Chapter 387: Hidden undercurrents

Everyone was waiting for that bastard to wake up.

Yet, the experts' diagnosis seemed to be have been erroneous as Xu Tingsheng who had been supposed to wake up very soon showed no signs of waking up even after two days had passed.

"This, this is impossible..."

"His vitals are really all very stable! How is it like this?"

"If he doesn't wake up soon, it will be very detrimental for his followup treatment."

However much the specialists felt surprised and expressed their inability to comprehend things, everyone had already grown tired of it.

Huang Yaming very nearly began quarrelling with them a few times.

Tension gradually mounted again, the prevalent mood becoming one of great worry. This was the case for those of the Xu family, for Huang Yaming and co, for Apple and Wu Yuewei too.

Little Xiang Ning looked like she was about to burst into tears as she walked into the room.

"Auntie, why hasn't he woken up yet?"

Little Xiang Ning would come every day without fail and remain there for a long time, even though she could already sense how the gazes of everyone on her were very strange, even though Huang Yaming would sometimes mutter, "Damn unlucky, freaking fool, self-sacrificing whaddaheck..."

She still came every single day, pretending to know nothing at all, not caring about how other people might view her as she just wanted to accompany him while waiting for him to wake up.

Lu Zhixin received a phone call.

Afterwards, she found Mr Xu and told him, "Uncle Xu, my Dad's returning to Yanzhou today. I may have to go home for a while. If anything changes with Tingsheng's condition or you need me for something, just call me and I'll come right away."

Mr Xu nodded, replying, "It's alright, off you go. It's been tough on you."

In the eyes of Mr Xu, if anyone currently bore the most on their shoulders, it could be none other than Lu Zhixin. The time she spent looking after Xu Tingsheng was no lesser than anybody else here, and yet she was single-handedly supporting all Hucheng's operations even amidst all this.

Rumours had already begun to spread, but the more intense the pressure, the harder and the more diligently she worked.

In order to maintain a normal appearance in front of the employees, she would virtually come only during lunch hours and after office hours, knocking off from work at her usual timing so as to leave everyone with the impression that everything was simply normal and as they should be.

After getting into her car, Lu Zhixin rested her forehead against the steering wheel for a while.

As compared to Apple and Wu Yuewei, Xiang Ning's appearance had actually affected Lu Zhixin the most. As she possessed the greatest mental fortitude, being the calmest and most objective of them all, while she felt it to be inconceivable too, she would simply zero in on that main topic at hand.

Lu Zhixin had once lived under the same roof as Xu Tingsheng and Apple for more than two months. Having seen how they usually interacted before, she was confident of beating Apple.

While she did not understand Wu Yuewei, she did not seem to pose such a great threat as she was already close to voluntarily exiting the picture. Also, her method of love could not stand on the battlefield.

As a genius in the business domain, Lu Zhixin saw love as she did her career. One had to make calculations and put in effort to build and maintain it. At the same time, she also did not mind competition. While many girls disliked such a feeling, she did not mind it. Competitors could be found everywhere in the business arena that was exceptionally brutal. As for love...it was merely switching to another battlefield.

She had also found a method of her own. Ever since the start of the previous semester, she had been gradually cultivating the relationship between them as they had increasingly come to seem like a couple, at least on campus.

Still, the sudden appearance of that young girl named Xiang Ning had dealt her an incomparably heavy blow as she was overwhelmed by a sense of defeat.

She had actually already long since known that such a person existed, that there was someone hidden in Xu Tingsheng's heart. Still, the inconceivable feeling that came with her appearance did not leave her not knowing whether to laugh or cry like for the others. In her logical system, the stranger and more illogical something was, since it was able to persist over the long term, that actually went to show how powerful and unsurmountable it really was...this included love.

Consolidating all the information on hand and verifying the time that had elapsed and the series of things that Xu Tingsheng had done for Xiang Ning, Lu Zhixin discovered that she could find no chances of victory whatsoever, sensing no way by which she could make a breakthrough.

Still, whatever the case, despite these emotions of hers, she had still given it her all over the past two days, whether it was by Xu Tingsheng's side or over at Hucheng.

Jerking her head up, Lu Zhixin revved up the engine of the car and drove home.

It had already been a very long time since her father, Lu Pingyuan, had last returned to Yanzhou, had last returned home.

Thinking of how her father was back, an inexplicable sense of warmth filled Lu Zhixin's heart.

......

Father and daughter looked at each other.

Having gone from joyful to emotional to helpless over a short span of time, Lu Zhixin was sitting rather numbly on the sofa at this moment.

The man who was currently smiling as he stood across from her was her father, Lu Pingyuan. Never would she have thought that he who was finally willing to come back to Yanzhou from Hong Kong for once had actually come because of this.

"Think about it again. This is a rare opportunity. Hucheng's scale and prospects are inestimable. This isn't just an opportunity for you; it's also the hope of our Lu family," Lu Pingyuan continued trying to persuade his daughter.

"You mean hope for that insane revenge plan of yours?" Lu Zhixin asked rather exasperatedly.

"That's right, Zhixin. You've got to help Dad! Father and daughter, of one mind," Lu Pingyuan actually used a bit of a sincere, pleading tone here.

"Impossible. However much the shares have been divided, it would still be impossible for us to take over Hucheng. You don't understand Xu Tingsheng's character and his relationship with the other important shareholders. I can assuredly say that at least three of them would not hesitate in the slightest even if they were asked to gift him back their shares for free."

The people Lu Zhixin was referring to were Old Wai, Li Linlin and Fang Yuqing. She felt that Fang Chen could possibly be included amongst them too.

"You're overestimating character...fine, even if what you say is true, we can make us of this chance to purchase the shares of those in the middle and upper echelons. I'll find someone to take possession of the shares for the time being, allowing for us to become the second greatest shareholder in the shadows. As for after that, there are naturally other methods that can come in handy too."

Lu Pingyuan continued, "For example, now that he's in a coma and you're single-handedly in control of Hucheng, we can make use of methods like a swift expansion of services or a large scale investment etcetera, whatever we can think of, to induce a financial problem in Hucheng. Afterwards, we can request for an increase in investment and thus further distribute the shares."

"From how his family is doing now and the fact that I know his father to be a farmer by birth who doesn't know anything about finance in the first place, they would likely give up on increasing their investment sum...this would be equivalent to them giving up on yet another portion of shares. We will do it instead. Meanwhile, we can also diminish the confidence as well as enthusiasm of the other shareholders, forcing them to sell the shares in their possession..."

Lu Zhixin found that Lu Pingyuan's scheme was actually very detailed as he had clearly been planning this for a long time.

As this person was her father after all, Lu Zhixin felt just that bit uneasy as she asked mockingly, "You're wrong. That is impossible. They all think very highly of Hucheng's prospects. Who would sell their shares?"

"What if the news that Xu Tingsheng is in a coma becomes widespread? Or if they conclude that it's very likely that he's already dead? If a financial problem appears then, would they still feel all that confident? Wouldn't some of them waver and wish to get some cash inside their pockets? Relax, I raised a sum of money recently. The price we'll offer them will definitely not be low."

The corners of Lu Pingyuan's mouth arched upwards.

"You...you're the one behind all the rumours outside?" Lu Zhixin asked.

"Not only that. The media will be reporting on this very soon," Lu Pingyuan laughed.

Lu Zhixin's chest heaved intensely as she looked at this man before her, her father. She was the one who had previously told him the news over the phone, in order to ask for advice on how to better handle such a situation, in order to better ensure Hucheng's stability...yet this was what he had done.

"He gave me my shares for nothing, you know?"

"This flat was originally already sold. It was he who helped our family to buy it back, you know?"

"It was he who helped to get the Ding family's contract signed, you know?"

Lu Zhixin stood up amidst that furious tirade, "I like him, you know? This is your daughter's first time liking someone, who's perhaps the only guy I'll ever have feelings for in my life, you know?"

"That's exactly why we have a chance," Lu Pingyuan replied calmly.

"Don't you even think about it," Lu Zhixin turned and stormed towards the door.

"It'd be fine too if you could take him down, because what's his would be our Lu family's that way. I've also given you time to work on that. Sadly, according to the people I arranged in Hucheng, you cannot be confident of taking him down..." Lu Pingyuan silently took two wineglasses and filled them up.

"Girl, Dad has got to tell you this. Making someone else's bridesclothes...this certainly does apply to you too, you know? It may well be that even his woman's wedding dress in the future was effectively painstakingly earned by you for him."

Lu Zhixin stopped in her tracks.

"The one in the wedding dress really won't be you," Lu Pingyuan continued.

"He's already began guarding against you. Xingchen Technologies is living proof of this. While it would clearly be possible to do this in Hucheng, he just had to go start a new, independent company alone..."

"Maybe you'd instead have a chance if he became destitute and penniless..."

"You shouldn't depend on men. You have to control men. This is what Dad taught you before."

"My daughter."

"Don't forget. The two of us only have each other. Ever since that woman abandoned us, there's only been us two, only having each other to rely on. Hmm, ten over years would have passed by by now?"

"..."