Shadow Heir II: Dark Glory - Chapter 55

At seven the next morning, Xiao Yinlei knocked twice before opening the door and entering Su Wuji’s room.

The latter was wearing only a pair of shorts and was doing a handstand. He was supporting his body steadily with just two fingers on each hand, without the slightest tremor.

“Boss, I have something to report.” Xiao Yinlei first poured Su Wuji a glass of hot water, then sat on the sofa with a smile, crossing her snow-white legs.

After returning from Ninghai in the middle of the night, she had only rested for a little over two hours, yet she still appeared radiant. That intense, mature feminine charm seemed never to fade from her.

A fragrance drifted into Su Wuji’s nose. From his inverted perspective, he could see exactly where those long white legs ended beneath the qipao. “What makes you so happy?”

Just a glance; he couldn’t look too much. After all, it was early morning, a time when blood and energy were surging.

Then, he began doing handstand push-ups using only four fingers. His speed was fast, his form remaining extremely stable.

“Bai Xuyang’s Tailong Club in the Capital was smashed from the inside out,” Xiao Yinlei said. “Guess who did it, Boss?”

“Interesting. Can’t guess.”

Su Wuji did a hundred push-ups, then flipped down and wiped his sweat. “Besides me, who else has the guts to smash Bai Xuyang’s place in the Capital?”

“It was the boss-lady, Miss Mu.” Xiao Yinlei’s smile deepened.

“Mu Qianyu?”

Su Wuji thought for a moment before saying, “She heard Bai Xuyang smashed Empress, so she stood up for me?”

“I can’t find any other motive,” Xiao Yinlei said. “The boss-lady really protects you, Boss.”

Su Wuji sat next to Xiao Yinlei, raising an eyebrow. “Is she doing this to pick me up?”

Xiao Yinlei was long used to Su Wuji’s shamelessness. “Clearly, it was you who flirted with her first.”

Su Wuji sighed. “Alas, the grace of a beauty is hardest to accept. Mu Qianyu did this silently; I can only repay her by offering myself in marriage.”

Xiao Yinlei chuckled. “Given the goals the boss-lady has set for herself, I’m afraid that even if you want to offer yourself, she might not necessarily accept right now.”

Su Wuji feigned rage. “She dares! This boss has never thrown himself at another woman like this.”

Then, he curled his lip and said, “However, being too ambitious isn’t necessarily a good thing for a woman. Wanting to bring the Mu family into the Capital… Tsk tsk, I can only wish her early success.”

Xiao Yinlei said, “So, Boss and Miss Mu share the same goal. Maybe you really can end up together.”

“I’m different from her. Mu Qianyu is ambitious and proactive. I just want to muddle along and wait for death, but I keep getting forced onto the rack.” Su Wuji turned to look at the mature sister beside him. “Help me think. How should I repay Mu Qianyu?”

“I’m sure Boss already has a plan in mind,” Xiao Yinlei smiled.

Although she often gave the boss ideas, Su Wuji was naturally gifted when it came to pleasing women.

Su Wuji said, “Linmu Bank is about to officially open. How about we transfer some money from the Empress Bar account and deposit it there to boost Mu Qianyu’s prestige?”

A look of difficulty clearly appeared on Xiao Yinlei’s pretty face. Mentioning other things was fine, but the boss dared to target the bar’s account?

“Boss, we’re almost out of money,” Xiao Yinlei said.

There was indeed some money left in the bar’s account, which was the US dollars Mu Qianyu had transferred last time. That money was only enough to pay suppliers and maintain basic operations. Even adding the one million swindled from Bai Xuyang wouldn’t amount to much. To deposit enough money to boost the prestige of a newly opened bank, it would need to be at least a hundred million, right?

“What is Finance good for?” Su Wuji said grumpily. “Doesn’t she know people on Wall Street? Go borrow some first.”

Xiao Yinlei: “That’s not impossible… if Boss wants to endure her venomous tongue.”

Su Wuji felt a headache coming on. “Sigh, I’ll have to handle it personally.”

With that, he took out his phone and dialed a number. It was clearly an overseas call.

Xiao Yinlei admired this about the boss. He rarely saved phone numbers, keeping them mostly in his head. He never worried about losing contacts when changing phones, she wondered if this was related to his habit of cracking people’s heads open with phones during fights.

“Hello, I need something from you,” Su Wuji said.

An effeminate voice came through: “Wow, my dear Wuji! You actually contacted me first! I’m so happy!”

The person spoke English, incredibly coquettish, sounding boneless and weak, but clearly a “cross-dressing man.” Listening from the side, Xiao Yinlei got goosebumps all over.

Meanwhile, in Detroit, USA, at the headquarters of the Maxwell Group, the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer.

The group was holding a board meeting to discuss investment plans for an EV production base in China.

A very beautiful man stood at the front of the conference room, holding a PPT clicker in one hand and talking on the phone with the other.

He was truly beautiful. His face was clean-shaven, his eyebrows carefully trimmed, and his brown hair was meticulously combed back into a short ponytail. He wore a black suit embroidered with gold thread and a purple tie.

This man was exquisitely refined, looking just like a classical European aristocrat from the Middle Ages. With such looks, his lethality against the opposite sex could have been nuclear-level, if the hand holding the clicker wasn’t raised with an orchid finger gesture.

His name was Ross, the youngest son of Xavier, the founder of the Maxwell Group.

Ross was extremely capable, surpassing his brothers in corporate management and strategic vision. He was decisive in business wars and had won several beautiful victories. His old father, Xavier, was gradually delegating power, seeming determined to hand the company over to him.

Of course, strictly speaking, it was hard to say whether “he” or “she” should be used to refer to Ross.

Rumor had it that Ross was a “medicine girl,” believing since adolescence that he shouldn’t be a man. He had been taking medication for years to control his male characteristics, secondary sexual characteristics like an Adam’s apple and beard were no longer visible on Ross. There were also rumors that he had already undergone gender reassignment surgery.

Besides being the heir to the Maxwell Group, Ross had another identity: one of the initiators of an LGBT organization in the US. Xavier didn’t want to see his youngest son messing with such absurd movements all day, sighing and holding his forehead whenever it was mentioned. But the child was grown and couldn’t be controlled. After all, considering the current situation, what were a third gender and fourth love? The US had over a hundred genders now.

However, Ross usually behaved extremely professionally and seriously during meetings. When had the board members ever seen him happily pause a board meeting just to take a call from a man?

Listening to Ross’s effeminate voice, black lines appeared on Su Wuji’s forehead. “I want to borrow some money.”

“Okay! Do you know how many days I’ve waited for you to ask me for money?” Ross said, huffing coquettishly and stamping his foot. This action made the scalps of many board members tingle.

“Not exactly borrowing.” Su Wuji said, “A friend’s bank is opening, and I want you to deposit some money in it.”

Ross huffed again. “Is that friend a woman?”

“Uh, yes,” Su Wuji scratched his head.

“Then I won’t deposit. No money.” Ross stamped his foot again. “Stinky man.”

Su Wuji said, “I called you first because I thought you were the richest and most loyal… Forget it, I’ll ask someone else.”

“Hey, wait!” Ross instantly beamed with joy. “You said you called me first?”

“Yeah,” Su Wuji said. “It’s okay if you don’t have money. I know Maxwell is about to invest heavily in China, and there are many places to use money…”

“I have money! I have money!”

Ross’s gaze brightened significantly. “How about this? The first phase of investment for the Maxwell Group’s Gigafactory in China will all be deposited in your friend’s bank!”

Su Wuji asked, “Okay, how much?”

Ross: “Three billion US dollars. Is that enough? If not, I can add more!”

Su Wuji: “Enough, more than enough…”

This cross-dresser is giving so much; he won’t ask me to offer myself in marriage to repay him, will he?!

Xiao Yinlei looked at the boss’s complicated expression and teased, “Sigh, Boss, the grace of a beauty is hardest to accept.”

NOTES

Zuì nán xiāoshòu měirén ēn: A poetic line meaning “The grace/favor of a beauty is the hardest thing to accept/bear.” It implies that receiving kindness from a beautiful woman creates a heavy debt of gratitude or emotional burden.

“Medicine Girl/MtF.” A slang term in the Chinese transgender community referring to male-to-female transgender individuals who use hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to feminize their bodies, often without or before surgery.

“Orchid Finger.” A hand gesture where the thumb and middle finger touch while the other fingers are raised, resembling an orchid. Often associated with female roles in Peking Opera or effeminate mannerisms in men.