Transmigration; Married to My Ex-Fiancé's Uncle-Chapter 170; Making the first step

Her smile was sharp enough to draw blood. "So let’s not insult my intelligence by pretending this is about proper procedures. What position were you planning to offer them?"

Lu Zeyan’s jaw clenched. "I was thinking... regional sales coordinators. Or perhaps assistant managers in....."

"No."

The single word was flat, final, and left no room for negotiation.

"No?" Lu Zeyan repeated, his voice rising with frustration. "What do you mean, no? Those are good positions, Lin Shuyin. Solid middle management with room for advancement...."

"Middle management." Shuyin’s laugh was cold and cutting. "You want to put my people, my trusted people, in middle management positions where they’ll be buried under layers of bureaucracy, reporting to people who’ll sabotage them at every turn because they don’t fit the company culture."

She stood slowly, deliberately, her movements fluid as water, and walked toward his desk with the measured pace of someone who had all the time in the world.

"Let me tell you what I want, Lu Zeyan," she said, her voice dropping to something quieter but infinitely more dangerous. "I want them placed somewhere meaningful. Somewhere with real authority, real access, real power."

She planted both hands on his desk, mirroring his earlier posture but with an energy that was pure dominance, leaning forward until they were eye to eye across the polished surface.

"I want them in C-suite adjacent positions. Executive level. Tank as Director of Security Operations, overseeing all security protocols for this branch. Blade as Director of Corporate Strategy and Special Projects, with direct access to high-level planning meetings. Razor as Director of Legal Compliance and Risk Management, responsible for ensuring all business operations meet regulatory standards."

The room went completely silent.

Even Lin Yueling stopped pretending to be hurt and stared at Shuyin like she’d lost her mind.

Lu Zeyan’s laugh was sharp and disbelieving. "Are you insane? Those are senior positions, Lin Shuyin. Director level. They require years of experience, advanced degrees, proven track records...."

"They require people you can trust," Shuyin interrupted, her voice cutting through his objections like they were tissue paper. "People who are loyal, competent, and won’t sell you out the moment it becomes convenient. Tell me, Lu Zeyan, how many of your current directors fit that description?"

She straightened, crossing her arms over her chest, her expression knowing and vicious.

"Because from what I remember of the corporate structure here, you have at least three directors who are actively undermining you. Two more who are embezzling funds through creative accounting. And one who’s been selling company secrets to competitors for the past eight months."

Lu Zeyan went very, very still.

"You’re blowing smoke," he said, but his voice lacked conviction.

"Am I?" Shuyin’s smile was all teeth. "Director Chen in Finance has been routing payments through shell companies in the Caymans. Director Wang in Operations has been accepting kickbacks from suppliers in exchange for inflated contracts. Director Liu in Human Resources has been selling employee data to headhunting firms."

She tilted her head, watching the color drain from his face. "Should I continue? Because I have six more names and detailed descriptions of their various ethical violations. Some of which, I might add, you’re directly complicit in."

The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees.

Lin Yueling’s eyes were wide, darting between Shuyin and Lu Zeyan, clearly not understanding the undercurrents but smart enough to recognize danger when it manifested.

Tank, Blade, and Razor remained impassive, but Shuyin could feel their satisfaction radiating behind her. They’d known she had leverage. They just hadn’t known how much.

"How do you..." Lu Zeyan started, then stopped, his mind clearly racing. "You’ve been just a secretary. You couldn’t possibly know..."

"Couldn’t I?" Shuyin’s voice was light, almost playful. "Lu Zeyan, I worked beside you for years. I attended meetings, reviewed contracts, and handled correspondence. I knew where everybody was buried because I helped you dig half the graves."

She leaned forward again, her voice dropping to an intimate whisper that somehow felt more threatening than if she’d shouted.

"The Hangzhou development deal, where you reported costs at forty million, but the actual expenditure was twenty-eight million. The twelve million difference went into an offshore account you thought no one knew about. The pharmaceutical distributor contract, where you accepted a two-million-yuan ’consulting fee’ that was really a bribe to ensure exclusive distribution rights. The construction project where you used substandard materials but billed for premium, pocketing the difference and hoping the building would last long enough that no one would notice."

Lu Zeyan’s face had gone from red to white to a sickly gray pallor.

"That’s..." He swallowed hard. "You can’t prove any of that."

"Can’t I?"

Shuyin’s smile was serene, knowing, and absolutely terrifying.

Because she could. Not just from Lin Shuyin’s memories, though those were damning enough, but from something far more invasive, far more absolute.

She could see into his mind.

Not in the crude, obvious way of reading thoughts like text on a page. It was more subtle than that, more instinctive. When she focused on him, really looked at him, she could feel the shape of his secrets, the weight of his guilt, the specific texture of his fears.

The mermaid abilities that had come with this body weren’t just physical. They extended into perception, into understanding, into a kind of emotional and mental resonance that let her know things she had no business knowing.

And right now, she could feel Lu Zeyan’s panic like a living thing, thrashing beneath his professional exterior.

"I have documentation," she said quietly, the lie sliding off her tongue with perfect ease. "Copies of contracts, email chains, and financial records. I made backups of everything, Lu Zeyan. Did you really think I’d work so closely with you and not keep insurance?"

His hands were shaking slightly against the desk. "You’re bluffing."

"Am I?" She pulled out her phone with deliberate slowness, scrolling through it with casual confidence. "Would you me to recite...