The Heiress's Driver Rules the Underworld

Chapter 5 — The Man Who Lost Once Clears the Way

At 7:58 the next morning, the black executive van stopped outside the Luan family residence.

Luan Zhaowan came out two minutes early.

Shen Kaiyue stepped down and opened the rear door for her. She did not get in.

“Your hand.”

“What about it?”

“Hold it out.”

Shen offered his right hand.

A thin scab had formed across the knuckle of his index finger. The skin was neither red nor swollen.

After checking it, she looked up. “Where’s my handkerchief?”

“Washed.”

He took a transparent bag from his shirt pocket. Inside, the handkerchief had been folded into a perfect square.

Luan Zhaowan opened the bag and smelled the fabric.

“You used laundry detergent?”

“Was I supposed to use shampoo?”

“You’re lucky the color didn’t fade.”

“A handkerchief has special washing requirements?”

“Don’t touch it next time.”

She placed it in her bag and opened the front passenger door.

Shen remained outside.

“The back seat is empty.”

“The front gives me a better view of the road.”

“Not worried the driver will talk too much?”

“You can keep quiet.”

Shen got behind the wheel and checked that her seat belt was fastened.

“Where are we getting the car repaired?”

“The custom shop first.”

“What about your sedan?”

“The Luo family transferred RMB 370,000 for repairs this morning. It’s already at the authorized service center.”

She took a transfer receipt from her bag and set it on the center console.

“Also, yesterday’s harbor contract was signed on schedule. A RMB 100,000 performance bonus will reach your account before nine.”

Shen finally turned his head. “Ms. Luan.”

“An objection?”

“I really like employers who pay for results.”

“Drive.”

“Yes, boss.”

The van pulled away from the residence.

Luan Zhaowan looked out the window. The corner of her mouth moved very slightly.

The South District custom shop was hidden in an old industrial park.

Half the sign above its gate had already been removed. Several cars without wheels sat in the yard, and black oil stains covered the ground. About a dozen workers stood at the entrance without working.

Luan Xiaoman had arrived first. She was arguing with someone while holding a stack of invoices.

“The wager clearly transfers the building, equipment, and operating rights together. What gives you the right to remove the lifts?”

Young Master Fang had not come. His lawyer had.

“Miss Luan, the lifts were deposited by a business partner and are not part of the transfer. Employee wages and supplier debts, however, pass to the new operator.”

“Fang lost me an empty shell and expects me to pay his debts?”

“The accounts were sent to you last night.”

“At eleven fifty-nine. You call that proper notice?”

Shen approached and took the top invoice from her hand.

Still furious, she turned and snapped, “Why are you stealing my things again?”

“Let’s calculate first.”

“Can you even read accounts?”

“Numbers know me.”

Two months of unpaid wages: RMB 126,000.

Parts suppliers: RMB 78,000.

Utilities, rent, and equipment leases: almost RMB 30,000.

More than RMB 230,000 in total, none of it something the new operator could ignore.

Shen turned to the final page. “How long remains on the property lease?”

“Eleven months,” the lawyer said.

“How many employees are staying?”

“They may decide for themselves.”

“How much equipment remains?”

The lawyer adjusted his glasses. “Everything is listed in the transfer schedule.”

“I asked you, not the schedule.”

The man hesitated under Shen’s gaze. “Roughly sixty percent of the basic equipment.”

“And what was removed last night?”

“Property belonging to business partners.”

“Then have those partners produce purchase records,” Luan Zhaowan said as she reached the table. “Without proof, nothing leaves through that gate today. The Luan Group’s legal team will be here in ten minutes.”

The lawyer recognized her. His tone immediately became more cautious.

“Ms. Luan, this is a private wager between Young Master Fang and your sister.”

“I didn’t say I represented the Luan Group.”

She laid her personal business card on the transfer agreement.

“I represent her sister.”

Luan Xiaoman looked at her, and some of the anger left her face.

Someone laughed from the corner of the workshop.

The young man in oil-stained coveralls crawled out from beneath a car with a wrench in his hand.

It was Zheng Kailu, the last man to leave with the convoy the night before.

“They can’t produce those records,” he said. “Two lifts and one alignment system were bought by the shop. The invoices are locked in the old finance cabinet. They couldn’t find the key.”

The lawyer’s expression changed. “Zheng Kailu, you are still an employee here.”

“You didn’t remember that while my wages went unpaid for two months.”

Zheng tossed a small key onto the table.

“I opened the cabinet and organized the accounts. RMB 231,600. Not one yuan more or less.”

Shen looked at him. “You sent the message?”

“Yes.”

“Why do you want a different boss?”

Zheng wiped the oil from his hands with a rag.

“My younger sister raced with the crews last year and broke her leg. Qiu Dongye covered the medical bills and gave me this job. On paper, he owes me nothing.”

“Then why betray him?” Luan Xiaoman asked.

“Because they think paying money made everything clean. Half this shop’s profit over the past two years came from modifying cars so people could risk their lives on public roads. I don’t want to do it anymore, but I still need to eat.”

His voice remained level. He made no attempt to invite pity.

Shen asked, “What can you do?”

“Repair, modify, and drive. I can read basic accounts too.”

“Can you fight?”

“I’m better at getting hit.”

“Salary?”

“RMB 15,000 a month, social insurance, and pay on time.”

“Expensive.”

“I’m worth it.”

Shen nodded. “We’ll talk after tomorrow night.”

“If you win, I’ll bring anyone willing to stay and work for you.”

“And if I lose?”

“I move to another city.”

Luan Xiaoman slapped the table. “Can you two stop assigning people at my shop? What do we do about the debt?”

The yard went quiet.

RMB 231,600 meant nothing to the Luan family. But Luan Xiaoman never looked toward her sister. One finger remained pressed against the invoices. She clearly had no intention of asking her family to pay.

Luan Zhaowan did not speak.

Shen did not decide for her either.

After studying the accounts for half a minute, Luan Xiaoman took out her phone.

“I have RMB 300,000 of my own. We pay the wages first, then the parts supplier. What remains will keep the shop alive for one month.”

“Think carefully,” Luan Zhaowan said. “Once the money goes in, you don’t get to play for two days and dump the business on someone else.”

“Who says I’m playing?”

“The person you used to be.”

The remark stung. Instead of backing down, Luan Xiaoman opened the transfer page.

“Then watch me. I won’t ask the family for a cent.”

Shen’s phone vibrated at that exact moment.

RMB 100,000 received.

He looked at the number, then at Luan Xiaoman.

“Need another shareholder?”

She blinked. “You want to invest?”

“One hundred thousand for twenty percent.”

“That’s robbery.”

“I’m also responsible for making those thirty-six crews behave.”

“Fifteen.”

“Nineteen.”

“Sixteen.”

“Eighteen, and I transfer today.”

Luan Xiaoman gritted her teeth. “Deal.”

They shook hands on the spot.

Her hand was slender but strong. She deliberately squeezed harder before letting go.

“Shareholder Shen, if you lose tomorrow, I’ll sell you first to cover the debt.”

“Get a proper valuation before the sale.”

Luan Zhaowan watched without interfering. She only told her assistant, “Draft the investment agreement. Record the shop’s existing debts, equipment, and equity clearly.”

One hour later, Fang’s lawyer signed the transfer papers and left all the equipment behind.

The overdue wages were paid that day.

Eight of the eleven employees who had planned to leave decided to stay.

Zheng Kailu raised the executive van and inspected everything from the chassis to the engine. Then he drew the route through the three gates on a sheet of paper.

“Qiu Dongye will make you use this van,” he said. “The first gate tests acceleration. The second has a width restriction. The third has consecutive right angles. The van looks disadvantaged, but I measured the wheelbase and steering angle. It can make it.”

“You measured last night?”

“I’ve repaired this Luan Group model before. I know its dimensions.”

“And this isn’t cheating?”

“The route is public. No one expects you to be foolish enough to race an unmodified executive van.”

A red coupe stopped outside the shop.

High heels touched the ground first.

The woman wore a wine-red dress beneath a short blazer. Instead of coming in immediately, she looked up at the half-removed sign above the gate.

“It seems I arrived at the perfect time.”

She entered the workshop. Her gaze passed over Luan Zhaowan and Luan Xiaoman before settling on Shen.

“Mr. Shen?”

“And you are?”

“Xue Hongfei.”

She took a check from her handbag and pressed it onto the oil-stained workbench.

“RMB 300,000. Protect me for one night.”