CHAPTER XIV — Silent Aid, Tianhai Ascendant
1975 Words
Night in Listening Pines Courtyard congealed like spilled ink. Wind keened through collapsed walls, spinning dead leaves and grit into mournful spirals. Inside the derelict shack, no lamp burned. Only pallid moonlight, grudgingly admitted through torn paper windows, sketched desolation’s bones: splintered pallet, crippled table, nameless debris. Air hung thick with decay—mildew, dust, and the lingering, acrid bite of charred failure.
Shen Qingwu lay coiled on icy planks, swathed in a quilt reeking of mildew and despair. Shivers wracked her slight frame—cold and lingering pain’s aftershock. The old bruise at her temple throbbed dully; the fresh brand on her collarbone, Qingxue’s parting gift, pulsed with deeper ache. Yet these were mere echoes against the raw laceration in her spirit.
Her sister’s venomous scorn, icy and precise, coiled like an asp around her heart, each breath a suffocating sting. The warehouse keeper’s disdain, the muffled snickers—all replayed in her sightless void, weaving a vast, inescapable web titled Shame.
“Useless… blind… destined for the muck…”
Each syllable a brand searing her soul’s core.
She buried her face deeper into the cold, musty quilt, seeking refuge from the consuming dark. Tears had long dried, leaving only marrow-deep exhaustion and an arctic hollowness. This world offered no warmth. Father gone. Mother exiled. Shen bloodline viewing her as tainted ballast. Now bartered as chattel to a man as silent and enigmatic as he was deemed worthless… Perhaps Qingxue spoke truth. Rot was her birthright.
Outside.
Qin Hao sat cross-legged in the courtyard’s frozen mire. His perch: the moss-slicked millstone slab. Back turned to the shack’s ruined maw, his silhouette in the thin moonlight resembled a weathered monolith, absorbed into the desolation. Wind whipped his worn jacket’s hem, a futile assault against his immobility.
His gaze rested on the frayed tome open on his knees—The Ji Yang Classic. Fingers traced the brittle pages, over familiar diagrams of meridians and archaic formulae. Calm. Unfathomable. The tempest in Shen’s boardroom, Qingxue’s vitriol, Qingwu’s shattered sobs—all seemed dust motes skittering over bedrock.
Yet—
As his fingertip brushed a passage detailing the “Nine Yin Meridian Lock”—a rare congenital curse—his motion imperceptibly stilled.
Beside a faded ink blot, nearly devoured by wormholes, minute characters scribed a marginal note:
“…Lone Yin cannot flourish; Solitary Yang cannot ignite. To shatter the Nine Yin Lock… requires the Essence of Paramount Yang, tempered by Earth Mother’s Breath… Yet channeling solar fire into yin meridians… invites annihilation… Soul-scatter risk…”
Qin Hao’s gaze lingered on the note for a fractional breath.
His left hand lifted—seemingly to brush wind-tousled hair from his temple.
A motion—lightning-swift! Yet imbued with lethal precision!
The ring finger’s root—
The brass band hidden in sleeve-shadow—
Its inner sanctum—
Where the sigil of “Primordial Earth’s Burden” (Ancestral Dragon · Unshakable Root) intertwined with the glyph of “Chaos Thunder Annihilation” (Purple Firmament Thunder Dragon · Primordial Conquest)—
Awakened!
By the fleeting touch!
Two opposing, yet harmonized, cosmic mandates—
One—mountain-immovable!
One—sky-rending fury!
Compressed! Refined! Into filaments finer than spider-silk—invisible to eye or machine!
*HUMMMM—!!!*
A subsonic tremor—felt only in Qin Hao’s soul—like glaciers grinding continents!
The filaments—cosmic lances—pierced void! Ignored space, time, Earth’s frail barriers! Speared through Jiangcheng’s ionosphere! Beyond satellite nets! Unerringly striking—
Geosynchronous orbit!
A satellite designated █████—core of the “Abyssal Array,” absent from all public registries!
Contact!
The satellite’s core processor—forged from non-terrestrial elements, circuitry echoing cosmic strings—
Ignited!
A command-stream—pure mandate encrypted—the universe’s first decree!
Injected!
*DIRECTIVE: TIANHAI. TARGET: SHEN PHARMA. SUBJECT: SHEN QINGWU. PROTOCOL: ‘ASCENDANT.’ EXECUTE.*
Directive issued!
Qin Hao’s hand lowered. The ring’s inner fire dimmed to dormancy.
Eyelids descended. Gaze returned to the Ji Yang Classic. The act that could pivot global finance—a page turned in obscurity.
Wind still keened.
From the shack, Qingwu’s stifled weeping whispered.
All remained.
Desolate.
***
Dawn. Stellar Tower Summit.
Yesterday’s wreckage had vanished. Shattered pottery, scattered files, mangled electronics—erased. The obsidian desk gleamed, sterile. Floor-to-ceiling windows mirrored a leaden sky, admitting no warmth. Cedarwood incense persisted, powerless against the marrow-deep chill.
Shen Qingxue sat enthroned in her leather command seat. A fresh black suit—blade-sharp—sheathed her. Hair sculpted, makeup flawless—a mask of impeccable frost. Yet within her glacier eyes, a crimson web of fatigue and near-shatter tension pulsed.
The desk groaned under a cairn of doom: bank demands, supplier desertions, distributor rebukes—each a venomous barb in Shen Pharma’s faltering heart. The cash-death knell clanged in her mind.
Lin Yuan stood sentinel, pallid, breath held. Silence reigned, thick as a shroud, broken only by the HVAC’s death-rattle drone.
“CEO…” Lin Yuan ventured, voice hushed. “Legal… Renhetang’s breach claim… initial estimate… exceeds thirty million… And… Zhao Group… appears to be inciting other distributors…”
Qingxue’s grip on the armrest whitened knuckles. Thirty million! The killing blow! Zhao Tianxiong’s smug grin burned behind her eyes.
*Beep! Beep! Beep!*
The dedicated line shattered the silence!
Lin Yuan flinched. Qingxue’s icy gaze snapped to the screen—an unfamiliar Beijing landline: 010-XXXX.
Beijing? Her heart lurched. Uncle Zhou? Worse?
She inhaled, compressing turmoil. Lifted the receiver. Voice cool, controlled, a filament taut beneath: “Shen Qingxue speaking.”
A voice replied—calm, precise, steeped in Beijing cadence, radiating unassailable authority:
“CEO Shen. Apologies for the intrusion. Beijing Tianhai Group, Chairman’s Office. Liu Zhenguo, Executive Assistant to the Chairman.”
Tianhai Group?!
The name detonated in Qingxue’s skull!
Pupils contracted! Fingers locked on the handset! Heart seized mid-beat!
Tianhai Group!
The colossus astride global commerce’s zenith! Spanning finance, energy, tech, biopharma! A true empire—wealth eclipsing nations! Perennial top-three global titan!
Such an entity… contacting Shen Pharma? Contacting her?
Shock—tsunami force—engulfed her! Mind blanked! Breath ceased!
“A-Assistant Liu?” Her voice betrayed a micro-tremor, ruthlessly suppressed. “How… may I assist?”
“CEO Shen,” Liu Zhenguo’s tone remained even, unreadable. “Tianhai recently launched ‘Life Oasis’—a major biopharma integration initiative across Southeast China. Our preliminary sector analysis identified Shen Pharma’s deep-rooted TCM expertise and certain core products—notably preliminary R&D data for ‘Jade Bone Balm’—as strategically compelling.”
A pause. Bureaucratic precision: “Consequently, the Board has resolved to include Shen Pharma among ‘Life Oasis’ inaugural strategic partners. Tianhai proposes an interest-free strategic capital infusion of five billion RMB to accelerate core R&D, scale production, and optimize distribution. Concurrently, Tianhai’s global ‘Health Ark’ pharmacy network will fully open to Shen Pharma. Initial procurement commitment: two billion RMB, prioritizing ‘Jade Bone Balm’ and future iterations.”
Five billion! Interest-free! Two billion orders! Global channels!
Each figure—a celestial thunderbolt! Detonating in Qingxue’s core! Shattering the office silence!
Lin Yuan gaped, eyes bulging, jaw slack—utter disbelief!
Qingxue’s hand trembled violently on the handset! Fingertips ice! Volcanic elation breached her glacial defenses! A savior from the abyss! Shen Pharma’s resurrection—no, apotheosis!
“Assistant Liu! Tianhai’s… trust… is profoundly appreciated!” Her voice vibrated with fervor. “Shen Pharma will exceed expectations! I personally guarantee ‘Life Oasis’—”
“CEO Shen,” Liu Zhenguo interrupted, tone unchanged yet final. “Specific operational parameters are non-negotiable.”
Qingxue’s soaring hope faltered. Dread pricked. “Specify!”
“Per strategic assessment and ‘Life Oasis’ requirements for partner synergy,” Liu’s words struck like gavel blows, “all aspects of this collaboration—fund disbursement, order execution, tech transfer—must be exclusively managed by Ms. Shen Qingwu.”
“Wh—what?!” Qingxue’s elation flash-froze! Ice water drenched her! “Sh-Shen Qingwu?!”
“Affirmative. Ms. Shen Qingwu.” Liu’s verdict was absolute. “This is the Board’s irrevocable mandate. Ms. Qingwu’s sole stewardship is the sine qua non for collaboration. Compliance is expected.”
“But—” Qingxue’s voice sharpened with incredulous fury, “Assistant Liu! Shen Qingwu is… peripheral! She holds no corporate position! No commercial acumen! Entrusting her with this magnitude—it’s… ludicrous!”
“CEO Shen!” Liu’s tone plunged to subzero, authority crushing dissent. “Tianhai’s mandates require no justification. We adjudicate outcomes. Should Shen Pharma reject this condition, ‘Life Oasis’ will pivot. Draft agreements have been emailed. Formal response required by 1700 today.”
*Click.*
Dead air. Mockery amplified.
Qingxue stood petrified! Handset a dead weight! Her porcelain mask shattered—revealing shock, absurdity, scalding humiliation!
Shen Qingwu?!
The blind one?! The family shame?! The muck-bound refuse she’d scorned yesterday?!
Tianhai—the global apex predator—demanded her?! To helm billions?!
Impossible! Grotesque! Cosmic farce!
Volcanic fury—fused with envy, shame, and primal fear—erupted within her! Organs twisted! She slammed the handset onto its cradle! A gunshot c***k!
*“SHEN QINGWU!!!”*
A shriek—guttural, lacerated—escaped her! Pure venom and demented disbelief!
“C-CEO…” Lin Yuan stammered, ghost-pale. “Tianhai… they… truly…”
*“SILENCE!”* Qingxue whirled! Eyes feral, hunting prey. “Mobilize everything! Uncover Tianhai’s scheme! How does that worm connect to them?! Find out! NOW!!!”
She paced—caged tigress—stilettos stabbing the carpet. The vast window reflected her contorted, bloodless face.
*Ding!*
Her private terminal chimed. Screen brightened. An encrypted email: Tianhai Group Chairman’s Office. Attached: “Life Oasis – Preliminary Agreement (Confidential).”
Qingxue lunged! Fingers trembling, she opened the draft.
Text echoed Liu’s call—cold, concise.
The attachment.
She clicked.
Eyes scanned clauses, astronomical figures—a laser of desperation.
Then—
Locked onto the document’s terminus:
*[Party A (Tianhai Group) designates Party B (Shen Pharmaceuticals) Project Sole Steward: SHEN QINGWU.]*
*[This clause constitutes an absolute condition precedent. Any alteration to this stewardship by Party B constitutes material breach, entitling Party A to immediate termination and full damages.]*
Black on white! Indelible! A curse etched in legal stone! Binding Qingwu’s name! Sealing Qingxue’s doom!
*“ARRRGH—!!!”*
A shriek—inhuman, shattered—ripped from her! Hands clawed her coiffure! Hair tumbled wild! She hammered a fist onto the mahogany desk!
*BOOM!!!*
The massive desk shuddered! Files, pens, ornaments cascaded! A brass paperweight thudded dully onto carpet.
*“SHEN QINGWU! YOU VILE THING! WHAT SORCERY?! WHOSE w***e?!”*
Her roar—hoarse, demented—vomited venom and incomprehension! Humiliation and betrayal’s acid scoured her soul!
Lin Yuan cowered, a cornered mouse.
Qingxue heaved, chest a bellows. She snapped her head up, bloodshot eyes spearing northwest—toward Listening Pines’ desolation. Gaze—venom-tipped ice.
“Fine! Fine! Fine!” Three syllables—iced steel, dripping malice. “Shen Qingwu! Crave stewardship? Yearn to eclipse me?! Have it!”
She snatched the phone. Fingers threatened to crush the handset. Dialed an internal line.
*“ZHOU FU!”* Her voice—scalpel on bone. “To Listening Pines! Fetch that blind burden! Now! Tell her—”
Her voice soared—a poisoned arrow loosed:
*“—Cosmic fortune has favored her!”*
- Writer
