Thinking this, Zhao Ying peeked around and caught a glimpse of Yu Qiao Qiao.

Just then, Yu Qiao Qiao also happened to look her way.

Their gazes met, and Zhao Ying hurriedly flashed a grin, only to receive a slightly awkward but polite smile in return from Yu Qiao Qiao.

Zhao Ying felt... Yu Qiao Qiao seemed a bit off. Weird, actually.

And as Zhao Ying was peeking around, not understanding, Lu Man spoke up.

She sat at the head of the table and said, "The reason I've called everyone here, I believe you all know."

Zhao Ying: ?

Lu Man continued, "No matter the reasons, our relationships have become quite strange. And the truth is, we all owe Qiao Qiao an apology."

"After all, to be honest, we've all taken some of Qiao Qiao's love."

"Qiao Qiao was indeed very upset at the beginning and then thought about just quitting."

"But... first, she couldn't bear to leave Chen Yan, and second, given the huge crisis Chen Yan is facing, we can only pull through together to help him out of this low point."

"So, she finally decided to forgive Chen Yan."

"However, to be honest, while she wants to forgive, I feel that we shouldn't let Chen Yan off too easily."

"To our big family here."

"After all, while we are at fault, Chen Yan is surely the one with the most blame."

"He is the one who has wronged us."

"It's also his philandering that has led to the current situation."

"We... can't let him off easy!"

"So, let's gather today to have a chat, and then call Chen Yan together."

Hearing what Lu Man said, everyone present didn't know how to react.

It was Yang Rou, who always stood on Chen Yan's side, that pondered for a moment and then, with a slight smile, took the lead in expressing her stance.

Naturally beautiful, she seemed like an ice queen when not smiling, but once she did, the whole room seemed to light up. "Right. We can't let him off that easily. Otherwise, it would be too cheap for him."

Seeing Lu Man and Yang Rou taking a stance, He Mengxue revealed a contemplative look.

After a moment, her eyes brightened as if she understood what Lu Man and Yang Rou were up to. Looking around, she waved her hand, "Then I agree too."

Zhao Ying, being a bit slow on the uptake and not understanding what was happening, saw everyone agreeing and raised her hand with an "Oh yeah!"

Only Yu Qiao Qiao quietly said, "But Chen Yan is at a critical time in his career, isn't it a bit inappropriate for us to give him trouble?"

"His pressure is already high. If he gets distracted because of us, won't that just add to his troubles?"

Seeing Yu Qiao Qiao having second thoughts, Lu Man quickly said, "Qiao Qiao! You can't be dragging your feet! We're supposed to stick together in the future."

"And..."

As she spoke, her eyes swiveled, then she said with a mischievous twinkle, "And, this isn't causing trouble. We're actually helping him."

"Huh? Helping him?" Yu Qiao Qiao was taken aback upon hearing Lu Man's words.

She looked at Lu Man with some confusion, "Sister Man Man, how is it helping him to call and challenge him?"

Lu Man said, "Think about it."

"Do you think Chen Yan feels secure dating several people at once?"

"He's not secure either."

"He is always on edge. Afraid that we'll find out about one another. And afraid that we'll start fighting."

"By contacting him and telling him that we are coexisting peacefully and just need some assurances and compensation, wouldn't he suddenly feel a lot more at ease?"

With that, Lu Man glanced at the other women.

Yang Rou and He Mengxue kept quiet, watching her cajole Yu Qiao Qiao. However, when Zhao Ying saw Lu Man looking over, she quickly nodded naively, "Makes sense!"

Yu Qiao Qiao was no longer the naive person she used to be, not so easy to be swayed. Her mind turned quickly, and she countered, "Then we could just tell him about this, without asking for promises or compensation."

Lu Man had clearly anticipated Yu Qiao Qiao's question and said without hesitation, "You're wrong, Qiao Qiao. It's the promises and compensation that are actually key to his safety!"

"Think about it."

"If someone suddenly gave you a billion yuan out of the blue, would you feel nervous?"

Yu Qiao Qiao, naive as ever, shook her head.

Lu Man: ?

Yu Qiao Qiao innocently said, "For Chen Yan, this seems quite normal, doesn't it?"

Lu Man: ...

Lu Man patted her forehead and added, "Besides Chen Yan."

Only then did Yu Qiao Qiao nod, "Nervous."

Lu Man clapped her hands and said, "See? That's exactly it. Our peaceful coexistence, to Chen Yan, is like the sudden windfall of many billions."

"He must also be feeling apprehensive, wondering if we have some 'devious scheme.'"

"Like, maybe after chatting with each other, we might think he's too despicable, planning to trick him and then leave him all at once."

"Or maybe we're just stalling for time while looking for our own way out."

"Or perhaps we want to record his reaction, post it online, and ruin his reputation."

"So, we lay out some demands, create some trouble for him. Vent a bit about our dissatisfaction. This way, he'll actually feel relieved."

"It makes sense!" This time, right after Lu Man finished speaking, Zhao Ying enthusiastically agreed!

Perhaps because her voice was a bit loud, all the women turned to look at her.

At first, they thought she really believed what Lu Man said, but seeing her confused face, they realized: this girl was just simply... enthusiastic.

Only Lu Man took another look at her, then quietly nudged Yu Qiao Qiao with her elbow, asking, "Is your roommate always like this? She seems a bit..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but Yu Qiao Qiao understood her meaning.

So Yu Qiao Qiao quietly said, "Brother Ying is just simple-minded and likes to fool around, that's all."

Lu Man "Oh~"ed, clearly not convinced.

Regardless, egged on by Zhao Ying's rallying, Yu Qiao Qiao, after some serious thought, went along with Lu Man's plan.

It wasn't that she thought Lu Man was right. It was just that among the people present, aside from herself, all four were eager to try, and she found it hard to refuse...

....

Meanwhile, Chen Yan was inspecting his financial company in Hong Kong.

Yang Nuannuan, as the head of the financial company, accompanied him throughout.

After more than a year of hard work, Yang Nuannuan had shed her student naivety and had become more and more mature, more and more like Yang Rou...

Every time he saw her, Chen Yan felt like he was looking at a smaller version of Yang Rou.

Or maybe it was the slightly younger Yang Rou.

Chen Yan always seemed to space out a bit because of this...

In these past few months, Yang Nuannuan had performed very well.

With Chen Yan's approval, she had gradually expanded the financial company and had even secretly accumulated a team of talent skilled in shorting funds.

With the help of these talents, Yang Nuannuan's experience with fund shorting soared exponentially.

She also consistently reported her achievements to Chen Yan.

For example, she secretly shorted a small fund and then made a certain amount of money.

Or how she secretly shorted several stocks, causing a certain fund's drawdown to be significant.

Or how she discovered a loophole in the operation of a certain fund, in which she found some "business opportunities."

Honestly, every time Chen Yan heard Yang Nuannuan talk about her shorting maneuvers, he always felt that the girl was particularly excited... even more so than when she made money legitimately.

Sometimes, Chen Yan even doubted whether this girl actually had a dual personality.

And deep down inside, the dark persona had never truly disappeared...

Accompanied by Yang Nuannuan, Chen Yan finished touring the entire company, and then he asked her, "You called me earlier and said that you found a major loophole in Zhao Qingtian's fund, right?"

Yang Nuannuan nodded with a smile and said, "Yes."

Although he knew that even if he asked, he probably wouldn't understand, Chen Yan still confidently asked, "What kind of loophole?"

His reasoning was simple.

Although he wasn't clear on what the loophole was... he could continue pretending to be profound and mysterious, just like before.

After all, his track record was there, and even if he openly admitted that he didn't understand finance or stocks at all, he figured that no one would believe him. People would think he was being modest, or... showing off.

After all, only when one has accumulated a certain level of wealth can they afford to claim to have no interest in money.

So, no matter what loophole Yang Nuannuan had discovered, he could listen first, then nod enigmatically without any comment, leaving Yang Nuannuan to ponder by herself.

And once he got back, he would search Baidu or Sougou to understand what she meant, allowing him to casually drop a couple of professional terms later, continuing the pretense.

Chen Yan's plan was indeed foolproof, and he had executed it flawlessly before.

However, to his surprise, this time... his plan failed.

Yang Nuannuan imitated Chen Yan's usual enigmatic demeanor and said with a grin, "Crude oil, timing."

Chen Yan: ??

Chen Yan was full of question marks. He had absolutely no idea what Yang Nuannuan was talking about.

What about crude oil, what about timing?

He understood each word separately, but when put together, Chen Yan suddenly found their combined meaning elusive...

However, to maintain his image as a stock market guru, even if he didn't understand a thing, he still pretended to have an epiphany and nodded.

Seeing Chen Yan's masterful demeanor, Yang Nuannuan didn't doubt him at all.

After all, it would be just as ludicrous as doubting an athlete who had won several Olympic gold medals didn't understand their sport.

And perhaps because she felt Chen Yan understood her, Yang Nuannuan couldn't help but reveal a happy smile and asked, "So, Brother Yan, what do you think about my idea?"

Chen Yan wanted to speak but didn't know what to say.

He wanted to continue the charade of being unfathomable, but Yang Nuannuan had just done that. If he continued, it would appear overly deliberate.

So, he unwittingly set his mind racing, thinking of how to steer the situation.

Time ticked by, and Chen Yan always felt that with every passing second, his façade was one second closer to collapsing.

And just as Chen Yan was anxiously searching for a solution, at that moment, his phone in his pocket began to vibrate.

That instant, Chen Yan felt a glimmer of hope, as if he had found a lifeline.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and answered the call while patting Yang Nuannuan's shoulder, saying, "You can start by trying on a small scale according to your own ideas."

"Whether it succeeds or not, I will have your back."

Having said that, Chen Yan walked to the side with the phone.

At this moment, Yang Nuannuan didn't notice anything amiss with Chen Yan; her gaze was still sparkling as she watched him.

Human needs are actually staged. For someone like Yang Nuannuan, who didn't worry about food and shelter and could be considered financially independent, a "rich second generation," spiritual pursuit was in fact more important than anything.

Especially since she had received relatively little affection since she was young, she needed this kind of joy from the spiritual level even more.

And for her, recognition from Chen Yan, who she both adored and looked up to, was even more significant.

So, she couldn't help but silently cheer herself on: Go Nuan Nuan! You can do it! Don't let Chen Yan down!

At that moment, Chen Yan didn't know that Yang Nuannuan had really been fooled by him. He walked aside to take the call, and then he was completely stunned.

Normally, a call would start with one person greeting, but this call had five people greeting him one after another.

Yu Qiao Qiao, Lu Man, He Mengxue, Zhao Ying, Yang Rou all said "Chen Yan?" in sequence.

At that moment, Chen Yan's heart nearly leaped to his throat!

'How did these women come together?'

'Do they know something?'

'Especially Qiao Qiao... she's not upset, is she?'

Perhaps because the shock was too great, Chen Yan's mind was almost blank, totally clueless about what to think next.

And right then, the leader among the five women, Lu Man, spoke up.

She cleared her throat and then said to Chen Yan, "Chen Yan. Are you surprised to get a call from all five of us?"

"Let me tell you, don't be too surprised, because this might actually be a shock."

Hearing Lu Man's words, Chen Yan came to his senses, swallowed nervously, and then followed up on what Lu Man said, "What surprise and what shock?"

Lu Man said, "The five of us already know about each other's existence. That includes Qiao Qiao as well."

"So, we want to give you a chance to see if you can hold on to our hearts."

When Chen Yan heard Lu Man's words, his mind gradually began to return to calm.

He sharply detected several underlying messages from Lu Man's words:

First, Yu Qiao Qiao knew about his involvement with several women.

Second, she was still willing to give Chen Yan a chance and wasn't thinking of breaking up right away.

Third... since the women had gathered, it suggested that Yu Qiao Qiao might have silently accepted the fact that he was seeing several women.

And regarding the other four virtual girlfriends, frankly, Chen Yan wasn't too worried.

After all, they had already met each other. If there had been any issues, they would have emerged long ago and wouldn't wait for Yu Qiao Qiao's arrival to explode into new conflicts.

Thinking thus, Chen Yan inexplicably felt... although the call was startling, upon reflecting, it seemed exceptionally smooth?

Which kind "Sister" had put in so much effort... it was far too impressive?

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