The press conference. Lu Zeyan’s carefully constructed redemption arc. The mont everything started falling apart. The leaked video and photo had destroyed his narrative. Her perfectly tid exit. The stock recovery had made her compensation legally binding.
The chaos, the reactions, the way the public narrative had flipped from "sympathetic CEO" to "cheating bastard" in under two hours.
"Wait, wait," Tank interrupted, setting down her spoon. "So he just gave you everything you asked for? A billion yuan and a villa? Just like that?"
"He didn’t have a choice," Shuyin said, her smile turning sharp and satisfied. "Not if he wanted beside him at that press conference. Not if he wanted to defend him and Yueling publicly. It was transactional, my forgiveness in exchange for his compliance and his money."
"Smart," Blade said, raising her beer. "You got paid a billion yuan to act like you forgave him. That’s not revenge, that’s performance art."
Tank leaned back, snorting. "But that surrogacy bullshit, and the infertility excuse, they really did you dirty, Shuyin."
Shuyin rolled her eyes, amused.
"Who told you I’m infertile?" she said casually, sipping her beer. "Them? The sa people who frad , imprisoned , and dragged through hell? Please."
The girls exchanged looks.
Shuyin continued, voice smooth and razor-sharp.
"Let them believe the surrogate story. Let them hide behind it. Let the public cry on my behalf. I’ll let the Lu family recover... just enough."
"Just enough?" Blade asked.
Shuyin’s lips curled.
"Just enough for to squeeze more out of them later."
Tank burst out laughing. "Oh my God, you’re insane."
"Correction," Shuyin said. "I’m strategic."
There was a beat of silence... then Blade leaned forward.
"So what’s next, boss? Are we going back to the office to behave like ’good employees’? Or are we....."
Shuyin cut her off with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"We work in that office," she said slowly. "We know the system. We know the passwords. We know the secrets."
Tank’s jaw dropped. "Shuyin... don’t tell ....."
"We’re going to steal more," Shuyin finished calmly.
The table erupted.
Blade nearly fell off her chair laughing. "Girl, I just got out, stop testing the Lord!"
"We’re serious criminals!" Razor howled. "We need a retirent plan!"
Tank slapped the table. "I swear if we get arrested again I’m blaming her!"
Shuyin took another sip of beer, completely unfazed.
"We won’t get caught," she said. "We’ve been caught once before. We learned. They haven’t."
"Okay but what exactly are we stealing?" Blade asked.
Shuyin smirked.
"Information. Influence. Leverage. Everything that will make the Lu family dance when I say dance."
The laughter died down as all three won stared at her with a mix of admiration, awe, and slight fear.
Razor finally said, "Shuyin... baby... you’re terrifying."
"And I love it," Blade added.
Shuyin set her bottle down, victorious.
"Good. Because tonight...."
She grabbed four beers, handed them out, and raised hers high.
"....we celebrate. And tomorrow?"
They leaned in.
Shuyin’s voice dropped to a murmur.
"Tomorrow... we begin the real heist."
Shuyin’s phone buzzed on the counter.
A ssage from Ting Fei: Do you want to wait for you at the villa, or go back?
She typed back quickly: Stay if you want. If not, go. I’m fine either way.
His response ca almost instantly: I’ll stay. Don’t do anything reckless. Master’s orders.
Shuyin smiled softly at the screen, a rare flicker of genuine warmth breaking through her usual calculated expressions. Ting Fei had always been steady, a quiet anchor amid her chaos, never judging, never questioning, just... there.
"Enough seriousness," she announced, standing and cracking open a beer from the fridge. The bottle hissed as she popped the cap. "We’ve survived. We’ve won. And tonight, we celebrate."
Blade and Tank imdiately grabbed their own beers. Razor, after a mont’s hesitation, abandoned her responsible adult persona and joined them.
They raised their bottles, the glass catching the warm kitchen light.
"To freedom," Shuyin toasted, her jade eyes gleaming. "And to make the world pay attention."
They clinked bottles, the sound ringing through the kitchen with laughter and relief and the kind of joy that only ca from surviving sothing that should have broken you.
The next few hours passed in a haze of casual drinking, increasingly ridiculous stories, and the kind of comfortable chaos that ca from won who’d spent ti watching each other’s backs in the worst possible circumstances.
Blade dared Shuyin to reveal a secret about Lu Zeyan she hadn’t shared yet. Razor told an absolutely filthy joke that had Tank choking on her beer. Shuyin demonstrated her "press conference face" all sweet smiles and calculated innocence, until they were all laughing so hard they could barely breathe.
Hands grazed hands. Mock punches were thrown. Flirtatious teasing veered dangerously close to naughty, then pulled back, then pushed forward again, everyone riding the line between friendship and sothing more playful, sothing freer.
Finally, Blade leaned back in her chair, her grin turning absolutely devilish.
"We’ve done soup, beer, and gossip," she announced. "Now? Let’s really have fun. Clubhouse?"
Razor’s eyes lit up, actually sparkled like she’d been waiting for exactly this suggestion.
"Absolutely," she said, already standing. "It’s ti we let the city know we’re back. And that we’re unstoppable."
Tank raised her beer one more ti, draining the last of it.
"Let’s go."
Shuyin laughed, feeling drained but exhilarated, feeling for the first ti that night that the world was finally, completely, devastatingly hers again.
"Alright," she said, tossing her empty bottle into the sink where it landed with a satisfying clink. "Let’s go make the night ours."
They spilled out of the kitchen in a wave of laughter and energy, grabbing jackets and bags and touching up makeup in the hallway mirror with the kind of chaotic efficiency that ca from years of getting ready together in prison bathrooms.
Outside, the sleek black rcedes waited like a patient guardian for them.
Ting Fei stood at.....,
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