The Red Star Textile Factory was a decaying relic of a bypassed economic era—a sprawling, unkempt complex of red-brick buildings and rusting industrial chimneys that had once stood as the proud center of the local economy. For Li Hua, it was a landscape populated entirely by ghosts. It was within these grease-stained walls that her biological father had worked himself to an early grave, and it was here where Auntie Mei had spent years skimming state textile margins to fund Li Lulu's indulgent lifestyle.
But as the 10,000 Yuan state contract deposit sat securely in her commercial account, Li Hua stood before the grand iron gates. She was no longer the defenseless, submissive girl who used to slip through the back alleyways to bring her father a cold lunch box.
She wore a structural, double-breasted cream suit that contrasted sharply against her raven-black hair. Her weight had already dropped to 75 kilograms, and while she still possessed a striking, curvaceous silhouette, she moved with the predatory elegance of a hunting leopard. Her Socialite Aura was dialed up to an oppressive, absolute maximum.
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[Ding! Strategic Side-Quest Triggered: The Great Cleansing.]
[Objective: Formalize the acquisition deed, evict the corrupt leadership, and purge the parasitic staff.]
[Reward: +30 Business IQ, S-Tier 'Industrial Machinery Mastery', -3kg Weight Loss.]
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Beside her, Ye Feng leaned casually against the polished wing of his black Hongqi sedan, his arms crossed over his chest as he studied her profile with an unreadable expression. "You know, Li Hua, you could have simply permitted me to buy this entire facility for you. It would have required a single phone call to the provincial capital."
Li Hua didn't turn her head. She adjusted her dark sunglasses, her cold gaze locked onto the rusted smoke stacks. "Mr. Ye, an empire purchased by the hand of another is nothing more than a beautifully gilded cage. I want my father's name on that property deed, paid for entirely with my own currency and sweat. If you wish to assist, step back and appreciate the fireworks."
Ye Feng's lips quirked into a dangerous, rare expression of genuine amusement. "As you command, Boss Li."
They marched into the primary administrative building, where the stale air smelled of fermented tea leaves and deteriorating paper ledgers. Inside the director's suite, Auntie Mei sat slouched behind the main desk, her feet propped up on the wood as she gossiped with a cadre of loyal warehouse supervisors.
"I'm telling you all," Auntie Mei cackled venomously, waving a cigarette. "That fat brat Li Hua must have sold her virtue to some ancient bureaucrat in the capital to secure that uniform contract. But mark my words, it won't endure. Once he grows bored of her size and discards her, she'll come crawling right back to this factory begging for scraps. And I'll personally make sure she scrubs the communal toilets."
The corrupt managers roared with laughter—but the sound died instantly as the heavy office doors swung open with a resounding crack.
Li Hua stepped into the room, the sharp, rhythmic clicking of her high-end heels sounding like a localized death knell. The room dropped into an immediate, freezing silence. Auntie Mei's feet hit the floorboards so violently her porcelain teacup overturned.
"Li... Li Hua?" Auntie Mei stammered, her eyes bulging with absolute shock as her gaze raked over the premium cream suit and the diamond-sharp intensity of her stepdaughter's expression. "What are you doing here? This is a restricted state office! Get out before I have security throw you into the street!"
Li Hua didn't utter a single syllable. She walked calmly to the desk, lifted the overturned teacup, and slowly poured the remaining lukewarm dregs directly onto Auntie Mei's handwritten inventory ledgers.
"You're entirely right, Auntie. This is a place of business," Li Hua said, her voice dropping like a heavy iron blade. "And since I signed the official corporate bankruptcy acquisition documents with the City Council at dawn, I am the singular legal owner of this entire facility. Which means you are currently trespassing on my private property."
Auntie Mei's face drained of color, turning a sickly, ghostly white. "Acquisition? Bankruptcy? You lie! Your father left the operational management of this facility to me!"
"My father left this factory to his legitimate heir," Li Hua pulled a red-stamped, official government deed from her leather briefcase, slamming it down over the soaked ledgers. "You've spent three years running his legacy into the mud, skimming premium fabric bolts to liquidate on the black market. I have already submitted the full physical evidence of your extra-legal income to the Economic Crimes Bureau. The police transport will be at the gate in exactly fifteen minutes."
The listening supervisors who had been laughing moments ago began backing toward the exits, their faces entirely pale with terror.
"As for the rest of you," Li Hua turned her head slightly, her active Vogue Vision scanning the room and highlighting their corrupt metrics in deep red. "You were all part of Auntie Mei's inner circle. You took the kickbacks. You falsified the safety records. You are fired, effective this second. Pack your personal belongings and evacuate the premises. If I find a single millimeter of thread missing from inventory, I will add 'Theft of State Assets' to your criminal reports."
"You can't do this to us!" Li Lulu shrieked, bursting out of the adjoining breakroom where she had been hiding. Her voice was wild with panic. "We are your family! You are legally required to provide for us!"
Li Hua looked at her half-sister—the girl who had stolen her inheritance clothes and mocked her weight for a decade. "Family? When you let me starve in that apartment so you could purchase leather jackets? When you laughed while Gu Yan compared me to livestock? We aren't family, Lulu. We are just strangers who happened to occupy the same square footage. And today, your lease is officially terminated."
Auntie Mei's face twisted into an expression of rabid fury. She lunged across the desk, her nails clawing toward Li Hua's smooth, porcelain skin. "I'll kill you! You ruined my life!"
Before her fingers could get within a foot of Li Hua, a massive, black-gloved hand intercepted her wrist mid-air. Ye Feng stepped into the office, his freezing, lethal aura instantly turning the cramped space into an absolute vault. He didn't even look at Auntie Mei; he simply applied a fraction of pressure to her wrist until she dropped to her knees with a sharp, agonizing whimper.
"Touch her again," Ye Feng said, his voice a low, terrifying growl that made the glass windowpanes vibrate, "and I will personally ensure you don't merely lose your employment. I will ensure you lose your physical freedom in a labor camp so far north the soil never thaws."
He cast the weeping woman aside like a piece of worthless scrap textile.
Li Hua stood over her fallen stepmother, her gaze completely indifferent. "Old Chen is waiting downstairs with his logistics team, Auntie. The very scrap collector you tried to hire to sell my mother's Singer machine. I have appointed him as my new Director of Factory Operations. He will be absolutely delighted to escort you and your daughter past the security gate."
As the high-pitched wail of police sirens began to echo from the front avenue, Li Hua turned her back on the crying women. She walked to the panoramic office window, looking down at the massive production floor. The honest, hardworking laborers below—those who had been exploited and suppressed for years under Auntie Mei's regime—were looking up toward the administrative window, waiting for a leader.
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[Ding! Strategic Quest: The Great Cleansing fully complete!]
[Rewards Issued: +30 Business IQ, S-Tier 'Industrial Machinery Mastery' unlocked!]
[System Calculation: 75kg - 3kg = Current Weight: 72kg! Advanced physical refinement finalized.]
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A sudden, intense rush of metabolic power reshaped her frame on the spot. Her waistline tapered to a flawless, commanding silhouette, her posture radiating the supreme confidence of an industrial tycoon. Her mind flooded instantly with the detailed engineering blueprints of every single 1990s textile loom on the floor. She knew exactly how to calibrate these machines to manufacture a global empire.
She turned to face Ye Feng, who was studying her with a dark look of deep, consuming respect.
"Well, Mr. Ye," Li Hua said, a faint, victorious smile playing on her sharpened lips as she adjusted her cream cuffs. "The trash has been thoroughly cleared from the floor. Shall I show you how a real designer runs an industrial production line?"