Chapter 370

Chapter 370 Was It You Who Did It?

Late at night, lying there completely bare, with a stunningly beautiful woman sitting right beside him — the whole situation felt incredibly awkward.

“You’re really not leaving?” Su Rui lay there on the bed, the faint, delicate scent of Lin Aoxue’s body drifting to his nose. That awareness stirred something in him — something almost impossible to look at directly.

In this context, “stirred something” and “indecent” meant pretty much the same thing.

“I’m not leaving.”

Lin Aoxue had no intention of backing down. She furrowed her brow slightly, then actually turned to face him, fixing her gaze on Su Rui’s lower abdomen. Her cheeks were faintly flushed, yet she wore her signature cold expression. There wasn’t much emotion in her eyes — though somewhere in them lurked a faint trace of contempt.

Su Rui was stunned. He hadn’t expected Lin Aoxue to be this bold — not only could she hold her ground under his “pressure,” she still had enough composure left to strike back.

“This girl’s got some serious nerve.”

Even as he thought that, he ultimately couldn’t withstand Lin Aoxue’s icy stare — or more precisely, a certain part of him couldn’t withstand the pressure of her gaze. Under those cold, unwavering eyes, what had been standing tall and proud finally had no choice but to hang its head, drooping limply against his thigh.

Even with Su Rui’s extraordinarily thick skin, his face was now burning red.

He finally admitted defeat, grabbing the blanket beside him and wrapping himself up tightly.

“Not only did I lose — I lost in the most humiliating way possible!” Su Rui thought, fuming.

Lin Aoxue still looked completely expressionless. “What’s wrong, not continuing?”

“Not continuing.” Su Rui said irritably. “I’m not nearly as shameless as you.”

Lin Aoxue still looked as cold as ever — but only she knew how fast her heart had been pounding just moments ago. It had nearly leapt right out of her throat.

People are driven by instinct. When it comes to certain things that touch on instinct, no matter how strongly your will resists, those feelings are nearly impossible to suppress.

Only she knew what those extra few glances had done to her.

When Su Rui finally pulled the blanket over himself, hadn’t she quietly let out a small sigh of relief?

Lin Aoxue gave a cold laugh. “Whether I’m shameless or not is one thing — whether you measure up is another matter entirely.”

Even if you’ve never eaten pork, you’ve at least seen a pig run, right? Lin Aoxue spent enough time browsing online to know just how much the word “size” could mean to a man’s ego.

Hearing that, Su Rui felt a wave of profound sorrow wash over him. He let out a mournful cry in his heart, yanked the blanket over himself, and pulled it all the way up over his face.

“Did you come all the way here in the middle of the night just to tear me down?” Su Rui said, his voice muffled under the blanket.

Lin Aoxue had no interest in acknowledging his ridiculous behavior. She said calmly, “Gaoqi Investment Bank’s stock hit the limit down.”

“What does Gaoqi’s stock hitting the limit down have to do with me? It’s not like I ever bought their stock.” Su Rui poked half his head out from under the covers and said helplessly, “I mean, seriously — you came all the way over here from the villa in the middle of the night just to discuss financial market trends with me?”

“I’m not here to discuss financial trends with you.”

“Then what are you here for?” Su Rui’s eyes shifted, and he put on a look of sudden realization. “Don’t tell me you came to sleep with me? Actually, that doesn’t seem right either — looking at you, I don’t think you’d do something like that.”

Lin Aoxue really wanted to just strangle this guy and be done with it. And if she couldn’t strangle him, sewing his mouth shut would do just fine.

“Did you cause Gaoqi’s stock to hit the limit down?” Lin Aoxue fixed her eyes on Su Rui’s and asked coldly.

“I’m here sleeping — why would I have the time or interest to make Gaoqi’s stock hit the limit down? That’s never been my thing.” Su Rui rolled his eyes irritably. “Seriously, can we change the subject? It’s the middle of the night, there’s a cool breeze and a bright moon, a man and a woman alone together in a room — and instead of sweet nothings, we’re talking finance?”

Su Rui wanted to die — wanted to bang his head against a wall. This gorgeous, breathtaking beauty had come all the way to his room in the dead of night, and it turned out she was here to discuss international financial markets. The whole situation filled him with a deep, burning sense of injustice.

“This is exactly what I came to talk to you about.” In the eyes of a hardcore academic like Lin Aoxue, things like moonlit nights and romantic talk seemed to have nothing to do with her — those things belonged to an entirely different world.

Su Rui said miserably, “Am I not good-looking enough? Is my body not good enough? Is a certain part of me really not impressive enough? Why — why is it that after seeing my body, the very first question you ask is about stocks?”

Su Rui was on the verge of tears. Lin Aoxue, on the other hand, smiled.

It was only a faint smile — barely a slight curve at the corner of her lips — yet it was as if the entire room had suddenly bloomed into spring.

Su Rui was stunned. Lin Aoxue normally wore the look of an ice-cold beauty — serious, composed, never cracking a smile — but even the lightest smile revealed an expression that could only be described as breathtaking, enough to make any man fall for her completely.

“Really wasn’t you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Gaoqi Bank’s stock.” Miss Lin’s head was still full of financial market data, which made Su Rui want to die all over again.

“Of course not — I was sound asleep. How would I know Gaoqi’s stock was going to hit the limit down?” Su Rui said irritably. “Do you really think I’m one of those finance elites? Staying up in the middle of the night watching American stocks?”

“Gaoqi’s stock hasn’t hit the limit down in all these years — in fact, it’s been climbing steadily for the past two years. Then, just an hour ago, it hit the limit down for the very first time in history.” She paused, then said gravely, “Down ten percent.”

Anyone who hasn’t spent time in financial circles wouldn’t understand what a ten percent single-day drop means for a financial giant of that scale.

It meant their assets had been directly reduced by one-tenth.

“Their assets shrinking by ten percent doesn’t mean anything to me.” Su Rui spread his hands. “Don’t tell me you bought their stock?”

“I didn’t.”

“Then there’s even less reason for us to be talking about this.” Su Rui said with a grin. “Let’s talk about something artistic instead.”

As he said it, he silently added four more words in his mind — “the art of the human body.”

“Not interested.” Lin Aoxue replied, as calm as ever.

“I just want to confirm whether my suspicion is right.” Lin Aoxue kept her eyes fixed on Su Rui’s, as if searching for the answer there.

“You think I have that kind of ability?” Su Rui gave a dismissive cold laugh.

“Gaoqi Bank has stood for a hundred years without falling — it barely took a hit even during the subprime mortgage crisis. I don’t believe anyone can shake their position.” Lin Aoxue said evenly.

“Then why are you asking me?” Su Rui thought to himself that this girl was really something — if she didn’t believe he could do it, why go through all this?

“I don’t believe anyone else could pull it off — but I think you could.” Lin Aoxue still watched Su Rui’s eyes with complete seriousness.

“So my image in your mind is that towering and magnificent?” Su Rui rubbed his nose.

“Towering and magnificent might be a stretch — but there are times when you can turn the tide.” Lin Aoxue gave Su Rui a compliment that landed just right, making him feel quite pleased with himself.

“Honestly, that’s a pretty accurate assessment. I like it.” Su Rui said with a smile.

Lin Aoxue had every reason to believe it was Su Rui — and solid reasons at that.

Earlier that evening, during the meeting, Xu Wenjie — Gaoqi’s Asia regional head — had not only refused to contribute to Bikangs financing, but had also persuaded other investment banks to stop investing. The situation had given Lin Aoxue a serious headache, and in desperation she had handed the whole matter over to Su Rui to handle however he saw fit.

In truth, Lin Aoxue hadn’t held out much hope for how things would turn out. Over the years, Gaoqi Bank’s standing in the financial world had grown increasingly unshakeable, and its way of doing business had grown increasingly aggressive — leaving firms like Huasheng and Morgan Stanley further and further behind. If even those players couldn’t influence Gaoqi’s business expansion, how could Su Rui possibly manage it?

Four new energy companies simultaneously announced they were divesting their equity and stepping out from under Gaoqi’s shadow. Eighty percent of the Class A bonds were dumped onto the market in a frenzy, forcing Gaoqi to mobilize all its liquid capital to frantically buy them back. Just as every last bit of Gaoqi’s funds was tied up absorbing its own high-quality bonds, the far larger Class B bonds were dumped — another eighty percent — hitting the market all at once. That single, blunt move cost Gaoqi Bank several billion dollars in losses on the spot.

With all three attacks landing simultaneously, Gaoqi’s stock hit the limit down that very day — an unprecedented event in the company’s history.

The news sent shockwaves not only through Wall Street and across America, but also across the ocean, where many dark eyes were filled with equal disbelief.

Something no one had managed to do in a hundred years — and it had been done this easily?

Experts were already sensing that this was far from over. The first day’s limit down was nothing more than an appetizer. The butterfly effect had already been set in motion — what awaited Gaoqi now was a far more ferocious storm.

No — “storm” wasn’t even the right word to describe the carnage that was coming. If other financial institutions saw this as an opportunity and piled in, what awaited Gaoqi would be a full-blown hurricane.

Everyone was speculating about the identity of this mysterious financial consortium that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere — quietly acquiring eighty percent of Gaoqi Bank’s bonds without anyone noticing. Just how enormous a sum of capital would that require?

No — perhaps “consortium” wasn’t even the right word anymore. Calling it a financial empire wouldn’t be the least bit of an exaggeration.

Who could have pulled off something like this?

Miss Lin was the first to think of Su Rui.

If not him, then who?

“I just want to confirm what I already believe.” Lin Aoxue said with complete seriousness. “It really wasn’t you?”

“It really wasn’t me.” Su Rui said with a light smile. “I almost wish it had been — then I could’ve used it to win a beauty’s heart.”

There were only two people in the room, so the “beauty” Su Rui was referring to was obviously Lin Aoxue.

Lin Aoxue shook her head and was just about to say something when the phone sitting on Su Rui’s nightstand suddenly rang.

The caller ID on the screen showed five characters — Dead Fatty Old Si.