"I am happy you chased after it. It gave you purpose until you had other things to motivate you. Being motivated by insignificant people is not bad. It's what you achieve in the end that counts."

He saw her put the lid on the pan and slowly turned her around to face him.

"I am proud of you, Qian Meng." He cradled her cheeks and gazed deeply into her eyes. "And I love you so much."

Her heart prickled and she propped herself on her toes and kissed him silly.

"I went to meet your father today," he confessed that night. "He won't bother you anymore," he spoke with certainty.

She hissed. "I thought I had singlehandedly made him kneel. You scared him into it?" she grumbled.

He shook his head. "You did everything. I just asked him to stop bothering us."

This victory was hers along. He was just going to be beside her and watch her shine.

"Really?" She looked suspicious of his words.

"Really," he assured. "I look forward to seeing how you manage those people."

Qian Meng smirked. "It's time for spring cleaning," she said ominously.

- - - - -

What happened over the next week boggled everyone's mind. The explosive news that the President of Yun Corporation, Yun Sui Bo, had stepped down from his position was seen on the news. While Qian Meng had asked the media to play his firing down, the people knew what this meant.

Qian Meng was adamant about being the secret owner of Yun Corporation without facing the company. The first thing she did was appoint her trusted troubleshoot company to reform everything.

Her goal was simple. Clean the company and kick the bad seeds out.

The first person on that list was Vice President Li Wenyue. Qian Meng silently removed him from his post and gave him a nice leaving package to say goodbye.

When Mo Qingchen asked why she had thrown out the person who had helped her take over, she smiled. "He helped me because he was threatened. He didn't do it because he wanted the company to do well," she began.

Qingchen frowned. "He has a great reputation."

"He remained silent and even spurred on the bad decisions made by the President and the other executives. Why should I keep him?" she asked.

Qingchen nodded. "I see. So, you took the enemy general, used him, and then discarded him." He smirked. "You knew he would likely betray you in the future, so you took away his chances to do so."

She ran her fingers through Mo Qingchen's hair. "Absolutely."

"I must say, I thought you would fire all the executives as well, but you did something shocking," he chuckled.

"Firing all of them would be bad for me. By sending them to subsidiaries with good pay and bonuses is already a boon for them. They were scared that they would lose their job and never get another one, but I gave them a chance."

She had essentially turned a pack of wolves into a pack of friendly dogs.

"This is a better way to emasculate them rather than killing them in one stroke. If I fired them, their anger would grow and they would seek vengeance."

"You could handle them, though," he said matter-of-factly.

"Of course, I could. But I don't want to waste energy on this. I have placed them in positions that have no power and only monetary benefits. Once they realize it, they will leave on their own accord. Why do I need to ruin my good image and offend them?"

Her words made sense.

"I am the aggressive kind. You, on the other hand, are a schemer." He had known for a long time, but seeing her plans mature into these unfathomable forces of nature… it was a sight to behold.

"I like that about you. We complement each other in that way," she responded with a raised brow. "But I will be really busy for a few months. The acting CEO is good at his job but the company is down in the dumpster."

She shook her head in disbelief.

"When I saw all the papers, I wanted to cry. The employee benefits, the problematic pay structure… everything just screams bad business practice," she whined.

"To think that our story started with the two of us fighting in front of millions of people, defending our fathers' company." He chuckled. "And now we are getting a headache from the things we tried to defend."

Qian Meng clucked her tongue. "It's divine retribution for not realizing what a scumbag Mr. Yun is." And then she chuckled. "He is going to be discharged tomorrow."

Mo Qingchen rolled his eyes. "What have you planned for him?" he asked.

"I am taking all his shares. I sent Li Min with two cruise tickets. Jiang Xin and Yun Sui Bo can finally enjoy their married life." She snickered.

"Evil," he said, tapping on her nose. "He will be reliving the humiliation he faced with all the time he has on his hand."

Safe to say, Qian Meng had enough leverage over the man to buy the shares at abnormally low rates. She still allowed her father to have enough money to live a carefree life.

But not enough that he could stand on his feet and try to fight her again.

It was a pleasure to see him suffer in this way. Completely defeated with no way to retreat or move forward. He could only follow what she planned for him and he couldn't even protest about it.

In the following months, word spread in the business community about how formidable Yun Qian Meng was. Before, her husband was feared for his demeanor, but recently, no one dared to protest against her. Her meticulous schemes had become a legend in themselves.

Everyone said that Qian Meng set the house ablaze to save it from the plague.

And she could do it again.

The employees rejoiced and the shareholders took a deep breath of relief. Yun Corporation was going to make a comeback. And it was going to flourish.

It would take a couple of years, but it would definitely happen.