Chapter 14 — The Mighty, All-Powerful Genie

Nhã Kỳ sat down on a simple chair in Bách Nguyên's room, recounting the entire development of the crisis over the past week - from the unusual drop in stock prices, the purposeful spread of false rumors, to the conspiracy of the minority shareholder group preparing to propose a vote of no confidence against herself at the extraordinary shareholders' meeting that will take place within the next ten days.

Bách Nguyên listened attentively, without interrupting. His eyes gradually became sharper and more serious when she told the details about the mysterious investment fund behind the purchase of shares. When she finished telling her story, he was silent for a moment, then opened the locked drawer in his desk and took out the secret notebook he had been silently taking notes on for more than a year.

"I think I know who's behind this," he said, placing the notebook on the table in front of her.

"You know?" Nhã Kỳ was surprised, opened the notebook, flipped through each page of detailed notes about Long Thịnh Group's unusual moves over the past year - from approaching Đường Gia's supply partners, to secret meetings with former employees that revealed the unfair competition strategy that this group had applied to many other competitors in the past, to even financial clues showing that suspicious cash flows were transferred through many layers of intermediary companies before being poured into the fund. Investment is buying Đường Gia shares.

"The photos someone sent you, show me meeting strangers at cafes," Bách Nguyên said, his voice was calm. "Those are former employees of Long Thịnh, who quit their jobs because of dissatisfaction with the way the company operates. I have been quietly collecting information from them for more than a year, since I noticed signs that Long Thịnh was targeting Đường Gia right after boss Vĩnh Bảo passed away."

Nhã Kỳ looked at him, a feeling of both surprise and shame rising in her heart when she realized she had completely misunderstood the purpose of those secret meetings. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Because I know you won't believe me from the beginning, and I need time to have enough convincing evidence before confronting the other person directly," he replied honestly. "I don't want to make vague accusations that could make things more confusing if I don't have concrete evidence in hand."

All that night, the two of them sat together, truly working together as teammates for the first time, reviewing every detail in Bách Nguyên's notebook, comparing it with the financial data that Nhã Kỳ had from Đường Gia. Gradually, a comprehensive picture of Việt Long's conspiracy began to emerge clearly - the mysterious investment fund that was purchasing shares was actually just a shell company created by Long Thịnh through many layers of intermediaries abroad to hide the true origin of the capital flow.

"If we can prove the connection between this investment fund and Long Thịnh, this will be a serious act of stock market manipulation and unfair competition, enough to require an immediate investigation by the regulatory agency," Nhã Kỳ said, her eyes had regained some of their original sharpness and determination, although she was still a bit shocked by what she had just discovered.

"But we need more specific evidence about the cash flow, so as not to be rejected by the opponent as baseless inference," Bách Nguyên said. "I have a contact that can help verify this, but it will take a few more days."

"We don't have that much time," Nhã Kỳ said, her voice tense. "The extraordinary shareholders' meeting is only ten days away."

"Then we'll work around the clock if needed," Bách Nguyên replied, his eyes determined. "I won't let you face this alone."

In the following days, Bách Nguyên used the entire information network he had quietly built over the past year, combined with his extraordinary acumen in analyzing and remembering complex financial details - an ability far beyond the limits of normal people that he had been trying to hide all this time - to trace the flow of money through intermediary companies, and finally found positive evidence that the investment fund was in fact fully funded by a subsidiary of Long Thịnh registered abroad.

When he presented all that evidence in front of Nhã Kỳ and Đường Gia's legal team, no one could deny the accuracy and strict logic in the way he analyzed and connected each fragment of data into a complete picture, an ability that surprised even the most experienced lawyers and financial experts.

"Where did you learn financial analysis?" The head of the legal department asked, unable to hide his admiration.

"I just read a lot and observe closely," Bách Nguyên replied, a modest answer but not entirely satisfactory with what he had just expressed.

During those days working together, Nhã Kỳ gradually realized a completely different side of Bách Nguyên that she had never had the opportunity to witness - absolute focus, the ability to stay calm under extreme pressure, and a type of logical thinking so sharp that sometimes it made her stop to ponder more about what he had just said. She began to wonder how much of this mysterious person she still didn't know.

With solid evidence in hand, Đường Gia immediately coordinated with the securities management agency to request an investigation into the stock manipulation and unfair competition behavior of the mysterious investment fund. Although it was not possible to publicly attribute direct responsibility to Long Thịnh immediately because it needed more time for an official investigation, this move was enough to make the minority shareholders panic and withdraw from the no-confidence vote plan, fearing legal liability if the incident was fully exposed.

The crisis, at least for the time being, has been resolved. Đường Gia's stock price gradually stabilized, and Nhã Kỳ, after a week of extreme stress, could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

The next night, when everything calmed down, Nhã Kỳ went to Bách Nguyên's room again, not in a desperate mood like last time, but with a sincere gratitude mixed with many unanswered questions.

"Thank you," she said, her voice sounded a little shy. "If it weren't for you, I don't know how I would have coped with this conspiracy."

"I just do what I can," he replied, his eyes gently looking at her.

"But I still have many questions." Nhã Kỳ looked straight into his eyes, her tone serious. "How you analyze data, how you remember every little detail in hundreds of pages of documents, how you can run so fast that you saved a child from a truck accident a few weeks ago. You're not a normal person, right?"

Bách Nguyên was silent for a long time, clearly feeling that the time to reveal the whole truth had not yet come, even though he knew her question was completely legitimate. "I promise you, one day, I will tell you the whole truth about myself. But now is not the right time. Can you trust me a little longer?"

Nhã Kỳ looked at him, an internal struggle clearly visible on her face between intense curiosity and trust that had just been rebuilt after the recent crisis. She remembered everything he had just done for her over the past week — no sleep, no rest, only focused on finding a way to save her corporation without a word of complaint. Although there were still many unanswered questions, she realized she had begun to trust this person more than she thought. Finally, she nodded slightly, a small but meaningful concession for a person who always demanded absolute clarity in everything.

"Alright," she said. "But I will wait for the day you keep that promise."

"Thank you, again," she spoke softly before standing up to leave, her voice softer than before.

She left his room that night with a complex mood she had never felt before - no longer the cold contempt of a year ago, nor yet absolute trust, but a state of limbo between curiosity, gratitude, and a vague warm feeling that she wasn't ready to name, even though it had begun to creep into her normally closed heart without realizing it.