Chapter 5 — Wedding's Off, Take the Dowry Back!

In his eyes, the young heiress of the Ngu family was supposed to be gentle, weak, and entirely dependent on her family's protection. How could she possibly be the mastermind behind the Nghien Hop Group, controlling hundreds of billions in capital? He suddenly recalled my appearance at the wedding—standing in the middle of the plaza, wearing a drenched wedding dress, my spine perfectly straight. When I said, "The wedding is off," my voice had been calm, without a single tremor of emotion. That was not a wealthy young mistress throwing a petulant tantrum; it was a ruler issuing an absolute command. He had thought he held my weakness in his hands, but in reality, I was the one controlling the entire chessboard. A massive, absurd sense of panic instantly seized him. The very lifeline he had counted on was something he had pushed away with his own hands. What he had thought was a strategic climb to a higher social status was, in truth, a height the Pho family could never hope to reach.

"Get the car ready," Pho Tac Du said, grabbing his coat, his voice carrying a trace of panic that was hard to ignore. "We are going to the Ngu family's ancestral home."

He arrived at the Ngu estate at five o'clock in the afternoon. The gatekeeper reported his arrival, and the person who came down to meet him was the head butler. The butler bowed politely and courteously.

"CEO Pho, the eldest young mistress says she is tired and is not receiving guests. As for the marriage, our legal department will contact you in due course."

"Tired?" Pho Tac Du suppressed his rising anger. "She was the one who called off the wedding first, and now she's hiding and refusing to see me? Tell her to come out. I have something to say to her."

"The eldest young mistress said there is nothing left to say," the butler replied, his tone remaining perfectly level. "Please go back, CEO Pho. Furthermore, the termination letter of cooperation from the Ngu Group should have already been delivered to your office by now."

Pho Tac Du clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug deep into his palms. In all his twenty-nine years of life, this was the very first time he had been shut out at someone's door like this. If this had been the past, he would have swept his sleeves and walked away long ago. But now, he could not. The lifeblood of the Pho Group was entirely in my hands; he could not afford to leave.

"I will wait here," he said in a low voice, standing beneath the shade of a tree. "I will wait until she is willing to see me."

On a late July afternoon, the sun had not yet set, and the lingering, oppressive heat baked the air, making everything sweltering hot. Pho Tac Du stood there, his suit jacket draped over his forearm and his shirt collar unbuttoned by two buttons. He no longer possessed his usual cold, noble elegance; instead, he looked somewhat disheveled and miserable. He waited from five o'clock until seven. Even when the sky had turned completely pitch black, there was still no sign of me coming out. Midway through, his special assistant called to report that two more business partners had requested to terminate their contracts, and the company's stock had begun to plummet. Pho Tac Du hung up the phone, his expression growing darker by the minute. It was not until eight o'clock that the side gate finally creaked open, and Ayu walked out, holding a thick folder in her hands.

"CEO Pho, this is what the eldest young mistress asked me to give to you."

Ayu handed over the folder, her voice calm and detached.

"Inside are all the cooperation agreements between Nghien Hop and the Pho Group, along with the official termination notices. The eldest young mistress said that since we parted ways on a clean slate, from now on, let each go our own separate ways, never to cross paths again."

Pho Tac Du did not reach out to take it. Instead, he stared intently at Ayu.

"Where is she? Tell her to come out and talk to me in person."

"Our eldest young mistress does not wish to see you." Ayu paused for a brief moment before adding, "CEO Pho, when you were at the hotel entrance, the eldest young mistress gave you five hours. During those five hours, you had countless opportunities to open that door, yet you failed to cherish them. It is too late to say anything now."

With that, Ayu placed the folder on the stone pedestal beside the gate, turned around to walk back into the courtyard, and closed the side door behind her. Pho Tac Du stood frozen in place, staring at the tightly shut gate. The cigarette in his hand burned down to his fingertips, the sudden sting of heat making him flinch. For the first time in his life, he tasted the bitter flavor of absolute helplessness. In the past, he was always the one leaving others out in the cold, waiting for them to bow their heads to him; now, it was his turn. He picked up the folder, returned to his car, and flipped through the pages one by one. Every single sheet clearly revealed just how deeply Nghien Hop had laid its groundwork within the Pho Group. The Pho Group, which he had always taken immense pride in, was nothing more than a chessboard in my eyes, one that I could overturn at any moment. When he flipped to the very last page, he found a small note tucked inside. The handwriting on it was crisp, elegant, and chillingly sharp:

"CEO Pho, I gave you the rules, but you were the one who chose not to follow them."

Pho Tac Du squeezed the note tightly, his knuckles turning stark white. He recalled the way I had held up three fingers at the wedding, smilingly saying "five hours." At the time, he had only thought I was being absurdly audacious. Only now did he understand that it was the absolute final ultimatum I had offered him. He had walked into his own grave by his own choice. The following morning, my father finally learned about the events of the wedding. He was so furious that he smashed his teacup to pieces, grabbed his coat, and prepared to go to the Pho family residence to settle the score. However, I blocked his path at the study door.

"Father, don't go," I said, standing in the doorway with a calm voice. "He isn't worth it."

"Not worth it?" My father's chest heaved with fury. "That Pho Tac Du dared to humiliate my daughter like this! I won't let him get away with it! Five hours! How dare he!"

I looked at him and spoke slowly, "Father, there is something I haven't told you yet. The Nghien Hop Group belongs to me."

My father froze on the spot, the coat in his hands slipping and falling to the floor. He knew of the Nghien Hop Group; he knew it was the most prominent investment firm to rise in the past two years. But he had never imagined that the mastermind behind it was the very daughter he cherished and protected in the palm of his hand every single day.

"The Pho Group's capital chain has always been in my hands," I said, walking over to pick up his coat and brushing off the dust. "He wanted to use this marriage alliance to leverage the Ngu family's wealth to fill his financial black holes, but his calculations were entirely wrong. I have already handled everything. The Pho Group won't be able to hold out much longer. If you go to confront him now, it will only give them leverage to use against us instead. It's simply not worth it."