Extra Story - The Young Lady and Her Loyal Bodyguard - The Blade

While Qin Ya was searching for a blade to break the deadlock, a blade came to her on its own.

Or rather, a man as sharp as a blade.

He stood before Qin Ya, carrying the flames of vengeance.

Under the dazzling lights of the "Future Finance" salon.

Amidst everyone, like devout believers, fervently praising Lu Chenyuan and his Yuanlong Technology.

This man tore through the hypocritical revelry with a single icy phrase: "A bunch of fools."

Li Jinchuan.

A name that had almost become taboo in the upper circles of Jingzhou recently.

He showed no awareness of being a down-and-out man, nor any hint of flattery or sycophancy.

His eyes were filled with undisguised ambition and the scrutiny of prey.

Excellent. So they were the same kind of people.

That was Qin Ya's first impression of Li Jinchuan.

"Miss Qin."

Li Jinchuan's gaze was exactly like that of a wolf that had been starving for a long time.

"I know what you need."

"I also know where Lu Chenyuan's weakness lies."

Li Jinchuan's plan was simple, and also insane.

Lu Chenyuan played the ecosystem game, the high-end game.

Then they would do the opposite.

Play the value-for-money game, wage a price war.

Use the lowest prices and the most cost-indifferent investments to assault the most vulnerable mid-to-low-end market of the "Wuju" car.

"Wuju is a work of art."

The corner of Li Jinchuan's mouth curled into a bloodthirsty sneer.

"And our product will be the sharpest bayonet on the battlefield."

"Art cannot defeat a bayonet."

Qin Ya looked at him.

She saw in his eyes that madness, the desire to perish together with Lu Chenyuan.

She was somewhat tempted.

Amidst all the singing of praises for Lu Chenyuan and Mo Qingli.

She saw in Li Jinchuan the hope of turning the tables.

She needed a blade, one sharp enough, crazy enough, and ruthless enough.

To tear open the seamless net woven by Lu Chenyuan and Mo Qingli.

Li Jinchuan was currently the most suitable candidate.

"Why should I believe you?"

Qin Ya's voice was languid, seeming careless.

As if she were merely a spoiled, willful heiress.

"Because, in this world, no one wants Lu Chenyuan dead more than I do."

Li Jinchuan's answer was resolute and unequivocal.

Qin Ya smiled.

She liked that answer.

But Qin Ya never made investments without certainty.

She gave Li Jinchuan a test.

An academic lecture by Professor Malcolm at Jingzhou University.

A splendid execution ground she had chosen for him.

When Lu Ruoxi, that genius younger sister whom Lu Chenyuan kept sheltered in an ivory tower,

called on Li Jinchuan by name with an incredibly cutting-edge, incredibly tricky academic question,

the corner of Qin Ya's mouth curved into a cruel and amused arc.

She watched Li Jinchuan's body instantly stiffen,

watched the forced composure on his face,

watched how he used flowery language to package his hollow core.

Then, she saw Lu Ruoxi,

with the calmest tone and the most precise logic, peel away his disguise layer by layer,

exposing his ignorance and arrogance nakedly before hundreds of people.

The applause from the entire audience became a merciless mockery of Li Jinchuan.

He had been publicly executed.

Qin Ya looked at the man beside her, whose face turned from ashen to pale, and finally to a deathly gray.

He sat there stiffly, like a statue about to shatter.

Qin Ya wasn't disappointed; instead, she felt a strange excitement.

Even, with a teasing tone, she said to Li Jinchuan,

"Got beaten pretty badly, huh."

She clearly saw his fist clench tightly under the table, knuckles white from the force.

Soon, the panic in his eyes was gone.

Only a hatred, ignited by extreme humiliation, so intense it felt almost tangible.

"But..."

Qin Ya changed her tone, her voice tinged with pleasure,

"I liked the guts you showed by standing up earlier, and I like your hate-filled eyes now."

At that moment, Qin Ya knew that this blade, tempered by the perfect whetstone that was Lu Ruoxi, had been quenched with the most potent poison.

"I hate cowards more than I hate losers."

At least, when everyone else was scared out of their wits, this blade dared to show its edge.

That was far better than the good-for-nothings in the Qin family.

Yet, at this moment, Qin Ya inexplicably thought of her own "little pendant" again.

Perhaps only he was the one who could truly stand with her,

to face all hardships and dangers together;

to face all that seemed invincible together.

Qin Ya silently mocked herself in her heart.

Then, she muttered to herself, Qin Ya, you cannot rely on anyone!

Qin Ya decided to take a gamble.

Overriding all objections, she used the Qin Group's name to support Li Jinchuan in establishing the "Windrider" project.

She gave him the greatest authority and the most ample funding.

She personally handed over this blade named "Li Jinchuan."

And pointed it at her enemy.

However, reality was cruel.

How could a sharp blade like Li Jinchuan reach a deity high above the clouds?

Over the next year, using the money Qin Ya gave him, Li Jinchuan quietly completed technology acquisitions and team transfers in Europe.

He did it cleanly, efficiently, like a top-tier assassin, erasing all traces.

When he appeared before Qin Ya again with a new business plan,

his eyes were calmer and colder than a year before.

His new plan was to snipe at three of Lu Chenyuan's core suppliers.

Through price wars, poaching, hostile takeovers...

Using the most traditional, and most brutal, business warfare tactics to shred Lu Chenyuan's supply chain.

Qin Ya saw the essence of this plan at a glance—mutual destruction.

However, Qin Ya did not veto it.

Qin Ya felt that she herself, in pursuing the "Windrider" project, had unwittingly stepped onto the path laid out by Lu Chenyuan and Mo Qingli.

She even vaguely saw figures ahead on that path.

And this blade, Li Jinchuan, honed for a year and fueled by an additional five hundred million in investment,

smashed against a steel plate with its first swing.

Li Jinchuan mobilized the Qin family's political connections, attempting to use administrative barriers to delay the approval of the "Wuju" super factory.

In Li Jinchuan's view, this was the most effective and common dirty trick in business warfare.

However, Lu Chenyuan didn't even play the "pull strings" game with him.

Lu Chenyuan directly bypassed all intermediate channels,

and submitted a proposal titled "Suggestions on Building a Jingzhou Demonstration Zone for the Integrated Development of New-Generation Information Technology and High-End Manufacturing" to the desks of senior municipal officials.

He elevated the development of a single enterprise to the strategic height of the entire city's future.

Li Jinchuan's petty maneuvers appeared so childish and fragile in the face of Lu Chenyuan's grand, open stratagem that moved with overwhelming momentum.

On the day of the groundbreaking ceremony, Qin Ya did not attend.

But through the live broadcast, she saw the scene of Lu Chenyuan shoveling soil side-by-side with senior municipal officials, and the spectacular sight of excavators roaring not far away.

She knew that this blade, Li Jinchuan, had been utterly defeated in his first direct confrontation with Lu Chenyuan.

Watching his devastated expression, Qin Ya felt no sympathy in her heart.

Only a faint tinge of disappointment.

Her blade was sharp enough, filled with enough hatred.

But its vision was too small.

It seemed this game was going to be even more interesting, and more difficult, than she had imagined.