A Graduation Gift

Horace's eyes glinted and a faint smile signifying triumph crept up his lips.
"Vernon is an incapable businessman. After keeping his company running for so many years, he failed to sustain it and resorted
to fraud. Now he's in prison and has no way out of it. He's just lucky he has a capable daughter willing to go to such lengths to
save his company," Horace remarked.
Narrowing his eyes, he gazed at the door from which Cassandra had left. 'She's such an innocent woman. As a young person,
she had the audacity to spare no effort to protect her father's hard work, ' he thought to himself.
However, Horace had everything well planned.
Though the Qin Group was on the brink of collapsing, it still had a chance of things turning to their favor, if managed properly.
Four years ago, he infused the much-needed investment into the Qin Group, which paid him back soon with a great deal of
interest.
Because Vernon treated his employees well, his people were loyal to the company. From what Horace knew, currently, all the
managers of the company were still struggling to keep it alive, refusing to leave for better opportunities.
That was, perhaps, Vernon's greatest asset of his lifetime. It was just that, he would unfortunately have no more chance to utilize
it.
At this point, Cassandra had no one to back her up except for the Tang family. The only thing Horace had to do was gain her
trust. By then, if he offered to help her run the company, he would probably obtain her consent. After that, he could then acquire
Qin Group by the name of 'helping' at an unfairly low price. That would be an almost no-risk business deal.
After reading the confidence and victory on Horace's face, Jill finally realized what was on his mind. Her smile turned cunning.
"Well, it seems that I should be nice to her for the time being!"
As she grinned, Jill calculated what she could do to earn Cassandra's trust quickly.
"Don't be so suspicious. Act like your normal self. If you abruptly change your attitude towards her, she'll be skeptical."
With a wave of his hand, Horace made sure to explain to her not to make a rash act.

A clearer plan began fermenting in his head. Instead of pressing Cassandra directly, he would slowly take control over her with
little tricks.
On the way to the Tang Group, Cassandra was driving her new car under the beaming morning sun. It was late winter, after
which, early spring would arrive, just as her state of mind. However, she didn't notice that some dark clouds were approaching
the seemingly peaceful city.
"Manager Qin, the Chairman told us that the amusement park project was transferred to another architect..."
"Manager Qin, the Chairman said that you would only need to work on the small cases of our regular clients. The other cases
have been disseminated to other architects of the department..."
"Manager Qin, the Chairman..."
When she asked for things to be done, these were the responses she received. It was strange that just within a few days, the
cases she was supposed to be in charge of were all assigned to various designers while she was left with the rather unimportant
and trivial ones.
Horace indeed told her to rest, but surely not to the point that she had almost nothing to do.
Finally, Cassandra couldn't bear with her idle status in the company and requested Horace for some work to do.
"Father, I'm not tired. Can I have some of my cases back?"
"This is the company's arrangement. You will be tasked to do something else after this resting period. Don't worry and just take a
break for the time being."
His reply was emotionless as he lay on his deck chair, basking in the warmth of the winter sun, without even lifting his eye lids.
It rendered Cassandra speechless, leaving her no choice but to wait for the 'something else' that never made its way to her.
While Cassandra anxiously waited for her cases, the election for the Director of the Union of Real Estate in G City was
completed. The Tang Group, the biggest winner of the event, had assumed the Director role, while Dawn Star Group assumed
the role of Deputy Director.
Shortly after the establishment of the Union, there was an influx of clients, from both G City and other cities, looking for the Tang
Group. However, none of their projects were assigned to Cassandra.

"Cassandra, I think you're even freer than I am right now. I can't imagine that you have the leisure time to come to Yoga class
with me! That's incredible!"
As Stella was awed by the recent state of Cassandra, she twisted her body into an impossible posture. They chatted while a light
background music was being played.
"Do you think that's what I want? Regardless of 'being the best architect' or 'striving to the top', I have to at least get my bonus to
keep my dad's company alive. Without any big projects, I can only get the baseline salary. It's giving me a huge headache. How
am I supposed to supply the employees with their salaries?" Cassandra complained in frustration.
Her mind was a total mess. Even the meditation couldn't help pacify it.
"That's so strange. As you said, the Chairman should know about your financial situation. He even gave you a car. Why would he
take away all your projects? He's contradicting himself, isn't he?"
Stella cast her doubt. Meanwhile, she shifted into an even more twisted yoga position that seemed so painful that Cassandra
almost wanted to turn her eyes away.
"I don't get it either. He actually promised me that he'd give me other cases, but he never mentioned that again. I also requested
to get my original cases back or to at least complete them in collaboration with other architects. He didn't really give me an
answer for that either..." As she said it, Cassandra raised her brows, puzzled.
Heaving a deep sigh, she changed from the proper position of Yoga so she could just casually lie on the mat. Anyway, she
couldn't force herself into a peaceful state of mind, so she gave up at the moment.
"Or else, you could talk to Mr. Luo about it? I thought he was the one who assigned you the amusement park project?" Stella
suggested.
Remembering that Rufus had entrusted Cassandra with many projects, she thought that he could at least speak on her behalf.
At the mention of Rufus's name, Cassandra felt even more crestfallen.
Recently, Rufus had been away frequently and didn't even attend the Union of Real Estate election. It was Lionel who attended
on behalf of the Tang Group.
Though she tried to contact him, he never picked up her calls.

Every time the call was answered by the perpetual and emotionless recording, "The person you are calling is currently
unavailable." She realized that the distance between her and Rufus was as far as ever.
'I don't know him that well, after all. He doesn't need to tell me his plan, or what he's going to do, or where he's heading to. He
doesn't even clarify things with me after he re-appears in my life.
He would suddenly pop up and catch me off-guard. Taking the chance of being alone, he would give me a suffocating and
burning kiss.
He would then suddenly disappear for a few days, during which I have no way of contacting him. He'd say he was on a business
trip, yet, even his assistant would have no idea of where he went, ' Cassandra thought sorrowfully. After thinking everything
through, she suddenly felt as though they were light years apart.
Rufus's whereabouts were indeed an enigma, not only for Cassandra, but for the Tang family. Lionel had even purposely
complained to Horace in his presence.
"As the CEO of the Tang Group, you should at least inform the Board of Directors before going on any business trip, shouldn't
you? How can you just vanish without anyone knowing where you are? When the company needs you, how are we supposed to
find you?" he exclaimed in frustration.
"I would never leave the company unless I'm assured that there's no major decision to make while I'm away. Plus, aren't you the
Deputy CEO? Can't you make the decision when I'm not around? I just don't like any disturbances while I'm negotiating with
clients," Rufus contested.
Such a conversation was a typical happening in Horace's study after Rufus came back from his trips. Every time, Rufus would
find a reason or excuse to force Lionel to shut his mouth.
To add to the validity of his arguments, Rufus would always bring back some projects, big or small, each time. So Horace wasn't
very concerned about Rufus leaving without any prior notice.
After all, he was a profit-driven businessman. As long as Rufus was capable of fulfilling his role and could bring profit to the Tang
Group, his disappearance from time to time was no big deal.
"Never mind. I'll try to think of something else..."
With Rufus on her mind, Cassandra felt depressed.

Meanwhile, something was happening in the office of the man she was thinking about.
"So the Chairman has appointed another designer to take over the amusement park project?" Rufus questioned.
The assistant had just handed him a proposal which made his brows furrow in confusion.
He was only away for a few days, and all of Cassandra's major projects had been transferred to other architects. Even the
amusement park project, which he had promised to give her so firmly, was also assigned to someone else.
"Yes, Mr. Luo. the Chairman said that Manager Qin had been over-burdened these days, so he wanted to give her workload to
other designers," the assistant duly reported.
Though he stated Horace's order with a polite smile, he could feel the chill in his chest as he sensed the grave anger of the man
in front of him.
In truth, the entire company knew how important Manager Qin was deemed by the CEO. Now that Cassandra's true identity of
Rufus's sister-in-law was uncovered, they had no more doubt about Rufus's special treatment towards her. They were family,
after all. It was expected that he would provide his sister-in-law with the best resources.
Still...
Why would the Chairman transfer so many projects away from Manager Qin?
Being a skilled architect, Cassandra had just won third place in an international architectural design competition and practically
served as the walking advertisement of the company. Why would her cases be taken away from her at such a crucial time?
Knowing what a calculative businessman Horace was, Rufus was certain that he wouldn't make such a decision unless the profit
was worth the risk it bore. For quite some time, he hadn't been getting involved in the Tang Group's business, so there must
have been hidden intentions behind his abrupt intervention.
"You can go now. Just leave the documents on my desk," Rufus ordered with a cold face, the creases on his forehead
deepening.
After the assistant left, Rufus made a call.
"Find out all of Lionel Tang's recent routines. I want to know if he has been staying with Ivy at home for this period. I want to
know who he's been contacting!" Rufus strongly demanded.

After the call, a terrible presentiment started surfacing from his heart.
Just like a drop of ink in clear water, the presentiment diffused slowly through his blood, to his chest, his limbs, his brain, until it
finally engulfed his entire body...