Wei Zhengsheng walked over, took his coat from the chair and laid it over her shoulder. "The wind outside is so strong, go lie down."

Xian Guiying looked at the coat on her shoulder, then raised her head to look at him. She smiled, then continued to look out the window. "It's okay. The weather outside isn't bad today, there shouldn't be any wind. I'll stand for a while, then I'll go and lie down."

"I know that this thing has a big impact on you, but Guiying, you have to think of others too. You can't help him anymore. Xian Enterprise is a business in your brother's name, you can't take risks arbitrarily. You had helped him a few years ago. Even if your brother doesn't mind the fact that the other party is Qin Gengxin, you should know that you almost put the entire Xian Enterprise at risk just because of your impulse."

Xian Guiying didn't say anything. She just stood by the window and stared at the green tree in silence. "I know."

She already owed too much to Xian Zihao. Even though he was her own brother, that was not his place to pay for everything she had done. Even though Xian Zihao wanted to, she knew she shouldn't.

Xian Guiying had spent three years making up for the losses incurred by Xian Enterprise that year. Qin Gengxin also knew that and in order not to complicate her and prevent her from getting involved, he signed the divorce agreement easily. How could she not know about it?

Seeing that she was very calm, but her mood was slightly affected, Wei Zhengsheng just stared at her. Out of a sudden, his phone rang. Then he went outside to answer the phone.

It was so quiet in the ward that you could hear a pin drop. Wei Zhengsheng's fluent English could be heard outside the ward.

Xian Guiying gently placed both her hands on the window sill. Next to her hand was a green cactus. She slowly touched it.

She only returned to her senses when her finger was stung. Her gaze was focused on the cactus, and the memory of Qin Gengxin hugging her shoulder and claiming her to be his little sister years ago, with a face full of contempt, was playing in her mind.

At that time, he was looking at her. "Little Ying, do you know why no one dares to chase after you?"

"Because I'm ugly?"

"With your beautiful face, who would dare call you ugly? I have to kill him!" He happily stroked his chin, raised his eyebrows, and said in a serious tone, "You woman, you are like a cactus. You stab anyone you see with your thorn. Who dares to provoke you?"

Xian Guiying silently brushed off his hand and said, "There's even a rose with thorns on it. Why do I have to be a cactus?"

"Roses are very fragile. You are much stronger than those roses that can turn soft with a pinch."

Xian Guiying's finger was pierced until it bled. She lifted her bleeding finger and put it in her mouth while staring at the cactus without moving.

• • • •

Qin Corporation Building.

"Boss!" Huang Jingguo hurriedly walked out of the company's round door.

Qin Gengxin got out of the car and took a stack of files from his hand. As he looked at it, he said, "Which partners haven't withdrawn their funds yet?"

Huang Jingguo followed him from behind and said, "There are three left, but those three are the cooperation cases from many years ago. They don't have much profit, they are just friendly partners and can't help us save the current crisis. Boss, Mrs. Bai's secretary called your office yesterday, but you weren't there. I picked up, he said …"

Qin Gengxin stopped and turned his body to look at him coldly. "What did he say?"

After a moment of hesitation, Huang Jingguo whispered, "They have evidence of the corporation of Chinese arms with Mr. Johnson over a year ago. If you don't meet Mrs. Bai personally in New York, she will report this evidence to the Chinese government. Boss, although our company was established in the United States, we are still Chinese citizens!"

Qin Gengxin closed the files in his hand. "What a good information she had."

He walked into the elevator and said, "Mr. Johnson's arms dealing had nothing to do with us. I already vetoed this project over a year ago. Where did the evidence come from? Is there a spy in our company? You should go and check if there are any new people from other departments who would rather be stationed at Qin's. Also, call those who have worked with us to the conference room."

The elevator door opened and he walked out. His eyes were cold, but his footsteps were stable. Huang Jingguo immediately understood the meaning.

Qin Gengxin had been on guard against them all along, and he hadn't revealed a single secret of the company to everyone, even to his assistant. While their eyes were on Mrs. Bai, it seemed like someone else had secretly come over to extract the cocoon.

Cooperation with Mr. Johnson didn't have anything to do with arms. Back then, Mr. Johnson had indeed wanted to sell arms with Qin Corporation, although the profits were huge, it was not that Qin Gengxin didn't want to bear this risk, but it was because he didn't plan to let Qin Corporation embark on the path of no return.

When Qin Corporation was established, Qin Xiaowen had indeed been involved with the underworld in the past, but ever since Qin Gengxin had taken over, he had always opposed the arms-related business.

Later, Mr. Johnson gave them another collaboration project, which was personally checked by Qin Gengxin to make sure it was legal before signing the contract.

How did Mrs. Bai find out?

It seemed that this matter was not only related to Mrs. Bai, but also to Mr. Johnson.

Huang Jingguo quickly followed Qin Gengxin to the CEO's office.

Three hours later ...

Qin Gengxin was in the middle of answering the directors' call. The content of the call was about Qin Corporation and the future of the board members. Qin Gengxin tried to calm them down, but his office door was pushed open when he hung up the phone.

Huang Jingguo took some files and put them on his desk. "A year ago, when Bai Nuying entered the company, our company recruited some employees from other countries. There are many interns, about 30 or so. These three individuals are suspects."

Huang Jingguo pushed the file in front of him. "After working for the Ministry of Foreign Trade for less than a year and consistently achieving exceptional results, the three of them were promoted to the position of assistants by the Ministry's manager. However, a few months ago, all three of them resigned simultaneously and after that, they could not be contacted."

"I checked the addresses on the documents. Two of them don't exist. One of them has been demolished."

According to Qin Gengxin's temper in the past, he would definitely throw the documents on the table and ask the HR Department what they were for. However, at this moment, he was only looking at Huang Jingguo. Hearing what Huang Jingguo said, his expression didn't change at all.

The phone on the table rang again. Maybe someone from the board of directors came in to interrogate him. Qin Gengxin rubbed his forehead and said in a deep voice, "I understand. Go out and ask the HR manager to come to my office in ten minutes."

Huang Jingguo nodded. "Alright."

Huang Jingguo was about to walk out when he suddenly stopped and looked back at Qin Gengxin. He did not answer the phone but rubbed his forehead with one hand and leaned back in his chair wearily.

In the hours since he returned to the company, he has been on the phone non-stop.

He hadn't even had lunch yet.

Huang Jingguo hesitated for a moment and said in a low voice, "Boss, at this time, I am afraid it is not easy to seek external help to defuse the current crisis."

"Indeed." Qin Gengxin lowered his hand, sighing softly. "It's common in business society to throw stones when someone falls down. However, most importantly, we don't admit defeat."

"Are you going to see Mrs. Bai in New York?"

Qin Gengxin didn't say anything, but it was clear that he had no intention of doing so.

Huang Jingguo then said, "Boss, maybe you can borrow Xian Enterprise's strength. After all, you and Xian Guiying aren't divorced, so she might be able to -- "

"We're divorced." Qin Gengxin caressed his face with his hand, leaned back, and reached for the phone before signaling Huang Jingguo to leave.