CHAPTER 30: QUIET RESOLVE

"Get back to work," he said, his voice calm but with a weight that made even the air seem heavier.

As soon as he entered his office, the secretary followed, placing a stack of files on his desk. He didn’t even glance up as he flipped open the first page, scanning line after line with razor-sharp focus. His movements were swift, precise, and commanding.

There was no trace of gentleness in him now.

The father who smiled at his daughter’s drawings, who tied her shoelaces before school, was gone. In his place stood a strategist, a businessman with a mind like a blade and a soul tempered by years of battles in the corporate underworld.

He had clawed his way to the top quietly and methodically, never once revealing his face to the media or letting anyone connect the dots between the lowly "researcher" and the empire he truly controlled.

The room fell into silence except for the sound of papers turning and the faint hum of the city below.

His secretary cleared her throat softly. "Sir, the legal team mentioned that the CEO of Chen Enterprises tried to reach you again. Should I—"

"Block the call," Yuanfeng said without looking up. "They’ll call again when they’re desperate enough."

"Yes, Sir."

"And the Chi Group?"

"They’re still awaiting your approval for the joint project proposal. Mr. Chi Zhaoting requested to speak with you directly."

Yuanfeng’s pen paused midair. His eyes flickered faintly, cold, sharp, and full of meaning.

"Tell him," he said slowly, "that the black horse he underestimated doesn’t entertain secondhand requests."

The secretary’s lips curved faintly, though she quickly hid it. "Understood."

When she left the room, silence descended again. The sunlight shifted slightly across his desk, catching the edge of a single silver frame standing beside his laptop.

It was a photo of Huaijin.

In it, she was laughing, her eyes curved like crescent moons, her small hands holding a paper star she’d folded herself. It was an ordinary photo, but for Yuanfeng, it was his anchor.

The pen in his hand stilled completely. His sharp expression softened, almost imperceptibly.

For a long moment, the ruthless businessman vanished, and only the father remained.

His gaze lingered on the photo as he leaned back in his chair. A faint sigh escaped his lips. "My little star..." he murmured under his breath, almost inaudibly.

That photograph was more than just decoration; it was his reminder. A reminder of why he lived the way he did. Why did he keep his double identity hidden? Why did he pretend to be nothing more than an ordinary man in front of her?

He didn’t want her to grow up in greed, or vanity, or fear. He wanted her to be kind, curious, pure, to know the world for what it truly was before he let her see the power he wielded behind closed doors.

He wanted to raise her in peace, away from the shadows that haunted the world of money and influence.

If she ever knew who he really was, she might never see him the same way again.

That thought alone was enough to make his chest tighten slightly.

But unknown to him, his daughter had already lived through one life filled with betrayal, heartbreak, and tragedy. If Yuanfeng ever discovered that, if he ever knew what horrors she had endured before she was reborn, he wouldn’t have stayed still for even a second.

He would have burned the world for her.

Hours passed. Meetings came and went. Decisions that would ripple through the economy were made in the span of minutes.

Yuanfeng was terrifyingly efficient, ruthless when needed, cold when provoked, yet always precise. He listened to proposals with expressionless calm, then dismantled them with a few cutting remarks that left his board members speechless.

When someone attempted to push a hidden agenda into a contract, he caught it within seconds.

When one of his rival companies tried to manipulate their shares, he countered before they even realized he’d noticed.

Every move he made was calculated, a chess master orchestrating his empire from behind the veil of anonymity.

By afternoon, the sun dipped low enough that the city lights began to flicker on one by one. His secretary entered quietly to deliver another set of reports.

"Sir, the board is curious," she said hesitantly. "You’ve been running this corporation for five years under an alias. Don’t you ever intend to... reveal your identity?"

He looked up from the document, eyes unreadable. "Reveal it for what purpose?"

"To claim your place publicly, perhaps. The Chi family—"

"The Chi family," he interrupted smoothly, his tone turning faintly ironic, "wouldn’t know what to do with me if they did."

He turned his gaze back to the papers, but his eyes gleamed with a trace of cold amusement. "Let them chase their own shadows. The real power doesn’t need to stand in the spotlight."

The secretary nodded quietly, sensing that further questions would be unwise.

When she left, the silence of the room returned once again.

Yuanfeng finally set down his pen and stood. He walked toward the floor-to-ceiling window, hands in his pockets, his reflection merging with the city lights beyond the glass.

Down below, the metropolis pulsed with life as cars streamed like veins of light, buildings glittering like constellations. He looked over it all, his expression unreadable.

And yet, beneath that coldness, there was something else.

A quiet resolve. A father’s devotion.

He murmured to himself, "Everything I build... everything I destroy... It’s for her."

His gaze drifted back to the photo on his desk. For a moment, his expression softened agai, the faintest trace of warmth in the midst of his empire of steel and glass.

Then, as though remembering the promise he made that morning, he reached for his coat and his car keys.

There were still enemies to outwit, deals to close, and secrets to protect. But at the end of the day, none of that mattered as much as the tiny girl waiting at the school gate.

The world could wait.

His daughter came first.