned ten—upon hearing that the legal wife and her half-brother, whom she had never met, had died in a car crash—that she truly returned to the country and met Gong Yaowen.

However, a few years later, Gong Yaowen passed away due to illness. What could a young girl do?

She understood nothing. Whatever Gong Yaowu said went, and she could only act as a puppet at his mercy.

By liquidating Gong Yaowen's assets, she obtained a lot of money, but Gong Yaowu got even more.

Why betray Gong Yaowu?

For no other reason than that circumstances dictated it.

Chen Che had even managed to win over the bank president, analyzed the pros and cons for her, and promised not to touch her shares while offering her 80 percent of the group's profit dividends.

Indeed, based on what Chen Che had described, Gong Bingyan gradually came to believe that her uncle was planning to run away.

Her aunt and cousin already held U.S. citizenship and had gone on a trip to the United States half a year ago.

Half a month ago, her uncle had called her back to the country and made her sign some documents, supposedly because the capital chain had broken.

Everything was just too coincidental.

Just as Chen Che suspected, the reason she was at the bar that day had nothing to do with some scumbag ex, nor was she purely out to hook up with wealthy men; she was simply distressed by everything happening around her.

Standing outside the villa door, Gong Bingyan still agonized over whether choosing Chen Che was the right decision. What if she picked the wrong side?

The die was already cast, though...

Besides, Chen Che was right.

It was hard to say whether her uncle or Chen Che was more insidious, but deep down, Gong Bingyan was more willing to deal with Chen Che.

Moreover, one thing the man said was true.

People are creatures driven by interests.

As long as she exerted every effort to please Chen Che, it would translate into a sustainable relationship built on mutual interests.

Yet her uncle's side was maintained purely by blood ties, always leaving her at the mercy of others with fixed, unchangeable benefits.

"Hah."

Suppressing her final hesitation, Gong Bingyan took a deep breath and pulled the keys from her bag.

The massive villa was exceptionally desolate at the moment. After checking and confirming that Gong Yaowu was not around, she walked straight into the study.

Her shareholder proxy agreement was locked in the safe. She certainly couldn't steal it out since she didn't know the password.

However, where there's a will, there's a way.

Gong Bingyan finally found Gong Yaowu's signature in the study, took clear photos of it, and sent them to Chen Che via WeChat.

When she finished, she put everything back in its exact place, but just as she was about to leave, footsteps echoed outside the door.

Gong Bingyan panicked instantly. Torn for a second between whether to hide or not, she managed to calm herself down and maintain a normal expression on her face.

A moment later, three men and a woman walked in. They were all stunned to see Gong Bingyan standing there, and the man leading them was none other than Gong Yaowu.

"Uncle, you're home?"

Gong Bingyan asked with a pleasant surprise.

Hearing this, Gong Yaowu pulled his hand out of his pocket, scanned the furnishings of the study, and asked with a frown,

"Why didn't you call before coming?"

"I did, but your phone was turned off."

The words slipped right out of Gong Bingyan's mouth. Details determine success or failure, and how could Chen Che possibly have failed to account for this?

Gong Yaowu had merely been testing her instinctively. Seeing that Gong Bingyan answered correctly, he waved his entourage back and asked,

"What do you want with me?"

Gong Yaowu had been quite annoyed lately and couldn't be bothered to maintain any pleasantries with his niece, asking in an indifferent tone.

"I want to go back to South Korea. I'm running out of money."

"Didn't I just give you a million?"

"The cost of living in China is high too."

Hearing this, Gong Yaowu frowned, then relaxed his expression, walked over to the desk, and said softly,

"I'll arrange the plane ticket for you, and the money will be given to you then. Here's one hundred thousand, take this for now."

Gong Yaowu pulled a stack of red banknotes from the drawer, shoved them casually into a kraft paper bag, and tossed it onto the table.

Gong Bingyan's heart was pounding wildly in her chest, but on the surface, she put on a reluctant look, hesitating as if she had more to say.

She walked slowly toward the desk, looked at her uncle—who no longer possessed his past warmth—grabbed the money, and said,

"Then I'll be leaving first."

"Wait!"

Just as Gong Bingyan reached the door, the voice from behind made her body freeze, and cold sweat almost broke out on her back.

Gathering her courage and putting up a bold front, she turned around, suppressing her inner tension as she cast an inquiring look.

Uncle and niece gazed at each other. Gong Yaowu's complexion didn't look too good, but he still squeezed out a faint smile and said,

"Just stay put in one place for the next few days. There are some issues at the company, and I don't have the extra energy to deal with your matters. Don't cause trouble for me."

"Oh, I understand."

Gong Bingyan heaved a massive sigh of relief inwardly, replied with a casual expression, and then involuntarily quickened her pace to leave.

Watching her retreating figure until it vanished entirely, Gong Yaowu supported his forehead, a dark shadow of gloom washing over him.

For some reason, a heavy, suffocating feeling gripped his chest, accompanied by a vague, ominous premonition. It wasn't that he suspected Gong Bingyan; rather, the events from yesterday until now had given him a distinctly abnormal feeling.

Workers making a fuss? That didn't surprise him.

He had diverted capital to acquire land, leaving Banghe Real Estate short on cash. For the workers to vent some frustration after being delayed for over a month was expected—it was the most normal thing in the world.

After all, workers were always the ones being used as pawns, and he didn't believe Chen Tianhong was unaware of this.

It was just that this time, Chen Tianhong had gone way too far, blowing the matter up so abruptly and catching him completely off guard.

More importantly, he noticed that people from the bank and the government seemed to be distancing themselves from him.

"Chairman."

Ever since the incident yesterday, Gong Yaowu had been trying to contact the bank for loan disbursements and the government to mediate at the construction site.

Yet the near-constant rejection at every turn made him increasingly uneasy, giving him the illusion that things were slipping out of his control.

After Gong Bingyan left, the two men and one woman from earlier walked back in, and the leader called out to Gong Yaowu.

The middle-aged man was one of the shareholders of Bangyuan Real Estate.

The young man was the legal representative of Banghe Real Estate.

The woman was the chief financial officer.

As the three approached, before Gong Yaowu could even respond, the tall, thin middle-aged man asked directly,

"Chairman, I'm not sure what agenda the temporary meeting this afternoon is addressing. Do we need to prepare in advance?"

"What meeting?"

Gong Yaowu raised his head in surprise, because he hadn't scheduled any meeting at all.

The middle-aged man had only just met up with him yesterday and belonged to his inner circle, so naturally, they needed to prepare for meeting agendas ahead of time.

Yet seeing Gong Yaowu's genuine astonishment—even if it lasted only a split second—the middle-aged man spoke up immediately:

"Yesterday afternoon, I received an urgent notice for a temporary shareholders' meeting called by the company, so I rushed over."

A shareholders' meeting was usually announced well in advance, but emergencies happened, and they typically meant something major had occurred.

Combining this with the incident at Banghe Mansion yesterday afternoon, the middle-aged man had roughly guessed what it was about.

However, Gong Yaowu was shaken. He cast a suspicious glance across the middle-aged man's face and asked uncertainly,

"Director Sun, who called this shareholders' meeting?"

Gong Yaowu was truly out of his mind with anger. Shareholders' meetings could only be convened by the board of directors, and he was the chairman.

The middle-aged man was also taken aback, hesitating as he said,

"Wasn't it you, Chairman?"

Hearing this, Gong Yaowu's pupils constricted. Seized by a sudden realization, he hurriedly stood up and rushed out to chase after the departed Gong Bingyan.

He hadn't interacted with Gong Bingyan much, so there wasn't much emotional attachment between them—only interests and family ties.

Yet he still understood Gong Bingyan well enough. He had completely overlooked one crucial detail just now: the study was on the second floor.

Given his niece's personality, even if she had come looking for him, she would have only glanced around briefly and wouldn't have stayed long.

Yet earlier, he had met with the middle-aged man downstairs and chatted for two or three minutes, which meant Gong Bingyan had remained upstairs the entire time.

When he rushed outside, however, there was no sign of Gong Bingyan anywhere. Seeing this, Gong Yaowu turned back in a panic.

Amid the bewildered gazes of the others, he re-entered the study and carefully inspected the safe.

Fortunately, nothing seemed to be missing from inside.

And just as Gong Yaowu stood there with lingering doubts, preparing to call and trick Gong Bingyan into coming back,

The chief financial officer burst into the room in a panic, her face drained of color:

"Chairman, the Public Security Bureau has taken control of Banghe! Su Meiqing has reported you to the police for misappropriating corporate funds!"