After leaving the villa, Ian Song headed straight for the Shayan Jade Boutique. Susie Su messaged him that Hannah Han was already on her way back, and would arrive in Riverstone City within half an hour at most.
In reality, he and Hannah had only been apart for a little over ten days.
But to him, it felt like eighty or ninety years had passed.
So in his heart, he truly missed her deeply.
At 9:20 in the morning, Hannah Han entered the Shayan Jade Boutique, accompanied by her secretary and two bodyguards.
"Good morning, President Han."
"Welcome back, President Han."
The salesgirls greeted her one after another. Hannah Han smiled gently at them, then headed straight for the second-floor office.
This trip to Suncrest City went smoothly. The storefront for the new branch was already chosen, and a deposit had been paid toward purchasing it. Since Shayan Jade Boutique isn’t short on money, she opted to buy the store outright instead of leasing.
"Sis Su, I’m back...!"
Hannah Han made her way to Vivian Su’s office on the second floor. As she reached the door, she noticed that besides Vivian, there was someone else inside.
"Why are you back?"
Hannah’s face lit up with surprise and delight.
"I missed you, so I came back." Ian Song stood up from the sofa, walked over to Hannah, and took her soft, fair hand, his face full of longing and joy.
Hearing this, Hannah blushed. "You’re so cheesy—let go of me, Sis Su is still here."
Vivian Su teased, "Haha, you two go ahead. If you want, I can wait outside for a bit!"
"No need, Sis Su. I actually have some business to discuss with you!" Hannah pulled her hands free from Ian’s, her expression turning serious as she began discussing matters about the Suncrest branch with Vivian.
The discussion lasted a good half hour. The two women became so engrossed that they almost forgot Ian was there.
Ian didn’t mind. Smiling, he watched Hannah work. Her growth was plain to see—compared to when she first took over Shayan Jade Boutique a few months ago, she had now become a competent manager.
Suddenly, Hannah’s phone rang.
Hannah smiled as she answered the call. "Hello, Boss Pan, this is Hannah Han. Is there something I can help you with?"
Boss Pan was the one in Suncrest City selling her the storefront—Wade Pan, fifty-six years old, known for being fairly honest.
Wade Pan’s slightly aged voice came through the phone: "Miss Han, I’m sorry. I can’t sell you my store anymore."
"What?"
The news left Hannah stunned and a bit angry, but she quickly calmed down. She started to guess why he’d back out after taking the deposit. After all, they’d signed an intent contract—if the seller breached it, he’d have to pay triple the deposit as liquidated damages.
So Hannah was sure that Boss Pan wouldn’t change his mind without a special reason.
She asked, "Boss Pan, did you suddenly back out because of some external pressure?"
On the other end, Wade Pan gave a bitter laugh. "Miss Han, since you’ve already guessed it, I won’t say more. I’ll transfer the liquidated damages to your account within the hour!"
"What happened? Did something go wrong with the Suncrest branch?" As soon as Hannah hung up, Vivian Su hurriedly asked.
Hannah nodded. "That’s right. Boss Pan broke the contract and won’t sell us the store."
"Didn’t we just sign the intent contract and pay the deposit yesterday? Why would he suddenly back out?" Vivian Su said angrily. "That’s just not trustworthy at all!"
Hannah thought for a moment. "You really can’t blame Boss Pan. He’s probably got no choice in the matter."
"So what actually happened?" Vivian asked, puzzled.
After a brief silence, Hannah continued, "After we reached an agreement yesterday, Boss Pan invited us to dinner at a restaurant. And then..."
It was simple. Hannah’s group went to dinner with Wade Pan, and there they ran into a rather arrogant official’s son. He tried to harass Hannah, but she put him in his place, leaving him to slink away in embarrassment.
"So it’s that official’s son causing trouble?" Vivian mused.
Hannah nodded. "After my run-in with him last night, Wade Pan looked uneasy, and he left before finishing dinner, making up an excuse."
"Do you know who that official’s son is?" Vivian asked again.
"No idea." Hannah shook her head.
"What’s his name?" Ian Song suddenly asked.
"Everyone calls him Young Master Chu," Hannah replied.
"Alright, I’ll have someone check it out!" As he spoke, Ian Song took out his phone and called Elaine Ling, the leader of his five-person national task force, assigned to assist him.
The call connected, and Elaine answered respectfully, "Boss, what are your instructions?"
"Help me investigate someone..."
After giving instructions, Ian hung up and told Hannah and Vivian, "Just wait a bit, we’ll have news soon."
Elaine didn’t let Ian down. In less than twenty minutes, she sent the information he needed to his email.
Ian opened the email on the office computer. A dossier popped up for all three to see:
Victor Chu, male, 24 years old, owner of GloryTech Network Co., Ltd., assets over 2 billion yuan. His father, Chester Chu, is the mayor of Suncrest City...
The dossier included not only basic info on the Chu family, but also detailed how Victor seized all the company shares—summed up in one phrase: strong-arm tactics!
Of course, none of this could have happened without Chester Chu’s backing.
After reading the dossier, Vivian Su couldn’t help but say, "Now we’re in trouble. As the saying goes, ordinary people can’t fight officials. We have no foundation in Suncrest, and if Victor Chu wants to make things difficult for us, opening a branch here will be nearly impossible!"
"Maybe we should just give up and open the branch somewhere else. It’s a shame after all the prep work we’ve done." Hannah said gloomily.
"No need. Leave this to me," Ian said.
Just then, Hannah’s phone rang again.
She answered, "Hello, this is Hannah Han."
"You bitch, I bet you already got Wade Pan’s call!"
An extremely arrogant voice came through the phone.
"It’s you!" Hannah’s expression instantly turned cold.
Victor Chu laughed smugly. "Listen up, you’d better come to Suncrest and apologize to me in person, or you can forget about opening a branch here!"
Hannah was furious at the threat. Just then, Ian reached over, took her phone, and said, "Victor Chu, right? I’ll give you three hours. Get yourself to Riverstone City and apologize to Hannah Han—or face the consequences!"
On the other end, Victor was momentarily stunned by Ian’s threat, then burst out angrily, "Who the hell are you? You really think—"
But before he could finish, the call abruptly ended with a series of beeps. Victor was so angry he almost smashed his phone!