But just her luck—halfway down in the elevator, someone familiar got on. Qingli raised an eyebrow. A faint smile tugged at the corners of her face, which had been sour all day. “Cousin, huh? Your face hasn’t even healed yet, and you’re already back at work. That’s dedication.”
Jiang Zheng hadn’t expected to run into Jiang Qingli either. The still-healing wounds on his face twitched instinctively, followed by a sharp sting. He gritted his teeth and said coldly, “No choice. Uncle gave me so much work—if I don’t show up, I won’t be able to get it done. But look at you, first day on the job and leaving already? Is the work that easy?”
Qingli smiled sweetly. “Can’t help it. I’m too smart. I get things done quickly, so I don’t need a lot of time. Unlike you, Cousin—you’re still working your tail off even with injuries.”
Jiang Zheng’s face twitched as he glared at her coldly.
But that kind of look didn’t intimidate her one bit. Qingli acted like she didn’t even notice. Once they reached the ground floor, she cheerfully walked off, her smug little stride only fueling Jiang Zheng’s anger.
They were blood-related. And Jiang Xi had already started letting her into the company this early.
He thought back to when he graduated from college—it had taken him six months and his grandfather’s help to get into the company!
“Phew…” Jiang Zheng let out a long breath to release the frustration in his chest. He pulled out his phone and sent a message to a certain number.
Not long after, Qingli’s phone rang as she got into the car. It was a group of the original Qingli’s old troublemaking friends. Ever since she reported them to the police, none of them had dared contact her.
After all, if you were shady enough to frame someone, you’d be terrified of dealing with the cops.
And yet, here they were now.
Qingli’s first thought was that Jiang Zheng was behind this. She picked up the call and heard a chipper female voice: “A’Li! We heard you’re back—we’ve missed you like crazy! We’ve already booked a place for the night—come out and party till dawn!”
“Yeah, yeah, all night! It’s on me! And there’s this amazing DJ at the club—it’s gonna be lit!” a boy chimed in through the speaker.
These kids had all gone to the same high school as the original Qingli. Their families were well-off, but nowhere near the Jiang family’s level. They couldn’t even compete when it came to allowance. They liked to party and mess around, until one time, the original Qingli came home and left her jacket in the living room—with a stray pill in the pocket. Grandpa Jiang saw it and freaked out, immediately taking her for a drug test.
Although nothing came of it, that incident was the spark that lit the powder keg.
Qingli had almost forgotten about these people—until they reached out to her first.
She chuckled. “I’ll pass. Too busy.”
“Busy with what? You’re a high schooler—what could you possibly be so busy with?” the girl teased. “Come on! It’ll be fun!”
Qingli replied calmly, “Busy convincing my dad to destroy your family’s company.”
Dead silence.
“…Huh?” came the stunned voices of the kids on the other end of the line.
The tone of the call shifted instantly. The girl who first called spoke again, weakly: “A’Li… you’re joking, right?”
“Trust me, I’m dead serious,” Qingli said sincerely. “You all thought what you did to me could just be swept under the rug? Don’t worry. Buying out a company isn’t easy—it takes time. I’ll do it one by one. It should take about six months. You can get in line. Yawen, should I start with you?”
Her voice was gentle, but everyone on the call was horrified. Their laughter had vanished. No one expected a casual phone call to take such a dark turn.
“A’Li!” The girl named Yawen shrieked in panic, crying, “Please don’t do this! We didn’t mean it!”
There was no use making excuses. Everyone knew exactly what happened—and the worst part was, Qingli wasn’t coming after them. She was going to their parents.
Think she was bluffing?
They didn’t dare take the chance. She had already proven what she could do: when a show forced her to appear despite her guardians’ consent, she had called the police. The show got shut down, the production company faced massive fines from advertisers, and several people were looking at prison time.
Ever since that incident, none of them had dared contact her.
Now that she was threatening their family businesses, not a single one of them thought she was bluffing. She could pull it off.
These were just sixteen- and seventeen-year-old kids—how could they possibly handle something like this? One by one, they panicked and rushed to grab the phone.
“A’Li, we’re sorry! We really are! Please don’t do this—please!”
After letting them grovel for a while, Qingli finally said lazily, “There is one way to stop my dad from taking action…”
They immediately jumped on it. “What is it? We’ll apologize! Or you can beat us up if you want—we won’t fight back!”
“I’d hurt my hand hitting you,” Qingli said with a laugh. “How about this: go beat up the person who started all this. If I feel better after that, my dad won’t have to step in.”
Beat up the instigator?
She said it like she was just making instant noodles—but it sent the teens spiraling into despair.
“A’Li, you can’t mean that…” one of them whimpered.
They were all from the Jiang family—if they laid a hand on him, wouldn’t they be doomed either way?
Qingli calmly replied, “Between me and Jiang Zheng, you should know which one carries more weight.”
And with that, she hung up.
Leaving a group of pale-faced teens staring at each other in panic.
What now?
Beat him up or not?
Honestly, the choice was pretty clear.
One of the boys stood up. “I’ll do it! If I don’t, and she goes through with it, my family’s finished. My parents will kill me. But if I do it… maybe she’ll forgive us.”
Between Jiang Xi and Jiang Zheng, Jiang Xi had more power!
The rest of them stood up too, faces set grimly. “He’s right. Jiang Zheng doesn’t have any power anymore—it wouldn’t be easy for him to go after our families.”
But Jiang Qingli’s dad?
That was a whole different story.
Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152