Years of life as a mercenary had honed her senses far beyond those of ordinary people.
Moments ago in the courtyard, she had seen Jiang Cheng being intimate with Wang Yuyan and instinctively turned away, yet the corner of her eye caught the provocative glance Wang Yuyan shot in her direction.
At first she'd dismissed it as petty female rivalry, but after replaying the details back in her room she suddenly recalled the precise angle at which Wang Yuyan's fingertip had paused while lowering the car window.
It hadn't been an accidental brush at all—it had been deliberate control.
Standing beneath the corridor, Xiali absently rubbed the miniature communicator hidden inside her cuff.
She didn't care how many women circled Jiang Cheng; what she loathed were these petty little mind games.
Ever since the System assigned her here, she'd understood that in Jiang Cheng's world loyalty always came first.
Wang Yuyan's deliberate show of dominance in front of her was a challenge to her and a flagrant disregard for Jiang Cheng's rules.
She had to make this woman understand who was truly qualified to stay by Jiang Cheng's side.
That was why she'd lost her composure today.
Inside the room Wang Yuyan froze and instinctively tried to push Jiang Cheng away.
He had just finished explaining the rules; this was the moment to be perfectly obedient—how could she dare cause trouble?
Yet the instant she moved, Jiang Cheng pressed her back in place.
As always, provided the car wasn't about to crash, a decent man wouldn't fuss over such trifles.
Without pausing in devouring his strawberry, he took a slurp and called somewhat indistinctly toward the door, "One moment."
The footsteps outside paused, then Xiali's respectful answer came: "Yes."
After that, silence.
Wang Yuyan's heart pounded; she pressed to Jiang Cheng's ear, voice trembling, "Mm… wait, close the door—Xiali's still outside…"
"What's there to fear?" Jiang Cheng's kiss landed on her chest as his fingers flipped her skirt straight up.
Back in the car her stockings had already been torn; no need for clichéd CEO lines about removing cashmere, cotton, wool, or long-johns.
Instead, with a simple flick to the side it was straight into the practical driving test.
And since they'd just finished one round, there was no rustiness to overcome.
At Wang Yuyan's soft cry Jiang Cheng's mouth curved into the rare little Nike-swoosh smile. "Nice—one continuous shot, zero lag."
…Over an hour later the two of them finally finished washing up.
Nestled in Jiang Cheng's arms, Wang Yuyan docilely fed him bites of food.
Seeing him check the stock market on his phone, she considerately asked, "Do you still have work? If you're busy don't mind me—go ahead."
Jiang Cheng stroked her cheek affectionately. "It's fine. I'm shorting this stock; just checking the open."
Wang Yuyan knew nothing about shares, but she knew the wealthy loved to trade.
Following up she asked, "How's the situation?"
"Pretty good—profits already past ten billion…"
Once that would have left her wide-eyed, but after being with Jiang Cheng her horizons had broadened; ten billion meant little to him.
So when he mentioned it so casually she wasn't surprised; smiling, she lifted another warm rib to his lips.
Jiang Cheng bit the rib while pulling out his private phone and dialing "Chen Xue."
The instant the call connected the tenderness in his tone cooled, replaced by the steadiness of a man in command: "Manager Chen, build a Facebook long position—four hundred million shares, entry range one-seventy-five to one-seventy-seven dollars."
They'd already teased him over the noon video call; now seeing him switch to work-mode Chen Xueer straightened up.
"Mr. Jiang, go ahead—I'm noting it down."
"Use anonymous accounts and split the lots—no single block over fifty million shares. Stay below surveillance thresholds; finish accumulation before the closing bell."
On the other end Chen Xue quickly confirmed: "Understood—four hundred million shares long, one-seventy-five to one-seventy-seven, anonymous tranches, avoiding large-trade alerts. Should we coordinate with Xu Zhigang's sell orders? We just detected a batch of shorts at one-seventy-six-point-two."
"No need." Jiang Cheng glanced at the flickering price on his screen, a cold gleam in his eyes. "Let them dump first. We only need to lay the net. Remember—steady accumulation, don't spook them; once they've pushed all their chips in, we tighten the mesh."
"Yes, Mr. Jiang. I'll alert the trading desk immediately; live data will sync to your inbox."
"Mm." He was about to hang up when he added, "Hold off on leverage for now—stick to our own capital, keep a fat cushion."
"Understood."
Meanwhile, in a private Shenzhen club lights blazed as a huge curved screen flashed Facebook's real-time quote: 176.8 USD.
Xu Zhigang finished a briefing call with several dignitaries, turned, and slapped his chest before the room: "Relax! The inside info is rock-solid—Facebook's metaverse is burning cash to the brink, plus their data scandal hasn't blown over; we'll see at least a drop to one-seventy!"
Voices in the crowd instantly chimed: "Young Master Xu, our thirty billion is in with you—tell us the play and we follow!"
Elated, Xu Zhi grabbed the satellite phone and barked orders to the trader, every word brooking no dissent.
"Listen—convert every dollar in our offshore account, five hundred billion yuan, then lever it one-to-one-point-five for a total of one-point-two trillion yuan! Split into three short tranches—first thirty million shares at one-seventy-six-point-five, second forty million at one-seventy-six, the remaining fifty-one million at one-seventy-five-point-five. All must fill before today's close!"
The trader on the line hesitated: "Mr. Xu, one-point-two trillion yuan lets us short 1.01 billion shares—already 0.8% of Facebook's float. With leverage this high, a bounce to one-eighty-five could trigger our margin call…"
"Bounce my ass!" Xu Zhi cut him off, flung the phone onto the sofa, and downed a glass of wine. "Star Capital is dumping too—didn't you see that one-seventy-six-point-two block? That's their handiwork! Follow them and lose? Impossible!"
Everyone in the room was convinced; they whipped out phones relaying orders to their own brokers, the club filling with shouts of "Add leverage!" "Short it!"
None of them noticed Jiang Cheng's desk quietly building a four-hundred-million-share Facebook long position through anonymous accounts, spreading like an invisible net waiting for prey to swim in.
When US trading closed Facebook slipped 0.5%, finishing at 176.1 USD; Xu Zhi's 1.01-billion-share short had fully filled at an average entry of 176.8 USD.
Relieved by the result, he grew cocky; he threw a victory banquet in the club, and well past midnight was still thumping his chest: "Wait for tomorrow—Facebook will gap down and we'll bank at least ten percent!"