"With what?" His voice was equally quiet, a private conversation in a room full of witnesses.
"I need funds to complete this purchase." She hated how the words tasted, hated the admission of weakness. "Two hundred million yuan. I’ll pay you back with interest once the company is profitable."
"You already owe nearly five hundred million," he pointed out, but his tone wasn’t mocking. Just factual.
"I know." She lifted her chin, eting his gaze directly. "Which ans I’m already in your debt. What’s another two hundred million on top of that? Consider it an investnt in your wife’s business ventures."
For a long mont, he just looked at her, those ice-blue eyes reading layers she couldn’t hide.
Then he pulled out his phone with deliberate slowness.
"Two hundred million," he confird, fingers moving across the screen. "Transferred to your primary account. It should be available imdiately."
He hit the final button and showed her the confirmation screen.
TRANSFER COMPLETE: ¥200,000,000
Relief crashed over her, though she refused to let it show on her face.
"Thank you," she said quietly, sincerely. Then, because he was still watching her with that knowing expression: "I won’t forget this."
"I know you won’t," he replied, and it sounded like both a promise and a warning. "That’s the point."
She turned back to the room before he could say anything else that would make her feel more trapped than she already did.
Shuyin returned to the center of the sitting area, pulling out her phone with renewed confidence.
Chen Wan watched her approach, clearly sensing sothing had shifted but not understanding what.
"The transfer is ready," Shuyin announced, her fingers already flying across her banking app. "I’m transferring two hundred million yuan to your account right now."
Chen Wan’s eyes widened in shock. "Two hundred million? But the company is only worth..."
"Sixty-five million for the company, yes," Shuyin confird, still typing. "That’s fair market value based on the assets listed here. But I’m giving you two hundred million total for a specific reason."
She paused in her typing to look up, addressing not just Chen Wan but all the widows in the room.
"The patriarch mbers of the Chen family are gone now," she said clearly, making sure everyone understood the implications. "What’s left are widows and children. You’re all in a very vulnerable position, whether you realize it yet or not."
The won exchanged glances, confusion and growing concern visible on their faces.
"The shareholders of the Chen family businesses will see this as an opportunity," Shuyin continued, her voice taking on the tone of soone explaining a harsh reality. "They’ll see powerless won with no male protection, no business experience, no authority to make decisions. They’ll attack. They’ll try to force buyouts at undervalued prices, contest ownership claims, maybe even suggest that the company assets should be seized or redistributed to ’more capable managent.’"
The temperature dropped another degree, frost spreading further across the windows as her rmaid nature responded to the cold truth she was speaking.
One of the younger widows spoke up hesitantly. "But we have legal ownership....."
"Which ans nothing if you can’t defend it," Shuyin cut in, not unkindly but firmly. "Legal battles cost money, ti, and energy. They’ll drag you through court for years if they think it’ll break you. And in the anti, you’ll be stuck here in this compound, surrounded by mories of abuse, waiting for the next attack."
She returned her attention to her phone, finalizing the transfer.
"That’s why I’m giving Chen Wan two hundred million instead of sixty-five. The extra hundred and thirty-five million is to be distributed among all of you....." She gestured to encompass all the widows. "....to give you the resources to leave."
She hit the final button.
"Transfer complete. Should clear within the hour."
Setting down her phone, she looked at each widow in turn, her jade eyes serious.
"My advice? Take your share of that money and move out of this compound. Go back to your family hos if you have them. Go abroad if you can. Put physical distance between yourselves and anyone who might try to use proximity as leverage. Take your children and start fresh sowhere these nas and this history don’t follow you."
One of the widows, a thin woman in her forties who looked like she’d been beautiful once, before years of fear and cruelty had carved lines into her face, and spoke up.
"Just... leave? Abandon the family holdings entirely?"
"Protect what you can protect," Shuyin corrected. "The personal assets, the bank accounts, the investnts that are in your nas, those you keep. The family compound, the joint business ventures, the shared properties that would require all of you to coordinate and defend together?" She shook her head. "Those will beco battlegrounds. Unless you want to spend the next decade fighting shareholders and distant relatives in court, let them go."
She could see the resistance on so faces, the reluctance to abandon what they’d suffered to maintain.
"I understand it feels like letting them win," she said more gently. "Like running away. But sotis the smartest victory is survival. You’re alive. Your children are alive. Your husbands are dead and can never hurt you again. That’s already a win. Don’t throw it away by staying in a place where you’re vulnerable just to prove a point."
Chen Wan, who’d been silent throughout this, finally spoke.
"How much should we each receive?" Her voice was stronger now, steadier. "From the hundred and thirty-five million?"
Shuyin considered. "There are four of you, plus various children to consider. I’d suggest thirty million to each widow, with the remaining fifteen million split among the children’s educational funds. That gives each of you enough to relocate, establish a new life, and maintain yourselves comfortably while you figure out your next steps."
She looked at Chen Wan directly. "You distribute it. You know these won, you know their situations. Make sure everyone gets what they need. But make it clear, this money is for leaving, for starting over. Not for staying and fighting a battle you can’t win."
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