Chapter 1

I had just secured a $10 billion project for the company and was about to report this good news to the CEO.

But as I reached the CEO's office door, I heard CEO Adrian discussing me:

"That project Jade signed? Pure luck, nothing more!"

His secretary immediately chimed in with flattery: "Exactly! A country bumpkin like her landing a major deal is mainly thanks to you and the company's reputation!"

Adrian continued:

"Don't lay her off yet. She's been with the company for years. The severance would be too high. Transfer her to clean toilets. If she can't handle it, she'll quit on her own!"

"Besides, a woman's most important skill isn't work—it's serving men! She doesn't act like a woman at all!"

I tore up the project contract in my hands and turned to leave.

Then I immediately called Adrian's competitor:

"Send the offer tomorrow. I'll take that branch president position."

Adrian continued to humiliate me:

"Jade is so old and doesn't even have a boyfriend. She's probably psychologically twisted."

"A woman's greatest skill is serving men well. What kind of logic is it for women to compete with men for performance? Send her to the janitorial department to reflect!"

Standing outside the door, the blood in my veins seemed to freeze instantly.

The scene from that rainy night eight years ago flashed vividly before my eyes—me running wildly with a dying child on my back.

I had just turned twenty then, working odd jobs in town.

When I found the child, he had been abandoned by human traffickers in the roadside grass, burning with fever, barely breathing.

I wrapped him in my only thick coat and walked over ten miles of mountain roads in the rain.

The old doctor at the town clinic said if I'd been half an hour later, the child wouldn't have made it.

I later learned he was Adrian and Lauren's only son, born after many years of marriage.

Because he was frail, the traffickers thought he wouldn't survive and casually dumped him.

To express her gratitude, Lauren brought me out of the mountain village.

She said, "Jade, you're our family's savior. From now on, you're my sister. I'll help you make money and establish yourself in the city!"

Later, she really did teach me hand-in-hand how to read reports and negotiate with clients.

From a warehouse partition to renting a proper office, almost every hard battle was fought by her and me together.

She would put her arm around my shoulders and proudly introduce me to clients: "This is Jade, our company's ace salesperson and my co-founder."

Until three years ago, when her heart condition flared up and she had to step back from the frontlines to recuperate.

It was also from that time that Adrian's eyes on me became increasingly complicated.

At first, Lauren still came to the company often, but later, less and less.

Occasionally when I visited her, her smile never reached her eyes.

Once, when her son Max threw himself into my arms calling me "Jade," she suddenly turned cold.

"This child is closer to you than to me."

I found it strange at the time but just assumed she was in a bad mood from her illness and didn't take it to heart.

Instead, I threw myself wholeheartedly into the company.

Adrian wasn't cut out for business. The projects he led lost money consecutively, and morale plummeted.

The suggestions I made were always rejected by him on the grounds that women had shallow vision.

When I went to Lauren, she only said, "Jade, Adrian's in charge of the company now. You need to listen to him."

This hundred-billion-dollar order I'd fought desperately to secure was already the company's last lifeline.

And now, it had become the trumpet call for my dismissal.

I took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

The embarrassment on both their faces flashed briefly before being replaced by anger.

"Jade, why didn't you knock before entering? Can't shake off those country habits, can you!"