Ice Blade Queen, Shen Qiuhan

The core commercial district of the capital.

The 108-story Shen Group Building pierced the clouds like a sharp sword.

This was the nerve center of the entire northern economy of the empire.

The top floor, the CEO's office.

A woman stood in front of the massive floor-to-ceiling windows.

She wore a perfectly tailored, pure black women's suit. The suit had no unnecessary decorations; its sharp lines outlined her tall figure, giving her an extremely oppressive presence.

Her long hair was pinned up behind her head without a single messy strand.

Her face was stunningly beautiful, but that beauty held no warmth.

She was like a freshly sharpened longblade of ice and snow—even a passing glance felt blinding.

Shen Qiuhan.

The adopted daughter taken in by the Shen family's patriarch, Shen Wanjun, from an orphanage thirty years ago.

Shen Fei's aunt in name.

Currently thirty-two years old.

In the capital's business circle, no one dared to call her Miss Shen or President Shen.

Behind her back, everyone called her the Ice Blade Queen.

Because she actually controlled forty percent of the Shen Group's commercial empire.

From heavy manufacturing to internet finance, those super fleets capable of stirring up storms in the stock market were all operated by this woman behind the scenes.

Bang.

The office door was pushed open.

No knock.

Shen Qiuhan didn't even turn her head; she merely frowned slightly.

In the Shen Group, there was only one person who dared to enter her office without knocking.

Shen Fei.

Shen Fei walked in and casually tossed his black suit jacket onto the leather sofa.

He looked at Shen Qiuhan standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows.

"Aunt, long time no see."

Shen Fei's tone was very casual.

It was as if he were greeting a distant relative he wasn't very familiar with.

Shen Qiuhan slowly turned around.

Her gaze fell upon Shen Fei.

No joy, no surprise.

Only an extremely cold scrutiny.

It was like she was evaluating a newly listed financial product, calculating its risks and return rate.

"I heard about what happened in Jinling."

Shen Qiuhan walked behind the large desk and sat down.

"I also heard about the second branch."

She crossed her hands and rested them on the desk.

"On your first day back in the capital, you crippled the people from the ancient martial Lin family and drove Shen Zhenhai out of the country. Your methods were very clean. The old man is very pleased."

Shen Qiuhan's voice had no inflection.

Like a precise machine reporting data.

"However."

She changed the subject.

"I don't care how you dealt with Second Uncle. Nor do I care what the old man's attitude towards you really is."

"I only care about one thing."

Shen Qiuhan leaned forward slightly, looking at Shen Fei with intense oppression.

"The Shen Group, hundreds of billions in assets, the livelihoods of millions of employees."

"What gives you the right to sit in that position?"

Her attitude was extremely overbearing.

This was Shen Qiuhan.

She didn't have the Shen family bloodline, but she was more arrogant than any of the Shen family's side branches.

Because her confidence came from the half of the empire she had conquered for the Shen family over the past ten years.

After the second branch was purged, she was the only faction within the Shen family that had not yet explicitly pledged allegiance to Shen Fei.

And her attitude directly determined whether Shen Fei could truly control the economic lifeline of the Shen Group.

This silence was ten thousand times more dangerous than the clamoring of a jumping clown like Shen Zhenhai.

Shen Fei listened to her words.

He wasn't angry.

He walked to the desk, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

"Aunt. You think I'm not worthy," Shen Fei stated flatly.

"It's not a matter of being worthy or not."

Shen Qiuhan said coldly, "Capital doesn't look at bloodlines. Capital only looks at ability. Do you think that by killing a few people and using force to intimidate those pieces of trash, you can master the financial market? That you can make those international oligarchs listen to you?"

"Shen Fei, business is a war without blood."

"You are too young."

"I am not at ease handing the group over to you."

This was a showdown.

Shen Qiuhan was explicitly telling Shen Fei that in the realm of business, she had to be the one calling the shots.

You be your nominal family head, and I will control my capital empire.

We mind our own business.

Shen Fei looked at Shen Qiuhan's cold and confident face.

He suddenly smiled.

"A war without blood."

Shen Fei repeated the phrase.

He leaned back against the chair.

"Aunt. At eight o'clock this morning, in the presidential suite of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, you had breakfast with Second Young Master Li."

Shen Fei's tone was calm.

Like he was chatting about everyday matters.

But sitting opposite him, Shen Qiuhan's pupils suddenly shrank at that very moment.

"You ate Eggs Benedict and drank Blue Mountain coffee."

"What you discussed was the private placement plan for Shen Technology, the Hong Kong stock sector under the Shen Group."

Shen Fei looked into Shen Qiuhan's eyes.

"You prepared to bring in the Li family's capital under the guise of internal employee shareholding. Once the private placement is complete, the Li family will cooperate with you in the secondary market to buy low and sell high."

"The most important step—"

Shen Fei leaned forward slightly, pressing both hands on the edge of the desk.

"Through this dilution, the equity you actually control will, for the first time, surpass the main family. That is to say, surpass mine."

The air in the office.

Instantly froze to the freezing point.

Although Shen Qiuhan's face remained cold, the knuckles of her clasped hands had turned slightly white from excessive force.

This matter.

Other than her and Second Young Master Li, absolutely no third person in this world knew!

Even her most trusted secretary thought she was just going to meet an ordinary overseas client.

How did Shen Fei know?!

He was even crystal clear about her final equity dilution plan!

"Shen Fei, did you plant someone by my side?" Shen Qiuhan's voice turned completely cold, her eyes like knives.

Shen Fei shook his head.

"Aunt, you think too highly of yourself. Those subordinates of yours aren't worthy of me wasting effort to bribe."

The top-tier hacker technology and intelligence network provided by the system was a dimensional strike in this world.

Every encrypted email Shen Qiuhan sent to the Li family last night, every code of abnormal fund movements.

In Shen Fei's eyes, they were as conspicuous as small advertisements pasted on a utility pole.

"You thought you acted very secretly."

Shen Fei stood up.

"You thought that by being decisive and ruthless in the business world, you truly became the queen of the Shen family."

"Shen Qiuhan."

Shen Fei called her directly by her full name.

He walked around the desk and went behind Shen Qiuhan.

He rested his hands on the back of the executive chair.

"Have you forgotten who gave you everything you have now?"

"Without the great tree of the Shen family backing you up, in a place like the capital that eats people without spitting out their bones, you wouldn't even be able to secure a single piece of land. You, the so-called Ice Blade Queen..."

Shen Fei lowered his head slightly.

His voice sounded right next to Shen Qiuhan's ear.

"Are nothing more than a dog raised by the Shen family, one that just bites a bit harder."

These words were extremely vicious.

Extremely hurtful.

They instantly tore apart all of Shen Qiuhan's dignity and pride.

Shen Qiuhan abruptly turned around.

Smack!

She slammed her palm on the desk and stood up fiercely.

Because her movements were so large, her chest heaved violently, and in those forever cold eyes, the flames of anger burned for the first time.

"Shen Fei! You are out of line!"

Shen Qiuhan glared furiously at Shen Fei.

"I am your aunt! Is this the attitude you take when speaking to me?!"

"Without me, the Shen Group's profits would shrink by at least half! You want to take over? Fine! I'd like to see if you can pacify the directors of those dozens of multinational consortiums!"

Shen Qiuhan was truly infuriated.

She had always thought highly of herself. She believed her status was earned through ten years of blood, sweat, and tears.

But now, Shen Fei was belittling her as if she were worthless.

Facing Shen Qiuhan's fury, Shen Fei did not back down.

He simply reached into his pocket and pulled out an extremely compact black USB flash drive.

Smack.

Shen Fei casually tossed the flash drive onto the desk.

"There are three files in here," Shen Fei said, his tone so flat it lacked even the slightest ripple of emotion.

"The first is a record of all your private accounts over the past three years. It includes the details of how you secretly transferred the Shen family's assets through overseas shell companies. Accurate down to the very last penny."

Shen Qiuhan's face instantly paled a fraction.

"The second is the audio and video recordings of your seven secret communications with external factions, including the Li and Zhao families."

Shen Qiuhan's body began to tremble slightly.

"The third..."

Shen Fei looked at Shen Qiuhan's face, which had completely lost its color.

"Is a scanned copy of the original gambling agreement you signed with a certain foreign oligarch. If Shen Technology's profits fail to meet the target this year, not only will you forfeit all your shares, but you will also drag the Shen family into a debt of ten billion."

"Aunt," Shen Fei said, his hands stuffed into his trouser pockets.

"Take any one of these three files and hand it over to the Old Master, or the board of directors."

"How much longer do you think you could sit in that CEO's chair?"

"Or rather," Shen Fei's eyes turned extremely dark, "how long do you think you could survive in prison?"

Silence.

A deathly silence.

In the entire top-floor office, only the faint hum of the central air conditioning could be heard.

Shen Qiuhan stared fixedly at the black flash drive on the desk.

Her pride.

Her trump cards.

All her schemes and ambitions.

In this moment, they were ruthlessly stripped bare by Shen Fei and trampled naked under his feet.

She had lost.

Lost completely and utterly, with nothing left intact.

Shen Fei was not just a reckless brute who only knew how to use force.

He was a monster with a god's-eye view.

"You..."

Shen Qiuhan's voice was terrifyingly hoarse.

She looked at Shen Fei as if she were looking at a completely unfamiliar demon.

"What exactly do you want?"

Shen Fei walked over to the leather sofa and picked up his black suit jacket.

"What I want is very simple."

Shen Fei did not turn around.

"The Shen Group does not need two voices."

"Aunt, you have two choices."

Shen Fei walked toward the office door.

"One, hand over all the resources and control you hold. From now on, put away your ambitions and be absolutely loyal to me. Become the sharpest commercial weapon in my hand."

"Two."

Shen Fei grasped the door handle and paused his steps.

"Just like Second Uncle, go to Africa to farm."

"Or, go to prison and step on a sewing machine."

Shen Fei gave Shen Qiuhan no chance to bargain.

"I'll only give you one minute to consider."

"Sixty."

"Fifty-nine."

Shen Fei began to count down.

Every number he counted was like a heavy hammer smashing against Shen Qiuhan's heart.

She looked at Shen Fei's tall and straight back.

Her struggles, her hard work, and her thirst for power over the past thirty years flashed through her mind.

But now, everything had become an illusion.

"Fifty."

"Forty-nine."

Shen Fei's voice remained cold and cruel.

Time slipped away second by second.

Shen Qiuhan's defenses crumbled bit by bit.

When Shen Fei counted down to "ten"...

"I choose one."

Shen Qiuhan spoke.

Her voice was not loud, but it exhausted all the strength in her body.

She lost her previous dominance and coldness; her entire being looked as if her spine had been drained, slumping defeatedly into her executive chair.

This head, which had never bowed to anyone.

Finally, in the face of absolute strength and overwhelming intelligence, it lowered.

Shen Fei stopped counting.

He turned around and looked at the pale-faced, completely subdued Ice Blade Queen.

"A very wise choice."

Shen Fei walked back to the desk and put the black flash drive back into his pocket.

"Tomorrow morning at ten o'clock, convene the group's supreme board of directors."

"I want you to personally announce the full handover of power."

Shen Qiuhan closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Yes."

Shen Fei did not waste another word.

He pushed open the door and strode out of the office.

With this, all the hidden dangers within the Shen family had been completely wiped out by him.

He had finally, completely and utterly, grasped the authority of this trillion-dollar empire in his own hands.

It was also time to go and meet the true children of destiny in the capital.

In the corridor.

Su Qingxue was waiting at the elevator entrance with Ling Shuang and Ling Xue.

Seeing Shen Fei come out, Su Qingxue went up to meet him.

"Young Master, is it all taken care of?"

"Yes. Just swapped in an obedient dog," Shen Fei said casually.

"There is a gathering tonight. We are going to the Chang'an Club."

Shen Fei looked at his own reflection on the elevator doors.

"Let's go see just how muddy the waters in this capital really are."