Chapter 14

Feng Bai’s voice dropped into a low, raspy register, edged with icy menace.

“That illegitimate stray from your family, Fu Xizhou, when do you plan to clean him up?”

He narrowed his dark eyes, his tall frame exuding a deadly, palpable danger.

Fu Chengyu let out a low, mocking scoff. “Why the sudden concern over my family’s messy internal drama? Did he cross you?”

“He did,” Feng Bai replied, a flash of razor-sharp coldness glinting in his eyes. He made no attempt to conceal his hostility in front of Fu Chengyu.

Having thoroughly exposed Fu Xizhou’s ruthless schemes in his past life, Feng Bai was determined to neutralize the threat early in this timeline, stripping the man of any opportunity to climb the corporate ladder.

Fu Xizhou and Su Ran, those two treacherous vipers, were enemies he refused to spare.

Naturally, Fu Xizhou’s standing within the Fu family remained complex. As an unacknowledged bastard, his sudden, bold arrival in An City could only be attributed to the quiet indulgence of Fu Chengyu’s father.

Meanwhile, Fu Chengyu despised Fu Xizhou to his very core.

This time around, Feng Bai didn’t even need to dirty his own hands to achieve his goal.

With Su Miao alive, healthy, and happy, he intended to give her a spotless future, and that meant keeping his hands free of the blood that had stained them in his past life.

Fu Chengyu raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised. “He actually had the nerve to mess with you?”

Feng Bai offered a succinct explanation. “Fu Xizhou’s girlfriend is Su Ran. Su Ran happens to be Su Miao’s cousin, currently staying under the Su family roof. And Su Ran refuses to stay in her lane.”

When communicating with sharp minds, highlighting the core issue was always sufficient.

Fu Chengyu grasped the full picture in an instant.

“Fu Xizhou certainly has massive guts, targeting the Su estate of all places. Your prospective mother-in-law isn’t someone to be messed with. Tsk, if the bastard is actively seeking his own death, I won’t waste any more time indulging his little games.”

He had originally intended to grant Fu Xizhou a long leash just to see what pathetic schemes the bastard could cook up. But now that the man had aimed his sights at the Su family, Fu Chengyu needed to eliminate him swiftly before he caused real collateral damage!

An illegitimate bastard belonged in the gutter, it was time he vanished completely!

A ruthless gleam flashed across Fu Chengyu’s eyes. He wasn’t naturally petty, and in high-society circles, wealthy families were crawling with illegitimate offspring. Most legitimate heirs simply turned a blind eye, treating them as harmless background noise.

Yet some bastards lacked all sense of propriety!

Born of a mistress, yet harboring delusional ambitions of claiming the main seat.

Years ago, Fu Xizhou’s mother had dragged him to the Fu estate to throw a humiliating, public fit, triggering a crisis that landed Fu Chengyu’s mother in the hospital—a blow from which her health never fully recovered.

That blood debt was burned into Fu Chengyu’s mind forever!

Ha. Back then, Fu Xizhou had been a mere ten-year-old child, yet he was already orchestrating sneaky, malicious tricks. Now that he was fully grown, he actually harbored delusions of forcing his way into the Fu household as an official heir and competing for the family fortune!

Ambition was fine and good.

Regrettably, his capabilities were laughable, and his methods were utterly amateur…

Having concluded his business with Fu Chengyu, Feng Bai rushed straight back toward the Su estate.

Watching him hurry off, Fu Chengyu shook his head, momentarily speechless. As Feng Bai’s figure disappeared, he muttered under his breath, “Anyone looking at him would think the Su estate was housing priceless treasure!”

He had never seen the usually cold, unflappable Feng Bai act this restless and protective over anyone.

The moment Feng Bai arrived back at the estate, he sent Su Miao a quick text message.

Clutching her phone, Su Miao stared down at the notification, a sudden, radiant smile breaking across her face. Without Feng Bai around, sitting through a lunch with Su Ran and Fu Xizhou would have been sheer torture, she probably wouldn’t have swallowed a single bite.

She genuinely needed his presence beside her to ground her fluttering emotions. Turning to her mother, Su Miao murmured softly, “Feng Bai is almost back.”

Wen Jiu shook her head with helpless amusement.

Her daughter was far too head-over-heels! Feng Bai had only been gone for a brief morning, yet her daughter acted as if her world were off-balance.

Ah, youth. She really couldn’t comprehend the dramatic passions of young love anymore.

Feng Bai stepped through the front door just as lunch was being served. Su Hang eagerly took it upon himself to introduce Fu Xizhou. Feng Bai maintained an impeccably calm, polite expression, offering zero dramatic reaction—making Su Hang feel as though his subtle prodding had landed squarely on a ball of soft cotton.

Having long adapted to Su Hang’s eccentric antics, Wen Jiu and Su Miao shot him a look of utter exasperation before turning away in unspoken solidarity, ignoring him completely.

Feng Bai and Su Miao sat side by side, while Fu Xizhou and Su Ran occupied the seats directly across from them.

Su Hang couldn’t help but admire the view, they truly looked like two matching couples. Setting aside his slight grievances, he was quite pleased with Feng Bai. As for Fu Xizhou, he found the young man reasonably agreeable as well.

Throughout the meal, Fu Xizhou cleverly steered the conversation toward topics that pleased Su Hang, keeping the older man thoroughly entertained.

Su Hang stole a subtle glance at Feng Bai, inwardly feeling the boy lacked social polish. Why couldn’t he spout a few sweet, flattering words to make his potential father-in-law happy? If he played his cards right, Su Hang might actually hand his precious daughter over with a smile!

As lunch drew to a close, Su Ran and Fu Xizhou exchanged a swift, secret glance. Su Ran caught his implicit signal immediately, the two possessed a practiced chemistry, having thoroughly rehearsed this scene beforehand.

Su Ran turned to Su Hang, her delicate face twisted into a picture of deep hesitation.

“Uncle… there’s a favor I need to ask of you!”

Su Hang looked up from his soup. “What is it, Ran? Just name it. If it’s within my power, I’ll see it done.”

Fu Xizhou reached out, gently tugging at Su Ran’s sleeve as if frowning upon her forwardness. “Ran, we’re in the middle of lunch. Don’t bother Uncle with this.”

His eyes, however, flickered with calculated intent.

Su Ran put on a deeply aggrieved expression. “If you won’t advocate for yourself, then I have to speak up! My skin is thick enough. I don’t care about propriety right now.”

Su Hang waved a reassuring hand. “Take your time, take your time…”

Su Ran took a deep breath. “Uncle… could you please arrange a position for Xizhou in your company? I just want him to have the opportunity to learn from the best.”

Hearing her request, Su Hang broke into a warm, indulgent smile.

“Ran, you’re being far too polite…”

A tiny favor like that was an effortless request!

However, before Su Hang could finish his sentence, Su Miao cut in with an absolute, sharp rejection.

“Absolutely not! Cousin, how could you even entertain such an idea? That is a terribly dangerous line of thought!”

Su Ran froze. “???” What on earth was Su Miao talking about?!

Su Miao adopted an intensely grave, serious expression. “Cousin, how could you forget the wise words you gave me so quickly? If you force Fu Xizhou into my father’s company, even if he achieves grand success in the future, people will dismiss him as a shameless nepotism hire who rode in through the back door. No one will ever respect him!”

“Placing him in my father’s firm completely invalidates his hard work, convincing the world that he relies on corporate connections to climb the ladder. Is that really the kind of pathetic reputation you want for him?”

“When Feng Bai was starting his business, you lectured me with those exact words! You claimed I would ruin Feng Bai’s pride and make it impossible for him to hold his head high. Now you’re doing the exact same thing, are you trying to make it impossible for Fu Xizhou to hold his head high as well?”

Every single word fell like a resounding, heavy slap across Su Ran’s pale face.

Su Ran stared at her, her complexion draining of all color. “Miao Miao… I’m sorry, I was just being overly anxious…”

Su Hang felt a sudden pang of sympathy watching Su Ran falter, she had never begged him for a favor before.

All she wanted was to secure an entry-level position for Fu Xizhou in his firm, which was hardly a monumental issue. A simple word to HR would settle it. He turned to his daughter with a look of utter confusion, wondering why she had shut the proposal down with such fierce, absolute hostility.