Chapter 702: I Have the Final Say!
“I object!”
Those two words plunged the room into instant silence. Every eye locked onto the young woman in the black trench coat standing at the entrance, her presence dominating the space.
Behind her stood dozens of figures in black. Several among them were particularly striking.
One was a giant over two meters tall, terrifying in appearance, like a guardian deity at a temple gate.
Two others were cold-faced young men—one with his hands casually in his pockets, the other scanning the room with sharp eyes like a wolf spotting a flock of sheep.
These three alone projected an aura of overwhelming force.
Zhou Yan was momentarily stunned. When he recognized the girl he’d seen at the hospital days before, fury erupted. “Miss Liu, this is an internal meeting of our chamber of commerce! Who gave you permission to barge in? Security! Where the hell is security!”
Outside, the guards who had been stationed at the door were pinned motionless against the wall by the black-clad figures.
Liu Yutong ignored Zhou Yan’s roar. She strode straight in, walked up to the conference table, and fixed her gaze directly on Elder Li beside the chairman’s seat.
“Elder Li,” she said, “Uncle Bai’s body is barely cold, and you’re already rushing to elect a new chairman?”
Elder Li’s hand, gripping his cane, trembled slightly. “Who… who are you? This is a matter of the chamber’s charter. It has nothing to do with an outsider like you.”
“You say I’m an outsider? Heh…”
Liu Yutong let out a light, clear laugh. Though melodious, it sent an inexplicable chill through everyone present.
Without another word, she walked toward the chairman’s seat that rightfully belonged to Bai Jingchen.
Yun Cheng immediately stepped forward and pulled out the chair for her.
Liu Yutong didn’t even glance at it. She turned and settled into the seat with elegant precision, legs crossing in one fluid motion.
The gesture felt so natural, it was as if she belonged there.
Slam!
Zhou Yan pounded the table, his face livid with rage. “Liu Yutong, you’ve gone too far! That’s the chairman’s seat! What gives you the right to sit there?”
Murmurs rippled through the room.
“The audacity.”
“Who is this girl?”
“Even Elder Li didn’t take that seat, and she just plopped herself down.”
“Zhou Yan called her Liu Yutong. Has anyone heard of her?”
“…”
Though outraged, no one dared step forward to challenge her. Those bodyguards behind her, and the group of black-clad figures outside, were simply too terrifying—just looking at them made their skin crawl.
Bai Shisui’s mother, Zhou Meizhen, watched with growing dismay.
She’d originally held some admiration for Liu Yutong, thinking her a promising young woman whom her husband had valued. But now she struck her as arrogant and poorly bred.
“Miss Liu, this is an important meeting of the chamber,” Zhou Meizhen said. “Perhaps it’s not appropriate for you to be here? If you need to see Shisui, you could wait until after—”
Liu Yutong turned her gaze to Zhou Meizhen, her eyes calm as still water. “Mrs. Bai, I didn’t come for Shisui.”
She paused before continuing: “I came to settle accounts.”
Settle accounts?
The crowd was taken aback.
Could someone actually owe her money?
“Damn it, not paying debts and making the creditor show up in person—that’s the worst kind of scum!” they thought, glancing again at the black-clad figures who looked more like gangsters than actual gangsters.
Unable to contain himself, Zhou Yan demanded loudly, “What accounts? Who here owes you money? Liu Yutong, I’m warning you—don’t cause trouble here! This is the United States, a society governed by law! For barging into a private meeting, I can call the police and have you arrested!”
Liu Yutong looked at him and made a ‘be my guest’ gesture. “Go ahead. Call them if you want.”
Zhou Yan: “You—”
Elder Li stood up, leaning on his cane. “Miss Liu, if someone here owes you money, you can settle it privately with them. Please don’t disrupt this meeting.”
Liu Yutong uncrossed her legs and sat up straight, her expression turning serious. “Elder Li, you wrong me. I’m not here to disrupt anything. I’m here to attend the meeting.”
Elder Li: “But as far as I know, you’re not a member of our chamber. You…”
“Who says I’m not?” Liu Yutong cut him off.
The room froze. People looked at each other, confusion spreading across their faces, all shaking their heads—apparently none had known about Liu Yutong joining the chamber.
Liu Yutong didn’t keep them in suspense. She laid out the truth.
“Before his death, Uncle Bai gifted me thirty percent of Bai Group’s shares. That makes me the second-largest shareholder. Are you saying I don’t have the right to attend?”
Bang!
The room exploded.
“Thirty percent?!”
“Chairman Bai really gave shares to an outsider?”
“That can’t be true!”
“That’s absurd! Thirty percent of Bai Group must be worth at least two billion US dollars!”
“But look at the Zhou family’s faces—they don’t look so good. Could it be true?”
“…”
Speculation ran rampant.
Zhou Yan’s face darkened completely. “Miss Liu, that agreement hasn’t been notarized and registered yet. Its legal validity is questionable. And furthermore, we’re discussing the chamber’s chairmanship, not Bai Group’s equity issues.”
“Mr. Zhou, I think you’ve misunderstood something.”
Liu Yutong tilted her head slightly. A strand of hair slid across her cold profile, and her clear eyes held an undeniable, domineering glint.
“I’m sitting here to tell you the outcome, not to listen to your discussions!”
“Uncle Bai’s affairs—I have the final say! Bai Group’s future—I have the final say! And who has the final say in this chamber today…”
Her gaze swept slowly across the faces before her. Everyone her eyes touched involuntarily lowered their heads.
“That’ll be me, too!”
“Is that understood?!”
The hall fell deathly silent. Not a single person dared make a sound, though inwardly they marveled at her brazen dominance.
Zhou Yan’s face turned a mottled purple, nearly apoplectic with rage.
The arrogance!
She didn’t see them as worth her attention at all!
Liu Yutong seemed pleased by the reaction.
“Good. It appears everyone understands.”
“Before we elect a chairman, let me share some news: the Snakehead Gang that murdered Chairman Bai has been completely annihilated by me.”
“Of course, I’m not sure if you’ve seen the news, so I’ll just tell you the result myself.”
Gasps filled the room as everyone stared at Liu Yutong in disbelief.
“What? Miss Liu took out the Snakehead Gang?”
“But the news said it was the police!”
“Wait… I heard from my underworld contacts that they provoked an Eastern woman called Black Phoenix, and she wiped them out in one fell swoop with Hell’s Titan and the Black and White Fiends. The police just cleaned up after them.”
“Black Phoenix? Could it be…”
“…”
As these nicknames were mentioned, someone couldn’t help but look at the temple-guardian-like giant outside. Didn’t he match the description of Hell’s Titan perfectly?
Then the crowd turned to Liu Yutong in the chairman’s seat with dawning horror. Could she actually be…
Zeng Jin’s expression shifted. He’d indeed heard the rumors—that the Snakehead Gang was actually destroyed by someone called Black Phoenix, and the police merely mopped up afterward.
The Snakehead Gang had entrenched themselves in the United States for years. The chamber had tried to strike back, had reported them to the police, but they remained untouchable, growing bolder until they dared assassinate Chairman Bai.
Yet now this gang had been eliminated overnight.
If the rumors were true, this woman’s power was simply terrifying!
Zhou Yan’s heart pounded violently. He’d clearly heard these whispers too, and remembering what he’d secretly arranged, his fear deepened.
But he still forced himself to speak. “Preposterous! Miss Liu, you’d fabricate such lies to bolster your own reputation? Do you think we’re all children here? The Snakehead Gang has survived in the United States for years, outlasting multiple police crackdowns. And you, a foreigner, claim you wiped them out single-handedly? Utterly absurd!”
Liu Yutong chuckled softly. “Whether it’s true or not, Mr. Zhou, you should know better than anyone.”
“Also, now that the Snakehead Gang is destroyed, it’s a case of dead men tell no tales, isn’t that right?”
Zhou Yan’s heart skipped a beat. He played dumb. “What are you talking about? I don’t understand. Are you suggesting I’m in league with the Snakehead Gang?”
He said this outwardly, but inwardly he was panicking.
Could she have found something?
Impossible?
They’d been extremely careful. There shouldn’t be any way to expose them. She’s trying to trick me into confessing.
Yes, that’s it!
As the meeting hall descended into chaos and clamor, Elder Li rapped his cane forcefully and spoke again. “Miss Liu, though I’d like to believe your claim about the thirty percent share transfer, without seeing proof, I must ask you to leave! Even if you kill this old man, so be it!”
This old man still had backbone. While everyone else feared the black-clad figures outside, he alone dared to demand her removal.
Aside from the guilt-ridden Zhou Yan, of course.
“Since Elder Li asks for proof, I must give face to that request.”
Liu Yutong sat down again, legs crossing, and turned her eyes to Bai Shisui.
“Shisui.”
Bai Shisui trembled. “Sister Yutong.”
“What’s your surname?” Liu Yutong asked.
“I… I’m surnamed Bai,” Bai Shisui answered reflexively.
“Correct. The Bai of Bai Jingchen.”
Liu Yutong’s gaze swept across Zhou Yan and the Zhou family executives beside him.
“In this room, besides you, who else is truly surnamed Bai?”
“Your father started from nothing and built Bai Group, making it bear the name Bai. Now his body is barely cold, yet those eagerly waiting to take over the company, to take over the chamber—do any of them share your surname?”
“Zhou Yan, Mr. Zhou—what’s your surname?”
“And you two—what are your surnames?”
She pointed her finger at each of them in turn. Every person she indicated paled a shade further.
Finally she looked at Zhou Meizhen, whose face was also grim, but after a moment’s hesitation, held her tongue.
Liu Yutong had made her point bluntly, hoping this simple truth would wake Bai Shisui up: You’re the only one with a different surname here.
True, they were blood relatives, but when surnames differed, they remained outsiders in the end!
Gradually, a terrible thought that Bai Shisui had never dared to contemplate began to surface uncontrollably.
If her father lived, Bai Group would forever be Bai.
With her father gone and power falling to her uncle… in a few years, would it still be Bai?
As for Liu Yutong, though she too was an outsider, the money Bai Shisui had earned simply by following her investments was almost enough to buy thirty percent of Bai Group outright.
From that perspective, Liu Yutong was actually more reliable than the Zhou family.
Seeing the situation spiraling downward, Zhou Yan panicked. Liu Yutong had shaken Bai Shisui’s resolve with just a few words. If Bai Shisui acknowledged the share transfer, it would mean endless trouble for them. He couldn’t let her continue!
“Liu Yutong, stop spreading malicious rumors to confuse people and sow discord in our family!”
“Sister! Shisui! Don’t listen to her! Shisui, I’m your own uncle! Would I harm you? Everything I do is to keep Bai Group from falling into outsiders’ hands, to ensure you and your mother are taken care of! That woman—she’s the outsider! She’s the one scheming after Bai family assets!”
The two Zhou family executives chimed in: “Mr. Zhou is right! She’s the outsider, the one with wolfish ambitions!”
“…”
Yet no matter how much mud they slung at Liu Yutong, she seemed not to hear them. She simply watched Bai Shisui quietly, waiting for her response.
Bai Shisui took a deep breath and stood. She turned toward her mother and uncle. “Mother, Uncle—I believe in Father’s choice.”
“Father did indeed say before his death that he would transfer thirty percent of Bai Group shares to Sister Yutong as the foundation of our partnership. The relevant letter of intent and signed documents are with my lawyer.”
Bang!
Her words detonated like thunder through the banquet hall.
“So there really is a share transfer! The young lady admitted it herself!”
“Damn! Two billion dollars in shares, just given away? Chairman Bai really trusted this Miss Liu!”
“Looks like Miss Liu was telling the truth—she really is Bai Group’s second-largest shareholder!”
“Then she absolutely has the right to attend, even more say than Zhou Yan!”
“…”
Zhou Yan’s face drained of color. He lunged forward and grabbed Bai Shisui’s arm. “Shisui, have you lost your mind? That’s thirty percent—two billion dollars! How can you acknowledge this? She’s an outsider trying to steal Bai family assets!”
Bai Shisui jerked her arm free. “Uncle, Sister Yutong is not an outsider! Father trusted her, and I trust her. Besides, this was Father’s decision—I have no right to overturn it!”
“You—!” Zhou Yan seethed with frustration.
Zhou Meizhen also grew anxious. “Shisui, listen to your mother—you can’t give those shares to an outsider! Your father must have been confused when he made that decision. We can simply refuse to honor it!”
“Mother!”
Bai Shisui looked at her mother, disappointment in her eyes. “Father discussed this with me before. He said Sister Yutong has the ability to lead Bai Group to greater heights. And before this, the money I made following her investments was almost enough to buy those thirty percent shares outright. She doesn’t need to trick me!”
“What does a young girl like you know about investments? That was just luck,” Zhou Meizhen scoffed.
A Zhou family deputy director chimed in: “Shisui, you can’t let an outsider deceive you. Your uncle is the one who truly has your and Bai Group’s best interests at heart. Miss Liu probably just gave you some small profits first to set you up, waiting for a chance to swallow Bai Group whole.”
“Exactly! We’ve served Chairman Bai loyally for years. You can’t let an outsider fool you.”
Bai Shisui looked at these red-faced, agitated Zhou family members, and suddenly everything became clear.
They kept saying it was for her, for Bai Group, but from beginning to end, they only cared about power and profit.
Her father had just passed, yet instead of properly mourning him, they scrambled to seize control. Now they desperately opposed her father’s final decision—weren’t they simply afraid that she and Sister Yutong would join forces and cut off their money flow?
“Enough!”
Bai Shisui’s voice rang out, silencing them. “This was my father’s decision, and I will not change it! Sister Yutong is a shareholder of Bai Group, and no one can deny that!”