After the tycoon went bankrupt, he was raised by the villainous female supporting character and beca

"Make conditions?" Pei Xingzhi pretended to be clueless, knowing full well what was going on. "What are you talking about, President Lu? What conditions do I need to make?"

Lu Yibai's breathing was heavy, clearly audible even through the phone: "Pei Xingzhi, you know what I'm saying. We're all businessmen, so there's no need to pretend to be confused."

"Just name your terms, and I'll definitely meet them if I can!"

"Hmph," Pei Xingzhi smiled, a hint of sarcasm in his eyes, "President Lu, what are you talking about? I don't understand a single word."

"Pfft..." Lin Jiahe was amused by his affected manner.

Xie Mingyi wanted to laugh too, but felt it was inappropriate, so he forced himself to hold it in. He raised his hand and patted Lin Jiahe's shoulder, then pursed his lips and gave the affected Pei Xingzhi a thumbs up.

Pei Xingzhi raised an eyebrow, his gentle eyes filled with a gloomy triumph.

"Pei Xingzhi!" Lu Yibai was getting impatient with him. "You know what I'm saying, you understand what I mean!"

“I don’t understand.” Pei Xingzhi’s voice was indifferent, his tone arrogant. “What President Lu said is nonsensical. How could I, a lowly person who can only barely make a living by running a studio, possibly understand it?”

"..."

Lu Yibai's sarcastic remarks were now being returned to him verbatim by Pei Xingzhi. It would be a lie to say he wasn't furious, but since he needed Pei Xingzhi's help, he had no choice but to swallow his anger.

He gritted his teeth on the other end of the phone, forcing himself to swallow his pent-up frustration. So consumed by anxiety, he didn't even notice anything amiss in Pei Xingzhi's words.

“…Fang Bo.” He uttered the name with difficulty, laying his purpose completely bare in the light of day.

"You rescued Fang Bo, didn't you?"

“Fang Bo…” Pei Xingzhi frowned and thought carefully for a moment, then smiled and said, “Fang Bo is indeed with me. We were classmates and worked together at the Pei Group for so many years. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other, so of course I want to catch up with him.”

The pretense of propping things up had been completely torn away, and Lu Yibai stopped beating around the bush with Pei Xingzhi. He ignored Pei Xingzhi's sarcastic remarks and went straight to the point.

"Did Fang Bo give you everything? How much dirt do you have on me?"

“Hmm…” Pei Xingzhi calculated seriously, “You have a lot of weaknesses, it would be too troublesome to list them all for you. I’ll just give you two simple examples.”

"Hiring murderers, bribing officials, embezzling public funds, falsifying accounts, spreading rumors and slander, engaging in illegal competition, as well as tax evasion and malicious fraudulent donations."

"Oh dear, didn't I say I'd only give two examples? How did I end up giving so many?"

Pei Xingzhi deliberately feigned apology, as if he had really done it unintentionally to expose so much of Lu Yibai's dirty secrets.

“Heh…” Lu Yibai let out a deep breath, swallowing all of Pei Xingzhi’s teasing and mockery.

"Pei Xingzhi, since you know everything, then just state your terms."

"What do I have to do for you to hand these things over to me?"

"What? Does President Lu want to spend money to buy dirt on us?" Pei Xingzhi asked knowingly.

Lu Yibai: "It doesn't necessarily have to be about spending money. It mainly depends on what you want. Money, resources, connections, or an apology—as long as you ask, I'll do whatever I can."

"..." Pei Xingzhi pursed his lips and didn't say anything.

"Cough..." Xie Mingyi coughed twice deliberately and shook his head at Pei Xingzhi.

Pei Xingzhi blinked, indicating that he understood.

“He knows what he's doing,” Lin Jiahe whispered in Xie Mingyi’s ear.

Xie Mingyi nodded, finally feeling a little relieved. Pei Xingzhi's studio was currently short of resources, and he was a little worried that Pei Xingzhi would use the things Fang Bo gave him to exchange for resources that he couldn't get.

Lin Jiahe saw through his worries and said to him with some helplessness, "Pei Xingzhi is a man of great integrity. If he wanted to take shortcuts, he should have joined Xie's Technology when Xie Zhaoyuan returned to the Xie family. Why would he bother to go out and seek resources on his own?"

“...That’s true.” Xie Mingyi pondered for a moment and realized that he had underestimated people.

Lin Jiahe: "Let Pei Xingzhi handle it. He knows what to do."

"Okay." Xie Mingyi breathed a sigh of relief.

Lu Yibai: "Pei Xingzhi, we're all businessmen. If something can be resolved with mutual benefit, there's absolutely no need to make it so ugly, don't you think?"

“Yes.” Pei Xingzhi agreed with him.

Lu Yibai: "So what do you want? Just ask, and I'll give you whatever I can."

"What do you want..." Pei Xingzhi adjusted his glasses and actually started to consider it, but he didn't come up with a decision immediately.

"Mr. Lu, I can't think of anything right now that you're asking me what I want."

"It's okay," Lu Yibai quickly said. "I won't force you to give me an answer right away. You can think about it for a few days."

“…Alright then.” Pei Xingzhi reluctantly agreed. “Since President Lu is willing to wait for me, I’ll think about it for a few days.”

“Okay!” Lu Yibai’s tone instantly became much lighter. “Pei Xingzhi, think it over carefully. Call me whenever you’ve made up your mind. I’ll be waiting for you anytime.”

Pei Xingzhi: "Hmm."

"..." Lu Yibai didn't say anything more.

Pei Xingzhi: "Mr. Lu, is there anything else?"

Lu Yibai: "No, that's all."

Pei Xing hung up the phone a second later.

"Pei Xingzhi, what do you mean?"

Lin Jiahe, who had just been completely at ease with Pei Xingzhi, was now a little unsettled: "Why did you agree to Lu Yibai's request? You went to great lengths to find Fang Bo, just to get some resources from Lu Yibai?"

"Of course not." Pei Xingzhi lightly flicked his hand and threw the phone onto the bed.

"No?" Lin Jiahe frowned, looking at him with a puzzled expression. "Then what do you want?"

"He wanted to play tricks on Lu Yibai." Xie Mingyi explained for Pei Xingzhi, "A scoundrel like Lu Yibai would be too lenient to be sentenced to death. If I'm not mistaken, Xingzhi agreed to his request because he wanted to lead him by the nose and play tricks on him again."

"Is it right?"

“Yes,” Pei Xingzhi admitted frankly, “but not entirely.”

"Killing Lu Yibai is a shared dream of mine and Ayuan's. Now that we've finally caught Lu Yibai by the skin of our teeth, of course I'm going to wait for Ayuan to come back before we make our move together."

"But right now, A-Yuan is still in Qin Wushuang's hands. I don't want to take revenge on Lu Yibai alone, so I can only keep him hooked for now and let him experience what it means to be torn apart, to be overwhelmed, and to feel like he's living a life worse than death!"