Surrounded by Wolves
Jiang Wu returned to her room with her mind completely blank, too numb to react to much of anything. It wasn’t until she stepped past the entryway that she saw Huo Yingli sitting on her sofa, waiting for her to come back.
Jiang Wu walked over with a dark expression, struggling to suppress her emotions. She seized Huo Yingli by the collar. “Huo Yingli, if you enter my room without telling me again, I’ll kill you.”
Huo Yingli let her drag him closer. His handsome face remained calm as he looked at her. “Hit me.”
Jiang Wu froze.
Huo Yingli’s voice was very soft. “You can hit me when you’re upset.”
“You…” Jiang Wu’s expression twisted into something strange. She released him and flung him away as though she had touched something unclean. “You’re a pervert.”
Huo Yingli fell back against the sofa cushions and bounced twice. His shirt collar had been pulled into complete disarray, but he made no attempt to straighten it.
At a glance, he looked decadently disheveled, carrying the languid air of a sophisticated rogue. He even seemed a little disappointed by her rejection. Disappointed that she hadn’t hit him.
Huo Yingli picked up the controller beside him. “Want to play a game? I just downloaded a few new ones.”
Jiang Wu curled up on the sofa beside him without saying anything but still accepted the controller he handed her.
~~
Several negotiation meetings were held before the board reached its final decision. More specifically, they were discussing how Jiang Wu’s shares should be divided.
Huo Qingzhi presided over the meetings.
The secretary-general first stated, in accordance with company regulations, that any surrendered shares should be distributed proportionally according to each shareholder’s current holdings.
That immediately sparked an argument among the others.
Huo Qingzhi leaned back in his leather chair, listening as the members of the board talked over one another, carving up the portion of Jiang Wu’s wealth that belonged to her.
He idly toyed with the pen in his hand.
The fiercest argument was between Third Uncle and Fourth Uncle.
“Most of those shares were given to her by Old Master Huo while he was still alive. If he knew he had been deceived by an outsider, who knows how heartbroken he would be?”
“I have no objection to dividing them according to existing shareholdings. But the eldest branch should be penalized, and their portion reduced.”
Lu Heng could no longer stand listening.
“The chairman was the one at fault, but he has already surrendered his authority. What does that have to do with everyone else?”
“Old Master Huo’s portion was always meant for his granddaughter. Even without Jiang Wu, there would still be Wen Ciying.”
“You can’t put it that way. Giving something willingly is not the same as giving under deception.”
“And besides, Jiang Wu has been all over social media these past few days. It isn’t as though none of you have seen how badly this has affected the Group.”
Lu Heng was about to say more, but Huo Qingzhi stopped him.
Huo Qingzhi asked, “How do the shareholders believe the assets should be divided?”
Fourth Uncle spoke first. “Other than your branch receiving a smaller portion, the rest should be divided based on shareholdings and the performance of each subsidiary last year.”
Huo Qingzhi nodded understandingly. “That makes sense.”
“That won’t do. It would throw everything into chaos,” Third Uncle interrupted. He knew perfectly well that Fourth Uncle’s performance figures from the previous year were far higher than his own. “The company regulations clearly state that the shares are to be divided according to existing ownership percentages.”
Huo Qingzhi agreed with him as well. “That is also reasonable.”
Fourth Uncle grew anxious. “Those regulations were established decades ago. The market is different now. If all the shares are handed to businesses that are already declining, the entire Group will decline with them.”
Third Uncle shot back, “Whose business is declining?”
No one noticed that Huo Qingzhi had merely tossed out a single question. Then, with casual indifference, he watched them tear into one another. The uglier the fight, the clearer it was who could hardly wait to profit from the situation.
These people claimed they wanted to minimize the Group’s losses. In reality, they had their eyes on Jiang Wu’s shares and assets.
Although Jiang Wu was only one of Old Master Huo’s many grandchildren, she had been doted on by him since birth.
Combined with the positive influence she had brought to the Group, she held more than six percent of the Group’s shares. Even Huo Qingzhi, as the eldest grandson, had received only three percent back then.
Six percent carried considerable weight for someone who held no official position within the Group. The annual income alone was substantial. Then there were companies large and small, real estate, foundations, trusts, and other miscellaneous assets.
Altogether, Jiang Wu’s net worth exceeded sixty billion yuan.
The money itself was secondary. What truly mattered was the authority that came with controlling sixty billion yuan in assets.
On top of that, Huo Tingshan’s penalty would also strip him of a portion of his equity. To some people, gaining those bargaining chips meant that, with careful management, they might finally have the chance to rise again and trample everyone else beneath their feet.
The argument in the meeting room gradually spiraled out of control.
After Fourth Uncle mocked Third Uncle for his poor management and steadily declining annual revenue, Third Uncle became so furious that he began exposing old secrets. “You know how to make money? Do the accounts at your company even balance?”
Huo Qingzhi glanced over without revealing any emotion.
The other shareholders were frightened enough to hurriedly interrupt them. “That’s enough. Everyone here is only considering the Group’s future development. There’s no need to fight.”
“Exactly,” Huo Qingzhi said leisurely. “The Group’s future development will still depend on all of you. I would like to confirm one final matter. The board has unanimously agreed to reclaim not only the shares, companies, and business interests currently held by Jiang Wu, but also her trusts, real estate, and all other family assets. Is that correct?”
No one objected.
Huo Qingzhi nodded. “Then I will follow everyone’s recommendations. Our family will accept a proportionally reduced allocation in this matter. I can guarantee absolute fairness. “The secretariat will collect everyone’s suggestions and consider them together before deciding on a distribution plan. Everyone can rest assured.”
Huo Qingzhi was a refined gentleman who valued reason and followed the rules more strictly than anyone. For that reason, he commanded enormous respect within the Group. When he gave his word, no one had any reason to worry.
The board meeting adjourned, and everyone left one after another.
Lu Heng closed the door securely before walking back. “Sir.”
Huo Qingzhi remained seated, leaning against his chair without much change in his expression. He handed the documents in his hand to Lu Heng. “It seems some people don’t understand the principle of stopping while they’re ahead.”
Then he would make them spit everything back out.
~~
At Cloud Peak Bay, Jiang Wu had merely slept until noon without leaving her room.
Yet the servants assumed that the young miss had once again been overwhelmed by grief, frightening them into piling a mountain of food outside her door.
When Jiang Wu opened it, she nearly tripped over racks of snacks and boxes of cakes stacked across the entrance.
The racks were also stuffed with handwritten notes, all from the newly hired servants trying every possible way to cheer her up.
One begged her to go look at the rose wall in the garden. Another pleaded with her to try the chef’s new menu. Yet another asked her to go out shopping and spend money. And there was one that had even slipped in a black card.
Their efforts delighted Jiang Wu immensely. She pulled out the black card and discovered that it was from Jiang Yaping.
The note beneath it was written in Jiang Yaping’s handwriting.
—Mommy’s precious Wenni.
Jiang Wu pursed her lips, put everything away, and wandered downstairs at an unhurried pace.
The moment the servants in the main residence saw Jiang Wu emerge, they hurriedly texted Huo Tingshan and Jiang Yaping.
Unfortunately, Jiang Yaping had gone out and was currently in Central picking up the custom jewelry she had ordered for Jiang Wu.
Huo Tingshan, now gloriously retired and at home, immediately grabbed a newspaper and a cup of coffee after receiving the message. He sat down in the dining room and pretended the encounter was entirely accidental.
Jiang Wu had slept long enough to become hungry. Sure enough, she found Huo Tingshan in the dining room and smiled at him. “Dad, you didn’t go to work today?”
Huo Tingshan pretentiously turned a page of the newspaper. “There was nothing important to deal with, so I didn’t go.”
“Oh.” Jiang Wu strolled over and sat across from him. After ordering foie gras toast from the chef, she casually remarked, as though it had only just occurred to her, “Was there really nothing important to do, or did the company fire you?”
Huo Tingshan’s hand stopped midway through turning the page.
Jiang Wu pulled the newspaper out of his hands. “You’re holding it upside down.”
She didn’t return the newspaper. Instead, she began reading it herself. “Why did you resign?”
“I’m old enough now. I can’t be bothered managing the group business anymore.” Huo Tingshan spoke with the air of a man who had everything under control. “It gave me the perfect excuse to step down and let your Eldest Brother take over.”
Jiang Wu set down the newspaper, ignoring his explanation entirely, and said directly, “Because of me?”
Huo Tingshan’s eyelid twitched. For a moment, he even wondered whether the newspaper had printed something about the Group and given everything away, but it was an entertainment tabloid. “Who has been filling your head with nonsense?”
“Is it really that difficult to figure out?” Jiang Wu’s eyes curved in a smile. “You attended one meeting, and now you’re sitting around at home. And Mom never gives me a card directly when she gives me money.”
Jiang Wu’s lunch was brought over. She spread a little blueberry jam on her toast. “That means my cards are about to be frozen.”
“You’re overthinking small stuff like this,” Huo Tingshan said flatly. “Don’t worry about the rest. Just go about your business as usual…”
Before he could finish, Jiang Wu interrupted him. “I’m not worried. I can accept it.”
Huo Tingshan stopped abruptly and frowned. “Accept what?”
Jiang Wu took a bite of her food and thought for a moment before smiling at him. “Accept that I’m no longer part of this family. By the way, you still haven’t told me anything about Ciying’s parents. What do they do? Ciying has already been brought here, but I haven’t gone to see them yet. Haven’t they asked?”
Huo Tingshan stared fixedly at her as she continued to ramble on.
The atmosphere in the dining room gradually grew thick and oppressive.
Only after Jiang Wu fell silent did Huo Tingshan speak in a heavy voice. “You want to leave?”
The imposing pressure of a man who had been at the top for decades flooded the vast hall in an instant.
Jiang Wu quietly finished the toast in her hand, not answering him directly. Instead, she asked, “Dad, you gave up a board position you’d held for nearly thirty years because of me. Was it worth it?”
Huo Tingshan could not suppress the anger in his voice. “Who said it was because of you? Whether it was worth it or not is something for me to decide.”
“I can decide for myself too.”
“You don’t understand!”
Jiang Wu contradicted him softly, as though discussing something entirely ordinary. “I do understand.”
Huo Tingshan took a deep breath. “Wenni, listen to me. All of this is only temporary. I’m telling you the same thing as before. Stay at home, behave yourself, and follow my arrangements. Your life will not change in any way.”
“They want all of you to cut ties with me. How am I supposed to keep living here?” Jiang Wu twirled her spoon, still in the mood to joke with him. “Are you going to secretly support me? I don’t want that. I’d have no proper status here. It would be no different from living under someone else’s roof.”
Jiang Wu didn’t think there was anything she couldn’t accept. “Besides, it’s not as though we’ll never see each other again. I’ll still be working at the Hong Kong Museum. You can visit me whenever you miss me, or come find me to spend time together. They can’t say anything about that. They might even praise you for being loyal and affectionate.”
The lighter her tone became, the darker Huo Tingshan’s expression grew. “You think I’m relying on you to earn myself a good reputation? If I drive a child out of my home, where exactly is the loyalty or affection in that?!”
“I’m not a child anymore,” Jiang Wu said. Sometimes, Huo Tingshan could be awfully rigid. “What if I’m the one who wants to leave?”
“You choose to leave?” Huo Tingshan became even more agitated when he heard that. “Your father here has spent the past several days trying to figure out how to recover everything they took from you.”
“And even if I can’t get it back, I’ve been thinking about how to make it up to you myself and how to secure even better businesses and assets for you. While I’m racking my brain, what’s my little ingrate thinking about? How to leave us!”
“Do you even consider me your father? Or have you already decided to recognize someone else as your father? Or do you think I’m the kind of rotten father who would abandon you over some trivial matter?!”
“I’m warning you. Once you leave, the Huo family’s assets, real estate, companies, antiques, collections, funds, and savings will have nothing more to do with you ever again.”
Jiang Wu was suddenly bombarded with accusations and threats, but she couldn’t be bothered arguing with this stubborn, domineering, unreasonable father of hers. “I think you should spend more time considering how all this affects Ciying.”
Having eaten her fill, she stood and left. “If you hadn’t mixed us up back then, that’d be more useful than anything you’re saying now.”
Huo Tingshan angrily called after her. “Huo Wenni, if you dare leave this house, I’ll only leave you one billion yuan in assets, two hundred million in financial investments, one small estate, a little helicopter, and a few nannies, bodyguards, assistants, drivers, chefs, and doctors. That’s all!”
She didn’t stop.
Huo Tingshan immediately regretted not offering more; what if he said too little and genuinely angered her?
Jiang Wu’s temper sometimes resembled Jiang Yaping’s very closely.
Huo Tingshan realized he could handle neither of them.
As Jiang Wu walked out of the dining room, she happened to hear a servant asking the butler, “With everything going on in the family, are we still holding the gathering next week?”
The butler frowned deeply.
“Wait for further instructions. It was a rule established by the Old Master, after all. The gathering will probably still happen.”
Back when Old Master Huo was alive, the family rules and teachings emphasized unity, harmony, and working together with one heart. To keep the family from growing distant, they gathered on the fifteenth day of every other month.
Jiang Wu still remembered the last gathering, not long after she returned to the country.
A group of uncles and aunts had surrounded her, praising her beauty and her accomplishments. They gave her one red envelope and gift after another. Every other word from their mouths had been “precious.”
Thinking back on it now, it all seemed so meaningless.
Jiang Wu knew her parents could not bear to part with her. But unless she openly declared her position, those people would never let the matter rest.
Jiang Wu returned to her room and began packing. She had barely put one safe inside before the suitcase was full.
Bingbing was also sitting inside the suitcase, watching her.
Jiang Wu fell silent for a moment, then took both the safe and the cat out, placing them aside, and packed some everyday clothes instead. Then she removed the cat again and added some daily necessities. Finally, she took the cat out one more time and shut the suitcase.
Jiang Wu pushed the suitcase outside first and happened to run straight into Wen Ciying, who was coming downstairs.
Wen Ciying frowned as she looked at the suitcase abandoned outside Jiang Wu’s door and listened to the clattering sounds coming from inside the room. She stepped forward and knocked.
Jiang Wu opened the door and saw her. “Oh, perfect timing. This is too heavy. Help me carry it over there.”
Wen Ciying saw the safe in Jiang Wu’s hands and casually took it from her. “Where does this go?”
“The refrigerator.”
Wen Ciying thought she had misheard.
But when she turned around, Jiang Wu had already opened the door to her walk-in refrigerator and was pointing toward one of the chilled storage sections. “Here.”
It was the first time Wen Ciying had ever heard of someone storing a safe in a refrigerator. “Are the things inside going to melt?”
“No.” Jiang Wu helped her place it inside. “These images need to be preserved at a low temperature.”
Wen Ciying didn’t like prying into other people’s affairs, but she was still curious. “Images?”
“Some reproductions of ancient texts and a few old photographs.”
Wen Ciying understood. Those were antiques too.
After securing the safe, Jiang Wu locked the outer door again. “I originally planned to move these first.”
But it seemed that wouldn’t be possible now.
Wen Ciying could tell that the antiques were probably very important to her. Beyond that, she keenly picked up on something else. “You’re moving?”
“Yeah.” Jiang Wu considered her plans. “I want to find a place first, then move everything over slowly. A week should be enough.”
Wen Ciying said nothing for a long time.
If Jiang Wu moved out, wouldn’t that mean she would be stuck here by herself?
What about her parents?
“Is it because of me?”
Jiang Wu was completely bewildered by the question. “Why would it be because of you?”
“If it is, I can leave.” She had wanted to leave for a long time anyway.
“Don’t make things more complicated.” Jiang Wu shut the refrigerator door and walked outside. “This has nothing to do with you.”
“It does have something to do with me.” Unable to make Jiang Wu stay, Wen Ciying followed her out instead. “Stop.”
Jiang Wu said, “Be quiet.”
Not long afterward, Huo Tingshan walked out and found both of his well-behaved daughters had run away.
“No, seriously… why didn’t any of you stop them!?”
The several bodyguards, each nearly six feet three, exchanged helpless looks before lowering their heads and answering timidly, “Which one of them were we supposed to stop?”
Jiang Wu had already arranged to view a house the previous night.
There was a property she liked halfway up Kowloon Tong’s hillside. It was in an excellent location and very peaceful, with an open view over the Hong Kong cityscape.
Most importantly, it was close to the Hong Kong Museum.
As soon as she arrived at the villa, Jiang Wu decided to take it. She told Cherry to have the house prepared so it would be ready when she moved in later.
Afterward, Jiang Wu took Wen Ciying to Central and asked her, “You’ve been following me this entire time. Why aren’t you worrying about yourself?”
“I have nothing to worry about.”
“Then I’ll worry about you.” Jiang Wu gestured for her to get out of the car. “There may be a family gathering next week. It’ll be your first time attending, so you’ll need a few things suitable for your status.”
The luxury shopping club was filled with dazzling lights and impeccably dressed staff. The moment their car arrived at the parking area, someone came to receive them personally.
Jiang Wu could tell that Wen Ciying’s style leaned toward an understated, cool style of clothing, so she took her to a bespoke brand that suited her taste.
Inside the private lounge, Jiang Wu picked at a small cake while briefly explaining the family situation. She told her who had what kind of personality and what each person liked.
Jiang Wu spoke for a long time without hearing a response. When she looked up, she found Wen Ciying staring at her without blinking.
“What is it?” Jiang Wu casually raised a compact mirror. “Do I have food on my face?”
“No.” Wen Ciying looked away. “I just didn’t remember any of it. It’s too complicated.”
“How can you remember what every single person likes? Because they used to remember what I liked.” Jiang Wu still wiped the corner of her mouth with the mirror raised. “But you don’t need to flatter them. A general understanding is enough.”
Jiang Wu thought of the last time she had seen Wen Ciying in the café. “The more you understand, the faster you’ll fit in here, and the less trouble you’ll have, the less people will bully you.”
Wen Ciying said, “I’m rarely bullied.”
Jiang Wu paused. What had happened last time could not exactly be called Wen Ciying being bullied either. “Violence can’t solve every problem.”
“I don’t only use violence. I know what I’m doing.” Wen Ciying looked at her. “You don’t want anyone bullying me?”
“Why would I want anyone to bully you?”
“You don’t hate me for making you move out?”
“You’re not the reason I have to move out,” Jiang Wu said simply. “You didn’t do anything wrong. If I hated you because of someone else’s mistake, that would be my problem.”
After saying that, Jiang Wu muttered under her breath, “I didn’t do anything wrong either. If you hate me, that’s your problem.”
Wen Ciying picked up the glass of lemon water beside her. “I don’t hate you. But I don’t like your family, and I don’t particularly want to stay there either.”
Jiang Wu leaned a little closer. “Then what’s your home like? Take me there and let me see.”
Wen Ciying’s movement slowed noticeably as she drank her water. “My home is a little far away.”
“That’s perfect. I have nothing to do lately, and my new house isn’t ready yet.”
Wen Ciying put down her glass. “My home isn’t like yours. “It’s smaller and older, too.”
Jiang Wu had already prepared herself for that. “I know.”
There were many versions of Wen Ciying’s family background circulating online, but every one of them described her family as struggling financially. She had supposedly worked part-time throughout school to pay her tuition.
There was no information at all about her father, while her mother’s occupation was all over the place. Out of every possible profession, the one mentioned most often was a maid.
Of course, Jiang Wu didn’t think there was anything wrong with being a maid. Their family’s maids earned nearly three hundred thousand yuan a year.
If Jiang Wu didn’t take on private antique-restoration work, her salary at the museum would not be much higher.
Wen Ciying seemed to hesitate for a long time before finally reminding her, “My parents’ work is somewhat sensitive. I rarely talk about my family, so you’d better not mention it to anyone else either. There are only a few old things at home that were passed down from our ancestors.”
Jiang Wu understood. She was perfectly willing to respect her privacy. “Don’t worry. That’ll be my home too from now on. I won’t go around talking nonsense about it.”
The next morning, their plane landed in Beijing.
Jiang Wu stood outside the guarded entrance of an expansive garden-style courtyard residence built from red brick and glazed roof tiles. Security personnel were stationed at the gate.
The grounds stretched deep within, courtyard behind courtyard, layered one beyond another.
She stared at the square pillars and imposing gatehouse, listening to the distant tolling of bells and beating of drums from the nearby imperial gardens. It took her a long time to snap out of it before she finally managed, “This is your home?”