Gu Zhaoping pondered for a moment and said,
“Here’s the thing—I have a way to let you break off the engagement effortlessly, pin Gu Zhaoye to the pillar of shame forever, and ensure the Fang family won’t stop you.”
Fang Yining’s eyes widened, listening eagerly,
“What, what?!”
The shareholders’ meeting needed to be kept strictly confidential for now, so Gu Zhaoping didn’t elaborate, only saying,
“I’ll let you know when you need to cooperate. But you might have to handle some big occasions.”
Fang Yining nodded immediately,
“I’m in! Whatever it takes, I’m in, as long as I can break it off!”
The old man—upon landing, hurriedly gathered everyone he could contact, setting the agenda and reaching out to major shareholders for a shareholders’ meeting.
Preparations would take at least three or four days, no matter how urgent.
The Gu Group’s spokesperson could only issue a statement for now, saying the group was urgently handling the matter and would provide an explanation within days, including to Miss Liang Zhiwei.
But the response was still intense.
Finally, Gu Zhaoping stepped forward and reposted,
“Our Gu Group will handle this mistake with the utmost fairness and justice. Trust me, I won’t let anyone escape their responsibility.”
Seeing Gu Zhaoping reappear, the long-roaring internet exploded again, comments flooding in.
[Sister Zhaoping, is Sister Zhaoping back in the country? The speech is over—great work, great work!]
[So much work for Sister Zhaoping to clean up after her troublesome brother! If it weren’t for her, Gu Zhaoye would’ve caused a life-and-death disaster. How does he have the face to keep living so brazenly?]
[He’s such a loser. Can’t do business, can’t even run a small restaurant, and calls himself the big CEO of Yuanqi Tech. Can’t handle losing, irresponsible—blind to have ever liked such a coward!]
[He and Ruan Nian are practically murderers!]
[Sister Zhaoping is the one saving the day, holding up the collapsing building!]
[Never realized Sister Zhaoping was this amazing. Did Gu Zhaoye deliberately hide that he had such a badass sister? No way otherwise!]
In a short time, even the Gu Nian CP completely collapsed, with almost no one shipping it anymore—a true century-level flop.
Gu Zhaoye’s friends, seeing her shine so brightly online, could only grit their teeth.
With her tone of taking charge, those unaware might think she’d already firmly grasped the Gu family.
Could she really decide how the Gu family would handle Gu Zhaoye?
Given Gu Zhaoye’s status in the Gu family, they’d surely prioritize protecting him, not abandoning this chess piece.
Gu Zhaoping shouldn’t get too smug too soon.
So, before the shareholders’ meeting, Gu Zhaoping received an invitation to a shooting range for a gathering.
The inviter was the young heir of a company, someone the Gu family knew from before.
The invitation was quite formal, saying they’d long admired her and wanted to meet, with important figures attending, many of whom were influential in Hai City, hoping she’d show up as they might discuss a potential collaboration.
Gu Zhaoping glanced at the name.
She then asked Gu Zhaosi,
“Do you know these people?”
Gu Zhaosi, who’d been itching for a chance to be useful, perked up at his sister’s message, carefully considering before saying,
“I know them! They’re super tight with Gu Zhaoye, his shady buddies!”
Gu Zhaoping hummed, saying thanks.
Gu Zhaosi was flattered.
He even got shy,
“Aw, sis, come on, no need for thanks between siblings. So formal, you’re making me blush…”
But before he finished, Gu Zhaoping had already hung up. Gu Zhaosi froze, realizing his sister was just habitually ending the conversation, not planning to keep engaging.
Gu Zhaosi: …
Since these were Gu Zhaoye’s shady buddies inviting her at this time, their intentions were highly suspect.
But clearly, this group couldn’t come up with anything particularly clever.
Gu Zhaoping wanted to see what kind of joke they’d make.
More likely, they’d come charging in aggressively, only to hand her an even bigger advantage.
A shooting range, huh?
Gu Zhaoping contacted Mao Xinci,
“Come with me tomorrow.”
The guy who sent the message to Gu Zhaoping was Yang Qi.
With Young Master Ni busy hosting his cousin these days, Yang Qi was leading this group.
He was closest to Gu Zhaoye usually, so this time, he was determined to get some justice for him.
The place they were going was a shooting range Gu Zhaoye frequented, where both he and they had excellent shooting skills.
The plan was to first intimidate Gu Zhaoping with a show of strength, then isolate her in the group.
Finally, someone would pretend to discuss a collaboration with her, someone with an impressive status and powerful family backing—
Gu Zhaoping wouldn’t be able to resist.
Then, they’d abruptly pull back the offer, claiming she got ahead of herself, letting her taste the unpredictability of the business world.
Of course, the one they’d push forward to toy with Gu Zhaoping was Young Master Ni, the highest-status among them.
They even had another plan: since Young Master Ni was busy with his important cousin, they could use a “borrowing arrows with straw boats” tactic, letting Ni borrow his cousin’s clout.
This would intimidate Gu Zhaoping further, proving the collaboration’s importance.
Losing it directly from his hands would hit her harder.
A few truly rotten schemers barely needed to think before settling on this plan to toy with her, just waiting for her to show up.
Originally, they planned a more straightforward approach, but who could’ve guessed Gu Zhaoping would so brazenly cut ties with Shen Yifeng like that.
They figured they needed to play something that required some brains, leaving Gu Zhaoping with no way to cry foul.
Young Master Ni was also invited to the shooting range that day.
After meeting his cousin alone, he hurried over to warn the group, glaring fiercely,
“If you’re scheming against someone, fine, but don’t let it get to my cousin. If he finds out, you’re all done for—he hates this kind of thing. Oh, and don’t let him know I’m involved either, or I’ll be in deep trouble.”
His shady friends quickly agreed, well aware of Ni Tiansong’s reputation.
Young Master Ni rushed back to pick up his cousin from the car, all smiles,
“Cousin, it’s been ages since you’ve been back in the country, and ages since you’ve come to this shooting range. The owner even said he misses you. If I hadn’t known you dislike big fusses, he’d have flown in from out of town to catch up with you.”
Ni Tiansong’s impression of this cousin was lukewarm at best, but since his father had arranged for this relative to handle things, he only responded mildly,
“No need for such a big deal. I’m just back temporarily to take care of some business.”
Truthfully, he wasn’t keen on coming today, but his cousin said the shooting range hadn’t changed much since their childhood, so he could visit for nostalgia’s sake.
Since his cousin had already arranged it as part of the reception, he went along.
Ni Tiansong planned to tell him after today that no more activities needed to be arranged.
His own matters were more important, and he didn’t have time to tag along with his cousin’s antics.
The reception wasn’t about being a tour guide.
Young Master Ni quickly laughed,
“Yes, yes, I know you like to keep things low-key.”
In other families, cousins might not have such clear status differences, but in the Ni family, it was entirely different.
The main branch controlled nearly all the family’s business.
Everyone else lived off their scraps, and even a sliver of power from them was enough to elevate someone for a long time.
Young Master Ni and his father worked under his eldest uncle, which is why they could shine brighter than others in the Ni family and act so high and mighty among this group of second-generation heirs.
Seeing Ni Tiansong head inside, Young Master Ni breathed a sigh of relief.
He’d managed to trick him into coming today, muttering,
“Gu Zhaoye, look at this—I even dared to deceive my cousin for you…”
If his cousin or uncle found out the truth, he’d be done for.
This brotherhood was truly earth-shattering.
Gu Zhaoping got out of the car.
She wore simple, practical casual clothes, suitable for movement.
Accompanying her was just one middle-aged woman, around forty or fifty, slightly chubby, with a plain appearance and unremarkable demeanor.
This surprised the young masters waiting for her.
Usually, people brought assistants or bodyguards—young ones or burly tough guys.
What was she doing bringing a middle-aged woman?
Did she just bring her nanny out for a stroll?
As they whispered among themselves, Yang Qi stepped forward with a fake smile to greet her,
“Miss Gu, right? Long time no see—you’ve gotten even prettier.”
Gu Zhaoping paused, turned her head, and gave Yang Qi a look.
Yang Qi froze, inexplicably uneasy, suddenly doubting himself under her gaze.
What kind of look was that?
It was their first meeting, and he thought he’d been polite enough, not yet showing his true colors.
Why did Gu Zhaoping seem like she was about to hold him accountable?
As Yang Qi stood there awkwardly, he realized…
Gu Zhaoping was tall.
And so, Yang Qi found that his 172 cm height, including his styled hair, was completely overshadowed by her, making him feel a bit embarrassed.
Talk about aura suppression—this, this he hadn’t expected at all!
Someone he knew, and “long time no see”?
Gu Zhaoping finally spoke, coolly,
“After all these years, you still can’t shake the habit of using shallow compliments to make yourself noticed.”
“If you’re so fond of this topic, how about flattening your hairstyle by two centimeters?”
Gu Zhaoping adjusted her glasses, brushed past him, and walked inside.
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