Like the Hegemon-King of Chu, he has burned his boats and smashed his cauldrons.

Lu Yiting was a VVIP of the airline and had access to a special priority lounge. He took the initiative to ask, "Fawn, it seems we live in the same residential compound. Would you like to come with me?"

Bai Lu: "Thank you, Teacher Lu, but I'm not going home. I have some business to take care of."

Lu Yiting raised an eyebrow slightly, nodded, and walked away.

Mei Mei pushed his suitcase and followed right behind him. As they brushed past, she cast a deep glance at Bai Lu.

She seemed quite surprised that Bai Lu had actually turned down Lu Yiting's invitation.

Bai Lu: "............"

Alright, Sister Mei, you don't need to be surprised. I really never thought about climbing up by stepping on Movie Emperor Lu's popularity and traffic.

So please stop guarding against me like I'm a thief!!!

Every time she chatted with her dad, Sister Mei would stare at her piercingly.

It was the same during variety shows; Sister Mei's gaze would always sweep over from all directions.

She could understand it, though. There were simply too many artists and management teams trying to latch onto her dad for clout, and Sister Mei must have stressed over this plenty of times over the years.

Di Jiarer, the president of the Huo-Lu shipper fan club, let out a sigh of relief and asked casually, "Fawn, what are you running off to do that's so urgent? You don't even have time to go home and rest for a bit."

Bai Lu smiled sweetly: "Want to know so badly? Then beg me."

Di Jiarer: "Not begging."

As long as she wasn't sticking with Movie Emperor Lu, everything was fine.

As for what she was busy with, he wasn't curious at all.

Lin Ye bounced over to her side, hugged her arm, and acted coquettishly, "Sister Fawn, I'm begging you, tell me! I'm curious. What on earth is so important that it made you turn down Teacher Lu's invitation? That was an invitation from your idol, no less!"

Bai Lu pushed him away with a look of utter disgust: "Do you have any self-awareness as an idol? Shoo, shoo, get away from me, don't get me cursed out by your fans. I really don't want any more scandal headlines."

Lin Ye: "Sister Fawn, are you silly? We took the first-class exit, no fans saw us."

Bai Lu: "Want to get beaten up again, is that it?"

Lin Ye: "Catch me first if you can." He stuck out his tongue and deliberately provoked her: "Shorty! Stubby! Legs!"

Bai Lu gave a cold smile: "Keep running. Let's see how far you can run. There are plenty of fans staking out the parking lot. Do you want me to beat you up in private, or beat you up right in front of the fans? Choose."

Lin Ye: "............"

Damn it.

Miscalculated.

He obediently walked back and stretched his head toward her: "Sister Fawn, go easy on me."

Bai Lu showed no mercy as she disciplined the brat.

The kid was too mischievous; if you didn't beat some sense into him for a single day, he'd practically tear the roof off the tiles.

Spare the rod and spoil the child!

Having taken a beating, Lin Ye ran over to Zuxin En to act all aggrieved. Zuxin En sighed: "You get beaten up every single time, so why do you still go and provoke Fawn? Are you a masochist or what?"

The brat said self-righteously, "That's just how younger sisters and older brothers get along."

Li Huan: "Fawn actually held back too much."

Look at how thick-skinned he was.

Di Jiarer: "Fawn, beat him again."

"No can do, no can do. The fans are arriving at the battlefield in thirty seconds, prepare yourselves." Bai Lu called out to Xiao Dan to push the luggage and started sprinting: "I'm slipping away first, bye-bye~~"

Bai Lu dashed out first, and the waiting fans immediately swarmed forward. They only heard her shout at the top of her lungs: "Zuxin En, Di Jiarer, Lin Ye, and Li Huan are right behind!"

Zuxin En: "?????"

Li Huan: "............"

Di Jiarer cursed under his breath: "What a total bitch!"

Lin Ye yelled at the top of his lungs: "Sister Fawn, you have no conscience at all!!!"

She had already successfully broken through the encirclement and hopped into the van.

Xiao Dan wiped away cold sweat: "Fawn, sometimes I really worry that someone is going to beat you to death."

"No way, I'm super cute, nobody would have the heart to beat me to death." Bai Lu asked with a beaming smile: "President Gao, right?"

Gao Fanqin, sitting in the front passenger seat, turned his head and gave her a half-smile twitch of the lips.

It seemed President Gao was truly furious.

Xiao Dan wasn't surprised at all to see Gao Fanqin; he had long known about their relationship. Fawn had even used his phone to make calls to Gao Fanqin before.

"Hello, President Gao." Xiao Dan greeted him, then fastened his seatbelt and stepped on the gas.

"Hello." Gao Fanqin nodded perfunctorily, then looked at her in the backseat through the rearview mirror: "Fawn, I've carried out every single task you gave me. Now, don't you think it's time to give me an explanation?"

"Sure. I deliberately had President Gao come here today precisely to explain everything clearly. Keeping you completely in the dark while making you run errands all over the place made me feel rather guilty, you know."

Mainly because if she didn't explain soon, she was afraid President Gao might beat her to death.

Bai Lu tilted her head: "Let me think, where should I start explaining..."

Gao Fanqin: "Start with why you specifically had me come over and who you're planning to take me to see."

Bai Lu: "To find Wu Liping."

Gao Fanqin narrowed his eyes and let out a drawn-out 'Oh'. In any case, he would soon find out what they were going to Wu Liping for, so he didn't pursue that further. Instead, he asked her: "Why did you make me step forward to contact the bosses of the companies shortlisted for the Qinshan bidding?"

Bai Lu: "Because I am optimistic about this project... President Gao certainly won't believe me if I put it that way."

Gao Fanqin shrugged noncommittally.

If she genuinely wanted to invest in this project, she should have readily accepted the olive branch proactively extended by the Gu family, and there would be no need whatsoever to contact other companies.

Since the Gu family had set their sights on the development rights of Qinshan, the ultimate winner could only be the Gu family.

That only meant her real intention lay elsewhere; there was no other answer.

The van sped smoothly along the airport highway. Bai Lu looked at the scenery flashing past outside the window, while Gao Fanqin wasn't in a hurry, patiently waiting for her answer.

Instead of answering, Bai Lu smiled and asked, "President Gao, did you know that the boss of Fengde Construction and Yu Xingsheng are longtime friends? Their families even made an engagement pact for their children back in the day, though unfortunately, the boss of Fengde only had sons."

Gao Fanqin shook his head: "I've only heard that the boss of Fengde and Yu Xingsheng are friends, but I didn't know their relationship was that close."

Bai Lu: "Among the companies in the final round of bidding, Fengde's strength is second only to the Gu family's. Yu Fuqing has hollowed out the Yu family's entire foundation just to help Fengde secure the Qinshan development rights. So, President Gao, you didn't lose unjustly this time."

She looked at her own palm and smiled silently: "I didn't expect Yu Fuqing to leave himself no way out at all, truly acting like Xiang Yu burning the boats behind him. Probably my intervention made Yu Fuqing feel threatened."

The municipal government had strict regulations regarding the number of partners a bidding company could have.

It was just like playing a video game; the number of players on both teams had to be equal.

Otherwise, you'd end up with a situation where your team had only five people while the opposing team had fifty, completely destroying any sense of fairness in the game.

The bidding was no different.

The Gu family was powerful, and in order to rival them, Fengde had already teamed up with companies that had been eliminated in the previous rounds.

Simply put, in a five-person ranked match, only one slot remained.

And Gao Fanqin had been fighting Yu Fuqing precisely for that last slot.

Gao Fanqin suddenly understood: "So you don't care about this project at all, and you aren't doing it to make money. You had me approach Fengde purely to kick Yu Fuqing out of the game!"