A Graduation Gift

Lionel's sober mind told him that he didn't need to have any kind of patience with Ivy anymore. Anyway, she had received the
break-up fee she had demanded. From now on, he didn't have any liability toward her.
But upon seeing the mysterious expression on her face and thinking about what she had said, he couldn't help but engage in
bewilderment.
"Ivy, what on earth do you know? Don't keep me guessing, okay?"
He felt puzzled and curious, wondering what were the secrets she knew.
The pendentive light shone on her like a spotlight. She smiled happily and freely. Her grinning face made others think that Lionel,
who sat opposite to her, was amusing her.
'What do I know? What I know is enough to shock the Tang family, ' she thought to herself satisfyingly.
A few days ago, a distinguished guest had come to Amanda's studio: A handsome man with peach blossoming eyes. Amanda's
assistant had tried to stop him, but he strode straight to Amanda's office. As the door shut behind him, Ivy heard Amanda
speaking to him in a completely frightened tone.
Ivy had never heard Amanda like that before. She even caught a glimpse of her face. Her eyes were wide and full of fear.
Ivy was intrigued by Amanda's unusual behaviour. She returned to her desk, listening intently to the muffled voices.
The voices were unclear but urgent, as if a quarrel was taking place between the two. Amanda was shrieking but the man's voice
was too low to be heard.
Even so, Ivy concluded the man had the ability to frighten Amanda.
'Who was he? What was his identity? What did he have to do with her? Amanda has always appeared as a calm, confident
individual. It is shocking to see her flapping like this in the presence of that man, ' she wondered.
When the door finally opened, Ivy pretended to walk past it with a pile of documents in her hands, and bumped into him
unintentionally, scattering all the documents over the floor.
The man apologised politely to her, helping her pick up all the documents.
Looking at his gentle and elegant smile, Ivy didn't feel scared at all. How could Amanda be scared of someone like him?

"Thank you, sir. Are you... a friend of Miss Ke?"
Ivy spoke to him boldly with a curious expression on her face.
Clark flashed a smile at her, scanning her face intently.
'Isn't this Lionel's ex-girlfriend? I've observed her before. She is very cunning. Anyone who didn't know her would be easily fooled
by her innocent face. Even now, she is pretending to be innocent. Does she really think I'd be deceived by her appearance? She
seems to be way more interested than what I've imagined, ' he thought.
"Yes. I haven't seen her for a long time, so I thought I'll come and say hello."
He continued to smile at her. His eyes seemed to be capable of charming all living beings.
"Are you an employee here? Miss Ke is going to be a promising educator in the future. If you continue to follow her, your future is
sure to be bright."
Clark was so smart that he saw through Ivy's curiosity. 'Curiosity indeed kills the cat. You wanted to dig through me, huh? Watch
me, and I will use you to get something I want, ' he thought to himself.
"Of course! Miss Ke has helped me a lot in my career."
Ivy tried to feign an earnest expression in order to fool Clark.
The corner of his mouth turned into a smile as he reached for a pen in his pocket. He wrote his mobile number on one of her
notebooks.
"Please contact me if there is anything I can do for you."
With that, he turned and walked away. Ivy was delighted to have gotten his number.
'He is handsome, well-dressed and a friend of Miss Ke! That is enough proof of his wealth!' she guessed.
She understood one thing for sure that he wasn't a simple man. She was surprised he had given her his number.
'Oh yes! Now that I'm rid of that idiot Lionel, I can find a richer guy, ' she wondered.
Her imagination started to run wild. She couldn't help tearing off the page with his number and kissing it desperately.

Naturally, she couldn't control herself from calling him the very same day. She fiddled around some unnecessary questions,
simply trying to get along with him.
Talking to him, she found out he was the owner of the largest hotel in G City. The news made her so excited that her heart
started to jump.
She started to compare him with Lionel, thinking of his reliability and capability. But that only meant he would be more
challenging to trap, and she prepared to put all her energy into achieving the purpose.
She spared no efforts to try to show her feminine charm. Strangely, he didn't ignore her flirtations. At the same time, he didn't try
to get intimate with her.
Soon, they started to go on dates. In those meetings, even if she pretended to stumble and fall upon him, he simply supported
her gently and helped her stand steadily instead of taking any advantage of her.
His gentlemanly charm only made her want him more. Her desire got so fervent that she decidedly swore to become his
girlfriend.
On one of their dates, Clark mentioned he knew the chairman of the TY Group. She didn't even stir. It didn't matter to her at all.
The most important thing for her was to become this man's girlfriend.
But now that he pressed upon the topic, she finally shrugged and responded," It's such a mystery who is TY Group's president,
that many people in the business circle are dying with curiosity!"
She pretended to be amazed and innocent, her sparkling eyes full of amorous feelings.
"Yeah, you are right. He's always kept a low profile. But I've known him since before he started his own business. We've been
acquainted for many years,"
Clark said with a smile at the corner of his mouth, which only made him look even more enchanting.
"Really? Who is he, then?"
Ivy widened her large, beautiful eyes, making her oval face look extremely innocent.
Clark wanted to laugh, seeing her immediate response. The fish had bitten his bait.
"His name is Rufus Luo."

Now, Ivy was truly shocked. For an instant, she couldn't breathe.
'Rufus? He must be kidding me!' she thought to herself.
Looking at her stunned expression, Clark pretended to be surprised. He asked curiously," What happened? Do you know him?"
Clark had told Ivy he wasn't very familiar with G City, having come from somewhere abroad. It had made Ivy glad and relieved
that he wouldn't know about her being Lionel's mistress for many years. This was one of the reasons she had summoned up to
the courage to date him.
"No, no, no. I don't know him, per se. Isn't he Miss Ke's fiance?"
she strongly denied knowing Rufus, incidentally implying she didn't know Lionel either.
"Oh, he's become a celebrity in G City now. His father is the chairman of the Tang Group and he served as the president. But he
has resigned now."
Clark shook his head slightly, showing disappointment. He seemed to be very familiar with Rufus, which scared Ivy.
All she wanted was to be with a rich man. The time and efforts she had taken with Clark was simply due to his wealth, apart from
his deviously charming looks. But now she wondered if it would be too bold for her to pursue it.
Because it was highly possible that Rufus would expose her past to him, after which Clark might not want to be with her. How
could she achieve her goal?
Ivy decided to keep quiet now, lest she spilled the secret somehow. For a long time after that day, she didn't arrange another
meeting with him. Presently, what Lionel told her made her very sad. To get back at him and make him angry, she wanted to tell
him about Rufus's true identity.
No one in Tang family knew about it. Everyone thought Rufus was simply Horace's long-lost son. No body had any idea that he
was also the chairperson of TY Group.
But then why did he come to work at the Tang Group? If this news was true, he didn't need to lower his status by staying in the
Tang Group any longer. Apart from that, he did not get along with Lionel and his mother. Ivy was suddenly very curious about
what was Rufus thinking now and why he acted in that manner.

But the most important question right now was if the Tang Family found out this truth about him, how would they react? Ivy was
waiting to see their responses like a cunning vamp.
Finally, she spilled it. Lionel's mouth fell open with a look of disbelief.
"Ivy, where did you hear this gossip? Don't talk nonsense!"
'There is no chance of this being true! How could Rufus be the president of TY Group?' Lionel thought, becoming restless.
Every inch of his body wanted to reject the idea. He was in constant competition with Rufus for being the president of the Tang
Group. And if Rufus was indeed the owner of TY Group, then he must have treated the position like discarded garbage when it
meant so much to Lionel. It was absolutely ridiculous to even think about.
"Nonsense? No, Lionel. You just haven't investigated his background enough. If you send someone abroad to check who's the
legally registered person of TY Securities, you would know. I am not simply bullshitting with you."
She was so happy to look at his alarmed and panic face. This was exactly what she had hoped for.
Anyway, the Tang family had nothing to do with her now. She had gotten her fifty million from Lionel. If they fell into chaos, it
wouldn't matter to her. In fact, it would only make her happier.
Lionel's forehead started to sweat. What would happen when Horace found out about this? Or did he already know?
In terms of Rufus's capabilities, there was no doubt that he could run a company as large as TY Group smoothly. If Horace sided
with him, the thought of Lionel remaining in the presidency would be completely discarded.
Horace had always appreciated Rufus and had never approved of Lionel. If it was true, he would be more than happy to ask
Rufus to come back the Tang Group. In this way, Lionel's long-term plans and efforts would seem to all have been for naught. He
couldn't allow Rufus to take his dream from him so easily.
"Who else knows about this matter?"
Lionel asked, glaring at Ivy and gritting his teeth with a fierce expression on his face.
Ivy knew what he was thinking and decided to throw her cards before he could. Squinting her eyes, she spoke calmly," Lionel,
listen to me. Don't you dare use this matter to threaten me. I'm warning you. I'm not as compliant and submissive as I used to be.

Remember, now that we are done, I don't need to obey you anymore. If you even try to threaten me, I will spread this news like
fire."