Zhao Lifei wished she had prepared herself mentally and physically when she stepped through the boundary separating her from the hospital room. The faint smell of chemicals mixed with a healthy concoction of essential oils lingered in the room, swarming up her nose. Her senses tingled with the familiar, but unpleasant memories. Light, rhythmic beeping of a machine created a small white noise in the perfectly-cleaned and organized room.

"Has anyone else been in here?" Zhao Lifei's hands felt empty. At a time like this, should she have brought flowers? Her eyes lifted to the small vases beside her grandfather.

"Yes, your older cousin, Zhao Xingxing was the first to visit. She brought the freshly bloomed lilies. Accompanying her is Zhao Jing came with a basket of fruit and a bouquet of carnations." Li Xuan answered in a heartbeat, ready to list on more names, but Zhao Lifei shook her head.

"Get rid of the flowers."

"Miss Zhao!" Li Xuan alarmingly said, astonished by her words.

"Grandfather will be offended if he wakes up to flowers. He'll think people are mourning for his death already." Zhao Lifei clicked her tongue, stalking to the flower, her hands brushing against the white lily petal. "Throw this one out first. Freshly bloomed lilies will have exposed pollens that might spark allergies. This is also the type of flower you'd bring to a funeral."

Li Xuan paused. The lilies were easily the most beautiful flowers in the room and its mellow pearl-white color was a nice balance to the world of pink, yellow, and red. "The President will not mind the pollen. He's not allergic to it. If we get rid of the flowers without his permission, he will think none of his grandchildren visited him."

"Grandfather is wise. He'll know everyone will come rushing into this hospital room to wait for his will. Besides, he was never the type of man to care about his children or grandchildren."

'But he cared about you.' Wu Yuntai thought to himself. He kept his mouth shut and turned to Li Xuan whose full lips were pulled into a straight line. "We will leave that decision to the President."

"Fine then. Don't say I didn't warn you." Zhao Lifei murmured, stepping back from the flowers.

She was attempting to find everything and anything that could distract her from the unconscious man lying on the hospital bed. She didn't want to look upon his grey, paling skin, or the needles stuck into his veins. He was always a healthy weight, but lying on the hospital bed now, she could see his skin clinging onto his body, exposing the veins underneath.

"Did the doctors say when he will wake up?" Zhao Lifei shifted her head in the opposite direction of the bed, an action that neither of the men missed.

"The doctors said he fainted due to stress and strain. It's unsure when he will wake up, but hopefully, it will be by tomorrow." Li Xuan didn't miss the opportunity to throw her a discreet glance when he mentioned the cause of the hospitalization.

She caught onto his stare and glare, "I hope you're not suggesting that I am the reason as to why he's hospitalized."

"I'm not implying anything." Li Xuan frowned, "The President was fine just a couple of days ago, up until—"

"Until I confronted him with the truth." Zhao Lifei finished for him, crossing her arms in defense. "We don't have time to play the blame game." She glanced at the calendar on the other side of the room. "I'm sure you know what this means."

Li Xuan wished he didn't have to think about the future. Although Zhao Moyao was very cold and aloof to him, behaving like a ruthless dictator at times, Li Xuan still felt a connection to his Boss. Zhao Moyao was like a harsh mentor, or maybe even a distant uncle, to him. It was the worst thing to do, but right now, they had to think about the worst-case-scenario. What if Zhao Moyao doesn't wake up?

"What are you implying?" Li Xuan finally gathered the courage to ask her the question.

"Exactly what you're thinking about." Zhao Lifei answered with a slight frown. "If my cousins have already made their move by visiting the hospital, it means words have gotten out to my other relatives that grandfather is sick."

Wu Yuntai shared the same worried expression on his face. "Everyone is already planning on dethroning him."

"Yes." Zhao Lifei pressed her lips together. This was exactly why Zhao Moyao despised his dysfunctional family. They only care about benefiting themselves, and never benefiting each other. Just because he was hospitalized, everyone was already making their move on seizing Zhao Corporation.

"As we speak, I can assume my relatives are already dividing into separate teams. Maybe they've already gotten past that stage and are currently plotting to backstab each other." Zhao Lifei was born long after her grandmother had died. But she had heard of the messy dispute that took place to seize the meager 5% she held. At a time like this, every little share mattered — regardless of how big or small it was.

"You don't have to assume any longer." Wu Yuntai said, holding up his phone with an amused expression. He wasn't even part of their family but received an invitation to dinner tonight. "You rich folks are so quick to betray."

"You're also a rich folk because of the President." Li Xuan frowned.

"Says the right-hand man." Wu Yuntai mused.

Zhao Lifei's phone vibrated and she glanced down to see it was a message from one of her uncles inviting her to an exclusive dinner. Her eyebrows raised when he mentioned her as "the guest of honor." Of course, she was. The share she possessed was no joke and now that her relationship with Yang Feng was aired, her relatives must've assumed he would give her his shares. If she wanted to, she could easily become one of the most outstanding candidates for the CEO position at Zhao Corporation. But that was not her. She didn't want the company. She had her own to worry about — one that she built from the ground-up.

"Are you going?" Wu Yuntai didn't want to go, but he had to for the sake of being a spy.

"No." Zhao Lifei slipped her phone into her pocket, "You will go there in my stead."

"Then where will you be?"

Zhao Lifei's eyes shifted to the unconscious Zhao Moyao. He was partially the reason, but another was that she didn't want to see her annoying, backstabbing relatives. Besides, if she was there, they wouldn't talk as much trash as she wanted them to. If one was smart enough, anything said in there could be used as a weapon against them.

Wu Yuntai's lips parted in understanding. For once, Li Xuan finally relaxed a bit, the left corner of his mouth tilting up.

"Don't go there empty-handed." Zhao Lifei pulled out her phone, sent a quick text, then slipped it back into her pocket. "I'm sure they will never disrespect a relative by doing a full-body scan to check for recording devices. However, they will utilize a technology whose sound waves can cancel the mics." She raised her head from the phone, "I'm having special ones delivered right now. I expect you to wear them and wisely conceal it somewhere."

Wu Yuntai nodded his head, "Sir, yes, sir." He joked, in hopes of brightening the tense atmosphere. He received glares of warning from both Zhao Lifei and Li Xuan.

Ten minutes passed by, then fifteen, and the door opened. Both men found themselves scrambling to their feet as if Zhao Moyao had walked in. The presence of the guest was powerful, overbearing. His familiar, chiseled features forced them to hold their breath. "Good afternoon, President Yang."

Yang Feng gave a small nod of acknowledgment, but he mainly kept his eyes centered on the woman sitting by the couch, legs crossed. He wasted no time to cross the distance to her, whisking her to her feet.

"I was surprised to receive your message." He informed her, a hand resting on her lower back and the other holding a small box. "What do you need these for?" He asked her to which she took the box, and uncapped it, revealing an inconspicuous white dot that could easily blend into any white button-up.

The only person that Zhao Lifei could think of was Yang Feng. Knowing him, he could practically get his hands on anything and it was no surprise to her that he was able to get her this small and easily concealable mic. "Wu Yuntai will be heading to a family dinner. I need him mic-ed up." She explained, closing the box with a small smile.

"Was it hard to acquire these?" She asked, standing on her tippy-toes to brush her hand against his face, sliding down to settle on his shoulders.

"The base already had it in their possession." Yang Feng left out the part where he threatened to annihilate an entire clan if he didn't get his hands on this device within five minutes. Whatever his wife wanted, she shall get.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.