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"So five years later, you hired private investigators to look into Feng Guangxu's shell companies, then bribed his confidants to collect evidence of him poaching from the company. And then you brought that evidence back to five years ago?" The more Chen Lingyun spoke, the angrier she became, until her temples began to throb. "How did you do that? In a dream?"

"More or less." Cheng Yu nodded. It was just that, in his understanding, he had long since done all those things in reality. Now, he was the one trapped in a never-ending sleep, sinking into a dream from eleven years ago every day and having to repeat everything he had once done from the beginning.

What an exceedingly boring dream.

Cheng Yu pursed his lips, feeling a little unhappy.

Chen Lingyun had not expected Cheng Yu to actually nod in agreement. She became even angrier at once. "Cheng Yu, enough is enough. You have bipolar disorder, not delusional disorder—"

Remembering Lin Sufen's warning when they had returned from the hospital, Chen Lingyun's complaint came to an abrupt stop. She sat on the sofa, clenching her fists and taking deep breaths over and over again. She must have been insane to think she could seriously communicate with that little bastard Cheng Yu—he had never intended to tell the truth in the first place.

"If you're sick, take your medicine on time. I won't hold today's matter against you." Furious enough to leave her mouth dry, Chen Lingyun got up, grabbed a bottle of mineral water, twisted it open, and gulped down more than half of it. Then she turned to leave.

"Don't you want to know whether this evidence is real or not?" Cheng Yu called after Chen Lingyun, somewhat curious. He had to admit that no matter how many years had passed, whether in reality or in his dreams, he had never been able to understand Chen Lingyun's way of thinking or doing things. "No matter how I obtained the evidence, isn't the most important thing that it can be used against Feng Guangxu?"

"Feng is your longtime rival on the board. Over the years, how much trouble has he caused you? Don't you want to use this opportunity to remove Feng Guangxu from the board?" Cheng Yu truly could not understand what Chen Lingyun was so hung up on. "If you want to be harsher, you could even submit the evidence to the court and formally sue Feng Guangxu for embezzling company assets through his position. Ruin his reputation and make him spend the rest of his life in prison."

Even if she did not do that, Chen Lingyun could use the evidence to threaten Feng Guangxu into voluntarily leaving the board, or make him sell his C&C Jewelry shares at a low price.

"With so many options, why are you determined to pursue exactly where this evidence came from? Is it just because I provided it?" Seeing Chen Lingyun instinctively reveal the embarrassed anger of someone whose thoughts had been exposed, Cheng Yu shook his head, utterly speechless. "...With your personality and way of doing things, you really aren't suited to be a senior executive."

Then again, if Chen Lingyun truly possessed his level of scheming and skill, she would not have remained unable to secure her position despite being the founder, largest shareholder, and chairman of C&C Jewelry for so many years. She would not have had to put up with Feng Guangxu constantly stirring up trouble with the other shareholders.

—Cheng Yu remembered that when he took over C&C Jewelry five years later, the company's market value had only just exceeded 9.2 billion. Against the broader backdrop of China's rapidly growing economy, steadily rising inflation, and China gradually becoming the world's largest consumer market, the fact that a luxury jewelry company could see virtually no change in market value for six consecutive years spoke for itself regarding Chen Lingyun's abilities.

Chen Lingyun was provoked by the contempt and disdain Cheng Yu had inadvertently revealed. She immediately retorted, "I'm not fit to be chairman of C&C Jewelry? Then who is? You?"

Chen Lingyun laughed in fury. "Cheng Yu, have I spoiled you too much? Do you really think you're some extraordinary genius? Do you think building a company is as easy as playing your games? Let me tell you the truth: without me, without your mother working her fingers to the bone all these years, do you think you could live as comfortably as you do now? Wearing designer clothes, playing with the most expensive toys, going wherever you want, doing whatever you want?"

"I can see it now. Your wings haven't even grown in yet, and you already want to fly into the sky, is that it? You even dare look down on your own mother?" Chen Lingyun pointed at Cheng Yu's nose and scolded him. "No matter how much you look down on me, C&C Jewelry is still the empire I built from nothing, bit by bit. Since you think so highly of yourself, then build a company worth over ten billion within twenty years. And don't rely on the connections and money of your father and me."

"You say that as if you never used Grandpa's connections." Cheng Yu touched his earlobe and replied indifferently, "But you got one thing right. I really do have that ability. And I won't need twenty years. At most ten years, I can build an international luxury brand worth ten times more than C&C Jewelry."

"Fine!" Chen Lingyun was practically laughing from anger at Cheng Yu's inexplicable confidence. "Then do it and show me. If you can pull it off, your father and I won't interfere with you again. Do you think you really have what it takes?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Cheng Yu smiled as well. These were things that had already happened. Would he not know how far he was capable of going?

"Not just me—even the game company Cheng Shao runs can reach that little goal within six years."

Sitting nearby, Cheng Shao had not expected to get dragged into this despite not saying a word. One moment ago, he had been worried that the mother and son might start fighting at the slightest disagreement; the next, his own younger brother had elevated him to the status of founder of a hundred-billion company. Having never received Cheng Yu's approval before, Cheng Shao felt overwhelmingly flattered. He stepped forward voluntarily. "Mom, I think A-Yu—"

Before he could finish, Chen Lingyun cut him off in exasperation. "Shut up!"

Chen Lingyun was livid. Pointing at Cheng Yu, she said, "I think you really don't know your limits. If you really have that ability, why did you only score five hundred points on your final exams? With grades like yours, if you didn't have a Yanjing household registration, you probably couldn't even get into a slightly better second-tier university. And you're bragging about building a hundred-billion company from scratch. Cheng Yu, you'll be in your second year of high school when school starts again. Can you be a little more mature? Settle down and focus on your studies instead of daydreaming all day."

"But I really am dreaming right now. Also, I didn't take China's college entrance exam. I go to BJOP." Cheng Yu did not understand why, every time he talked with Chen Lingyun, the topic eventually shifted to his grades. What did that have to do with what they were discussing now?