Once the three minutes were up, Li Mingze appeared in the general manager's office on time, his clothes disheveled.
As the Li family's eldest son, Li Mingze had inherited his father and mother's fine genes. He scored highly in looks and resembled a recently popular entertainment celebrity named Han. However, his eyes were somewhat lifeless, his eye sockets red, and his face perpetually carried the exhaustion of someone who stayed up late too often.
At first glance, one might have thought he was going for a decadent look...
At that moment, he stood before the office desk, looking at Li Ruobing as she leaned back in her chair, feeling somewhat uneasy.
"Sis... you... why are you here?"
Li Mingze was very nervous.
Ever since childhood, whenever he stood before Li Ruobing, he had always felt an irresistible pressure. It naturally made him feel extremely tense and afraid.
As they grew older, Li Ruobing's excellence only highlighted Li Mingze's incompetence, and that feeling grew even stronger.
To outsiders, he was the descendant of a wealthy family, the Li family's legitimate son, with an incomparably distinguished and noble status.
But before Li Ruobing, Li Mingze became that coward again, the one who only dared follow behind her and never dared make a sound.
Although after Li Ruobing founded Mingzhu Company, Qin Lan had also secured for him the operating rights to the Film and Television City under Li Group, he had neither the interest nor the talent for management.
During the two years Li Mingze had taken over the Film and Television City, its financial reports had remained in the red, with ongoing losses.
In truth, Li Mingze had never expected to accomplish much. Being able to hide here, stay far away from Li Ruobing and his father, and be his own Local Emperor was good enough.
At least in this building, he was the king who controlled everything.
He could do whatever he wanted, and if he wanted to sleep with some young girl, she would obediently deliver herself to his door.
"Come here..." Li Ruobing crooked a finger at him expressionlessly.
Li Mingze hesitated for a moment, straightened his collar, and gave a dry laugh. "Sis, you haven't eaten yet, right... I'll have someone..."
Slap!
The slap instantly left Li Mingze dumbfounded!
Li Mingze blankly covered the left side of his face. After three seconds of stunned silence, his temper flared.
He was indeed afraid of Li Ruobing, but not so terrified that she could slap him for no reason and he would not dare utter a word!
"Li Ruobing, are you crazy?! Why did you hit me?!" Li Mingze glared at her. Though his tone had become furious, he still did not dare step forward and retaliate.
His courage and anger could only support him enough to raise his voice at Li Ruobing.
Li Ruobing's face darkened as she slowly rose from her chair. "An artist working with my company was in a car accident just now."
"What does that have to do with me?" Li Mingze felt deeply aggrieved.
"Before the car accident, a car from home went to the artist's agency and tried to make her unilaterally terminate her partnership with Mingzhu. After being refused, the car accident happened by a very convenient coincidence." Li Ruobing stepped forward. "You may be a little stupid, but you should be able to see the problem here."
Li Mingze froze.
He finally understood the source of Li Ruobing's anger.
He also knew about the Li family's agreement, but he lacked the ability to participate in it. It was obvious that the family did not want Li Ruobing to fulfill the agreement, so they had deliberately caused trouble and created problems for Mingzhu.
"I spent nearly a year preparing the Qiantang New Store. Tao Wanqing was the spokesperson I hired specifically. Now, she's lying in the hospital, her life hanging in the balance, and all my plans have been disrupted." Li Ruobing slowly walked to the wall, took down a Tang Dynasty Sword used as decoration, and slowly drew the blade. "What reaction do you think I should have?"
The sound of the blade scraping against its sheath was especially piercing in the office. Watching the Tang Dynasty Sword being fully drawn, Li Mingze swallowed, his mouth dry.
Though this Tang Dynasty Sword was a decoration, it had long since been sharpened. Its terrifying blood groove stood out clearly under the lights.
Li Mingze did not doubt for a moment that Li Ruobing would dare stab him here. This woman was a madman, and there was nothing she would not dare do. He had known that since childhood.
"I didn't know about this... You know that, how could the old man possibly let me take part in something like this?" After weighing the pros and cons, Li Mingze still chose to swallow his anger and hurriedly explained, "It's no use looking for me over family matters... Whatever the old man wants to do, I couldn't stop him!"
Li Ruobing gave a cold laugh.
She directly placed the cold blade gently on Li Mingze's shoulder and tilted her head. "The old man is abroad right now. Who else do you think could have done this besides him?"
Li Mingze's face instantly turned pale!
Su Rui sat on the sofa to one side, his legs crossed, holding a cup of hot tea. He gently blew at the tea leaves floating on the surface and took small sips.
It was as if everything happening before him had absolutely nothing to do with him.
"No... it couldn't be my mom... She... she shouldn't have..." Li Mingze stammered, but he knew very well that there was an eighty percent chance Qin Lan was behind this. Even if Li Guodong wanted to use some means to punish Mingzhu Company, he would not resort to such vicious and underhanded tactics.
No matter how great the conflict between Li Guodong and Li Ruobing was, he would not drag outsiders into it. Li Guodong had struggled for decades; he still had that much magnanimity.
Only Qin Lan's personality made something like this possible!
At that thought, Li Mingze felt his heart hammering wildly.
If Li Ruobing had already confirmed that Qin Lan had ordered this, what would she do after anger clouded her judgment?
"Tao Wanqing's leg is broken. She'll have to stay in the hospital for at least a few months." Li Ruobing spoke expressionlessly. "That move of hers made me furious, and it broke my heart... So I want her to experience the same feeling."
The more Li Mingze listened, the more wrong Li Ruobing's words sounded. The temperature in the office seemed to have dropped several degrees.
Cold sweat poured down his forehead as he silently took two steps back.
Click!
Su Rui smiled and gently shut the office door.
Seeing this, Li Mingze's heart turned cold.
"Li Ruobing, what do you want to do... I'm warning you not to do anything reckless. If you touch me, not only will the old man not let you off, the police will come after you too!" Li Mingze kept backing away, the skin on his neck feeling waves of piercing pain from the blade.
He was truly afraid.
He was truly afraid Li Ruobing would go mad here and slash his throat without regard for anything else!
"I'll leave you one hand to eat with." Li Ruobing said expressionlessly.
Su Rui walked directly over. His large hand, like an iron clamp, seized Li Mingze and dragged him stumbling toward the office desk, then firmly pinned his left hand onto it!
Li Mingze struggled a few times, but it was completely useless.
As Li Ruobing approached with the sword, Li Mingze's veins bulged at his temples, his pupils constricted, and his face filled with terror. He shrieked, "Li Ruobing! Are you really going to chop off my hand? Are you fucking crazy... You..."
"Security guard! Security guard!"
Li Mingze was completely dumbfounded. Li Ruobing acted the moment she said she would, giving him no chance to react.
"Let me go! You fucking..." Li Mingze tried to struggle again.
Whoosh!
A piercing sound tore through the air as a flash of snow-bright steel swept down!
Li Mingze's mind went blank.
It's over!
Thud!
The blade sank half an inch into the desktop. Warm liquid splashed everywhere, spraying across Li Mingze's face.
"Ah! My hand! My hand!" Li Mingze immediately let out a miserable scream, like a lone wolf with a severed limb!
Li Ruobing frowned.
Su Rui smiled and shook his head.
Li Mingze was still screaming.
"Stop howling!" Li Ruobing's face was icy as she grabbed Li Mingze by the collar and yanked him up. "Did I cut you?"
The office desk was a complete mess.
At the spot where the Tang Dynasty Sword had entered the wood, a ceramic teacup had been split in two.
The liquid splashed across Li Mingze's face was only the hot tea from the cup, not the blood he had instinctively assumed it was!
"I... my... my hand is still here!" Li Mingze trembled all over as he hugged his completely intact hands. His face was deathly pale, and cold sweat had soaked his clothes as though he had just been pulled from a cold-water pool. "You fucking... scared me..."
In that instant just now, Li Mingze had nearly believed he would be crippled for the rest of his life.
It was the nearly devastating terror of imminent disaster!
Li Ruobing said expressionlessly, enunciating every word, "Your status can only save you once."
Li Mingze stared blankly, not daring to say a single word.
"Tell her that I'll welcome fair business competition anytime! But if she plays such dirty tricks again, next time, I'll prepare a prosthetic for you!"
After Li Ruobing spoke crisply and decisively, she did not spare another glance at Li Mingze, who was half-crouched on the floor, physically and mentally shattered.
"Let's go."
Su Rui smiled and waved his hand at Li Mingze. Then he directly pushed open the office door and left with Li Ruobing.
Three minutes later.
The female executive who had previously been "fighting" with Li Mingze peered in through the office door and cautiously asked, "President Li, should I call the Security Department?"
"...Call my ass!" Li Mingze cursed through gritted teeth, then beckoned to her again. "Come in and help me up. My legs are shaking a little. I can't stand."
The female executive hurried over in quick little steps.
"President Li, why is your face swollen?"
"I fell and hit something!"
"President Li, why are your... your pants wet? Did you wet yourself?"
"Bullshit! The teacup broke, and the tea splashed onto me!" Li Mingze cursed loudly.
The female executive looked at the damp patch centered around Li Mingze's crotch and smelled a certain scent of urine in the air. She nodded with unwavering conviction. "Mm, President Li, I believe you!"
Sitting before the office desk, Li Mingze took a full twenty minutes to recover.
Only then did he hesitantly take out his phone and make a call.
"Mom... I don't want to manage the Film and Television City anymore. Send me abroad for a while..."
"Li Ruobing came to see me today... Do you know how she talked to me?" After hesitating for a long time, Li Mingze still concealed the detail of Li Ruobing scaring him into wetting himself. "Anyway, I can't stay in Tongzhou anymore. If Li Ruobing's company gets destroyed, she'll definitely kill me!"
There was silence on the other end of the line for a long time.
Then a very decisive voice sounded, carrying an unquestionable command.
"No. You can't leave."
Before you continue