Your big brother held you dear, and you kicked him into a ditch

That move shocked everyone.

"No, big... brother?" Ye Xunzhi quietly lowered her outstretched hand. Coming out of the restroom, Ye Yunhuai calmly pulled out a tissue to dry his hands.

"What is it?"

Ye Xunzhi realized she had been a little too hasty. Unable to tell him the truth, she swallowed the blunt warning that he was out to harm him and changed tack.

"I can't find the coffee machine. Could you help me look for it?"

"Sure. It's right on top of the cabinet." Ye Yunhuai helped take the coffee machine down from the cabinet. It was brand-new, still in its packaging.

"President Ye, about that bid proposal from earlier?" Secretary Xu couldn't help asking.

At that, Ye Xunzhi immediately pricked up her ears. Special Assistant Zhou, who had been part of the background all this time, also looked over curiously.

Under three pairs of eyes, Ye Yunhuai's expression remained unchanged. "Oh, I saw a bug on it just now. I got scared and had a stress reaction."

Both siblings were scrambling to cover their tracks, yet nothing sounded wrong even upon closer consideration.

You really wouldn't guess it. Even a cold, aloof CEO is afraid of bugs.

Ye Yunhuai: And whose fault do you think that is?

Secretary Xu silently breathed a sigh of relief at that. He had thought Ye Yunhuai had noticed something wrong. He smiled good-naturedly.

"So that's what happened. I'll print another copy, then. I'll have someone retrieve the one you threw away."

Secretary Xu smiled warmly and slipped in a reminder.

"President Ye, it would still be best to sign this. From what I've seen, quite a few people haven't given up on that Golden Water Bay project."

Oh, give it a rest, you two-faced, vicious, ill-intentioned spy from another company who's been playing with my big brother's feelings!

That Golden Water Bay project will end up unfinished, and even the land itself will have problems. When everyone starts condemning it, you'll be able to conveniently let the fake accounts slip "by accident," then push my big brother out to take the blame, won't you!

My big brother held you dear, and you kicked him into a ditch. You really deserve to die!!!

From Ye Xunzhi's memories of before, she knew that this "Golden Water Bay Incident" was the beginning of the Ye family's misfortunes.

Automatically filtering out the slander in Ye Xunzhi's words, Ye Yunhuai looked at Secretary Xu in disbelief.

He had suspected many people, but never once had he suspected Secretary Xu.

The reason was that they had been friends since high school. Knowing that Secretary Xu's family was poor, he had been supporting him financially in those early years.

After graduation, he had even brought him straight into the Ye Group. Yet he had never expected...

Ye Yunhuai's expression darkened, and anger at being betrayed rose within him.

Why, exactly?

The inner voice by his ear was even angrier than he was-

Ugh, my poor big brother is still being kept in the dark. This Secretary Xu deliberately approached him back then. He's actually the illegitimate son of the head of the Xu Group.

Back then, that scumbag cheated after his lawful wife, Madam Xu, became pregnant, hooking up with his so-called true love. Secretary Xu knew that his status as an illegitimate son could never be openly acknowledged.

So, to seize power more legitimately in the future, he deliberately approached my big brother and spent years plotting this whole mess. He wants to climb to the top over our family's corpses. Pah!

Come to think of it, Secretary Xu is Bai Zhao's domineering CEO boyfriend, still in the making. I wonder if those two have made up.

Amid his anger, Ye Yunhuai suddenly heard a familiar name, and his gaze stilled.

Was that woman involved in this too?

People always tended to get sidetracked while thinking about serious matters, and Ye Xunzhi's thoughts gradually wandered.

They probably have made up. Bai Zhao is quite a powerful asset to Secretary Xu. Even after Second Brother dumped her, she still has leverage over Secretary Xu.

After all, Bai Zhao used to have Second Brother bring her to the company for fun, and she even helped steal documents. Those two are in the same boat, bound together to the bitter end.

But some time has passed since then. They've probably already cleaned up the little details. What a shame.

Ye Yunhuai sneered inwardly. That wasn't necessarily true.

He would have Special Assistant Zhou investigate later.

Secretary Xu had no idea that, in such a short span of time, all his secrets had been laid bare.

He approached with the bid proposal, fresh from the printer and still warm, a smile welded to his face like a mask.

"President Ye, you can sign now."

Ye Yunhuai glanced at it, returned to his seat, and settled in with unruffled composure before saying slowly,

"There's no rush."

You're not in a rush, but I am!

"But President Ye, plenty of people are vying for this project. Besides, I think it has a very bright future. What if someone beats us to it in these few minutes?"

Seeing Ye Yunhuai's apparent inclination to put the matter on ice, Secretary Xu grew anxious.

This was a plan he had spent years devising. Everything was ready, just waiting to begin, yet something had gone wrong right at the start.

He truly couldn't understand it. Hadn't he merely gone to print a copy? Why had Ye Yunhuai, who had been so ready to sign just moments ago, suddenly changed his mind?

Ye Yunhuai accepted the coffee Special Assistant Zhou handed him and savored a sip before replying leisurely,

"If someone beats us to it, that only means it was never meant to be ours. What's destined to be yours will come to you; what isn't, you shouldn't force."

Secretary Xu thought quickly and came up with another idea, putting on a worried expression.

"But I've already arranged with our partners to submit the application this afternoon. This would count as a breach of contract, and it wouldn't be good for the Ye Group's reputation either."

Ye Yunhuai set down his cup. "That's easy. Just tell our partners that halfway through handling business, you found out your girlfriend was cheating and went to catch her in the act."

Quietly listening, Ye Xunzhi couldn't stop delighting in his misfortune.

Was my big brother a panda in his past life? He's gobbling up all the bamboo shoots-what a savage.

Secretary Xu's mouth twitched. Nothing gets through to this man!

He rubbed his brow. No need to worry; he still had another move. He began playing the emotional card.

"Brother Huai, stop joking. They really are in a hurry..."

"Little Xu, how many years have we known each other?" Ye Yunhuai suddenly asked coldly.

Secretary Xu was startled by this unexpected turn. His gaze shifted away slightly.

"Almost ten years, I think."

"Yes, almost ten years." Ye Yunhuai swiveled his office chair to face the floor-to-ceiling windows, seemingly reflecting on the past.

"Ten years is enough for so many things to change beyond recognition. Of course, perhaps I never saw clearly in the first place."

Secretary Xu's heart lurched. What did that mean? Could Ye Yunhuai have discovered something?

But when he stole a closer look, he found the other man's expression unchanged, his entire bearing exuding the confidence of someone with everything under control.

Ye Yunhuai said evenly, "There's no rush with the project. I'll take another look at the Golden Water Bay bid later. I have something to deal with here. Isn't the bidding session the day after tomorrow? There's still time."

"Understood, President Ye." Secretary Xu's mind was in turmoil, but his overwhelming guilt kept him from pressing any further.

After confirming that Ye Yunhuai would sign the day after tomorrow, he hurried away as though a dog were chasing him.

Watching his retreating figure, Ye Yunhuai's gaze grew deep, his hands overlapping to cover half his face.

If tomorrow's investigation really found something wrong with Secretary Xu, if he truly had falsified the accounts, Ye Yunhuai would never let the man who had deceived him for years get off lightly.

Of course, he wouldn't send him to prison, because he wanted to make his life outside prison worse than death...

I'm so hungry. What's my big brother doing over there? Turning into The Thinker? He's been holding that pose for two minutes.

But to be fair, that pose really does look pretentious. It has the air of a mastermind behind the scenes. I'll have to copy it sometime.

When I was younger, I loved iced Americanos because I wanted to look cool. Now that I'm older, I love them even more, because I love showing off more and more!

Ye Yunhuai naturally dropped the pose, feeling inexplicably embarrassed.

He turned to ask Ye Xunzhi, "Hungry, aren't you? What would you like? I'll have the Heavenly Brocade Pavilion deliver it."

Hearing that food was on the way, Ye Xunzhi held the milk tea Special Assistant Zhou had made and asked happily,

"Big Brother, do you have a menu?"

Ye Yunhuai picked up the iPad on the sofa and tapped it a few times.

"There's a digital version."

Taking the iPad, Ye Xunzhi made a completely offhand remark. "Thanks, Big Brother. I thought I'd be going out to eat with you today."

Ye Yunhuai paused as he started to stand. An image automatically surfaced in his mind: his little sister in the future, holding some blond-haired punk's hand and saying, deeply moved,

"You're so good to me. My big brother and the rest of my family have never even gone out to eat with me. Only you're willing to keep me company like this."

Absolutely not!

Just imagining that scene was enough to short-circuit his brain.

Ye Yunhuai grabbed his suit jacket and took the tablet from Ye Xunzhi's hands. Under her bewildered gaze, he strode forward on his long legs, utterly resolute.

"Come on, we're going out to eat!"